#shes shown shes not used to having friends so never mind the thought of marriage and a KID

[todayisafridaynight]

‘The worst thing she can say is no’ and its the proposal scene from LAD8

#snap chats #HELPPPP THATS SO SAD #im an asshole for not posting the vid but if anyone asks ill share it #im just on mobile and im lazy LMAO BUT ANYWAY #NOOOOOO LIKE. I CANT TELL IF THIS IS BETTER OR WORSE #i thought saeko blew up or would have a volatile reaction #like i was holding my breathe waiting for her to hit him or yell because thats so typical innit #but no she just. Lets Go Home :) My Answer? Uhh Let’s Go :) #LIKE MISS MA’AM???? DAMNN poor ichi #twelve bucks saying they get married at the end #BUT GOD DAMN THATS LIKE.. SOMEHOW WORSE THAN JUST SAYING NO #ichi pouring his whole heart and soul out… ALSO THIS ISNT A DIG AT SAEKO AT ALL NO NEVER #JUST… MAN… i wanna know what shes thinking…. #shes shown shes not used to having friends so never mind the thought of marriage and a KID #i mean presumably they mustve been dating a while but either way…. wow….. #jan 26th get here soon. im having a horrible day just please distract me #i told yall going to my moms is always a nightmare i wanna leave but i cant go until monday #anyway bye……. im gonna just. sit here LMAO

[sketchguk]

part time lover (moodboard)

➳ pairing: investigative journalist!jeongguk x daycare teacher!reader. alternatively, spy!jeongguk x assassin!reader

➳ genre: smut, fluff, angst, fake marriage au, dad au, spy x family au

➵ word count: 465 (teaser) / 30.8k

➳ summary: there is no crime more perfect than marrying jeon jeongguk. your relationship is nothing more than a ruse - while your friends pester you for being perpetually single, jeongguk desperately needs a wife to complete the pristine image of a family, fooling his way through the parent interview at the nation’s most prestigious private school.

only time will tell how deep your lies will run as you find home in one another’s minds. because untangled in the moonlight, he is but a spy, exposing a secret world of corruption, and you, an assassin, ridding the streets of danger one hit at a time. 

➳ warnings: themes of parenthood, raising a child, reader and jk are both orphans, reader has a past where she struggled with financially supporting her family, eldest daughter trauma, reader is insecure, fears of abandonment, mentions of violence and m*rder (but not explicit), mention of weapons (guns, knives, grenades, poison),  jk has a bruise from boxing, descriptions of an explosion, blood is drawn twice (via kitchen knife and shrapnel from aforementioned explosion), (1) mention of weight loss, jk changes his appearance in an attempt to fit in, mention of a minor car crash, social drinking, scars (surgical/knife, bullet wounds), characters are liars for the sake of the plot, side characters are misogynists (satire), food descriptions, pet names (hers: angel, good girl, princess his: love). 

➳ publish date: saturday, october 14th 8pm EST

➳ a/n: thank you for all the love you've shown on the teaser. i really didn't expect so much support >.< i hope you're all as excited as i am though !! once again, this is part of the “industry baby” collab! please look forward to all of the other fics in the masterpost 💛

smut warnings below the cut!

➳ smut warnings: virgin reader, sexual tension, body worship, nipple play, marking, oral (f receiving), fingering, hair pulling, unprotected sex, jk has a big dick, praising, stomach bulge, spitting, use of the word slut, marriage kink(?) he loves his wife so much, reader wants to be bred, cumshot

“You can touch me if you want,” he offers. 

You’re not as confident as Jeongguk, but oh, how you wish you were. 

“Do you want to?” He senses your hesitation, yet you nod your head, affirming.

“I do,” you bite the inside of your cheek. “I want to touch you- feel you.” 

Jeongguk wraps his fingers around your wrists, bringing your hands to rest on his broad shoulders. They’re muscular beneath your touch. You curse yourself for letting your mind wander and for letting your panties soak with arousal ー neither of which you can control. 

Somehow, you resist the urge to look down at his physique. The sleeves of his shirt are rolled up to the elbows, revealing his strong forearms, adorned by the dark tattoos that coil up his muscles. Your gaze darts across his features, struggling to focus on the starlight in his eyes. You switch between the edge of his jaw, the dip of his neck, and the plump of his lips. 

“My eyes are up here, angel.” The corner of his mouth draws into a smile ー so bright and devastatingly beautiful. He hooks a gentle hand beneath your chin, guiding you to meet his stare. “Tell me what you’re thinking about. What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?” 

Your voice is soft, just barely above a whisper. It’s nearly inaudible. “Thinking about what it would be like to kiss you.” 

The innocence of your words makes Jeongguk blush. He’s never been the type to be so easily affected. After all, he’s the bold one in the relationship ー confident, decisive, dominant. But you make him weak in the knees.

“You don’t have to ask permission to kiss me.” Jeongguk inches closer, considerate hands squeezing around your waist. “You’re my wife.” 

Why does the thought of belonging to Jeongguk make your heart stutter? You’re certain that this is nothing but pretend, yet the only thing that makes you believe this could be real is the soothing circles that Jeongguk draws onto your skin. He’s present. He’s willing. His lips are right there, right in front of you. You could take the leap of faith and close the distance, leaning forward to kiss him. 

So you do. 

.

.

.

Your eyes are half lidded as you murmur a quiet confession, “I want to kiss you again.” Normally, you wouldn’t dare to be so bold, but you feel drunk on his taste.

“You can do whatever you want to me.” Jeongguk draws you closer, dragging your core onto the apex of his thighs, thick and sturdy. “I like anything that you like. Kissing you. Holding you. Just looking at you,” he shrugs. “And if it wasn’t obvious enough… I like you.” 

Jeon Jeongguk makes you absolutely breathless. “Ar- are we still pretending?”

check it out here!

#jungkook smut #jungkook angst #jungkook fluff #bts smut #bts angst #bts fluff #jungkook x reader #jungkook scenario #jungkook #jeon jungkook #bts imagine #bts scenario #bts fanfic #bts fan fic #bts fanfiction #bts fan fiction

[theladybrownstarot]

How will be 2024 for you ? 🍷📽

Pick a card reading ~

❥ Here's my masterlist for more !

❥Make sure you like/reblog/follow/Comment to get more pacs like these !

Pile 1. Pile 2. Pile 3.

Pile 1.

❥🍷 Hi namaste pile 1 ♡ lets being with your reading~

This year will lead you to achieve more with passion and hard-work that you will be showing and doing for same for your goals and dreams . I can see you all rising in your field whether be education , career or home in any context . You going to be highly confident in your strategies and planning . I can see job promotion or achieving any significant authoritative position only after you will show your real self and will take control of your life in your hands .

If you people used to get confused and stucked with your things then you are not going to be anymore now in 2024 . You are really going to dead serious about your goals seeing this year as one last chance and for this you are gonna do everything like you are going to see the very intrinsic things that you struggle within and outside . You are becoming more observative rather than a chatter box . You are going to maintain very strict boundaries for yourself likely we say buildling discipline and silence and leaving your all old habits you had and destroying all the negative and toxic ties with the people .

Some of you could be tarot readers or fortune teller or psychic and if you aren't then you gonna be in the next year . You are literally going to listen your heart and will silence the chattering of your mind . It's a strong saying when you listen to your heart you will never fear anymore . Start listening to your internal self and you will find yourself connecting your original self strongly .

Pile 1 it's your time now ! Just rock with your heart and claim what was meant for you ~

Pile 1 just because you are passionate about it it doesn't mean that it will be effortless you gotta put everything .

Some of you might meet your soulmates or you gonna start to appreciate yourself more if you didn't used to also you gonna enjoy your life more with balancing your work Family life is gonna be good too .

Pile 2 .

❥🍷 Hi namaste pile 2 ♡ lets being with your reading~

This year is gonna end an cycle and will begin the new one . You are going to have some strong transformations overall like from your appearance to mindset to personality to lifestyle like everything . You are overcoming your fears and insecurity . This change is not going to visible to others till you do something that makes them aware like oh is she\he we thought was ?!

You are going to be feel loved and cared about . You are going to meet certain people who are going to give you some valuable lessons. There is someone who secretly loves you and will approach you soon . You are going to show yourself with the kindness and compassion that was never shown to you before . You are going to do alot of good karmas by helping people but don't become so giving too .

Some people might be pregnant and don't worry healthy delivery is to be assured and good sex life too . Overall the year is gonna be very calming and down to earth . For some abundance in terms of money and looks is coming too . You may get more flowers or things to enrich your environment with positivity .

Some of you might get married this year soon like maybe in April or somewhere months around otherwise marriage is on the card so a healthy baby or pregnancy is to be assured . The left projects will give you success too .

The luck is on your side and if you had some certain issues with the people then go again and have a conversation because you may know more and will be able to stop this disturbance now .

Pile 3 .

❥🍷 Hi namaste pile 3 ♡ lets being with your reading~

You may meet your soulmate or you may connect with some old friends of yours in 2024 . I can see you having some good options in terms of career or love . I don't know but you are going to forgive some certain people who hurted you in anyway .

Man literally you are going to show tough love for your goals and you are becoming more analytical and practical with all things . I see literally a wash out of certain things maybe people you are having or maybe you wanna change your environment or companions so you may become particular with it but at same time you are going to maybe study some thing different than usual or may research on things more as a hobby and find something different .

If you used to be judgemental than you aren't going to in fact you will be accepting your flaws and of others too .

You are going to attract more opportunities in term of money or maybe you will change your job for something good . I see slow and steady progress in term of materials and physical needs .

If you wanna take some risk in you career than go for it and don't be afraid because you are going to blessed with best success possible just have faith your dreams and baby steps not fast please for this you need to meditate and contemplate about things too .

Something drastic change for your life is coming from universe so you are begin advised to surrender your life to divine an just do what you have too .

❥

❥ Here the reading ends! Do tell me by comments that how was the reading and did it resonated with you ?

#theladybrownstarot #free tarot #tarot reading #pac #tarot community #tarotblr #tarotscope #daily tarot #free tarot reading #tarot witch #reading #tarot love reading

[coffeeandsadbooks]

Wilhelm’s struggle with his sexuality doesn’t fit either into Queer Awakening, or Unabashedly Queer Wille narrative. His path to fully accepting his own queerness is very different from everything I have seen in the media. The inner fight Wilhelm is having throughout S1 and S2 is shown in a very subtle way. Maybe that is why we, viewers accustomed to straightforward, in-your-face and often offensively stupid queer stories, can’t see this struggle for what it is.

Every clue we were given in S1 leads us to one conclusion: up until the video Wille wasn’t out to anyone.

Let’s recap:

1. Felice is excited about Wille going to Hillerska because it means she has a shot with him. No one tells her to cool down because no one has a reason to suspect the prince to be anything but straight. We are talking about people who know each other pretty well: nobles and riches have been going to the same schools, same clubs, same resorts for generations. As F. Scott Fitzgerald (or Zelda Fitzgerald, who knows) put it: ‘…then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.’ And yet, there isn’t even a whisper about Wille maybe, possibly being interested in boys.

2. Wille wasn’t out to the closest person in his family – Erik. The conversation they had on parents’ day hints that. @mirabel-on-a-bicycle explained it perfectly: ‘Even during that phone call, he was sitting in a pretty relaxed position, up until he said that he wanted to stay at school. And when he did admit to liking someone, the camera made the extra effort of floating down from his face to show his hand clutching at his knees. Like yea, it was adorable, the way he got so puffy and defensive about having a crush, but under all this, they were nervous mannerisms as well!’

A long time ago I saw a post about Erik using genderless words in the conversation about Wille’s ‘crush’ and it is the only detail that allows speculations about Erik suspecting.

3. Wille wasn’t out to his parents. For Kristina to say ‘Now it’s you and your future children who will succeed me’ after Erik’s funeral, she must have been pretty sure that her younger son was straight. Otherwise, it would be inconsiderate if not cruel of her, especially at that moment. The fact that she and Wille don’t discuss his sexuality after the video is completely understandable: the queen has a crisis on her hands and it needs to be dealt with. Priorities.

Besides, there is nothing to discuss. It’s Sweden-2021: equal rights for LGBTIQA+ people are supported by 98% of citizens, Church of Sweden gives matrimony to same-sex couples since 2009. In S2 when Kristina says ‘Oh, please. Your father and I love you just the way you are, Wilhelm’, and she is slightly annoyed because of the fact she even has to say such an obvious thing out loud.

Ludvig is basically a piece of furniture, I have no idea what he is doing in the show. He and Wille barely talk so it’s safe to assume he was the last one to learn about his younger son’s sexuality.

4. August’s reaction when he is shooting the video says it all: in the beginning, he is smiling because he thinks it will be a fun prank. But the moment he realizes it is not a girl in Wille’s bed, we see August being genuinely shocked. Despite being close to the royal family and being friends with Erik, he had no idea about Wille’s queerness.

