#Can I be bothered to rewrite my response to be an actual response instead of an analysis of Croc's fighting style

[moongothic]

Crocoman has been on my mind lately and I had a realisation (what I have to admit is that my memory is shit, so the whole conundrum might be pointless, but) wet + Croco = bad times for our Sandman. So... If he slices up a man and in turn gets splashed by blood, does he just... nullifies his own power? You can smush or suffocate with sand, but Crocodile makes stabby weaponry from it too, stabby weaponry that I am reasonably sure is attached to his arm at times. Does he developed a combo of sucking the moisture off his victim right before it soaks him and makes him a sad soggy man?

He loves living right on the edge. Desk right in front of a huge glass window that is the only thing separating him from tons of water rushing in and ending his career? check (additional flex is that it'd take as little as one very motivated bonk from his bananawani to said window for that end to come). Close ranged, bloody fights that pose the very reasonable danger of getting soaked by blood? check. Our man fears nothing.

I mean from what we've seen, usually Crocodile uses his stabby-slicy attacks from a distance, while in close range it's usually either Sables to blast people off or Barján to dehydrate people, as seen here

Like Barján doesn't cut people, surely Crocodile could've used it to cut people instead if he wanted to, but no, it mummified the guards instead

So considdering our beloved Crocodile is a smart little boy, this all could be intentional, because yeah, if he did get splooshed with blood he would lose his Logia Invunerability at least until the blood would dry, and that would just be inconvenient

And that would make for a good combat tactic in general- mummify those in range, if you can't mummify them then nuke them with Sables, and if Sables only blasts them out of your range, well now you can use Desert Spada to slice 'em without getting moisturized. Like if this was a video game that'd make for a good gameplay loop

Also while it's only stated in canon he can absorb moisture with his hand, I wouldn't be surprised if Crocodile could also passively absorb moisture from his whole body (if just less efficiently). Like during Round 2 with Luffy he did get completely soaked but was able to turn back to sand soon again, so unless the Alabastan Heat was on Croc's side, surely he couldn't have dried that fast. Same for when he was covered partially in his own blood in Marineford, surely when Doflamingo decapitated him he would've actually died if his face was still wet with blood (though Oda forgot to draw the blood on that page so take that with a grain of salt lmao)

Really the only thing that doesn't seem to quite fit into his combat loop nicely is the Big Ol' Stabby Hook as you mentioned, because if anything's gonna make people bleed all over him, it's that, that's the thing (though he could just use the actual base of the hook to pummel people with and the hook is there because. It's a prosthetic.) (You know I did always wonder why Croc wanted to use the hook instead of the hidden blade because surely the blade would be more convenient for inflicting pain but, actually, yeah, the hook makes sense)

This all said, while it would be inconvenient for him I would like to see Crocodile get covered in blood more often, it looks good on him ❤️

#Asks #OP Meta #Sir Crocodile #Did I kind of misread the original ask because I'm eepy #Yes #Can I be bothered to rewrite my response to be an actual response instead of an analysis of Croc's fighting style #No #I wrote all this shit I can not be bothered to redo it man #I even went and got that screencap for it #Also it's funny that you mention Crocodile not fearing anything because I was lowkey thinking about writing A Thing About That #IDK if I have enough Thoughts for a whole post though but the point was that #Like people do go off often about how Croc is willing to fight anyone and anything at the drop of a hat without giving a fuck #But we literally do see him get dunked on by Jozu just once and he immidiately gives up on fighting the guy #Like he tanks one (1) attack from the guy in Marineford and he takes it with relative grace #But he really does go ''awe hell naw I ain't dealing with that'' after getting attacked by Jozu and backs out #(Or would've if Doflamingo didn't wanna chat) #And we don't really even see him FIGHT anyone properly in Marineford #Like he exchanges a few blows here and there but there's no big fight with anyone in particular or anything #Even with Akainu he mostly just distracts the guy long enough for Luffy and Jinbei to escape #And we know he's smart. He doesn't rush into danger like a dumbass (see: Luffy) and always has like Things Planned Out #So really. Does he actually like to live as dangerously as people tend to assume. 'Cause I'm kind of starting to doubt it? #God I just wanna see him fight a bastard or two is that too much for me to ask

[imthepunchlord]

Possibly How It Should Have Been

Gosh, I've just thought about it sometimes, as I'm largely trying to turn my creative focus onto something more enjoyable than ML (hence less writing for ML fics), but sometimes I just can't help but focus on it. Cause it's a great concept and it's butchered and that bothers me so much.

And there's SO MUCH that could've been done to improve it. Some of which could be easy tweaks. Some of which needs massive overhauling. Some of it is just picking a lane, staying in that lane, and you follow the road to progress.

It's a great concept with a LOT of possibilities and ways it could've been done. I've actually thought about possible ML Rewrites a few times, I even reached out to a friend to try and help develop a Rewrite that we could've collabed on cause I was struggling to much to decide, and we both just got stuck cause there's so many options for characters and what could possibly be done as we could see so many pros for each option.

And of course, part of the pondering that came to my mind was seeing promising improvement with kwami swaps.

Like, Marinette and Adrien may have developed better if they had each other's miraculous. Plagg could've been the ideal foil to Marinette as he's the opposite of her in every way, addressing her overworking herself, prioritizing others over herself, and caring so much about her responsibilities that it just weighs and stresses her out. And with Adrien and Tikki, she could've helped him develop as an actual, step up in responsibility, learn to take on duty, to care about others over himself. She also would've helped him get the plot rolling, as Adrien is a stagnant character but Tikki is not. She's going to get him involved into the Agreste plot whether he wants it or not, and in turn, he's going to get Tikki to learn to be more attentive and considerate of her holders cause things can go south for Adrien very quickly if she pushes too much.

Gosh, another great kwami swap that could've been done that could've improved a lot was switching up who are the leads. I always wondered if Tikki and Plagg TRULY would've picked Marinette and Adrien, also if they were even the right picks now that we know that Fu doesn't know everything and is running on limited knowledge. As far as we know, they ARE the wrong picks for these two. And considering there was an ep of Tikki and Plagg picking their own users, I now wonder if Alya and Nino should've been our actual leads.

How Alya was initially as Scarabella screams to me that it would've better served in the Origins as a starting hero. Alya also has promising potential arcs as a starting hero, especially as being a superhero is her living her dream:

There's the struggle of balancing her civilian and hero life, she can learn that the civilian life is just as important.

She can learn that being a hero isn't all glory and isn't always easy.

She can learn the importance of secrecy, and what happens if she exposes herself to the public or to a friend (probably Marinette).

And a lot of the lessons Tikki is involved with would make more sense with Alya, who does get tunnel vision and isn't good at listening to others and isn't so considerate and can be very pushy with her own agenda. Alya naturally aims for the leadership position and Tikki wants her Ladybugs to be leaders, so Tikki can help guide Alya to improve as a leader. Lastly, Alya will challenge Tikki on her call outs, which could at certain points help established that Tikki isn't always right and is open to learn and adapt too. And Alya could busy herself looking into HM, making her theories and being nosy about his identity, which Tikki would readily be apart of and encourage. Which Alya should've done in the show than recklessly trying to expose the heroes identity to the public and help HM win. Which, if Adrien wasn't a hero, maybe that should have been his role instead, which Gabriel could encourage and Adrien is even more excited cause he thinks his father is taking an interest in what he does which can be some later Adrien angst for you.

With Nino and Plagg, the BIGGEST plus is that it would actually give Nino SOMETHING outside Alya and Adrien. It would've prompt him to get more focus, and based on what's seen, he's 2nd to Marinette in having the most friends, meaning he can be more engaging and present with what happens to his classmates. Plagg also could bring some needed chaos to his life. You can even expand upon what's seen in Horrificatr where Nino can be controlling, strict, and harsh so Plagg can work on that. Nino does have some similarities to Marinette where he does care a lot for his friends and is hardworking, so there's something there to make Plagg a bit of a foil to him. To expand on Nino's role as Alya embraces being the big hero and savior, could even do the fandom popular idea of him getting Guardian training.

With those two taken, this nicely opens up others getting the Five.

Marinette can work with either Bee or Fox. If you want to work off Chloe vs Marinette, it works best if Marinette has the Bee. Though I think Pollen's personality should be overhauled, but if not, at least there's a perk that yes man Pollen going to force Marinette to take initiative and decide things for herself instead of seeking advise from her kwami. And with Fox, that can work off Marinette being a meddler, schemer, being creative, and her more inclined to work from the shadows. There could also be a fun twist to explore with Marinette not liking liars and she has a miraculous tied to deception, plus her and Trixx could've been an interesting pair to see interact, especially if working off what's seen in Sapotis where Trixx is very observant and manipulative, but also a bit of a chaotic gambler (from what I've seen, later seasons seem to ruin Trixx as a character). And of course, Marinette having Fox could work off her vs Lila, you could even dabble in her vs Felix.

Arguably, Chloe MAY grow as Alya and Nino would NOT have been so tolerant of her unlike Marinette and Adrien, so Chloe could've gotten the Bee and actually be a good hero and character for it. But that can also come down to preference and how you want Chloe to go.

Adrien could've gotten the Turtle, which I think could've been one of the best miraculous he could've gotten as he naturally likes to be a protector, and this miraculous works off that while also giving him protection. Wayzz also could've maybe addressed Adrien readily sacrificing himself, help him learn to be more cautious instead of rushing in, or at least think and be smart about how you go forward. There's even a possibility of Adrien having Turtle full time, as Nino could share his suspicions with Fu about Gabriel, so Wayzz could be there as a spy to check things out, which would have Adrien eventually get involved in his own plot, but still allow things to be at a slower pace. And as Wayzz, ideally, seems to be serious and dedicated but also playful and open minded, I think he would be very engaging with Adrien, which in turn could mean that when Adrien needs a call out, he would listen to what Wayzz had to say more (as most of the time Adrien ignores what Plagg says).

As for the leads, both would have an equal neutral involvement in the plot that can explain why things don't resolve quickly (looking at you Adrien who won't even ask questions about the suspicious book your father has). Alya would be a hero and lead for glory and self-righteousness, Nino would be to genuinely help others. Neither would have a super close tie to Gabriel, allowing him to sit under their noses for a while.

Also, gosh, you even could've had a lot of fun with color coded rivals/foils/personal antagonists for Alya and Nino.

If you really wanted to do Alya vs Lila, let Lila actually have the Fox or maybe she bought the Fox in Volpina, and this has Alya and Lila having the miraculous the other is color coded for. She could work off being a hero initially for the wrong reasons, just like Alya who starts for the glory too, as well as integrity vs deception.

Something could also be done between Nino vs Felix, with Nino really color coded for Peacock while Felix is color coded for Cat. Could play off both being ambitious to a fault and being selfish and nosy, but Nino cares more for others vs Felix is more exclusive.

And if expanding to others...

Of course could do Marinette vs Chloe if Marinette has the Bee, Chloe could have the Mouse, which could be funny to see Chloe deal with herself. That might humble her.

As for Adrien... could do him and Max being foils, work off Max getting Horse while largely wearing green, and I think Adrien is most color coded for Horse. Could work off both being perfectionist and could delve into the shared interest of gaming, with Max trying to bring out the competitiveness in Adrien. Could be thinking vs action.

Either way, ML is frustrating cause it's a show with potential and great concepts and it's irritating that it got butchered so. And the most frustrating thing is that there is just so many options to how it could've been done better. And kwami swap wise, these are my top two picks that would've been better.

Thank you for coming to my TED talks.

#ml salt #miraculous salt #ml ramble #ml rant #kwami swap #miraculous rewrite #cat!Marinette #ladybug!Adrien #ladybug!Alya #cat!Nino #bee!Marinette #bee!Chloe #fox!Marinette #mouse!Chloe #fox!Lila #turtle!Adrien #horse!Max #peacock!Felix #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #chloe bourgeois #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #lila rossi #felix agreste #felix fathom #felix graham de vanily #max kante #tikki #plagg

[darcylightninglewis]

Good morning!!! Sorry to bother but since you are the most knowledgeable person I know about Hellcheer can I ask you if you have ever read a fic where Chrissy survives Vecna and then joins the group to defeat him? Thanks in advance and have a great day!!!

Okay, first off, you're never a bother, ever.

Secondly, I am honored by your ask. Sorry for the delayed response, it's...it's been a weird emotional exhausting few days but we're back!

Where my brain immediately went to

Chrissy and Eddie’s Infinite Mixtape by @little-scribblers-heart

What may be (to my reading knowledge) the most epic rewrite of S4, really can't recommend LovelyThings enough.

(sooner or later it comes down to fate) i might as well be the one by @majicmarker

Another great one and one of the best stream of conscious Eddie writers I've ever come across. Their fics always make me laugh.

someone reaching back for me by @enoughtotemptme

Okay, this one is gonna make you sad, but eventually very happy too! It was the first groundhog style fix its fics I read for season 4 and introduced me to the writer's work who I also can't rec enough.

