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fanficsfromyesteryear · 3 years

Note

Hi! Can I request headcanons for dating marcus (deadly class)? Thank you

HEADCANONS FOR DATING MARCUS LOPEZ ARGUELLO

A/N: Just a head’s up, I got a little carried away, so this is kinda long lol. Also, sorry this took forever! I’ve been suuuuuper busy lately :/ I almost had it done before work picked back up, but I couldn’t figure out how to end it. Anyway, I hope you like it!!

Before the two of you started dating, Marcus had no idea that you liked him, and for good reason

You did such a good job with hiding your feelings that sometimes even you forgot they were there, which was kind of the whole point

With girls like Saya and Maria around, sending out mixed signals and dropping subtle hints that they liked Marcus, too, it was intimidating

Add Marcus’s constant cynicism about love, and life in general, into the mix, and it was clear the chances of him actually liking you back were next to nothing

So, you knew it was probably for the best to move on

You used the “if you ignore it, it’ll go away” approach in the hopes that if you simply didn’t acknowledge your feelings, the problem would disappear

All this did, however, was create a whole new issue

Somewhere along the way, you’d begun to take the thought process of ‘ignoring your crush’ too literally

You and Marcus were best friends, so when, out of the blue, you stopped talking to him, he could tell something was up

He had no clue what, though

Naturally, he assumed it was something he had done

Marcus started asking around among your mutual friends to see if they knew anything, but they were all just as out of the loop as he was

You hadn’t told anyone about your repressed feelings for Marcus, and you had no intention of letting the secret slip any time soon, but accidents happen

The truth came out one night during a game of truth or dare when you were up on the roof smoking with the Rats

Your confession came tumbling out quicker than you could even think about reeling the words back in

“You hear that, Romeo?” Billy asked, elbowing Marcus in the ribs. “Y/N’s got the hots for you”

All Marcus could do was laugh nervously as he looked down at his feet, refusing to meet your gaze

To your relief, no one brought it up again for the rest of the game

When the next day rolled around and your crush on Marcus still wasn’t the topic of conversation, you started to think that you were in the clear

Maybe they’d all been too stoned to remember when they’d woken up that morning

Your hopes were shattered by the late afternoon

As you left the bathroom, Marcus spotted you from across the hall

He quickly rushed over and caught you by the elbow, dragging you back through the doorway

“Relationships aren’t really my thing,” he said

Marcus sounded like he had more to say, but before he got the chance, you cut him off

“It’s fine,” you said. “I get it”

“No, no. I mean, I like you, Y/N, really. I just don’t wanna mess it up”

You couldn’t stop the smile that spread across your face even if you tried

“You’re not gonna mess it up”

Before either of you could say more, the bathroom door opened and Petra walked in

She glanced between the two of you knowingly

“Hate to break this up, but if I hold this piss in any longer, I’ll explode”

With that, she pushed past you both, effectively ruining the moment

It didn’t take long after that for you and Marcus to make your relationship official

‘Official’ is a bit of a loose term in this case

For the most part, both of you kept the fact that you were dating fairly under the radar for fear of what others would do with that information

In a place like King’s Dominion, something as small as caring for another person beyond using them as an ally was seen as a weakness that could and would be used against you, and the last thing either of you wanted was to be put in a situation where you were pitted against each other

Of course, there were several instances when one (or both) of you nearly blew your cover

Such as in Martial Arts class

Instead of fighting you, Marcus would try to cop a feel

You’d quickly smack his hand away

“Miss De Luca’s right there!”

“She’s not looking”

In defense of both of you, though, a class in which hormonal teenagers are asked to pair themselves up and wrestle is practically an invitation to break the ‘no sex’ rule

The other classes you shared weren’t any better

Master Lin caught you and Marcus staring at each other instead of paying attention on multiple occasions, earning both of you a smack from his cane

Although Marcus was somewhat known for his smart mouth and talking back to authority, he knew better than to challenge Lin, not mention that if he did, he’d risk exposing the two of you in the process

So, Marcus bit back his insults and held in his tirade until the two of you were safely locked away in his dorm room

“He had no right to hit you like that”

“I’m fine,” you assured him, shoving another tissue up your nose to stop the bleeding. “Besides, he does it to everyone”

“That still doesn’t give him the right”

“Next time, I’m gonna stick that cane right up his ass”

Marcus wanted to shield you from all the violence at King’s, but when it was coming from teachers, there wasn’t much he could do about it

If it was a fellow student pushing you around, on the other hand, there was no holding him back

You loved how protective Marcus was of you, but sometimes you worried that he’d get carried away

Marcus always made sure you were never around to witness the fights take place, but the scrapes and bruises on his face that hadn’t been there when you saw him that morning were all the proof you needed

In such cases, you would insist on patching him up afterwards

The first few times this happened, Marcus was embarrassed by all the attention you were giving him

After a while, though, he grew to love the feeling of having someone fuss over him, especially if it was you

It was nice to have someone care about him for a change

You weren’t much of a fighter, but making sure he didn’t get Tetanus was your way of looking out for him

When you and Marcus weren’t getting into trouble, you were actually a pretty cute couple

Your roommates became accustomed to the two of you being a package deal, which often meant sneaking into each other’s rooms after lights out

Sometimes, it was to make out, but other times, it was so you could have late night conversations that you didn’t get the chance to have during the day

The topics of these conversations varied—they could be deep and philosophical (which was Marcus’s favorite kind), an opportunity to open up to each other about yourselves and your pasts, a time to plot someone’s death (usually only theoretically), or simply joking around

After especially long days, you would accidentally drift off in the middle of these nightly chats with your head on Marcus’s chest, but he never minded

He’d pull the covers up on your side and wrap his arms more tightly around you

While both of you were perfectly capable of pulling all-nighters, whenever you fell asleep, Marcus was never far behind

The sound of your evened-out breathing was like a lullaby to him, so it was safe to say that his sleep schedule drastically improved after the two of you started dating

You’d found that you slept better with Marcus, too, so on the few nights you spent apart, you’d doze off listening to the mixtapes he’d made you in your Walkman, which were full of your favorite songs and songs that reminded him of you (though, these had quickly become your favorites, too)

It was rare that the two of you weren’t together, though

Even during the day, you and Marcus were practically joined at the hip

At lunch, you would hold hands under the table and share food

Of course, this always opened the door for plenty of teasing from your friends, especially Lex

“While you’re at it, why don’t you chew the food up for each other and pass it back and forth like little birds?”

“Fuck off, Lex”

It was always in good fun, though

Actually, the other Rats were relieved when the two of you finally got together because the weird tension that had been brewing leading up to that point went away, meaning group hangouts could carry on normally

They could overlook you sitting in Marcus’s lap if it meant you weren’t being distant and secretive

Just like they pretended not to notice when you showed up to class wearing each other’s blazers by mistake after spending the night together

Or walking in late looking ✨especially disheveled✨

All in all, you and Marcus are King’s Dominion’s cutest couple™️ that only, like, five other people know about, but still-

#marcus lopez arguello #marcus lopez x reader #marcus lopez arguello x reader #marcus lopez arguello headcanons #marcus lopez headcanons #deadly class #deadly class headcanons

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vivithefolle · 3 years

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I loved your ranking of character arcs (for the main seven)! Would you mind going into more detail about Ron's character arc, and how he developed from the first to the last book? I apologise if you've already answered a similar request! :)

[Ranking of character arcs]

Well, during the first three books Ron is rather static - he’s awesome, but he doesn’t has much in the terms of “character growth” moments. He does epic stuff like the chess match, following the spiders et all we know, but that isn’t character growth as much as it is freaking badass.

The first three books serve to sow the basics for Ron’s character: he’s a devoted friend, he can face death with a laugh, and in spite of his bouts of rudeness or temper he’s fundamentally kind and doesn’t take himself too seriously - something two people like “boy-who-lived” Harry and “child prodigy” Hermione desperately need.

But what the first book does is introduce Ron’s emotional baggage.

"I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left -- Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."

This introduces us to Ron’s inferiority complex and its origins.

And later on, The Mirror Of Erised helps elaborate:

Harry stepped aside, but with Ron in front of the mirror, he couldn't see his family anymore, just Ron in his paisley pajamas.

Ron, though, was staring transfixed at his image.

"Look at me!" he said.

"Can you see all your family standing around you?"

"No -- I'm alone -- but I'm different -- I look older -- and I'm head boy!"

"What?"

"I am -- I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to -- and I'm holding the house cup and the Quidditch cup -- I'm Quidditch captain, too."

Dumbledore will then add his grain of salt -

Harry thought. Then he said slowly, "It shows us what we want... whatever we want..."

"Yes and no," said Dumbledore quietly. "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.”

Something to know about Dumbledore - he’s JK Rowling’s mouthpiece. When she wants to tell us something, she puts it in him.

And... well, this looks like a rather... selfish interpretation of Ron’s desire. Especially the “standing alone” part. It somewhat implies that Ron is selfish - especially compared to Harry’s desire which is oh so pure and oh so sad because boo hoo orphan family stuff. (I may be letting all the times Harry fans have pulled the “butt herry iz an orhpan!! :’((” card colour my perception.)

“The best of all of them”. When Ron sees himself being both Head Boy and Quidditch Captain. He’s combining his brothers’ successes into himself. His belief is that this is how he could stand out and be loved - by combining his brothers’ accomplishments.

Anyway.

Goblet of Fire then makes us see Ron’s main problems - his insecurity can lead him astray. First he believes that Harry left him behind during the Triwizard, because why not? After all Ron has already seen that betrayal can come from the craziest places (Lockhart, aka adults/authority figures, Ginny being the Heir Of Slytherin aka family even against their will, and last but not least, freaking Scabbers, aka SEEMINGLY INNOCENT THINGS YOU FEED AND PROTECT). Add to it his budding feeling that he is overlooked in favour of Harry (the twins giving Harry the Marauders’ Map...) and Ron’s emotions get the best of him, which isn’t helped by Harry’s entitled attitude and his acting as though Ron is stupid for questioning him. And then Viktor Krum appears as a prop show us what a catch Hermione is and to be all that makes Ron insecure. The Yule Brawl serves to foreshadow Romione but also to show the negative aspects of Ron’s insecurity, namely jealousy and how he lashes out when he feels betrayed. However, at the end of Goblet of Fire, Ron symbolically outgrows his jealousy by asking Viktor Krum for his autograph.

Order of the Phoenix will then go on to show Ron being jealous of Krum, although being a bit less vocal about it... and it also gives Ron half of the things he’s dreamed of in first year: he’s made a prefect, and joins the Quidditch team. But those are immediately made hollow by the... lackluster reaction of his loved ones and by Malfoy being a vile piece of pond scum. The fact that he’s prefect could have been used to make Ron take on more responsibilities and showcase his motherly side more, but Rowling only used it to again pit him against Hermione by making Ron look like “the immature one” and making Hermione “the responsible one”. And then, to REALLY drive home the point that Ron isn’t allowed to have anything for himself, she has Dumbledore say “oh yeah Harry, you were supposed to be prefect, even though you’re basically allergic to rules and authority and also are emotionally stunted”, and so in a symbolic way VALIDATING Hermione’s reaction to Ron being prefect. Yeah fuck you too Rowling. And the Quidditch debacle could have been used to give Ron confidence in himself. Actually, it does somewhat give him confidence once he trounces Slytherin in the last match of the year. But the fact that Harry and Hermione weren’t present means that Ron’s victory is an afterthought, a background event, a minor thing. Yet, Ron still proves his maturity and patience by just accepting that his friends weren’t here to see him play. They don’t deserve him, seriously. This year also marks a drama-free year for Ron and Hermione, which could have then been built up to make them grow even closer in the next book... but oh, the faults of TERFs...

Half-Blood Prince basically takes all of Ron’s progression through the last two books and says “see that? All that? Well let’s pretend it never happened and do it again, but shittier!” The thing is, Rowling wants Ron to “make himself worthy of Hermione” like the very progressive person she is. But she is also aware that Ron is kind of a naïve romantic who wouldn’t date around while he’s in love with someone else. Unless... Unless she resurrects plotlines that have already been finished, thus bringing Ron back to square one. Now he’s back to not being able to play Quidditch properly and Hermione acts the saviour because girl power. Now he’s back to being enraged by Viktor Krum’s name. Now he’s even less mature than he was in Philosopher’s Stone because Plot Be Like That. JKR did do a pretty good job at setting up the whole argument, not gonna lie. Since Ron is so sensitive to betrayal, finding out that Hermione had lied to him about Krum would indeed make him furious, especially when he finds out that Ginny knew about it and (apparently) so did Harry. Basically, the entire sixth year is built to undermine Ron’s growth and character, both because Harry must be in love with Ginny and in order to properly appreciate Ginny he has to appreciate Ron’s qualities less, since Ginny and Ron basically have the same qualities Harry appreciates but he can only be in love with Ginny; and also because Ron “needed to make himself worthy of Hermione” courtesy of double-standards, sexism and general immaturity from our author.

Finally DH closes the horrible loop. Rather than letting Ron grow secure and confident, Rowling instead insists on pulling him down, and down, and down, then gives us Harry saying “she’s like my sister, I thought you knew” as if that somehow would fix the self-esteem issues and the self-hatred and the sheer abuse Ron is subjected to by his friends - and for someone as obsessed with "love redeems” as Rowling is, it probably is, but those of us suffering from depression know better. Even though the Epilogue shows us Ron being happy and confident enough to joke about fame, it still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth when you realize that Ron-bashers take the “Confunded the instructor” lines to absurd levels and use it as “proof” that Ron is a bad husband / lazy / a cheater / etc... when it’s immediately followed by -

"I only forgot to look in the wing mirror, and let's face it, I can use a Supersensory Charm for that."

This is basically Ron doing the wizard equivalent of the rear-view camera. But of course, bashfics have been written to make it so Ron causes a horrible crash accident and Hermione calls for divorce and blah blah blah sigh.