5. Finally, Hillerska students are surprised to find out about the nature of Wille and Simon’s relationship. Stella and Fredrika bring up the topic of surrogacy and we see them being scandalized/entertained by the prospect. The thought about the next heir to the throne born in a same-sex marriage had never crossed their minds because there was no reason for that.

So we can be sure that no one knew Wille was queer.

Why wasn’t he out?

He is only sixteen; it wouldn’t be unusual to figure out his sexuality at this age. Considering that no one knew Wille was queer, it is safe to assume Simon was the first boy Wille ever pursued. Otherwise, rumours would have gotten out.

Wille consistently freaks out about being with Simon. We see him struggling with crossing certain lines: at the end of E1S1 he is scared when he realizes he is attracted to Simon, in E2S1 he can’t immediately kiss Simon back, then he regrets doing it and tries to convince Simon it was a mistake.

It is really difficult to tell what exactly is the reason for Wille being so reluctant at different points. But as Edvin put it: ‘His problem is not being in love with a boy, his problem is being a prince.’

If we follow this logic, we will understand that Wille is scared of being out publicly. He is in a very unique position. To him, coming out doesn’t just mean a conversation with parents and another – with friends. He is a crown prince, and he is expected to produce an heir. He doesn’t want to discuss his sexuality with the whole world though at some level he understands it is inevitable. He acts consistently as if coming out is the last thing he wants to do. When Kristina suggests he lie about the video, Wille reluctantly agrees. Reluctantly, because he knows lying will mean leaving Simon alone to deal with the consequences. But the alternative – confessing that it was him and that he is, in fact, queer – is unbearable to him at that moment. Wille says it himself when he attempts to apologize to Simon: ‘If I came out, all hell would break loose! How can you even ask me to do that?’

He needs time to accept the idea of coming out to the whole world. We can’t really blame a sixteen-year-old for not wanting to go through this process. Queer people know that opening up can be painful. Not every person in your life will be kind and understanding. Coming out to billions of people is really, really scary. So even when Wilhelm makes his peace with the idea itself, he still struggles with the perspective of actually doing it. He accepts Kristina’s suggestion to come out in two years not because he is afraid of his mother. We have seen Wille being extremely difficult when his demands aren’t met. He accepts her suggestion because it feels right – ‘I will come out, but later.’ Even when he realizes that ‘later’ won’t get him Simon back, he doesn’t go Instagram Live to say: ‘Hi, Sweden, it’s your crown prince. It was me in the video. I am into boys. Have a nice day.’ It takes him more time than that to gather his courage.

Fully accepting one’s own sexuality can be a long process. A person can skip the whole panic stage, but still struggle with the idea of being open to family, friends, colleagues. YR does a superb job of showing this process and it is another thing for which I adore the show.

#young royals #young royals analysis #wilhelm #simon #kristina #august #unnecessarily long essays

[porryc]

Detailed description of how old Gabriel Agreste is acording to show with leaks

In Episode 20, the date on Gabriel's real ID as “Gabi Grassette” is given is April 23, 19*5.

They didn't want to give an exact date because Thomas and other creators don’t like give exact dates for show so they blacked out the middle number, but the storyboards show the date as 1985.

But that can't explain it fully because anything not shown in the show is not real , So much can be extracted from storyboards

Here Gabriel definitely looks like a pre-teenager , probably 14-15 years old

But if we have to go based on the information given to us :

Thomas Astruc said in a comic-end interview that he wanted to publish a comic in which he wanted to tell about Gabriel's life as a teenager and how he met people like Emilie and Nathalie

So this means that Gabriel met Emilie when he was a teenager and in Episode 24 show what Gabriel looks like when he meets Emilie in Felix's story

He has wavy hair and wears a blazer, freed from his old punk look with purple mohawk and he’s big enough to have its own apartment

18-19 is still a teenage age, but you are entitled to have your own apartment and explains the case of Emilie, who came to Paris for "study" , Emilie may have come to Paris for college or for the last year of high school or as a some kind of exchange student

According to Felix's, Emilie found true love "Immediately ”when she came to Paris , they probably decided to be together for less than one year and they got married quickly in the story

Also, in Episode 22, we learned that Audrey and Andre are really old friends of this couple and that's they are the ones made the two of them come together even Gabriel sewed his first suit to Andre so he could feel more confident in expressing his feelings to the girl he liked : Audrey

When Audrey and Andre were not together, Gabriel and Emilie were together and even lived in the same house as a married couple according to Andre’s “Do you remember when we were young and penniless? You, Me and Emilie would make the world a better place from yours little attic” in Episode 22

In an episode of Season 4, we see Andre and Audrey celebrate their 20th anniversary , so they have been married for at least 20 years and we also know that Gabriel and Emilie have been married longer

In the Weredad episode, we learn that Tom will turn 40 from 39, and we find out that Sabine and Tom have been married for 20 years , This information makes him married at 19-20, as confirmed by his Wiki page

So according to the Miraculous universe there are lot of people were married at that young

But I think Gabriel must be older than Tom because he has gray hair.

Gabriel and Emilie met in the story, they got married right away which makes me think that they married between the ages of 18-20, when Gabriel should have met her "when he was a teenager"

Now we all know that Emilie is inferitle , Gabriel said “For so long…We thought we would never able to have a child,” in final episode

They were married for a very long time until they have Adrien : Which makes sense because they were poor when they got married.

Gabriel was the son of a fast-food business owner who didn't come from a wealthy family anyway, and Emilie, on the contrary, was the heiress of a old-money and noble British aristocratic family and she was a “Lady”

Her parents were furious that she was with a ordinary man like Gabriel who were not the extremly wealthy and powerful man we know at the time so her parents wanted her to end this relationship and they probably had a plan in their mind for her to have a arranged marriage with a powerful and rich man just like they would do to her twin sister Amelie

But she choose him and they married poor , I guess they didn't even have a wedding because Felix showed off his parents' marriage with a fancy wedding, but Emilie simply split her ring in half and put it on Gabriel

But then we saw them living in the mansion we know now so they are pretty rich enough have to afford a huge mansion next to the Eiffel and they still don’t have a child so they didn't have a child from their poor to ultra-rich times, confirming Gabriel's "Too long time"

Also we know they are married more longer than Andre&Audrey who is married for 20 years

Of course, we cannot interpret Gabriel's "Long Time" perception, maybe 5 or 10 years

So if we collect all this information :

He married Emilie when he was a teenager who could have his own apartment so thats make him 18-19 and there are couples who get married so young in the series and he supposed to fell for and married with Emilie after a short time she came to Paris

They didn't have children for long, and that was long enough to go from poor to a multi-rich life (So maybe 5-10 years)

They look grown-ups here and never look like the teenagers-to-adult types so probably 30

And we know that Adrien is 14-15 years old and they're going to make Adrien there

And this is a series set in 2014-2015

and Marinette and Kagami's birth dates are 2000 and 2001, and Marinette and Kagami are where he talks about the Chinese zodiac signs

This means that confirms Gabriel's date of birth in the storyboard and yes Gabriel was born in 1970 , because the date 1985 is the date of issue of that identity, not the date of birth

This makes Gabriel 44-45 years old and possibly married with Emilie since 25 years

#gabriel agreste #emilie agreste #adrien agreste #nathalie sancoeur #gabenath #chat noir #mlb leaks #marinette dupain cheng #adrinette #ladynoir #marichat #ladrien #kagami tsuguri #felix fathom #feligami #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #lila rossi #chloe bourgeois #zoe lee #alix kubdel #bunnyx #lukanette #miraculous spoilers #miraculous ladybug #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #miraculous fandom #mlb ladybug #hawkmoth #monarch

[heretherebedork]

I’m halfway through episode 8 of wedding impossible and….I’ve yet to see the selfishness that everyone insists is Dohan’s only trait. Every time he thinks something about their marriage is inconveniencing Ajeong he apologizes to her. Ajeong only ever acts happy to marry him to his face and actively participates in the planning, so he can have no idea she’s having second thoughts. I saw people saying he was forcing the idea of moving to new york on her, but she agreed immediately to do it? She didn’t give any indication she would be against it. Now Jihan just found out his brother is gay and his only focus is on how that affects Ajeong, which like I guess it’s not bad to consider her feelings and that Dohan might be deceiving her. But he doesn’t stop for one second to think about his brother? To be sad his brother didn’t feel like this was a part of himself he could share? To worry about the pressure Dohan must be under because of his sexuality to feel like he needs to marry a woman he can never be in love with? But people found Dohan selfish for what, not being able to read his friend’s and brother’s minds?

I really do think the idea of Do Han being selfish is rooted in a very childish and basic idea of having 'no secrets' and that coming out is a 'secret' you keep from other people maliciously.

Thus, Do Han staying in the closet is a selfish act to begin with and that makes him selfish because he's keeping secrets and secrets are inherently selfish!

Or something like that.

Because I don't get it at all.

Do Han is never selfish in the show aside from, like, five minutes in a later episode where he insists that Ah Jeong marry him despire knowing she's in love with Ji Han but that doesn't last long and is obviously him being desperate considering she's his best friend and Ji Han is literally his brother but whatever.

Ji Han, on the other hand? Ji Han is never not selfish. Even when the show is claiming he's being selfless, he's being a selfish twat to either Do Han or Ah Jeong.

The start of the show? Between insisting that Do Han needs to take over the company and marry the CEO despite Do Han repeatedly saying he didn't want either one? Selfish as fuck! Later on, insisting the Do Han was manipulating Ah Jeong into the relationship and threatening him and then completely cutting him out of his life? Selfish! And then doing that press conference without speaking to either of them and still cutting Do Han out of his life? STILL SELFISH!

None of the things that are supposedly so selfless of him are never actually selfless. They're all selfish behavior, in the end, and frankly I don't get what's to like about him.

Do Han was trapped and then the show just kind of forgot about it. And what about his ex? And what about Ji Han maybe acknowledging what he did in his press conference to him? Or what about his grandfather who called him selfish and tried to still make Ah Jeong marry him? We don't get to see any of that but we do get Grandpa apologizing to Ji Han. Oh, but Do Han doesn't get ANYTHING.

Ugh.

Yeah, this show had so much potential but then it didn't know how to show the relationships it needed to show to make it have meaning.

If they had truly shown us Ji Han and Do Han's bond as brothers, this show could have had so much meaning. But that didn't come through at all and so much fell flar.

#wedding impossible #in defense of do han #do han defense squad #kdrama #i am not saying a lot about ah jeong #because her character was so inconsistent in the show #i can't say anything

[dissociatingdumbass]

Got tagged by @mondengel2 for the character ask:

Byakuya, Rukia and Ichigo

How I feel about this character

All the people I ship romantically with this character

My non-romantic OTP for this character

My unpopular opinion about this character

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Byakuya

1)

It's my favourite of all of the Bleach characters. Really obsessed, not gonna lie. Love his character and the evolution he had during the series.

2)

Ichigo. Only Ichigo.

They're perfect for each other, because Byakuya doesn't need to be protected and neither does Ichigo. They're equals. They're personalities are very complementary. They just fit well.

3)

I never really put much thought into it, because Byakuya is difficult to have close relationship. He's been evolving a lot as a big brother to Rukia. If we're taking out the OTP thingie and just use the word friends or even BFFs, I'd say (in my series) he becomes quite close with Inoue (after therapy). He'd also have a very cool bond with Karin over their respective husbands...

4)

He's autistic and demisexual. I HC all Shinigami as being naturally Pansexual, so... (Isshin is just a fucking idiot who spent too much time in the World of the Living)

I also don't think he was really, really in love with Hisana. I think he was young and obsessed. If she hadn't fallen ill and died, that marriage wouldn't have lasted anyway.

5)

More backstory. An on screen definite cut with Hisana's presence in his life. (she was a heavy anchor and some of you still ship them, like people don't have the right to heal and move on...)

I wish he had been the one to go with Ichigo to fight Yhwach.

I wish we had more story about what happened in the Royal Realm.

I wish people would stop saying he should have died... No he shouldn't have!

Rukia

1)

I like her a lot. She's a tomboy. She's aggressive and rispid at times. She's got a good heart and she's powerful. She's a dork... Just like her brother.

2)

Currently, Renji... Because in the end (even with that awkward beginning) they do match perfectly. And Renji evolved a lot during the entire series.

I had a time when I thought she'd be good with Inoue, but then I started to change my mind.

3)

Ichigo is her absolutely non romantic other half.

They bounce off of each other in hilarious ways sometimes. They have a good rapport and they absolutely trust each other.

4)

Do I even have one?

Only in the background she's given... Which is none. We don't even know how she survived being dumped in the middle of the street (anime) or in the middle of nothing, against a tree (manga). There had to be someone who found her and took her in in those first years. Babies don't survive on their own.

The Prologue doesn't exist for me, so I'm not even going there...

5)

I wish they would have shown in more detail the evolution of her relationship with Byakuya. I'd like to see them being shown more as the close siblings they should have been from the start.

I wish we'd seen a contrite apology from Renji for being an asshole towards her in the beginning.

