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nicole-timey-wimey-stuff · 7 days

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Pretty Little Letter’s

Dbf Negan Smith x Fem Reader

Synopsis - After finishing college you decide to on a gap year to take a breather after many years of hard work. Setting out to travel the country, you promise to write to your dad every week, what happens when his best friend Negan makes you promise to write to him too.

Warnings- No apocalypse AU, dads best friend, large age gap, feelings, love confessions, adventures, reader travelling, reader described as female, mentions of cheating, Negan is the one cheated on in this fic by ex wife, struggles with feelings, I took the John Winchester idea and made Negan a mechanic, obviously not canon at all, vague mentions of sex, but no actual smut in this chapter. There will be in later chapters though so 18+ only please.

Let me know if I’ve left anything out

Word count - 6.6K (sorry it’s a long one)

This is part one of two chapters in this mini series.

_______________________________________

Tomorrow was the day, the day you’ve been waiting for, the day you were leaving for an adventure. After 4 years of hard work and dedication, you had graduated Yale University with honours. You’d surpassed anything you felt you could accomplish, with the amazing support of your dad, who had raised you single-handedly. He has supported you throughout your life from scrapped knees and boo boos as a child, to finishing school with the grades you needed to get into Yale.

It was a dream you’d always had, even as a child. You’d pinned up pictures of the college on your wall, telling your dad ‘one day I’ll be here!’ When you received the letter you’d ripped it open with such ferocity, your dad was sure you’d shred your hands. Only to crumple to the floor in floods of tears, walking towards you he settles next to you pulling you in for a big hug, “Hey don’t worry baby girl, it’s not the end of the world we still have other letters coming, other options. No matter what I’m soo proud of you my darling girl” he cooed. You shook your head no, trying to steady your breath “No d…..ad” you stuttered “We did it, I got in, I did it dad! I got in” you continued through staggered breaths, he reached over and pulled it from your grasp reading the words carefully, his hand clamped over his mouth in shock. He started crying too, pulling you in tighter, letting his tears fall freely.

Being the amazing father he was, hours later he was on the phone with his oldest and closest friend Negan, explaining you’d got in, you’d done it, and if Negan could look for a house up there for you both, Negan lived in a small town in Connecticut not too far from Yale. He’d instantly agreed, finding you a lovely 3 bedroom home only a street away from himself. Your dad had been there behind you every step of your life, and he wasn’t about to let this one be any different.

So you packed up your life, making the lengthy trip from Virgina to Connecticut.

The experience has been amazing, you’ve loved every second of college. You came home every night excitedly animating your days to your dad, and many days to Negan too. He would be over often for dinners, you guys also going over his frequently too, the three of you spent many evenings together BBQs, football games, board game nights, you name it. You’d spent a lot of the last 4 years with Negan, he was a great friend to your dad. They’d kept in contact when he had moved from Virgina with his wife, because she wanted to be able to commute to New York easily. She took to the big corporate job like a fish to water, but she began coming home to Negan less and less, giving excuses about early starts and having to stay in some fancy hotel. Unfortunately one day when he made a trip to the city to surprise her, he’d found her rolling around the bed with her boss.

He called later that day to tell your dad what happened, your dad being the great person he is dropped everything and came up here to be with him, leaving you with your grandma for a few weeks.

After a lengthy divorce he’d stuck it out in the sleepy town, deciding he didn’t want to upheave his life once again. You hadn’t known Negan too well then, your dad called him often and you knew his voice, that deep rumbling voice, from their calls. You’d even answered the phone to him a few times, making polite small talk until your dad could take over. But he’d moved to Connecticut when you were only 2 years old, so you’d never really gotten to know him.

That all changed when you moved to start Yale, and you’d be lying if you hadn’t developed an enormous crush on the older man. Gods was he beautiful, he was funny sometimes making you actually cry from laughter. He was kind, loyal, owned his own mechanics garage, he was an all round great guy, and you had no idea why no one had snapped him up yet. Though secretly you were thankful no one had, because the mere thought stirred an ugly pit of jealousy in your stomach.

But tonight things were perfect, you were having a farewell dinner with the two men in your life, sat around the coffee table on your living room floor, eating pizza, heads thrown back in laughter as you whoop your dads ass at monopoly.

“Oh come on y/n not another hotel” your dad pleads playfully.

“I’m afraid so dad, told you the light blue were worth buying, the houses are cheap to buy, I can get as many as I want” you goad in giggles.

“She has you there man! I’d add another to Euston Road if I were you sweetheart! Finish him off” Negan jests.

“Don’t encourage her!” Your dad grumbles, causing you and Negan to roll in laughter even more.

“You know what I think I will” you reply adding another hotel.

Your dad takes his next roll landing on one of your hotel properties,

“Oh shit man! That’s you done isn’t it” Negan teases. Your dad stands then playfully tips the board over, making you gasp in mock shock before falling into giggles once again, in the moment you end up leaning your head against Negan’s shoulder.

“Right that’s it I’m done with this silly game, who wants another beer” your dad laughs.

“Me” you say, Negan nodding in unison his breath slightly shaken from your head still leaning against his shoulder, like it belongs there which in his mind it does. Man he’s dreading you leaving for a year, every time he thinks about it, there’s a constricting feeling in his heart. He brings his arm around you pulling you closer for a second, taking a moment to bask in your warmth. He gives you a quick squeeze, before moving to start packing away the game.

You watch him with a warm smile on your face, my goodness were you going to miss him. But you needed this, you needed to stand on your own two feet and experience some living. You also needed to get over this silly crush, he was 20 years older than you for Christ sake, he probably looked at you like a niece. He definitely wouldn’t return your affections, so you should go and clear your head. See some of the world, meet people and have experiences.

They always say you discover yourself while travelling alone.

You wanted to see if that was true.

But leaving these two behind would be hard, even if it wasn’t forever a year was still a long time. “So sweetheart your really leaving us tomorrow?” Negan asks, “Yup! Just like Bilbo Baggins I’m off on an adventure” you giggle, trying to make light it it, when in fact your heart is sinking at the thought. “Not gonna be the same without you here darlin’” he affirms, there’s a smile on his face but it doesn’t quite meet his eyes, and those beautiful dimples aren’t showing. For a second you wonder if he returns your feelings, but that wouldn’t make any sense so you push the idea out of your mind.

Your dad arrives back 3 beers in his hands, “I can’t believe my baby girl is going out into the world tomorrow, you promise to write to me every week yeah??” Your dad asks. “You know I can just text you? And call you right?” You answer, “Yeah you can call too, but I want hand written letters to have a part of you still coming home every week” he replies voice sounding emotional, this was a big step for him you had never been away from your dad before. Getting up you give him a big hug, “Ok dad I’ll write to you every week and I’ll send you postcards, so you can see where I’ve been!” You promise. “Yeah that sounds great baby girl” he affirms.

After your dad passes out snoring on the couch, you clean up the pizza boxes with Negan. While you’ve moved on to clearing up the kitchen he stands in the doorway watching you, “You know sweet cheeks, I’d love for some of those hand written letters too” he expresses. Looking up at him in shock, you ask “Really?”, “Yeah I want to hear everything your doing, plus it would be nice to have a part of you here with me too, like I said sweetheart it won’t be the same here without ya” he replies stepping closer, gently brushing a hair out of your face, hazel eyes bearing into you. “Ok Negan I’ll write to you too”, “Good” he sighs, leaning in he kisses your head wrapping his arms around you in a tight hug. “Gonna miss ya kid”, “Yeah I’ll miss you too” you reply.

Letting him out the door you say your goodbyes, before tucking a blanket over your dad.

This was going to be hard……

_______________________________________

You’ve been travelling a week now, slowly making your way down south to Florida. You made sure to stop for a few nights at your grandmas, you loved spending time with her, just like your dad she was a sweet soul, and you’d really enjoyed some long chats and a homemade meal.

The last morning of your stay you popped by taking a look at the house you grew up in, you always wondered if your mother had ever stopped by to see you. Missing you because you’d moved away, would she be proud that you’d made it to Yale, probably not. She’s never cared enough to call, she upped and left the day after you were born. Just left you in the hospital, for your dad to find when he came back in after some rest at home. Leaving your dad to step into both parents roles, which he took on without complaint bringing you up in a home full of love and laughter, you were beyond blessed to have been given him as your dad.

With that you tucked those thoughts away, your dad and grandma love you, are proud of you and support you. You didn’t need anyone else, well except maybe Negan.

By the end of your first week you’d made it to the Croatan National Forest, in North Carolina. You decided to stop here and see the sights, maybe do some hiking, some swimming on the coast. You found a cute little beach rental you booked for a few nights, it looked out to the river which joined the ocean. It was peaceful here, kids had all gone back to school and the soft autumn breeze was setting a chill in the air. So the beach was practically empty, with the exception of a few dog walkers.

Dark skies started settling in, greys and blacks filling the vast space, the clouds looked as if they were rolling towards you. A storm was coming which emitted some excitement in you, to sit there and watch them was one of your most favourite things to do, especially if the lightning was close and you could see it crack across the sky.

Settling in the bay of the bedroom window, you looked out at the water, pulling out your notebook you got to writing your dad his first letter. Folding it up you sealed in in an envelope, adding your home address and a stamp. Then you began to write Negan’s,

Dear Negan,

I’ve made it to North Carolina, to the Croatan National Forest. I’m staying in a really cute little beach house, which was cheap due to the holidays being over. I’m currently sat watching a storm roll in, windows open enjoying the breeze.

I stopped to see Grandma on the way down, she sends her love to Dad and you. She still hasn’t changed bless her, I also stopped by my old neighbourhood to see the house. I didn't feel as sad seeing it as I thought I would. I think that’s because you’ve made our lives so much more incredible. I miss you both it’s odd being without Dad for the first time, but it’s also strange being without you too now. You’ve ingrained yourself into my life now and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I think I’ll take a swim tomorrow if the weather allows it, I may even swim in the rain if I can. So there you go, you can picture me dancing under the storm.

Yours truly

Y/N

You sealed the letter, writing his address and placing another stamp. Maybe you poured a bit of how you feel about him in there but it felt good to let some of it out, like it was healing a small part of you.

You ran down to the post box before the rain hit, dropping the letters in and running back to your temporary home. Closing the door just as the torrential downpour started. “Phew that was close” you giggle. That evening you sat in your window watching the storm, the bright lightning cracked above illuminating the beach. Rain pouring and winds blowing, while you stayed cozy eating your soup admiring natures fierce show.

When morning came around it was still raining, though the storm had passed. You threw on your bathing suit and braved the weather, running into the water with a loud gasp as the cool liquid surrounded you. You laid back watching the rain fall from the sky, in that moment you’d never felt so free.

_______________________________________

Back home Negan received his letter a few days later, he’d been checking his post box every single day, like a man deranged. ‘Finally’ he thought tearing open the envelope before he even made in back inside. Sitting down at his dining room table he read your words, smile adorning his features, dimples pulling deep. ‘Ingrained himself into your life, and you wouldn’t change it for the world’ for the first time he allowed himself to hope, that just maybe you returned his feelings.

Was this your way of telling him so? He didn’t know but he needed to find out, he’d have to play this safe though, edge it out of you slowly, god only knows what would happen if he assumed wrong, you’d tell your Dad no doubt, he’d loose you and his best friend in one go, he couldn’t risk that.

Pulling out his phone he sent you a message,

‘Hey sweetheart,

Thank you for my little letter, I hope you had fun swimming and dancing in the storm, though I also hope you stayed safe.

You’ve also ingrained yourself into my life angel face, came into it like a spitfire but I wouldn’t have it any other way either. Enjoy your next week, just make sure you stay safe.

Negan

Xxx

He sent the text, and waited under baited breath for a response. He almost jumped out of his chair when his phone pinged.

Hi Negan

Your welcome, I can assure you I am staying safe, I’m checking my oil and water levels too, as promised. Car is running smooth still :)

‘Spitfire’? I wouldn’t say that! But I’m glad you wouldn’t have it any other way because your stuck with me now.

I’ll send you your next letter same time this week, till then ……

Y/N

Xxx

He smiles to himself once more, you most certainly are a spitfire. But you’re also the best thing to ever come into his life, he hopes one day he’ll be able to tell you so.

_______________________________________

End of your second week, it’s rushed by so fast and you can’t believe your already in Jacksonville Florida. Today your sat on the beach it’s much warmer here, no sign of any autumn breeze and the sunny weather bringing many people to the beach. Your currently writing to your dad again while listening to the soft waves crashing onto the shore. Finishing his letter you once again start writing one to Negan,

Dear Negan,

What a week I’ve had! Can you believe I’m already in Florida? Today I’m sat on Jacksonville beach watching the waves crashing. It’s much busier here and much warmer, apparently there’s a swell coming in tomorrow so I may try surfing. I’ll be sure to send you both some hilarious pictures, of me falling on my face.

I’m staying two nights here in a hotel overlooking the beach, the buildings here on the coast are like mini skyscrapers. I think they may be too tall, it ruins the feel of the place. My next move may be Orlando Disney, I’ve always wanted to go! May even get made into a Disney princess! Because hey you only live once, which one should I go for?

I’m starting to really miss you both, how’s my dad coping? I hope my boys are looking after each other,

Well I’m going to go find somewhere for dinner, speak soon.

Y/N

Xxx

Getting up you brush the gritty sand off your legs, setting out on a mission to find somewhere to post these letters. After exploring a few busy streets, you see it, Bingo! You spot the blue metal of the US postal boxes, slotting in your letters before finding a diner to eat dinner in.

Back home 48 hours later Negan received your second letter, “my boys” he reads, the thought of being yours makes his cheeks flush, and his heart quicken. He feels like a teenage boy again at 52 years old, he’d be yours in a heartbeat if you’d ask him. But he knows it’s out of the question, your his best friends kid, and what would you want with an old man? Your so beautiful and he doesn’t feel he’s got much to offer you at this point of his life. Even so he will allow himself to enjoy these letters, living in a little daydream for a while.

After pacing his kitchen for a good ten minutes he decides he has to talk to you, the words “my boys” still swirling around his head. Giving in and pulling out his phone he sends you a text,

Hey sweetheart

I remember Jacksonville well, I visited about 15 years ago now. I went to a work conference there. Your right the buildings are too tall beside the ocean, definitely not one of my favourite beaches.

Surfing? How did that turn out I’m still waiting on this photo.

“Your boys hey” I like the sound of that darlin. But yeah I’m making sure your dad cooks for himself, and I fixed his lawn mower for him, so your gardens looking a lot better now!

Make sure you continue to stay safe sweetheart, I hope you enjoy Disney, but you don’t need to dress up to be a princess you’ve always been one.

Negan

Ping

His heart is beating rapidly in his chest as he opens your reply,

Hey Negan

Actually I did ok surfing, I managed to stand up and everything lol

Ping

He opens the slightly blurry image of you standing up on a large longboard, big smile on your face. You look so beautiful and so happy.

Ping

So as you can see, not a complete disaster! I went to Disney world yesterday, it was great fun but all in all too many people about. I’ve set off west now aiming in a general direction of New Orleans, as I’ve always wanted to go. I think it may take a week or two to get there though!

And don’t worry I will be careful I promise. You’ll always be my boys

Y/n

Xxx

He smiles to himself you were going to be the death of him, he was sure of it.

Ok sweetheart

Look at you! You’re a natural! Well I’ll wait with bated breath until your next letter, I think you should send two a week I Think one a week is just too long to wait for sweet cheeks.

Negan

Ping

Ok Negan

Two it is, I’m off to bed now

Night

Y/N

He grins, two letters a week, he feels all important now. He wonders if your dad will also get two letters a week? Or if he really is special enough to be the only one.

_______________________________________

A few weeks pass in a blur, you keep your promise to Negan and write to him twice a week. Not only that you both text constantly and have started video calling frequently too. Your currently walking through the vibrant streets of New Orleans with your phone in hand, on video call to Negan as you show him the current festivities happening. “Look at the colours Negan! I’ve never seen anywhere so bright and colourful, and the musics been incredible.” You ramble off excitedly, “Yeah I can see that sweetheart, I wish I was with you right now it looks incredible” he replies.

“I wish you were with me too, it’s amazing! I’ll have to bring dad here at some point.” You gush,

“Yeah maybe we should all plan a trip” he replies and you nod along, “Yeah that sounds good!”

“So where are you off too next?” Negan asks, “Well I’ve booked to stay two weeks on this women only ranch just outside Austen Texas, so I’m going to enjoy a slower pace for a couple of weeks, I’ll get to go riding everyday and read books in the sun” you answered, “That sounds like a good plan sweetheart, you haven’t slowed down in weeks.” Negan hums, truth be told you were looking forward to slowing down for a bit, it’s been a full on couple of months, and as much as you’ve enjoyed it you’ve burnt yourself out a little.

Back at your hotel room you and Negan chat over video call for hours, you admire him as he throws his head back in laughter, while laying back on his couch. You're sat cross legged on your bed, window open so you can see and hear the ongoing festivities outside, the cheerful jazz music floating around your room.

“I can’t believe I’ve been away two months now, it’s gone so fast”, it hasn’t felt fast to Negan, it’s felt like every hour has dragged on without you home. Nights with your dad are much quieter, and your presence is constantly missed. “Yeah sweetheart” he agrees half heartedly, and you sense the change in his tone. “Everything ok?” You ask, voice laced with concern. “Of course darlin we just miss you is all” Negan admits.

“I miss you too you know, life on my own has definitely been quiet. It’s why I enjoy these video calls so much, it almost feels like your here, like it’s a normal Friday night Just without the beers and pizza” you laugh.

His heart warms at your confession, slowly over these weeks he’s noticed little things. The way you look at him, or the way your face lights up when you answer his calls, your letters have become sweeter too. He allows himself to truly hope, that maybe you return his feelings. He’s in half a mind to jump in the car and meet you on your travels, take you into his arms and lay it all out, tell you how he feels and hope you say you feel them too. But his mind always falls back to your Dad, his best friend of nearly 30 years. How would he take it, would he ever talk to him again? Would he forbid him ever seeing you again? It’s these thoughts that stop him ever taking anything further than flirty remarks, and terms of endearment, but god does he wish he could just take you in his arms, feel your skin against his own as he spends all night worshiping your body like the goddess you are.

“Negan…..Negan are you with me” your voice cuts through his daydreaming, “Yeah sorry sweetheart, must be getting tired it’s past this old man’s bedtime” he teases. You huff out a small giggle “You’re not old Negan” you reply. “I’m 52 darlin, I’m nearly at the end of middle aged” Negan groans, you shake your head in disagree “Nope I don’t agree”, “Well I’ll take that” Negan laughs, “We should get some sleep though, it’s like 1am! Night Negan”

“Night Beautiful”

As the call ends you sit there shocked, that’s new, he just called you beautiful! He’s never used that pet name before, usually it’s darlin or sweetheart. Butterflies erupt in your stomach and you can’t help the smile that tugs at your lips. You fall asleep that night with the smile never leaving, listening to the distant hum of jazz.

_______________________________________

The ranch is beautiful, picturesque like a postcard. You feel like you’ve stepped into some country and western film, you’re currently sat under a large tree watching the horses gallop about the pens. There’s a few other women staying at the ranch with you, and you’ve enjoyed getting to know them. One is a lot older than the rest of you, her name’s Frances, she’s been cooking for you all and mothering everyone.

It’s been nice, you weren’t used to a motherly woman being in your life. You’ve told her so too, told her about your life and that your dad raised you alone. She’s been a great listener, she brought up her two sons and how she couldn’t understand a mother ever leaving her children, she could never. When she asked if there was anyone special in your life, you’d bitten your lip and done your best to redirect the conversation. After much convincing you’d told her there was a man who held your affections, but he was much older than you. So it wasn’t an easy situation, but she’d told you there’s no age restrictions on love, so long as both parties involved were adults and felt the same.

It lead you to hope, that maybe you and Negan could maybe one day be something. You were starting to also hope that maybe he felt the same way you did, he had called you beautiful after all.

Taking out a pen and paper you began writing your letter’s.

Dear Negan

This ranch is beautiful, even in the sweltering heat it’s like something out of an old movie, there’s other women here too so it’s been nice to get to know them and make some friends.

I’m currently watching this black horse run through the field, he’s almost ethereal the way he moves. He looks so free, no worries in the world, and I fell like I’m witnessing his wildest joys and deepest secrets.

There’s a lovely lady here called Frances, she’s been like the mother hen to everyone. I’ve had many chats with her, especially about mum. She couldn’t understand how she just left me, said she never could leave her children. I do wonder if she ever thinks about me at all? Maybe she does, or maybe she just moved on with her life and never looked back.

I talked about you too, how important you are in my life too. I’ve been thinking a lot recently. Anyways I’ll send another letter soon.

With Love

Y/N

Xxx

After sealing the letter you wondered if you should send it, had you made things too obvious? Maybe you needed too to see if there was something there? With a deep breath you dropped it in the postal box, placing it to the back of your mind for now, before joining the rest of the girls for the activities for the day.

_______________________________________

Just two days later Negan received your letter, reading the words he felt incredibly sad. You were hurting he could tell, he doesn’t understand how your mother left you either, she’d never know how incredible the girl she brought into the world turned out to be.

Because you were, you’re incredible. So kind, loyal, brave with a determination he’s never witnessed before, and you were so beautiful beyond compare. So yeah she was the one who had missed out, missed watching that baby girl become the most amazing woman. Something himself and your Dad had never taken for granted, even only really getting to know you these last four years, he’s seen you change and thrive becoming the amazing person you are today.

He’s glad you’re making friends along the way though, he was worried you were starting to get a bit lonely being alone for so long. Still the thought of coming to the ranch himself and holding you in his arms was so compelling right now, you were sad and he felt such a great need to make you smile, or hold you as you cried. You deserve the world, he hopes he can show you that someday.

His heart lurches at the thought of you talking about him, and thinking about him? Thinking how? Is that a confession? Or just you missing home? He would call you later, see what he can coax out of you.