#vivi answers #ask #ron weasley #ron weasley defense squad #ron weasley defence squad #romione #hermione critical #harry potter #hp meta #harry potter series #anti jk rowling

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notruercolors · 3 years

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Adult Retrospection on Harry Potter

At five-years-old I was first exposed to Harry Potter by my godmother. I was slightly horrified by Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, total BS they changed the name thinking Americans wouldn’t understand what the philosopher’s stone is. I digress. There was something about the thing behind the turban that terrified five-year-old me. I only knew the movies until I was in middle school and high school. I got into the books a lot older than my peers as my reading level took longer to develop, I would discover in university I had dyslexia. I struggled getting into the books due to the descriptive style Rowling uses that I would get lost in therefore getting bored. It was by far easier to read than Twilight was, I never got past chapter one in that series. I recently re-read the series as an adult with aid of technology that makes reading easier for people with dyslexia, thank goodness for technology. With doing so I realized the true problems with the Harry Potter series. I vaguely remember all the issues back in the day with Christians banning and even burning the books. That never an issue I felt was apparent because children the books are meant for are aware of reality versus fantasy and if you are confident in young religious teachings that children should be able to be exposed to opposing views without being swayed away from those teachings. The problems I noticed were a problem when I was young, and it will continue to make the series more problematic with the younger generations more aware of these issues than I was as a child. The issue I have with the series stems from out-of-date unhealthy perspectives that are portrayed in the books. What are these unhealthy perspectives? I have noticed prevalent fat-shaming, acceptance of bullying. and acceptance of abuse.

Someone out there is going to question me about the fat-shaming aspect, just hear me out on this one. Yes, there are characters that are overweight and portrayed as good characters. I must mention these characters I not described directly as fat. For example, as Neville Longbottom and Molly Weasley were described as plump which equals chubby in most people’s mind. The exception is Professor Slughorn; however, he was portrayed as a bit of a coward and vain. Otherwise, the fat characters in the story are Dudley and Vernon Dursley. They are betrayed as bullies and otherwise horrible people. There was a lot of description into Dudley and Vernon’s weight, way more than was necessary. It was nice that you saw Dudley’s weight be addressed during the series, but it was also not necessary for the story, so I never understood why it was included other than to make fun of Dudley. I would have preferred to have seen a transformation where Harry realized that Dudley had changed both physically and emotionally to a better person. I was always an overweight child. I didn’t think anything about this portrayal of fat people as a kid. This wasn’t the only form of media I consumed that had this view on fat people. It was all over during the 90’s and the early 2000’s. The media we consume has a significant impact to the formation of our identity and confidence as young children. I am not saying Harry Potter is the only factor in my issues of confidence surrounding my weight. It cannot be denied that Harry Potter had an enormous impact in the lives of children during my childhood and even now. It was a problem back when I was young. It is even a bigger problem for the current generation that is at age to enjoy the series.

Bullying is a huge topic for Harry Potter. From an early age Harry was bullied by Dudley even physically assaulted by Dudley and his friends. Harry didn’t like his family. But it was clear nothing ever happened to Dudley for bullying Harry. Then there is the issue between Draco Malfoy. It kept increasing in intensity until it escalated to physical assault. Harry did face consequence for this incident, and never made that mistake again which is the only redeeming factor of this incident being in the book. This issue between Draco and Harry went both ways in the series, which is often how bullying works in real life. I do give credit for it at least being accurate in that aspect. Hogwarts appears to have zero polices regarding bullying. As it was very prevalent in the 1960’s during the time of Marauders and was still an issue in the 1990s. The set up of the four houses even encourages this behavior separating the students into cliques that have rivalries with each other that have gone on centuries. It is simply accepted as part of wizarding life. No one does anything to try to change it. That is ridiculous that centuries old rivalries still rule the wizarding world. The next aspect is directed towards bullying boy against girl versus girl against boy. Ron Weasley learned a harsh lesson in bullying Hermione when she almost accidently got killed by Troll in their first year. However, Hermione would go in their sixth year to physically assault Ron with the Oppugno spell. She was a Perfect, meaning she is supposed to be the model student. No one reported this incident. She faced no consequences. She should have at least had detention and her Perfect status should have been revoked. It doesn’t matter how much of a jerk Ron had been. There is zero tolerance for any physical assault in my moral system. Ron continued being her friend. It was as if nothing ever happened. This just helped support the old concept that if a boy bullies a girl, he should be punished severely but if a girl does the same, he must have done something to deserve it. What does this instruct young children? Domestic abuse against men is an issue that still swept under the rug in society. Boys and men cannot possibly be abused by the women in their lives. Men just like women die in domestic abuse situations. The fact that a children’s book indirectly supports that old fashion ideology bothers me deeply. This double standard will continue to exist as long as media, TV or printed, continues to support it.

The acceptance of abuse in the series is also rather alarming. Harry was at the never least neglected, but frankly the treatment he received by his family was abuse. It is important to note that the UK was behind the rest of the world when it came to protecting children against abuse. There were no laws for child abuse until 1981. However, Harry went to public schools as a child. Why didn’t anyone realize what was happening and report it? I’m not completely sure how well reported child abuse was in the UK during the 80s and 90s. Corporal punishment was allowed in schools in 1986. However, it was mentioned that at Dudley’s school the students would use canes on each other, and the staff did nothing. When Aunt Marge visited, she asked Harry if they used canes at the school Petunia and Vernon made up that Harry went to, and he said they did every day. This was of course a law, but this made Marge happy to hear. In 1995-1996, Dolores Umbridge used Black Quill, which inflicted physical pain and semi-permanent mark, on students. It was highly illegal, but it still happened in the series, and no one could do much about it. I cannot end this section without mentioning Severus Snape’s treatment of Harry. He harassed a child for the actions of their father. What he did equates to emotional abuse. Professors were aware of his bias towards Slytherin students, and that Harry had conflicts with Snape. No one did anything about it or question Harry about why he disliked the Potions Professor so much. Harry does forgive Snape for his behavior. But that doesn’t make it any better. In fact, it encourages a concept that victims should forgive their abusers as Harry would have felt pressured to forgive him because of the circumstance Snape was in when he apologized. No one is required to forgive their abusers. Dolores did eventually get punished for the abuse inflicted on the students. It still bothered me it was even in the story. Just because wizards have their own society that does not mean that UK’s laws don’t apply to them. They may be wizards, but they still are citizens of and reside in the UK.

I did enjoy Harry Potter in my youth, and I do not mean to take away from anyone’s childhood enjoyment of the series. But it is important that as adults we acknowledge the issues with the series as we begin to have children of which we may want to share our love of Harry Potter with. We need to be aware of the dark side of the series and what we may indirectly exposing our children to. This goes to anyone who wonders if they should allow their child to read Harry Potter. The views and portrayals of society is rapidly becoming old fashioned and by the time the children of the fans of the series become old enough to read the series may be comply inappropriate for young children. If you are having debates about the series based on religion, I feel this is a non-issue. Children are aware of fantasy versus reality. But there are aspects of the series parents should be aware of before making decision.

#harry potter #harry potter analysis #unpopular opinion #unpopular harry potter opinion #society growth #harry potter criticism #pro-Harry Potter Christian view

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zozophoenixxx · 3 years

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Friendly reminders about The Flash⚡️

Things I had forgotten or little details I just noticed on my rewatch, maybe even Unpopular Opinions 🤭👀

✨Season 3✨

Flashpoint... oh gosh I used to hate this episode, I literally always skipped it but this time I'm gonna watch it you guys I promise😂

Nvm this episode might not be so bad, we get to see Barry all happy and with his mom and Dad and i-🥺

Omg do y'all remember in season 2 when Barry, Cisco and Harry went to E-2 to stop Zoom and Cisco said that he thought his doppelganger would be like a rich tech genius or sum like that... Not Cisco from flashpoint being a rich tech genius 🤭😃😂

Caitlin... She's a pediatric eye doctor🤭🥲😂 (flashpoint)

Wow wtf I had completely forgotten about Julian 😳

I swear I hate it when they mess so much with the timeline, I just can't keep up

West-Allen kiss count (approximately): 30😘

⬆️ approximately bc I might have messed up 😅

Wow I thought season 3 was all savitar, I did not remember alchemy

Rival, Magenta (portrayed by Joey King, we love her),ɹǝʇsɐɯ ɹoɹɹıɯ and top, monster, shade, plunder, abra cadabra

OK Y'ALL I JUST NOTICED THAT IN THE MAGENTA EPISODE *breathes in* Barry and Iris go on their first date and electric love was playing... The fact that that's the song used in the trend where you kiss your best friend seems rights

Jesse got her powers 😃 we stan Jesse Quick⚡️

CECILE AND JOE I-🥺

Bro HR 🥺

Julian really was a b*tch at the beginning of this season, but his accent tho🥴🤤🥵

That height difference between Cecile and Joe is what I need in life I love them 🥰

Iris is such a badass bro I love her

Savitar is apparently the Hindu god of motion 🤭

Killer frost episode 🤭😃 I love the fact that Caitlin got powers but I still felt so bad for her like she didn't want that, she didn't want to hurt anyone 🥺

She really said some pretty hurtful things to Barry, he messed up everyone makes mistakes 🥺

Barry tricking Killer Frost into turning back into Caitlin was 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 and then when she wanted to apologize and Cisco just hugged her and Joe too i- 🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺 I think that was the first time when we saw Joe And Caitlin hug 🥺

Julian's such an ass bro he really forced Barry to quit and he really did just to protect Caitlin

Y'all ever get chills or just overall goosebumps whenever the music from the other shows start playing in the crossovers? No? Just me? Cool just wanted to know 😅

Felicity fangirling is me

Also Diggle throwing up every time Barry takes him from somewhere is hilarious or just him being done with anything that's not normal 😂

Bro supergirl I- 🥴🤩

NO AND THEN SARAH AHDHAHHAHAA she really said "it's kinda hot" (referring to Supergirl being a bad ass) when they were training lmao I cantttt

Cisco was getting visions of Dante, who was actually Savitar, and was manipulated into opening the box which brought Savitar out and really if it hadn't been for Caitlin, Barry and Wally would've been killed

DANG CECILE AND JOE JUST KISSED WOWWW😁

Their apartment i-

HR really got them a turtle named McSnurtle y'all i-

GYPSY

That scene where they told Joe that Iris was meant to die in the future was so🥺😞😩 I don't even know how to describe it

wally and Jesse were cute 🥺🥰🤌

Cisco and Harry were kinda mean to HR🥺

Grodd just tried to kill Joe and Harry and Cisco came up with a way to see into Grodd's memory through Joe and Istg Joe's face lmao, he's just so done with everything 😂

Dang Grodd's plan really was to kill everyone with nuclear missiles by controlling that military guy and Barry had to try every password combination to stop it just like he did in season 1 or 2 (idk lmao) when he was helping Snart and his father with a robbery

Y'ALL BAHSHHHAHAHA I love GYPSY she really just straight up kissed Cisco and went like "even if I did [like you] you couldn't handle me"

AND CISCO was all like "I'll marry that woman"😩😳😂💀

BARRY DID NOT JUST PROPOSE

Y'ALL WHAT I THOUGHT THIS WAS WAY LATER

I love that scene where they tell everyone 🥺

Bro why was Barry always so mean to Wally like I know he was stressed out about Iris but bro it wasn't Wally's fault 🥺

OMG JULIAN JUST KISSED CAITLIN🥺 they're adorable

Wally did watch Iris die

Jesse moved to E-1 when she was dating Wally for a bit and she stayed at Joe's house with the both of them

Savitar used The Greek myth of Atla to explain why he needed Wally to get out of the speed force ➡️ Atla can't let go of the sky without having someone take it from him.

Ok so by taking a part of the philosopher stone before it was thrown into the speed force, Caitlin technically kept Savitar from coming back. So if Wally hadn't had those visions where Savitar manipulated him into throwing that little piece of rock into the speed force... He wouldn't have been able to escape

That was kinda hard to explain. Idek if it made sense I'm sorry y'all I'm not good with words 😂

I love Harry 🥺

NOT EDDIE IN THE SPEED FORCE 😳

Ok y'all but whenever y'all watch it or rewatch it, there's this very cute and funny scene in S3 E16 min 17:00 between Caitlin And HR where she takes away his drumstick and he just takes out another one but it's very adorable because they keep messing around🥺

Bro the speed force was really being b*tch to Barry when he was trying his best to save everyone and change the future 😩😞

And Jesse was so mean to HR on Ep16🥺

Jay saved them 🥺

Ok relationships are so confusing wtf

THE MUSICAL EPISODE, MON-EL, SUPERGIRL OMG ITS BEEN A WHILE WTH!! Imma rewatch supergirl too😃

Melissa Benoist is so gorgeous 🥴🤩

The way Barry looked at her when she was singing I-

I love their friendship but I kinda ship them too🥺

OH I REMEMBER! this guy was trying to teach them a lesson about love, because they were both having relationship problems

He was also on glee. THE 3 OF THEM! I-

Darren Criss, I didn't know his name

I love this episode

Cisco and Winn And Malcolm singing and dancing, this couldn't get better

Omg I would love to see a Winn-Cisco-Felicity trio. I feel like they would work so great together 😁

IRIS AND MON-EL well actually Tommy Moran and Millie

Their fathers being gangsters is hilarious and their accents 😂

Everyone's facial expressions when John revealed that he was also an Alien 😂

Millie having 2 dads and those being Stein and Joe is great lmao although I never knew if it was because they were hay or it was more like Barry's situation 😂

JOE AND STEIN SINGING AND BARRY IN THE BACK Y'ALL IM🤭🤩🥺

I never thought I needed this 🥰

THEIR DUET IS COMING VDXHSBFVDHA

THEY'RE DANCING 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

This is officially one of my favorite episodes 😃

When they got shot they were very worried for each other and I just love their friendship

HE'S ABOUT TO PROPOSE, HE'S SINGING AHHHHH

COME RUNNIN HOME TO YOUUU 🎶🥺

I really liked how in the episode where Caitlin gets hurt when Abra Kadabra throws a bomb, Julian's the one to operate on her and Iris is right there with him trying to help out, even though they weren't truly friends until later on it shows that they're all really a family

And also Wally and Barry carrying her to the room 🥺

Also the fact that it was Caitlin guiding Julian through her own surgery shows how strong and amazing she is I love her 🤩

Caitlin (killer frost actually) is the 1st to know who Savitar is

BRO CECILE JUST TOLD JOE SHE LOVES HIM AND HE DIDNT- this got too ~umconfy~

Bro killer frost's outfit is pretty hot 🤩

Cisco was afraid of killing Caitlin on accident and that's why he didn't shoot her whenever they were trying to get her🥺

"She's my best friend... And I'd rather it be me than her"

I love him. And I love their friendship.🥺😞

BAHSHAHHA do y'all remember when they erased Barry's memories?