EDIT

OMFG, I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T INCLUDE @hangon-silvergirl!! Thank you for pointing out my mistake, @majicmarker <33

Bonus Tracks by @hangon-silvergirl

Everything by her is amazing and this is no exception. I love it when folks use things we learn from con's in fic (like Chrissy's would be Vecna song), superb. A WIP, but off to a killer start.

Now below these are ones that have been on my Marked for Later list because I'm just in need of pure uncut fluff these days but come highly recommended.

the pleasure, the privilege, is mine. by melodicvinyl

I just love the starting premise of this one, I can see it being a thing Eddie does to make her smile or it's actually his mundane superpower that finally comes in handy. Also love their other fics too.

Linger by CircusBones

Hawkin's High 10 Year Reunion! Class of 86! Chrissy Cunningham has built a life in California, far from the demons of her youth, from her mother to Vecna. There's people who were always good to her, though. Healing might have taken her away from them, and coming back has its own challenges. This story moves between the events of 1986, and Chrissy experiencing Hawkins ten years later.

I've read their shieldshock fics and love them so I'm sure I'll love this too.

like hands that tick on a clock by theredhoodie

What if Chrissy Cunningham wasn't Vecna's first victim, but she survived instead? How would that have changed things for everyone? A ST4 shippy rewrite.

aesthetic chills by sloelimbs

"aesthetic chills" is the literal translation of frisson, which is the feeling you get when listening to a really good piece of music.

put your lips close to mine, as long as they don't touch by Percyjacksonfan3

Here's the thing about Chrissy Cunningham: she actually is the straight laced dependable good girl that everyone thinks she is. She's also, until she starts having these weird visions that make her feel like she's going out of her mind, insanely bored. Or, alternatively, the fix-it AU where Chrissy doesn't die and she and Eddie try and figure out what the hell is going on with her. And with them. Also, the usual gang is there. Eventually. Because these two need some serious help fighting demons and figuring out that they are not just friends.

If I missed an author's tumblr name please forgive me, I'm preeeetty brain dead. If I missed any fellow Hellcheerios, please drop them in the comments as I'm sure this isn't an exhaustive list. But hopefully enough to get you started babes!!

Hellcheer to canon:

#fic rec #hellcheer #eddissy #st au fic #otp: you're a freak

[outrunningthedark]

Do you ever wonder how out of touch Tim possibly was with the show this last season? What puzzles me is the man is a known to change things constantly - I mean he scrapped an entire episode once (RIP original Ghost Stories) - yet he couldn't be bothered to look at the finale and say 'um, I think we need to stretch some of this out to 2 episodes'. If he really is back in charge, I feel like it might be because he was literally the meme of the guy walking into the room filled with chaos. One of those 'how did it get this bad so fast'.

Nonnie, this is exactly my take on the situation, and the #1 reason why I don't like to absolve Tim of any responsibility or blame for how the show has progressed (or...not) in his absence. I know that when Kristen was announced as co-show runner (out of nowhere in an article), I had a moment of "Why her and not JCC? Or Lyndsey?" because of...an underlying bias, I guess? But if you think about it, she is the writer that's been around since season one, so. Fair is fair. Having said that, I think Tim assumed the show would be in good hands because being there since the earliest of days should have meant that Kristen had a grasp on the characters - what kinds of stories would both make sense for where they were at in life and be received well by the audience. I also think stepping away meant (in his mind) that he shouldn't be "over her shoulder", so to speak, making her feel like she wasn't truly in control. Especially because Kristen painted it as this slow promotion she had been waiting to achieve. (Which is...funny when you think about how much control he took from the co-showrunner of LS the last two seasons...) But the fact that he did not once step in to overrule anything? I don't know how anyone can excuse that. And if it's because he wasn't worried about the show actually being cancelled, again I ask, why not share those thoughts with his colleagues? Why not tell them to operate as if there WILL be a seventh season instead of tying up every single loose end in 9 weeks? I have no real reason to believe he's not back (the delay in LS only adds to the speculation), and I don't think we're going to really know about it the same way we didn't know he had left in the first place. (Maybe when he gives his first pre or post episode interview?) But "assuming" he is, I expect an attempt at rewriting all the wrongs he picked up on once he was able to watch the scenes with his own eyes uninterrupted. Otherwise...why go back at all, right? Go home. Take a nap. Take several, even. That's more productive than silently sitting back and watching someone else (continue to) destroy something you created.

#anonymous #tina speaks #911 speculation #tv: 911 #tv: 9-1-1

[butchsophiewalten]

Firstly, thank you so much for your constructive response. Replying to your post about Jenny&Jack's name problem.

1. I have no idea what makes you think that I blame Jenny for her inconsistent actions. I'm just trying to justify a point that seems illogical to me, and I'm turning to you bc your analyzes are really reasonable and I'd like to know your opinion.

2. I'm not saying its a plot hole and I'm not saying it's a HUGE one. It doesn't take detective deduction skills to ask my question, and I thought about it within the first 15 minutes of reading the /sophiewalten page. I understand and accept that there are conventions in a horror series, but this thing isn't that hard to rationalize, so why not do it? Feels like 'this too shall pass' energy.

3. In order to connect the '74th summer missing people, Jenny only needs to know Sophie’s surname and... Okay, it's a pretty absurd explanation, like not knowing your girlfriend's surname? whom you've living together for at least a year? I didn't even think about it. Sophie hides it? Sophie doesn’t know her own surname and lives with a different last name? Jenny just doesn't bother to find out such obvious information? It seems like a topic for another discussion.

4. The examples I gave in the original post are not literal, but are evidence of how much resonance the Walten family's case had among the Brighton society. I didn't mean that everyone there listens to the same radio station, reads the same newspaper and watches the same news channel for a 7,000 people town. I meant that Jack and others weren't some kind of no-names, unlike ordinary BSI workers, about whom Jenny for some reason knows and even saw&remembered their missing posters (she calls Ashley 'very pretty'. So the some random girl image from four years ago remains in her memory, but the fairly famous businessman name doesn't?).

I'll admit I realized shortly after I answered that ask that it was directed less specifically towards you, and moreso broadly directed at the gist of your complaint as well as a bunch of other similar complaints I've seen that I hadn't given myself the opportunity to talk about before. Which isn't particularly fair to you, so I'll stay more specific to your particular criticism this time.

I'm sort of confused by this. I'm trying to imagine what you think a better version of the /sophiewalten scene would be. You're saying you'd like it more if when Sophie didn't remember her father's name, Jenny filled her in on it being "Jack Walten", which is a name she remembers as a locally famous person from her childhood/early adulthood who disappeared. Which is.. fine? But that ultimately relies on rewriting Jenny to have information which she is clearly not supposed to have canonically. Information which (in my opinion, anyway), could spoil some of the most interesting opportunities for storytelling that The Walten Files has. I think it's actually really important, narratively, that Jenny has as little information as possible regarding Sophie's family, so that Sophie can seek that information out for herself and obtain it by actually interacting with the story, instead of just being told by another character. So, let's assume that's not what you mean, and what you're actually saying is that when Sophie brought up not remembering the name of her father, Jenny, in response, should have given some sort of excuse as to why she doesn't remember his name either. The name of her girlfriend's father which she isn't aware has anything to do with Bunny Smiles-related info that she may or may not have. I don't think I need to explain why that would feel really weird and unnatural, actually. I think it would bog down the scene very unnecessarily and take away from one of The Walten Files' only examples (so far) of interesting, character-focused exposition. The thing I'm additionally implying here is I think the knowledge Sophie has of how her missing family relates to BSI exactly is incredibly limited, and I don't think she's given any information about that connection to Jenny so far, because we have yet to see her do so. All Jenny knows is that her girlfriend's family disappeared. She doesn't know it actually has anything to do with Bunny Smiles, and even assuming she *does* remember that major missing person's case from her childhood, she isn't supposed to have made/remembered the connection between those disappeared people and the modern BSI, much less between both of those things and her girlfriend. If we were to get a textual explanation from the series as to why exactly she hasn't made these connections that would be fine, great even! But I think it would actually be really bad if that explanation occurred in /sophiewalten specifically. I think it would really weaken that scene. You have to remember we're literally only 1/4 of the way through the series right now, it has plenty of time to patch up little holes like this if it decides to do so. (That said, I really don't even think this explanation absolutely needs to happen? I'm sure it would settle people with opinions like yours, and that's all well and good. But, like how you say you were asking that question within the first 15 minutes of reading /sophiewalten, I very much wasn't. I'm struggling to articulate what exactly I'm trying to get across here, except that I was and am willing to suspend my disbelief far enough to just accept that Jenny doesn't have any more information here than Sophie does without additional explanation, because I think anything otherwise would have made what is legitimately a very good scene between those two characters a lot worse.)

I think I accidentally effectively addressed your other two points already. They are addressing a point which I personally think is fundamentally moot. I do not think there needs to be any explaining of whether or not Jenny knows Sophie's surname or why there's a line subtly implying Jenny's lesbianism instead of explaining why she doesn't remember the children's restaurant entrepreneur who was on the cover of Livingston Today Magazine eight and a half years ago

#ask #long post #if any of this seems condescending i'm genuinely really sorry about that #it's just honestly a little difficult for me to imagine what exactly bothers you about this idea #which i'd never even given a second though to until i saw people complaining about it on the internet #we may just have fundamentally incompatible points of view here

[incarnateirony]

Shealyn, stop gaslighting yourself.

Nobody said gods are mad at you for working with other pantheons.

That's not the argument.

The argument is your blasphemy, your raping my face, you mixing me up with a god. I Am Not A Pantheon. I can tell you to stop raping my face and mixing me up. Not sure how you're managing to get this fucked up, because I am literally trying to terminate a cult you have erected in my image. I Am Not A Pantheon. I Am Aaron, You Are Not. Even if you change the name, pasting my face on your delusions you groom your cult to is what it is, you got us all fucked up, you got people listening to your literal anime jibberish you trolled yourself on, and you have literally been grooming people to rape my face because you can't get over the divorce.

That's not the same fucking thing, stop trying to pretend to be confused.

I can also, however, steal those pantheons you're running to, and make Loki tell you to Do The Work Read A Book, yeah. Cuz again, you're schizophrenic and half your head is tribute to me. So it backfeeds.

It's not "gods will get mad at you for working with other pantheons", it's "no matter what pantheon you run to, the gods are mad at you for being a rapey blasphemous douchecanoe, and people can hear it, but you can't hear them, because for magical reasons, you can only hear your ex telling you to do the work."

Don't fucking get them mixed up you cheap skank.

They're not mad at you for changing pantheons. They're just ignoring you, it's not an accident that no one hears your cries. But me. Telling you to do the fucking work. And your guardian you imagined that rocks you back and forth and tells you it's okay. Hey, you talked to your Bloody Mary lately, how she acting?

They're mad at you for being contrary, teaching against their ways, for violating basic principles, for running from responsibility, and from generally being a disproportionate dumbass, even in the scale of humans being dumbasses. They don't OWE your princess ass ANYTHING. Especially when most of them are the same dudes on other names and like, now you're just being flagrantly two faced AND retarded IN FRONT OF THEIR SALADS. Like you are literally running from a trap you made for yourself, trying to bother every timeline and pantheon, and still being told or flat-assed forcefully rewired to do the work. They're not gonna intervene to protect you from choices you made and refuse to stop making. That's not how this works.

Don't get it twisted.

Let's put this simply: The gods aren't angry at you for changing pantheons

Your ex husband, who you have confused with a god, is over you grooming a cult to him, raping his face, and stalking him for three years, and isn't going to stop doing what it takes to make sure he doesnt have to suffer you again even if it takes three years of his own back, no matter how you try to whine and spin shit like this into the internet to rewrite the narrative.

The gods are, generally, ignoring you. One is dancing with shrimp as a mockery. The other is uh, just me, not actually a god, but you thought I was Loki instead of Hermes that time, so there's that.

Like we can keep going, but it ain't about changing pantheons. I do not care if you are getting me fucked up as a trickster god in Greek or Nordic, you've somehow fucking managed both, while still refusing to see how flawed you are, and still refusing to see how you built this fucked up temple to fucking my face. I do not fucking care, it is not about what language you're retarded in. It's about your refusal to change behavior, and instead using gods like fictional crutches to blame for them, and they ain't having that shit girl. One time you almost shot another ex husband between the eyes, claimed it was channeling, and disassociatively blamed Athena, and it's all been downhill from there. Lmfao nobody wants to deal with your pathological ass anymore, which is how you've become lemonbuttershrimpgirl, and like. Mmf. Is it the attention? Are you enjoying actually having his attention again? Even if he's pointing out you're a morbidly obese moron that thinks her cat is channeling freyja, and even if he's openly making fun of your stolen octopus jibberish branding too while squidward bodies mister krabs in all of this, like--you just really need his attention that bad, huh.

Like girl, GIRL. Everyone saw us arguing while you said you didn't have to read anything, or do any work, to be his priestess. They saw me bang on WORK, BOOK, WORK, BOOK. They saw me say we were going in and playing dark magician. Then they saw you post about a shitton of shadows in your house and a mysterious old man in Ancient greece talking about a lifetime of hard work, and you being clueless and picking your nose, then me joking about subsuming your fake ice raven shadow, then they saw you say Loki showed up and Gave You A Work Book, because you couldn't stand to have to do work or read another book, so everyone literally watched you willfully misinterpret me and yet again fuck me up for another god to make yet another version you could bullshit all the rules up from inside your own head and call it mysticism to teach the cult you have raping my face, now possibly in two pantheons. Like, literally, everybody fucking saw it. It's bisexual, not bilingual, Shea, get off our dick in every language. A slavic dub of me is still me.