You were sat on the porch watching the sunset, the sunsets down south were the most beautiful you’d ever seen, the oranges and yellows shine over the whole landscape, painting the buildings and your skin in a warm orange glow. As you were admiring the skies your phone started buzzing, removing it from your jeans pocket you smile seeing Negan's name flash up.

“Hey Negan, how are you? Sorry it’s been a little while since we’ve called, I’ve noticed only certain areas get signal” you explain as you answer the video call.

Smiling at you “That’s ok sweetheart, I understand, you’re out in the sticks no one gets phone signal there. How are you doing darlin? I got your letter today and I thought I’d call you”

“Yeah I’m ok, I felt sad for a little while thinking about mum, but I’ve realised how lucky I am to have the people I do in my life. I have people who love me and some people don’t have that.” You admit.

“It’s ok to feel sad though sweetheart, what she did to you wasn’t right and it’s ok to be hurt by that, but yeah you are loved, sometimes I don’t think you know how much your loved sweet girl, your dad, your grandma, myself, we adore you, you’re not alone not ever and I hope you know that.” Negan assures.

Tears well up in your eyes, you swallow a large gulp before answering him “Thanks Negan I needed to hear that” you admit.

“Anytime baby girl”

A small creak behind alerts you of someone’s presence, “Sorry love I just came to tell you dinners ready, if you’d like to join us” Frances explains.

“Oh yeah please, I’ll just be a moment” you answer, she nods walking back into the barn.

“Well it looks like I have dinner to attend” you laugh, “Ok beautiful, enjoy your dinner I’ll speak to you soon” “Yeah speak soon” you smile, hanging up the phone you stand up and dust yourself off before heading inside.

Frances meets you at the doors with a knowing smile, “Was that him?” She asks, blushing you look downwards, “Yeah that’s him” you admit. She nods before saying “Marry that man girl, if he looks at you like that, and speaks to you like that, you’d be a fool not too”. You gasp “How much did you hear?” She gives a gentle laugh, “Enough. Now come on in and eat” she guides you inside, but your whole stomachs fluttering now, and you don’t know how much you will actually be able to eat.

_______________________________________

It was the morning you were leaving the ranch, you felt sad to be going. It had been such a positive experience being here with these women, you’d made some friends and you have exchanged numbers with Frances, who would love to stay in contact. Hugging everyone goodbye you waved your last farewell as you entered your car, today you’d be starting your trip to Los Angeles. Although you didn’t think you’d want to visit Hollywood, you had mapped out some lovely vineyards and beaches.

Starting the engine you made your way off the ranch and onto your next adventure. Driving down the highway you turned you music up, opening the windows letting the wind whip at your hair, singing along to your favourite song. Determined to enjoy every aspect of your road-trip, including the tedious highways.

You made it as far as the Texas/ New Mexico boarder before pulling into a motel for the night. Once you were settled in your room you pulled your phone out and called your dad, “Hey baby girl! Long time no speak, where have you been! Only one letter in two weeks and no phone calls! I’ve been worried!” Your dad stresses.

“I’m so sorry Dad the ranch had nearly no signal, Negan managed to call once while I was there, I think I found a fluke spot that evening, because I couldn’t get through to either of you again” you explain.

“That’s alright honey, I just worry, you know I do! How have you been? I didn’t know you spoke to Negan, do you call each other often?” He asks, and you can tell the confusion in his tone.

“Umm yeah we talk a couple of times a week I guess, same as you and I talk. I think he likes to know what I’m up too. I’m good yeah thanks dad been super busy though, but yeah I’m having a great time, how have you been doing?” You answer.

“Yeah no complaints here, I miss you though. House is too quiet without you kiddo, and it’s ok I just didn’t know the two of you were talking, he’s never said anything to me. Other then the fact you send him the occasional letter too” your dad explains.

“Yeah I write to you both, as per requested” you laugh before adding “I hope your looking after yourself though dad, and actually cooking? Not ordering take out every night. I do worry about you both when I’m not there, you don’t have the best eating habits” you giggle.

“Hey we are doing just fine! I did a BBQ the other day we even had salad!” You dad defends.

Laughing out loud now you reply “Oh some salad too! Well I don’t know why I was worrying then”

“Oi little miss, I do just fine! I managed to cook for you ok growing up!” He argues playfully.

“Yeah I know dad I know, I’m just teasing, well I’m glad you doing good, I’m going to head to bed it’s been a long day, lots of driving” you admit.

“Ok kiddo sleep tight”

“Will do night dad”

Ending the call you lay back on the bed and sigh, your dad seemed so confused about you talking to Negan, you hope you didn’t give your feelings about the man away? Nah he was probably just surprised. It will be fine, you think.

After getting ready for bed your phone starts buzzing again, you glance at it sat on the bedside table. ‘Video call from Negan’ grinning you answer the call “Hey!”, “Hey beautiful, how is your journey going?” You admire him for a second, dimples showing as he grins through the phone at you, why does he have to be so beautiful, “Yeah it’s going well I’m on the Texas/ New Mexico boarder, in a small town called Eunice I think. I’m in a small motel, I’ll be carrying on towards Los Angeles in the morning” you answer.

He’s walking about his kitchen, tidying up and nodding as you speak. You love the domestic feel to it, you wish you were there with him, just doing ordinary household chores. “That’s good! You’re making great time sweetheart. And at least now you have signal” he laughs, “Yeah there’s great service here, so what have you been up too?” You ask, “Not much darlin, just work. Some poor guy came in last week with a blown head gasket, it’s taking a lot of time to fix it. So I’ve been at the garage long hours this week. Other than that not a lot, Bill is trying to set me up on some date with his wife’s friend, but I’m not too sure” he admits.

Your stomach sinks at that, a date, no don’t go on a date you think, especially not when I’m thousands of miles across the country and can’t do anything to help stop it. Your heart is pounding in your chest, but you try to keep yourself together. “Yeah?” You ask, voice sounding way more strained than you hoped. “Yeah, you ok sweetheart?” He asks looking at you full of concern. “Yeah I need to umm go get some sleep it’s late and I’m exhausted” you blurt out in haste.

“Yeah ok darlin, goodnight”, “Night” you answer before quickly hanging up. Tears sting your eyes as you lay back on the bed, harshly rubbing the tears away you sit up, sod this I’m going for a drink, you determine. Pulling some jeans and a jacket on, you cross over the road to the local bar.

Entering the building the smell of stale beer and smoke hits you, wrinkling your nose in slight disgust you sit at the bar, “A beer please” you ask the bartender, who nods at you placing a bottle in front of you.

Across the country Negan can’t get your reaction out of his head. He was thinking maybe the date would be a good way to move on. Because you probably didn’t feel the same as him, he was delusional right? Thinking he saw signs that you wanted him. But you went from cheerful to distressed in seconds, now he doesn’t know, he could always ask you, he knows this. But he also knows he couldn’t deal with rejection, not from you. He sits down on his couch placing his head in his hands as he tries to make sense of it all.

You on the other hand have just stumbled back into your room after a few drinks, and you feel in your drunken state that your heads so much clearer. With the new found confidence the alcohol has given you, you pull out your phone and send Negan a text before passing out on your bed.

Don’t go on that date Negan, please don’t …I love you

The buzzing of his phone he’s pulled out of his thoughts, reading your message he’s sat in shock. You love him? Gods you love him! That’s it he needs to see you. Jumping up he rushes to pack a bag, throwing as much as he can fit in the duffle. Moving to grab his keys, phone, charger and passport. A flight to you will be the quickest way!

Leaving the house he sends you a message back,

Don’t go anywhere sweetheart, I’m on my way! Xx

#negan smith #Dbf Negan #negan x reader #twd negan #negan x you #the walking dead negan #negan fanfiction #negan x female reader #dads best friend #Dbf x reader

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pappydaddy · 1 year

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sorry about the shirt (f.w.)

a/n: now that i named this fic this, now i have an idea for another fic with this as a prompt.... ugh my mind, curse my cognition! also, i have deleted this and reformatted this like six times and the title is still not saving as a god-damn title anymore. ugh. tumblr (pls don't shadowban me again)

tv show/movie: harry potter | pairing: fred weasley x fem!hufflepuff!reader

requested by the lovely @readingfan (hope you enjoy it💛!) | my little pea-sized, fred-lane brain made this a fred x reader without me realizing it until seconds before posting this

synopsis: fred and george getting a summer job in a coffee shop where a pretty girl frequents. said pretty girl seems to have fred in a trance. what could possibly go wrong? well, fred knows what could now that an innocent shirt has been ruined.

warnings: reader is described to wear sundresses | mentioned of negative thoughts about oneself (reader has negative thoughts about herself) | fred and george being teens (aged to be 18, idc if it's not canonically plausible) working in retail).

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- not my gif -

GIF by fgweasley

Summer was supposed to be a time of freedom, long nights, and recklessness and there was nobody else who knew this more than Fred and George. Unfortunately for them, it appears that their summer was going to be nothing but seeing the inside of that damn coffee shop. Fred and George rarely ever regretted a prank, but right now, they were starting to think that perhaps slipping Malfoy that candy that made his skin turn Gryffindor red and his hair a golden snitch gold wasn’t worth this. It also taught them that when Malfoy said his father would hear about this, he actually means it - sometimes.

However, no matter how funny the prank was and how much it was worth all the time they spent planning and agonizing to create the final product, it was not worth this. Not worth the wrinkled fingers that lost all feeling after wiping down every single table and counter in the cafe. Not worth the skin of the heat from the coffee machines. Not worth the horrible experience of dealing with customers. Not to mention uncomfortable uniforms. Forced to wear black jeans, black dress shirts, and a ratty old apron ten other people wore before them.

While George grumbled everyday, hoping and wishing for their return to Hogwarts (something nobody expected to hear), Fred’s summer was not a complete waste. He did not realize this when they applied for their job, but this coffee shop tucked into a hidden alleyway of Diagon Alley was often frequented by a rather pretty girl. In her flowing sundresses, her hair cascading down over her shoulders in soft waves. When he first saw her his knees nearly gave out. Then when she turned to leave (lemonade in hand - it was a hot day) and he caught a glimpse of the white ribbon tying her hair into a half-up, half-down style, George had to catch him because his knees did give out. She looked vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn’t exactly place her.

“She’s in our year, a Hufflepuff,” Hermione had told him one day when she and Ron had visited them. They were out gathering ideas for a present for Harry. “She’s quiet, likes to stick to her routine but doesn’t shy away from new opportunities. She’s in my book club and study club. She has such a beautiful voice but she thinks it's horrible - that’s why she is so quiet.” She revealed after Fred pressed her for more information.

Unfortunately for Fred, he has yet to hear that beautiful voice since he never seems to be on the cash when she comes in or someone beats him to it - usually George as a form of twisted amusement. “Hermione was right. She does have a beautiful voice.” George blinked after the first time he took her order. It was later discovered that the reason she hates her voice was because some Slytherins had poked fun at her in First Year, leaving her with an ugly taste in her mouth and horrible self-confidence. Fred could wring their necks, every last one of them.

Anytime Fred had any downtime, he found himself thinking of her. He knew nothing of her but, yet, she consumed every thought and every dream of his. Such as today. It was a horribly humid and dreadful day. Every door to the coffee shop was open, a cooling spell was placed on the shop but it was barely fighting against the stickiness, and the owner even found some muggle fans and set them up. It was slow, barely anyone wanted to leave their houses and if they did, they surely couldn’t even think about sipping on a coffee - even one of their iced ones since the ice would probably melt before they even took their first sip.

But here was Fred, elbows digging into the counter as he hogged one of the fans. His back was facing the entrance as he moved with the fan which was oscillating. George was in the back, doing work back there but Fred was sure he was just sitting in front of that fan. “Bloody hell.” He groaned, pinching his shirt and pulling it away from him. This was torture.

“Excuse me,” A soft, hesitant voice called to him over the rattling of the fan, startling him. Turning around, his eyes widened when she saw who stood at the counter. Hair pulled up into a high ponytail, bangs hanging around her face from where the shorter strands fell out of the ponytail. Even looking right at her, he saw the ribbon she usually wore in her hair. Today’s was a pretty yellow shade, matching the sundress she wore. It was a pale yellow, nothing that jumped right out at you. “Could I get a large lemonade?” She asked him, blinking sweetly as she rolled up to the balls of her white converse. That voice. He was blown away. He was never going to be the same after hearing that beautiful sound. How could he go on with his life knowing that that voice exists and he isn’t hearing it every second of everyday.

“Yes, of course,” He nodded, rushing to the counter, nearly tripping over himself. “George, can you make a large lemonade?” He yelled out back as he typed away on the till. Instantly, George emerged, a large lemonade in hand.

“Here ya go, Y/N. I knew you would be wanting one of these today. Made it once I heard your voice.” He winked at her and Fred contemplated murdering him right there. He actually considered it when she giggled at his twin, but the sound made him stop. Everybody said her voice was the most beautiful sound, which he could agree with all his heart on now that he heard it, but her giggle. Just thinking about making her laugh made him want to lay on his stomach on his bed and kick his feet like Ginny does whenever Harry says hi to her.

“Thank you, George,” She smiled thankfully, holding out her hand. Almost as if under a spell, Fred reached his hand out, palm facing up. With her sweet smile turning to Fred, she dropped a handful of sickles in his palm. Her fingers brushed against the palm of his hand, sending shivers and sparks running through his nerves. “That’s enough for the lemonade and ten sickles for you guys to split for a tip. Thank you, Fred.”

The shock sent to Fred’s system was immense when she said his name. She knew his name. She knew his name. He opened and closed his mouth as she turned on her heel, her skirt flaring up adorably, her ponytail and ribbon flaring up as well and off she went into the dreadful heat, making Fred’s day so much better.

____

It was a rush. Possibly the biggest rush Fred and George have ever experienced at the shop. The queue was running out of the door. Perhaps everyone just now realized that summer was coming to a close and just now decided to emerge from their lazy, hazy, summer daze to enjoy the days. This, of course, made Fred miserable.

Instead of enjoying their time, patrons were making their lives a living hell. And for what? Amusement? What was the reason he had to get yelled at by a man because his coffee was too hot to drink? He questioned if it was possible that these people got some sort of happiness from throwing adult hissyfits and yelling at underpaid, overworked employees. Did they have some sort of odd kink? Did it fill a missing void? Whatever it was, Fred quite frankly did not want to be part of it.

However, when he saw that shining face in the queue, her nose buried in her book as she read so intently. She wore her hair down aside from two locks of hair tied back into a braid, secured by a light blue ribbon today. When he saw her, he froze for a moment. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. The way the sun burned through the dirty windows (that seemed to have fingerprint smudged permanently tattooed on it) and hit her like a golden spotlight. The way her finger absentmindedly stroked the cover of her book as she read.

“Excuse me,” The customer in front of him barked. He jolted back to reality. Frankly, he already was in reality since Y/N was completely gorgeous. There was no fantasy about that. She was perfect. The fantasy was that she had feelings for him or at least thought he was cute. “Did you get my order?” The man, a short, plump man with an angry red nose despite the beautiful summer day they were having, grumbled.

“One medium coffee. Would you like that iced or with anything in it?” Fred asked the normal questions, bracing himself for the normal response he usually received from people with certain mannerisms.

The man’s nose seemed to get even more red. “Of course I don’t. If I wanted it another way, I would have ordered it another way. What do I look like? An idiot? Rowena, you kids these days, needing to have things iced and sweetened. Whatever happened to the good British taste? Black coffee. That is what I want-”

“That will be 3 sickles, Sir.” Fred read the total off, noticing how Y/N glanced up, rolling onto her tiptoes to take note of what was taking so long. He wanted to get this nasty old man out of his line so that she could get on with her day. Her day shouldn’t be wasted in this shop waiting in line.

“Here, keep the change.” The man basically tossed the sickles at Fred. Four sickles.

“Some change,” Fred whispered under his breath, putting three sickles in the till and dropping one in the communal tip jar. That naked a total of five sickles in tips. “Have a nice day, sir,” Fred faked a smile as the man waddled off to the pick-up area, barking at George to hurry up. “I can help whoever is next.” “Two people until her.” Fred thought.

“Hi, could we get two lemonades? Mediums please,” The teen girl giggled, eyes staring up at Fred sweetly. Fred nodded, writing the order down and sliding it along the counter. Harrison, the manager, grabbed it to start making it. “So, we’ll be seeing you at Hogwarts in a couple of weeks, right, George?” She asked with a bat of her eyelashes, still getting his name wrong despite his name tag being basically eye level with her. He could see Y/N look up from her book, snickering slightly behind her book.

“I’m actually Fred. And yes. That will be seven sickles today.” Fred read off their total, holding his hand out for their money.

“Oh, sorry. You both are so handsome, it’s hard to tell you apart.” She flirted with a wink, dropping exactly seven sickles in his hand.

“Have a nice day,” He nodded to them as they wandered off with linked arms to bother George. “Next please!” He just needed to take care of this one customer and then she would be at his cash. Evidently, she noticed this as she was tucking her book into her bag and pulling out her coin wallet. He watched her intently, somehow managing to take the customer’s order and recite the amount of money he needed.

He watched as she counted the sickles she had pulled out before pulling out two more coins before doing some math in her head. He could tell since her eyes flicked around and she used her free hand to wiggle her fingers as if counting on them. “Have a nice day.” He wasn’t even sure what that customer ordered, but he must have done it right.

And up stepped the person he was waiting for. Y/N stepped up with a bounce, smiling brightly at him. He wanted to faint right there. There she was, standing there and it overwhelmed him so much that his nervous system was going haywire on him. “Hi, Freddie!” She seemed to have gotten much more comfortable. She was more bubbly and talkative with him and his brother. She even started to call them by nicknames. It warmed Fred’s heart to the point it might burst.

“Hi, Y/N, what can I get for you today?” He asked, trying to calm his racing heart and malfunctioning nervous system. He was in fight-or-flight with the secret third option: faint.

“Just a large iced coffee. I am trying to finish off the last book on my book club’s summer reading list and I decided I might as well change up the scenery.” She explained, her voice much more even and comfortable. Not the same reluctant, soft voice she had when she first talked to him. And if he thought that voice was beautiful, then this voice was perfect. Alluring. Charming. Cute. Marvelous. Dazzling. Delicate. Stunning. Splendid. Gorgeous. Lovely. Any synonym there was for beautiful because this voice was so much better.

Before he could even tell her the total, she handed him the sickles she had counted out prior to the interaction. She always did it. “Three sickles for the iced coffee and how many for the tip?” He asked, knowing exactly how she worked things.

“Fifteen. Five for everyone who worked today,” She smiled as she rolled up to the balls of her feet - something he found that she did often. The line was gone aside from her and part of Fred wished it would stay away so she could stand there talking to him, but unfortunately someone walked in. “I’ll leave you to it, Fred.” She smiled at him. It appeared sad and part of him hoped that she felt upset about having to part from him.

He watched her walk over to George who held her coffee out to her. Sharing pleasantries, she headed off to one of the many tables. Taking her normal table by the window. “Alright boys. I am heading out, I’ll be back in two hours to close it down.” Harrison told them. That was most likely the last rush of the day. People didn’t tend to frequent the coffee shop near close. They gave him nods as he left.

Thirty minutes and they hadn’t stopped. Anytime they saw a lull coming, once they served one customer, two more would come. Just as Fred turned his back, taking a deep breath as the attack stopped, he heard the approaching footsteps of someone. He wanted to roll his eyes and outwardly show the resentment he had felt, but he didn’t feel the same hostility he had felt with the last few customers. Part of him should have known why before he turned around, but sometimes he isn’t always on the ball.

As he turned around, he was pleasantly shocked to see Y/N standing there at the counter again, her head down as she inspected the wet patch on her blue sundress. After a few seconds of silence, she looked up, hand hovering over the patch on the center of her torso. “Hey, Fred, again,” She smiled, a bit awkwardly as she didn’t usually come up after she got her order unless it was to say bye to the boys (something rather new after she got comfortable with them). “Do you think I could get a napkin? That last customer who left kind of knocked into me a bit and I got the last bit of iced coffee on me-” She cut herself off as Fred reacted without thinking, grabbing the back of his brother’s black shirt and ripping it off of him.

“Here you go, Y/N.” He handed it to her. Shocked, she took it from him. George just stood there, blinking at his brother as if he had gone completely mad. Fred considered this a sign that perhaps, working nearly every single day of the summer had made him cracked in the head. Slowly, looking at the face Y/N was making, he came back into his body. It was as if seeing Y/N in need made him go into autopilot, doing whatever he needed to to resolve the issue Y/N was facing.

“Fred, what in Godric's name?” George questioned, still a bit shocked that his brother completely ripped the back of his shirt off, leaving just his sleeves and the front. It was silent as the three of them all looked at each other, trying to make sense of the situation. Fred couldn’t even remember his brain telling him to do that, let alone any thought of ripping his brother’s shirt.

The silence was broken by the sweet giggles of Y/N. Fred nearly gave himself whiplash turning his head to look at her. There she stood, on the other side of the counter, one hand holding the tattered shreds of George’s shirt, the other one hovering over her mouth as her giggled turned into laughter, eyes crinkling closed. “Oh my Helga,” She pressed her lips together, her purely magnetic eyes opening and meeting Fred’s with a zing being sent through Fred’s body like electricity (which this summer, he discovered was pretty dangerous). “I needed that, Freddie. That guy who bumped my arm as a complete arse-” Fred blinked, that might have been the most foul he had ever heard her talk, though Hermione had told him she had said much worse about some of the guys in their year. “You know exactly what to do to make people laugh, it’s an amazing gift,” She nodded at him, a large smile hanging off her lips. “Thank you, see you at Hogwarts if I am not in next week.” She whispered as she rolled onto the balls of her feet.