He's hilarious

JAHSHAHAJAJ and now they left him alone with Wally who told him they're basically brothers AND BARRY STRAIGHT UP GOT HIS HAND OUT OF HIS POCKET AND LOOKED AT HIS SKIN COLOR I-

Barry loved anime

He's so happy without his memories, he's gone through so much 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Snart prevented Barry from killing King Shark

HR and Tracy 🥺

The way HR blamed himself after he told Savitar where Iris was and the fact that he does end up saving her at the end is...🥺

Bro I felt really bad for Savitar later

But then he betrayed and 🙂

And now Barry just left

I swear I hated this cliffhanger sm

Cause whenever I started watching it this was the last season and I-

Also Iris killed Savitar

#the flash #barry allen #iris west #savitar #the speed force #Tracy brand #HR #Joe west #wally west #Cisco ramón #gypsy #killer frost #Caitlin snow #Julian Albert #just finished it #about to start season 4 😫

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calitraditionalism · 3 years

Text

Arc Two: Chapter Five

(AO3 counterpart here.)

It was a few days until Mistface tripped into another conversation, though this one was at least more interesting, if not particularly helpful to the misson.

He was lazing in the sun, half-asleep and a bit bored. Greyleaf had surprisingly declined going back to see their mother with him and Beetlefoot, citing business with a few injured cats who still needed to be convinced to sit back for a few days and heal up. Mistface and Beetlefoot had gone ahead without him and returned earlier than they anticipated, giving them the rest of the day to waste time. Beetlefoot was apparently done socializing and marched off to take a walk around the settlement. Greyleaf was, of course, still trying to politely argue with the Clast cats he was treating, so Mistface had reclined outside where it was warm to wait for him to be done.

That had been about an hour ago, and Greyleaf had not shown up from where Mistface had left him.

Now it was afternoon, and all Mistface had for entertainment was a crowd gathering around to watch that grey molly fight again. Where Mistface was lying was a slightly raised bump in the ground, with its cracked stone being split apart by earth and grass. From here, he could see the fight well enough without having to sit up. He was also next to a small pile of particularly fat prey that he was sure weren’t meant for him, which meant he could chew slowly on a rabbit while observing.

It was an engaging one, at least – if for nothing else, for the skill that molly showed off. Her opponent, a blue tom a bit bigger than her, was trying very hard to at least get a blow on her, but she hopped back easily, only to launch forward and pop him on the nose or duck around to his side and bite at his shoulder. She was essentially forcing him to constantly turn to his left or right with every move she made, and he was easier to topple over because he wasn’t able to stand solidly and charge her. Meanwhile, she was practically dancing around him too quickly for him to make a move, and that massive grin on her face must have been extremely irritating and distracting for him.

Mistface found himself nodding in approval when she grabbed one of his paws with her mouth and pulled it under him, causing him to topple over and roll onto his back. This was met with a roar of admiration from the crowd. The tom tried to laugh, but it came out more like a cough, and he raised a paw in submission. The molly’s slightly short tail waved proudly and she puffed out her chest as she parted the sea of cats and strutted…

Right to where Mistface was. Fantastic.

He tried not to make eye contact while she sniffed through the prey, but he could see her looking at him out of the corner of his eye. He gave up after a long moment of avoiding it and met her gaze with a cool and questioning expression.

“That’s just where I happen to sit, usually,” she said. “After a fight.”

“Oh.” Mistface could be polite. He rose to a sitting position. “Want your spot?”

“Nah, no need to move.” She shook her head. “The shade’s nicer right now, anyway.”

With that, she pulled out a squirrel and plopped down just in front of Mistface, leaning against a slightly raised square stone. Mistface narrowed his eyes, but he knew better than to get cranky. He simply continued eating while she tucked into her own prey.

The quiet was just within the area of “awkward”, so Mistface spoke up. “You fight mighty well for a Marish cat.”

“Oh, you can tell?” The molly looked up at him, speaking loudly and with a full mouth. “Yeah, we’re mostly fishers. I’m just a cut above the norm. What about you?”

“I don’t think I’ve tussled with anythin’ besides prey,” Mistface said, with a slightly self-depreciating smile. “And I didn’t think you Marish left your home.”

The molly swallowed her prey. “Usually, no, but I pelted it a while back. I still have to go back for my sisters, but I’ve got two moons before they’re able to travel.”

That, Mistface could appreciate, but he was curious now. “And you left without them?”

The molly shifted uncomfortably, and her voice dropped a little. “I just couldn’t be there any longer. You know how some of these families suck.”

“That I do.” Mistface could sense that there was something to that statement, but it wasn’t his business, so he steered the conversation a little to the left. “It’s just close family that matters, I’d say. I got my brother and mother, and that’s enough for me.”

“Where are they?” The molly looked relieved to turn to something else. “I haven’t seen anyone like you around.”

Mistface smiled again, this time more for internal affection. “My mother’s an hour away with the Vultures, and my brother is Greyleaf.”

He jumped a little at the bark of laughter from the molly. “No! You’re brothers with that poor dweeb?”

Mistface’s smile twitched. “I hear tell he’s real useful around here.”

“Oh, he is, he’s great, but-“ The molly laughed again. “He’s just a nervous wreck. You two don’t look anything alike. Or sound alike.”

Ah. Mistface relaxed. “So I’ve been told.”

“Yeah, it’s night and day.” The molly shook her head, still looking tickled. “I’m glad Greyleaf’s got someone here that knows him well. He doesn’t talk to anyone except Redheart and whoever he’s healing at the time- hey!”

The blue tom had approached while they were talking and started nosing through the selection of prey. He looked up in genuine surprise at the molly’s scowl.

“You go to the other pile,” she said. “You lost the bet, remember?”

The tom sighed, but stepped back. “Can I at least take that mouse? It's been taunting me for an hour.”

The molly looked back at Mistface. “What do you think?”

Mistface didn’t know why she was asking him, but he tilted his head carelessly. “Ain’t gunna miss a little mouse, long as Redheart ate already.”

“Oh, Redheart never eats first,” the tom said. “She waits until we all have something.”

Mistface blinked. “Don’t deputies usually get the prime pickin’s?”

“Generally, yeah,” the molly said. “Just not this one.”

The tom scoffed. “No top-of-the-pile prey, no StarClan-given prey. You never notice her ribs poking out a little?”

Mistface recollected his mental image of Redheart, and realized that, subtle as it was, the tom was right. “Hm.”

“All that muscle hides it,” the molly said, and returned her attention to the tom. “Go on, then, get your mouse and beat it. You’re gunna have to topple me tomorrow if you want anything better.”

The tom rolled his eyes, but obeyed, beating a hasty retreat. The molly looked back to Mistface.

“Anyway,” she continued, “good of you to be with family. A lot of cats here don’t have much in the way of that, so they come here for any scrap of bonding they can find.” Her face softened a little. “I ended up doing the same thing on accident, with an apprentice I met.”

Mistface wasn’t sure whether he was interested or not, but he decided to inquire. “You adopted one?”

“Oh, no, not quite.” The molly laughed again, a little more gently. “I’ve been sort of mentoring her until Redheart does the official ceremony. She’s a former seer apprentice from Hillock, but her mother was a real piece of work and forced her into the role. So eventually she ran away, and we met one day and decided to come here.”

Mistface had a faint memory in his head. “I met one myself that had a mother like that. At a Coterie.”

The molly gave him a scrutinizing look. “Was her name Littlepaw?”

Mistface thought for a moment before nodding. “Least, I think so.”

“That’s her, then!” the molly cried, delighted. “Right, you arrived with Laurelclaw. He met her there too. She said you were familiar, but she couldn’t remember your name.” She paused. “What is your name, by the way?”

“Mistface.”

“I’m Flyfang.” The molly grinned at him. “Small world, isn’t it?”

“Small Territory, at least,” Mistface said. “I ain’t familiar with the rest of the world.”

“We might just end up discovering its size for ourselves, if we do leave,” Flyfang said philosophically, half-gazing upwards with a wistful look. “I just hope I can get my sisters before Redheart decides to leave. I can’t leave them with the Marish.”

“Well, you can’t leave me on my own, either!”

Both adults raised their heads as a small calico came around the corner of the house they were by, curly-furred tail waving happily. She bumped heads with Flyfang and dipped her head politely to Mistface, who gave her a chin-bob back.

“Ain’t polite to be listenin’ in on conversations you ain’t a part of, tyke,” Mistface said, in about as friendly of a way as he could. Apprentices weren’t too bad, at least, and she was a nice one.

“Sorry,” Littlepaw said, sounding like she meant it. “I just heard my name and I thought Flyfang was calling me.”

Mistface tilted his head a little, giving her an amused squint. “Got away from your mother, then? Good on you.”

“Sure is!” Littlepaw brightened up even more than she already was, chest puffed out. “It’s amazing out here, away from the hills. I do kind of want to check out the rest of the Territory, but I don’t know if we’ll have time before Redheart-“

“Hang a moment, kiddo,” Flyfang said, raising a paw. “We never completely decided if we’re going with her. If she goes through with it, at least, and if she's leaving too soon.”

“She sure sounds like she’s goin’ to,” Mistface said. “Though, I don’t know if anyone’ll go with her.”

“I think it’d be cool to adventure out, at least.” Littlepaw’s front feet shifted closer together, a little meeker. “I mean, maybe. I know we’d be away from StarClan’s protection, but…”

“That alone would make me hesitant to leave.” Mistface was careful to keep his tone patient and calm. “I have no idea how bad it could be out there.”

Littlepaw nodded, eyes to the ground. She eventually rotated her head a little to look at Flyfang. “We’ll talk about it, at least?”

“We’ll talk about it,” Flyfang agreed indulgently. “Here, you want some of this?”

“She can have my rabbit if she wants.” Mistface stood up, arching his back in a stretch. “I ain’t hungry, and I should find my brother.”

“Oh! That’s-“ Littlepaw looked at him, eyes wide. “That’s really nice, thank you.”

Mistface gave her a charming smile before stepping out of the way and gesturing with his tail. She went around him and climbed onto the rise in the ground, settling down and sniffing the prey. Mistface wasn’t sure he liked how quick she was to just accept a gift from a stranger – but, then again, not too many strangers in the Territory were that dangerous. Still, he thought of the loners and rogues from outside, and wondered if she should be more cautious.

Having manners, he said nothing. He simply waved a farewell and went off in search of his brother. Flyfang, around another mouthful of food, called a goodbye, as did Littlepaw.

It was nice, he thought. Littlepaw looked a great deal happier than the last time he’d seen her. Even he could appreciate that.

#warrior cats #steorra #arc two #chapter #chapter five #dullard #mistface #littlepaw #flyfang

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fma2003-fmab-stuff · 5 years

Video

Episode 4 of FMA 03 is my Least Favorite Episode, but, since it IS FMA 03 Month, I thought should discuss some of the GOOD things about it. (This is also Day 17 so I do have something to say about that).

First thing to talk about is the scene at the very beginning of the episode(which is above) where Ed and Al reflect on their resolve after they’ve first set off on their journey. It is by far a fantastic and heart felt way to start the real story(and the fact that they use the “Bratja”/”Brothers” theme is also really good and emotional and fills it with both hope and sorrow). I love how it shows Winry and Pinako in this scene, and how you really get the feeling that Ed and Al have more or less pushed them to the side in pursuit of getting their bodies back to normal, of trying to distance themselves from their past.

You can tell that they’re both frustrated by it. But additionally, I got the feeling that maybe they even did this before Pinako and Winry got there, set their house on fire, and went off on their own without even saying goodbye, which would make it doubly sad, and add to the themes of the 2003 series in Ed and Al pushing those around them away.

I really like how Ed tries to be confident about the whole situation, even though you can tell that he’s probably just as scared and apprehensive as Alphonse down deep.

All and all, this is probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire 2003 series.

And what makes it even better is that 2003′s famous intro comes right after it, saying “Man cannot obtain anything without first sacrificing something. In order to obtain anything, something of equal value required. That is alchemy’s law of Equivalent Exchange. At the time, we believed that to be the true way of the world.”

In my opinion, this whole scene is BRILLIANT, considering that Ed and Al will never truly be able to get their home back in this series, it gives us a feel of inevitable underlying tragedy but also a tinge of optimism(as Ed and Al will always have people there ready to support them), but their home life is one thing they subsequently lost in not only the human transmutation. but especially their decision to join the military. They have to put everything they once knew behind them for that decision. for their goal to get their bodies back.

It ties in wonderfully with the themes of the series, and I just have to commend them for this much.

...

Another decent point about Majahal is this

- Majahal having ties with Hohenheim.

His name on the letters leading them to him… that was actually not a bad idea at all, and is definitely a good relation to give the brothers more of a desire than otherwise to seek him out. While it’s not anything spectacular, it was still kind of smart, I think...

- Also, something kind of neat is that Majahal did the two same things that the Brothers did.