Ichigo

1)

Whereas Byakuya is my awkward, autistic, demisexual ass... Ichigo is my short fused temper,my sarcasm and my wish I could just help and protect everyone around me. (except I'm... just me...)

He's the best Main Character ever, for me.

His essence is in his name.

2)

Byakuya. No one else, ever...

When I started Bleach I wasn't even focusing on pairings. I like the story and the battles.

The Lost Agent Arc was what made me go "Hold up! What?" And then I went back and analysed every single interaction between Ichigo and Byakuya!

They're so perfect for each other!

Byakuya's growth is solely due to Ichigo being in his life.

It's the way he crash landed on the raven hair's life and changed it for the better. And Ichigo also learned and evolved into a better person and better warrior because of Byakuya's influence in his life. I mean Young Tensa even looks like Byakuya! (No. Not Yhwach. You're wrong.)

3)

Rukia.

For all the reasons mentioned prior. They're going to be such chaotic in-laws... (in my series)

4)

That man is gay... He's also Ace.

People think he should have pressed Isshin into saying the truth during those 17 months. I think what he did was indirectly say "I'm giving you the chance to come clean on your own." and when Isshin didn't, he didn't press the subject because he's prideful and stubborn. It was a test and Isshin failed... As per usual...

5)

He should have stayed in the Soul Society right after the Quincy War.

He should have been honest at that point and say in no uncertain terms that he absolutely HATED the normal life everyone in the World of the Living seemed to think he should want.

He should have become a full fledged Shinigami in the 11th squad.

And Kubo should have been a better writer and not have punished Ichigo with that fraud of an ending.

(He also should have been shown decades afterwards and be either shown or implied that he was with Byakuya... But that's just my representation starving ass because I'm tired of heterosexuality in media.)

Tagging @the-winds-of-kushala (going multifandom here) : Kenpachi/ Ben Tennison/ Dazai

@bothzangetsus : Shinji/ Renji/ Unohana

@ichijager13 : Oskar Von Reuenthal/ Yang Wenli/ Dusty Attenborough

#asks #fandom asks #character asks

[blackfire-fanfiction]

I feel like a lot of people in the Encanto fandom see Mariano and Isabela's relationship with each other as distant or think that they're just acquaintances who got introduced to each other specifically for the purpose for them to get together

It doesn't make sense for it to be that way, though. Abuela Alma is a complex character, but I don't believe for a second that she'd force her granddaughter into a relationship, even if it seemed like they do actually love each other.

Plus the fact that the majority of the people in the Encanto have been in the Encanto their entire lives. It's a small town, everyone went to school together and everyone knows everyone.

Abuela and Señora Guzmàn are shown to be friends, at least with what we see in the movie and with the bits of information that we've received through multiple Q&As

This means that Isabela and Mariano (and Dolores) have probably known each other since before they got their gifts. They were probably all great friends, which gives us a base for Alma and Señora Guzmàn to push for a marriage between the two families.

And yes, there's the plot hole of Dolores being a part of the friend group. But Dolores's gift probably caused her to be absent due to getting overstimulated by all the noise in the Encanto.

So the friend group was really only Isabela and Mariano hanging out, with Dolores joining in whenever she could.

By the time they were teens, the friendship between the three probably faded, but they still smile and wave when they see each other, and they try to catch up whenever there's time.

Now, Isabela is definitely in town, walking around and talking to people, more than Dolores is. Because Isabela's gift requires her to do that, while Dolores's daily routine is probably something more like sitting on a hilltop and listening for problems that need solving.

So when the abuelas started wondering about when their kids were going to start to get into dating and such, they focused in on Isabela and Mariano, since that's who they saw interacting more of the time.

Now Mariano is a sweet guy, and I will fight anyone who disagrees with me. He is a good friend, and probably does a lot of things that could come off as romantic when interacting with Isabela and Dolores. 

Alma and Señora Guzmàn probably assumed that Isabela and Mariano had feelings for each other. When they asked the two in question, they probably got responses like "oh, we're just friends! I don't think I have feelings for her/him"

And these are experienced old ladies. They've seen their fair share of romances blossom. They look at these kids and think that they just haven't realized their feelings for each other yet. They assume it's a friends to lovers trope falling into place right before their eyes.

So they hint at the two getting together. Mariano and Isabela don't know any better. They're told that the friend stuff they've been doing is romantic, so they switch it around in their minds. 

It's not until they're well into their relationship that they start figuring out that they're not actually in love with the other. Isabela acknowledges is, but pretends to make Alma proud. Mariano probably denied it, and forced any thought like that to the bottom of his mind, because he didn't want to disappoint Isabela if he rejected her and she was in love.

Anyway, my entire point is that we shouldn't reduce Isabela and Mariano's relationship to a cold and distant one, just because it's shown in the movie that there was never any true love between them. I could go further into this, and I'll answer any ask I get about my opinions on any Encanto related things, and I might end up writing a fic about it to go deeper into it. 

I just feel like not enough people talk about this specific relationship enough, so I did.

#Encanto #isabela madrigal #mariano guzman #rant #this got way out of hand but oh well

[samekoblogs]

Say Yes to Heaven (Say Yes to Me)

Written for Amorra Week 2023 @amorraweek2023 for Day 3: Political Marriage.

Rating: E.

Tags: Semi-Public Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Finger Sucking, Resolved Sexual Tension, Clothed Sex, Korra is 18, Sensory Deprivation, Praise Kink.

Summary: (...)does she fear him, or does she fear getting closer to him?

Notes: I don't know if I'll post other stories for the Week, so I want to thank you all for the support shown! Special thanks go to the organizers of the event, who had the commitment to planning an Amorra Week after all this time! Thank you so much, it's been a fun ride!

The fanfic is under the cut if you're more comfortable reading on Tumblr.