Before Fred could react, she was pressing her lips against his cheek. Her sweet looking lips felt even sweeter against the now burning flesh of his freckled cheeks. He knew that now he felt her lips, he wasn’t going to be able to stop thinking about how they would feel against his own lips, but right now his brain was empty. He couldn’t function as she pulled away, heels crashing to the ground. A bashful smile stayed on her lips as she waved to the pair of them, Fred so far gone he barely even registered the fact that her lips were no longer touching him - probably due to the fact that the tingling he felt was still there. When he finally came back into his body again, Y/N and her bashfulness had left with her book tucked under her arm for almost five minutes. Blinking around, Fred saw the basically empty shop, the only person lingering being someone who had been there for two hours now. Looking to his side, he felt George’s “what the hell” look before he saw it. Winching, nervous about his brother’s wrath. “Sorry about the shirt, George.”

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catofadifferentcolor · 1 month

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Terrible Fic Idea #88: Percy Jackson, but make it Ptolemaic

Since I inexplicably seem to have fallen back into the PJO fandom, my plan for this terrible fic idea was to expound upon the fluff hinted at in #87... but once again got derailed as my mind dredged up a fic idea I'd long ago discarded as being too terrible.

Or: What if, instead of hating his demigod half-sibling at first sight, Triton fell in love with them instead?

Just imagine it:

Everything happens according to canon, with two exceptions: 1) Sally Jackson gives birth to a daughter, who she names Andromeda; and 2) Zeus' lightening bolt is not stolen until the summer Andy is set to turn 15, which means she never faces a Fury while on a field trip to a museum, which means Grover and Chiron never realize she's a demigod who needs to be taken to camp.

Because of this, Sally is not able to get rid of Smelly Gabe with Medusa's head the summer Andy would turn 13. In fact, she's forced to double down on the relationship, thinking his scent is the only thing keep her little girl safe-

-which Sally very much comes to regret the year Andy turns 14, when puberty starts turning her from an awkward, coltish child into someone who will clearly become a beautiful woman. The looks Gabe starts sending her daughter's way during Thanksgiving Break are enough for Sally to start drawing up divorce paperwork, but these things take time and Andy is forced to spend Winter Break mostly alone in Gabe's apartment with Sally working double shifts to make ends meet.

The first time Gabe makes a pass at Andy, every single pipe in the apartment bursts - and when he comes at her a few minutes later, thinking it was her idea of a prank, the water seems to trip Gabe and hold him down until he drowns in the three inches of water on their kitchen floor.

Naturally, Andy is freaked out in every possible way by the time Sally makes it home. Sally is equally worried, with a double dose of guilt for bringing someone who'd try to assault her daughter into their home and not getting rid of him sooner once she realized what he was capable of. She realizes that she has no choice but to take Andy to CHB.

Camp Half-Blood is a little different than the books - more small polis than summer camp, with each of the major gods having their own compound within the camp where their children and those of related gods reside. (i.e., the children of various water nymph and water deities, along with a handful of water nymphs themselves, have a compound on the waterfront, which would be headed by the oldest child of Poseidon, if there was one).

Andy is immediately assumed to be the child of a river god because of what happened with the pipes - likely Asopus, who has a history of intervening on behalf of his daughters - and not a particularly powerful one, otherwise she'd have been identified long before her 14th birthday when Chiron taught at her school. The thought of her being a child of the Big Three never enters anyone's mind.

And so Andy, slightly more traumatized with slightly lower self-esteem, finds herself living at camp full time, believing herself to be the daughter of an undetermined minor water deity.

Enter Triton.

He doesn't set out to fall in love with a mortal. In fact, Triton's first instinct when he hears the gossip about Andy is one of irritation at his father for being a little too interested in the affairs of a pretty demigod. He decides to check out the situation and see if it can't be headed off at the pass.

Triton first sees Andy alone one the beach in the moonlight and immediately understands why any number of beings would risk her presumed father's wrath to gain a sliver of her attention. He finds himself drawn to her, coming back night for a week until he finally works up the nerve to approach her - and rather than run away, Andy invites him to join her wave watching.

Their friendship begins slowly - Andy is somewhat leery of men after her experience with Gabe, but a male water spirit seems safer to be around than some of the older campers - but grows startlingly quickly, especially after Triton starts teaching her how to protect herself with both her powers and the trident she found in the armory. By the time June rolls around, Andy can safely call Triton the best friend she's ever had.

But then the situation with Zeus' bolt heats up. Andy is claimed, sent on a quest, and prevents a war. And somewhere along the way she learns the water spirit that's been flirting with her - who gifted her a necklace with his own symbol, to protect her if anyone tried to repeat Gabe's actions - is her half-brother.

Being mortal and having mortal morals, Andy naturally finds this uncomfortable. But the problem is Triton is really has become her dearest friend and probably the only guy she feels comfortable enough around to even consider dating. Triton, being a god, doesn't have nearly the number of hangups Andy has with the revelation - though he is rather peeved with his father for breaking his oath and potentially dooming them all.

This situation goes on for a while.

Meanwhile, we speed run through the next few quests, with SoM, TTC, and BotL all happening in the nine months immediately following Andy's 15th birthday. Only instead of being sent to Ogygia after blowing up Mount St. Helens, Andy lands at Triton's summer home in the Mariana Islands and things between them come to a head. Dealer's choice on the details, Andy eventually decides her feelings for Triton will never change, so she might as well be happy with him rather than hurt them both apart.

And so Andy and her immortal half-brother start dating on the DL.

TLO happens as per canon, the only difference being that Nico - Andy's adoptive baby brother - not Annabeth is her tie to mortality. Despite her new relationship with Triton, Andy still refuses godhood to ensure demigods are recognized by their parents.

It's not until Juno kidnaps Andy that Olympus and CHB learn of her relationship with Triton. The campers naturally find this uncomfortable, and it taints the perceptions Piper, Jason, and Leo have of her when they arrive.

(Poseidon is actually quite pleased by the news, and it should be suggested he waited as long to claim Andy as he did because he knew of Triton's visits to her and didn't want to scare her off something that could make both his children so happy.)

SoN follows canon, although the conch necklace Andy arrives wearing lead most to think her a granddaughter of Neptune rather than an actual daughter, though her treatment is the same regardless. This should lead to all the awkwardness when Andy regains her memories and admits to Frank and Hazel that Triton isn't her father, as they assumed, but her lover.

Andy begins her ascent to godhood in Tartarus when she takes control of Akhlys' poison. In her halfway state she's able to defeat Polybotes on her own, which propels her to full godhood. Her domains leave her something of the aquatic equivalent of Pan, with her ability over poison coming from her ability to clean polluted waters.

CHB and CJ are never quite sure what to make of Andromeda, the ascended goddess that each knew for a time. Though a superb fighter, she never really fit into either camp - a little too withdrawn because of her traumas for CHB, too untamable for CJ. She's respected, but not beloved as she might have been had she started camp earlier. In the end, her story becomes warning about the dangers of catching the eye of a god, as revisionist as that history is.

Bonuses include:

For all Andy loves her mother, her relationship with Sally never quite recovers after Gabe's attempted assault. For all she understands her mother's reasoning in marrying him, she never can quite forgive her for bringing such a monster into their lives. Though she honestly, truly tries, Andy never feels safe enough around mortal men to return home during the school year or form a real relationship with her new stepfather, Paul. She leaves the mortal world behind long before attaining godhood, preferring monsters she can recognize and kill to mortals.

Andy always being considered the odd one out at camp for forming closer relationships with nature spirits than other campers. Her relationship with Annabeth is never as close as in the books - more Gilmore Girls Paris and Rory rivalry than genuine friendship - while her friendship with Grover and Chiron is always tainted by the fact they never realized she was a demigod and thus forced her to endure two more years of Smelly Gabe. Nico is the one exception to this, with Andy declaring herself Nico's ersatz older sister the moment Bianca joins the Hunt; and

Everything about PJO being aged up accordingly, including the myths. None of the stories are sanitized, and so part of camp is being forced to come to terms with the often awful things the Gods (their parents/uncles/cousins) have done - as well as the awful things many demigods (their siblings/cousins) have done historically.

...And that's all I have. Despite the will they/won't they tension being largely glossed over in this outline, that's where I see the bulk of the drama (and thus the fic) coming from, but what can you do? Anyway, feel free to adopt this bun, just link back if you ever do anything with it.

More PJO Ideas | More Terrible Fic Ideas

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aberooski · 2 months

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Fuck it.

Random Yu-Gi-Oh GX headcanon dump part 2!

Part 1

Once again in no particular order, just the order they pop out of my brain.

Most of my headcanons are upsetting so we'll see what gets released from the vault this time 👀

Atticus takes care of anyone and everyone but himself, to an almost self-destructive degree at times.

The J-Squad kept in touch with Chumley after he left

Atticus is 100% a theater kid

Of the Primary Color Trio(tm), Syrus is the only one they trust to cook. As we've established, Jaden will burn down the kitchen if he tries, and Hassleberry isn't a bad cook, but he's the kinda guy who will have something really good and then walk away and accidentally wreck it.

Hassleberry has never measured ingredients in his life. He doesn't know what tea/tablespoons or measuring cups are.

Bastion's top artist on Spotify is Frank Sinatra

After graduation Atticus and Alexis made Chazz write down a list of things/experiences he's never done or had because of how restrictively he was brought up and they make it their mission to make sure he can cross off everything on the list.

Alexis has painted Chazz's nails for him more than once because she does a cleaner job than he does. 💅

Alexis also taught Chazz how to do eye liner

Jim tells people Shirley is his seeing eye croc when they ask why he has her

After graduation, every single one of them eventually starts going to therapy

Jesse was the one who finally convinced Jaden to at least try therapy after he repeatedly insisted to everyone that he didn't need it. He did

This is kinda canon actually, but Hassleberry doesn't remember what happens when he goes dinosaur berserk mode. The headcanon part is that it's not just like fuzzy memories or anything, there are just straight up holes in his memory. And it really bothers him.

Yuki is Jaden's mom's last name. She's Japanese but his dad is American and when they got married, he took her name.

Eventually, Bastion does return from the other dimension with Tania. Everyone is happy to see him. No one ever forgot him.

Aster carries Echo's memory with him until the day he dies. Just like his father, he'll always remember the poor girl who was murdered for a card. The girl he couldn’t save.

Crowler's the teacher everybody added on Facebook and all that after graduation because they're not his students anymore so they're allowed to be friends with him on social media 🤭

Syrus really does love his brother a lot, bit therapy really opens his eyes to how so many of his personal issues and fears and anxieties and inhibitions stem from Zane and how badly he treated him and how badly it stifled him as a person and is able to bring himself to hold Zane accountable for it all so he can actually find a way to heal from it all and they can truly mend their relationship.

Jaden regrets not holding Zane accountable for how he treated Syrus past their duel in episode 8 where the subsequently drops the issue because of Zane's dueling skills.

Bastion can play the piano

Chazz is the most bisexual little man on the planet 💖💙💜 pretty sure we all agree on this one

Atticus is pan 💖💛💙

Jaden and Jesse have gone as Jed and Octavius for Halloween at least once

One year Atticus used the fact that Halloween is his birthday as an excuse to convince Chazz be Snow White for Halloween so they could go as Snow White and Prince Florian.

By the time they're grown up and he and Atticus are living together/married the only family member of his that Chazz still keeps any contact with is his mom

Aster has intense trust issues after learning the truth about The D and his father's death

Hassleberry tilts his head like a dog when he's confused

Syrus actually gets sick a lot. 🤒

Zane giving kids cards to stop them from bullying Syrus was a common occurrence when they were little kids

Before Zane went off to train at Sheppard's dojo and before he started abusing Syrus in his own ways they were actually decently close considering Zane's inherent emotional distance

Slade and Jagger hated Chazz from day one.

Alexis has nightmares about Atticus being taken away again after he comes back. If they're bad enough, she'll go to his dorm in the middle of the night to check on him and make sure that he's safe, and often ends up sleeping on his couch for the rest of the night.

Chazz knows his family is homophobic so after he cuts his ties with his dad and his brothers, he comes out to Crowler because he's the closest thing to a genuine father figure he's really ever had

Crowler officiates Chazz and Atticus's wedding 💍

Inspired by Yusei, Jaden got a motorcycle post Bonds Beyond Time. He thought it would impress Jesse. It did.

Jesse is the first one to get their driver's license

Axel is the only one who has never crashed their car

Axel will always come whenever anyone needs help. No matter who, and no matter how far away they are.

While working on Chazz's experiences list Atticus and Alexis took him to the mall. She left them unsupervised for a few minutes to go to the bathroom. When she came back, they were gone, and when she found them again, Chazz had his ears pierced. Atticus had taken him to Claire's. She will never leave them unsupervised again. 🤦‍♀️

I think I'll call this one here for now!

Maybe next year I'll come back with part 3 🤭

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procrastinatingsoicanreadfanfics · 2 years

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Vikings + single mother

Summary: how the vikings would react to finding out you're a single mother + how they'd support you

Tagged: @alicedopey, @shit-i-say-shit-i-think

Masterlist | based on this request | requests are OPEN!

Ragnar

He has five sons, what’s one more child

Especially if it’s a girl, he will adore her

Maybe in a slightly unhealthy way

Many ups and downs

You can’t expect him to be reliable, but he tries for your sake

Lagertha

Lagertha loves children

Especially if they aren’t the result of Ragnar’s unfaithfulness

Considering that she basically adopted half of Hedeby’s woman and made them into shieldmaidens

She will take care of your child

Not in a lovey-dovey, babysitter way

But really solid

Your child will learn actual life skills, and to fend for themselves

And Lagertha will not let you take any shit for being a single mom

Aslaug

Even when Ragnar was around, Aslaug felt like she was raising her children on her own

Relates to your struggles deeply

Since your child(ren) don’t present any competition to hers, she’ll try to help you

Might also be her way of flirting

At first it’s only ‘oh, I have this leftover tunic from Sigurd, do you want it?’

And that’ll turn into you basically living in the Great Hall

Your child would most likely be a friend to one of the Aslaugssons

You can count on her

Bjorn

Won’t be a good father of your child

But he’s just not a good dad in general

Forgets all of his children’s names???

Supports you, but the worst babysitter

Expect the house to be on fire on your return

Young/child Bjorn would treat your child as a cousin/sibling and get very protective

Ubbe

Patchwork family king, you can count on him like 1,2,3 (pretend it rhymes)

I mean we have canon proof

Took in asa and Torvi’s other kid (the boy??)

Would act like that for anyone

In his eyes, every child deserves love, no matter what the parents did or who they are (*angrily stares at Ragnar*)

He respects your boundaries and he’s sensible when handling children

Solid friend/partner, as always

Hvitserk

He literally does not care that that is not his child

Regularly forgets that

Will fight anyone who dares to insult you

Has no experience with children, but tries for your sake

And with his puppy energy, he has no problems

As a friend or partner, he will adopt/accept your child in two seconds

Sigurd

He doesn’t think that your biological family is your family

(modern Sigurd read all found family trope fics on ao3 *throws in limp wrist*)

If he likes you, he’ll take care of your kid

Doesn’t care about family names or blood

To him, love (whether that be platonic or romantic) is more important

Surprisingly good with kids

Will sing lullabies

Ivar

Ivar won’t dislike your child

He just worries whoever left you will come back and a) threaten you or b) take you away from him

As a VERY possessive person, he takes care of you and your child in his own way

Will ‘protect’ you (read: become a little clingy) and provide for you (read: spoil you)

If you establish clear boundaries he will be an amazing friend/partner, and treat your child as his own

Helga

SET BOUNDARIES

If you make it clear that this is not her child there won’t be any heartbreak down the road

I am a firm believer of Helga having all five love languages plus a thousand others

One of them being COOKING

You will never, ever go hungry or cold under her care

She will nurse either of you back to health

Infinitely patient

Floki looks on skeptically, but will defo teach your child to make mini boats

Helga scolds him for handing a child a knife (queue: ‘But Ivar was fine!’ ‘Ivar killed a boy with an axe when he was four!’)

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babyspacebatclone · 1 year

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Ok, just back from the live action The Little Mermaid.

And may I confidently say?

Best live-action Disney adaptation yet.

True, a low bar to clear, but this honestly felt like a movie and a love story, and not just a cash grab.

Every single changed scene had me smiling. Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) was amazing, and Halle Bailey truly is Ariel, I want her version to become the defacto in the Disney Princesses line because she feels sweet and clever and brave above and beyond the animated version.

(No offense to Jodi Benson, I love her, but the animated version is what it was and the new Ariel is just given more room to breathe.)

I think, comparing, my child self would love the animated spectacle more…

But my adult self loves the tighter, more in depth story of the live action more.

It feels like the best kind of fan fiction, one where someone who loves the characters asks “How were they feeling here? How can I expand this?”

And gives us those glimpses.

Not perfect, but definitely enough for me to fan girl.

Speaking of which… Spoilers below the cut.

Right from the opening scene, you see this movie is taking itself and the responsibility of the story seriously. I love the development of Eric, his camaraderie with the sailors while also being a good mix of level headed (don’t just harpoon mermaids) with reckless insanity (dude, you’re a prince, please don’t laugh while dangling by one arm over open water. ah, well, i love you anyway).

I can feel how much the film pulls back the special effects budget, especially making the introduction of Triton’s daughters basically a business meeting instead of the grand performance, but the filmmakers were smart enough to make the change work. I like the idea of each daughter being “manager” of a specific sea under daddy’s “CEO,” and it was a great excuse to give diversity to each sister.

Plus, I loved their banter/interaction while cleaning the shipwreck, they felt natural and I wish we could have had more time with them.

Speaking of natural!

As a writer I was listening to the exposition, and in my opinion it was exceptionally well done, especially for the amount they crammed into the beginning. Some of it was on-the-nose, but that was restricted to Grimsby, Sebastian, and Ursula, and felt character appropriate in each context.

There was an eye for why the character is saying something - “Am I supposed to tell the Queen her son died, and on his birthday?”; “A shipwreck brought you to us, and now a shipwreck almost took you away, I can’t stand this anymore!”

I didn’t fee like making Eric an adopted orphan of the royal family was necessary, but I loved both Jonah’s and Noma Dumezweni’s performances enough that I accept the filmmakers wanting to justify things and they do tie it in to Eric’s expanded character.

And that is 👌👌👌 he’s so sweet and adorkable and they manage to make his longing to see the world beyond his island mesh with Ariel’s longing for the surface world without it feeling forced.

You see them shyly come together over their shared feelings of isolation and longing for something they’ve only been able to glimpse, not experience.

youtube

Turning the ideas that Ursula is King Triton’s sister and Ariel’s mother was killed by humans into not just canon, but pertinent plot points, was excellent.

I wish we could have known more about her mother, but can I say I’m glad it was never revealed Ursula was actually responsible? I suspected that when it was clear Ursula had been banished around the time of the death, but it works so much better than it really was just one human that traumatized King Triton, and him having to overcome his hatred of humanity as a whole despite his lose.

Ursula pulling out the “I’m your Aunt, ‘Daddy’ has hurt me so much by refusing to understand me, too” was genius.

It especially helped with the fact that Ariel was going to refuse to sacrifice her entire life (realism!!) only to give in because of her anger in a moment of spite towards her father (realism!!!), especially with seeing their relationship and knowing that Ariel’s fear of being enclosed under her father’s constant watch was probably accurate.

As a song, “For the First Time” isn’t particularly special.

Including Ariel actively doubting her decision to come to land? Brilliant.

youtube

The entire day out and “Kiss the Girl” sequence is perfection, fight me.

Grimsby being an active shipper on deck?? 😍

I personally prefer Eric being the one to steer the ship in the climatic fight, but the detail of Ariel steering it because she’d witnessed him trying to save the ship in the beginning was nice symmetry.

The animal companions were done very well in my opinion: Scuttle was better handled than in the animation to me, Sebastian was perfect and they did a great job humanizing his design with his eyes compared to previous outings, and Flounder was - there. With Max.

Almost feel you could have cut the last two out and lost nothing except babbling to Triton at the beginning, Eric coulda saved the shipboy at the beginning…

(And yes Flounder’s “realistic” design does not improve in context, fortunately he’s on screen less than the animated characters with charisma)

I love the expansion of the prejudices on both sides; I wish it had been better explored at the end, but Queen Selina’s speech to her son about how his feelings for Ariel despite her being a “sea creature” (her initial fearful reaction) was beautiful.

Brain’s trickling down, it was an early showing, but you get the point.

It’s well worth watching the movie, and I’m up for rambling if anyone else is! 😊

#the little mermaid 2023 #the little mermaid spoilers #anaylsis #disney #Youtube

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iamafanofcartoons · 1 year

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Fatherhood in RWBY: How they managed to create our team of protagonists through their actions - Taiyang Xiao Long

Fatherhood, as most people who at least have a cursory understanding of psychology, is crucial for the formation of a child's sense of self. The question 'Who is my father' is one that every child will at least ask once, during a teenager's angst, or a child's honest question, and it shapes their children in ways both predictable and unpredictable.

For single mothers who raise their children alone, the question 'who is my father' can at the very least raise the question even further later in life, when the mother replies with 'I don't know' or 'that man is your father, but we are no longer together'. The question later in life, especially when the children have their own children, rises. 'Who is my father's father'?

In RWBY, we see that it is mostly is the absent mother figure, biological or non-biological that comes across as a foundation for their daughters (Talking about team RWBY), in order to create a sense of identity for their daughter.

I will outline some of my thoughts, and invite people to have a civil debate. It is a discussion that should be had, because I had the idea for this post a few days ago after seeing an errant comment on the Summer Rose post, by someone I consider a friend. He's kind of into water-based propulsion.

The reason for this post, is to outline some views on how Taiyang was as a father, from what we can glean from the RWBY episodes that he is in, and comments made.

This post is in no way intended to 'flame' or 'harass' or 'defile the intention of this sub'. People might like to know more about things.

Fatherhood: How the fathers shaped their children.

Taiyang Xiao Long

Most of the people here seem to venerate him as some paragon who got two wives, had two daughters and who was 'the man' in Beacon. Some people even call him 'Chad', which, using most of my experience in life (Quite a bit, I am a bit older than the average 20-something-year-old here), does not seem to be the case.