Human Transmutation:

And even though Majahal tried to commit human transmutation, he didn’t appear to lose anything.

And nor did he do the clap:

Some might claim this as a plot hole, but I think it actually explains something that nothing else in the series went into.

Every other human transmutation in series was committed to bring somebody who was confirmed dead back to life. But Karin never actually died, so I think this really ties in with Equivalent Exchange and things later with the homunculi.

Hense: You can’t lose anything in exchange for trying bring somebody who was never dead to begin with back to life.

Since Karin was alive, the gate must be able to know the difference. And I think that’s really important, considering the deal with homunculi later on.

And then there’s Soul Bonding:

Honestly, I’m kind of surprised there was no call backs to this one at all throughout the series, even during Al’s body crisis, considering how relevant this is to the situations of Alphonse, Barry, and even the homunculi.

And the fact that he was using dolls for his experimentation actually reminds me of this scene from the episode before(after Winry has found out her parents were killed):

And in many cases, especially brought up later on, the homunculi are seen as living “dolls”, (or at least when talking to Lust and Sloth, Ed seems to be more or less under that impression and treats them rather harshly). I think that this was an interesting point to make and that this soul bonding builds some parallels to things that will be gone into.

...

Lust also makes an appearance alone here, as she does multiple times in several of the other earlier episodes:

Lust’s solo appearances are always fruitful and mysterious and leave you with questions of what her true motives and intentions are. After all, in these appearances:

She always seems to be interested in the same things as our protagonists are:

Mainly, the creation of the philosopher’s stone, but also cases like this of hearing about the dead coming back to life and human transmutation.

At this point, of course, we’re not entirely sure what her goal is. Heck, looking back this even leaves me questioning if she came out of curiosity and just happened to be there, or if this is a case like with Mugear where Majahal was being partially manipulated.

Of course as somebody who knows how her arc is concluded, we know that she was clearly searching for a way to become human all along; That her interest was obviously peaked at the notion of resurrection, probably was debating whether or not he would be able to help her achieve her goal, that she was definitely acting on her own in this specific case.

...

Nextly, I really like the moments that you shows that Ed and Al are really still just kids beneath it all.

Like this for example:

This scene is a really cute way to remind us that not only is Ed the more rational older brother, but that beneath that suit of armor, Alphonse is still a little kid and a big softy who gets scared over ghost stories. Honestly, it’s precious, and not enough people talk about it.

...

This is kind of neat statement Ed makes too:

Considering how much confliction he has towards Roy later over not immediately taking revenge for Hughes.

And then there’s this scene, because it shows us how insecure Alphonse can be sometimes over his body.

Short jokes are great and all, but it’s the rare moments with Al like this that you just want to hug him and the gentle giant that he is, just like this one in episode 5:

(Seeing Ed reassuring Al is the big brother type stuff I really like seeing in their bond)

(not to mention how great Ed seems to be with kids sometimes)

But this isn’t about episode 5, so I’ll get back to episode 4.

Whenever the reveal about Karin is made, Majahal rejects her, and honestly, I find it incredibly Sad

Words cannot describe how bad I felt for Karin throughout this entire thing. Majahal was so deluded by the “beauty” he remembered that he couldn’t love her for who she was.

And even in the end he still rejected her

and honestly, that’s so emotionally frustrating. (However, I also have a major issue with this scene, that I am going to discuss at the end of this post.)

...

One last thing I like about this episode is how at the beginning of the episode there’s this conversation:

Versus this at the end:

It shows how idealistic Al can be at times and idk I kind of like it).

...

However, with all that aside, since I went over the biggest positives of this episode that stand out to me, I suppose I should get to my biggest issue with it and my answer for day 17 of FMA of the 03 Month Challenge - A character I wish hadn’t died.

Even though it’s sad for Karin,

- Majahal’s Death Weakens the Impact of Greed’s Death and so many of the other scenes in the series.

Even if Alphonse argues it was an accident and it was just a slip of some ribbon or something.

so many scenes would have been even more emotional if Majahal hadn’t died or even if somebody else had been responsible for his death. (I’m especially kind of bummed because Edward didn’t really react at all to it and it doesn’t even get brought up until 32 episodes later. Hell, Alphonse seemed more depressed than him afterwards.)

And I mean... this episode actually wouldn’t have been that bad at all save for the end, if Majahal had lived and been taken to some place and/or arrested(tbh I wonder if there are government officials in that area or not, since we never saw anybody from the military there...). But instead, he dies due to something Ed does. But yeah, that’s really my only major issue with this episode... Every thing else actually isn’t that bad. I just feel like for somebody who had ties with Hohenheim, I feel like his arc and the episode just wasn’t well concluded, especially considering it only ever gets brought up again once. (No surprise that it was apparently written by a different person than the majority of the other episodes)

I’ve been meaning to make a post on this episode for a while and I finally got to it. I hope y’all enjoyed reading it haha... =w=;;;;

#fma #fma 2003 #fma 03 #Fullmetal Alchemist #fullmetal alchemist 2003 #edward elric #alphonse elric #majahal #greed the avaricious

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meplassewriteblr · 5 years

Text

Writing Advice: Plus size characters

Hi!

Before we begin, my posting schedule has started to change from Thursdays to Fridays because of school. So yeah. That’s that.

All right. Plus size characters. Why now, you ask? Because I felt like talking about it. And because I’m pretty sure my friends and family were tired of me talking about it, so now I put my ideas down on paper (or more appropriately, on screen!). I know this is something we don’t talk about much, but the amount of fatphobia I find in children’s fiction is staggering. Later in this post that has become an essay, I will be giving advice that could apply to virtually any plus size character, in any genre, but I will be talking from the perspective of someone who, these days, reads mostly in her main writing genre, A.K.A. middle grade fiction. Stay tuned for a few pieces of advice on writing plus size characters at the end.

First of all, why middle grade fiction?

I blame J. K. Rowling for this. I know, I know. It’s easy to critique J. K. Rowling nowadays, with Fantastic Beasts, Cursed Child and the History of North America being terrible for representation of any kind. So let me say this beforehand. Harry Potter is a staple of the genre (this book series is mainly what made the middle grade fiction genre in the first place) and is, unavoidably, one of the most important book series in modern literature. Full stop. I’m also a Harry Potter fan, Hufflepuff through and through. I have to admit though, I mostly watched the Harry Potter movies growing up and haven’t read all the books.

Okay. With all that out of the way. From what I remember in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone...

*Sigh*... It’s bad, you guys.

Whenever the Dursleys are mentioned as being evil (which, of course, they completely are!) it’s in relation to their weight. Dudley is a pig (and gets transformed into one by Hagrid, traumatising him for life probably) and Vernon becomes purple like a plum, because of his round face. He also looks like a walrus, because of his weight and his silly moustache. Sure, Petunia looks like a horse because she has a long, slim neck and a weird-looking face, but Petunia will also become the most important character out of the three Dursleys, being Harry’s biological aunt and Lily’s sister. She gets a full on backstory and character development.

You see where I’m going with this?

I’m not saying that plus size people can’t be villains (in real life or books!). Of course, they can be! There are evil people everywhere. And JKR definitely wanted to contrast Harry’s small stature (being underfed, malnourished and abused) with Dudley’s (who is loved and spoiled rotten by his parents). But in fiction, you have to be careful with the words you choose. Be sensitive. Characters can be hated, but the point of view (omniscient or first person) doesn’t have to always correlate their weight with their evilness.

To mention another example that doesn’t have anything to do with HP, remember Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? He’s basically dehumanized (he’s just a boy, after all) BECAUSE he eats all the time and gained weight because of it. Of course, all those kids are treated terribly by Willy Wonka to, again, show how privileged they are compared to poor little Charlie. But see how it’s because of his weight that Augustus, the only “fat kid” of the bunch, gets hated, though? I’m only referring to Augustus because, well, Roald Dahl in 1964 played a part in putting fatphobia in children’s fiction. Fatphobia in children’s fiction has deep roots. It’s just unfortunate that in 2019, it’s still a problem.

To go back to JKR and the Dursleys (because OH BOY is there a lot to say about the Dursleys)... It’s bad. And it doesn’t get any better. Especially when it’s only after Dudley loses weight (he goes on a diet in Goblet of Fire because he, according to Wikipedia because I haven’t read the book, COULDN’T FIT IN HIS SCHOOL UNIFORM!!!) that he gets a redemption arc (in Deathly Hallows). What do you think that did to a generation of kids who, like me, had/have trouble finding clothes their size? Especially school uniforms that were never flattering? I may not have realized that when I was younger, but that still seeped under my skin. Not just because of the Dursleys, but also society at large.

Now, as an addendum to this section and to be fair to JKR, there are other plus size characters in her books. Neville (who was thin in the movies), Mrs. Weasley and Hagrid come to mind. But then again, I don’t think that’s good in any way. Most of the characters are thin, for the most part. Enough has been said about Neville, Hagrid is his weight because he’s half non-human and Mrs. Weasley is always described as “pleasantly plump” from what I remember. So if you’re nice, you’re “plump”. If you’re mean, you’re “fat”.

Okay. Deep breath. Rant mostly over.

Second of all, why is Harry Potter so important now? It’s been over for years!

Well, no, it hasn’t. Fantastic Beasts is still going, for one. And though I love Jacob, the fact his weight can’t be disassociated with the fact he’s a baker who also worked in a sardine factory beforehand (really?? food?? again???) and CAN’T FIT INSIDE NEWT SCAMANDER’S SUITCASE EVEN THOUGH A MAGICAL RHINO DOES rubs me the wrong way. Besides, JKR’s fatphobia has also seeped into fandom space and you can’t read a HP fanfiction without encountering fatphobia. But that’s a matter for another day.

What’s really important here is legacy. As I said before, Harry Potter is one of the most important works of fiction in modern literary history. It paved the way for modern children’s fiction, notwithstanding 20th century books (The Chronicles of Narnia and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory come to mind) that aren’t getting any younger. Nowadays, it’s hard to find a middle grade book that doesn’t have an ounce of fatphobia. It’s become… casual. Accepted. In a book I opened not long ago (I’m paraphrasing here), one of the villains was described as “obese” and his mastermind plan was, instead of plotting to take over the world or something, to eat everything in his path, including the heroes ON THE VERY FIRST PAGE. I closed the book, never to be read again.

Which is a bummer. Because I want to read more books. Especially in middle grade, because I adore this genre. But because fatphobia is so pervasive to this genre, after a while, it gets difficult to stop caring. At first, you wrinkle your nose. Then, you get angry. And it really starts to hurt. And I’m not even the target audience! Children are! This is the reason why I want to be a sensitivity reader, one day.

Third of all, the advice for writers. How can you avoid this?

1. On terminology: I hate the words “fat” and “obese”. Some people don’t. I do. Those words have been used as insults against me. And sometimes, not even on purpose, but on accident! I prefer “plus size”, “chubby”, “overweight” (use that word with caution, though, sparingly, and please, not as a negative but simply as a descriptive word), “plump” (remember Molly Weasley? That was good, but don’t do what JKR did by making her plum and the Dursleys “fat”). “Stout” or “corpulent” are also good.

2. Don’t associate overweight = evil. It’s okay to write plus size villains (if you must), but be kind to them. Give them a personality other than “““glutton”””. Give them a fully-fleshed out backstory that doesn’t have anything to do with food (see: Jacob in FB). What works with villains works with heroes, but be even more extra careful.

3. Everybody gotta eat, right? If you show your characters eating, show them all (or more than one) eating at the same time. Probably around the table (as a nice ritual of sorts!). But don’t let your ONE plus size character eat and eat and eat in the background, never talking (that’s a mistake I saw in the anime Little Witch Academia, which is to say, fatphobia is present in all genres).

4. This relates to the last point, but don’t have only one plus size character. In one of my favourite movies, The Greatest Showman, I didn’t care that one of the characters was “the fattest man on Earth”. Why? Because KEALA SETTLE IS RIGHT THERE. She has a fully-fleshed out backstory that doesn’t have anything to do with her weight. Or food. (Though it could’ve gone a different way; the Bearded Lady is thin in concept art, after all, I’m eternally happy they reconsidered for Keala). And BTW, you don’t need to give a supernatural explanation for their weight (see Hagrid). If you do have non-human plus size characters, let there also be human plus size characters.

5. Don’t use “fat jokes”. Those are boring and cliché. Like with Dudley and the pig tail. Or… Ha, ha. The “fat guy” is too big, so he gets stuck in a ventilation vent. A thin guy has to get him out! How pathetic. Bleh. And it’s not just in books! They pop up in movies and TV shows, too. Don’t. Just don’t.

6. Last but not least, if you need help figuring out if one of your characters is insensitive, ask sensitivity readers! Ask your friends. Or your family! Just be kind when you’re asking. Explain the situation and if they say they’re not interested, don’t push.

Thank you for reading this (if anyone’s still reading this mess of an essay).

Stay inspired!

Marianne E. Plasse

#writeblr #writeblr community #writing advice #plus size characters #fat characters #i dont like that word but oh well #someone had to do this

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melodiouswhite · 4 years

Text

Live forever - Ch. 01

(A/N: I’ve been obsessed with the historical Dr. Faust lately, so I decided to indulge the urge to create content - I hope you like it. I’ll write about the other members of the alchemist group later on too. ^^)

Johann Georg Faust had been called a lot of things throughout his life.

Charlatan, sorcerer, madman, heretic, liar, necromancer, criminal, hell child, accomplice of the Devil … he had stopped counting all the insults that had been thrown at his ginger-haired head.

Some of them were true, others weren't.

A charlatan? No.

Sure, he was versed in the art of stage magic (and used it more than often), but his magic powers were genuine. They had been since his birth.

Of course he had no idea where they had come from.

He didn't know why he could read minds, foresee the future and perform other things that other people weren't capable of. But it was so, hence he took it and used his abilities to their full potential. This was nothing to dwell on and overthink anyway.