Literally people watched that shit happen and you're still going "uwu gods won't care if I change pantheons" not when it's the god of your ex husband you've obsessively deified in your head screaming at you to get off his dick and read a book in any fucking language. Dead ASS woman you are like "NUH UH I DIDNT MIX UP AARON AND HERMES" then IMMEDIATELY PROCEDED TO MIX ME UP WITH LOKI TOO. IN FRONT OF THE CLASS!! AND YOU JUST KEEP!!! MOVING ON LIKE NOBODY SAW IT!

The gods are not here to be tools for your roleplay fetishes and your refusal to process grief. I don't know WHAT fuckin pantheon you think will tell you THAT.

I know you're smarter than this Shealyn, stop giving yourself intentional brain damage to run from the truth.

I repeat, I do not care if you are getting me fucked up as a trickster god in Greek or Nordic, you've somehow fucking managed both, BUT THIS IS GOING TO STOP, NO MATTER HOW MANY CIRCLES YOU SPIN TO TRY TO FIND A NARRATIVE YOU MIGHT BELIEF* YOU'RE NOT FUNDAMENTALLY ASSFUCKED IN. Belief your spider back, Belief away the above posts you proved yourself a clown in, Belief away the timeline you got yourself stuck in this octopus jibberish comedy mess. Oh, it's not working? Weird. So anyway, keep doing the work and coincidentally replacing your humor with ours in ways that play into comedic punchlines we re-re-re-roll our old jokes on, that shouldn't be alarming you or anything.

Update: Or you know, you catching Flight Fursuit Friday into Tartarus and reading the vibes of me looking over at work in the morning realizing I forgot to feed my cat as the great god Anubis remembering to tell you to feed fuzzy, your precious. Hashtag Release Coyote Versus Acme. Yeah, you're. You're doing fine over there, Shealyn.

Yeah Shea, it's been an interesting few years you lost the plot on reality with on your end, while on my end, at least my insanity is general awareness of the insanity of reality, and that's why you're here, in Octopus Fetish Land, getting beaten through time with your own jokes, but also very immediately. Apotheosis is a biiiiiiitch. How've you been? Oh you went totally nuts? Yeah man, tried to stop that, but now it's just really funny hitting the buttons.

#witchblr

[drberfarious]

what none of you understand is that their hesitation and cluelessness often slows them down, which you can’t really have when disney is giving you only a certain amount of time on each episode (because time is money, and everything revolves around money, believe it or not). why even bother watching the show when you don’t like anything about it and just whine about every episode?

also, i’m sure you think you can do the show justice, but you can’t. you shouldn’t try and give advice to screenwriters, when your fanfiction lacks proper grammar.

Yeah, I know.

I would not have cared if they had to cut a few scenes to make room for their "hesitation and cluelessness." I would have understood that it was necessary. That's what I expected, actually. I think almost everyone expected that. I do care that they chose to keep almost all of them and still added more scenes and time to certain scenes, and, as a result, they hampered the action more than they needed to (at least in my humble opinion). If there's one thing I didn't expect, it was to be bored during most of the monster encounters (plus Procrustes).

The things I like (the humor and, on average, 30% of each episode) about the show are the reasons why I keep watching, so I'm not just here to whine. I do enjoy the good things in life, believe it or not. I keep watching, and do you want to know why? It's because I hope that the show can get better, so instead of sitting around being content with the possibility of missing the episode that could possibly turn the show around (and having to see the mostly unanimous joy on social media first, instead of experiencing it on my own), I've decided to come back every Tuesday/Wednesday with the hope that it will be better than last time. I was right when I sat down to watch episode 5, so why should I give up?

Honestly, considering the fact that I write all of my fics from 11pm-2am and the only thing you have to say about my fics is grammar, then I'm taking that as a compliment.

I don't think that I could do better (I'm sorry if I tend to come off as egotistical/elitist/your preferred word), as I have zero professional creative writing experience. I'm just a disappointed viewer who's making observations and making intuitive conclusions.

I'm also worried about season 2 because now that I've seen the effect of these constraints combined with Rick's insistence on rewriting the series (his changes should not have come at the cost of suspense), I'm worried that an adaptation of one of the less engaging books in the series will suffer a lot more.

Thankfully, the show has been successful in terms of money, so hopefully Disney will put more faith in the show and increase the budget. However, season 1 did have a $12-15 million budget per episode, and, on the high end, that's The Mandalorian's season 1 budget. There may be some budget mismanagement going on, and currently, I'm skeptical about how impactful a budget increase would be.

Do you like the characters' lack of "hesitation and cluelessness," or are you just resigned to this concept of the impossibility of improvement? You did say that I can't do the show justice, and your usage of "can't" implies that there is a 0% chance that I could do better: do you think that no one else could do better, or do you think that the writers and Rick just have some kind magic touch that allows them and only them to write the show properly? You also said that what I would theoretically be attempting to do would be to "do the show justice," and I'm assuming that you may have been trying to mock me and other people in the community who have criticized the show. Do you believe that the show is good enough as it is? If so, what are your reasons?

I'm sorry if this answer came off as passive-aggressive (it doesn't read that way to me, but I have been told that I am passive-aggressive) because I would actually like to see your responses to my questions.

#ask #no but like I'd actually be excited if the anon actually checked my blog and saw my answer #and then responded

[bonefall]

For the dead warrior thing, how's about the non-ThunderClan dead meddies from arc 1? Mudfur, Barkface, and Runningnose.

(And on the note of fleshing out StarClan-as-deities, I'm curious, do you think Clan cats would pray to specific cats for divine intervention or to StarClan as a whole? If the former, who would the cats get in contact with for, say, good luck in romance or help conceiving a litter?)

a) Mudfur

Mudfur joined StarClan at the worst possible time, and spent his first few years agonizing over the fact he couldn't get in touch with Mothwing. Once he could rest assured that Willowpaw could receive the visions for her, he was so done with stress and responsibility that he turned down several prestigious positions around StarClan.

He would have made excellent signs, he could have been excellent at crafting newborn spirits, and he would have been able to blow the clouds away with a mighty breath. Instead, he likes to nap in the dappled starshine, and spend time with his beloved mate and kits.

He's ready to fade now, actually, he's made his peace with his life and would like to move on; but he wants to be the last to go. Since Leopardstar is so venerated, he won't fade for a very long time.

b) Barkface

Barkface is a natural at dreamweaving. Like a spider, he can lace together memories, wishes, and desires, and gently unravel them into the minds of sleeping cats. Of course he's called on for very important prophetic dreams, but more than anything, he loves to grace the minds of elders with images of their glory days.

He lived a long life, and he's been reunited with many lost friends in StarClan. He also loves what he does, so it will be generations before Barkface decides that he'd like to pass on.

c) Runningnose

(in my rewrite, runningnose is actually a very different person and also a dark forest cat, so this one's for the canon Runningnose fans out there!)

Runningnose is still trying to find his peace. He went through a lot in life and had to make a lot of hard choices, he was even a cat who went through a trial (though it was unanimous in the end that he was worthy of StarClan). He joined StarClan as a weary spirit.

He was pretty quiet at first, not having the willpower to do very much, but with the help of his friends he's found a place in growing herbs. They don't make him sneeze anymore, and he defies a StarClan stereotype that Medicine Cats are usually bad at floramancy.

This is because he's patient and humble, he won't resort to pointlessly chasing away clouds and making perfect weather. He will gladly lay, wait, and coax the smallest stem through the thickest snowbank, as long as he knows it will help at least one clanmate through leafbare.

When Littlecloud joined him, it was like he suddenly had a burst of great energy. He's still not the vibrant soul he was in youth, but he has all the time in the world to regain his spark.

d) Do the clan cats worship individual spirits, or StarClan as a whole?

Answered below the cut

I hadn't considered it before, but, sometimes yes. Overall, StarClan is a shifting clan, full of cats who are relevant to the living. Cats fade away when they're ready to rest, so bothering a random spirit would be fruitless or perhaps even rude. Generally, if the cats are praying, it's to StarClan as a whole.

There are exceptions of course. Leopardstar will pride herself as an avatar of battle and gladly bestow favor if she's contacted. Firestar will show up if you so much as think about him too hard. But sometimes, a cat will pray to a direct ancestor, or a friend will "lend" one of theirs.

"My grandmew had NINE kittens, if you ask her she'll totally help you have a litter!"

"My grandpaw's brother died at sunningrocks, dragged down TWO RiverClan warriors with him! He'll help me claw their ears off tomorrow!"

"Remember the wisdom of Tallstar the wanderer, who visited many lands and guided his clan across them. Pray to him tonight, and he will protect you on your journey to the mountain."

#Starclan keeps its godlike aspects AU #Mudfur #Runningnose #Barkface #warrior cats #Clan Culture #Bonefall Rewrite

[inner-sakura]

Theoretically Forever

[Adrien POV sequel to Hypothetically Ever After, childhood friends AU, adrienette, fake/pretend relationship]

Adrien Agreste has had a crush on Marinette Dupain-Cheng for as long as he can remember. Unfortunately for him, however, she’s only ever had eyes for his older brother Félix, who’s never so much as looked her way. But when an opportunity suddenly presents itself to turn the tables and rewrite the script on their relationship, Adrien finds himself hard-pressed to turn it down… Especially when it means getting to date the love of his life. Even if it is only fake.

AU where PV Felix is Adrien’s older brother. Inspired by the novel “The Boys Next Door” by Jennifer Echols. Hello and welcome back to the brothers AU fic series that no one ever asked for yet i remain obsessed with.

read it here

chapter five

Hovering on the doorstep, his hand poised above the wooden surface of the door, Adrien Agreste pondered for the eleven thousandth time exactly how his life had led him to this point, and the dramatic turn of events that had brought him to be standing on Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s front porch, waiting to pick her up for their first date. 

A date that wasn’t actually a real date. At least as far as she was concerned.

The Adrien of one week ago would have laughed in his face. Or perhaps cried. It was a mixed bag, really. 

Should I have brought flowers? The Adrien of the here-and-now wondered, biting the inside of his cheek. Is that an appropriate ‘not date’ date behaviour?  

If he had it his way, he would have shown up with the largest and most beautiful bouquet money could buy, his arms laden with gifts for the prettiest and most perfect girl he’d ever met in his entire life. 

Except she probably would have taken one look at them, scrunched her nose, and asked him why he’d bothered wasting all of his money on someone he wasn’t even dating. 

Adrien sighed, his shoulders slumping ever so slightly. Then he shook himself. 

This was neither the time nor the place for maudlin thoughts. The point of this date was to make Marinette wish that it were real, and he wouldn’t accomplish that by standing around feeling sorry for himself.  

Raising his fist anew, Adrien knocked crisply once, then stepped back, waiting for a response.  

For a moment, there was nothing but silence on the other side of the door. Then, it slowly swung open to reveal the surprised visages of Marinette’s parents.  

Adrien stood very still, his arms carefully relaxed at his sides as he fought the urge to fidget. It was a behaviour unbecoming of Agrestes, and as such they simply would not do it. Or so his father maintained, having drilled the habit out of his sons from an early age.  

Therefore, instead of outwardly expressing his discomfort at having Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng staring at him like he’d just sprouted a second head, Adrien remained rooted in place, frozen like a small woodland creature facing down a pair of hungry predators.  

“Adrien!” As usual, Sabine was the one who managed to wrangle her composure first, her face lighting up as she took him in. “What a pleasant surprise!”  

“What can we do you for, my boy?” Tom grinned down at him, his eyes twinkling with mischief. “I’m assuming you’re not here just to visit with us old folks…”  

Adrien cleared his throat, ignoring the heat pricking at the tips of his ears. He should have known that Tom wouldn’t be able to resist an opportunity to tease him about this.  

“Um, no. I’m here to pick Marinette up.” 

Both adults tilted their heads in confusion, the gesture uncannily in sync. It was clear by their body language that they had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.  

“For our date?” Adrien decided to elaborate, suppressing his stirring unease. “We have dinner reservations.”  

Did Marinette seriously not tell them…?   

Although Sabine’s hands flew up to cover her mouth, it did very little to muffle the gasp she let out. Tom meanwhile stared Adrien down, his brows sinking to rest over green eyes that were steadily growing darker.  

“Is that so?” Sabine asked, her voice a bit strained. “Marinette didn’t mention you had plans this evening…” She stepped to the side, discreetly elbowing her husband out of the way when he made no move to do the same.  

Tom blinked, the storm clouds clearing from his expression. Adrien withheld a sigh of relief.  

I’ve been spared... For now at least.   

Moving back from the doorway, Tom gestured with an arm as thick as Adrien’s upper thigh, beckoning him further into the house. 

“She most certainly did not mention anything to us,” Tom said, his moustache twitching. “It must have slipped her mind.” 