Ruby easily gets along with her father, whilst Yang bears at least a slight grudge towards him, however subtle it may seem. Her speech to Blake about 'searching for her mother' indicates that her father was not present after Summer Rose died/was listed MIA.

To say that that was not a forming experience for a young girl like Yang, would be to deny reality. A father that she trusted and loved and expected to be there for her, was no longer available in her life. He 'shut down', as it was, and became a husk of his former self.

A girl like Yang is expressive and shows herself as a daring, go-getting individual, who wants to meet challenges and overcome them. She is someone who does not quit, who has to overcome and move forward, a steady theme in RWBY's storytelling.

Now, to speak about Taiyang's role as a father, before his shut-down. We know nothing about that era. I am not assuming that any comic form is 'canon' or 'accurate', due to the mutability and retconning of the comic media. Even official published work is rejected, because it does not deal with Taiyang as a father.

Taiyang, likely, was a man who burned brightly, like his daughter does. He was present enough in her early life to give her that will to continue, even whilst he was engaged in a sexual relationship with Summer Rose, who accepted the Mother-role.

We are allowed to assume that Taiyang and Summer never married. Raven was his wife, as stated by Amity Arena. Divorcing is a lengthy process and it is not as easy to provide undeniable evidence in a setting such as Remnant, that Raven abandoned Yang.

Before the people start to complain and immediately go 'But there was true love involved, Raven was a b-word', let me continue with my line of reasoning: Huntsmen are generally out in the field for weeks to months at a time, and the CCT network does not seem to have full coverage of the planet, or at the very least, not be consistent, though there was a broadcast visible in what seems to be Menagerie with Ilia in V8.

Raven could be 'out on a mission' without telling her spouse. That is her right as a Huntsman. Divorce under such circumstances, would likely not be allowed.

It also shows to us that Taiyang is not the greatest at making decisions that involve his love life. Raven married him, actually going through the ceremony enough to become Raven Xiao Long, from the Branwen tribe. Summer Rose came along after Yang was born and Raven had recovered enough post-child-birth (which is from 3-5 months, I have heard from the hospital's maternity ward, due to bleeding and post-natal care for the mother's innards, since uteral collapse is a danger), leaving to birth Ruby, who was, according to Eddy Rivas, 15 before Beacon, 16 when she joined Beacon as a student.

People may immediately assume that I am making that deduction because I do not like the circumstances there, or that I am 'defaming the great Taiyang Xiao Long'. I am not. I am pointing out that he had an infant there, his daughter, who Summer was taking care of with him, with Qrow being involved as well, supposedly.

One does not easily 'get in the mood' when one is caring for a child. During the first two years of a child's life, most parents are dead tired due to waking up in the night to give a baby its bottle. Summer got pregnant, somehow, and she birthed a child later.

It is too early for Taiyang's divorce to be finalized, if it was ever mentioned at all. We can safely assume that he is still married to Raven, though not acknowledging it. It is not like the matrilineal naming scheme is in effect in Remnant, so he would not assume the name of his wife, though his daughter Ruby, seems to be fully able to have her own name be 'Rose' as a sign of her status of being conceived out of wedlock.

Once more, knowing the type of reaction that that engenders from people who have little to no experience with marriage or laws regarding marriage: Children cannot legally change their name unless it is court-mandated, so we can deduce from that that Taiyang had not married Summer Rose.

Which is a bad choice, if one looks at it. It speaks of compromised judgment, when one immediately chooses another woman who they are affectionately on good terms with, as the replacement mother for their child, and begetting a child with her.

A child is a massive responsibility. A child is your legacy, your future, and Taiyang's failing starts to show when he impregnated Summer Rose with Ruby Rose. He had one daughter of a mother who abandoned the two of them, and now he has conceived another.

Not to say that it does not also create a bond between his daughters and him, but we are working our way up from decisions that he, as an adult male over the age of 21, a huntsman of some skill, has made.

Summer Rose dies on a secret mission and he is devastated. His daughters nearly end up as Grimm food with only a timely save from Qrow, another father figure, who will be regarded in another post, should this be deemed 'interesting enough' to become a series.

If you think that a depressed man, mourning the wife that left him and her replacement who birthed him two beautiful daughters, is any paragon of virtue and wholesomeness, I have serious doubts about the ability of the reader to discern between good and bad parenting.

As a father or mother, you take responsibility for the child you put on this world. Shutting down is not a right response, and he might have committed suicide if Qrow had brought the bodies of his two daughters home. That, we can infer, from V2's statement by Yang to Blake.

How did it shape Yang?

Yang is the most expressive member of team RWBY. The extrovert, who seems to have a lust for life and an eternal burning thirst for adventure and progress, to do what she feels is right and to be the 'sunny little dragon' she is named for.

Having to take upon her shoulders the role of 'mother' and 'Wife' for Taiyang after he shut down and they were left alone with only Qrow taking missions, it shaped her into the figure we see today. More-so in the first few volumes, we see that she is fairly selfless, yet willing to be forward and rather open with how she is, with little thought about the future, living in the here and now.

People will disagree with me here, but this is the 'persona' that Yang has crafted in order to remain the beacon of light in the Xiao Long household. She is not hiding her true self at all, but she is keeping up the expectation of being 'Taiyang's daughter', so as to properly rear Ruby.

Ruby is one of the foci of Yang's life. She raised Ruby as her daughter of sorts, even though they were children of near-similar age. She is the most important thing to Yang, over even her father. Her confidence and her sunny personality also shatter when faced with a severe blow to herself, as losing her arm caused her to show a Taiyang-level depression, with the PTSD that comes with it.

It shows that father and daughter are the same, which I will continue to outline further. It is likely that behind the confident, push-forward demeanour that she shows, with her casual and flippant attitude, there lies a more matronly, serious Yang that does not feel the intense rage that gives her her temper.

We can deduce from Taiyang's own intimacy with Yang's fighting style, that they are both brawling-type of individuals, who probably share more than a few tics. He was able to coach her during the episode before she left, and she left with a confidence that seemed unshaken, but was also out of commission in a similar-level blackout as Taiyang.

It is likely that the more matronly and caring side of her only emerges when she feels comfortable around individuals, preferring to leave the mask of 'Yang, Daughter of Taiyang' on whilst she re-evaluates the situation. Her father would likely do something similar, given how much they apparently seem to have in common.

However, the effect on Yang is also, that she is in search of her mother, due to her father's likely comparison of Yang and Raven. Knowing the effects of depression on a man and Qrow's propensity for liquor to forget bad things, Yang would likely have had a few insults thrown her way, or had to cradle her father whilst he hugged her in a drunken stupor asking 'Raven' why she left.

That is normal behaviour for widowers and non-voluntary divorcees who genuinely loved their wife. I am not assuming that Yang's conception was 'forced' in any way, since he married Raven Branwen.

Most of what Yang says about her father is that he was dad, and that he was a cool dad, with him being unafraid to poke the elephant in the room with the typical bluntness that we come to expect from Yang. He is, like her, a straightforward individual.

His recovery into something functional again, seems to have come around before Yang entered Combat School, which likely caused her personality to remain the 'sunny boisterous brawler' that we all know, with no more real need for her to be Ruby's mother.

His overprotectiveness after their harrowing encounter likely has made Yang a little more hesitant to fully confide in her father. Mothers tend to bond better with their daughters, and him being shut-down, as per her words, would not really create a tight-knit bond.

However Taiyang shaped Yang into the woman she is now, a bright girl who keeps moving on, one Grimm at a time.

Ruby Rose: The conundrum of being upstaged by your brother-in-law

That Ruby Rose seriously admires her uncle is a given, given her interactions with her non-related uncle, his fondness of both of his nieces and the like, yet we do not really delve into the specifics of how he influenced his adoptive niece in this segment. This is about Taiyang, the primary father for Ruby and Yang, yet he is at least, a figure that pops up frequently.

Taiyang, given of what we know of Ruby's early childhood, was absent for most of the formative years, since Summer's death. We do not know how aware Ruby was during her early years, but with Yang as a mother and Qrow as an uncle, it is pretty obvious that she considers Qrow to be somewhat more of a father figure than her own father.

That poses a problem. Yang, her older sister by 1.5 years (If we can believe Eddy Rivas), is someone who is extroverted, whereas Ruby is shy and introverted and 'kind of a geek' with a 'dash of social awkwardness'.

We see little of Taiyang in Ruby's behaviour. She does not have the depressive disposition of her sister or her father. She is eternally optimistic and forward-moving, as her mother might have also been.

She seems to be spared from the Xiao-Long trait of being boisterous and wearing scandalous jackets, at least, on a funny note. Corsets or nothing.

She thinks he is a good father, and she loves him as her father, but we are not given enough context on how he was her father. She feels closer to Qrow, and we are given a massive clue about how that went down with the last episode of V3.

Qrow and Taiyang are at the same place, at the same time. Qrow and Taiyang share a moment in Ruby's room that can be considered somewhat uncomfortable, with the two having a momentary stare-off. It is fairly obvious that Taiyang, in his own way, somewhat resents Qrow for being the more parental figure to Ruby, his daughter.

Ruby is closer to Qrow than she is to Taiyang. That Taiyang is a little overprotective of his daughters, is shown frequently in his body language and how he reacts, likely after the Grimm tried to kill his daughters.

Ruby Rose was affected in a lesser manner by Taiyang's presence, since 'Uncle Qrow' fascinated her and she wanted to be 'cool' like him.

Her likeness in personality and appearance to Summer Rose, likely causes the man some pain due to the loss he suffered.

Fatherhood: A conclusion (Until more is known)

It is not by our will, that we are given flesh. A man is but a miserable pile of secrets, and Taiyang is nothing but a secret wrapped in some enigma.

We do not know whether he dated anyone else, to give his daughters a mother figure. We do not know whether he had to languish until Yang was nine to recover from his mental breakdown. The time period is too vague, but you do not simply 'recover' from a depressive mental breakdown swiftly. It is step-by-step.

His effect on his daughters, at the least, was formative in that they became the protagonists that we know and love right now.

A flawed man, struggling with an emotional shutdown. A flawed man, who nearly lost his daughter. A flawed man, who married one wife, only to betray that oath to her with another after less than two years had passed, to birth the heroine of this series.

He is not the 'sex god' that people proclaim him to be. In fact, I would assume that he is almost certainly sexless in his life, unless he has somehow managed to hide a relationship from both of his daughters.

His marrying of Raven Branwen was the catalyst for Yang to be born. His relationship with Summer ended up with Ruby being born, and he failed his daughters by shutting down.

The effects of his style of parenting and overprotectiveness to shield his children from harm (likely post-Grimm expedition) have led to Ruby and Yang becoming individuals who keep on moving forward, because their father stopped moving forward after Summer died, and is only slowly recovering to become a man and a father again.

I am not a wise man, nor am I a sagely woman. I am someone who studied, who learned and who got a little paper that states that I am an expert in something.

Oftentimes, people here venerate the motherly Summer Rose, who took in a child that was not her own and became a mother, without realizing that a father was equally important in that role.

It is through our folly, that we realize that we are human, and Taiyang is still very much a human in his own way.

Recovering from what was a depressive shut-down, possibly alcoholism, and turning his life around to be a father to Yang, when it had been mostly Qrow likely keeping the family afloat, is an admirable goal.

I do not hate, despise or loathe the man, no matter what people seem to assume. I think he was instrumental in creating the Yang we know. The Yang who said 'I'll beat them up' and 'Strawberry sunrise', who was bold and fearless and depressive, once her arm was removed.

His Volume 4 interactions with his daughter are very loving, caring, yet they do not wash away the years that she had to be the wife of the family, the mother figure to Ruby. He was, however, her father.

Every growing teenager will 'loathe' their parents for their perceived 'restrictions', or at least I remember my own time. Yang, likely, had more than a few restrictions, yet she expresses herself forwardly.

He was a passable father, in her later teens, when he had his life in order.

Ruby was much less affected by Taiyang, yet she considers him her father, even if he does ground her for life upon her return.

He made up for his faults, and that is admirable for a man who seems to have had misfortune after misfortune happen to him.

Yang and Ruby are not fully grown matured teenagers yet, but they have inherited their father's will and good nature. Given how reserved they are about any kind of relationship, it is likely that Taiyang was the warning that they needed to never ever get into a stable relationship with someone, due to witnessing how their father just crashed and burned, before he rose from the ashes like a burning phoenix.

Our fathers shape us. Our mothers birth us. It is a good statement to make, to say that Ruby and Yang both know and love their father for all his faults, and that he has been forgiven by them for breaking down and not being the father that they needed.

He was their father, be it biological or adoptive. To them, he is their father, regardless. We know little about Summer Rose, we know reasonably much about Raven Branwen, but about the father-figures in the picture in RWBY, we know entirely too little.

Final closing words

It is important that these things are discussed. Thousands of discussions about RWBY's mothers are had, with wild theories and headcanons emerging, but there is little attention to the fathers of RWBY, and how they have impressed their own situation on their daughters.

Anyone who says that fathers do not have a place in their daughters' lives, or that Cyanide is talking about irrelevant things that do not matter: You are being prejudiced against men. This place is not a place to immediately say 'men are unfit to be mentioned' and then avoid dialogue.

That is not how civil debate goes.

I am saying that as someone who has studied the humanities.

Fathers, and men, are important. Don't bury that message with hatred and immediate rebuttals of 'men are evil'. People are created by a man and a woman having relations, and one cannot exist without having had a man and a woman engage in reproduction.

Let us keep things civil, and if I am wrong, I am sure that you will engage me in a mature debate.

I am holding out hope that this place has not turned into a dystopia where the freedom of speech is squashed under the boot of intolerance, where people who simply do not agree are vilified as evil, and those who simply wish to show a different view, with their own experiences/education, can be allowed to enlighten others with their takes on things.

I am not a rock that is worn by the erosion of time, I am a flesh and blood being, so if I am wrong, I am willing to say 'Mea Culpa' and be open to changing my mind.

A closed mind, is a very dull and boring place.

So, what do you think of this post?

Source link from https://www.reddit.com/r/RWBY/comments/pkm0m3/fatherhood_in_rwby_how_they_managed_to_create_our/ By https://www.reddit.com/user/CyanideSins/

#rwby longpost #rwby character analysis #rwby discussion #taiyang xiao long #taiyang is a good dad #yang xiao long #rwby yang #rwby #rwby ruby #qrow branwen #uncle qrow #ruby rose #rwby ruby rose #taiyang #qrow #rwby character discussion

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timelessxmemories · 5 months

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@miss-midnightt , @the-main-characters , @gmanwhore , @ghostlyplacetobe

MAJOR LORE DROP FOR LOCK IN CANON.

[ aka me, Crow, letting my oc, Lock, be happy for once in canon and actually have an okay relationship with her dad! Yippee! ]

Lock has a 4 year old daughter named Amaris. She's been a single mother for as long as she can remember, but once she began dating Sera, she was grateful that she was no longer alone in raising her 4 year old girl. Also. Your selfships with her is canon. To me. In her lore. So when she first met you as well, she was so overwhelmed with love and care that she probably ended up crying because holy shit there's people out there who actually love her. Wow. It was actually when she met you that she realized that she's pan and poly. Her daughter Amaris of course took this really well, and was so so so happy that she had more people to bethwte for her and her mom and just absolutely loved and still loves to draw you guys things, including Sera because she really really really loves everyone who her mom loves!

When Amaris was born, both her mom and her dad were there, but her father soon left the both of them and left Lock to raise Amaris all by herself. Keep in mind, this was during Lock's time in SOLDIER as a first class so she already had a lot of stress on her from that, so while she was out doing her missions with Sera (assuming they were partners in canon), Amaris would either be left in the Turks care or Hojo's care while she was gone. Surprisingly enough, when she was left in Locks father's care, (Hojo's), Hojo was actually really nice to her and tried his best to be a good granddad to try (not really) and make up for lost time. This resulted in Hojo gaining a bit of Lock's trust back. Because everyone deserves a bit of character development every now and again. Also, another thing to note is that Amaris does not have wings like her mother does, however, she still has the Celestial blood in her veins, meaning when she's old enough to use Materia, her Materia will be enhanced and made stronger due to her genetics. It's unknown how exactly the Celestial blood works with Materia, but Hojo suspects that it's because Lock's blood is also transfused with Jenova Cells, and because Lock had an offspring, those genetics were transferred down to Amaris. Yet another thing to note, the birth of Amaris wasn't forced on her by Hojo, Hojo didn't even have any plans to have Lock create an offspring because, yknow, just because he's a mad scientist, doesn't mean he doesn't have any morality or humanity left in him for his daughter. He still loves her, but, in his own way I suppose. He also really loves his granddaughter Amaris to bits, when Amaris came along, that's kind of when he realized that oh. Life is precious. Even my daughters. And then he toned down the experiments and now he's actually trying to be an okay dad! Yeah. I know, before, originally, he was supposed to be a shitty person to her, but like, I'm giving him a fraction of a heart, some morality and reasoning behind what he did to Lock, after killing Starlight he went into a spiral which meant he did things he shouldn't have, and then Amaris came along and saved her mom's life, and without even realizing it, fixed (kind of) Lock's relationship with her father. Good job, Amaris!!! We love you!! Anyways, if Hojo is the one watching her at the time, he will show her all around the lab, all of his experiments (probably shouldn't be showing those things to a child, but it's Hojo, when is he ever thinking of these things??), his machinery and whatever else all while carrying Amaris around on his hip, straining his back but that's okay, because sacrifices must be made. (as one does with a toddler), he'll even actually take a break from his work just to read a picture book with Amaris (much to his disappointment because he wanted to read a book on Quantum Physics, but *sigh* he supposes it wouldnt hurt to read a picture book), or even colour or draw with her which is really rare because this man literally never stops working. Also, every now and again he'll let Amaris wear his lab coat. Why? Uhh, because she's an adorable child, and who can say no to such a cute face??? Also, Lock likes to take Amaris for shoulder rides and fly around with her wings, Amaris loves it. Lock tries her absolute hardest to try and take care of Amaris, and with everyone helping her, it makes it much easier, Amaris is never deprived of love, she has so much love. everywhere.

Also, a little bonus: Lock and Amaris have a Holland Lop Rabbit named Snickerdoodle and an Australian Shephard Puppy named Charlie!

Snickerdoodle [Female]: (Obviously not my picture)

Charlie [Male]: (Once again, not my photo)

- Charlie and Snickerdoodle are really good friends, Snickerdoodle tends to think that Charlie is her baby and tries to take care of him like her own. It's cute. I promise. But Charlie tends to think that Snickerdoodle is either a really soft pillow or a play thing. Don't worry. Charlie doesn't hurt her.

- Snickerdoodle is a rescue from the SPCA in Midgar, she was found near a dumpster which at the time was on fire, she was rescued and brought into care, she wasn't injured, but she was already a domesticated rabbit so they couldn't set her free into the wild. She was most likely previously abandoned by her previous owners. While Lock was off duty, she decided to stop by the local SPCA and take a look, that's when she met Snickerdoodle and immediately fell in love. Snickerdoodle now has a very loving family and home. Charlie of course, when he first met Snickerdoodle, he immediately decided to play with her, which in turn, Snickerdoodle let him do so because she was tired, and then Charlie tuckered himself out and fell asleep with his paws covering Snickerdoodle's back.

- When Amaris first saw Snickerdoodle after Lock came back with the rabbit, she instantly ran over and started petting Snickerdoodle, bombarding her mom with loads of questions which in turn Lock responded as best as she could. And if Amaris asked too many questions, she'd just either give her a cookie to shut her up or send her to either Sera, Sephiroth or Zack.

#💉 ;; 𝘛𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘹𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴! ;; Professor Hojo #🗡 ;; 𝘋𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸? 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘴? ;; Lockette Hojo

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miraculouswolf99 · 2 years

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True-ly Miraculous Fashion

I have read many fanfics where it is Marinette that has a bunch of celebrity connections. But, no one ever acknowledges that Adrien would have some connections as well since he is both a famous model on top of how he also has acting experience since it is canon that he voiced Cat Noir for that Ladybug & Cat Noir movie that was done on the show and scene a little bit in the Animaestro episode.

So, I am giving Adrien a friend that I think would be really great with him. The one and only teenage fashion designer and Vice President, True Jackson. And True is going to be delivering some hard truths once she hears about the lies that a certain liar has been saying about her.

(Gabriel Salt, Lila Salt, Alya Salt, Class Salt.)

Paris was known as the fashion capital of the world. There was not a single high-class designer that has not had their designs shown in Paris. Probably some of the most well-known designers were Chanel and Dior. But, there was also Gabriel Fashion which was primarily a Parisian fashion company. Of course, Gabriel mainly was known in Europe and some parts of Asia as well. It was not as popular in North America, but they had their own fashion companies to have as their favorite.

Probably one of the biggest fashion companies in the world was Mad Style. It was a North American-born company that was known for having some of the best clothes ever as well as extremely fashionable accessories as well. Mad Style had always been a company that is known for being unique while staying fashionable at the same time.

But, probably the main thing that was actually a worldwide shock, even for Mad Style, was when the CEO had hired a literal teenager to be his VP of Youth Apparel. No one ever could ever accuse Max Madigan of being a sane person, but no one would have ever thought that even he would hire a teenager as a vice president. But, as the world became to know True Jackson and see her talent, they actually all understood why the fashion idol had hired her.

True was, for lack of a better word, a true talent. Not only was she excellent at designing and making her own clothes, but she was a real sweetheart as well. Even the most stuck-up and bratty models and celebrities have changed their tune after meeting her. It is like True has a way to make everyone around her be the best version of themselves that they can be. And it is not even just the Youth Apparel clothes that she does. Her skills have been shown in winter jackets, business suits, formal dresses, and many other types of clothing. Her skills do not seem to have any limit.

True was a big inspiration to many people, both boys and girls. Being able to have as much success as her at such a young age was amazing. Plus, there is also the fact that even when she got lucky with her actually getting the job in the first place, she did not just keep rolling with that. She worked hard and did everything that she could to prove that luck was not the only reason why she was given the job.