NSFW content below.

~~~

“I’ll never get used to this.” 

Korra sags on the plush sofa she’s sitting on, her bored eyes traveling over the crowds of high-ranked public personalities passing by. None of them approach her luckily – she can’t deal with having the same conversation again for the bazillion time while the press tails her at her every step.

The ballroom shines from the illumination of a dozen electrical chandeliers decorated with crystal pendants. Reds, greens and blues apparels traverse the hall, mingle with each other, form and leave groups like oil that floats in the water following its currents. The chitchat and the heat produced by the lights would make for a comforting atmosphere, if it wasn’t for the tension that kept gnawing at her shoulders despite her attempt to ignore it.

She had to behave, Tarrlok warned her. A few more public appearances and the Council will be ready to announce the engagement to the press.

Too bad the novelty of galas long wore off and she would gladly spend the evening at Air Temple Island babysitting the kids for Pema.

Bolin, her one shoulder to lean on most of the time, hums sympathetically at her. 

“It’s not that bad though,” he says, putting on an encouraging smile. “We can see each other outside of training at these parties.”

“Wouldn’t you prefer to eat out together to this?” she asks, gesturing at the packed hall.

“Of course I would,” Bolin says. He’s fidgeting with his hands on his lap, petting Pabu’s head from time to time. “It’s just… I’m glad me and Mako can be here for you, and in the end, I don’t care if we aren’t having fun. I want to be a good friend to you, regardless of where we are.”

“You are being a good friend, Bolin,” Korra reassures him, brushing his arm. She gets past his mention of Mako. “Really, don’t worry about me. I’m doing fine all in all.”

It’s Tarrlok’s comments ringing back in her head from time to time that make this situation unnerving.

Maybe they’ll be popular enough to be crowned ‘Couple of the Year’ by every tabloid of Republic City.

Korra scoffs at the memory of those words, at how much malleable the rest of the Council had been when the motion had been presented and approved. Back then Korra had thought the Council was comprised of reasonable people when the Pro-Bending final match hadn’t been canceled. What a bunch of spineless fools, the attack at the stadium should have been proof enough that the Equalists had violent intentions in mind and public commotion in the future. Even as sheltered as she is, she saw it from a mile away. And yet… here she is. Forced to play their game on their behalf, just to keep peace. She wouldn’t back out, not with how much is at stake, but she wishes, now more than ever, that peace could be achievable by fighting, not by stepping back and arranging her life, her entire future. Is this punishment for having retired from Tarrlok’s task force? Is this what her refusal and fear led her to? If she had been brave enough when the situation asked for it, would that have spared her from this?

Perhaps it wouldn’t have made any difference. Tenzin feared an escalation since the attack at the stadium and, for how much unbearable he is sometimes, deep down Korra knows her airbending master is usually right. And this marriage could save lives. 

Perhaps she didn’t fight enough. Perhaps, if she had known what the future reserved for her, she wouldn’t have been such a… coward. A coward.

Korra gulps down a sip of her champagne. It tastes sour on her tongue, with the regretful thoughts clouding her mind and blocking out the sounds from the reception.

Likely sensing her ill mood, Pabu hops over to her lap, squeaking to get her attention. Korra rubs the fire ferret under his cute, little muzzle, the fur there white and soft. How she wishes she could have brought Naga. But a polar bear dog is too massive of a pet and, she has to admit, she’s not as well-behaved as Pabu when it comes to big crowds.

“Korra?”

She blinks, brought back from her musings by Bolin.

“Sorry, I wasn’t listening,” she mutters, trying to not let it show on her face the longing veiling her heart. “Did you say something?”

“I just said that… we could get us something to snack on,” Bolin proposes with a cheery smile, extending his arm to pat Pabu on his back.

Korra shakes her head.

“I’d like to but,” She looks around, trying to spot some journalists among the guests. “I can’t be seen with you for too long at this event.”

Or even at the next ones, maybe not until the union will be officialized. She frowns with disappointment, unsated vexation forcing her to press her tongue against her palate. Her betrothed is nowhere to be seen, and she’s supposed to wait for him already like a good wife. She’s no wife, she didn’t plan to be, her whole life had been devoted to training, her sole wish was to be the best Avatar she could ever aspire to become. Marriage never had been in her foreseeable plans. What will she tell her parents? She left the South Pole to learn airbending and, right now, she’s not close to bending any air and instead betrothed to a man that promised to take away her ability to ever bend again the three elements she mastered, let alone air. Part of the accord is that he, under no circumstance, can take away her bending, and she doesn’t doubt he has enough honor to carry out that term of the agreement – he gave her proof of that at Aang’s Memorial Island. Spirits, how she wishes that night never happened.

“I know we can’t do much about it,” Bolin sighs, his green eyes searching hers. “I’ll bring you something from the buffet then. Anything you particularly want on your menu?”

“Y’know, you wouldn’t be so bad as a waiter,” she jokes, with a sly grin. Bolin snorts, and she clings to that carefree sound, just as much as she clings to Bolin’s presence altogether. She doesn’t know how she would have distracted herself otherwise.

Then Tarrlok – damn Tarrlok – steps in between them, with his shit-eating grin and his sickening stench of cologne.

Annoyance comes back at the center of her chest in full force anticipating what’s about to come.

“Avatar Korra, I’m pleased to see you are mingling with the guests. And such in an intimate way too,” Tarrlok says, looking at Bolin with an affable expression holding a hint of disdain. Bolin cowers a little under that gaze, and it makes her loathe Tarrlok just a tad more than she already does. “Shouldn’t you be doing this with your companion? You came at the event together, after all…”

Korra juts out her lip. She disregards Bolin’s hand tightening around hers.

“Yeah, what about that? What about my companion, who’s nowhere to be seen?” she replies with bite. She doesn’t care if other guests will turn their heads in their direction. She’ll speak her mind however and whenever she likes.

Tarrlok doesn’t falters, doesn’t do much more than briefly lowering his eyes with a patient smile, as if she is being the unreasonable one, when it was her they gave up like a sacrificial lamb. The fact she was trying to adapt to the situation didn’t undermine the vileness of their actions, nor did her increasingly intruding thoughts about… about…

“Why, your companion is delightfully securing himself a place in the high society. He’s charming them all with his rather eloquent way of speaking.” Tarrlok places a hand on her shoulder. It’s not an amiable gesture, since his fingers are resting firmly on her clavicula. Pabu hisses quietly in her lap. She wouldn’t stop the fire ferret if he jumps on Tarrlok’s perfect hair and scratches that smug expression from his face. “You should try to show some of your charm too, Avatar Korra. The public goes into rapture when your speeches get heated.”

“My speeches…?” She tries to stall when Tarrlok gently but forcibly makes her get up from the sofa. Pabu scurries over to Bolin’s lap the moment she’s forced to, squeaking disgruntled. “This isn’t a press conference.”

“It doesn’t mean that you can’t spare a few words for a different type of audience,” Tarrlok insists, dragging her along.

Korra shoots Bolin a desolate glance. He looks back helplessly at her. Tarrlok didn’t even acknowledge his presence, as if he was just some passerby boy from the streets. Unimportant. Unwanted. A sensation Bolin must have grown painfully familiar with in life.

Korra glares angrily at Tarrlok. She shrugs away his hand from her shoulder and plants one foot down to halt his saunter.

“I accepted the agreement for peace’s sake. Not to be Amon’s little tick,” she challenges the councilman with bitter venom flooding her mouth.

“And you shouldn’t be, Korra. The role of the dutiful wife doesn’t suit you, between you and me.” Tarrlok smiles, as he so much did when he feigned to be on her side. Instead, he had been always looking left and right for a way to exploit her. He found one and, still, he wouldn’t leave her alone. “You’re not meant to be on his side. You’re meant to pose a threat to Amon. And you can do that by staying closer to him.”

“I understand this,” she manages out between her teeth. 

Or maybe I could be a threat to you, her mind warns, loud and fiery.

“Then, this is your chance to start doing your part,” he says, nodding with his chin toward the mildly dense crowd gravitating around a single man. Tarrlok nudges her forward, enough to bring her a little closer to the side of the ballroom where Equalist’s masks are hovering in between the maskless faces of intellectuals and businessmen and women. “Don’t you agree?”

Korra represses her urge to frown back at Tarrlok. She pushes into his hands her flute of champagne.

“Keep it warm for me, will ya?” she recommends, bitingly sarcastic. She then makes her way through the guests. The crowd parts as soon as she’s recognized as the Avatar. Whispers reach her ears in between some snippets of conversation. She presses forward relentlessly, mumbling excuses until she’s face to face with Amon’s second-in-command, the Lieutenant.

The man, him too in formal attire for the occasion, stops her as if she’s some kind of menace, or unwelcomed heckler. His stare doesn’t soften even when he recognizes her. Korra doesn’t wish for it to do so, their history of electrocuting and kicking each other’s asses – mostly her kicking his ass – isn’t something she intends to forget this easily. Especially the part in which it was her who mostly kicked his ass.

“Avatar. State your business,” he says, cold and professional.

“Getting around you, since I’m your boss’ companion for this gala,” she responds, drily. “In case even he forgot this.”

The Lieutenant nods at her, unblinking behind the goggles. She doesn’t believe for one second that seeing her doesn’t cause any emotion in him.

“Amon thought it would have been best for both of you to first sort out your most urgent affairs,” he says.

“Lucky for Amon, all my affairs are sorted out,” she says, proceeding to get past the Lieutenant. The man, however, doesn’t leave her be and escorts her to his leader, watching meticulously her every movement. It stresses Korra a little, but it’s a beneficial kind of stress: at least, she knows what to expect from a circumspect Lieutenant.

Amon is flanked by two equalist fighters whose identities are hidden under layers of uniform. They’re meant to be his guards beside the Lieutenant. Amon is the only Equalist present who donned himself up for the gala. He’s wearing a double-breasted black coat rather long on the tail. A burgundy sash is fastened around his middle as décor, on the hem of it the Equalist’s symbol is embroidered in white and golden threads. He didn’t leave his mask at home, so the ghostly whiteness of his public face reflects the gala’s lights, the hood of the coat furtherly hides his features. He’s elegant, no doubt, but still too recognizable as the leader of the Equalist, whose masked visage is disseminated across the city. Mere weeks ago, wanted posters had been plastered on all the newspapers. Once the agreement was sealed, their propaganda posters came back in full force; Korra must suppress a shiver every time she happens to meet those papery eyes in the streets.

Amon is conversing with Mr. Sato and what she guesses is one of Sato’s clients or close friends, judging by the warmness of Asami’s father. Korra still can’t believe that Mr. Sato seems a good candidate for being an Equalist sympathizer, when taking into account that he sponsored their Pro-bending team. Perhaps she’s jumping to conclusions, but him being so at ease around the equalists doesn’t sit well with her.

Amon’s mask turns toward what she presumes is her direction. He’s the first to notice her approaching, followed by his two interlocutors. Korra meets his stare right away, despite the slight heat spreading in her stomach. He still has this effect on her, since that terrifying encounter at Memorial Island.

“Miss Korra, it’s good to see you,” Mr. Sato salutes her, almost making her regret having suspicions about this man.

“Good evening, Mr. Sato,” she says, glancing then at his friend slash client. “You too, sir…?”

“There’s no need for sir, Miss Korra,” said man replies, taking her hand in one of his. He has Earth Kingdom’s features and a color palette to his clothes that matches them. “I’m simply honored to meet the Avatar.”

Korra shakes his hand politely, while Mr. Sato smiles friendly at the man.

“I told you Jing, that you would have your chance to meet her. He’s a big fan of yours, Miss Korra,” he adds, almost in a confabulatory manner.

“I’m happy to hear this,” she says, more sincerely this time. After quitting Tarrlok’s Task Squad, she feels like she has no supporters at all left.

Korra looks over to Amon, who’s been silent from the moment she appeared. Steadying her shoulders, she puts a hand on his forearm, gentle and discreet. It’s what she’s meant to do. It’s what she has to do. His muscles flex a little under the smooth texture of his coat. Her heart speeds up for a second, going back to a mostly normal pace once he finished bending his arm as if to welcome her hand there. As if this is a natural gesture for them. They did this at previous parties. Yet, the gesture doesn’t feel familiar enough for her. Will it ever be? Does she want it to be?

“Gentlemen, will you excuse us for a moment?” Amon says. Korra quirks an eyebrow at him. “I must discuss some private affairs with the Avatar.”

“Of course, sir,” Mr. Sato replies, raising his flute. “The gala is far from over and there will surely be more chances for us to talk. Right Jing?”

“Yes,” Jing says, nodding. Maybe with too much nodding.

The Lieutenant makes a move to follow them, but halts when Amon raises a hand.

“There’s no need for your presence, Lieutenant. Rest.”

The Lieutenant’s blue eyes stay unmoving on Amon. Korra can see from his stance alone, tense and rigid, that he’s thoroughly unhappy about that order.

“Yes, Amon.” He obeys nonetheless.

Amon takes his leave with her, guiding them through the room under the arched portal decorated with abstract patterns which leads to the doors. A doorman opens one for them. They’re out of the suffocating hall within a couple of seconds, and already the air feels cleaner, fresher. Since they’re no longer in the spotlight of the city’s elite, Korra leaves the man’s side, puts half of a foot distance away from him. The phantom touch of his arm brushing near her chest remains and gives her the chills.

“Private affairs?” she parrots him. “What do you want from me, Amon?”

She says his name as if just saying it could reignite the fire of her bravado and keep it ardent and at her disposal for a fight.

Amon clasps his hands behind his back. He appears much bigger, with his chest in full display like this. Korra tries to focus only on the holes of the mask shrouded in semi-darkness.

“Your behavior made it seem like you wanted something from me,” he replies, no fire, no discernible tone either. Just his voice stating a fact. “However, you presume too much. I don’t want anything from you.”

“Why are we here then?” she inquires, deeply furrowing her brows.

Amon’s head moves imperceptibly, his hood does too.

“An agreement was made, young Avatar,” he says, moving to one of the elongated windows along the hallway, which gives a view of the nocturnal landscape of the metropolis. “I have every intention to honor it and adhere to the terms presented to me. I don’t consider you my enemy much more than I did before, so don’t expect your hostility to be met with equal hostility.”

“I accepted that agreement too, you know,” she responds, joining him at the window to keep challenging him head-on. “And you’re not making it easy for me, if you leave me alone for the evening when we’re supposed to be seen together.”

“We already fulfilled that part of the agreement at this event, and at other events in the past,” he replies, after a second of pause.

If there ever had been one time she wished she could agree with this man, this is the one time.

“Tell that to Tarrlok,” she grumbles. “Just to be clear, it’s him that sent me looking for you. Just to be clear.”