Slipped her mind, my ass! Adrien fumed internally. Far more likely that Marinette had wanted to avoid an uncomfortable encounter with her parents, and had instead decided to keep them entirely in the dark, all without filling him in on her plans.  

Now he’d managed to bungle the whole thing and throw himself to the dogs in the process.  

Great.  

Adrien laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck as he braced himself for the inevitable inquisition. “Um, right.”  

“You know what,” Sabine said, backing towards the stairs. “Why don’t I go and make sure that Marinette is ready to go? You two stay down here and catch up.” 

She threw her husband a significant look. Adrien did his best to pretend to remain oblivious to the exchange. 

Watching the petite woman flee up the stairs, Adrien felt his heart sink. There went his last and best line of defence.  

A large, meaty hand settled heavily on his shoulder. He almost staggered under the weight.  

“All right, son. What say you and I settle this the old-fashioned way?” Tom grinned down at him, his eyes taking on an ominous light.  

“The… old-fashioned way?” Adrien couldn’t help but squeak, his mind racing with the possibilities. 

Tom’s grin widened.  

“With our fists, of course.”  

-x- 

“You know, M. Dupain, when you said you wanted to settle this with our fists, I really didn’t think this was what you had in mind.” 

Cheerful fight music blared out of the TV speakers, interrupted only by the sounds of frantic button smashing coming from both of their controllers.  

“Adrien, for the thousandth time, please call me Tom,” Tom said, landing a particularly nasty combo move that knocked several health points off of Adrien’s avatar. He then let out a bark of laughter.  

“And we could always take this out back if you’d prefer. Although I don’t think that will end particularly well for either of us. Sabine would give me an earful if I were to derail your and Marinette’s evening plans with a bout of fisticuffs...”  

Adrien shuddered at the thought. Though he’d rather not face Tom Dupain in hand-to-hand combat anytime soon, the thought of an annoyed Sabine Cheng was somehow even more terrifying.  

Tom’s green eyes flickered briefly from the screen to meet Adrien’s. 

“Besides,” he continued. “I feel like it wouldn’t be necessary anyway. I don’t need to pull the protective papa bear routine and threaten you... I know you would never dream of doing anything to hurt my daughter.”  

A knowing glint entered his eye.  

“I think we both know you care too much about her for that.”   

Adrien kept his eyes pinned forward, blinking rapidly against the heat he could feel building there.  

“Yeah,” he said thickly, glad to have the screen there if for no other reason than it gave him something to pretend to focus on while he tried not to cry in front of his fake girlfriend’s dad.  

He continued pressing buttons blindly, too overwhelmed by the warmth and trust that Tom was showing him to do much more than that. Not for the first time, Adrien marvelled at how lucky Marinette was to have such kind and loving parents and did his best to ignore how desperately he longed to have a family like that of his own.  

Tom hummed, his voice taking on a thoughtful edge. “Come to think of it, I should really be giving Marinette a stern talking to here… Since, if anything, I’m more worried about you getting your heart broken than her.” 

His fingers stuttering on the controller, Adrien gave up any pretence of pretending to play, turning to gaze at Marinette’s father wide-eyed.   

He was met with a soft smile. 

“You’re a good kid, Adrien,” Tom said, lifting one hand from his controller and setting it gently atop Adrien’s head. “One I would be proud to call my own under any circumstances.”  

Don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry, Adrien repeated to himself like a mantra, willing away the moisture gathering at the corners of his eyes. As casually as he possibly could, he reached up to dash any tears away, before offering Tom a smile of his own.  

“I don’t know,” he said, forcing lightness into his tone. “You might want to reevaluate that statement after I kick your butt at Ultimate Mecha Strike III…”  

He beamed at the booming laugh he received in response.  

“Oh, you’re on, kid!” 

-x- 

Despite his bold claims, Adrien proceeded to have his ass thoroughly handed to him, losing every round without fail.  

But he didn’t mind so much. He was accustomed to playing with Marinette, after all, so he’d learned to lose with grace from an early age. Plus, he wasn’t above throwing the occasional match if it meant keeping himself in Tom Dupain’s good graces.  

Still, in spite of his consecutive losses, Adrien was having a good time, so much so that he had almost managed to forget the original purpose behind his visit.  

That is, until he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, coming from the top of the staircase.  

Ignoring Tom’s triumphant crowing in his ear, Adrien’s head whipped around, his breath catching in his throat. 

Marinette was coming down the stairs, and suddenly he couldn’t see anything else.  

Staggering to his feet, Adrien heard the controller clatter on the hardwood, but he paid it no mind, too focused on the vision descending on him like an angel from above.  

He drank in her appearance, admiring the gossamer fabric of her white dress and how it contrasted with the inky blackness of her hair. Her eyes were lowered, fixed on the steps in front of her, carefully following her footfalls as she walked. Adrien couldn’t help but grin at the sight. 

Same old Marinette, he thought fondly, his feet carrying him to the foot of the staircase before he was even aware of moving.  

Then her blue eyes met his and his breath was gone all over again.  

“Hi,” he said, feeling inexplicably shy now that she was standing in front of him, easily looking like the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.  

Marinette's eyelashes fluttered, her cheeks pinkening as she stared at him in return.  

“You look nice,” she said, the unexpected compliment taking them both by surprise.  

Adrien flushed, overcome with pleasure at her praise. Even though he knew—by virtue of his occupation and the industry in which he worked—that he was attractive by most standard definitions, it was an entirely different matter to hear as much coming from Marinette’s lips.  

It felt good. Really good.  

He would have loved nothing more than to pay her compliments back tenfold—because she deserved that much, at the very least—but his tongue had been rendered stupid and slow in the face of her beauty, leaving all of the words he wanted to give voice to trapped, swirling uselessly around in his brain.  

Instead, he had to settle for a half-witted, stuttered out, “Thanks. So do you. Really, you look… Yeah.”  

He tried not to wince at his own lack of eloquence.  

Thankfully, Marinette did not appear to mind. 

She averted her gaze bashfully, fiddling with one of her sleeves. “Thank you. Sorry that it took me so long. I...may have accidentally fallen asleep.”  

Adrien bit back a laugh. “I should have figured as much,” he said, giving her a knowing look. “I’m glad I told you to be ready half an hour before we actually needed to leave then.” 

Marinette’s eyes grew wide, her mouth dropping open in outrage.  

“YOU LITTLE—!” She sputtered, swatting at him half-heartedly. “Do you have any idea how many years I just took off my life, rushing to get ready?!”   

Adrien danced out of the way of her fists, grinning at her unrepentantly. 

“It worked though. Now we won’t be late for our reservation. Maybe I should consider doing this all the time...” He said slyly, breaking into laughter at the vaguely constipated look that had overtaken her features.  

He heard giggling coming from the area of the couch and started. He’d completely forgotten that Marinette’s parents were even there. He had a tendency to lose track of everything else when Marinette was around.  

Marinette, for her part, merely pouted at the teasing, crossing her arms with a huff.  

“Just so you know, I can’t stand any of you people.”   

That only made them all laugh harder.

-x-

As they made their way to the restaurant, Adrien tried not to let his nerves get the best of him.  

He had yet to tell Marinette where they were going—much to her enduring consternation. Though, if he were being entirely honest, Adrien could freely admit that this had less to do with maintaining the element of surprise, and more to do with his abject fear that Marinette might clue into just how long he had spent planning every moment of this evening, down to the most insignificant of details.  

He’d had years to prepare, after all. But he certainly wasn’t ready to let her know that.  

So he kept mum, evading and redirecting her questions with the ease of someone who was long practised at dealing with reporters.  

Who knew that being constantly embroiled with the paparazzi would actually make my life easier for once?   

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Marinette gaze out the window with rapt attention, obviously trying to catch any clue about where they were headed.  

He had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to get it though, despite her usual deductive brilliance. This restaurant was an incredibly well-kept secret, even amongst locals. One of the many reasons it would serve as the perfect setting for their evening.  

The car pulled up as close as they could get and Adrien quickly thanked the driver, before hopping out and rounding to the other side of the car.  

To his disappointment, Marinette had already opened her own door and was climbing out of the backseat, gawking at the scenery around them.  

No big deal, he reminded himself. Marinette wasn’t any more accustomed to going on dates than he was, so she probably hadn’t anticipated him wanting to do gentlemanly things like open doors for her.  

Adrien squared his shoulders, his resolve crystallising. He would just have to be quicker on the draw next time.  

By the time they were seated on the patio, he could practically feel Marinette vibrating with curiosity, her interest undoubtedly peaked by the warm welcome he’d received from the waitstaff. Adrien braced himself, uncertain how he would navigate that particular discussion without giving too much away.   

To his surprise, however, that was not where she chose to guide the conversation first.  

“Not to doubt your master plan or anything, but how is word of us dating going to get out unless we go somewhere a little...busier?” Marinette gazed around sceptically, taking in the tiny patio and the relatively small number of tables around them. “We’re practically the only ones here.”  

Adrien let out a breath, relieved by her line of questioning. This, he’d anticipated.  

“You’d be surprised,” he said, aiming for a tone that was equal parts blasé and believable. “It may not look like it, but this place is actually quite popular. It’s still a bit early now, but it’ll fill up later. Mark my words.” 

“Plus,” he leaned forward, nodding towards something over her shoulder. “It’s also a pretty frequently used street for people heading down to the waterfront. Look.” 

In either an act of cosmic goodwill, or just impeccable timing, a group of people came strolling around the corner at exactly that moment, lending credence to his story. Adrien could see the lines of Marinette’s posture softening, her dubiety slowly melting away. Everything was going exactly according to plan.  

It was time for the final prong of his argument, though he would have to be careful with its delivery.  

Adrien leaned back in his seat, affecting what he hoped was the casual tone of someone who hadn’t spent hours rehearsing his pre-prepared lines in front of the mirror.  

“And besides, the last thing we want is to be too obvious about this whole thing,” he said, giving her a sidelong glance. “If we go out somewhere we know people will see us, it will definitely look like we’re trying too hard.”  

Marinette’s eyes narrowed and for a moment, Adrien truly thought he was done for.  

She chewed on the inside of her lip, considering him carefully. Then, at last, she smiled.  

“All right, point taken,” she said, and Adrien knew he was in the clear. Before he could even consider celebrating, however, something in her expression shifted and Adrien felt his guard go up all over again.  

Marinette shifted in her seat, her voice dipping conspiratorially as she leaned forward. 

“Why does it seem like everyone here knows you?”  

Adrien blinked rapidly, caught flat-footed by the sudden about-face in topic. He should have known that Marinette’s insatiable curiosity wouldn’t let sleeping dogs lie. Now he needed to come up with some way to explain his family’s history with this restaurant, without revealing any other deeply personal, closely guarded secrets.  

He swallowed. Right. Should be a piece of cake.   

Luckily, the arrival of their waitress managed to divert Marinette’s attention, and Adrien leapt at the opportunity, steering the conversation back to safer waters as he explained the nature of the restaurant and its lack of menus.  

Grateful for her timely interruption, Adrien gave the waitress a megawatt smile as she left with their drink orders. The gesture appeared to have the opposite of its intended effect though, seeing how it only caused the poor girl to scurry away faster.  

His expression fell. Hopefully she hadn’t interpreted his look as some sign of impatience or rudeness on his part. He made a mental note to be extra nice to her when she returned, just in case.  

Turning his attention back to his companion, Adrien was surprised to find her lost in her own thoughts, a secretive smile playing at the corners of her lips as she stared into the restaurant.  

Never one to pass up an opportunity, he took a moment to admire her profile, doing his best to commit the scene before him to memory. 

Marinette cast her eyes about and Adrien sat back to watch, less interested in appreciating the scenery than he was in witnessing her experience it for the first time. He’d spent countless hours of his life daydreaming about this moment, imagining their first date and what it might be like. He’d wanted to make it as perfect as possible, because Marinette deserved nothing less. 

Now that they were here, however, perfection seemed like such a paltry, insufficient word to describe everything he was experiencing. 

Adrien did his best not to stare too obviously, trying to tamp down his raging emotions as he sat across from Marinette at the small bistro table.

She looked radiant, her skin positively glowing against the soft white fabric of her dress. To look at her, it wasn’t apparent that she’d readied herself in a hurry. No, she looked like she’d be at home in the pages of any fashion magazine, young and beautiful and vibrant against the romantic backdrop. 

And now she was looking back at him. 

“What?” Marinette asked, her eyes going round the longer he held her stare. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Emboldened by the romantic atmosphere, Adrien leaned his head more heavily against his fist, not feeling embarrassed in the slightest at having been caught staring. 

His lips curved up in a slow smile almost of their own volition. 

“Like what?” He asked, his smile growing.   

“Like that!” Marinette cried, pointing an accusing finger at him. Her expression kept shifting like she couldn’t decide whether to be embarrassed or annoyed by his attention. The entire effect was hopelessly endearing. 

In lieu of a response, Adrien merely blinked back at her, certain that if he were to open his mouth now, he was liable to either burst out laughing or confess how desperately adorable he found her. 

Marinette flapped her hands between them, gesticulating wildly as she fought to make her point. “You’re giving me this look like...” 