No one actually knew about True's influence on the fashion world more than Paris's own Adrien Agreste. As not only Gabriel Fashion's main model but also Gabriel's son, Adrien had been with his father when he had tried to have a collab with Mad Style. While Gabriel had been meeting with Max, Adrien was welcomed into her office by True since they were the closest in age. He got to know her as well as her friends, Lulu and Ryan. Adrien had a blast with them, especially since he generally loved how Lulu just let all the crazy come out no matter what others thought of her. Plus, he laughed every time he heard True's catchphrase, "You say what now?" The way that she said it was just really funny to him.

Adrien was really lucky that he spoke English so that he had someone to talk to. As much as his father made him the main model for the company and probably also planned for him to take over the company one day, Adrien could admit to himself that he knew nothing about fashion. If it was not for the fact that he had to wear his father's outfit designs every day, he would probably end up in outfit combinations that most would call "fashion disasters."

Adrien traded numbers with the trio before he had to leave when his father failed to convince Max to collab with him. And while his father had been furious, Adrien was just glad that he was able to have made more friends. He just did not tell his father since there was no way he would allow him to be friends with someone that worked for a rival company.

It did not stop him from talking to True, Lulu, and Ryan whenever he was able to get away with it.

Such as when he was on his way to school one day. Since The Gorilla cared a lot more about Adrien than he ever could care for Gabriel, even when he was his boss, he pretended to not hear anything when Adrien's phone rang. And while normally just Adrien's phone ringing would not be an issue, the ringtone playing was the one Adrien had for when True would call. It was a surprise for Adrien since the time difference made it hard for them to call a lot, so he happily picked up.

"Hey, True," Adrien greeted her.

"What's up, Sunshine," True greeted him back in her usual bright and bubbly tone.

"Just on my way to school," he tells her. "Which makes me question even more how you are able to call me. You are six hours behind me, so isn't it like two in the morning where you are?"

"Normally, it would be," True was obviously excited about something. "But we are much closer in time when I am sitting on Mr.Mannequin's private jet and flying toward the city of love."

Adrien instantly perked up at that.

"You're on your way to Paris," he was almost jumping for joy, but then he remembered that he was sitting in a car.

"I have a few more hours until we land, but I will probably be there by the time you get out of school," True says.

"Why are you coming," Adrien asked her. "Not that I am not excited to see you, but I am still curious."

True giggled. "I know you mean no offense, so your question doesn't bother me. I am coming to Paris because Mad Style is opening up another branch there. We have a few locations in France in general, but this is the first big store to open directly in Paris."

"We are known as the fashion capital of the world," Adrien says.

"Says the kid with no fashion sense," True joked.

"It's not like I'm embarrassed about that," Adrien blushed slightly as he was teased by his friend. "It is simply a fact that I know nothing about fashion."

"The irony is so real right now," True giggled. "Son of a fashion designer that lives in the fashion capital of the world does not know anything about fashion."

"Well, not all of us can be born with a needle and thread in their hands like you, True," Adrien replied.

True just laughed in response.

"Anyway," True got back on topic. "Mad Style finally opening a bug shop in Paris is a big deal. And after I helped open up the store at a big mall back home, Mr.Madigan thought that I would be a good person to send to Paris to help with the opening. Especially since the store will have a bunch of my designs in it."

"And let me guess, Lulu and Ryan are also with you," Adrien knew that True would always take her friends everywhere with her.

"You know it," True said. "Say 'hi' guys."

She must have held her phone out to the others because Adrien then heard the voices of Lulu, Ryan, and also True's boyfriend Jimmy.

"Hey, Adrien," Lulu said.

"S'up, Model Boy," Ryan called out.

"Rock and roll, Adrien," Jimmy shouted out.

"Remind me to introduce Jimmy to Jagged Stone while you guys are here," Adrien chuckled. "They would probably get along other than Jimmy's love of mail."

"If you introduce them, I doubt we will be able to get Jimmy to come back home with us," True commented, laughing.

"Maybe this is my way to try and get you to stay in Paris for longer," Adrien also laughed at his own joke.

"I know that you are still mostly new to going to school, but you have to have friends other than me, Jimmy, Lulu, and Ryan," True says.

"Trust me when I say that you guys are much better company than my class," Adrien tells her.

"There is more to the story than you are telling me, isn't there," True was probably raising her eyebrow.

Adrien sighed. "You have no idea, True. I just want you to get here so that I can get away from the drama."

"If I could make the jet go any faster, I would," True giggled. "I do expect the full story once I do land, though."

"I promise to tell you," Adrien said.

"Good," True replied. "I will see you then."

"See you then," Adrien says back. "Oh, but when you do hear it, at least try and stay calm. The last thing I want is for Hawkmoth to take advantage of that and turn you into a supervillain."

"You say what now," True gasped in her signature catchphrase.

"Crud," Adrien knew there was something that he had forgotten to tell her.

*****

Adrien got out of the car after he finished talking with True. He had arrived early, so he did not need to end their conversation that quickly. Plus, there is no way that True was going to let him hang up until she learned everything about what had been happening with Hawkmoth. And once he told her everything, he was sure that he could feel her anger from where he was. The only thing worse than True when she is having designer block, a fashion designer's version of writer's block, was True when she was angry.

He just knew that he would have to calm her down once she actually does land and they get to meet up. At least, unless Lulu was the one that calmed her down first. Adrien actually thought that if there is one person that is more of a ball of sunshine than him, it would be Lulu. There is no one that he knows that is more perky, happy, and optimistic than Lulu. And that says something considering the times he's met Tikki, the literal representation of good luck.

Normally, he would say that those like Rose and Marinette were close to being like Lulu. But currently, neither of them was very "sunshine and rainbow." And for very different reasons.

For Rose, it was because Lila had definitely twisted the once sweet and caring girl into something the complete opposite of her original self. Not only did Rose break up with Juleka, but she and Ivan also left Kitty Section because Juleka and Luka refused to let Lila join. Since Luka and Juleka were not under Lila's spell, neither of them believed it when Lila would brag about being trained in music by Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale. Rose and Ivan wanted Lila to join the band while Juleka and Luka did not. And since Luka and Juleka were the ones with all of the band equipment other than Ivan's drums, they were the ones that were basically in charge of the band. But even then, since they refused to let Lila join, Rose and Ivan left. It was not that bad because Kim, who could also play drums, and Lyon, who could sing very well, were more than happy to join the Pirate Twins. They even changed their name to Wild Heart instead of Kitty Section. Plus, Juleka was still heartbroken since Rose broke up with her because Juleka refused to believe any of Lila's lies.

And with Marinette, because of Lila turning many of her friends against her, she was not as happy-go-lucky as she used to be. Marinette might still have him, Juleka, Nathaniel, Kim, and their friends outside of their class, but it was still upsetting to her that so many of their friends and classmates would willingly drop her so easily just for someone that tells pretty stories and claims horrible things about her with no proof. Even when Marinette would actually ask for proof for any of Lila's claims about Marinette bullying her, Lila would turn on the waterworks and they would never once ask for any proof. Which definitely made the class hypocrites since they would always ask for proof whenever they said that Lila was lying and yet never asked Lila for any proof at all.

The only ones that were still in both her and Adrien's good books were the only ones that actually seemed to have brain cells. And that would be their friends Nathaniel, Juleka, and Kim. Of course, they also had Lyon and Vallia, but as if either of those two would ever believe anything that comes out of Lila's mouth.

They also had friends outside of their class, such as Luka, Kagami, Marc, Aurore, and Mirelle. Their class was really the only one that actually believed Lila. All others knew that she was nothing but a razor-tongued liar that cared for no one but herself. Not that the Akuma Class, as their class had been nicknamed, ever believed anyone when they would call out Lila's tall tales. It really did get to the point where everyone was questioning how they even got to high school when they fell for every single stupid tale that Lila told. Especially when they only got dumber and dumber as time went on. Claiming to be a direct descendant of Albert Einstein? Hardly anyone could believe that the Akuma Class actually believed that. Especially since Lila was almost constantly making others do her homework for her.

Adrien, Lyon, Vallia, Marinette, Juleka, Nathaniel, and Kim were all in agreement that their class really could not get any dumber. They did not want to be mean, but they could not deny how stupid their classmates really were. Markov, Max's own creation, had even taken to going over to Kim when nothing he tried could get Max to realize that Lila was lying. Something that was very upsetting to the little robot since Max literally made him and he still would not listen to him. Since Kim was the one that used to be Max's human best friend, that was why Markov chose to stay with him when Max stopped listening to him.

As Adrien walked into his class, he was thankful that Lila was not there yet. He really did not want to deal with her trying to latch onto his arm as she usually does. He saw Lyon and Vallia sitting in the back as they usually do, along with Marinette and Kim currently talking to them, so he went over to them.

"Morning, guys," he greeted them.

"Hey, Adrien," Kim greeted him.

"Morning, Adrien," Marinette smiled at him.

"Geia, Adrien," Lyon said 'hi' to him in his native tongue.

"Hey, Sunshine," Vallia greeted him.

"No liar, yet," Adrien asked them.

"Considering none of us have gotten yelled at by the class sheep, she is probably running a little late or is once again on one of her fake trips," Marinette said.

"With how often she gets out of school, it's anyone's guess how she is even able to pass her classes," Vallia says.

"Probably because she 'asks' others to 'help' her with her homework," Lyon rolled his eyes. "Though, given that they are dumb enough to believe even her most ridiculous tales, it's a shock that they have been passing their classes as well. Especially given how often they drop everything to rush to her side at her beck and call."

"This is probably the one time that I am grateful that Sabrina is Chloe's minion," Adrien said. "Chloe doesn't care about Lila in any way, so Sabrina is following her lead even if she still believes everything Lila says. If Sabrina ever left Chloe for Lila, I can only imagine how stressed and run-down that Sabrina would get from how much stuff that Lila would probably have her do for her."

The others definitely all agreed with Adrien on that. As much as they disliked Sabrina not seeing that she was basically Chloe's minion instead of her friend, that did not change how Lila would probably make her a slave if Sabrina ever fully joined her side. They wished that Sabrina would get more confident in herself. If she did, then maybe she would learn that friendship did not mean that she had to do everything that her supposed friend wanted.

"Let's not talk about that headache anymore," Marinette changed the subject. "There are a lot of things more important than her."

"Such as literally anything else in the entire world," Kim commented.

"Well, there is some news that I know that is good for both Marinette and Juleka," Adrien says. "At least, when Juleka actually gets here and she can be told as well."

"What," the friends all asked him.

"Well, I got a call from a friend that lives in the United States and she told me that Mad Style is finally opening up a large branch of their company in Paris," Adrien left out that his friend was also a VP of Mad Style.

Marinette nearly shrieked in excitement, something Adrien expected since she is the fashion fangirl of their group.

"Mad Style," she nearly exploded with happiness. "I love their clothes! They are always so unique and fashionable and colorful. And they only got better when they hired True Jackson!"

"I remember one of their first businesswear lines after they hired her," Vallia said. "A base of classic black suits and dresses, but with additional colorful patterns and fabrics to make them more interesting."

"I didn't know that you were into fashion, Vallia," Marinette looked at the dubbed 'Flower Princess' in shock.

"I am not really into fashion in a general sense, but I appreciate it," Vallia shrugged. "I like looking at fashion magazines and my grandmother in the states likes sending us American fashion magazines to show us the differences in style to that in Greece."

"There have been times where Vallia really questions why some fashion items exist," Lyon said. "Such as when she saw an article about some weird thing called 'clear-knee mom jeans.' Probably one of the weirdest things I have ever seen in terms of fashion."

"Like... as in..." Marinette was speechless.

"Yes, as in there is literally clear plastic over the knees of a pair of mom jeans," Vallia answered. "You can see the bare knees of the person that is wearing them."

"That is so bad that it sounds like something Hawkmoth would have one of his akumas wear," Adrien commented.

That got them all to laugh. They have all been victims of Marinette's rants about how horrible the fashion of the akumas is. Though, Lyon will always laugh whenever he is around Juleka whenever she is ranting about how she looked as an akuma. She is always saying that she looks like a giant thing of gum that was possessed by a clown.

"I am suddenly really glad that my akuma was probably one of the better-looking ones," Kim said.

"I certainly do not mind how you looked," Vallia giggled. "The only thing I take offense to is that you were called Dark Cupid and I am from Greece. Cupid is Roman and Eros is Greek."

"You guys really don't like Romans, do you," Adrien raised an eyebrow.

"It's not that we do not like them nor that we dislike Italy," Lyon explained. "Some of the older Greek families, such as ours, just dislike how it is basically ignored that the Romans just copied our beliefs and tried to make them their own just by changing their names. At least the ancient Egyptians had their own unique deities, unlike ancient Rome."

"You guys would not have happened to read the Percy Jackson series, have you," Adrien asked them.

"We have," Vallia giggled. "And we definitely approve of the way the rivalry was shown in the books."

"Anyway, tell me more about Mad Style coming to Paris," Marinette was practically vibrating with excitement.

Adrien chuckled at her excitement. "My friend said that the company sent over one of their vice presidents in order to make everything run smoothly."

"I hope it's True Jackson," Marinette nearly squealed. "She is such an inspiration. And her clothes are some of the best that I have ever seen Mad Style produce."

"Much better than that women's wear woman from Mad Style," Vallia remembered seeing and reading about the woman in her grandmother's magazines. "Wasn't she turned into a child when she fell into the Fountain of Youth in Peru?"

"That was just a ridiculous rumor," Adrien shook his head. "While it may be easy to believe in magic because of all the magical superheroes and villains running around Paris, I highly doubt that the Fountain of Youth is actually real."

"Maybe someone should ask one of the heroes if it's real," Kim suggested.

"And even if the heroes do not know, maybe they could ask their kwami," Lyon said.

Marinette then made herself a mental note to remind herself to ask Tikki about that later. After all, who else would know about the Fountain of Youth other than the kwami of creation? It might have even been something that Tikki had created a long time ago.

After Chloe had revealed the bee miraculous in front of the camera as well as using the miraculous to change into Queen Bee on live tv, there were a lot of people that now were aware of the kwami. But, it was lucky that it was only for those that were actually at the fashion show. And that was because kwami do not show up on camera, so no one watching tv at the time had seen Pollen. At least a little bit of luck was working that way.

But, because of that, it eas now easily explained for those like Adrien, Marinette, Lyon, and Vallia to know what a kwami was without revealing their identities as Cat Noir, Ladybug, White Wolf, and Beautifly. Sometimes, they got really lucky when it came to things happening that helped them keep their secret identities.

Unfortunately, their peace and pleasant time were soon ruined as the rest of the class came into the classroom. Which also, sadly, included the liar. Chloe and Sabrina took their regular seats at the front on the right side of the classroom. Nathaniel and Juleka joined the five friends as they all also sat on the right of the classroom.

Ever since Lila and her lies started dividing the class, it showed what had happened as they all chose to sit differently in the classroom. On the right side of the classroom was Adrien, Marinette, Lyon, Vallia, Kim, Nathaniel, Juleka, Chloe, and Sabrina. On the left side was Lila, Alya, Nino, Rose, Alix, Ivan, Max, and Mylene. It was a pretty even split on who was on Lila's side and who was not. At least, that was how it was in the classroom, but the rest of the school was not as gullible as Lila's sheep. No one believed her and the only thing that was keeping Lila from knowing was her own delusions about how smart and popular she was.

Marinette and Adrien stayed in the very back of the class, as far away from Lila as they could get. Of course, Lila tried to make up some lie that would force Adrien into staying next to her, but Adrien held his ground and refused to be anywhere near her. Of course, Lila again made her sheep turn even more against the ones that did not believe her by making up a lie about the "bullies" that had "brainwashed Adrien against her." Once again, it made them question how any of the sheep were able to actually make it to high school when they so easily believed something as stupid as that.

Bustier had tried to force Adrien to move, but Lyon and Vallia helped put a stop to it. While their parents were not powerful outside of Greece, they did have pull because of how they were currently under the protection of the Greek government while in Paris. After all, their parents were known as the most charitable and wealthy people in their home country, so it was only natural for them to be given protection when they were going to a city that was basically being held hostage by an emotional terrorist.

That was a part of the story that Lyon and Vallia told to help explain why White Wolf and Beautifly were suddenly in Paris rather than Greece. The two Greek heroes had been asked to help keep the twins safe, which was pretty easy given that the heroes and the twins were the same people. But, it was still an excellent explanation on top of also helping the twins keep their hero identities safe.

And since the twins were under the protection of their home government, they did have some influence because no one wanted to cause an international incident if the twins ever said anything damaging about Paris or France in general to their parents. And that included if they were treated badly at school. So, they used that influence to stop Bustier from moving Adrien back next to the harpy by saying how they hoped that their parents did not hear about how a teacher was upsetting them by ignoring the wishes of their friend when he wanted to stay where he was rather than moving to where he did not want to go.

And just like with Chloe and Lila, Bustier bent to the wills of those with high-power parents. Adrien was eternally grateful to the twins for saving him from the harpy's claws.

The group of non-sheep students all hoped for some form of peace throughout the day. They were really tired of having to deal with all the false accusations thrown at them just because they did not bow down to Liar Rossi.

*****

That hope was quickly bashed in by the first half of class.

Bustier had previously started a unit on the Italian Renaissance, so the group had known right away that they were in for a lot of lies because how could Lila not lie when they were doing lessons about her own home country? And, of course, she did lie.

The moment that Busiter brought up famous painters from the Renaissance, Lila instantly opened her mouth. She started bragging about how she was a direct descendant of Leonardo da Vinci, the famous painter of both the Mona Lisa as well as The Last Supper. Of course, that could have also been as easily proven false just like all her other lies. After all, Leonardo da Vinci never married nor did he have any children. It is even one of history's biggest rumors that he had been gay. There are even historical records of how he and a few of his friends were put to trial over a case of the men being accused of being involved with a male prostitute. The case was dismissed due to lack of evidence, but it was still known to a lot of historians that the painter was rumored to have been gay.

But, the main part of that was how obvious it was for it to be known that Lila was lying. It also made the non-sheep students question how much their own teacher knew about the subject that she teaches given that she did not even try to correct Lila at all. Those like Lyon and Vallia rolled their eyes as another obvious lie was ignored. Kim also rolled his eyes once Vallia whispered to him how they knew it was a lie.

But Alya noticed them rolling their eyes and that resulted in another set of arguing in the classroom. Once again it was the sheep against the students with brain cells. Lila once again turned on the waterworks about "how mean they were being to her" by rolling their eyes at what she was saying.

They practically ran out of the classroom once the bell rang. They were not in the mood to continue to be annoyed by the sheep and the class liar. Especially since Adrien really wanted the day to be over in order to meet up with True.

As the group sat down for lunch, they talked about other things to distract themselves from the annoyances. They were joined at the table by Marc, Kagami, Aurore, and Mirelle.

"Did you guys hear the news about Mad Style," was the first thing that came out of Aurore's mouth.

"I guess word spread faster than I thought that it would," Adrien chuckled.

"It doesn't surprise me," Marinette says. "After all, a fashion company as big as Mad Style coming to open up a big store in the fashion capital of the world is pretty big news."

"Well, not that it is good news," Lyon said. "At least, not for everyone."

"What do you mean, Lyon," Marc asked the dubbed Ice Prince. "I may not be that much of a fashion fanatic like Marinette and Aurore, but even I know how big of a company that Mad Style is."

"How about the fact that with a company that big and popular, that might hurt Adrien's family company," Lyon stated. "I am far from Gabriel's biggest fan, I actually have a big desire to shoot him with one of my arrows, but this could bring down the sales of Gabriel Fashion."

That did actually make the group all think about it. Lyon was right. Adrien might not actually want to have a career in fashion, as he did make his boredom and hatred of modeling very well known, but it was still his own family's company. Mad Style coming to Paris really could mean something bad for the company.

"Can't they both do well," Kagami asked the two fashion fans of the group.

"Being honest, fashion companies have gotten along with each other really well, even if there were two big companies in a single city," Marinette says. "But, and I hate to say this in front of Adrien, Gabriel Fashion is not as good as Mad Style."

She nervously looked at Adrien. She was about to apologize to him, but he held his hand up to stop there.

"I take no offense to it, Marinette," he tells her. "I know that father expects me to take over the company one day. Or, to at least still be the face of the company along with whoever he chooses to be his company heir. But, I have no interest in doing either of those things. While I hope that nothing actually happens to father's company, I honestly don't care for it myself."

"You clearly hate being a model, so that we understand," Kim patted Adrien on his back.

"What exactly does make Mad Style and Gabriel Fashion so different," Nathaniel asked the two fashion-loving girls in their group. "I may have to get fashion right when I draw characters for mine and Marc's comic, but I know nothing about actual fashion."

"It's mainly because Mad Style does more than just plain fashion," Aurore explains. "They have a perfume line, a great number of accessory lines, unique clothing, not to mention that even when they advertise full outfits, they are very amazing outfits. Unlike how other companies usually leave it up to the stores to put outfits together."

"Gabriel Fashion, on the other hand, is known more for just plain outfits with added accessories," Marinette took over the explanation. "Take the hat that I designed that won that hat competition not too long ago. When Adrien modeled it, it was just my hat along with a plain black suit. And while it did look good, it was still very plain. Gabriel Fashion really is mostly just plain outfits that they make look better with their expensive accessories. Without the accessories, their outfits are kind of boring."

Again, she tried to apologize to Adrien. But, he stopped her. Even he could admit that he felt that the clothes were nothing special. The only reason he even worse Gabriel Fashion every day was because it was the only type of clothes in his closet other than the scarf that Marinette had previously made him for his birthday.

"Something tells me that things are not going to be ending well for you, Adrien," Lyon said.

That was when Adrien also caught onto what Lyon really meant. He basically slammed his head onto their lunch table.

"Father is going to make me do even more photoshoots in order to make up for the lost business that Mad Style will cause," he groaned in annoyance.

Kim patted him on his back again to comfort him.

"There, there," he showed that he was not very good when it came to comforting words.