With mixed feelings he stood in front of the grave.

A name and numbers on a tombstone made of the most expensive stone he had been able to afford.

He owed it to her.

Once he had been both grateful and resentful towards her for the drastic things she had done to make sure that he could go to the best schools around.

He had been resentful, because others had called him a bastard and a demon child, had bullied him for always asking questions, had feared him because of his abilities – and for all of this he had blamed her.

He had been grateful, because she had supported him and believed in him through it all, had called him a miracle and a gifted, blessed child, had told him that he was special and meant it.

It was because of her, that he was what he was.

He was a universal genius, a bachelor, physician, philosopher, teacher, alchemist, astrologer, medium … so many things. Yet, it wasn't enough for him, he wanted to learn so much more, more than a human could possibly learn in a single lifetime.

But it was only because of her, that he could even acquire all the knowledge.

That he could even read and write.

With a bitter smile, he placed the flower bouquet onto the grass.

“Hello, mother. I'm sorry I didn't visit you sooner.”

When he was 32 years old, he stumbled over an old, mysterious book.

Being the incorrigible glutton for knowledge he was, he had acquired it immediately.

The book spoke of hidden and forbidden arts and awoke something in him that he had never known was there.

Another kind of hunger.

Until now he had thought that perhaps he could try to be content with being a respected doctor and master of arts, work at a university and help lots of students become another generation of highly educated, arrogant twits, who flaunted their degrees and doctorates. Perhaps he would have married, even though he had never loved in his whole life.

That was out of question now.

Now he wanted something else.

He wanted to become a sorcerer. And if not that, at least the great alchemist of his time.

Oh to be on the same step of so many other great alchemists, perhaps accomplish even more than they did …

He wanted immortality.

Three years later, he hadn't achieved immortality yet.

Sure, he was famous – his name was known in a surprisingly large part of the Holy Roman Empire and it would be known for a very long time.

But metaphorical immortality wasn't enough!

He wanted the real deal!

He wanted to live forever and be forever young! He wanted to make all of his dreams come true, see the world, learn everything there was to learn, maybe write it down and share it with everyone – so many things!

And he would do anything to be able to.

Giving up was not an option. He wasn't like everyone else. And he wouldn't die at fifty or less, like everyone else.

When he was 37 years old, he looked in the mirror and scowled at his own reflection.

He was beginning to show signs of old age; there were bags under his eyes and soft wrinkles around them. And were those frowning wrinkles on his forehead?

From what he had read in the book, the elixir of immortality would stop the ageing process, but it wouldn't make him younger.

He had to find it quickly, before he started to look like some wizened old hermit!

A few weeks after discovering his first wrinkles, he spotted his first grey hair and spiralled into a mental breakdown.

He put more effort into his alchemy and not just once it ended in small explosions.

On top of that, he had to evade authorities, who accused him of the worst crimes and angry mobs that thought he was a witch or possessed.

No wonder I'm already growing old and grey.

When he was 38 years old, he discovered how to make pure gold.

Now he couldn't be that far away from immortality too.

Besides, he could now grow stinking rich.

Sure, he knew how to present himself and often read horoscopes for rich people – then, he was also a surgeon and miracle healer – one of the best, may he add! No false humility!

But if he suddenly became stupid rich, people would ask questions and assume the craziest stuff – or find out his secret. That would get him into trouble with … basically everyone who desperately needed or wanted gold.

“I need to save the gold-making for times, when I really need it”, he mumbled to himself, “And only enough to live fine.”

He wasn't quite 44 years old, when he achieved his goal by accident.

Once he had made gold, but forgot to empty the containers with the gold-making substances afterwards – it had been late and he had been overtired from lack of sleep.

When he had discovered his mistake the next morning, he opened the vials to clean them of the gooey substances.

But as he scraped the remains off the glass, he found something in one of the vials.

His blue-grey eyes widened.

It was a small, red stone.

At first he thought it was a ruby and considered selling it to the next jeweller.

But as he held it into the light, it began to shine in rainbow colours and the light revealed thin golden veins within the red material.

This was something new!

Deciding that he wanted a better look, he put it in a bowl of water to wash the dirt off.

The water turned purple.

He quickly opened his book about hidden alchemy to make sure that this was what he thought it was.

And sure enough …

“Eureka!”, he whispered.

He had found the Philosophers' Stone!

After drinking the purple water – which had tasted horrible, by the way – he found the next morning, that his wrinkles were gone.

Sure, the bags under his eyes were still there – but he knew that they had little to do with his age anyway.

He had finally achieved his goal.

Overwhelmed with joy, he threw his head back and laughed and cried with sheer happiness.

This is the best day of my life!

When he was 51 years old, he realised that he wouldn't be able to hide his agelessness for much longer.

So far it was still easy to do so, as he wandered from place to place and no one knew how old he really was. Those were strangers, people he'd meet once and then never again.

But he was naturally a flashy and showy person with a remarkable appearance and a lot of people had at least heard of him.

Sooner or later, some elderly person, who had met him or heard of him before, would recognise him and question, why he looked so young after so many years.

I guess I will fake my death as soon as enough people ask me about my age.

He was 70 years old, when he decided that it was time to get lost.

Just a few days before, a little child in a nearby village had asked him to cure her sick grandfather and he had done so. Unfortunately, the old man had remembered meeting him 30 years before and had recognised him immediately. He had tried to convince the old man, that he was the son of the famous Doctor (of himself), but the other hadn't bought it and instead accused him of necromancy and devil worship, or witchcraft, as the inquisition and the common folk called it.

Technically, the old peasant was right. He was, by all standards, a necromancer, just as much as he was an alchemist, astrologer and surgeon.

Still, he couldn't help but take offence. He wasn't a worshipper of Satan!

“How dare you!”, he shouted in outrage, “I cure you for free out of goodness of my heart and this is how you thank me! The audacity! The gall to attack my honour like this! Had I known that I would be insulted like this, I wouldn't even have come here! Accused of witchcraft by a peasant I just cured, Jesus and Maria! Never have I been so mortified in my entire life! Oh, I have half a mind to go to court for this injury, but this isn't even worth it!”

Then he had rushed off, ere he did something he'd regret. The little girl had apologised for her grandfather's behaviour and thanked him for the help, but he had left the village the very same day.

Now he was sitting in a shoddy hotel room and contemplating on how he was to go about it.

He couldn't just vanish into thin air, that would raise suspicion.

“They need to think me dead.”

It was in 1541 – five years later – when he finally had all the things he needed for his plan.

Somehow he had managed to make a dummy that looked like him, without anyone noticing.

He bought a real hair wig, some old clothes and posed with that outfit in front of the mirror in his hotel room in Staufen. Good. He didn't look like himself at all.

Of course he could just have turned into an animal – by now he was capable of that – but the superstitious folks in the area tended to notice the sudden appearance of black animals rather than strangers coming and going.

Now he just had to choose which explosive he wanted to use.

He left a generous tip to the landlord as compensation for the room he was about to destroy.

Then he dressed the dummy in his own clothes, mixed the chemicals together and climbed out of the window over a wall, before they blew up.

The explosion was deafening, he saw debris and parts of his dummy flying over the wall and faintly heard the screams of the people in the hotel.

Just as he was about to bail, he heard someone exclaim: “The Devil himself has finally got him!”

He fumed, but swallowed his irritation. There was no time for losing his temper right now.

No one even took notice of him, as he left the borough, dressed as a poor citizen.

A few years later, he found that he had become something of a folk legend.

That amused him not just a little - and perhaps it flattered him too. It meant he had left enough of an impression for the people to still talk about him after his “death” - they often forgot about people quickly, once they were gone. But he would be remembered.

They would tell stories about him for a long time.

He was now immortal both literally and metaphorically.

#dr faustus #johann georg faust #it's not certain when he was born #they say either 1480 or 1466 #i decided to go with the latter

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weirdoldmanhoho · 6 years

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Hey, happy fma day! Could you please do a prompt or like headcanons ideas of what would have happened if Ed and Al and the homonculi were siblings/cousins? (whichever inspires you more) it would be wonderful and funny, sure as hell

Happy FMA day! OMG yes this is my favorite ridiculous, silly au. Prepare for some ridiculousness.

Okay, so Father shows up randomly at the Elric (Hohenheim?) house a couple years into Hoho living there and is just like “hello, my dearest, oldest friend, so good to see you.” (Hoho is like, yeah, I’ve been rethinking our relationship ever since you literally committed genocide in front of me.)

Father tells Hoho he’s turned over a new leaf. No really, he says, no more murder. He’s content to live out the rest of his life with the one Philosopher Stone he already made and definitely has no plans whatsoever to make another one – what? How could his dearest, oldest friend – who he NAMED and cared for before anyone and helped gain him his freedom – doubt him? What is he talking about that the map of Amestris looks suspicious? Does he really think he could control how an entire country was built? His oldest, dearest friend (“seriously, stop calling me that”) has too high of expectations for him.

Anyways, Father says he showed up because he ended up with 7 kids somehow (“totally an accident. Just happened.” “…uh-huh.”) and he has absolutely no idea how to handle them and they’re all driving him absolutely crazy, and he heard that Hoho has two boys of his own (congrats, by the way, didn’t know you had it in you, your wife is lovely, good job) and maybe he’s managed to figure out this whole fatherhood thing better than he has, so can he bring the family and stay for a while? Just a bit?

And because Hoho is ultimately a sympathetic sap, he says yes. (Trisha literally might kill him. She won’t talk to him for two days. She threatens to take Ed and Al and run away. “This might be good for him, Trisha. He might actually learn to be better and care for people if he lives around humans for a while.” “If any one of his ‘children’ touch our children, I WILL find out how to kill an immortal and after I’m finished with them, I’m coming after you.” “I love you so much.”)

So the family moves in. Ed and Al meet their “cousins”. The homunculi meet the Elrics under strict orders not to hurt them. It goes about as well as you can expect.

Envy really likes screwing with Ed and Al. Their favorite hobby is transforming into one of them and trying to get in as much trouble as possible (pulling Winry’s hair, throwing things at Den, hitting the other real Elric brother, etc.) Jokes on them, though, because Trisha has gotten REALLY good at figuring out when it’s Envy in disguise and just happens to “accidentally” hit them with things. Like, she “accidentally” trips when Envy is in the kitchen as Ed and drops a metal pot on their head. (“Oh no! Edward, honey, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there!” She definitely did. She definitely aimed for the head on purpose.)

(In secret, all the Elric/Hohenheims have come up with tells to let each other know they’re not Envy. They might be putting up with them living here, but damn it all if Trisha is just going to passively let them torment her family.

Greed and Envy hate each other, so Greed teams up with the Elrics to help harass his sibling, and ends up actually becoming a big brother figure to them. And somehow, damn it all, he’ll deny it until his dying breath, he’s actually grown a little fond of the tikes. He lets Ed try on his ugly fur vest once. He puts on the invincible shield and lets them hit him with things (look just because he actually tries to play with the kids doesn’t mean he knows anything about appropriate games for human children. Envy and Lust and him hit each other all the time – and usually with a lot more blood and death involved – surely that’s fun for his little “cousins” right?)

Trisha walks outside once and sees her sons just beating on Greed with any weapon they can find and just…walks away. She doesn’t even care anymore. As long as it’s her sons beating one of the homunculi and not the other way around, she’s not going to stop it. She considers that this might be teaching her children bad lessons for the future – such as its okay to just beat people with sticks – but considering it’s also teaching them it’s okay to beat up homunculi, she thinks the pros outweigh the cons.

Lust tries to act like she’s above everything, but she usually gets dragged into arguments. She just kind of randomly flip-flops between helping Envy screw with the kids and teaming up with Greed to defend them like a guard dog, with no apparent rhyme or reason to which she’s going to do on any given day. Ed and Al are both terrified and slightly in awe of her. It’s pretty much exactly how Envy and Greed feel too.

One of their “cousins” looks suspiciously a lot like the former Furher of Amestris (who randomly disappeared a couple months ago, stating “family emergency” before vanishing). Wrath wears a whole bunch of ridiculous disguises every time he takes the boys into town. I’m talking like fake moustache over his real moustache and sunglasses. Really ridiculous hats. Hawaiian shirts. A fake nose once. (“This is just sad,” Envy tells him. “I’ve seen humans disguise themselves better than this.” “I’m not taking advice from someone who willingly walks around looking like that.” Envy has to be held back from trying to maul Wrath by Lust, because Envy has already lost FIVE LIVES since living here – one of them might have been from Trisha, but she won’t confirm or deny anything and only cackles quietly to herself when she looks at Envy sometimes – and if they keep it up they’re going to actually die FOR REAL by next year. “DO YOU THINK PHILOSOPHER’S STONES GROW ON TREES?” Father booms, then goes immediately to Hoho and is like, “That was the right phrase, right? I also tried grounding like you suggested.” “You’ll get this fatherhood thing in no time. Also, you can’t end the grounding no matter how sad they look. That’s what Trisha says.”)

Side note: Mrs. Bradley definitely moves in with them too and now she knows exactly what her husband and son are and still loves them just as much. Pride is confused and slightly mortified, but also touched – he’ll never admit it. Wrath just really loves this human woman he chose. He and Hoho trade stories about their adventures wooing strong-willed, slightly scary mortal women. They get drunk together once and cry into the night about how wonderful their wives are and the fact that their children are growing up before their eyes – “I don’t grow, Wrath, what are you talking about?” “My son sounds so grown up!” Both men sob harder.

Trisha and Mrs. Bradley become fast friends. They run a So-You-Married-an-Immortal support group. Currently they’re the only members. Meetings basically consist of them exchanging stories of the weirdest things they’ve ever seen their husbands do.