Her features twisted grotesquely, morphing into an expression that he hadn't believed human faces could even produce until that moment. 

Adrien pursed his lips, his chest shaking with repressed laughter. 

“I’m no doctor, but in my professional opinion I’d say it’s either constipation or a stroke.” 

Marinette’s affronted look lasted only a split second before she too was collapsing into laughter, curling forward in her seat as her giggles rang out across the slowly filling patio.

Wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, Adrien gazed at her smiling face, his heart in his throat and full to bursting with too many feelings to name. 

The twinkle lights swayed above them in the warm night air, casting undulating patterns on the red gingham tablecloth and Adrien tried to greedily absorb every detail, unwilling to so much as blink if it meant missing a single second. The sounds of the city at night coming to life around them, the smell of delicious food wafting out of the restaurant kitchen. The way the shifting shadows caressed the planes of Marinette’s face, tracing the line of her jaw and the curve of her cheek the way his fingers so desperately longed to. He tucked them all away, sewing them into the walls of his memory, assured in the certainty that even if he lived a thousand lifetimes, he would never, ever forget this moment. 

-x- 

Adrien was acutely aware of his palms sweating the entire time they were walking. 

If Marinette noticed, she was too kind to point it out, apparently content to take in the sights around them as he led her to their next destination, and blissfully unbothered by the way his palm slid uncomfortably against hers. 

If he’d been nervous about the restaurant, then those nerves paled in comparison to what he felt as they mounted the stairs, coming to a stop at the centre of the old wrought-iron footbridge. 

“They call it the Lovers’ Bridge,” he said by way of explanation, watching Marinette as she observed their surroundings. 

The location was even better than the online reviews had promised; situated at the end of a lamp-lit, tree-lined walkway, silhouetted dreamily against the dusky summer sky. He couldn’t have asked for a more romantic spot, or a more beautiful date.  

Now he just had to contend with the herd of rabid butterflies currently devouring his stomach lining.  

He swallowed in a vain effort to lubricate his rapidly drying throat.

“Apparently, if two people kiss in the middle of the bridge, their love will never end... At least that’s what one guy on Yelp said, and I’m inclined to believe him.” 

Marinette’s lips quirked up, his attempt at a joke clearly landing with its intended audience.  

“Well, that’s convenient, seeing as how we are currently in the middle of the bridge," she said dryly.

She shot him a wry look.

“I like how you waited until we were already here to share this information with me.”  

Adrien glanced away, shoving his hands into his pockets so she wouldn’t notice how they were trembling.  

“Guilty as charged.”  

He stared out over the water, frantically trying to come up with something to say as the atmosphere shifted around them, becoming heavy with expectation.  

“So…” Marinette said, drawing the syllable out for all it was worth. It was clear by the way she was fidgeting that he wasn’t the only one feeling the energy crackling around them.

The notion was as comforting as it was terrifying.  

“Should we k—?” 

Her voice cut off abruptly, but luckily Adrien knew exactly where she intended to go with that statement. It was exactly where he’d hoped she would go.  

“Iss?” He supplied helpfully, his gaze pinned on hers.  

Marinette’s eyes flickered over his face in return, searching.  

Then she nodded once. 

Adrien’s stomach swooped.

“It would certainly help with our charade,” he said, struggling to keep his voice level as his heart danced a jig in his chest. He fiddled with his watch just for something to do, overflowing with so much nervous energy he thought he might spontaneously combust. 

“Right,” Marinette said, her voice thinner and reedier than he was used to hearing it. Her gaze had yet to leave his face, sweeping across his features as he stepped towards her, closing the gap between them.  

“Especially because you never know who might be passing by who could see us...” Adrien wasn’t even certain why he was still speaking, his mouth running on autopilot as he leaned in, breathing in the sweet scent of her perfume on the night air.  

Marinette’s eyes fell to his mouth and her tongue darted out, wetting her lips in a subconscious gesture.  

“Yeah…” She breathed and Adrien thought he might genuinely die on the spot.  

There were scant millimetres between them now. Adrien knew it would take the smallest motion to close the distance between their lips, yet he hesitated, scanning Marinette’s face for any sign of hesitance. Her heavy-lidded gaze met his, her blue eyes as deep and fathomless as the lake water spread out before them. 

He could feel the warm puffs of her breath against his lips now, taunting his buckling self-control. When her breath picked up tellingly, it blew away the last of his doubts. 

Before he could act, however, a shrill ringing pierced through the stillness of the night, jolting them apart with the force of a lightning strike. 

Holy shit, Adrien stared at her dumbly, his chest heaving as he met her equally wide-eyed stare. That was… intense.   

“I think you’re ringing,” Marinette reminded him, her voice wavering ever so slightly.  

Clearing his throat, Adrien fumbled to pull his cell phone from his pocket, his fingers suddenly clumsy and unwieldy.  

He glanced at the screen, his stomach sinking with recognition.  

“It’s my driver,” he said, battling back his disappointment.  

Marinette’s shoulders slumped at his words. If he wasn’t mistaken, she appeared almost as disappointed by this interruption as he was. Hope battered against his ribcage. Adrien did his best to ignore it.  

Between one blink and the next, Marinette straightened, her expression smoothing into one of friendly understanding, extinguishing whatever spark had been present moments before.

“You’d better answer it then.” She smiled at him encouragingly. 

Adrien scanned her face, looking for any hint of a lie. He found none.  

The phone kept ringing.   

“Go,” she urged him again, and so he went. 

-x- 

Standing at the other end of the Lovers’ Bridge, Adrien held his phone to his ear, only half listening to his bodyguard’s instructions as they came through the earpiece.  

His eyes, and the majority of his focus, remained fixed on the centre of the bridge, where Marinette stood highlighted against the encroaching darkness, gazing out across the lake with an absent look on her face. As he watched, one of her hands reached up to gently finger the flower tucked behind her ear.  

Adrien’s heart stuttered. He’d worried that the flower vendor might blow his cover, but luckily the older man seemed to catch onto Adrien’s intentions immediately and had gone along with the ruse.  

Marinette didn’t need to know the meaning behind the white gardenia in her hair, and she most certainly didn’t need to know that Adrien had paid the man to be there in the first place.  

A beep on the other end of the line signalled the end of his call and Adrien pulled the phone away, moving to stuff it back in his pocket.  

At the last second, however, he paused, his arm hovering in midair. 

On the one hand, it was admittedly creepy to photograph someone when their guard was down. On the other, there was something so magical about the atmosphere that Adrien selfishly couldn’t help but want to keep a piece of it for himself; something to treasure when this night was nothing more than a distant series of recollections.  

Without thinking twice, he swiped to open his camera app, snapping a few pictures while Marinette wasn’t paying attention.  

After all, there were already so many secrets between them, what were a few more? 

-x-

#ml fanfic #miraculous ladybug #adrienette #adrien agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #ml fic #ml fanworks #miraculous fanfic #ml fic rec #no miraculous au #ml brothers au #childhood friends au #adrinette #ongoing fic #theoretically forever #hypothetically ever after #HEA verse #my fics #fic update

[the12thnightproject]

So… out of curiosity.

Would katsu and shingen ever have kids? Like i know that would likely only happen in the future, but i have always been curious about this. If yes, have you ever thought about how they would look like?

Hi Selena!

Thank you for stopping by and leaving an ask! I've actually wondered if someone would ask this question (or a similar one). The answer to the first question is somewhat complicated and long, part of it due to how I envisioned the world of Ikesen, and partly because of the backstory I created for Katsu.

And oddly, the subject of birth control just came up in the fic I am writing between Katsu and her LI in that route, so it was kind of in my head anyway.

I'm going to put the rest of this under a cut line, because it includes potentially triggering discussions of parental death (Katsu's mother), mental health and depression.

First some game tropey stuff...

One of the things about Ikesen is that MC never seems to be concerned that back in modern Japan she'd be a missing person. She doesn't consider that her family might be worried. That always bothered me, so when I was first playing around with Katsu (and Toshiie) I decided that either they weren't close to their parents (in one early brainstorming session, I decided their father was a jerk, their mother left years and years before, and neither of them would be in touch with their adult children enough to realize that they were missing.... but that still didn't quite make sense to me). Eventually, I decided that their mother was a single mother, their father had never been in the picture and that Katsu & Toshiie didn't even know his name. By the time they got wormholed, their mother was deceased, but I hadn't really figured out the cause of death (I was wavering between a terminal illness or a sudden accident). Midway into "Twelve Lies" I figured out that Mayumi had been clinically depressed all of Katsu & Toshiie's lives, and that she had killed herself as soon as they became adults (commence rewriting of the prologue...).

The other thing about Ikesen is that Mai/MC, once she settles in with her LI, has a pretty active sex life, but never becomes pregnant. Which is fine... it's just one of the quirks of the game, and aside from occasional events where MC and her LI end up babysitting, or responsible for a child for a little while, the game seems content in leaving her childless, and I do try to keep as much of the game's "rules" as I can. However, I couldn't quite manager to suspend disbelief to that much of an extent in the fic I was writing (nor was I that interested in writing a pregnancy story), so I had to figure out my way around that. I figured that either (a) The timeline self corrects, and any time travelers are not able to procreate when they go back in time in order to prevent a temporal paradox, or (b) Katsu can't have children, or (c) Katsu uses a Sengoku era herbal contraceptive tea (and I can suspend disbelief enough to pretend that it works as well as birth control pills). I almost went with "a", but then I decided that Toshiie and his wife would have children in that timeline, so instead I went with "c".

Of course, that is all fine for the storyline of the fic(s), but we're now into a hypothetical future that takes place after "Twelve Lies" ends (although Katsuko and Shingen do pop up in the other longfics, and I am still writing occasional one-shots with them, so I am mentally keeping track of their lives after the longfic ended).

And yes, Shingen is canonically the only character who explicitly says that he wanted a family and children (but never thought it was possible due to his health). So that's in my head too...

The thing is, Katsu's upbringing has left with a fear of pregnancy - not the childbirth itself, but she's aware that Mayumi suffered from postpartum depression and she believes that is what set off Mayumi's clinical depression (it wasn't - Mayumi struggled with depression from adolescence onward - but this timeline's Katsu doesn't know that).

Katsu has always trusted her physical abilities, but she's never trusted her emotions. Putting herself into the situation where hormones could affect her brain chemistry, especially in a time period where she has no access to modern psychiatry, is not at the top of her list. And having lived with someone who suffered from depression, she doesn't want to put Shingen (or any children) through that either - Katsu's memories of living with that are pretty traumatic - she doesn't want to cause anyone around her to live through that same type of trauma. She knows that Mayumi couldn't help her depression, and the idea of losing control over her emotions in the same way is terrifying to her.

Am I going to write about this in a fic? Not sure... it's a heavier topic tonally from the Tempest in Time fics, and I would need to be in a particular frame of mind to approach it, and need to be certain that I could write it authentically and write it well. Katsu is aware that Shingen wants children in his life, and also aware that the Takeda clan would prefer that he have heirs as well. So the topic has probably come up between them (Shingen is aware she drinks a contraceptive tea - they discussed it in the longfic, when he still believed his condition was incurable)... I just haven't written down the 'can we have a baby' discussion (...yet?). I've played it out in several scenarios in my head though, so it's possible I might write it down at some point... but it would be pretty angsty fic, and as I noted above, tonally different from the series (or I would write it for myself, but never upload it... also possible).

Anyway, until they work through that (which as I said, I may or may not write about), they won't have children of their own. There will be children around... we know that in that timeline Toshiie & Hana have two children already (I'm also toying with a side character from that timeline having a child with Sasuke, um, or Yukimura)... and probably Mai and Kenshin will procreate at some point, and one thing I am certain of, is that Shingen and Katsuko will probably find their way into adoption.

(Actually, in the current longfic, Katsu - who is "Kaya" in that timeline, ends up accidentally in Shingen & Katsuko's timeline, and upon first meeting them, sees Toshiie's children and wonders if they are Katsuko's... and if so, whether or not that timeline's version of her got past her fears.... so even a backstory that I created and didn't think would explicitly work its way into a lonfic, sort of ended up there peripherally anyway).

That said... to answer your second question, at this point in my imagining, any children that Shingen and Katsuko have living with them don't resemble them all that much because they're adopted. But, hypothetically, if they do have biological children, Shingen's hair will probably turn grey because their kids will all inherit Katsuko's daredevil tendencies and Shingen's sneakiness and possibly spend their childhood escaping the castle to climb trees.

This was .... probably way too much information, and I apologize if it got a bit dark in there for a while.

But again, thank you for asking! I hope the long long answer made some sense!

#asks #asks answered #tempest in time #katsuko #fanfic stuff #writer stuff #tw: mental health #tw: depression #tw: suicide

[wifflum]

Grey action scene (very short bit of it)

Emily and Ares are accosted at their home.