"And he's probably going to make me to those shoots with Lila as well," Adrien groaned even more. "I'm going to be driven mad."

"I think the fact that you guys share a class with the liar and have not gone mad already pretty much proves how that will probably never happen," Aurore stated.

"Wait," Juleka suddenly said, bringing attention to herself. "I just thought of something."

"Well, you might want to tell us," Kim said. "We're not mind-readers, after all."

"Not unless one of us secretly has a miraculous that gives us that power," Nathaniel chuckled. "Oh! That's a great idea, actually. Write that down for the comic, Marc."

"Already on it," Marc had his journal out where he wrote down all the ideas he and Nathaniel would have for the comic.

Juleka then spoke up from where she left off.

"Well, if the news is already spreading about Mad Style coming to Paris," she said. "Then I have a feeling that we're about to hear even more lies."

All the friends looked at each other.

"Oh crap," they all swore.

And as if on cue, they soon heard the voice that gave them all headaches every single day. And it was of the very topic that Adrien and Aurore had brought up.

"True is not as nice as everyone thinks that she is," they heard Lila saying.

"What did she just say," Adrien almost growled.

"If Sunshine is the one that is this upset, then you know that the liar has really crossed a line," Vallia said.

Adrien looked ready to strangle the liar with his bare hands with what he heard her saying.

"Girl, you know True Jackson," Alya was eating it up as usual.

"Unfortunately," Lila once again was bringing up fake tears to make her story look tragic. "I thought that she had been a friend when I used to live in New York when my mom was stationed there for a little bit of time. But Max Madigan is like an uncle to me, so I recommended her for the vice president job when True showed talent in design. But, when it came out about her, she took all the credit. She lied and said that Uncle Max personally chose her off the street and saw her talent on his own. She completely abandoned me."

"How dare she do that to you," Alya was furious. "You did not deserve that treatment at all. I am SO posting about this on the Ladyblog."

"Just don't get Uncle Max in trouble," Lila tells her. "He only keeps her around because her father is a lawyer and threatened to drain the company dry for 'wrongful termination."

"Wrongful termination my foot," Alya growled, already starting to type her "article."

Adrien was practically glaring holes through Alya and Lila's heads. If the phrase "if looks could kill" was actually real, then both of the bullying girls would have been dead from the blond's glare.

"Uh... Adrien," Marinette waved her hand in front of his face. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Adrien said but did not stop glaring at the two girls. "Why did you ask?"

"Because you have that look on your face that Kagami usually gets when she tries to stab someone with her saber," Marc said.

"I would argue, but I have threatened to do that to many people in my life," Kagami looked a little too pleased with herself when she said that.

"There is a reason why I am scared of you," Nathaniel tells the swordswoman.

"Let's just say that I am currently considering stealing Cat Noir's ring in order to get rid of that liar," Adrien basically growled.

Of course, he already was Cat Noir, so he already had the needed ring. But, the others did not know that. But, that did not make his threat any less real since he really hated how Lila was talking about his friend. True did not deserve to be lied about like that.

"I guess you would hate Liar Rossi talking about True Jackson like that," Lyon said. "You are a lot more honorable than your father, so you would hate anyone talking bad about anyone else in the fashion community."

"I want her to shut up so badly," Adrien says.

"We all do," the rest of the friends agreed with Adrien.

*****

Adrien had never been more thankful for the day to come to an end. If he had to listen to Lila trash-talking his friend any longer, he would have literally needed every single one of his friends to hold him back to keep him from killing her. It sicked him that so many of their class ate up her lies about such a sweet and incredible person just because one person said those horrible things were the truth.

He was sure that Lila lied so often that she would not know the truth if it slapped her in the face. Though, that was also something he really wanted to do as well. He was going to have to remember to talk to Plagg to see if one of the side effects of using the black cat miraculous was that he got more violent in his everyday life.

As soon as the bell rang for school to end, Adrien almost flew out of the classroom. He wanted to get away as quickly as he could. Especially since True had told him that she would have landed by the time he finished school. His friends were all having a hard time keeping up with him.

"Adrien, will you stop running," Marinette called out to him.

"Did anyone else know that Sunshine could be this fast," even Kim was having a hard time keeping up with him.

"He did seem pretty excited about something today," Kagami said.

"I bet that we are about to find out what made him so excited," Lyon guessed.

They did soon find out what had made him so excited. Almost as soon as they got out of the school, Adrien's eyes lit up at who he saw waiting for him.

True was just getting out of the car that Jimmy had been driving. Lulu and Ryan also got out of the car as well. Adrien suspected that everyone's favorite receptionist, Oscar, probably made arrangements for them to have a rental car ready for them they would get to Paris. The man really was the best when it came to planning. He was basically the glue that held Mad Style together.

True gave her signature bright smile as she saw Adrien coming their way.

"Sunshine," she cheered.

Marinette and Aurore both looked like they were about to burst from excitement and shock. Probably their biggest idol in the fashion world was standing right in front of them. Marinette had even full-on froze right where she was standing. Which caused Kim to crash into her, Nathaniel to crash into him, and then Juleka to have to come to a quick stop that caused her to fall on her butt to keep herself from crashing into Nathaniel.

Adrien was quick to run up to his friend and then give True a big hug. It had been a long time since he saw her in person rather than over the phone or using video chat on his computer.

"Well, you can not say that Adrien is not full of surprises," Lyon chuckled.

The group made their way down the front steps of the school, making their way toward Adrien and his now-revealed friend.

"I knew you said that your flight was landing close to when I would get out of school, but I didn't expect you to show up at my school," Adrien said.

"Well, a girl has to surprise her friend, sometimes," True giggled.

"It's great seeing you again, Adrien," Lulu smiled brightly at him. "And this time it is all of you rather than a mini version of you on a computer screen."

"Yeah! Now I can watch Ryan spill a bottle of soda on himself in person," Adrien smirked as he teased the goofball of the American group.

"That was ONE time," Ryan protested, making them all laugh at him.

"I think you mean one time with GRAPE soda," Jimmy said. "You've also done it plenty of times with other sodas as well."

Adrien then also hugged Lulu, Ryan, and Jimmy as well. While he knew that his father would not want him to hang out with them given their involvement with a rival company, he did not care. This was probably the biggest form of rebellion that Adrien ever had done against his father.

"Let me introduce you guys to my friends," Adrien tells them.

"Sounds awesome," Jimmy grinned at the excited teenager.

While all of them were only a couple of years older than Adrien, they all treated him like a little brother. He was certainly adorable enough to be anyone's little brother. True was the one that had especially embraced the idea of having Adrien as a little brother. She and Lulu were the ones that had the biggest hearts out of their friend group.

"True, Luly, Jimmy, and Ryan, these are my friends," Adrien introduced them. "Lyon, Vallia, Marinette, Kagami, Kim, Juleka, Nathaniel, Marc, Aurore, and Mirelle. Guys, this is Lulu, Ryan, Jimmy, and..."

He was cut off by Marinette and Aurore both practically shrieking with excitement. The group all had to hand it to the three that they did have good timing when it came to when they finally let out their shrieks. Both of the girls looked about ready to pounce on True in all of their excitement. True giggled as she knew that there would be fans of her whom she was likely to meet while she was in Paris. Plus, Adrien told her about Marinette wanting to be a designer.

"True Jackson," Marinette was the first to actually speak real words. "There are no words to describe how much I love you and your work."

"Is it true that you once designed a suit made entirely out of feathers," Aurore was in reporter mode as he talked to True. "Or is that just a rumor?"

True looked a little embarrassed by the question, but she took it in strides. Especially as Jimmy did take her hand and smiled at her. He was the one that wore that suit, after all.

"I did actually design a suit made out of feathers," True tells the weather girl/reporter hopeful. "And I will be honest that I did develop a little ego because Mr.Madigan did not like hurting people's feelings. So, he would always tell a lot of us that our designs were perfect even if he hated them. But then I found a bunch of my designs in the company Reject Room. And while it was hurtful to be lied to, I did also need the ego check. I needed to learn that not every design that I do is perfect."

"Except when it came to your swirly dress," Ryan chuckled. "That thing still makes me dizzy."

"Hey, I find it beautiful no matter what," True said.

"That was still a very fun day," Lulu giggled. "Ryan accidentally put on a suit that blew up like a balloon, I put on a dress that shocked me, Oscar kept putting people to sleep with his sleep-aid voice, Amanda caused her ex-boyfriend to ruin one of his own paintings, and Mr.Madigan mastered a really hard bird call."

"Is stuff like that normal for you guys," Marc asked them.

"We've had weirder things happen to us in a single day," True shrugged. "I'm also related to weirder people. My Uncle Troy holds the world record for being struck by lightning, falling down elevator shafts, and being hit by cars."

"And he's still alive," Nathaniel was shocked.

"We had a funeral for him once, but he luckily woke up and got out of the coffin before any of the dirt could be poured onto it," True says.

"Is that any weirder than Lulu attacking that photographer that had come to take pictures of Amanda just for mentioning Connie Cat-Head," Jimmy chuckled.

"Please don't mention her," Lulu instantly said.

"She really hates her," True giggled.

"You guys are going to fit in perfectly around here," Juleka smirked. "If there is one thing about Paris that has happened recently, it is that it has gotten very weird around here."

"Weird how," Jimmy raised an eyebrow.

"I was once abducted by a giant purple gorilla," Adrien said.

"Say what now," True once again said her catchphrase.

"Is this about that Mothhawk guys," Ryan asked them.

"It's Hawkmoth, but yeah," Marinette said. "Adrien's bodyguard, the Gorilla, had gotten akumatized, which was why he had been after Adrien. He was frustrated with Adrien running off, so he was given the desire to never let Adrien go. Ever."

"That is messed up," Lulu said.

"You have no idea," Vallia says. "And that was not even the most dangerous akuma that has happened in the city. Do we need to bring up that Syren nearly caused most of Paris to drown?"

"Please, do not remind me of that," Kim held his face in his hands. "I was so oblivious to Ondine and her feelings because of how I felt about you, Vallia, that I never realized what she had been trying to tell me."

"It's not your fault, Kim," Nathaniel patted him on the back. "Everyone is oblivious sometimes. Do I need to bring up how long it took Marc and me to get together?"

"You were the one that was most obvious in that case, Nath," Marc tells his boyfriend.

Unfortunately, they were interrupted by the yelling of one of their least favorite people in the school. And once again, the yelling was caused by lies being told to that person.

"How dare you show your face here," Alya was basically charging at them like a wild bull.

Having known about the lies that Lila has said about True, they expected this to happen once they saw that Adrien's visiting friend was the famous designer. Kim and Lyon both instantly were standing in Alya's way, preventing her from getting close to True.

"I'm sorry about this, True," Adrien tells her. "We didn't get the chance to tell you about a girl in our class that was lying about you."

"Who was lying about True," Jimmy looked completely in 'protective boyfriend mode.'

"They are no lies," Alya was yelling as she tried to get past Lyon and Kim, who both looked annoyed by having to deal with her like this. "You should be ashamed of what you did to Lila!"

"Who," True raised an eyebrow. "I know that I have met a lot of people since I became Vice President, but I never met anyone named Lila."

"You've also changed a lot of people's lives for the better as well, True," Lulu reminds her best friend. "Like how you taught Dakota North how to have fun instead of letting her career as a supermodel rule her life. And how you helped Callie with her confidence by making her the manager of the Mad Style store at the mall."

"Thanks, Lulu," True gave her best friend a hug.

The two of them have always been like sisters. Adrien always loved how adorable they were together. If anyone can match Lulu's brand of crazy, it would be True.

"How can you pretend to not know Lila after everything she did for you," Alya was still yelling. "She was the one that got you your job in the first place! And you had the gall to lie about how you got it all on your own!"

"Because I did get it on my own," True crossed her arms. "I got a summer job selling sandwiches in the fashion district. Mr.Madigan happened to buy one of my sandwiches and he noticed that I was wearing some of his designs. But, he also noticed that I had changed some of them as well. I shortened the pants, changed the buttons of my jacket, and added some of my own stitchwork as well. He ended up giving me the job right then and there."

"That is all a lie and you know it," Alya then pointed right at Lila. "Lila got you the job because of how she and Max Madigan are really close. She is basically his niece!"

Unknown to Alya, this was the last thing Lila wanted. She never expected True Jackson to actually show up at their school. She had been growling to herself when she saw that Adrien obviously knew the American designer. She had been coming up with a way to "punish" Adrien for bringing True around to ruin one of her lies when Alya confronted the designer. And because of her confronting True, that could cause her lies to fall apart.

"Uncle Max does not know that girl," Jimmy spoke up.

"As if he someone that is close to the girl that mistreated his honorable niece would be close enough to him to call him his uncle," Alya glared at Jimmy.

"I call him my uncle because he IS my uncle," Jimmy tells Alya. "My name is Jimmy Madigan and I am Max Madigan's actual nephew. So, I can tell you right here and now that Uncle Max has no idea who that girl is."

"You're the liar here, not Lila," Alya was being stubborn as usual. "Where's your proof that anything you say is true?"

"Where's yours," Adrien was the one that asked Alya that.

"Lila doesn't..." Alya tried saying.

"No," Adrien interrupted her. "I am sick and tired of you taking anything and everything that Lila says as the law. You have never once asked her for proof despite the outrageous things that she claims. I can one hundred percent guarantee that if you asked her for ANY proof, she won't be able to get it because it doesn't exist. And I am not going to let you stand there and slander my friend just because Lila claims things about her."

Everyone was shocked because this was the first time that any of them have seen Adrien act like this. It was proving that he was definitely protective of his friends.

"Lila doesn't lie," Alya was screaming. "I don't need to ask her for proof!"

"Adrien," True got her young friend's attention.

"Yes, True," Adrien was still glaring at Alya as he listened to what True had to say.

"You once said that you used to have a friend that blogged a lot," True says. "Is this that former friend that you were talking about?"

"Yeah," Adrien answered her, wondering where she was going with this.

"Well, then," True got out her phone. "I will give Mr.Madigan a call. He will get in contact with the lawyers and if there is anything about him for me online that she has written, then there will be lawsuits coming for slander."

"WHAT," Alya screamed.

"Look, girl, I am normally a nice person," True tells the tabloid reporter. "I take a lot of junk from others and I learn to deal with it when I am treated badly by anyone. You can't work with Amanda if you can't learn to deal with mean people. But the one thing that I will never take is someone slandering myself, Mad Style, or Mr.Madigan. Hope you will learn to actually fact check after this."

*****

True actually did end up calling the owner of Mad Style about what she had learned about Alya and Lila. After seeing the so-called article that Alya posted on her blog based on Lila's lies, Max was ready to throw down with them for writing such slander about one of his favorite employees, who he also counted as a friend.

It took only two days before both Alya and Lila were hit with not only lawsuits for slander, but also with cease and desist orders, a large fine, restraining orders to keep them both away from True and Mad Style in general, as well as Alya being forced to shut down her blog. She remained stubborn about Lila and her lies, but now she was believing the lies that Lila was saying about True "turning her Uncle Max against her." It was seriously pathetic how much Alya was willing to believe to keep herself from admitting that she was wrong.

Lila did try and get revenge on Adrien for causing her downfall since everyone else broke away from her other than Alya. So, she called his father since she was still a Gabriel model. Gabriel tried to not only ground Adrien, but also force him to never be around True on top of trying to force him to "date" Lila. But this time, Adrien was not going to take the treatment lying down.

He secretly had his phone with him and he recorded everything that his father had said to him. Including every single threat that Gabriel said. He sent the recording to True since she was the one with the best lawyers. Within the hour, Adrien was taken from Gabriel's custody.

Currently, Adrien was living his best life. Which was eating as many pastries that were given to him by Marinette's parents since they were the ones that took him in.

"If death by pastries can be a thing, I can die happy," Adrien said.

His new family and all his friends laughed at him, glad that things had finally started looking up.

#miraculous ladybug #ml salt #miraculous fandom #original character #lila salt #alya salt #miraculous #original heroes #original miraculous #crossover #true jackson vp #class salt #gabriel salt #adrien deserves better #fashion #mad style

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the-whispers-of-death · 2 months

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stone and his variants & the type of dress they would wear and in which situation

Canon!Stone would wear a floor-length black dress when he needs to attend a military ball and he would wear a simple yellow sundress inside his own house, just to feel cute. Even with the dresses he wears to attend military balls, the style is very simplistic and doesn't draw too much attention to him.

Girl Dad!Stone is the same as Canon!Stone, but he once wore a sundress out in public because a mom in the PTA said boys shouldn't wear dresses. The sundress was pink because the mom also said pink is only for girls. Saira was very proud of her father instead of being embarrassed.

Grim Reaper!Stone, he took some time to wear any dress because as he says "weapons don't choose the clothes they wear." But when he starts living for himself and starts trying out new things to figure out what he likes, he finds he really does love wearing dresses. He gets ballgowns, sundresses, any kind of dresses. He has this beautiful black sparkly ballgown that Heartthrob rented a castle for so Grim Reaper could wear the ballgown as they stayed there for a cute little vacation. He loves flowy dresses, whether they're short like sundresses or they're long.

Criminal!Stone usually only wears dresses when he's attending a gala with the mafia boss. This because he usually goes out and deals with whoever the mafia boss wants dealt with, so he doesn't want to dirty a dress with blood. But the dresses he does wear, they're revealing. Every single one of them either has a slit in the middle or at the side of his legs.

Baker!Stone wears sundresses because those won't accidentally catch on fire when he wears them while baking in his bakery. He gets weird looks sometimes, but he doesn't care. He gets more compliments than insults and he just loves sharing where he got his dresses when a customer asks.

Feral!Stone loves wearing only flowy long dresses, preferably red so no one can really see the bloodstains that got on the dresses from when he was hunting in them. He wants every single pair of eyes on him, so they're envious. (No, I don't know why he's so arrogant.)

Serial Killer!Stone actually doesn't wear many dresses because he lives in an abandoned film studio. There are very few dresses in there, dresses that were left there when the film studio was abandoned. He only wears them when he wants to blend in so that he doesn't get arrested (cause he's a wanted man). They're outlandish dresses, colorful and frilly, but somehow they make him blend in with the crowd so he doesn't mind.

Experiment!Stone is already considered a freak with his half-tiger-half-human mutated form, he doesn't give a shit about being looked weirdly at for wearing a dress. Whatever dress catches his eye, he wears. He tends to gravitate towards frilly dresses because it can hide his striped tiger tail and the only reason he wants to hide his tail is because he can't control it from showing his emotions. Even with his mutated form, he looks very pretty.

Vampire!Stone since he covers every inch of his skin so as to not accidentally burn in the sunlight, he wears very modest dresses. You know those cute long-sleeved dresses? Yeah, he loves those. Floor-length dresses when he's going somewhere where it's formal and one of those jumpsuit dresses with pants when it's not exactly formal but he still wants to make a statement. It goes well with the black balaclava that he wears.

Werewolf!Stone is another one who wears primarily sundresses, simply because he helps his pack members with their pups and thus is running around after them. Sundresses are just perfect for him because it gives him room to move and chase after the pups while playing but also it gives him the cuteness he's looking for.

Cult Leader!Stone wears dresses because his followers asked about how he feels with traditional gender roles and that was his answer to it all. He wears the flashiest, yet most modest, dress he can find and he makes it a day for everyone who wants to feel more comfortable wearing dresses (regardless of their gender). He's huge on "clothes have no gender" and he regularly encourages his followers to wear whatever.

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psychoticwillgraham · 15 days

Text

drag king Will au specifics (not everything but the most important bits)

Will’s trans backstory (the basis of this whole thing):

-his basic labels are non-binary trans man. sexuality wise he’s pan, but with a heavy preference for other trans people and feminine cis men

-still loosely follows canon, but certain events are different. the whole point of this is the cat and mouse game between them with the canon already established (the patient/psych dynamic and will eventually finding out that he’s the ripper). hannibal still tries to initiate Will’s becoming, but the whole thing is filtered through a trans lens where not only does Will become Hannibal’s partner in crime and goes on the run with him, but he also ‘becomes’ his true self identity wise thanks to hannibal and his way of life.

-his relationship with gender: he was raised by his father to be a ‘southern belle’ type of girl, and held to strict female gender roles. once he was able to get to college, he saved enough money to go on HRT, and began living his life as Will. when he first got to Baltimore, he bumped into Beverly, who knew some of the big ppl at the ultra exclusive drag/general hedonism club, and got him an audition which he aced with flying colors despite never having performed in any context and bev is basically his fairy drag mother bc she has experience of her own

-the club’s backstory: it’s basically a place for baltimore’s elite to go and be secretly gay and for drag shows, there’s a certain group of elites (which includes Hannibal) who wear masks and sit in the vip seats and do a digital tipping system so they don’t have to reveal themselves. basically, it’s an underground club where most things are allowed (with extensive rules, so also kind of a sex club, which Will occasionally partakes in but not for money, and does drag and burlesque and occasionally stripping if he has to fill in for someone). it’s very exclusive in its clientele and performers, and only performers who are considered to be amazing and near perfect are invited to work for them. basically, it’s a club for hedonism. politicians go there and extremely powerful ppl in general

-hannibal is a long time supporter and regular of the club (in most of the areas) but before Will was hired, he hadn’t gone in a year and decides randomly to go on the night of Will’s debut because he was curious about how Will would be. Will starts working for the FBI around the same time as his initial debut, and almost immediately knows it’s Will, but Will doesn’t find out about Hannibal going to every single show of his (drag/burlesque/stripping) until about mid way into the fic, which then leads into the section where Will purposefully chooses songs that he knows will rile Hannibal up. basically, Will ups the ante with every performance until he’s able to provoke Hannibal into action (aka they finally fuck).

-cont: once Will knows about Hannibal going, he starts to tease him slightly at their appointments and pretty much every time they’re together, even at work. he’s testing Hannibal’s patience at this point, and Hannibal starts to drop cryptic hints that he knows about Will and teases him back. eventually, the sexual tension comes to a head when Will does a duet with another king in front of Hannibal (and it’s a VERY sexually charged song), which drives him to act on his feelings and ambush Will backstage, fucking him on the counter and right against the mirrors as the other performers watch from the other side of the room (and they’re both aware of their audience). it’s at this point that Will whispers to Hannibal that he knows that he’s the ripper so nobody else can hear them, and they both confess their love for each other.