It needs to be said, to put a barrier between them, however thin it might be proven to be. She already tried to build as many barriers as she could in the past, and despite the unfortunate end they met, she can’t give up. She can’t give up on getting a grip on herself.

Amon is surveying the faraway city lights, their reflections trembling over the sea’s waves.

“This phase will be over soon,” he says. “There will come times when the agreement won’t weigh as much as it does now.”

In the subsequent silence, Korra quietly urges those times to come soon, so she won’t have people breathing down on her neck and dumping expectations on her she wasn’t supposed to have. She then finds herself mulling over his words more carefully. The agreement does take its toll on her, but on Amon? Does it too, judging by his way of wording?

“What part of this weigh on you?” she asks, quizzically and much more accusatory when she resumes speaking. “You seem perfectly happy to be treated as a normal politician instead of a terrorist.”

“Not this part, of course. It certainly is advantageous to me and my movement,” he replies with unfiltered honesty. There wouldn’t have been any point in denying such an obvious fact anyway.

“So what?” she pries.

Amon’s eyes rest on her. Korra can make out their elongated shape, being bathed as they are in the moonlight, shining and as azure as marine gemstones. They have a pensive quality to them, which puzzles Korra together with his lack of a quick response. She had never been this close to him to see his eye color. It reminisces so much those of her nation. 

“I didn’t picture myself being a spouse,” he says in the end.

Korra clicks her tongue, dejected.

“Count me in,” she huffs. Maybe it could have been a nice thought in, let’s say, at least five years into the future. Right now, the perspective makes her nervous, and the sure fact that one day she will be married to Amon… it makes her queasy inside. Weak at her knees. Like the invisible bond marriage would put on her feels a little too much to bear, a sensation too strong unlike anything else she experienced. Much like the fear of him. Much like the weight of his icy stare on her own eyes and face. “Though, I guess… now it’s inevitable. I am in too deep to back down.”

“There will be the agreement’s terms to abide by,” Amon says, with the inflection of someone who’s starting a speech. “But, there will be also the marriage’s rules to abide by.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our rules. Rules made by you and me, to assure a peaceful coexistence,” Amon clarifies. 

Korra nods. That makes sense, of course.

“Okay, rule number one,” she says, raising her index. “Don’t make me go search for you again, I hate it.”

Mostly because of Tarrlok. A minuscule part of her, however, is embarrassed by the fact she had to search for Amon this evening and, on top of that, put a hand on his arm of her own volition to pretend something is going on between them. As if they’re really a couple in the making, or… something. She isn’t good with subtlety, it doesn’t bode well with her in general. She feels not herself, a liar, when hiding behind an act. She recognizes though, that it’s necessary to do in some cases. Such as this one. 

“I thought you would have enjoyed some time for yourself,” he says, and it sounds… thoughtful, almost. Korra isn’t sure if she’s projecting emotions that aren’t there on him.

“Well, I did,” she says, sincerely. “I wished it could have lasted longer, but alas, I did.”

“It won’t be the last time it happens,” he says, his words more akin to a promise than whatever she ever heard coming from his lips. “Do you have other rules in mind?”

“Right now, I guess not.” She takes a moment to think of activities and boundaries a normal couple should know about each other. Or basic info, now that she’s at it. It isn’t that she hasn’t any questions to ask him. It’s the opposite: she has far too many to choose from. “I had been wondering… how old are you?”

“Older than you are. I was a teenage boy I remember, when I heard the news of your reincarnation.”

Korra hums.

“So, you are a man,” she murmurs.

She swears Amon’s eyebrows furrow behind the mask, judging by the lines around his eyes.

“Yes. I am a man,” he confirms. Although there’s a questioning tone in his reply, which prompts her to stammer out an explanation.

“I-I always saw you masked, you could have been a woman with a very deep voice for all I know. Not that I would have had any issue with that,” she says, her cheeks warming a bit. It sounds a little stupid this thought she had, now that she’s exposing it out loud. “You’re in disguise even now. But I guess I’ll see your face, eventually.”

“Eventually?” he repeats, and Korra is starting to feel like she’s under some form of interrogation, which turns her tone quieter, her words more mumbled.

“Well… y-you know. Maybe we’ll be living together, in the same space in, in the future. To keep up with the façade. You’ll have to bathe at some point, or change clothes.”

She desperately keeps her attention focused on his pearly white mask to not conjure up images of a domestic life she’s nervous about having.

Amon stays silent for a couple of seconds.

“It makes sense,” he agrees. He was probably thinking she was an idiot and debating if he should say it. She doesn’t care if he considers her an idiot. Why she should? Her heart, however, begs to differ. Its beating is a little too quick for comfort.

“Just…” She thinks of Mako and Asami, and a shadow falls on her heart. “Just how much older than me are you?”

“Too old to be betrothed to you,” he says. As if this fact troubles him… makes him ashamed. Not at the Council, but rather at himself. His tone indicated such and he made no effort to hide it.

“Oh…” She doesn’t know what else to add to that. “Well… you didn’t choose to want me,” she says. Even as she feels inadequate inside, ashamed of herself for a totally different reason. She should be relieved that he sees the wrong in this forced arrangement, and she is in part. There has been a time in which she wished she had been enough for Mako. But she isn’t. Asami is enough for Mako. Now that the Council had made its decision, she’ll never be enough for anybody. They took her chances away from her. She looks up at Amon, her... future husband. “So, it’s alright.”

She tells this to herself too. That it’ll be alright. She’ll be enough in other ways. After all, her number one priority is being the Avatar. Everything else… is second thought.

“I didn’t choose to want you,” Amon agrees with her, repeating her exact words. “Never, I could have thought I wanted you.”

“Neither did I. After all, you…” She takes a quick breath. “You said you wanted to destroy me.”

Coldness runs down her spine, cooling her blood in its path. How small had she had been in his grasp, under his stare, he had seemed much more imposing shrouded in the deep shadows of the memorial. That experience brought with it the realization that her enemy is a man, tangible and real, not volatile and uncatchable and unchallengeable as the nightmarish Amon of her dreams. She can fight a human being, a man. Break his jaw with a jab. Touch his arm with a gentle hand. He can be spoken to and reasoned with, and her chest swells with a deep, powerful sensation, that prompts her to exhale softly. She had been thinking about it ever since. Perhaps even too much to admit it, without feeling her fingers tremble with the urge of closing them into fists, to suppress a surge of discomfort at the thought of someone finding out that she had been humanizing her adversary ever since, much more than it’s healthy. She tried to go back to the person she was before the ambush, but to no avail. Fear changed her. For better or worse, she can’t decide. Not when Amon’s presence puts her in a state of unrest.

“Yes,” Amon says. She hears the rustle of his hood, he’s no longer facing the window: he’s facing her. “And I should have remained on that path.”

His blue eyes are piercing in hers, through hers.

She gulps – she can’t help it, just as she can’t refrain herself from relying on her bravado to prevent her voice from abandoning her.

“If you think I would have made it easy for you to—”

“It wasn’t a threat, Avatar. I bore no killing intent towards you, and I always knew that our paths were meant to collide with each other. I never desired for them to converge at such an unfortunate meeting point,” Amon interrupts her, speaking with a grave tone. “It shouldn’t have happened like this. It shouldn’t have happened at all.”

“L-look,” Her voice trembles while she combs her hair with one hand. “I’d have preferred too if we could have battled each other tooth and nails.”

“Do you?”

His inquiry freezes her. He’s not letting her express herself, which is weird, not at all like him.

“W-what?”

“I remember a terrified girl, yet too stubborn to give in to fear and surrender. The last time I saw that girl, it had been weeks ago.” Amon draws nearer to her, not so suddenly to make her step back. “What did it change?”

“Change?” Korra sputters, indignantly. “What was supposed to change? Just because of that stupid agreement, you think I’m less wary of you? Or because you’re not trying to be intimidating on purpose, suddenly I’m not scared of you? Guess what asshole, I still am.” And she has no issue in admitting it to him, while her palpitating heart is making a steady climb to her throat. Her cheeks are hot as hell. “But I don’t want my fear to define me. I don’t want…”

She grabs the fabric of her dress, over where her heart is threatening to consume her breath. It’s a contest with herself she has been losing ever since, not willing to admit her defeat time and time again when she wonders, asks herself cornered by her own judging mind: does she fear him, or does she fear getting closer to him?

A phantom touch grazes her chin. She thinks she’s imagining it. Her eyes shoot open the moment she recognizes the feeling of skin against skin, the heat of someone else’s hand. She stares at Amon’s chest, much nearer than it had been mere seconds ago.

“This?” His question is a whisper. It makes her skin prickle where he’s barely touching her. “You don’t want this?”

She can’t speak. Mouth agape, her words are no more. She feels like she never learned to speak at all. She can only stare at the eyeholes of Amon’s mask, blue glinting back at her.

When he retreats his hand, a soft, whistling sound barely audible to her reaches her eardrums. It was his breathing, passing through the mouth slit of the mask.

“I will take my leave,” he says, his voice feels much louder to her than before, like a booming thunder shaking the darkness. “That was inappropriate.”

“Then why did you do it?” she asks before he could even think of giving her his back.

Amon’s face is slightly tilted to the side, an indication that he might not be looking her in the eye.

“To prove a point.”

Korra narrows her eyes.

“Oh y-yeah?” she sasses him. “To-to whom? To me, or to you?”

Amon stays mute. He always has words in his mouth worth three lifetimes, and now he chooses to be silent?

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” he declares, tries to turn away from her.

Korra grabs him by one flap of his collar. It’s a habit she has when her nerves get the best of her… she didn’t expect herself to fall into that instinct with Amon too.

“Y-you…” she stutters, close to his figurative mouth. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare run away on me. I didn’t. So you don’t get a chance too.”

She bares her teeth, her heart is beating so loud she feels its thumps in her gums. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter anymore, as Amon eloquently said. No emotion she feels for him will ever be right. Fear isn’t what the Council, Tarrlok and the city expect from her. And neither is this urge she once felt for Mako. So why bother? Why bother hiding the real nature of her feelings and thoughts? No one bothered to care when they gave her up to what is supposed to be her enemy and number one fear. Too bad for them that Amon stopped being that a long time ago.

She grabs him by the remaining flap of his collar. Their chests are brushing against each other, Amon makes no move to back away, or press forward. His icy blue eyes are scrutinizing her, definitely larger than they normally are. He can’t feel him breathe, despite their proximity.

“Is this what you want?”

Too focused on her stubbornness and spite mixed with dizzying physical reactions, she almost missed him asking.

She nods, slow and unsure at first.

“Yes,” she says, to make her decision final.

For a couple of seconds, nothing happens.

It’s a pregnant pause before disaster. Before jumping over a line inside the jaws of uncertainty.

When Amon’s hands find her waist, his warmth filters through her dress despite his touch being light and respectful. He climbs up her torso, until his palms rest on the sides of her neck. She shudders all the way, keeping her eyes trained on his. He’s cupping her face, warming it, his fingers massaging her scalp, his thumbs caressing her cheeks.

Korra relaxes her hold on his flaps at his touch. It’s simple, yet it feels so intimate, unlike anything else in her everyday life.

She presses herself against him, giving in to that temptation she felt for Mako a lifetime ago. She kisses him on the slit of the mask, the next thing she has available for a mouth. It’s entirely different from that kiss with Mako. That had been impulse, newborn envy, and no thought. She had thought about this for a long time, trying to deny these thoughts even existed. Now they exist, and they are reality. This kiss is exciting, it’s unordinary, and it shouldn’t have ever happened. Yet it’s happening – and she loves it. She loves the smooth texture of the mask on her lips, she loves the quickening breaths transpiring through the slit, she loves how one of his hands buries itself in her hair.

She reaches to the side of the mask, trying to find a way to get it off or unclip it.

Swift as when using chi-blocking, Amon snatches her wrist.

Korra is startled. He doesn’t appear angry and he’s not trying to hurt her either, his hold is solid yet not harmful. The message, nevertheless, is clear: don’t remove it.

“I want to kiss you for real,” Korra protests, staring deep into those heated glaciers, trying to convince him, to be incentivizing. “Don’t you want it too?”

Amon’s fingers curl furtherly around her wrist. He makes her put it down, his glare regaining a placid light.

“Yes,” he says, a whisper that makes her yearn for that kiss even more. “Step back against the wall.”

Korra obliges. She didn’t expect though for Amon to stalk her every step back toward the wall farthest from the windows and the hall of the gala, his almost predatorial stance giving her goosebumps. The training ingrained into her body urges her to correct her own stance and prepare for an attack. That instinct is snuffed out by the hand Amon raises to cover her eyes during her last step.

Her back meets the wall and Korra can’t help the exhale escaping her. She’s blind, darkness overcoming her eyesight, so she strains her ears to figure out what’s going on.

She hears the rustle of fabric, the sound of leather being manipulated.

It’s her sense of touch that informs her of what’s happening next. A breeze fans over her lips, causing a shiver to run down her inert arms.

She parts her lips, craving him like water, like oxygen. Lips brush over her upper lip, soft and inviting. He gives her a chaste kiss that makes her heart skip a beat, that devolves into one full of greediness and want, so much of it. Korra closes her eyes, leans into his warmth, into the caresses of his lips and tongue. She feels around to find leverage on the man’s shoulders, deepening the kiss to the point she becomes breathless, lightheaded – and still wants more. 

Amon descends lower, tracing her jawline with his parted mouth, leaving kisses under her chin where her skin starts to prickle with pleasant goosebumps. She inadvertently exposes more of her neck, which grants him better access to it. Every touch of his lips on her tender flesh is amplified when she can’t see a thing and has only the feeling of his mouth, his nose and the faint brush of his cheek telling her he’s showering her with an attention that’s a bit overwhelming at times for how much pleasurable it is.

When Amon’s deft fingers push a little aside the collar of her dress to press kisses on her claviculae, she feels a sudden want for him to go further. Lower.

“W-wait,” she says, gently pulling him away. “Help me get the surcoat off, p-please. I’ll keep my eyes closed.”

Korra undoes the morbid belt around her waist, before reaching for the lower part of the surcoat. Amon helps her lift it over her head so she can slip out.

“Are you sure about this?” Korra stops her fingers over the first button of her dress upon hearing his voice. “You don’t need to overdo it.”

Somehow, that makes her neck and jowls hotter. Is he looking out for her? Does he think she feels obliged to do this?