Pride becomes weirdly protective of the baby Elrics. Mostly because he believes Father wants to keep them safe and he’s the most loyal devoted son who will do anything Father wants, so he takes great pride (ha) in protecting the baby Elrics from every harm he can think of. He also looks the most similar in age to them, so he lets Father enroll him in the local school and watches over them while in class. The rest of the class and the teacher are absolutely terrified of him, because he mostly just sits behind Ed and glares at everyone who moves too close.

Ed and Al grow up with a really weird understanding of shadows – ie, convinced that they can definitely move independently and are physical things you can touch, because that one time Al tripped, a bunch of shadows definitely grabbed him before he hit the ground, placed him back on his feet, and patted his shoulder reassuringly for good measure.

Sloth does nothing, of course. He’s just happy he doesn’t have to dig that tunnel anymore. He mostly sleeps and Ed and Al try to figure out how much they can stack on him before he wakes up. Or how many times they can poke him. Or how loudly they can shout. Etc.

Somehow it turns out mostly okay though. Ed and Al make it into their teenage years without dying or any serious maiming. (Only Greed and Envy have been maimed, but their injuries heal so it’s fine.) They have at least two homunculi that are fiercely protective of them, one that usually at least has more fun fighting their enemies than them, one who acts like a weird uncle and showers them with gifts and random melons, and two that are pretty indifferent as long as they’re left alone. And Envy, who definitely still wants to make their lives as miserable as possible, but is at least usually outvoted by the other homunculi.

The Elric/Hohenheim family is very weird, but most of them (and Resembool) have accepted that. Trisha definitely would still kill any of them if they hurt her sons though.

Thanks for the prompt!

#I don’t know what this is #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #damn #homunculi #c: edward elric #c: alphonse elric #elric brothers #c: father #c: van hohenheim #c: trisha elric #c: pride #c: greed #c: envy #c: lust #c: sloth #c: Mrs. Bradley #c: king bradley #ask #my post

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cinnbar-bun · 5 years

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WILDCARD: Mysmes as gbf units (what element, what weapon they'd use, what race they'd be and so on)

*rubs hands together* I was MADE for this

Zen: Light element- I’m kinda gonna base this on his outfit for when he played Zorro. He’d be kind of mysterious but over-dramatic- he’d introduce himself as an aspiring actor, flirt with Danchou for a bit and be all ‘hehe obviously the god’s regret making me this handsome’. He has a rapier on his side and Vyrn roasts him literally every second like ‘yo dodo bird do you even fight bro????’ and Zen gets SO offended. His fate episode has him basically chatting your ear off and you’re like ‘why is he even in my crew-he’s as chaotic as Aoidos???’ But as you level him up he is the sweetest thing ever and his v-day+ white day cutscenes would be the absolute cutest things ever!!! He’d be so suave you’d have a heart attack!!

Rarity: I’d go off on a limb here and say maybe r or Sr, since he’s the “easy” route, he’d prolly be one of the easiest to get. I’d also say he’d be a fan favorite real quick, so he gets an sr summer skin and sr event character, maybe an outfit or two as well.

Skills: Based on his personality, I think he’d be one that can charm enemies with a cheesy skill name like ‘dazzling skin’ or ‘blinding smile’. Also based on his rather hot-headed personality, he’d prolly be someone with ‘hostility-up’. I’d even say when you get him to level 45 and earn his last skill, he’d have a skill that heals or takes hits for you, the MC.

Weapon: Rapier, as said before. I think he’d call it ‘Zorro’ or something else that’s entirely stupid. When you summon his weapon, it’d be called ‘radiant rapier’.

Yoosung- Wind element. He’s an absolute cutie and would prolly be a hermit in the forest chatting it up with his animal buddies and you gotta drag his butt outside while he screams about the sun. His whole character arc is him getting utterly ROASTED by Vyrn and literally everyone because of how much of a NEET he is. Lyria and Danchou try to reintegrate him into society and trust people more. He starts off as ‘happy’ in his fate episode, gets melancholic in his skill episode, then becomes truly happy in a cross episode with another character.

Rarity: Sr. Unfortunately he’s not as popular as most, so he probably gets an event unit at most besides his original. I think he’d eventually be recognized as being a great character and may get a summon stone though.

Skills: I think he’d be a healer/buffer to the crew. So he’d be healing with a skill called “Superman Yoosung to the rescue!!” and then a buff for wind characters like “NERF THIS WIND LOLOL!!!” And then his last skill will be a really sentimental one like “I’ve become stronger now” and it places a defense shield on him and ally.

Weapon: Staff. He’s a healer, but his sprite has like a bird and deer somewhere. If you were to summon him, it’d be called “Staff of Life”.

Jaehee- Is a tired woman who you bump into because she’s busy trying to deal with Jumin’s shit. She apologizes quickly and Lyria is like “OMG BUT WE NEED TO HELP HER!!!!’ So her whole character arc is you helping her she should achieve her dreams and then suddenly she’s like ‘yeah LEMME QUIT AND START A CAFE!!!’ She becomes great friends with Sandalphon becuase they both bleed coffee and are done with everyone, but have a soft spot for the captain, and have massive crushes on their white haired besties (i mean whaaaaat).

Rarity: Sr. She gets an original, but a second sr version where she has finally achieved her dream. It’s a really cute closure to her character, and Jumin doesn’t act so OOC to fill a quota lol.

Skills: She’d be debuffer/ buffer extraordinaire. Cooldown times shorten, atk goes up, and she has a stackable skill ‘The faster you finish, the faster you can leave!!’ in which her hostility and atk goes up, her def goes down, and she HITS HARD!!!

Weapon: stack of papers Idk tbh, maybe a tome, but it’s referred to as a staff (call it a gd book jfc Cygames lol). She’d probably earth element and WILL BREAK THE EARTH IN HALF!!!!

Jumin- The rich, stoic prince of a kingdom you end up meeting on accident. He only joins you because you found Elizabeth the 3rd and he was very grateful. So imagine Percival on steroids and that’s Jumin as a GBF character. He’s quick to call bullshit, but every time Vyrn or Zen roasts him it flies over his head/he roasts them back a thousand times harder. His arc is him learning to trust his FEEELINSS!! Also becomes close with Dante and they both philosophically discuss cats like they’re their gods. His V-day and White Day cutscenes will be the EXACT SAME AS SIEGFRIED!! HE’S AWFUL ON V DAY BUT ON WHITE DAY HE’LL BE COMPLIMENTING YOU AND BEING HAWT BUT THEN HE’S LIKE ‘I RESPECT YOU’. DUMB IDIOT STILL DOESN’T KNOW FEELINGS!!

Rarity: SSR. He’s quickly become a fan favorite and has two ssr versions, his original and maybe a halloween/ christmas version, and then an anniversary skin where he’s wearing a dashing tux and it will say on the description, ‘Can you keep up with me’ or something safdsjgnfljsnjkn I’m dying CYGAMES MM COLLAB WHENST????

Skills: He’s a dark debuffer/ defensive character. He can hit hard but he is more focused on longer battles where survivability is more necessary than him nuking. He’d have a def down for enemies and it’s called ‘I get checks’ and a def up for all allies called ‘Ahh- to be with Elizabeth the 3rd again’

Weapon: A beautiful sword/ lance that is very pristine and glorious. It’s gonna have a diamond on it somewhere and it’s gonna be a reference to how his father gave him that pen.

Also!!! He gets a cross-fate episode with Zen where they both roast each other before actually talking out their feelings and working it out. I can also imagine an episode where he delves more into his distrust of women and why he focuses on his Elizabeth so much.

707- He’s so god damn chaotic you wonder WHY THE HELL IS HE EVEN ALLOWED??? Okay so you end up meeting him when Rackam is trying to fix the Grandcypher and homeboy shows up, suggests some ideas and him and Rackam go nutso over ships (this version of cars). He has a lot of inside jokes and is very memeable for a GBF character, becoming a notorious part of the April Fools event. His fate episodes start off happy before becoming depressing and you’re like wow why don’t you just run me over with a boat huh???

Rarity: SSR. Super popular and has like…five variants lol. I say he’d be a fire nuker all the time except for one ssr variant, in which it’s a dark version where it was a ‘what if he fell into despair?1!!!!???’ Super depressing story holy cow. He’s got an event sr in there, it’s pretty good. He’s prolly also got a summer, Christmas, or Halloween variant somewhere there. Of course, because of his popularity, he gets skin or two as well.

Weapon: I imagine him using a fire gun. Like imagine a better Rackam. It’d be called something like, “hacker’s resolve”.

Skills: Fire nuker. He’s horrible for long distance fights, but he focuses a lot on enmity, hype, and hostility up fights where he needs to hit hard and fast. For sure has a skill called, ‘I’m in’, and “Defender of Justice-707!!’ and after you complete the heart-wrenching skill ep. he gets his final skill called, “god forgive me”. It’s so depressing T-T

Also!! Has a cross-fate with both Yoosung and Unknown where they focus on family and growing past their own background.

Unknown- A very scary dude when you first meet him, who tries to kill you on sight. Lyria…does something and he’s like, ‘I need to get revenge so I’ll stick with you if you let me kill people’. His episodes start off VERY dark and disturbing, but gradually get happier as he becomes more acquainted with the MC. I’d say he’s basically like Azazel where he’s so tsundere about everything and you’re ‘okay brooooo’. His valentines day cutscenes would be absolutely hilarious as he’s like ‘ew why would I take anything you make’ to ‘i dreamt of eating your chocolate again’. His white day scenes would be SOOOOOO worth it tho, he gets you a bouquet of flowers with special meaning and is blushing and tells you to take it before he freaks out.

Rarity: Originally a water sr, but then got a wind SSR version that represents him growing and becoming ‘Saeran’ again. It’s a super amazing growth that makes everyone weep when they!! see!! the!! baby!! smile!! He prolly has a Halloween version where he dresses as the phantom again.

Weapon: Firearms. Tons of guns and explosions.

Skills: He’s an attacker/debuffer. He can hit hard like his brother but can ACTUALLY TAKE A HIT AND NOT DIE!!! I can imagine he’d have a self heal skill called ‘mint eye elixir’ where he drinks a potion and heals, but if you do it too much he eventually can be knocked out or raise his atk a lot but get killed by getting slapped too hard. He’d have tons of debuffs where he blinds and confuses foes, and his last skill would be called ‘unraveled chains’ where he boosts his atk and def. His SSR version would be a lot different and more focused on buffing everyone up, and he’s so good at it. They’re mostly related to flowers and how he’s grown and changed as a person, and how he finally reached happiness.

V- He is a blind wizard. That’s it. That’s literally how you meet him you go ‘lol there’s no such thing as a-’ and V saves your ass from getting run over by a cart or something. You beg him to join and he’s like ‘well of course I’ll help you wonderful children!!!’ His v-day and white day scenes are absolutely heartbreaking yet so emotional because he talks about his past with Rika yet says how he can finally ‘see’ the light since joining you. His story IS SAD!! SAD!! SAD BOI HOURS AT ALL TIMES!!! A BLIND MAN IS CRYING OVER HOW HIS SINS WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO WASHED AWAY AND HE SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO GET A SECOND CHANCE AND!!! SO SAD!!

Rarity: Water SSR plus a dark sr from an event where he’s in his mint eye clothes. Gets a Halloween skin where he’s dressed as a detective trying to find his happiness and will to live.

Skills: Self-sacrificing skills that buff everyone up. It’s so sad because he’s so good at buffing everyone and making everyone a tank but you just… dude you wanna talk about it?? Do you want a healer omg man, I’m so sorry.

Weapon: Blind wizard. He uses a staff, which doubles as his walking staff.

#long post #mystic messenger #gbf

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starlistic · 5 years

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Candlenights Kitchen a candelnights giftswap fic for @salty-angel! I hope you enjoy. sorry for the slight delay, and thank you to @kravalicious for organizing this! <3

In the chaos of a very busy kitchen, the faint shouting of a stone went nearly unnoticed. Thankfully, at least one of the occupants wasn’t preoccupied with tossing a pan or perfecting a dish, although that was mostly because he had been banned for burning food so badly it had been stuck to the pan. Twice. In Taako’s favorite pan.

“You arrest people for dead crimes,” Taako had said, prodding Kravitz in the chest with a failing but valiant attempt to conceal his laughter. “I’m arres— exiling you, for burn crimes.”

Kravitz had rolled his eyes at the time, but now he appreciated having an excuse to sit back and watch Taako and Lup move together in a dizzying frenzy as he distractedly flipped through some semi-important reports. The twins moved like their own miniature planar system, spinning through the demanding dance of holiday meal-making with ease. Even the quivering buzz and flashing runes of the stone on the table beside Kravitz took a moment to pull his attention away.

Shaking himself out of it, Kravitz picked up the stone of farspeech — Taako’s, he was pretty sure.

As he did, Lup raised her voice as she excitedly retold one of the Reaper Squad’s many adventures in condemning necromancy. “The guy had the nerve to lie straight to our faces with the evidence sitting right behind him!” Lup shouted over to her brother, loud enough to be heard over the sizzling of vegetables and hot oil in her pan. Unfortunately, she was also loud enough to completely obscure whoever was speaking through the stone.

Kravitz pressed a finger against the stone anyway. “Hello?” he said, not quite as loudly as he could’ve. He didn’t want to distract the cooks.

“Didn’t even need a Zone of Truth to figure that one out!” Taako said cheerfully and also quite loudly from across the room, drowning out the stone’s response with his cackling and the clang of utensils against a pot.

Dropping the stone from his face, Kravitz gave up on trying to hear over the natural ruckus of the kitchen and called out, “I’m stepping away for a moment!”

Lup glanced over to him, cocking her head to the side as he made his way out of the kitchen. “I thought we didn’t have work—?”

“No, yeah — no, it’s not work related. Just taking a call while you’re all clearly too busy to do so,” Kravitz tossed over his shoulder as he turned the corner and strode down the hall, ignoring Taako’s snorted response.