-cont: after the final curtain call, Hannibal rushes him out and tells Will that he’ll be staying at Hannibal’s house for the night and Will doesn’t even fight it. once there, Will convinces Hannibal to let him de drag first and get comfy before he’ll do anything else, and of course Hannibal whines about it a bit, but lets him. after Will is out of drag, Hannibal lays him down and tells him that they’re going to properly fuck, and it’s slow and romantic sex, compared to the spur of the moment fuck back at the club. the next morning, they talk about Will knowing he’s the ripper and they formulate a plan to fake their deaths and run away together. Will’s performer friends and contacts at the club help arrange for them to leave the country and get Will hired at a new club under a completely new identity (because not surprisingly, this happens A LOT there) and they live happily ever after as murder husbands in Cuba. before they leave though, they spend a while longer there just to be able to kill and make tableaus together.

-nobody but Hannibal and Beverly ever find out about Will’s job which is why he’s still able to be a performer (because the club is very protective of their talent and have close relationships with gov. officials). Chilton finds out but is appropriately dealt with

-Chilton also goes to Will’s shows and is very creepy about it to Will at work and starts to sexually harass him when Hannibal isn’t with him. Once they know about each other, Hannibal vows to make Chilton regret his advances, but Will stops him from outright killing him immediately. he hatches a plan to bait and trap Chilton at a secret location (that Hannibal owns obviously) under the pretense of a private strip show. when the time is right during his performance, Hannibal surprises him and they both torture him and castrate him. they do this just before they leave the country as their last murder in the US

-during the initial period of Will not knowing, Hannibal starts to theme his tableaus after Will and some specific performances, as a way of courting him. that’s when he finally started to suspect Hannibal because of the same reasons in the show. he starts to realize that the ripper is a huge fan of his and begins to try and cater to him without even knowing who it is, only knowing that he’s in the VIP section and is one of the city elites. as the tableaus get more and more bold and obvious, he officially begins to suspect Hannibal. so he does a number that is tailored exactly to what Hannibal likes and he stands directly in front of the VIP section, making eye contact with Hannibal and doing very sexual movements towards him.

-cont: at the next show, Will does an extremely sexual duet with another king and makes eye contact with Hannibal again when the other king gets on his knees in front of Will and has his face right on Will’s crotch and Will mimes an orgasm. This makes Hannibal absolutely snap, and he confronts Will backstage as soon as he gets off stage and ambushes him in the dressing room, and fucks him right on the makeup counter and up against the mirrored wall while the other performers watch them from the other side of the room while both of them are very aware of it.

-many politicians and even the occasional president have visited the club, some going regularly and requesting private shows with certain performers (Will has been requested quite often, but never actually taken anyone up on it bc he likes to stay out of that mess). Hannibal eventually finds out that Will has privately danced for several of Hannibal’s socialite friends (he only refuses politically powerful people, and socialites are the majority of his clientele) and eventually confronts Will about it, accusing him of sleeping with them. Will just smirks and says that it’s ’confidential’ and Hannibal punishes him for it, well aware that it apart of his job, but does it more as a jealousy thing. when they flee to Cuba, Hannibal lets Will continue doing his job, just not the outright sexual portion of it, and he has to be at every single performance and backstage with him.

-so basically, Will’s kind of a prostitute I guess, but he doesn’t do it for money, he just does it because he likes it and he gets paid more than enough for his actual job so he doesn’t have to charge for sex

#need to come up with an actual title for this verse gdi #there’s gonna be little side stories about their sex life and eventual wedding planning (under their aliases obviously)#Will’s fics

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scott-mccall-the-hot-girl · 3 years

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my ultimate guide to thiam fic !!

( as a new teen wolf stan )

the classic post war, long ass (multi chapter) fic !!with great development that genuinely made me laugh out loud, they have the best friendship in this & i love it very much. ( like theo teaches liam to drive and i just *happy sobs* ) a fundamental in thiam fanfiction !! all stans have probably already read it but if you haven’t this is in fact a threat ,, go show this vv iconic story some love !!

Airplanes - Captainmintyfresh

Summary: After the Anuk-ite and the hunters are dealt with Liam needs a break. Cue Theo and a road trip that Liam should know better than to think will be peaceful.

Not Rated, No Archive Warnings Apply, Completed, 43/43 Chapters, Words: 236,875 (236k)

okay okay so this one is also post 6B !! but ,, now we introduce fighting monroe & the hunters again ,, so we get the boys & a new mission !! so if you like an intresting plot 11/10 would recommend !! just to be clear this ISN’T complete ,, if that turns you off i understand but definitely give this one a read !! it litterally have theo doing crossword puzzles & fighting zombies

Vacancy Signs - LovelyLittleGrim

Summary: Theo and Liam are in Manhattan negotiating a pack allyship when the zombie apocalypse breaks out. Now, the two of them have to find their way back to Beacon Hills without getting eaten by zombies or killing one another.

Rated: Explicit, Graphic Description of Violence, Not Completed, 15/17 Chapters, Words: 89,605 (89k)

Royalty AU !! I REPEAT ROYALTY AU !! a fantastic au where i stan their moms more than i stan them !! genuinely so good at the childhood rivals to lovers trope !! i’m genuinely obsessed with this one. has made me cry more than once ,, hurts in a good way <3 the ending is just *chefs kiss* also one of the tags is genuinely: # theo and liam make bad choices for over 130k straight !! if that doesn’t sound appealing i don’t know what does !!

Artificial Love - songbvrd

Summary: Prince Theo and Prince Liam are forced to spend every Summer together from age five onwards. They hate each other, and usually find ways to make each other miserable as much as possible in their six weeks together. But when they're reunited because of intended unions as adults, things change. They're both supposed to be married to noble women, but neither of them is as interested in anyone else as they are with their childhood rival.

Rated: Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply, Completed, Chapters: 32/32, Words: 172,935 (172k)

so if you are in the mood for a crack fic that’s not explicitally a crack fic this is for you !! okay so i’m really hit or miss with AU’s ,, sometimes i feel like they don’t quite capture the characters right but this story have the BEST dramatic liam i have ever seen in my life !! basically they all live in the same apartment building & it’s fantastic !! i saw this one floating around a lot but the summary didn’t really unrest me until i have it a shot !! so go read it rn !! also nolan & brett are genuinely fantastic and make me wheeze ,, LIKE ACTUALLY VERBALLY LAUGHING !! all i’m gonna say is that my fav characters are scott & the beetles but that won’t make actual sense until you read it !!

The Neighbors Song - TheodoreR

Summary: “I always hear you singing on your balcony every morning, but suddenly you’ve stopped?”

Or the one where Theo annoys Liam every morning with his awful singing until he doesn’t anymore and Liam is even more annoyed. Liam hates every single thing about his mornings -the fact that they happen in the morning alone is enough. The thing Liam hates the most about his mornings though is the terrible voice of the guy who lives below him. He can’t sing for shit and Liam tried to politely let him understand that by throwing flour and water on his balcony, and also by shouting it to him, you can’t sing for shit!, and then by writing it into a note he proceeded to attach to his door, but this Raeken guy just keeps doing it, every single morning, like a fucking rooster. Liam did nothing to deserve this. He probably didn’t do anything to deserve better either to be fair, he doesn’t expect to open his window and be welcomed by some angelic voice singing him good morning, he’d just be happy with nothing. Silence. That’s something Liam can appreciate in mornings. Just some bark from his dog and the sound of his misery and that’s it. But no, god forbid the new guy lets him have that.

Rated: Explicit, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Wanrings, Completed, 8/8 Chapters, Words: 42,814 (42k)

me: i’m not a big fan of AU’s ,, proceeds to talk about ANOTHER au… OKAY BUT THIS ONE !! it’s not complete but the author has been updating regularly ,, vv slow burn !! but in a REALLY intresting way !! i lOVE LIAM IN THIS SO MUCH ,, he is such a diaster of a person and it’s wonderful !! they have a great dynamic & i’m sucker for general puppy pack content ( and erica reyes being a badass ) !! also theo plays lacrosse in this & i really like it ahhhhh ,, also liam is just being an artic monkeys stan the whole time & theo is like *que confused repressed gay noises*

Inglorious Roommates - honeyscape

Summary: A roommate is defined as “a person with whom one shares a room.”

Theo would say a roommate was more along the lines of, “The person who's the bane of his existence. The weirdo that sleeps for days. The spaz that exercises at 3am. The guy with a revolving door of annoying friends. An insufferable human being that Theo has no control over living in his room.”

Example: Theo hates his roommate Liam.

okay okay i hate myself but i have another WIP for y’all !! this one is jUST FANTASTIC. i’m genuinely so upset it’s most likely not going to updated again *incoherent screaming ensues*. for this story ,, it’s very theo-centric bUT thats bc it ends right before liam becomes a concrete member of the story !! ANYWAY: basic plot = theo & acquiring not one but two children ,, so #dad theo but he is still crusty & homeless and i love him very much. it’s just so GOOD !! just read if you want to experience my fav theo coming out story & him etching high school musical

Look who's talking - Captainmintyfresh

Summary: Theo had been labeled many things in his life. Evil, failure, monster. He'd never thought Father would be one of those things but as he looked across the table to a six year old with blue smears of bubble gum icecream across her face trying to coax the first words out of her sister. Finger jabbing towards Theo's face as she repeated 'Daddy' again and again he couldn't bring himself to dispute the label.

(Theo accidentally adopts two young werewolves)

Not Rated, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings, Not Completed, Chapters: 16/?, Words: 48740 ( 48k )

so here me out: post-canon ( poetry like angst ) summer get away !! just the boys doing cute little domestic things together whilst pining !! theo’s guilt in this is just so powerful & aGjffkgkkfkvkdlv !! i think it’s so interesting to see how they interact in this one, it’s just very heart warming !! and it features one of my favorite niche teen wolf tropes of theo being great with like seven year old girls- it’s just so good ,, very much a wonderful little one shot that just makes your heart happy.

(next time i see you you'll show me) a hundred different ways to say the same things - cherrysprite

Summary: “...You deserve good things,” Liam says eventually. He makes sure not to look at Theo even though he can feel his eyes turn on him. Somehow he can already tell that Theo doesn’t believe him.

Liam instantly makes that the goal of this summer - making Theo believe him.

Rating: Teen and Up, No Archive Warnings Apply, Chapters: 1/1, Words: 28875 ( 28k )

okay so this next section of fic recs is a bit different !!

two of my favorite authors !! and a compilation of fics i’ve read by them both !!

for context: these two have written some genuinely gorgeous fics, like pure poetry, they explore the real gritty & scary side of our boys relationship in such a wonderful way. they’ve both used some of my favorite tropes & i love them very much !!

whenever i need something soothing but so genuinely intresting & enticing these are my go to !! ( also they both write a lot of good nolan angst & some vv good fics with hayden )

go check out:

eneiryu

as well as fallingforboys

here are some of my favorite fics by them ~

darling i want you here in my arms (kiss the pain away, i know you can) - fallingforboys

even before you touched me, i belonged to you (all you had to do was look at me) - fallingforboys

memories linger like tattoo scars (but your touch on my skin is just as permanent) - fallingforboys

skin, bones, a stolen heart, and an ugly creature lurking underneath -fallingforboys

i don't know how to breathe in the place i called home - fallingforboys

whisper your gossamer truths into the shadow, maybe you'll find the answers you're searching for - fallingforboys

between the mountains and the valley we built a monument to our regret - eneiryu

cracked the hinges of the cage and waited for you - eneiryu

okay and finally: since i am a self centered whore

my own fic: an rendition of the # elevator scene

it’s basically my version of post canon if we did get the kiss in the elevator. we got a classic liam pov in which he is has 12/10 for extreme bi diaster energy even whilst being shot at !! so go him ig…

Fuck Off, Fuck This & Fuck It! - nefelibata_peach

Summary: Liam thought to himself heart rate climbing, they were bound to be dead by morning. So he thought with everything but his brain and he kissed him.

Where Liam Dunbar is very confused, slightly traumatized, and just a bit scared but hey, aren't they all! Bad decisions ensue as two boys fight in a war they never did sign up for.

Rating: Teen and Up, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Chapters: 1/1, Words: 3558 ( 3k )

#this took me so long #please go read these or i’ll cry #fan fiction #fan fic recs #teen wolf fic recs #thiam fanfiction #thiam fic recs #thiam #theo raeken #liam dunbar #theo x liam #teen wolf fandom #teen wolf gay #teen wolf #ao3 #fuck you fuck this & fuck it #thiam fanfic rec #thiam fanfic #thiam is endgame

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googledocsdyke · 3 years

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Do you have any thoughts/recommended texts for Cas analysis? I genuinely love the dean gender studies and I just wanna know what people might apply to Cas.

yes absolutely!! while dean studies is my first love i also deeply love cas analysis (casnalysis?) and wanna strive to do more of it. here’s some stuff off the top of my head:

1. gender, sexuality, heavenly embodiment

this is much more theological and less psychological than dean’s whole Deal because there’s so much fascinating stuff around how the angels in general experience express and conceptualise gender (@autisticandroids has a good post about angel gender & lily sunder has some regrets) but for cas in particular there’s this fascinating kind of collective fandom agreement (which i DO also agree with) that cas’ own gender kind of is gay man, that he actively chose gay manhood, but also that he’s kind of..... lacking the Insane Genderishness that dean exhibits at all times, even though he actively chose to engage in male gendering and became so comfortable housed Within Jimmy that he, as some post i saw the other day that i can’t find anymore said, “became his own body” when jimmy died.

like on the one hand there’s an almost-canonical transness to the whole process but it also never feels fully written-into because 1) the supernatural writers for all their insanity are sometimes very boring and *most* of the time only feel interested in narratively expressing angels As Their Vessels anyways and just like leaving convenient spaces around these questions (boldest thing they ever did was hot girl cas which i WISH i had the range to unpack) 2) there’s a vague inevitabilist shrug to the whole thing since they obviously weren’t gonna recast misha collins (though they HAVE tried to get rid of him) and 3) something amorphous about cas’ entire..... personhood? makes him Empty Of Gender as a contrast to dean’s Full Of Gender (i believe it was @deanwinchestergender who said this) and like is it just the juxtaposition to dean/jensen’s whole insane Deal? or something else?

like he actively chooses the terms of his own embodiment and yet narratively it feels like a shrug. and we’re all like “well obviously even though he’s a celestial being he was always a gay man” and like WHY. i love it idk idk much to think about! and yeah just in general the theological questions of possession and cas genuinely Becoming a man as he iterates himself consciously towards humanity it almost feels like. by doing the most boring things possible with his gender they made it interesting? idk if that makes sense.

2. discipline, free will, metanarratives

cas is like a tool (“i am not a hammer, as you say”) held in constant discipline and surveillance by the system that enmeshes him and it’s really, really fascinating to watch the way the angels hold each other to conformity. especially pre-god they kind of produce each other as foucauldian disciplinary subjects (which i posted about here) in perpetual visibility through angel radio, generating their own and each other’s conformity rather than being directly ruled through like a single centralised source of power. only the spectre of a god. and obviously cas’ whole thing is that he has ALWAYS disobeyed and the narrative affords him this psychological interiority never given to the foucauldian subject, an internal will and desire for freedom in a way that fits more with the liberal subject (super roughly and not with the same pro-capitalist implications but he has this internal drive for self-liberation.

and that’s also where the metanarrative comes in ofc! i think it was @dykecas who said that cas is a real person written by people who hate him, and there’s this crack in the narrative (mirroring the crack in his chassis) where cas gets in, over and over, despite all the order imposed by the show’s authorfathergod. like we’ve all seen the analysis about how it was Never supposed to be this way they DID try to fire misha collins in 2012 and yet this gay man literally cannot be stopped! i think actually his appearance in scoobynatural is a neat little distillation of this — he drops into this animated world originally with a singular purpose (Save Sam And Dean) the same way he dropped into lazarus rising with a single 3-episode arc (Save Dean). huge hammer behaviour. his “utility” diminishes within the narrative (he finds that he can’t fly in the scooby doo universe) and so he is no longer a tool/means to an end that salvation moves Through. and in the process (and huge creds to @lesbianyuugi for this) he does something ENTIRELY unrelated to his original cas-as-tool aim, and learns, like, the meaning of laughter from shaggy and scooby. WHICH brings me onto the third point

3. love, queer kinship, family-making

HE’S GAY AND HE’S A DAD! i feel like a lot of tumblr throws around the term “found family” in a very flat and tropey way (which is fine it’s cute and fun no matter what!) but like . GOD there’s so much specific stuff going on here. like the way that cas (unintentionally) obliterates the midwestern white christian nuclear family (made incarnate in the novaks) which like could be uniformly portrayed as an act of deep malice and villainy but instead grows to serve as a surrogate (if imperfect/complex, but DEEPLY loving) father figure for the gay daughter who has now escaped that nuclear family/seen it destroyed depending on how you read it? like he remasters the entire concept of fatherhood and it’s a very interesting (if DEEPLY) unintentional subversion of the homewrecking non-nuclear gay trope. cas is so good because his character arc doesn’t say “look, gay people can be normal and have perfect settled families just like you” it says “gay people DON’T have normal settled families actually and they are full of love anyways! or Because of the abnormalcy itself!)

to cite ziz lesbianyuugi again he DOES queer fatherhood in his parenting of jack particularly because it really is one of the ONLY parent-child relationships in the show that breaks the incessant cycle of abuse and control and cold indifference perpetuated by the authorfathergod (a cycle reified in 15x20 lol). like god’s treatment of cas and his siblings mirrors john’s treatment of sam and dean (particularly dean) mirrors victor’s treatment of krissy and her crew mirrors dean’s later treatment of jack. there is a CONSTANT reiteration of the story of authorfathergod (often a father tightly entwined in biological kinship) treating a child as a mechanism or a tool or a means to an end. and cas looks at ALL that he has suffered and all that he is ever known and chooses constantly to reject it with every piece of love he expresses for his child. and not to sound like the kind of academic people make fun of on twitter but there is an INHERENT queerness to that. gay love will pierce through [the veil of death/the thick silence of abuse/the mechanism of godly control/hegemonic american masculinity] and save the day

anyways here are some very haphazard recs on everything above for further reading:

angels in america (tony kushner)

histrionics of the pulpit: trans tonalities of religious enthusiasm

the public universal friend: religious enthusiasm in revolutionary america

discipline and punish (michel foucault)

friendship as a way of life (michel foucault)

the genesis of blame (recommended by @pietacastiel who has GREAT theology content in general

all about love (bell hooks)

the chapter “when hated characters talk back” in anti-fandom: dislike and hate in the digital age (is actually explicitly about cas)

also cannot recommend enough following the ppl i tagged above!! most of the unlinked stuff is available through http://libgen.li/ and bookshop is a good alternative to amazon if ur american and want physical copies

#thank you so much for this ask it was a delight to answer #spn #casnalysis #making a tag officially #gendernatural #long post

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butwhatifidothis · 3 years

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Tumblr is starting to VERY MUCH dislike how long the other reblog chain is getting, so this will be Reblog Chain 2 of my jotting down notes of this fic. Here is the first reblog chain for Chapters 1-20

But it appears as though I was correct in sleeping off Chapter 20, because Chapter 21 is. Hm. bad. Very. Not good.

Chapter 21:

Transcript under the cut:

Chapter 21: It's Called Scars so it Gonna Be Ass

- To be blunt, the constant need to reaffirm that yes, Edelgard went through terrible experimentation and that yes, they were very horrific, is tiring. This is chapter 21. The experiments occurred in chapter 2. Every single chapter between now and then have, at some point, mentioned that INDEED, Edelgard DID in fact go through horrific trauma. It is tiring to the reader to constantly have to reread the same thing - we know it happened. We know it was terrible. There's no need to constantly say so; we already understand as readers.

- "Every time the spark of life broke through Byleth’s blank face, it brought a flickering hope to the Flame Emperor’s heart." ->

- Firstly: Awkward use of the Flame Emperor epithet (its usage is on and off with how appropriate its been - this is off).

- Secondly: Once again, Byleth's face was rarely if ever blank. She was never the Ashen Demon, as even the last chapter showcased. The author is mistaking reservation with emotionlessness, which is simply wrong

- "There had been so many empty days and nights, without friendship, love or joy. With nothing to hope for, except someday, the peace of the grave." -> Suicidal tendencies: another trait that Edelgard doesn't have... (strikes against canon: 89)

- ...but Dimitri does. Counter: 12

- "Dimitri, too, was troubled by the thought, grasping the side of his head and frowning. As the spasm passed, he turned to Edelgard and smiled warmly." -> It seems a little callous to so casually toss Dimitri's symptoms into his interactions with others when such things simply don't occur in the canon interactions. It's not impossible, or strictly against canon, but it does not feel natural; it's more as though the author is shining bright neon signs that say DIMITRI HAS MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES than a genuine attempt at writing Dimitri's mental health issues. This is not the first time this sort of seemingly thoughtless showcasing of symptoms has happened (Noted separately: Dimitri having drastic mood swings)

- "No, this world must be ruled by humans…not cruel gods who ignored the prayers of little girls." -> This statement follows Edelgard internally chastising the actions of not gods, but the Children of the Goddess. This is a weaselly attempt at dodging Edelgard's racist beliefs that Nabateans should not be allowed positions of power by shifting the belief to apply to miscellaneous gods instead. While not inaccurate per se - she does also canonically believe that gods should have no power in human affairs - it is not honest

- "Byleth nodded with childlike simplicity. “We should all try to get along.”" -> Again describing Byleth as childlike and/or innocent. Counter: 3

- For those curious: yes, the rat scene is implemented, yes it is sloppy, yes it is out of character for Claude - so much so that it is being noted separately - and yes it is forced to all hell

- What will be noted here, however, is that this is yet another instance of a man being demeaned/humiliated for the honor of a woman. See quote: "Byleth was on him in an instant, a tempest forming in the sea of her blue eyes. “That isn’t funny.” She crossed her arms sternly. “Jokes are about bringing people together...about making them smile. Right now, the only person laughing is you.”" with Claude reacting awkwardly. Once again, Man Bad Woman Good

- In a showcasing of a complete lack of self-awareness within the fic: "“Maybe if you’d have taught the Deer instead…but since you seem to have no ambitions outside of cleaning up Edelgard’s messes…”" -> This is Claude being portrayed as the bad guy, not the one being completely and utterly right

- " She slapped Edelgard on the back, and smiled heartily. “I agree, Dimitri!” Edelgard grimaced, trying to hide the fact her teacher had just struck the wound she had received during the mock battle." -> As well as where undoubtedly countless scars would be, yes? Scars that still cause Edelgard pain? In fact, Edelgard has been slapped on the back by Byleth and Jeralt numerous times before, and yet expresses no pain or discomfort.