Two armed guards approach the dilapidated building that Emily, Olenos, and Ares have lived in together since Ares showed up. One of the guards knocks aggressively on the door, then, after realizing the door barely holds together, kicks it open easily. He steps into the house and says authoritatively, "You're being arrested for harboring a fugitive. Both of you." Emily responds indignantly, though not suprised that the guards would just barge in, "What? Why?" She refers to Olenos, not bothering to conceal that they know each other and assured that this is about him, "He hasn't been back here." The guard has a wicked smirk. Ares recognizes the look on the guard and, unbidden, recalls the plan Emily and Olenos had pushed on him so many times in secret. The guard says with venom in his tone, "So you admit he has been here." Emily is annoyed, "I mean, everyone knows that. He wasn't a fugitive then." The guard finishes his charade and seals the duo's fate, "Knowing him is enough for an interrogation." Emily stiffens, "Wait. I know what that means." She growls out, "You fucking people--" She directs her voice at Ares but doesn't look at him, "It's time, kid."

Ares stiffens in shock at the completed realization of what's about to happen, and his ghost wolf companion jumps out, on it's own, from within Ares's body in response to his sudden burst of fear. The wolf lands, now fully corporeal, with force in a vicious posture and ready to rip out the heart of whatever Ares is afraid of. Emily makes no attempt at obfuscating her defiance and shoots to her feet to push-kick the guard who was just speaking, who abruptly clicks from a look of arrogance into helpless surprise, and knocks him back into the other guard who is still in the doorway. Ares's wolf leaps at the guard who was just kicked with almost a roar and latches onto his throat, twirling him towards the wall on the right and causing the other guard to stumble instead of fully drawing his weapon. The wolf easily rips out the first's esophagus once he's on the ground, but the second guard is finally striking down at the wolf with his axe. Ares pulls his companion back into himself as he sees the guard's axe falling, desperate to protect his friend, and a loose chunk of throat flies a short distance along this path as the wolf struggles to remain in reality. Ares lashes out with the ghost wolf's claw from a distance as soon as he can, but the guard has backstepped out of the doorway as a follow-up to missing with his axe, so Ares only scrapes the guard that's convulsing and gurgling on the ground. By now Emily has grabbed her spear and has had some time to aim, and launches it into the second guard's face, just below his helmet. He tries to parry with the head of his axe, being already set in defensive tactics after his backstep, but the massive half-corporeal wolf claw blinded him like a smokescreen and the projectile appears as suddenly as a lightning bolt. He is impaled through the bridge of his nose by the spear and dies immediately. Emily quickly retrieves the spear using her arm's energy tether, almost as part of the action of throwing it, and this makes the guard's death beyond certain. She finishes off the other guard as he finally enters his death throes.

Comments

I read though what I had done before and it wasn't great. It was good at communicating what I was seeing in my mind, but the actual writing wasn't good. I started rewriting it and just this one part, which is like 1/5 of the section I was trying to redo, took a bunch out of me and idk when I'll get back to it. But I think it's alright, and since it's shorter it might be easier for people to enjoy. Idk if it has the same like, flavor, as the original though. It feels kind of flat, which the other one had things like "insanely threatening" in it that gave it some seasoning, albeit through poor writing.

#grey #writing #action #fiction #oc

[dark-eraser-publishing]

Hypothetical Rewrite: Izuku Midoriya

(I changed the elements of this post to fix things that bothered me and to go into more detail on a couple of things)

[Part 2]

On the surface the stuff with the main character doesn’t seem like an issue but the problems actually stem from the series itself and its treatment of Deku. Like I get it you were inspired by Spider-Man but the thing is Spidey has been appreciated for his heroism just as much as people not praising him. Many of whom are fellow heroes and civilians with the only regular person who actively demonize him are supervillains and J. Jonah Jameson (Who even funded the Spider Slayers and Scorpion to kill Spider-Man).

There is the other problem that the series’ handling of bullying is well for lack of a better term completely garbage this is because they never really focused on Deku’s trauma from the abuse that Bakugo put on him instead only focusing on Bakugo and his deal ranging from his pride and temper. I mean literally in the first chapter/episode Bakugo literally tells Midoriya to end his own life and prey that in the next life he would be given a quirk and to make matters worse Bakugo get constantly praised by everyone. And to top off the teachers only get involved when things get physical not when Bakugo yells at Deku. Okay do I even need to explain why it feels so bass ackwards? Because I’ll try, keep in mind I’m not a psychologist or therapist or anything like that but to put it simply Bakugo never face consequences for his clearly awful behavior instead he faces the opposite which is in turn enabling his behavior.

To make matters even more questionable is that fact because Deku’s trauma is never focus on. Which makes his arc never feels like it’s very satisfying, instead it feels after a while he just never stops having trauma. Which gets even more questionable when the series tackles mental health and decides instead of focusing on Deku it focuses on of all things the villains, actually now that I think about it the fact that series prefers to claim serial killers and terrorist are just mentally ill suddenly makes so much more sense. Still disgusting but it makes sense.

So I decided in this hypothetical rewrite to change the narrative to having people who refuse to praise the hero for any reason she still has many people including the adults not just her mom and her mentor. Sure people like her teacher would be very concerned about how she responses to the situation with reckless abandon but at the same time is grateful about the fact that there is a student that’s does have what it takes to become a hero.

Also yes I am I’m going to be focusing on her trauma as a victim of bullying at least early on with her homeroom teacher after seeing her have a panic attack to go visit the guidance counselor and  after a look at the situation decides to recommend therapist that works with bully victims. Now it will not be the focus of her story all the time instead she will be focusing on her battles with villains and spending time with her friends so that way when we do meet up with her shrink it won’t be annoying to have the character walk around in circles but at the same time you know that she has made progress in putting herself in a better situation than when she started because that path of recovery is long but it’s not a mountain it’s a flat plane so it can be walked on, and it’s one that has to be walked on alone.

And her bully does suffer the consequences of his actions where he would be given two choices, anger management counseling and work to improve on his personal issues or see how far he can go before getting expelled from school.

In regards to the design my biggest problem is that Deku rarely is ever puts that hood on over his head, it’s supposed to keep everyone not knowing who he really is by recognizing his face, and the fact that no one calls him out on the fact that instead of trying to become his own hero he makes sure his costume tries everything in its power to make himself look like All Might. And as you might guess from my little tirade about the mental health stuff in this series you can kind of guess that I’m not big on the fact that his hero name is Deku when you remember it derived from an insulting nickname that was given to him by Bakugo to continue bullying him.

So in the rewrite when in the costume she does exactly that. The costume itself is comprised of a light weight flexible armor that will give her a boost in defense without restricting movement or speed. With the eyes of the hood containing protective lenses are also equipped with an A.R. (Augmented Reality) system that is connect to the Hero Network to look into villain activity, scan the environment to assist in dealing with threats. A listening device to contact allies is also strapped into the inside of the hood. There is also the face mask that’s retractable to protect her face and is equipped with a microphone and speaker to be able to talk others.

The gloves, boots and suit itself is also equipped with means of shock absorption to keep One-For-All from being too much for her body to handle. She also has her utility belt which has means for first aid, and means for capturing a villain.

Hey Dark I was wondering, why are you misgendering Deku and saying his name? Oh I was wondering if you were paying attention because here’s the thing is in the rewrite she’s a transwoman. This is because in the actual series’ LGBT rep is pretty weak, like Twitter conformation bad on one instance and the other one was a one step forward three steps back kind of situation, I mean one trans character is Tiger who you only know about this in a character bio and not in the actual story and the other one was Magne a villain and she was also the first character death and that’s for canonical LGBT rep (Toga’s also implied to be Bi/Pan but that’s gross due to her being a serial killer). I’ll say the new names after this part.

This is where we are going to bring in how One-For-All is going to work. For starters the quirk actually changes your body to give you your dream body so for example if you dream body is to be a beefcake you become a beefcake, so for the protagonist because she’s a trans girl she will go from a having the physical appearance of a plain looking boy to looking like an attractive teenage girl. I am going to change OFA thought so in doesn’t just transfer the quirks of previous users to the next generation sorry. This is because I want the hero learn new different types of martial arts starting with Full Contact Kickboxing from when she was training with her predecessor and later on learning how to use Jeet Kune Do to increase her repertoire for combat and become a stronger fighter.  Although I did think of a really cool way for OFA to be a lot more than a strength boost, more on that below.

Another thing overly damage of the body because she can’t control the power of OFA I’m going to have it be from the fact that her control is bad due to her mental health. So that’s actually another benefit of getting her mental health taken care of.

But anyway rapping this up I’m going to give you her civilian name and her hero name.

Civilian name: Kubo Airi (Written like how it would be written in Japan; No you’re not going to hear her deadname)

Hero name: Kibo (If you know Japanese you know why I pick this name)

Quirk: One for All

It can be passed from person to person by absorbing the willing users DNA

Physical augmentation (Strength, speed, durability, healing, senses can all be increased)

Can give allies that have a strong bond with the user (Close friend, family member, lover) a boost of power to their quirk

Can use those same allies quirks

#my hero academia critical #my hero academia #mha #boku no hero academia crirical #boku no hero academia #bnha #oc in a sense #tw suicide #tw bullying #tw ptsd #canon compliant

[strawwritesfic]

Matt Murdock x Female!Reader: A Matter of Sanity

Summary:  He’s going to have a lot of conflicting feelings about this later, but for now, Matt will take what you’re willing to give him.

Rating/Warnings/Tags: T (sexual references; former nun!reader; reader knows Daredevil’s secret identity; inaccurate Catholicism)

Tag List: @imaginesfire​

Fic Trade Prompt: "Sometimes the ‘Devil of Hell’s Kitchen' just needed a shoulder to lean on."

Notes: I only ever saw the first season of Daredevil. Also, I mostly chose to write this particular fic trade response because I wanted an excuse to write something that, for me, was a shoutout to His Dark Materials, a book series I’m enormously fond of. 

I don’t actually know anything about Catholicism, however, and as a Christian myself, I realize His Dark Materials is not exactly a reliable source for learning about the topic of religion. If you are Catholic and something in here is incorrect, I implore you to inform me so that I can fix the problem. If it’s so horrendously awful that a mere edit won’t work, I’m even willing to rewrite it. 

In more specific-to-the-fic information, this is one of my few fic trade responses where I tried my hardest to stay within the word count restrictions. Alas, I still went over...and trying so hard means that this really isn’t near as sensory-overload-descriptive as I would want something from Matt’s perspective to be.

A Matter of Sanity

Matt woke up that morning to a barrage of sensory assault: warm sunlight splayed across his skin; humidity from the bathroom down the hall dampened the short hairs on his face; the smell of strange perfume sticking to the semi-cooled sheets beside him and his familiar shampoo drifting through the air. Toast had been made–and nearly burned–in the kitchen sometime that morning. He could hear the medicine cabinet closing, then bare feet padding toward him. Through all these floating, fuzzy feelings sliced his injuries from the night before: cuts, bruises, blisters, maybe a sprained wrist.

“Morning, Mattie.” 

And there was the reason he had not meditated after the fight, the reason his wounds felt as fresh as though he’d got them minutes before. 

Said reason lighted on the edge of his bed and slipped soft fingers into his sleep-mussed hair. “Did you sleep well last night?”

In answer, Matt let out an incomprehensible moan. As far as he could remember, not much sleeping had taken place in the apartment the night before. Still, he wasn’t one to quibble over what he’d been doing instead. Seconds later, he sat up, forcing you to stop playing with his hair so that he could wrap his arms around your waist and put his cheek against your moist, bare shoulder. 

“Are you sure you’ve never done that before?” he mumbled. 

You laughed, a sound that always caused a pleasant unfurling sensation to spread through Matt’s stomach. “Sorry. A girl has to have some secrets, even from her all-knowing, all-seeing blind lawyer friend.”

“Is that what we are? Friends?” Matt chuckled himself and tightened his grip as he pressed a kiss to your skin. “You are the worst nun I have ever met.”

Another laugh, then you gently patted his cheek with your shower-warmed hand. “Well, maybe that’s why I decided not to be one anymore. What do you want for lunch?”

The weight on his mattress vanished at the same time your body did. 

“Lunch? What time is it?” 

Frowning, Matt turned in the direction he heard you moving–toward where you had left the majority of your clothes the night before. Whether he had pulled them off or you had, he couldn’t quite remember. Then a more important question popped out of his mouth:

“Did you say you quit being a nun?”

You only bothered to answer his first two questions: “It’s nearly eleven o’ clock. Figured if you wanted to go somewhere, we’d better head that way, and frankly, Matt, there’s nothing in this apartment but beer.”

“Eleven? It’s Thursday. I can’t go to lunch. I’m already late for work–what was that about stopping nun-ing?”

“I called in for you. Foggy whined about you skipping over a woman as usual, but–”

“[Name],” said Matt. “The thing about your job?”

You heaved a dramatic sigh. “I quit, okay? I was going to tell you when I came over last night, but after all that, I kind of figured I didn’t have to anymore.”

“Some clarification might have been nice.” Matt hadn’t felt an overabundance of guilt at sleeping with you. It took two to tango, after all, and you’d been just as willing as he had. Now some dread began to creep in. “Why’d you quit?”

A huff sounded from behind the fabric of the shirt over your face. “I met a tall, dark, handsome stranger beating the tar out of a Russian slave trader in an alley, and he made me rethink my life choices.”