He headed to the living room, listening to the twins’ clattering die down with distance and the stone’s tones come through more clearly without other obfuscating sound. The hall didn’t stretch too long, before opening up into the room, but it was decorated lightly with small shelves of knickknacks and portraits, shiny things that gleamed and images depicting stars and worlds and the bright smiles of a family with a firm, unceasing world beneath their feet at last.

“—y side of things,” the stone of farspeech chimed in casually from his hand. “We’ve picked up Carey and Killian. Ango said he’d get back on his own, though. Said he didn’t want to bring the Starblaster down in front of the school, it’d cause too much trouble.”

The voice was easily recognizable as Magnus Burnsides. Of course. Kravitz tapped the rune as he brought it closer to his face. “Hey, Magnus.”

“Oh, hey, Kravitz! Thought it was you that picked up a moment ago.” There was a small laugh, and then, “So, I take it that the twins are — super busy, with the meal and stuff?”

“Got it in one. I think they’ve got unseen servants helping out or something, it’s been pretty noisy.”

Magnus snorted. “I’d be surprised if they’d let an unseen servant do more than grab stuff, and that’s what the, uh, glowing hand spell is for. Mage Hand, I mean. Anyway, I was saying that we’ve got everyone except Angus, who insisted we didn’t, so we’ll be flying straight for you and we’ll probably be there in, oh, maybe an hour or so. Actually…” His voice grew a little fainter, as though he were shouting off to the side. “Daven— Cap’nport! Hey, Captain! When’re we landing?” After a moment of indistinct burbling in the background, Magnus’ voice returned in full loud and booming force, declaring, “About half an hour!”

That was plenty of time to get dinner ready. “I’ll let them know,” Kravitz said, just as the air began to tear apart in front of him.

Despite its abrupt appearance, the reaper was familiar enough with this particular type of portal that he only stepped away a bit to make space as Barry emerged from the rip in space. Barry sealed it quickly behind him, his scythe dissipating as he did so.

Kravitz nodded at him. He figured there was nothing wrong, since Barry didn’t look distressed, but just to make sure, he asked, “Everything fine?”

“Yeah, we’re good for the n— the rest of the night.” Barry smiled, and then noticed the pulsing rock in Kravitz’s hand. “Who — who’s on the stone with you?”

“Is that Barry?” Magnus said.

“Magnus,” Kravitz said just an instant too late, unnecessarily. He handed the stone over to Barry with a wry smile. “They’ll be here in thirty minutes. I’m going to update Taako and Lup real quick, be right back.”

Barry nodded, watched him leave, and looked back down on the stone. “Magnus, bud?”

“Yeah?”

“Remind Merle to leave our b— Candlenights bush alone this year, will you? Before you get here.”

Magnus snorted. “Yeah, I‘ll make sure he remembers that that’s off limits. Until it comes time to open the presents.”

“Until after Candlenights.”

“Until after Candlenights, at which point he’ll probably take it off your hands to replant it. I’m pretty sure he knows, but since he’s — he’s. Wait,” Magnus said, a strange tone creeping into his words. “Wait just a second. Holy shit. I just remembered. Merle. Merle is Santa.”

Barry attempted to make sense of the last three words out of Magnus’ mouth and failed miserably, in part because he refused to believe it. “He’s what?”

“Merle is Santa. We accidentally killed the last Santa last year, on accident—”

“You killed who?”

“—and the title, the duty and stuff that came with being Santa was technically passed onto Merle—”

“Oh, gods,” Barry said, somewhat awed of how little he knew of this world despite spending years here, and also somewhat horrified. “There’s a Santa here? And — you killed him?”

It struck him that maybe — well, he recalled the strange disappearance of that package he’d meant to give the three boys (but had been unable to, due to the lich ward) and the small note he’d found in its place, a tiny slip of a thing that had read, A humble gift for the only lich to ever be on my nice list! It’s rare to find someone’s Candlenights wish to be for someone else to receive a gift, but that’s easy enough to do! —S.C.

Only the distraction of the Philosopher Stone’s eminent danger had stopped him from stressing out about the apparently delivered gift at the time.

It’s been three years since. Barry hadn’t thought about that in what felt like ages, but the existence of Santa cast it in a slightly more reassuring light.

And a slightly distressing light, actually, because Magnus had apparently killed this person — with, Barry assumed, the help of Taako and Merle, because the three of them had often went on strange adventures together even after the Day of Story and Song.

“Does — is Santa supposed to do anything special?” Magnus asked, sounding faintly strained. “I really hope not. The previous guy seemed pretty chill.”

“I-I really doubt not, since it’s Santa on Candlenights Eve,” Barry said. “Oh, shit. We gotta — is Merle with you?”

“On the ship, yeah. Should I tell him?”

“Yes, absolutely. Go tell him and maybe make — er, come up with ideas for gifts or something. Or we can talk when you get here, I don’t—”

“I’ll remind him,” Magnus promised. “See you soon!”

Barry shook his head, took a moment to marvel at the insanity his family managed to get themselves into, and then tucked the stone in a pocket as he made his way to the kitchen and poked his head in. Immediately, the smell of delicious food swamped him, but he pushed that aside for a moment. It was quieter now, the stovetops quiet as the cooking wrapped up. “Hey, Taako?”

Taako, who was in the middle of plating another dish with Lup on a line of shimmering others that were probably spelled for preservation, looked up. So did Kravitz, who was nearby. “Yeah?”

“Is Merle Santa?”

“Is — oh. He was a year ago.” Taako shrugged over Lup’s baffled expression, and in that moment of distraction, Kravitz reached over and scooped a bit of mashed potato up with his finger, shoving it in his mouth before Taako could stop him. “Yeah, he got the bag and suit and whole thing. We even delivered a present to a kid in an ice keep. Krav— you’re not going to have any room left for the actual meal, you know.”

“You underestimate me,” was Kravitz’s very self-satisfied response as he licked his finger clean, to Taako’s chagrin. And then, “Since when was Merle Santa?”

“I can’t believe you never said anything about this,” Lup interjected, utterly amused.

Taako huffed. “Listen, it was last year and our costumes faded after a while so we never really thought about it afterwards. What about it, Barold?”

“Didn’t you think that maybe being Santa would come with som— certain, certain responsibilities?” Barry said.

“Yeah, but we did it,” he replied, entirely missing the point. “Gave a kid a gift.”

“Candlenights comes every year, Taako—”

“I know that—”

“And I think Santa gives gifts to more than one kid, so — uh, so maybe there’s something that should be maybe done this evening before the actual Candlenights day comes around?”

Taako narrowed his eyes, looked down at the layout of dishes on the counter, and then back up, and then down, and then up at Barry again. “Nobody’s going anywhere until after dinner, because I spent all fucking day on this beautiful feast,” he declared, swatting Kravitz’s hand away when he tried to sneak another bite, “but after, okay, sure, let’s... get presents from somewhere and throw them at children.”

“Ooh,” Lup said, sitting up abruptly with the sparkle of an idea in her eyes. “If Merle’s Santa Claus, then the Starblaster could be the sleigh.”

“Hell yes.” Taako sounded thrilled by this particular spin on the situation. “Let’s book it at full— at top speed around the whole world, raining down presents from above. I can definitely, deffo get behind that.”

Barry was pretty sure Davenport wouldn’t be pleased with using the ship in such a somewhat irreverent way — and then promptly remembered that their captain loved Candlenights. As serious as he was, he did adore the holiday more than most people Barry knew, so. That might actually work.

Grinning, Kravitz leaned over to press a kiss to Taako’s cheek, wrapping his arms loosely around Taako’s waist, snug and gentle. “First you save Faerûn, and now you’re going to save Candlenights? How generous of you, love.”

“I was already saving Candlenights with all this food,” Taako drawled, but Barry easily picked up on the slight smile tugging at his lips, the utter lack of tension in his posture as he eyed the dish in front of him. Patting Kravitz’s arm with one hand, Taako added, “Alright, bones, help us get this set up — not the food, you’re banned, grab the drinks — and we’ll, I don’t know, figure it out the rest when everyone gets here. You too, Barold.”

Kravitz snorted. “And worry about the Santa problem later? It’s only the joy of probably millions of children on the line,” he teased.

“Have you seen the weather outside? Taako’s good in here. Where it’s warm. Merle can handle that when he gets here.”

With a smile, Barry brushed past Lup and gestured at the plate, causing it to lift into the air as he picked up two more, careful not to tilt or spill anything. “Do you want them to be set in a specific order, or—?”

“Nah,” Lup said. “We can rearrange them afterwards. Thanks, babe.” She topped off another dish and held her hand over it for a moment, smiling at the brush of warm air against her palms for a moment. Then, she traced the edge of the plate with a finger and whispered a quiet spell to pause the steam rising off of the dish.

The front door creaked open as Barry carefully transferred the meal to the dining room, a bit of cold air creeping in before it was quickly shut. “I’m home!” called the familiar voice of Angus, the boy quickly peeling off his thick jacket and scurrying deeper in.

He darted down the hall and beamed upon spotting Barry, his arms full of food.

“Welcome back,” Barry said. “They’re in the kitchen.” And then, projecting his voice, “Angus is here!”

“Dope!” Taako called back. “Agnus, how’s it looking out there?”

“Cold, but no snow yet. Everyone else shouldn’t have an issue getting here,” Angus responded, not bothering to correct Taako on his name anymore; he’d long figured that that was Taako’s way of trying to be subtle about his affection. He trotted over to poke his head in the kitchen, quickly spotting Taako, Lup, and Kravitz. “Happy Candlenights Eve, sirs and ma’am!”

Taako, in the midst of balancing four plates on his arms, grinned back. “Happy Candlenights Eve. Snow or not, it’s gonna be a good one.” He paused, and then added wryly, “Worst case we can just ask Merle to Control Weather or something, I guess.”

Laughter broke through the room, warm and comfortable. Worries were set aside for the moment as they anticipated the arrival of the rest of their family, knowing that the Starblaster’s passengers would bring even more joy to them than a sleigh would.

#salty angel #kravalicious #tazgiftexchange2018 #popped back to tumblr real quick for this—#all my tags are gone rip ip #taz balance

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superiordragonlorde · 6 years

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Jean Havoc

Ok, now we have day 4- Jean Havoc for @teammustangweek . Warnings (because apparently warning free fluff only appears once every blue moon): vulgar language, also depression and implied thoughts of suicide. Ok, I hope you all enjoy!

Jean Havoc would love to say he was a great judge of character. And usually, he was. But when it came to women, that trait was ejected out the window. And this time, it came back to bite him. Hard.

Now, he was left to his own devices in the hospital, banging his head against the wall in a steady, slow rhythm. How could he have been so stupid and blind? She was a damn homunculus, for crying out loud! How had he not seen it coming? He’d spent many hours on that hospital bed replaying every conversation and interaction he’d ever had with “Solaris”, analyzing each sentence they’d ever uttered with each other. He’d looked for any slip-ups on either of their parts. But his brain hadn’t found anything remotely close, and so he eventually gave up trying, sinking into self-loathing and pity.

He couldn’t feel his legs now. The doctor had said that some of his nerves had been damaged, severing the pathway the brain fired commands down. He’d probably never be able to walk again.

Sitting alone in the hospital was the hardest part of Havoc’s day. His mind never seemed to tire at mulling scenarios and questions. How could he have been so blind, trusting a stranger like that? What could he do without the use of his legs? How could he help the Colonel now? What use was he now to anyone? His mind turned to darker paths after that. He’d found himself staring a little too long at the chemicals the janitors always brought into his room for cleaning or wishing for a pistol in his hand. He’d wondered if he could convince one of the nurses to give him a few extra pills, for the “pain”, of course. If he stocked up on enough of them-

For some reason, something always snapped him out of that thought a moment before it could be finished. Whether it was himself, a nurse, the doctor, or one of his friends, family, or coworkers varied day-to-day.

Today it turned out to be Ed’s day.

The young alchemist knocked on Havoc’s doorway, holding a basket in one hand.

“Hey,” he greeted in a mumble, shifting his weight on his feet. Havoc forced a grin onto his face.

“Ed.” He waved a hand, gesturing for his guest to come closer. “Come on in. What brings you here? Let me guess, you got beat up again and Alphonse had to drag your ass to the hospital?” A soft glare was thrown his way, but there wasn’t any heat behind it. Ed shuffled in, standing next to a chair by Havoc’s bed, radiating awkwardness. Havoc motioned towards the seat.

“Relax, Ed,” he joked. “I’m not contagious or anything.” The comment earned him an amused huff, but that was all. Ed sat down, plopping the basket on the table within Havoc’s reach. Havoc blinked at the confusing present.

“Uh, it’s a melon,” Ed stated the obvious, rubbing the back of his head. “The first time I got really beat up, the Fuhrer came to my room and gave me one as a ‘Get Well’ present... I guess?” His cheeks were a pink tinge now. He gave the floor a true glare, muttering, “Look, I don’t know, ok. Al said I should bring you something, but we didn’t know what to bring you, so this was our best bet.” Havoc blinked again and chuckled.

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” he reassured, touched by the strange yet affectionate gesture. “I never know what to get either. Besides, I love melon, so this is a real treat.” Actually, he hated melon, but who was he to say no to two well-meaning kids. Ed visibly relaxed at Havoc’s lie.

“Ok. Cool.” An awkward silence fell between them.

“So,” Ed started, leaning his elbows on his knees and holding Havoc down with a piercing stare. “How ya holding up?” It was a typical question everyone who visited him asked, but Havoc felt an extra sense of weight added to it now, putting more pressure on the answer he’d give.

“Ah, I’m doing fine,” he shrugged, telling the same answer. “Just relaxing here while everyone else is out working their asses off.” A bit of anger seeped into his tone on accident and he hoped Ed wouldn’t notice it. Ed gave a short hum, looking unconvinced. Damn that perceptive kid.

“Yeah, sure,” Ed murmured, eyes sliding out to the window, staring at the brilliant blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. It was a shame Havoc couldn’t find it within himself to admire the view.