- Another thing, that I had not noted though ought to have: Edelgard, a victim of sexual assault (in this fic), rarely seems to mind people touching her. She gets a little surprised if someone tries to get her attention with touch, yes, but Byleth's constant unprompted and random touching of Edelgard is never said to do anything but bring warmth and joy and comfort to Edelgard. It seems as though Edelgard suffering through sexual assault is just another source of trauma for the author to dump onto her for nothing more than pity points

- This is incredibly harsh to say, yes, and I would usually refrain from attributing such harshness onto a piece of text, but remember that Edelgard's scars only cause her pain when it's convenient, that she only experiences headaches when it's convenient, that she experiences PTSD episodes (when Claude mentions the rat) when it's convenient (note that in this fic he does it outside of battle, where her getting triggered wouldn't compromise her chances at victory). Edelgard not being touch averse and being a victim of sexual assault are not inherently something bad - survivors react to trauma differently, after all - but it is another in a steadily longer line of instances where Edelgard is simply given trauma for the sake of making her pitiable to the reader and the love interest, not something that Edelgard genuinely has to struggle with.

- "As Claude and Dimitri looked at their classmate expectantly, Edelgard was wracked with another bout of guilt. Deep in her soul, the princess knew these peaceful days would end soon. When that happened, no feast or vows of friendship could make up for the chaos and horror she would unleash. It would be better to pull away, close off her heart, rather than fuel the flames of her inevitable betrayal." -> Aka, "Feel bad for me, I feel guilty for planning to cause the death and ruination of countless innocents' lives all because I convinced myself that my way is the only way to get things done my way without ever actually trying to see if more peaceful ways could have worked. I'm going to orphan children, force families to fight each other, have the land be rampaged by banditry, and overall bring chaos onto these days that I ADMIT ARE PEACEFUL all because I feel that my way would be better. Wah wah pity me but I don't wanna be pitied I promise wah wah."

- "Byleth shrugged with a characteristic blend of innocence and spirit. “I guess I just like winning.” She began to blush and grabbed Edelgard’s hand. "It's so exciting! I’ve never had anyone other than Papa to celebrate with before!”" -> Byleth = innocent/childlike. Counter: 4

- The fic likes to reaffirm again and again that Byleth is "now" only acting like this due to Edelgard's presence in her life. Note also these statements written previously: "Every day, [Edelgard] was watching the person she loved grow and change. Become who she always was supposed to be." This, perhaps unintentionally, again enforces the "Lesbian Love is Pure and Innocent" trope; these wlw are only allowed to be their good girl, innocent selves - who they were always supposed to be - due to the pure lesbian love they have found with one another

- Count Bergliez didn't know of the experiments initially, but he eventually found out and did nothing to stop them, fleeing from a young and tortured El who was pleading for him to save her - Unnecessarily painting Count Bergliez as a spineless coward too afraid of Duke Aegir to save a child in pain

- Once again, a man fails to save a woman and further traumatizes her

- It should be noted that Bergliez is fearful not for his own life, but for that of his children, who were the ones Duke Aegir threatened. He, very similar to Ionius, cannot save Edelgard, except Bergliez (unlike Ionius) has a tangible, physical, explainable reason as to why he couldn't, and yet it is him who is painted as the bad guy, not Ionius. He is worthy of Edelgard's scorn and hatred, but Ionius only receives a begrudging feeling of betrayal from Edelgard that she feels guilty for harboring, even though he failed her far more than Bergliez failed her.

- "Daughters must always be loyal to their fathers" trope

- "No decent person thought the things Edelgard did. Just as her body had been twisted and shattered by the experiments, her mind bore terrible scars. Scars that the monster kept hidden, so she could walk in the world of men." -> Dehumanizing oneself as a monster as well as having violent thoughts (that specifically stem from trauma) one feels guilty for harboring are not traits Edelgard shows in canon... (strikes against canon, 90, 91)

- ...but Dimitri does. Counter: 13, 14

- "world of men?" Did the author perhaps mean "world of man," as in mankind? Keep note of

- The reason as to why Bergliez is said to have witnessed young El's tortured state and did nothing to help her is revealed: in canon, he dislikes her. It is blatantly and objectively said that he and Edelgard share a mutual displeasure in the other's company. What this fic had him do will be used as an excuse as to why he doesn't hate her, since no one is allowed to dislike Edelgard on the "good" side

- Edelgard, upon being asked if revenge is the reason she is doing what she's doing (reuniting Fodlan): "“No.” Edelgard put her hand to her chin thoughtfully. “I think for a long time, it was…but after a while, I realized that revenge wouldn’t satisfy me.” She looked at the blue sky above. “After you go through that much suffering…when you beg for help, day after day, and no one cares...you realize that nothing will ever truly make you feel safe again. The only thing I want is for this madness to end.”" -> This is internally inconsistent. See chapter 15 note: ""You know why they created me in the first place.” / “To reunite Fódlan,” spat Hubert. “It was all my father talked about.” / “And I will give it to them. "" This directly connects Edelgard's want to reunite Fodlan to the wants of her tormenters (as this states she is doing it out of spite). Note how Hubert spits at the idea of reuniting Fodlan, and how it was all his father - portrayed as a villain - talked about. This is not what this Edelgard wants, at least not of her own independent want. Earlier in this very chapter, Edelgard internally states a want to hurt Bergliez for leaving her behind. To say that she now no longer thinks vengeance would satisfy her, or that none of the reason that she is doing everything she does is out of a want for revenge, is ridiculous

- Edelgard to Bergliez, upon being asked what will happen to him and his family should Edelgard rise to power: "“All those who distinguish themselves will be rewarded. Given your history, I have little doubt you will be among them.” She nervously played with her white gloves. “All I ask is that when I seize back control of the throne, I can count on the military’s support.”" -> Yes, all who distinguish themselves to Edelgard, for Edelgard's cause, that Edelgard can see and/or know of. How likely is it that a poor farmer who is exceptional at fighting will actually be noticed by Edelgard and be given the credit he deserves, when others who may not be as meritable but do have some merit have the connections to show themselves directly in front of Edelgard? What means will Edelgard give the poor soldiers (that she or Byleth aren't already friends with, notably Dorothea and Leonie) that will allow them to be able to be seen by her and have their merits recognized? Edelgard is the one who says who gains power after all, so it is her they must prove themselves to, but how can they realistically do that?

- What about professions that are not immediately beneficial to Edelgard's cause, such as the arts? How will they fare in Edelgard's society, when their works and talents yield no tangible, objective results (such as, say, farming)?

- Something the fic will address?

- Edelgard does not nervously do anything in front of those she is trying to negotiate with in canon, not even Thales. Strikes against canon: 92

- "[Bergliez] could only laugh in response. “I think we’re going to get along rather well, my lady…and the other?”" -> Except Bergliez and Edelgard don't get along well, ever. Pre ts they are stated to dislike each other, which continues even onto post ts with Bergliez being the only noble Edelgard couldn't bring to heel. Strikes against canon: 93

- As predicted: No one is allowed to dislike Edelgard on the "good" side

- Literally forgot Hubert was with Edelgard and Bergliez lmao

- Ionius tried to consolidate power to be rid of the consort system due to his unending love for Anselma -> A ridiculous idea, plain and simple. Ionius was Emperor. If he wished to be rid of the consort system there was no need for him to try and take away all power from the other Imperial houses.

- If Ionius truly loved Anselma, why did he allow her to be exiled from the Empire? Why didn't he step in and use his influence as Emperor to help her?

- Edelgard, when she is Emperor - passed down a supposedly empty crown, at that - showcases the all-encompassing power the title of Emperor truly holds to one willing to use that power. That Ionius supposedly wanted to do all of these reforms and yet nothing at all was done, ever (save for ruining Houses Hrym and Ordelia, something even this fic has as canon), if Ionius did want to make these reforms, means that he was too spineless and cowardly to truly go through with trying to pass them. This again unintentionally showcases how awful a ruler and weak-willed a person Ionius was when he had power when trying to paint him in this righteous light.

- Lambert was stated to be trying to pass reforms before he died in canon, not Ionius. From parents to the children, the author is attributing traits from Lambert onto Ionius just as he (author's confirmed gender is male) attributes traits from Dimitri onto Edelgard

- " Her father and mother…she had thought their romance a fairy tale-a story from her father to make a motherless child feel valued. But…they truly had loved each other." -> Edelgard does believe Ionius when he told her of the story of when he and Anselma (supposedly) met each other. There is nothing to indicate that Edelgard thought it to be a lie: in fact, in canon: "But I choose to believe there was genuine love between them." Strikes against canon: 94

- It seems as though finally, after around 18 chapters, Edelgard's scars will finally cause her genuine inconvenience due to her complex about them as well as her trust issues. She has a gash on her back from the Battle of Eagle and Lion, but will not have it treated if Manuela isn't the healer, and yet the woman is occupied dealing with the rest of the students who were injured. How will this fic deal with this?

- Ingrid, referring to her and Sylvain: ""We just switched from Felix lecturing us all day to listening to Edelgard moralizing, didn’t we?"" -> The author is trying to compare a childhood friend whose friends have had years to get used to their barbed tongue to a stranger that directly insults the dreams of one of them. Something which Ingrid canonically hates having be done to her, even from Felix, a childhood friend. Once again, Ingrid being so casual about Edelgard being so disrespectful of her dreams is out of character. Strikes against canon: 95

- "Sylvain shook his head knowingly, ignoring Felix’s truly alarming scowl. “You should have seen his face, Edelgard. Dimitri would go on and on about this girl he met when he was a kid…and Felix would complain about her for hours!” He looked at Felix and smiled. “For all his whining about the “Boar,” nobody loves Dimitri more than him.”" -> Oh? A romantic gay male relationship presenting itself within the fic?

- Another vision of SS experienced by Edelgard. Word from a nameless guard: "The woman, Byleth, leading their forces... She’s not human! She killed half my battalion with one swing of that sword of hers. She didn’t speak, she didn’t shout, she didn’t even change her expression!” The panicked man was teetering on the edge of hysteria. “All those people rallying around her, and it’s like she doesn’t care at all. Like she's a walking corpse!"" -> Obviously saying that Byleth becomes the Ashen Demon if not allowed to be with Edelgard.

- Unintentional statement: Byleth can't be the pure innocent (lesbian) woman without Edelgard's (lesbian) love granting her purity, reverting her to a monstrous, corrupt demon incapable of humanity

- See chapter 20 note: "Implying that choosing SS - aka, choosing the Nabateans - makes Byleth less human. Intentional?" Confirmed to be intentional. Also false: in canon, even when accounting for CF's lesser chapter count, Byleth emotes far more on SS than on CF, which matches with CF having Edelgard call Byleth detached in their A support. Strikes against canon: 96

- The same nameless soldier, same context: "And those Faerghus kids…” / Edelgard leaned forward in her chair. “Ingrid…Sylvain…what of them?” / “They…they were animals. Screaming and ranting about revenge for the King.” -> Is the author really demonizing Sylvain and Ingrid for (potentially!) being mad at Edelgard for murdering one of their childhood friends? Is that really the depths the Edelgard worship will sink to, that friends becoming enraged at a friend's unjust murder from a warlord is being portrayed as something sad for the warlord? Just what else should Edelgard be pitied for?

- "The scared girl desperately tried to drown out the thoughts that reverberated incessantly. / They’re going to despise us…it’s destiny. And how could they not? If we were truly good, the Goddess would have saved us…protected us. But She didn’t. The Goddess took Mother. She took our family. And soon, She’ll take everything else we love. She hates us. / It’s what we deserve." - Now confirmed that Edelgard hears multiple voices in her head tormenting her. That trait that, once again, Edelgard does not have... (Strikes against canon: 97)

- ...but Dimitri does. This is the third time this chapter that this has happened, and far from the only chapter to display such baffling characterization of Edelgard via Dimitri's traits. It is nonsensical.

- " Why had [Edelgard] even been born at all? Nonexistence would have been preferable to watching every faint dream be dashed, to suffering alone over and over. She was just…so tired of being alive." -> Once. Again. Suicidal tendencies/thoughts is not a trait Edelgard shows in canon... (Strikes against canon: 98)

- ...but Dimitri does. The fourth! The fourth time in one chapter the author desperately wanted to just write Dimitri!

- If the fic wanted to take Edelgard in a different direction than canon does and has her display some of these traits, it would be more passable, but this fic is under the delusion that it is in any way following canon closely, especially in regards to Edelgard, and so this can only be seen as a desperate attempt from the author to have Edelgard be sympathetic by donning the skin of an actually sympathetic character such as Dimitri

- "Edelgard looked at herself in the mirror. The back of her academy uniform was stained red, the rhythmic, soft dripping of blood assaulting the princess’ ears." -> And no one commented on this? No one was worried? Not Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix, who were sitting right by her? Not Lysithea, who saw her take the blow to her back and never get it healed? Not Dimitri, who delivered the blow? It just so happened that literally no one at all noticed this?

- Byleth literally slapped Edelgard on the back earlier? Wouldn't her hand come back red with blood if it were seeping through the uniform?

** The scene that follows the previous note is too long to quote, despite how truly terrible it is. Long quotes, even extremely long quotes, have been presented in these notes before, but the length this quotation would be if the full extent of it were written here would be a mess, and quite frankly, at that point it would do one better to simply go to the fanfiction itself and read the text from there. With the context received from these notes, if one wishes to see the words for themselves, go to chapter 21 of The Emperor and the Goddess, enter Ctrl + F (or Find in Page on mobile devices), and enter the phrase "Byleth crossed her arms, clearly frustrated" verbatim. The following note will not be quoting the entire scene from the fic (merely summarizing it), though context is needed to understand how truly bad the scene is. **

- To have hope in this fic performing anything correctly is proving to be a fool's dream, for it has yet to do anything right; that includes the aforementioned gash upon Edelgard's back. As stated, it did not draw the attention of those who were sitting around her nor did it draw the attention of the one who witnessed the injury itself, nor of the one who delivered the injury itself, so no one commented on the gaping, bleeding wound Edelgard was "hiding" from everyone as she turned her (bleeding) back to them and left for the baths to clean up (it must be heavily stressed: immediately after leaving it is revealed that the blood is seeping through her uniform). As she was washing - naked, of course - Byleth just so happened to step into the baths with only a towel wrapped around her "for modesty," much to the horror of Edelgard, for she does not want Byleth seeing her scarred body. A slight argument arises between the two over Edelgard getting her injuries checked, before Byleth warns Edelgard that she will go to Rhea and force her to go to the infirmary should Edelgard continue to refuse treatment, which drives Edelgard past the brink. She raises her arms from the bathwater and presents her scars (""Fine!... If you want to see so badly, here!""), to the horror of Byleth ("Byleth Eisner was not a woman given to strong emotional reactions, but she staggered back, hands over her mouth."). Edelgard cries in hysteria, fear of her beloved teacher running away in disgust over her ugly, mutilated body overwhelming her. But Byleth, childlike in her innocence, shared that she too is scarred in strange ways, and that she too is scared of failing those around her - that she has no ambitions save to help and protect those around her. Byleth reveals that it is Edelgard whom Byleth looks up to for always being so strong and always moving forward, and shows that without Edelgard Byleth wouldn't know how to handle the pressure everyone else puts on her. The exchange ends with Byleth reassuring Edelgard that she is beautiful and not the monster she thinks she is.

- There is no nice way of putting this: this is a classic example of how not to write someone opening up to another about something. Edelgard views herself as weak, ugly, repulsive, a monster, shameful, but it is Byleth's love and affection that gives her comfort and warmth, that gives her hope of something more. It forces Byleth to behave wildly out of character (the author can try to excuse this with "well she wouldn't normally behave like this!" all he wants, it doesn't matter when it goes against the base, canonical Byleth. Strikes against canon: 99) in order for Edelgard's scarred body to be seen as something that is repulsive, that is ugly, that is stained, so much so that the pure, childlike, innocent Byleth couldn't stand to see something so tainted. And yet it is that same pure, childlike, innocent Byleth's pure, innocent, childlike love that pushes away the pain of Edelgard's scars for just that moment. Other characters become suddenly blind and/or forgetful of Edelgard's obvious, bleeding wound so that it is Byleth who can be the one to save Edelgard with her pure, innocent, childlike presence and her pure, innocent, childlike uncertainty about her own insecurities (but only when it is convenient for Edelgard, as even Byleth didn't noticed the gaping, bleeding wound until she was alone with Edelgard where no one could interrupt their bonding moment). This scene is inorganic and forced, ham-fisting Edelgard and Byleth in the same room - the wash room, where both are either naked or nearly naked - so that Byleth is the one to find Edelgard, no one else. No one was worried enough about the sudden exit Edelgard took from the conversation she was having to follow her and make sure she was alright, and Byleth just so happened to enter the baths right after Edelgard. The scene is, to be frank, insulting.

- There have been a couple of joking references to a book titled Stones to Abigail in these notes, but in all seriousness, this scene plays unsettlingly similar to a scene in said book, where a scarred girl who is naked reveals her "ugly" and "revolting" scarred body to the love interest, who goes on to soothe and comfort the naked girl as best they can. The resemblance is uncanny

- Byleth described as childlike/innocent. Counter: 5

- Edelgard, in canon, never expresses feeling herself to be ugly, or repulsive, or a monster. Strikes against canon: 100

- Again, Edelgard's scars are only important when they are convenient - this time, in helping develop the romantic relationship between her and Byleth

- There are ways in which scars can be utilized without being problematic, but certainly not when this much focus is placed on them and yet they are only truly present when they cannot hinder Edelgard.

- Perhaps particularly insulting is this phrase from Edelgard: "Did she actually love Byleth at all, or just being saved by her?" Yes, Edelgard, you do simply want to be saved by Byleth, because that is precisely what the narrative has been drilling into the reader's heads ever since Byleth showed herself. Byleth is Edelgard's light, Byleth is Edelgard's hope, Byleth gives Edelgard back her humanity, Byleth is Edelgard's one source of joy, Byleth is Edelgard's entire life, and nothing, absolutely nothing in this fic has shown this to ever be a bad thing. This dependence on Byleth to bring Edelgard joy at the near complete expense of everyone else has been propped up as something romantic, and yet it's now, 21 chapters and over 85K+ words in, that we're supposed to believe that this was actually Edelgard being unhealthy? Even though the author himself said that this was what he enjoyed about their relationship, how much they found each other in each other? Even though we see what the author thinks would happen to the two of them should they separate - Edelgard, lonely and afraid without her beloved teach, and Byleth, the Ashen Demon who cares for nothing without her beloved student - in her visions of SS? This is a joke

- It cannot be overstated that Byleth came to the bathhouses completely independently of Edelgard. She did not come to specifically see her because she followed her out of worry for Edelgard due to her injury - she only knows that Edelgard's injured in the first place due to seeing bloody bandages that Edelgard removed in the bathhouse, before Byleth arrived.

- Author's notes: "On Bergliez, we find out very little in-game, but he 1) offers himself for execution so his men can go free in SS and 2) seems to be actually competent at his job. I thought a nuanced portrayal was more interesting, since I've been writing Aegir as the absolute worst person in the world." -> Note: this is what the author believes to be a nuanced take on someone. Someone who likes Edelgard entirely and does nearly whatever they can to help her, but they did one thing that's morally gray (leaving a child behind to save his own children from the same fate) that is portrayed as objectively bad, so now they are nuanced. While perhaps this sort of character would be truly nuanced in better hands, as it is with his actions being portrayed as something that is obviously so completely and utterly wrong and him someone who deserves complete and utter condemnation - and yet Ionius, who does far worse for far less understandable reasons, gets a comparative slap on the wrist - it causes confusion as to Edelgard's lines. Bergliez seeing her the one time and never helping her is enough for her to want to hurt him as she was hurt, but her father repeatedly coming to and "being forced" to watch her actively be tortured and doing nothing does little to invoke similar depths of resentment? Even granting the idea that "she gives more slack to her father," Ionius is objectively and far worse than Bergliez, down to doing hard things to protect their children, and yet it is only Bergliez who is shined in this unpleasant a light

- To be clear, Bergliez's decision was not a good one, but understandable. It is a gray decision to make. But notice how he is called "gray" and "nuanced" and yet Ionius is nearly completely innocent, as described by the author himself, despite their being no given explaination as to why "he was a figurehead" should be a good enough reason to wash him literally standing there and watching as his children - some of whom aren't even teens yet - get slowly tortured and killed.

- "There are many localization changes I understand (Byleth wanting to get drunk after the battle is one of them), but Treehouse's decision to remove Ionius' entire reason for power centralization (eliminating the consorts) was a big, big mistake." -> Given the history of this author's grasp on the Japanese language, this needs to be checked, as he cannot be trusted as a source as to whether this is true

******* Notes of Claude mischaracterization: Chapter 21, section 1, paragraphs 1, 21 & 23, 27 *******

#o captain my captain #is the Cap'n's name fuckin' Greg holy shit #this chapter was baaaaad #b-but hey maybe i'm just being overly critical?

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