“That’s a cliché.”

“So’s a blind ninja fighting slave traders in New York.”

“Not exactly.” Pressing his lips together, Matt slid out of his silk sheets. He knew his shirt was not far away, but he hadn’t started pulling it on yet when he went on, “I didn’t mean to have you quit.”

“Matt!” you groaned.

“You can’t come with me. I didn’t mean to make you to feel useless.”

“I’m a grown woman, and I make my own choices. You didn’t make me feel or do anything–and I know I can’t go with you to punch Russians. I just wanted to do a little good for Hell’s Kitchen.”

“You were doing good for Hell’s Kitchen. With the Church.”

“Have to disagree with you there. And I’m not going back. You can’t make me. I want to experience the world. I want to help you.”

“I already said, you are not–“

“I know,” you interrupted. “There’s more to do than break people’s bodies, you know.”

Matt stared at you, or stared roughly in the direction he knew you continued to pull on various articles of clothing. Another sigh issued from there.

“When I got here last night to give you the news, you were bleeding and shaking from head to foot. There’s nothing to eat here but booze and bread. You can take care of yourself, but you’re not very good at looking after yourself.”

He had never really thought about it that way. His work as Daredevil was vital; eating, less so. Matt already healed faster than most when he wasn’t busy deflowering ex-nuns, and what didn’t heal after that, he could plow through just fine. On the other hand...

“Are you inviting yourself to move in?” he asked.

There was an obvious smile in your voice when you answered, “Well, you are the reason I’m presently homeless and unemployed. If you hadn’t seduced me away from a life of worship and piety, I’d still be doing my holy work, Matt Murdock.”

“And you’re absolutely sure you’re done with being a nun.”

“I think what we did last night pretty much sealed the deal.”

“And there’d be more of that.”

“I’m leaning toward yes.”

“And you really want to live here. With me. With the giant blazing billboard right outside the window.”

He got a pillow to the face for his trouble, or would have, had he not caught it before it smacked him in the nose. 

“Does it sound like I can afford to be picky about where I’m staying? I’m sure  about all of the above. I can always move out once I find something else, if you decide you hate having me here.”

Your tone turned just a little uncertain at the end of that sentence. Matt stood and stepped carefully (in case of more pillows) over the smooth floor toward you. 

“I won’t hate having you here,” he said. “Now that you mention it, it might be nice having someone here when I get home bleeding at two in the morning. To fuss over me and put me in place. When can you start?”

“Immediately.” You shoved something soft-ish into his chest. Pants, he realized as felt the hard button. “Now get dressed. It’s getting toward noon now and all that sex makes a girl hungry.”

“Right,” Matt said, and quickly started to pull on the pants.

Definitely the putting him in his place part, then. But maybe you were right. Maybe sometimes, the “Devil of Hell’s Kitchen” just needed a shoulder to lean on. He'd have to see, but he was leaning toward yes, too.

#fan fic #straw writes #reader insert #second person pov #fic trade #one shot #matt murdock #daredevil #defenders #matt murdock x reader #matt murdock x you #matt murdock x y/n #daredevil x reader #daredevil x you #daredevil x y/n #defenders x reader #defenders x you #defenders x y/n #marvel #mcu #marvel x reader #marvel x you #marvel x y/n #mcu x reader #mcu x you #mcu x y/n

[smolla-than-a-bug]

you’re definitely flirting with me

—jason todd x villain!reader

second and final part to are you flirting with me. can be read as a stand-alone tho

navi | bat boys m.list | are you flirting with me

content — language, blood, mentions of harassment, mildly suggestive (use of the word ‘daddy’ but ironically)

notes — i know that its literally been years and that i formerly posted a part two to are you flirting with me, but looking back, i didn't like how it turned out. i did find a fun drabble in my drafts with villain!reader as well, so i decided to rewrite it and use it as a continuation. i actually deleted the old parts personally, i prefer this version of the end!

"I'm in."

"Hot. You should be able to see–"

"Nothing?"

Silence.

"Is this your way of telling me you're visually impaired?"

"I will scoop your eyes out in your sleep."

"Please use an ice cream scooper. My eyeballs would fit so well, it would be so satisfying–"

"Harper."

"Okay, okay. What do you mean nothing?"

"By nothing I mean nothing, ball sack. The warehouse is fucking empty."

Frantic rustling of papers and violent knocking of objects could be heard on Roy's end of the line. Jason sighed, going to pinch the bridge of his nose before realizing he had a helmet on. 

The whole situation was throwing him off his rhythm — that much was evident. The intel they had collected on the gang of criminals seemed too obvious, too predictable. Jason had his suspicions, but Roy was quick to shut him down. 'Dude, trust me,' he said. Famous last words.

A crackle of static sounded in his earpiece. Roy's voice urgent and choppy before completely dying out. Jason could only attempt to call out to his partner in the hopes of a full response, but his efforts brought no avail. That's another thing that went wrong today.

"Hey, sexy."

What in the fuck.

"Your ass looks great from this angle. The party you're looking for is in a bar on the other side of the city, by the way."

You couldn't actually see him, but he doesn't need to know that. It's just your thing to mess with him, and by the sounds of him cussing you out for hacking into his means of communication, it was working. It was amusing. He kept you entertained.

That was all you had to say to him for now though, so you bid him goodbye. The roaring of his motorcycle over his colorful language directed at you was the last thing you heard before you cut off and allowed his partner to get back on the line.

"Jaybird? You there?"

"Ah, you're back. I'm never trusting you with getting intel again."

"Whatever. Anyway, was that...?"

"Yeah. Y/v/n."

"Hm. I don't know what she's on, but you have no ass like–"

"And yet I have more ass than you, so shut the fuck up, paddle board."

“That... That was a bit harsh, bro.”

Soft gushes of wind blew against your masked face. You shut your eyes, feeling the breeze and relishing in your little moment of peace. Lazily pacing, you hummed a random tune.

Your mischief and cunningness is something your alias was known for. Most often, it's a convenient trait to be able to slip around with ease and get the job done in a snap, but sometimes you get bored. It can be such a drag when nobody tries a confrontation with you. That's why you're so fond of the Red Hood. It's a shame that it's been a while since you've seen him around, so imagine your delight when you feel a familiar presence behind you.

You took a seat at the edge of the building. To anyone, you would've looked like you were having your main character moment, peacefully looking over the city if not for the small pile of bodies rotting away not too far from you. The dried blood on your attire and your fingers no longer irked you in the slightest. It's something you've gotten used to, which lead to your habit of picking the blood under your nails. Red gets annoyed when you do this — all the more reason to entertain your habit in front of him.

You let your legs dangle over the edge without a care. You didn't bother to greet the vigilante, who currently had a gun aimed at your back. Sigh.

“Oh, I do hate the sight of blood.”

“Well then, maybe — just maybe — you shouldn’t kill for a living.”

That got you to turn your head to face him. You cock an eyebrow — doesn’t he kill for a living too? Sure, his victims are usually criminals and thugs while yours are people you’re paid to target, usually business owners and the occasional politician, but you digress. Details. The point is, he kills people too.

A few seconds of staring and prolonging the tension passed, and Jason weighed his options before eventually putting down his gun. He then opted to join you on the ledge.

“So,” he started, “what’s your favorite color?”

Funny.

“Sweetheart, if you thought you’d be able to keep me entertained with small talk... I think I’d rather you shot me.”

You stood up from your spot on the ledge and leaned over the rooftop to examine your altitude. You grin to yourself.

“What are you doing?”

You don’t answer. You want to see something. Instead you turn your body to face Jason and mockingly salute him before leaping off the building, though not before you heard him call out your alias’ name and yell a panicked ‘Wait!’

Immediately after you, Jason followed. You chuckled when you saw him get closer. You enjoyed fooling him around almost as much as you enjoyed fooling around with him.

With no time to waste, he pulled out his grappling hook, yanked your body by the waist, and zipped to the rooftop of the nearest building — one different from the last one you were on.

Jason‘s heaving chest radiated distress.

“You’re fucking insane! You could have died!”

You stood in front of him, arms crossed and your stance relaxed. Nobody would’ve suspected that you literally jumped off a building just a few seconds ago. Aw, you pout, he cares about me.

“Would’ve made your job easier. You know, you heroes are supposed to get rid of the bad guys.”There’s humor in your eyes. Jason knows you’re enjoying this. He hates how much you enjoy this. “So, why’d you save me?”

“Why’d you help me with my mission last time?”

He’s deflecting. Cute.

“Hey, I asked you a question first.” You know he won’t budge til you give him an answer. He’s probably been asking himself that question since it happened. You mentally pout, aww he thinks of me. Sigh. Okay, fine.

“The gang you were after just so happened to have given me a job a little while ago.” You recall some of the gang members attempting to grope you. Some unpleasant memories you’d rather live without. “Pissed me off. Now your turn.”

Why’d you save me?

A pause. He shifted to look to the side. Oh, this is interesting.

“You could have died.” Ah, this again.

“Well, you’ve died,” you remind him. “Not that it really stuck.”

He says your name — your real name. You wonder when he discovered your identity, but then again, you’re not all that surprised. It’s him after all.

He can see your growing smile the longer he refuses to answer your question. He knows you’re already thinking of something, and still opts to ignore your question, allowing you to further indulge in your thoughts. He dreads you enlightening him; he knows it’s coming. Jason could not fathom how one woman could frustrate him so much.

“You like me.” There it is, he thinks. There’s your stupid smirk and your dumb air of arrogance.

“Come on, just admit it, hot shot. You can’t live without me.” Okay, maybe that one’s a bit of a stretch (just a bit), but you stand by it nonetheless.

You grin wide as you approach him. Leaning slightly forward to grab Jason by the collar and pull him down to meet your eyes, you repeat yourself.

“You like me.” Stated with more emphasis, like a significant fact that you try to drill into your head when studying for an exam.

“I’ll shoot you.”

“Please, daddy.”

© smolla-than-a-bug, 2021. please do not copy or repost my works. reblogs are appreciated!

tags — @iwriteaboutstuff @comicsgirlimagines @httpfandxms

#bat family #batfam #imagine #jason todd #jason todd x reader #bat boys #red hood imagine #the red hood #red hood #red hood x reader #roy harper #arsenal #reader insert #dc comics

[cordria]

Rewrite an episode: The Ultimate Enemy

While there is a lot of good stuff in this episode, there have always been three things that bothered me:

1. Nobody would cheat on a career aptitude test. 

2. Clockwork doesn’t have totally clear reasoning for pulling Danny in to do this. We’ve fanon-ed things in, but the episode sort of pulls a catch-22 on this. I realize they use the plot hammer of the observants thinking Danny will become evil, but let’s put some actual thought into the reasoning here.

3. Danny has little actual responsibility for the creation of Dan. This cuts down on the angst - and also how the episode hits in a moral sense.

So I wanted to ‘fix it’ while keeping the large brush-strokes the same. Read on for my thoughts.

(Assume proper foreshadowing of these, were I rewriting the entire series.)

Story opens with Danny struggling with frustration and anger that has been building. Not to a personality-change level, but more to a ‘there’s realistic consequences for his actions and he’s frustrated with it’ level. He’s frustrated about his grades and detentions. He’s angry with Val for continuing to hunt him. He’s tired and getting angry with his parents for not listening to him.

An actual high-stakes test is coming up - let’s make it a placement test for whatever the IB/College in the Schools this universe has. In order to even have a chance at being accepted into the astronomy program Danny’s been eyeing, he has to get into the honors-level science and math classes in high school. Which means he has to pass this test.

He comes up with a plan to study. Sam and Tucker and Jazz try to help. Whenever he gets a chance to focus and study, it’s clear he has the knowledge to pass. He’s acing the questions, quick answers, etc. But the ghosts are on a rampage, and Danny’s study times always get cut short. 

Morning of the test arrives and Danny is a mess. He’s exhausted from dealing with a ghost all night, his brain feels like mush, and there’s zero chance of him passing this must-pass test. Frustrated at the ghosts and angry about the situation (because he would have passed easily without the ghosts!), he makes a choice. He sneaks into the school using his ghost powers and deliberately steals a copy of the test. Not the answers, because that’s stupid. None of the testing companies would give a school a copy of the answers even with a gun pointed at their heads.

So he brings the test home and looks up the answers before school starts. He waves it off by saying if his ghost powers were going to cause him to fail, he should be allowed to use his ghost powers to pass.

Deliberate choice to cheat.

Enter Box Lunch attacking the school before the test starts (which delays the test to the next day) so Danny ends up with the time medallion, and Skulk-Tech shows up which clues Danny-and-crew into what the time medallion does. Head over to Clockwork as per the actual episode, and Danny sees his future. Sees Dan and the destruction that was caused. The fact that Danny is choosing to cheat and using his frustration to manipulate things makes his comment about Dan looking cool more ominous. 

Again, Danny-and-crew end up in the future and run into Valerie. Sam and Tucker head home and Danny gets tossed into the ghost zone. There, he confronts the ghostly results of his anger. They attack him and he can’t fend them off. But he’s listening, and he hears how he destroyed their lives, and he feels bad. He wants to go back and fix things - but he needs them to leave him alone to do that. So he finds his Ghostly Wail.