“As long as no one busts us,” She smirks blindly up to where she guesses his face is. “We can do whatever we want. Can’t we?”

She doesn’t know a whole lot about erotic stuff or whatnot, but she’s eager to learn, to give in and discover more.

“Reckless girl,” he whispers, as he goes back to cover her eyes.

Something jolts in her stomach at his light reprimand, like a handful of embers caught fire in it.

Korra gulps, flattening her shoulders only when no more reprimands follow.

She unbuttons the first button, the second and so on. Her own nails and fingertips against her skin fill her with a never experienced anticipation tugging at her ribcage.

She rests her hands over where the last button is, at hip height, unsure where she should go next, if she should say something to the man she’s baring herself for. It’s not usual for her to be this… shy.

Amon’s stronger, larger hand covers hers, in a gesture of reassurance she guesses. It has this effect on her and it surprises her how well it works on her, how the nervous beating of her heart subsides as if it had been cradled by someone’s loving arms.

It seems Amon can tell when she’s ready and her mind completely made up, because his hand rises to her chest at the right time. His fingers skim over her sternum to her bosom, feather-light touches leaving streaks of shivers in their wake. He palms through the bra, her flesh plies so easily under his touch and she trembly exhales.

She puts her hand on his arm when Amon slips a hand under her bra to grope at her breasts, his mouth lowers from her shoulder to her chest and he- he takes her nipple into his mouth. Korra can’t help the small noise of surprise at the wet heat enveloping her, which soon morphs into a hum of appreciation as he suckles on it, slow and sensual and with the added scrape of teeth rendering her all too sensible, all too happy to place her other hand at the back of his head to spur him. His hair is on the longer side, soft thick locks that she treads along with her fingers. She wonders about its color, how it would feel to press her nose and face against it, and butterflies flutters in her stomach. Would it be possible such a scenario with him? With a man so reserved, so elusive? She hopes it is – she hopes this gentleness he’s displaying is just the superficial part of a whole thing. 

Her unconscious smile broadens when he moves to mouth at her stomach, her abdomen solid with muscles. He doesn’t stop there, goes further to where the dress barely covers the hem of her panties. Amon lifts her gown, the fabric pooling up her thigh exposes her leg to the air. Him, caressing the inside of her knee up to her inner thigh, mouthing at her jugular with faint breaths heating up her skin and agitated blood, is leading her mind to places she didn’t know it could go. He’s inching closer to her groin, contracting the closer he gets.

He hooks the hem of her panties, sheds them. Just as with everything that came before, Amon isn’t fretful, or impatient, which is better than okay for her. She’s glad he understands, thus sparing her from having to admit her inexperience. He takes his sweet time stroking her thighs, before he reaches her wet sex. She gasps, tensing for a split second before willing her muscles to ease back, the tender circles he traces around her labia aiding her.

Tension is tying her groin into a knot, mostly tolerable at the moment. That could change soon however, if he keeps this up.

“Korra.” She’s stunned by the sound of her name rolling down his tongue, in severe syllables. “Open your mouth.”

“Ye… yes…” she says, while her blood seems to be rushing to her cheeks, but much more of it is taking the opposite direction, plunging into her loins.

Feeling his digits smoothing over her lower lip, Korra parts her mouth more to take them in.

“Good girl…” he praises her – praises her – with a hushed, husky tone of voice. Korra is dumbfounded at first, giddy as soon as his words sink in. “Now, wet them.”

She nods, swirling her tongue around them. A saline taste hits her tastebuds, one she recognizes from the sporadic night she spent pleasuring herself. She sucks on them more eagerly, more excited and pleased, coating his fingers thoroughly with saliva.

Amon hums above her, a light rumble in his throat that sounds like approval, like satisfaction. So she seductively pops her lips while he slips his fingers out.

A few more motions around her sex and she feels him prodding at her entrance.

“Are you ready?”

“Y-yes,” she replies, limbs trembling from anticipation.

He pushes delicately into her, Korra takes a quick breath as he does. His digit slides easily inside and it makes her shudder, the thought a piece of him is inside such an intimate part of her, the fact he might be looking at her every movement, every expanding of her chest and widening of her lips, all of this is so hot to her.

Amon pumps inside her, slow and deliberate to spread her, the longer he does the more Korra opens her legs. His thumb brushes against her clit, causing her to buckle her hips, an incandescent gush of arousal slithers in her pelvis once his touches become intense.

Her breath itches, a delighted sound bubbles in her throat at the second finger he pushes inside and curls inside of her stimulating her inner walls in a way that makes her throb and moan softly. Amon seems to suppress a growl close to her ear, his powerful body is pressed flushed against hers as he pumps into her faster, harder.

She wets her lips swollen from their kisses, trying to speak.

“What a-about you?” she manages to ask.

“Don’t think about it,” he says, soft-voiced, his timber hoarse. “Is this good?”

“Yes, please.” It’s too late to stop that plea and, she realizes, she doesn’t care. “D-don’t stop.”

Pleasure is steadily mounting in her tingling, boiling core and she doesn’t ever want him to stop. Korra wraps her arms around his neck, she feels the hard muscles of his chest against her turgid breasts.

Amon breathes out against her hair, she almost misses the trembling in his breathing.

“Beautiful…” he purrs. Korra can’t believe at first she heard that coming from him, she just can’t fathom it. He suspires over her lips. “You’re so beautiful, breathtaking…”

Those words sink deep in her, cutting like a blade, tender and warm and enthralling like the embrace of a hot spring. They wash over her in a wave. And they echo.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Breathtaking.

She never knew she craved to be called that by anyone. Yet it brings such unbelievable joy to her. Such desire.

“A-Amon…” she calls him, she reclaims him with another frenzied kiss that’s met with unbridled need. He’s stroking her labia up to her pulsating clit, smearing her fluids to bring her to her peak. She’s close, so very close, her insides are coiled up in need, her heart is mercilessly hammering into her ribcage and ears, his tongue sliding against hers, him rubbing her clit, it’s too much.

It all comes crashing down on her in a hot, white flare. Her body arches, spams, her moan consumes itself against Amon’s assertive mouth.

She slumps, panting hard, and there’s an arm latching around her waist to keep her erect. Korra leans forward and lets her head fall against Amon’s shoulder, her arms embracing the expanse of his back.

He’s no longer covering her eyes; instead, that hand is now stroking her hair free from the hairdo. She can’t take a peek at his face from this angle, but she wouldn’t even try to. if that isn’t what he wants, she’ll wait.

She buries her nose into his coat, taking in the smell of his cologne, stark and crisp, the gentle rise and fall of his chest. She feels like she might belong here, where she is now. Perhaps she will, if things play out as they should. She hopes so.

“We should refresh ourselves and go back to the gala,” Amon says when she has come down enough to form coherent thoughts back. And the gala isn’t at the forefront of her mind.

“Let’s… do it again sometime soon… ‘kay?”

She has still the most delirious smile pulling at her lips. She wants him to say yes – she needs him to say yes.

Amon caresses the back of her head in a loving manner, he leans with his cheek on her wavy hair.

“I share the same sentiment,” he says, gracefully. Wishfully.

It makes her heart and soul soar.

#amorra #korra #amon #amorra week

[notsosilentsister]

Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet, 2023)

I find myself wanting to talk about this film like the characters in it are real people, which can be the mark of a story that has accomplished its aims. So the question is, did she do it? What do I think, what are we supposed to think?

I think we're supposed to think it's ambiguous. The climax is all about the son making a choice - it's clearly not an easy one for him. He isn't just telling the truth. He's - if not inventing entirely - embellishing, at least. The testimony might not provide much admissible evidence, but emotionally, it's too neat of a resolution, fits too well with the lawyer's characterisation of the husband. So well that at first I thought, sure, this has to be true, how could a kid have come up with this? But of course this is the kid of two writers. He cannot know if his mother is innocent, but he decides to save her anyway.

Sandra herself doesn't agree with her lawyer's characterization of her husband. She tells him right in court, where others might hear, when that's the pillar of his defense, undermining her own best shot at being exculpated. (Are we supposed to think she is at a real risk of being found guilty? I don't know enough about French courts to evaluate that, but I would normally assume there's not much of a case, the accusation is based on too much conjecture. But that's not truly what's at stake here, isn't it, the real stakes are about losing her child's trust and love. The suspense of the court's verdict might be taking artistic licence to dramatize the suspense of the child's verdict.)

Sandra has enough of a self preservation instinct to lie about the bruise, but she hesitates to support the suicide theory. She still doesn't seem to be entirely on board even after she herself has disclosed her husband's first suicide attempt. She's muddling her own story, and it does seem like a mark of counter-productive honesty. It could be manipulation - maybe making her lawyer think she's innocent is just as, if not more, important to her as proving her innocence in court? But it does seem genuine to me. Sandra is presented as someone who almost can't help her honesty. She's straightforward, blunt, she won't smile at her husband's friends, when she's not feeling it, she's showing her true colours, even if it costs her.

I declared Sandra innocent in my mind pretty early in the proceedings, I just couldn't buy the motive. A fit of rage? I kinda never buy that as an explanation, killing seems often like a fairly drawn-out-affair, where you have to commit to see it through, and it certainly does seem so in the scenario presented, where she would have to lift his legs over the windowsill. Like, I could sometimes see someone inadvertently killing a victim they just intended to scare, because they misjudged their power, but it's also hard to see that as a strategy Sandra would use in this scenario. My guess is that fatal domestic violence (without financial motive) is usually either habitual intimidation with miscalculated impact, a honor killing, or the last resort of a cornered animal. And those other options also don't seem to fit Sandra, whose honor doesn't rely on controlling her husband and who always seems to have plenty of agency - if she's unhappy in her marriage, she speaks her mind, she takes a lover; if she's unhappy enough, why wouldn't she just get a divorce?

But isn't that just the textbook mistake? To believe that a strong woman like Sandra would not get trapped in an abusive relationship? (She always seems to have plenty of agency - except when he's ruining her interview with his awful music, and she can't just tell him to shut it off..). Because that husband sure is a piece of work. I'm immediately predisposed against him, before he's even shown on the scene, with his first aural emantion. I grieve for him, when I see the grief of his child. And then he's on my eternal shitlist again, when he accuses his wife of always forcing others to meet her on her own territory, when he's just roped her into moving to his home-town. Because he has to speak English with her instead of his native tongue French, when she doesn't get to speak her native tongue German to him either! The gall of it! Shit's so transparent, it's adding insult to injury.

So the husand certainly _tries_to trap her, in isolation, in guilt, but doesn't she see through it, when she reads him for filth in that climactic altercation? Shouldn't that be enough to break the spell? Would she have to resort to violence to escape?

For what it's worth, I think the laywer's theory is much more likely. Husband tries it, and fails, and sees that his guilt trips won't work on her much longer. He's the one who's cornered. And I wouldn't put it past him to pull a Gone Girl and choose his exit in a way that frames the wife he blames for all his miseries. Vindictive self-destruction. Also fits well with the injuries to his knuckles and the holes in the walls, for which we do, after all, see objective evidence. But maybe I would believe any theory presented by Swann Arlaud (who, since we're talking about imagining animals' heads on people's bodies, obviously looks like a stoat. A beautiful stoat. I've been keenly waiting for Sandra Hüller to say it in that last scene they have together, when she cradles his head and looks deep into his eyes. But this film is really all about witholding resolution.)

#anatomy of a fall #justine triet #sandra hüller #swann arlaud #film #film review #journal

[nepobabyeurydice]

A Kite Stuck By Lightning

Sally relives a memory, Hades wishes that Poseidon would go back to choosing the pretty idiot ones.

On AO3

The memory is old and half-faded, but it’s what solidified her marriage to Gabriel.

It begins with a trip to the park. Percy’s mouth slathered with mint chocolate ice cream because it was the closest approximation to blue ice cream. His blue eyes are wide as he takes in the people and the noise.

It’s a clear, windy day in the middle of spring, the sun is shining, the chill doesn’t deep through her jeans and Percy’s been eyeing the kites since they got here. 

What’s the harm? Sally had thought then. No one knows. It’s been six years and no one has figured it out yet.

It was just a kite.

Then the lightning hit it. It seared through the paper of the kite and slammed into the dirt with a vicious fury, and it was only Percy’s quick reflexes that saved him from being injured.

Sally froze for a moment, numb.

It was just a kite.

It was just a kite.

And all Zeus had to do was throw a single bolt and burn Percy into ash. He had just shown he could do that with a fucking kite.

.x.

“That’s enough,” a voice says and Sally gasps as she hits the floor. She doesn’t look up, Poseidon had warned her to never look up unless she was certain that the god was already in mortal form.

Her heart thuds in her ears, her cheeks feel wet from the tears she had probably let loose. 

“Look at me, mortal.” the voice says and Sally knows with absolute certainty who it is. “How dare you send your son to steal my helm.”

Sally looks up and regrets it immediately since her first thought is he would make an excellent redemption bait for my protagonist.

This, she’s been informed by one of her friends in Sweet America after she caught Sally staring at a distinctly shabby man going by Fred that Sally itched to make a mentor figure for her character, was not normal.

But it worked like a coping mechanism right now so who was Sally to stop what was keeping her from having a hysterical breakdown?

“Percy has done nothing wrong.” Sally says, and it’s by some miracle her voice doesn’t crack. “He could’ve never made it from one side of the Hudson to the other without getting expelled.”

“LIAR!” Hades roars and he paces like a caged lion. Souls writhe in his robes and Sally wonders what awful crimes must have you committed to be in his underpants. Or worse, what type of lover you were to him. She pulls a face of disgust at the thought.

“He has stolen something from me and if you don’t tell me where it is before the summer solstice I will stop Death.” Hades threatens. “I have no use for my brother’s lover if that is the case.”

Sally takes a deep breath, the air smells like decay and pomegranates, but somehow she swears she smells ozone. Maria di Angelo, she recalls abruptly, the conversation she had had with Poseidon all those years ago swollen with Percy coming to mind, had been killed by the Master Bolt. 