Yada, yada, he ends up at future-Vlad’s place. Vlad does the recap - only it’s a bit different. Instead of some freak accident, Danny ended up continuing to allow his frustration and anger to make bad choices. Danny slowly twisted into a person that freaks even Vlad out. Angry all the time and willing to use his ghost powers to subdue whatever caused that anger.

Vlad chose to remove Danny’s ghost when Danny is in his early twenties, in a bid to prevent Danny from getting worse, and with the assumption that Phantom would disintegrate without a body holding it in place. Phantom didn’t, and freed from whatever humanity Danny’s mind had left, attacked Vlad. So we, again, get a human-Vlad and creepy-Danny/Vlad ghost combo known as Dan. Begin epic destruction of both worlds for the next several years.

Vlad removes the time medallion, Danny ends up back in their normal time. Dan has been behind the scene orchestrating some destruction, setting in motion a bid to utterly destroy Danny in the present time and continue to wreak his anger-filled havok on this new world. While he was gone, Maddie, Jack, Lancer, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker ended up learning that Danny cheated on the test. 

They corner Danny (not at the Nasty Burger - it never made any sense for them to meet at the Nasty Burger in the first place) and Danny starts to react with frustration and anger. It’s not his fault he’s not getting any sleep, and didn’t get time to study, and it’s not fair that all his future dreams rest on this one test. 

Dan attacks. The humans are kidnapped and locked up at the Nasty Burger. Danny follows, trying to fight Dan. Angry at Dan, Danny isn’t able to access his new power. It’s not until he lets go of that anger (Star Wars reference, right?), and is attacking to save his family from destruction, that he can finally use it to subdue Dan and lock him away in a Thermos.

Of course, Danny is too slow, as per the show, and Clockwork has to step in to prevent the death and destruction and ends up resetting the time stream. 

It’s the morning of the test, Danny is still exhausted and a mess, and he gets to make a new choice. No cheating. Instead he goes and talks to Lancer about how he’s not been sleeping and didn’t have the time to study like he needed, and Lancer lets him take the make-up test the following week.

Lesson learned - talk through your problems, get help when you need, and don’t wallow in anger and frustration.

Oh, and Dan comes up again in some later episode. Because why create such a wonderful example of angst and never use it again.

Anywho, that’s my thoughts on how I’d rewrite this one. :)

#danny phantom #rewrite an episode #it's fun to imagine how I'd redo things if given control of it #there'd be a lot more angst #and consistency

[chocoholicannanymous]

Concepts of Insanity (Glee)

AN: No proofreading whatsoever. Subject to rewrite if I change my mind about it. Take it or leave it.

Concepts of Insanity

“Kurt? Oh, there you are, good. We have an emergency!”

Kurt smiles a little as he finishes up rearranging the flowers. He adores Isabelle, he really does, but she's a bit...excitable. There's always an emergency, or a disaster, or a catastrophe. So far today there's been four, unless he's miscounting; a lose hem, a missing delivery of non-alcoholic champagne, Isabelle almost fainting from forgetting to eat, and the flowers he's currently fixing not being enough something or other. He's actually kind of curious what it is this time.

He gives the flowers a last look, nods with satisfaction and turns around. The smile on his lips dies the second he meets Isabelle's eyes. This isn't a normal emergency.

“What's wrong?”

“The musicians are here, only the vocalist is currently throwing up to the point where they've called an ambulance.”

Kurt winces. That doesn't sound good for whoever it is. Also it really doesn't sound good for them. Isabelle had gone out on a limb with the small ensemble she'd hired for the event, deciding to make the music more than a background by having some songs performed with vocals. To have the vocalist missing would throw off the setlist. Maybe not enough for most people to notice, but at an event like this? Someone would definitely notice.

Especially since word seemed to have spread.

“I've spent the last ten minutes on the phone, and there's not a single vocalist to be had. This is so bad, Kurt! I'm never going to hear the end of this.”

Kurt hesitates, uncomfortable with voicing his possible solution, but deciding to offer it up anyway. It's Isabelle.

(Plus Rachel will never forgive him if he doesn't and she finds out.)

“I know it's not what you were aiming at, but my roommate is a NYADA student, and I know that most of the songs you picked out is in her wheelhouse. I could call her? If she answers she could hop in a cab and be here in 30 minutes.”

Isabelle looks a bit hesitant, but nods.

“Please do. I'll pay for the cab too, obviously. Check back with me in 5 minutes?”

Kurt agrees and hurries out to a silent space, phone in hand already dialing as he walks. There's no response for his first call, and Kurt leaves a hurried voice mail for Rachel to call him asap as it's an emergency. He then sends the same message as a text before trying to call again. He manages to squeeze in a total of five calls before he has to return to Isabelle, without response.

Maybe Rachel's in the shower again. Or singing. Or on a date with Brody.

“I'm sorry, Isabelle. I couldn't get hold of her.”

“Never mind, I have an idea. Can you do it?”

Kurt stares at her, not quite believing he heard her right.

“Me?” She nods and he shakes his head. “Isabelle, you've never even heard me sing!”

“True. But honey, I know how good you are with fashion. For you to chose music over that you have to be either insanely talented or just insane. So, will you do it?”

Kurt wants to shake his head again. What she's suggesting is crazy. Yes, Kurt can sing, but... His focus on music is more and more looking like insanity. He's just gotten rejected by Carmen Tibideaux a second time, for crying out loud. “Devoid of complexity and depth” echoes through his skull.

Except. This is Isabelle asking. His fairy godmother of sorts. He owes her.

“Are you sure? I'll do it, if you really want, but I'm not going to be anywhere as good as whoever you'd hired,” or Rachel for that matter, “and I don't want to ruin this for you.”

“You are going to be amazing. Thank you, Kurt, you're a lifesaver!”

And with that Isabelle floats off, leaving Kurt in a dazed state. He's going to panic, sooner or later, but for now he's still too stunned for it.

Right. His first action has to be to talk to the ensemble. The plan was to have the vocalist on three sets of three songs throughout the evening, but he's not entirely clear on what numbers had finally been picked. He will probably need to review lyrics up until the guests arrive, provided he can actually manage all of them. He's got a good range, yes, but that's not everything.

Oh, and he should swing by Isabelle's office and nab the blue west he'd spotted earlier – he'd dressed to fade against the wallpaper, not to be seen.

The first set goes well, as does the second. By the third and final he's lost enough of his nerves to let Isabelle drag him out on the floor instead of going off to hide as he'd initially planned. Several people drop by to talk, and he gets more than a few compliments. Maybe it's more about looking good to Isabelle than about actually liking it, but Kurt will take it anyway.

“So, you must be not just a talented singer but talented in fashion too for Isabelle to have taken you under her wing. Do you study fashion or music?”

The woman, Nadia something, asking sounds genuine and so Kurt gives her a small smile and answers as pleasantly as he can.

“Neither actually. I'm applying to NYADA though.”

There's a flash of something in her face, but Kurt can't quite make out what it is.

“For the spring semester? Ah.” She hesitates, sends a look towards where Isabelle is talking animatedly about something, and then looks at Kurt again.

“Can I be honest? Carmen Tibideaux is a very talented woman, in everything she does, and she's got an eye for picking out talent. However, she's also got a bit of a reputation.

“She loves to discover new talent that others overlook. Except every now and again she'll go about it in a rather underhanded way. She'll have someone audition, someone talented but a little raw around the edges. Someone with a ton of talent but a weak resumé, often with a little less self-esteem than most performers. She'll praise them and then turn them down. Most of the time they'll come back, looking for a second chance – she said they were great, right? Surely that means they'll get the part sooner or later, if they just approach it right.”

Kurt swallows. It sounds a little too familiar for comfort.

“Sometimes she'll turn them down both a second and third time, and then she'll put them on the spot, giving them another chance as long as they step out of their comfort zone and perform to her standards. And then she'll take them, and she'll own them. They'll go through their whole careers claiming they owe it all to her.”

She looks Kurt in the eyes, sincerity radiating out of her – but Kurt knows how little that means, in these circles – and a kind expression on her face.

“I'm not saying that's you, but for you to be applying to the spring semester, with your level of talent... If she's doing it to you, you should know you're not the first, and I doubt you'd be the last.

“Any school would be well served to have you as a student, I think. I already know you're talented, and as I know Isabelle I also know you have to be hardworking. Plus, seeing as that ensemble always works with a female vocalist I'm assuming something happened to have you step in at the last minute, meaning you stand up to pressure.

“NYADA is not the only school in New York for a young man like you, and I'd argue that it's not the best either. Think about what I've said, will you? And thank you again for a very enjoyable performance.”

It's only years of pretending in the face of bullies and a worried father that allows Kurt to pull of a believable goodbye and graceful exit. After this he's definitely hiding in Isabelle's office, damn it.

When Kurt comes back to the loft it's late and he wants nothing more to fall into bed, nighttime routines be damned. But Rachel's sitting on the couch, waiting for him judging from the expectant look on her face.

“I tried to call you.” It comes out a little flat, but Kurt doesn't have the energy to pretend. He needed her, called an emergency damn it, and she hasn't even texted him back in the six hours since his frantic calling.

“I heard, but I was busy practicing my number for tomorrow.” She doesn't even look sorry.

“Oh? I thought you said you didn't have any assignments for tomorrow.” That was why he'd felt safe calling her, after all.

She just waves a hand, clearly not too bothered.

“Nothing official, no, but that's no reason not to be ready to perform. I'm sure there will be an opening for me to dazzle my classmates.” And she goes on to describe the songs she's considered, and who's done them, and why her version is better, and Kurt just...tunes her out.

She hasn't even asked what he wanted. It's as if the thought hasn't even passed her mind. Well. If she's not interested then he's not going to waste his time telling her – especially not since she's bound to get upset over losing an opportunity to perform for an actual audience. He's also not going to waste his time listening to her go on about what she'd done instead of checking in on him.

“I'm going to bed.”

“Kurt! I need your input on this, surely bed can wait a bit?” When he shakes his head  her face hardens. “Fine, be that way. NYADA is hard, you know. It takes dedication. Maybe if you showed a little more of that you would have gotten accepted.”

Kurt shoves down the desire to slap her and bites out a “goodnight” before stalking off to bed. He can't believe she went there. Oh wait, he can. It's so Rachel, to just look at herself and ignore everything else. Show more dedication? Devoid of complexity and depth. Fuck her. Fuck them both.

Kurt had knocked his audition out of the park. Rachel and madam Tibideaux both had admitted that. Meanwhile Rachel had choked. Yet he'd been rejected while Rachel fucking Berry swanned around NYADA claiming to be dedicated. She never should have gotten accepted based on her audition. And somehow he just knows that there's no way she'd admit that Kurt should have been given that spot, not her.

As for madam Tibideaux and her “I rarely give anyone a second chance and if I do it's on my terms”... Bah! Rachel had harassed her way into her second chance. Hell, she'd recruited several others to also harass the madam on her behalf.

But somehow Kurt reapplying was the foul thing here. Right.

Maybe it was time he looked at options other than NYADA. That woman at the vogue event, she'd said that other schools might be a better fit for him. She'd sounded like she knew what she was talking about. Unlike Kurt, honestly, who'd pinned his hopes on NYADA based on Rachel. Hindsight has him questioning if he'd been slipped something, because leaving his college education up to whatever Rachel wanted? Insanity.

Well. Insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result, right? Clearly it's time to change his approach.

O--o---o--O

A week later Rachel comes home from the NYADA Winter Showcase bubbling about her success and how she's taken them all by storm. She makes a snide comment or two about how Kurt should have been able to see it for himself, had he taken the ticket she'd gone through so much trouble to acquire for him instead of doing whatever (it's called work), and Kurt just nods. He doesn't really care, but. He has to at least pretend to listen to preserve peace in the loft.

“Oh, I almost forgot! Madam Tibideaux asked after you.”

Kurt stills like a dog scenting prey. This he wants to hear.

“Oh?”

“Yes, apparently she was considering giving you another chance at applying. I don't know why she had to do it tonight, as it's for NYADA students and you're not, but she did. You should probably contact her. If you apologize properly she might still be open to it.”

Rachel looks at him, waiting for a reaction and clearly not pleased with what she's seeing.

“Well?”

“I'll think about it, Rachel. Calm down.”

And he will. Only he's not too eager to apologize to madam Tibideaux, or give her another chance to toy with him and probably reject him (he didn't show up for what she had planned, after all). It all sounds very much like what Nadia described at the vogue event. He listened. He might not have liked what he heard, or wanted to believe it, but he listened. In more than one way.

Over the past seven days he's written half a dozen applications to various music schools in New York, and sent them out. His current favorite is the New School, where a tour of the campus has given him a very good vibe. He'd be happy there, he thinks, and they might be happy with him. At least that's his take from meeting a couple of faculty members, one of the more prestigious of which just so happens to be Nadia.

Who would have guessed that doing a favor for Isabelle would lead to this? He might just owe her even more by now. Fairy godmother indeed.

~ The End ~

#chocoholic fics #kurt hummel #isabelle wright #fixit