“He was six,” Sally begins and Hades whips around to stare. “When Zeus made his first threat. He struck Percy’s kite with lightning with enough force it should’ve killed him. Other times, eagles have appeared on his window when he’s in boarding school, they cut through the scent Gabriel offers. I’ve been married to that horrible, ugly man for six years in some vain hope I will never let my baby boy go. And now you tell me my Perseus stole something from the gods?”

“You do not understand the lengths a son will go to please his father.” Hades replies, eyes intense and perhaps mad with the destruction he had witnessed throughout the centuries. “Poseidon is charming and—”

Sally shoots up to her feet ignoring the voice screaming in her head. “I have raised a good boy. I don’t understand what else Olympus and the Underworld want me to do! Percy is sweet and caring and loyal. All I want for him is a happy ending and this war won’t give it to him. Why in the world would he do such a thing? Why would my son, not Poseidon’s, mine, do such a thing when sometimes I swear the only thing he hates more than Gabriel is his father?”

Hades snarls, truly snarls like a dog on a chained to a post in the streets of New York, and Sally flinches back, but she doesn’t stand down. She closes her eyes half-mast in preparation of what’s to come.

“We will see.” Hades says instead and Sally’s eyes pop open as he vanishes into the shadows.

We will see, she thinks as a crystalline substance forms over her body, sealing her inside of it. She doesn’t panic, she knows better than to panic at a time like this. We will see.

Once, there was a kite, and the kite was struck by lightning. One could not begin to imagine how many choices were begotten out of that simple moment. If you ask Sally Jackson for the answer you’d get in reply: more than you can ever imagine.

Percy Jackson will never learn of this. He doesn’t have to, all he has to do is rescue his mother and go home like his namesake before him. 

#sally jackson #fanfiction #ao3 fanfic #hades #my writing

[juneandnick]

5x10 : Safe (My POV)

I already wrote something after the release of the episode: Link.

The writing of the first and the last episode of season 5 is just a sort of mirror.

Episode 01. June just killed Fred.

At the police station, Luke asks her to back home because after all she does not need to accept the punishment: You did nothing wrong. He got what he deserved.

He offers her to leave Toronto: We will take off. We will go to Hawaii, okay?

Episode 10. Luke killed a Gilead sympathizer to save June's life.

With June and Holly, they are on the run for Hawaii.

He ends up surrendering to the police at the station.

June prays him to stay: Please do not do this. I do not want to do this alone. I do not want to do it alone anymore. I do not want to do it alone. We need you.

Also a parallel with S5E02, Luke:  You gotta be here. You gotta be right here. All right? Because I need you here and Nichole needs you here. You family needs you here. And if you are not … I do not know what is gonna happen June to us.

June tries to be happy with Luke while Nick tries the same thing with Rose.

June seems to be fine with it. I mean it is not easy everyday with Luke (which is normal) but she does not seem to think of Nick, excepts for her needs. In fact, it is nearly surprising she has a thought for him before to leave Toronto for Hawaii.

I really do not like the fact she did not ask news from Nick to Joseph or Mark. Just like she turned the page. Maybe because she wants to honor her wedding vows.

I would have loved to see her tell Holly about Nick. Maybe she could have shown her a picture. But I would have liked something: Maybe a fantasy or a flashback (about an unseen scene). It is disappointing. Out of sight - Out of mind.

In S3E13, June thought she was going to die in the woods. She remembered that scene with Luke and Hannah. (See photo below) We could have had a parallel with a fantasy with Nick and Holly: Having a picnic, having fun at the beach ...

In another context, we could have see Rita who suggests to cook tuna and June smiling while suggesting to her friend to buy oranges. No my best idea lol sorry.

I do not know if it is important but in a flashback in S4E06 Moira thought that June marrying Luke is a bad idea. June tried to justify: Our marriage is not going to be like that marriage. They fought all the time about all kinds of stuff. We never fight.

So I wonder if June avoids being honest with Luke, being angry for fear of arguing. Because that is one of the reasons he left Annie, his ex-wife. Even if it is completely normal to argue with family, friends, colleagues ... It is just a passing idea.

Moira and Rita seem more "Team Luke." I no longer see complicity between these women with June. For example, it is maybe stupid but in S4E07 at the Fairmont Royal York hotel before to leave, Moira hugs first Luke then June. She does it the same thing in S5E05 when June and Luke are ready to across the border.

Sometimes the little details make the difference.

If June is careful do not argue with Luke, it is also because she does not want to do it alone. Probably she is afraid to loose Nichole. She probably feels guilty because Luke waited her for seven years and raised the little girl. And because Moira was supposed to tell her in S4E06: Luke is a good guy. And he handled it pretty well when you had a baby with another man. So she stays because he is her husband.

But for me it does not explain her indifference about Nick. We have not seen her thinking about him all season. She was more or less like: Nick? Nick who?

The thing that disappoints me (even if I can already hear you explaining the why and the how), June lived seven years in Gilead. A country where women are not allowed to read, to write, to have a job, to participate in the government, to do what they want … Just good to run their household and raising children.

And as a handmaid, June was imprisoned, beat, raped and treated like a child. Yet she rebelled against the system. She got Holly out, she worked with Mayday into Lawrence's home, she organized the Angel’s Flight … I understand that she is no longer in survival mode but what is happen to the f**king rebel handmaid?

With Nick she dared to be furious, to be angry. With Luke, she looks like a puppy and is weak, she fears of disappointing. She apologizes all the time. It is a shame.

Nick has always stayed true to his feelings for June. Does not matter if he is married, does not matter if they are separate. His feelings for her are still so sincere.

Nick is like a compass that always points North. He always care about June, about their daughter, about their safety. He asked to Mark and Joseph about them. He is always dreaming about the three of them, how could he not? They are his family.

In S5E03, when June tells him: Try and be happy, okay? He does not lie to himself, being happy for him means being with June. But he does not answer her, because:

- It is too painful, - He does not want to lie to her, - He does not want her to feel guilty.

Maybe he is also afraid that she would not share his feelings.

His marriage with Rose is what it is: A marriage of convenience. He is married to a woman with whom: He always enjoyed talking. He tried to be a good husband, he tried Gilead shoes but he failed. So I appreciate the writing of Nick about June.

I hope season 6 will rock! I want something HUGE for Osblaine. 🤞 Something unexpected but damn good and very very quickly. We wasted enough time.

Music by Adam Taylor

- Bridge Over The Border ❤️

- Late Night Visit ❤️

- Not To Her ❤️

Source Pictures: Screenshots (by me)

#the handmaid's tale #osblaine #june osborne #nick blaine #S5E10 #season5 #my POV #adam taylor #music

[palmofafreezinghand]

⭐ director's cut of anything you want, please! ⭐

Thank you so much for the ask @the-most-pathetic-edge-marquis apologies for the belated response, this is such a fun game!

Doing this for “a father’s precautions” because I’m not going to force you to sit through carlesme analysis when billy and charlie are right there 💖

cw: slight analysis of canonical depression and suicide ideation

“When Billy Black received a call from a man he’d never met; and frankly thought the walking corpse was something made up by his grandfather to make him eat his vegetables, he prepared for everything… but this.” 

I hate this line in Midnight Sun, hate it, but it’s crucial to Billy’s character (and Carlisle’s).  He’s told his son, the only family member he has left at that point, will one day be stolen of all autonomy and choice and there’s nothing he can do about it, and he knows what it feels like to lose all choice. While he couldn’t tell Jacob directly he could worry and worry he did. He, however, didn’t think he’d ever have to worry for Charlie. Which (in my mind) is why he fights so hard to make Bella breakup with Edward before he kills her. And then New Moon happens and everything in Billy Black’s life is falling completely apart. 

“Charlie had shown up with the safe for the first time in the middle of a storm, a less than two-week-old Bella in the backseat. Sarah rocked her to sleep as Billy helped take up enough carpet to reach the subfloor. ���It’s a rough transition, all you can do is be there for her. Help her, protect her.’”

I have a little headcanon that Renee struggled in the postpartum period before deciding to leave Charlie (I think there’s arguments for this in canon) which I use to justify why Bella is a touch detached from Renesmee once she’s born. 

 “It was a well-known fact he wasn’t Renee’s number-one fan, no one that knew her was”

I think Billy had to really bite his tongue when Renee and Charlie eloped. I also think the only reason Billy held his tongue is because Sue threatened to cut it out. That whole group hated Renee but figured, hoped, it was nothing more than a fling so they never said anything besides snide comments until Charlie showed up with a gold band on his finger. (This commentary, and subconscious knowing he was making a mistake, was why Charlie hid his marriage until the ink was dry). 

Those one off comments is seen in the moment leading up to this line: 

“Says ‘she’s just a kid. Kids do these kinds of things.’ Thinks it all just work out, it did for her after all,” Charlie said, kicking at the corner of the beige carpet. It was the first time in weeks Billy had heard any emotion in his friend’s voice. 

“Glad to see she hasn’t changed a bit,” Billy muttered.

“Or maybe, she was her father’s kid. The man who stole Billy’s fishing boat in the dead of night to do something stupid. The man Billy had rocked as he wailed his lungs out in the middle of the ocean. The man who had a large part of him die when Renee closed that door.”

There’s a deleted line in the New Moon script that I know exists but I can’t find at this moment where Charlie talks about going to a really dark place when Renee left — this was the best way I could figure out how to represent that and also have a big enough event to trigger Billy into putting such strict restrictions on his best friend. (This incident is in the multi-chapter Thing about them and is a huge moment in their relationship). 

“You don’t have to lie to me, we’ve done this before.” Billy’s hand softly landed on Charlie’s arm. 

“I’m fine. Thanks, Bill.” 

I don’t have any commentary besides this interaction (while I wrote it) lives in my head rent free. Also Charlie is the only one who can call Billy Bill. 

“You want to stay for a beer? I bought a fresh pack of Ballantines, I could call Harry. We could watch a game,” Billy offered. He’d bought the beer three weeks ago, the six-pack collecting dust as it waited for Charlie. Billy didn’t drink but if he did it wouldn’t be Ballantine. But Charlie hadn’t come by and the beer sat undrunk, the game unwatched. 

Canonically Charlie drinks Rainer, I however am a Frasier stan through and through and associated Martin Crane, retired cop and dad trying his best but coming up short most of the time, with Charlie’s drinking habits. The Billy not drinking is a headcanon of mine in ‘grief in a glass’ and have just stuck with. 

 Billy flipped the porch light on. Perhaps Charlie wouldn’t admit it just yet but one night he would need a life preserver and the porch light would be on, it always had been. 

This is a headcanon I established in a different Billy-centric piece, ‘grief in a glass’,  where he leaves the porch light on for Sue after Harry’s funeral for days until she joins him for a drink.

#writing asks #billy black #charlie swan #my writing

[hummingbird-of-light]

Against All Odds

Part 661

McCoy

Afternoon classes drug on. McCoy loved Francine, loved that she cared for him as one of her own sons, but her timing had not been the most fortunate. McCoy had wanted to lose himself in his fiancé, and put everything going on out of his mind, if only for a little while, but caring mothers had other plans.

McCoy sighed under his breath. He could still taste Scotty’s last kiss on his lips. McCoy had nearly pushed him back upstairs at that moment, wanting to skip their classes. But Scotty had given him that sweet smile and turned away for his classroom, and McCoy was left to walk to his own.

He turned his focus to biochem. It was becoming easier and he sent a silent thank you to Dr. Boyce and Christine for helping him understand it better.

In his next class, his last of the day, his PADD blinked a new message. Glancing at it, McCoy saw it had come from the king. His heart began to pound in his chest. It would be the statement David was making regarding the arranged marriage article.

McCoy’s finger hesitated over the message. He took a deep breath and brought his hand back. He would wait. Class was more important and he knew that. But could he focus knowing the message was there? He had to try.

What seemed like hours later, the class ended. McCoy decided he had already waited this long, he could find Scotty and read it together.

He hurried from the class and in his haste nearly crashed into his fiancé. Scotty’s hands caught his upper arms and steadied him.

“Whoa love!” Scotty chuckled. “Where are ye off to so fast?”

“To find you,” McCoy said, trying to keep his face from flushing.

“Oh, well, I guess I should be flattered, ye’re so anxious to see me,” Scotty grinned.

“Come on,” McCoy said, indicating with a head nod they should get moving.

“Where to? So eager to pick up where we left off before Mum interrupted?”

“Maybe,” McCoy answered with an eyeroll. “Father sent his statement to me.”

“What’d he write?” Scotty asked curiously.

“Didn’t read it yet. Was trying to focus in class.”

“And did ye?”

“Not a word.”

McCoy closed the door of their room and handed Scotty his PADD.

“You read it please,” he said, rubbing his hands nervously as he began to pace the room.

Scotty looked about to protest, but stopped when he saw the look in McCoy’s eyes. He sat on their bed and opened the message.

“He says ‘hi,’ and then it begins. ‘A statement from the royal house of Georgiares II: We are making this statement in regards to the recent article stating Prince Leonard was in an arranged marriage with Miss. Darnell.”

Scotty paused in his reading.

“Miss Darnell and her family have been long time friends of the crown. During their early years, it was thought to perhaps be a good match between the Prince and Miss Darnell. However, nothing formal was ever arranged. Though the Cabinet of Ministers agreed with and approved the idea, it was never formally introduced into a session.

As our children began to grow, we realized that what was best for the Prince and Crown Princess, would be to find their own partners. They have shown remarkable aptitude in that endeavor.”

McCoy couldn’t help but smile. He looked at Scotty with his eyes on the PADD. Yes, he couldn’t have picked better.

“The crown would never put upon our children something that was not put upon us. The Darnell’s were understanding, and remained good friends.”

McCoy frowned and heard the frustration in Scotty’s voice as he read.

“Regarding the other rumors that have been printed about Prince Leonard; they are not true, and that is all we have to say about them.”

McCoy stopped his pacing and sat down next to Scotty. He took the PADD as Scotty handed it back.

“Well,” Scotty said slowly.

“Now we hope people believe it. They drove Father to make a statement, which is rare enough that that should have some weight.” McCoy let out a slow breath, hoping against hope it would all die down and go away now.

He set the PADD on the nightstand. “I’ll write back to him in a bit. I think I need a few moments.”

“Should I go?” Scotty asked, concern on his face.

“No! No. I just want to let it sink in before we start on homework.” McCoy ran a hand through his hair. “Stay please. You help me think.” McCoy gave Scotty a hesitant smile. He reached over and hugged him close. “You keep me sane.”

Part 662

Robbie

By Thursday evening everyone had read the royal family's statement regarding the arranged marriage. Slowly the quiet whispers died down, but Robbie knew that some students still believed Jocelyn over Leonard.

However, he had other things on his mind. On the next morning, he'd be the first one called into Pike's office to give his statement. He had feared Khan's trial for so long and now it was coming closer and closer.

As always, Robbie's PADD was lying next to him as he tried to sleep, Leah on the other side of the screen. The Scotsman could hear his girlfriend's soft breathing. How had she managed to fall asleep already?

He himself was twisting and turning, trying to find a comfortable position. Deep inside though, he knew that it didn't matter just what side he'd rest on. Sleep wouldn't find him anyway.

Robbie stared at the ceiling. He was scared. Scared of the upcoming day. Scared of the nightmares to pay him a visit that night. Tears filled his eyes and he glanced over at the bottle of pills.

Maybe taking one would help.

Quietly he reached for the bottle and swallowed down two pills. After all, Dr. Boyce had told him that he was allowed to take one more if he was really restless.

And restless he was.

Slowly, his eyes closed and after what seemed like hours, he eventually fell asleep. He just hoped that he'd be fine.

Robbie's stomach was aching as he waited in front of the headmaster's office. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

Where were the others? He had been promised that Scotty and Leonard would be there too. His heart was racing as he looked around anxiously. He couldn't do this! He couldn't do this without them!

When two familar faces turned into the hallway, Robbie let out a relieved sigh.

"T-there ye are," he stammered and Scotty quickly pulled him into a hug.

"Sorry, we had to check in with our teachers. Why weren't ye at breakfast?"

Concern was written over his brother's face as he ran a hand through Robbie's hair.

The younger Scott brother shook his head.

"I wouldn't have gotten anything down anyway."

Maybe he could grab a bite after the trial. Or he'd wait until lunch.

Leonard gave him an understanding nod.

"I can believe that, Robbie. Just know that we'll be there. And that everything will turn out fine."

A slow nod was all Robbie could manage when Leonard squeezed his shoulder gently.

A moment later the door to the office opened and Pike stood there, looking at the three of them.

"Good morning, gentleman. Come on in."

He waved the boys inside and they looked at the chairs that had been prepared for them.

One was in front of a screen. The others were a bit behind it.

"How are you?"

The headmaster's eyes were mostly fixed on Robbie, but he was probably just as concerned about Scotty and Leonard too.

"We're okay, sir," Scotty answered for his fiancé and himself while Robbie let out a shaky breath.

"I... I don't know... I'm... a-anxious."

Pike gave him a sympathetic look. And Robbie remembered just how much he had taken care of him when Scotty and Leonard had been kidnapped. He was a very nice man.

"I can understand that very well, Robert. However, I was told that they want to start with you, but you can ask for a pause whenever you need it, okay?"

A nod was all Robbie could managed as he sat down and waited for the screen to show the courtroom.

"I... I'm ready."

But he was wrong.

When the screen turned on and he saw Khan and the other augments, it felt like he couldn't breathe properly anymore.

Memories of everything that had happened on the ship filled his mind and he held on tightly to the chair.

There was so much blood. There was a cold shackle around his wrist. Everything he had tried to suppress, came back up.

"I... I..."

He could feel the tears stream down his face, but suddenly his eyes fell on a familar face behind the accused.

Leah.

She was there. She was there to give her own statement too, alongside the king.

"Mr. Scott? Are you alright, Mr. Scott?"

The judge's voice reached his ear and he slowly shook his head, then nodded.

"I... y-y-yeah."

He could do this. They were all there. Leonard was there. Scotty was there. And most importantly... his love was there.

"L-let's just get this over with, p-please."

#star trek #montgomery scott #leonard mccoy #scones #au #against all odds #robbie scott

[noblehcart]

“Of course I worry about you. You’re important to me.” (For Margot)

@lordofthestrix

"i am perfectly well, mon chéri . how silly you are for thinking otherwise!"

he knew. of course he knew. they had already discussed the matter and settled it between them. their friendship remained secured and steady. he knew that her denouncement was a mistake that was never meant to cause the actions that it did. it was beyond her control because were it so then st. cyr's family would all be alive. lord tristan de martel knew of marguerite's intentions and heart. he had seen the tears wept in agony and shame as she wept over those lost and let the angry tears flow at herself for having not forseen what her actions would do.

they made amends and all was well between them....but the rumors and word of it still circulated england's courts.

and yet it was terribly complex paradox of living now. she wasn't blind to the favoritism shown to her and her husband by the crown prince, nor how the tides of fashion shifted with a swish of her skirts and curl of her hair. her word moved boundaries and opened doors of conversation that had been previously closed. yet it didn't change the minds of the few people who believed in her part of the denunciation and the horrid scathing glares that clawed at her. the hushed whispers. most didn't believe, but the few that did weighed on her heart. perhaps it was because she knew that she deserved every burning look and whisper so it was difficult to fight the damning conviction she felt every time.

so marguerite blakeney née st. just realized that she had never truly left the stage of the comédie française only shifted roles. and as always she played the role beautifully.

lady blakeney was unflinching in the slightest hint of adversity, lady blakeney had a thought to share on every topic though reserved it for the deserving and lady blakeney was delightfully gay and happy in her marriage to the surprise of europe.

-but marguerite st. just felt the cutting edge of the knife with each unkind word. she kept her thoughts to herself because she felt that spirit of gaity dimming and even more so she felt terribly unhappy in her marriage. the dotting intriguing suitor had turned into a cold dim husband that never sought her company.

it would seem that only her dear friend tristan could see through her every performance even now as she smiled and teased and attempted to play the good hostess to her fellow frenchman. he somehow could look at her with those sharp owl like eyes, without saying a word, to see how her mask faltered and how the misery briefly clouded once dancing bright blue eyes. she tried to smile again with the ruse, but then decided to let it fall to the floor and shatter into pieces she could pick up and put together again later- for she had to wear that mask again. what choice did she have after all? for now, however, she let it sit on the floor between them as her chest felt heavy and burdened and her eyes almost shimmered with tears.

"i am as well as i can be, mon coco. what more could i tell you?" bitter words bubbled up in thought of how she could tell him of how a lady in court said such vicious things to her or how she hadn't been invited to tea with another member of court. but it all felt petty. childish. but it was painfully explicit the message sent even amongst the dozens of other invitations to other events. after all one always remembers the terrible reviews of one's performance even in the midst of glowing praises. she took each and every one to heart. "do not ask of me how i am fairing, tristan, for speaking the truth only hurts and it is my own fault that it does. let us find other things to discuss."

#lordofthestrix #/ marguerite st. just / threads

[multifan2022]

Too little Too late pt2

PART 1   PART 3    PART 4    PART 5

Masterlist

Sitting in the pub Polly was the only person unhappy. She had always been able to tell things about people, things others couldn't or wouldn't. When people were pregnant she knew.. When the boys or the few they had accepted into the family lied, she knew..

She knew now that two things were wrong. 

One, the blond girl behind the bar, flirting with her nephew was no good.

And two, something.. somewhere had gone wrong. There was no reason Y/n would be an hour late to anything. Let alone the bar when she knew the family was here.

 She just didn't know why or how yet. So she sat watching the interactions of Tommy, waiting for the girl she looked at as her daughter to wander through the doors. The one girl who always pulled Tommy's attention from Grace. 

Her eyes kept bouncing between her glass, her nephew and the clock on the wall. Arthur had told her multiple times to let the Grace thing go. Tommy didn't believe Y/n when she said something was wrong, that meant he wouldn't believe anyone.  But she wasn't one to let things go, especially when she knew she was right. 

To be frank.. She trusted Y/n more than any of the men in front of her. So the younger girls doubt in the blond only solidified her claims in her mind. She was angry that Y/n was pregnant, and fighting with Tommy but here he was still flirting with the barmaid. 

She always knew the two would end up together. Always knew that they loved each other in a way they didn't love the others. But when Tommy came home from the war, she wondered if he would ever be able to love Y/n again. When everyone found out Y/n was pregnant Polly was excited, thinking it was finally time. 

Only to be let down and disappointed in her nephew. 

The pub was loud with the sound of laughter and story telling, the air thick with smoke as she waited. Polly listened to the stories Arthur and John were telling each other only enough to nod here and there. 

"John.. You don't think Y/n should be here by now?" Polly said, interrupting whatever it was Arthur was going on about. He looked around, only now realizing his best friend hadn't shown up yet. He just subconsciously assumed that if she hadn't found him yet that she was with Tommy. But now he could see she wasn't in the building, and Tommy was preoccupied by Grace. 

"She had to meet her parents.. They want to arrange her a marriage.. Want her out of Birmingham, away from us." John leaned back and sighed before shooting down his whiskey. "They keep telling her Tommy will ruin her life, that being around us will cost her everything.." 

John obviously wasn't happy about the news. He wouldve married her if not for Tommy, Y/n being his number 1. His best friend, his platonic soulmate. Tommy and Arthur even had to take her out to meet Esme before they agreed to the marriage, because they knew John would never stay with someone who didn't get along with her. She took care of his kids.. She took care of him. 

Y/n is everything to him. The thought of her being married off and having to move to London was not something he wanted. But there was very little he could do about it at this point. 

Polly looked back over towards Tommy, who was now leaning on the bar towards Grace. "Do they not know shes pregnant? Shes over three months, showing she is, how she's gonna marry someone else." Polly said rolling her eyes and lighting a cigarette.  Arthur scoffed and puffed his chest before speaking rather loudly. "Well that's shit! We take care of that girl like shes our own! Love her like shes our sister!" 

John kicked Arthur under the table as he caught Tommy turning slightly towards them "Shut the hell up will ya!  She dont want Tom knowing.. Shes supposed to be telling them soon, but then her and Tommy started fighting. She doesnt want to prove them right. " John shook his head again before looking at his aunt "Shes probably just arguing with-" 

The sound of two gun shots cut him off, everyone falling silent as they waited. It wasn't an unusual noise to hear around Birmingham. So they all waited for more shots, or screaming. Polly turned back to look at the clock, but caught sight of Grace laying her hand on Tommy's jaw. Turning his head away from the door and back towards her. 

She found this suspicious as well, choosing to file it away for now. She finally looked up at the clock and shook her head. She felt sick, like she ate rocks. She knew something was wrong but couldn't place it. 

She grabbed Johns now empty glass and hers as she stood and moved towards the bar. She was always short with Grace, Tommy complained endlessly about it but she didn't care. She wasn't going to pretend to like the woman. In fact, she might've gone out of her way to be more rude just because Tommy was so insistent about it. 

The look on Y/ns face when he came home raging about people being rude to Grace had upset Polly. Polly had always thought Tommy would end up with Y/n, not some random barmaid. She knew how the girl felt towards her nephew, she always had. Really everyone saw it besides Tommy. 

Or maybe he did see it and didn't feel the same, and instead of talking about it like a grown up he ignored it. 

"Refill these.." She said as she stood next to Tommy, slamming the glasses down harder than she needed. Grace rolled her eyes a little before moving to get the drinks. Tommy sighed and lit a cigarette, pinching his nose a little while he turned to his aunt. 

"What was that about?"

Polly ignored him at first, but when he repeated the question she looked back at the clock. "I'm just worried.. Our Y/n isn't here yet.. Shoulda been here over an hour ago.. I will never forgive you if something happens to that girl."  She sighed as Grace came back over with the drinks. "But John said she had to see her parents so maybe I'm just being too protective, but someone has to care about where she is.."

Grace watched as Polly walked away, she disliked the woman. Really she disliked most of them. While she was starting to develop feelings for Tommy, and got along decently with Arthur. John was never outright rude, but was closed off to her. Grace got the feeling that if Y/n didn't like someone, John didn't like them either. 

But she did not get along with the women of the family. Polly refused to even speak to her unless she had too, and even then she was short and unpleasant.Ada was nice enough but not around much. And Y/n.. Well Grace disliked her just because she was in the way of what she needed and was starting to want. 

Every time Y/n walked into a room, Tommy's attention immediately diverted too her. She could sit at a table full of men drooling over her and Tommy would just watch. Other times he would get up and leave Grace completely. Following Y/n to a private room or a table, barely speaking to Grace the rest of the night. 

She hated how far she had to go to complete her mission. She didn't really believe Y/n was involved in Blinders 'business' per say.. But she was involved enough to become a problem.

And a problem she had become. 

Leading Grace to have to go out of her way to seduce Tommy. Placing calls when Y/n wasn't around, so she could be the one to save Tommy from the situation. She had even lied to Y/n once or twice telling her that Tommy had asked her to meet him somewhere, when he hadn't even been in. 

Of course Y/n never believed her and just chuckled before finding a table or heading to a room. Women had always been smarter than men. Men could be fooled by a pretty face, by soft touches and sweet whispered nothings. 

But the 'Shelby' woman.. They were much harder to fool.. And Grace was failing at it.. 

So she had placed a call.. One that would weigh heavy on her heart even if she disliked the girl. One that would break the hearts of many drinking in the pub that night.

 One that would cost Tommy everything. Everything that Grace didn't know he had, she didn't know the girl was pregnant. But it wouldn't have changed her mind if she did. She was here to do a job, she would sacrifice two lives to save the hundreds they thought Tommy would kill. 

She thought after the room filled with noise again that she was free for the night. She knew what the gunshots meant. She knew who had received the bullets. Who lay dying in the street just down the way as she reached and brushed her fingers across Tommy's jaw. 

She knew who had left the fading bruises on Tommy's neck. This was the only way to get Y/n out of the way. She had instigated fights, started rumors, done everything to pull her away from the family. But nothing worked. 

When the doors flew open, nobody turned to look. The three Shelby's everyone quieted down for where here already. It wasn't until Harry turned to ask the newcomer if they wanted a drink that something happened. 

The bottle of whiskey he had just pulled down slipped from his hand. 

Shattering as it hit the ground, the whiskey splashed over Grace's legs.  Harry's gaze stuck of the youngest Shelby. Who stood in the door covered in blood. 

PART 3  

PART 4 ON SUNDAY! Please leave me ideas for how you want this to end with Part 5!!!

#peaky blinder fanfic #peaky blinder imagine #Tommy Shelby #Thomas Shelby #Tommy Shelby x Reader