“It sucks,” Ed started, drawing Havoc’s attention back. “When everyone pretends that everything’s ok, even though it’s really not.” Those golden eyes turned back to Havoc, who felt a chill crawl up a part of his spine. The kid’s eyes looked like they should belong to a man three times his age, wisened past his years, and filled to the brim with experiences and regrets. “They always tell you that everything’s going to work out in the end, right? They give you a lifeline of hope by saying that, but it’s a lifeline for them, too. I mean, they don’t know what it feels like. And a part of you wants them to, just so someone can understand you. And then you end up hating yourself for even thinking that, because what kind of monster wishes for someone to feel that pain just so they feel less alone in it all?” Those damn eyes pinned Havoc to the bed like a butterfly on display, wings spread for all the world to see. Damn, could this kid read him like a book? Havoc had assumed Alphonse would be the people expert, not Edward. He opened his mouth to make some form of a retort or joke to lighten the mood, but every word he thought of saying died in his throat, leaving him gaping like an idiot. He decided silence was better than catching a fly in his mouth by accident, so he snapped it closed with an audible click. Ed watched him, still as a statue, and as calculating as the Colonel. It seemed like they stayed that way for hours, a prey versus a predator. Finally, Ed leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms with a sigh, and closing his eyes.

“Look, just-” he paused, gave a deep inhale, and plowed on. “Don’t let the dark stuff get to you, ok. I know that it gets really tempting sometimes, but you gotta push through it. You can’t let it take you over and you have to find a way out of it. It’s going to take some time,” he opened his eyes, meeting Havoc’s own paler blue ones. “But they’re all right, it’s worth it in the end and it does get better.” He glanced down at his automail arm, the hand flexing. “It will get better.” Silence ascended over them again, leaving Havoc to mull over the teenager’s words. He didn’t get very far into his mulling before Edward interrupted them with a scoff.

“I know I’m not good with words, alright,” he grunted, averting his gaze to the sheets on Havoc’s bed. “But just... just think about it.” He glanced up at Havoc, eyes filled with a silent plea. It seemed like Havoc just could never say no to this kid.

“Yeah, promise,” he vowed, flashing a small genuine smile. Ed returned the gesture, relaxing in the chair with a sigh.

“The food here is awful by the way.”

“Trust me, Havoc,” Ed chuckled. “I know.”

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Havoc catching up on Ed and Al’s adventures across Amestris, still in search of the Philosopher’s Stone. He’d asked a few questions about the team, enjoying Ed’s colorful retelling of stories about the Colonel and his subordinates, and about current homunculus news. All-in-all, it was a fun day spent with the fiery Fullmetal Alchemist.

Visiting hours ended far too soon in Havoc’s opinion when a nurse poked her head in, telling Edward that their time was up. Ed stood, cracking every joint he still had left and stretched his automail limbs.

“Oh, by the way,” Ed added. “If you want, I could call up my mechanic and she could have a look at your legs.” Havoc arched an eyebrow, trying to follow Ed’s thought process. A mechanic was used for machinery, so that meant this person probably worked on Ed’s automail. Automail was used for body parts that were no longer attached to said body. If they were attached in place of the real body parts, then-

“No thank you.” Havoc drew out the ‘no’, grasping his legs. “I’d like to keep everything down there with me.” Ed blinked, befuddled, then slapped a hand to his face, hissing when it was the right hand that had connected.

“Fuck,” he mumbled, glowering at the automail before shaking his head and turning his attention back to Havoc. “No,” he barked, exasperated. “I mean, she could rig you up something like a nerve system for your legs. It’d probably be kind of like braces with electrical wiring.” Havoc blinked and felt hope rising in his chest.

“Has it been done before?” he asked, hardly believing. Ed shook his head.

“Nope, but if anyone could make it, I know it’d be Winry.” He beamed at the name. Havoc’s hope deflated a bit, but the fire that had started it still burned strong. Was it possible? Ed sure made it sound like it was. He gave a thoughtful hum.

“I’ll think about it,” he nodded, already processing the idea. Ed grinned.

“Ok, make sure you do.” He turned to stride out the door, only to pause at the threshold. “And think about that other stuff I said when I first got here, too, ok?” Havoc smirked, flashing a thumbs up.

“Will do,” he called out, earning a grin and parting wave from the alchemist. Havoc laid back against the pillows beneath him, gaze pulled towards the sunset painted across his window. He didn’t think he’d try automail, from the horror stories he’d heard it was the most painful experience people had ever been presented with. But it was nice to know that, if he really wanted to, he could walk again. And maybe Ed was right. Maybe it would get better. Those brothers were going to make their situation better, so surely Havoc could too. He felt a grin twitch a corner of his mouth. There was no way he was going to stop fighting, not while those boys were still going at it too.

It also helped to boost his morale when a plan had begun to hatch in his mind. He could still help the Colonel and his teammates. He was sure that his folks wouldn’t mind the idea, and the store was a pretty nice front for it...

The grin grew until his face felt like it would split in two. Oh yeah, this was a great idea.

Augh, another angsty one. And seriously, I’ve put Ed in every single one of these. Is this Team Mustang week or Ed week? I mean really... Anyway, thanks for reading!

#teammustangweek18 #jean havoc #edward elric #fma #fullmetal alchemist #depression #thoughts of suicide #vulgar language #my fic #my writing

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fullmetalirin · 6 years

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Fullmetal Alchemist OG vs. Brotherhood: Episode 1

I’ll be following episodes according to OG’s timeline, and comparing them to the Brotherhood episodes that cover the same content.

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 1: "Those Who Challenge the Sun"

Wikipedia’s plot summary:

In a brief flashback, the Elric brothers Edward and Alphonse had attempted to perform an alchemical transmutation in the hopes of bringing their late mother back to life, but they had failed in doing so. As a consequence, Al disappears, Ed loses his left arm, and a grotesque figure appears in the transmutation circle. In the present, the brothers walk across a desert. They arrive at Lior, where they hear about a religious leader named Father Cornello who can create miracles. However, as they realize that he is performing alchemy and ignoring the law of equivalent exchange, they believe that he possesses the philosopher's stone, which they had been searching for to restore Al's body. Threatened, Cornello orders Cray to kill them. Rosé, a girl the brothers meet, is traumatized after witnessing Al's lack of a human body, runs to Cornello. The Elrics follow her, and Cornello releases a chimera on them when they meet. Cornello also transmuted a giant bird from a parrot and sends it to fight against Ed, who fends both of the chimera and the bird off by exposing his automail, his metal arm and leg. Cornello then realizes why Ed is nicknamed the "Fullmetal Alchemist", understanding that the brothers had committed the ultimate sin of human transmutation.

I like this episode a lot as an introduction. It uses in-medias-res excellently, with a shocking opening that makes us wonder what happened to the brothers and how they’re still alive four years later. It’s immediately followed by a funny opening scene that functions as a palate cleanser for the horror we just witnesses while also establishing the brothers’ dynamic with each other, as well as hinting at alchemic mechanics (”If only there was some grass, I could turn it into bread”).

I wanted to do a spittake when I saw Ed was only 15 in the present day, though. That’s some YA level absurdity there. I somehow remembered him being older. (I also feel like it’s rather undermining the horror of his automail stunting his growth -- that’s not immediately apparent if he’s not supposed to be fully grown in the first place. There are definitely 15-year-olds who are as short as him naturally.)

We get another funny scene when they finally make it to Liore; Ed is exhausted and blames Al, but Al points out he’s only tired because he chased Al so hard. This is, again, a really nice and succinct way of establishing their characters and relationship.

Ed finds a fountain in the middle of the city, and discovers it’s pumping wine. This is a really nice detail that fleshes out the city, and shows how Cornello’s miracles are affecting their everyday life. He’s not just making some flashes to wow people, he’s actively changing the city and giving people something tangible to believe in. What I think is most important about this detail is that it adds nuance to this conflict. Cornello really is bettering the city and giving the hopeless something to believe in. These people aren’t just following him because they’re idiots; they are truly desperate. The heroes may be liberating the city from his manipulations, but they’re taking good things away from the city too.

The Elric brothers find a bar and Ed finally gets a drink. The bartender turns on the radio -- a detail that shows this isn’t your typical fantasy story, but one with an early 1900s tech level. We hear Cornello’s broadcast, and the shots decompress to give us time to take it in. We pan over the city, see how everyone reacts to the broadcast, and see Ed’s reaction to it as well.

This is the point where we catch up to the manga’s opening. The bartender asks if they’re street performers; Ed gets affronted, and says only vaguely that they’re here to “look for something”, piquing our curiosity. Ed asks about Cornello and the entire town suddenly crowds in to tell him the good word, which is both funny and an effective means of conveying exposition. They make explicit what was implied by the fountain of wine: their desert town is normally inhospitable, but Cornello made it better.

Al stands up, and breaks the radio by accident. Ed offers to fix it, but Al volunteers instead. This is our introduction to alchemy, and it’s given appropriate weight. We linger for some time on the transumtation circle, and there is dramatic music. Like the radio, this is an effective way of showing what’s special about this world -- we linger just long enough to take it in, without making us get bored.

Ed tries to introduce himself, expecting his reputation to proceed him, but the townspeople are unimpressed. An eavesdropping Lust, however, introduces him as the Fullmetal Alchemist. Her behavior is framed as suspicious...

But we don’t think about it too much because the townspeople immediately mistake Al for the Fullmetal Alchemist, and Ed comically overreacts at the affront. LOL. In the process, we establish that Ed has a complex about being short.

Then Rose shows up. She offers to take them to church and Ed accepts, hoping they’ll find something there. As they walk away, we get a quick scene with the townspeople where they hint that something bad happened in Rose’s past, but they don’t give specifics. Tantalizing! The camera prominently focuses on Lust leaving suspiciously.

Ed then wonders if they’ve seen “that woman at the shop” before. I think he’s referring to Lust, but I don’t know where they would have seen her before. Edit: Found a better translation. He’s saying he doesn’t know her, and wondered how she recognized him.

Rose tells Ed he’ll get taller if he prays, and I get the impression she’s purposefully saying it to get a rise out of him, which is funny.

We cut to Cornello finishing the broadcast. Rose arrives, and it becomes clear she is expecting a miracle in exchange for her service. Cornello strings her along, telling her her good work is recognized but it is not yet time.

The next scene finally tells us what’s going on with her: As the brothers bed down, Alphonse reveals he’s asked around, and discovered Rose is mourning the death of her lover. She has no family, so she is lost and desperate to have him back. Ed looks angry, and firmly rejects the idea that the dead can come back.

We cut to the next morning, where Cornello is doing a demonstration of his miracles. They very explicitly pay homage to Jesus: he turns water into wine, and brings a bird back to life. He also turns a log of wood into a stone statue. His ring glows prominently every time, making its relevance painfully obvious.

In the crowd, Ed and Al discuss whether they’re real miracles. They say it’s clearly alchemy, but he ignores some physical laws. This segues into exposition on the limitations of alchemy and equivalent exchange. Al explains that alchemy follows conservation of matter: he could not have turned the broken radio into a bigger radio, “or a piece of paper, or a tree,” though I’m skeptical of that last part -- one of Ed’s favorite techniques is turning stone into a metal spear, so they clearly can change the material, not just rearrange it. We can even nitpick further by pointing out that alchemy clearly ignores conservation of energy and matter is just energy, so really they should be able to do anything. But hey, I’m here for scientific magic, so I’m willing to see if they can keep it consistent.

We cut to Cornello in his office again. He is paranoid that the arrival of a State Alchemist means the state is going to expose him, and orders that the Elric brothers be disposed of.

I always find it really dumb when characters do this. If you send an investigator after something and they mysteriously go missing, that draws more attention, not less. But Cornello isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, so alright, he’s panicking. To his credit, he really keeps his cool; he does not break character, insisting that he’s doing this to protect the city, and he leaves his ugly orders subtle and implicit.

We’re also told Ed became a State Alchemist at twelve and I have just entered a brain-killing fever. I’m just going to mentally add three years to their ages from now on.

At the last minute, we see Lust is working with Cornello as well.

The next scene starts with Rose in the church. Ed sneers at her for believing God will resurrect the dead. I really like her reaction:

Look at the detail of those expressions. There is so much pain and frustration at this unwelcome intrusion as he twists the knife so painfully, yet she still manages to compose herself and plaster on a fake smile. This adds incredible depth to her character. She clearly has practice repressing dark thoughts and putting on pleasant facades. Where did she have to learn this? How awful it must be for her to have to live like this. She’s only a side character, but already I’m feeling so much sympathy for her -- more than I’m feeling for Ed at this point. He’s being such a dick to her!

Ed grandstands, pulling out his book and reading off his list of the human body’s ingredients. Rose has a serious reaction:

Ed explains it’s the ingredients of a human body, and then moves into his real point: scientists know all this, but there’s been no successful case of creating a real human through alchemy. Despite this, Ed believes that through hard work, they’ll eventually find a way, unlike merely praying for a miracle. He then callously mentions that these materials can be bought cheaply. The camera maintains focus on Rose the whole time, who slowly loses her composure until she snaps at him with indignation.

Ed stands up, but seems to have some difficulty, leaning on the pew to support himself. Nice foreshadowing there.

Ed smarms that despite rejecting God, alchemists are the closest humans have come to him; Rose snaps that he’s not God, and Ed counters that neither is the sun, and makes a vague statement about getting burned if you venture too close.

This is an incredibly powerful scene. The framing makes this feel as tense as a fight scene -- because in a way, it is, but one much more important than a mere clash of weapons. This is a battle of philosophies, and that’s what this series is truly about. We’re made to wonder why Ed speaks with such conviction -- from the opening, we know his attempt to bring his mother back failed horrifically, so who is he to act like he knows the truth? Rose is a worthy opponent -- her counterarguments are not just the talking points of an evangelical robot, but real arguments with real emotion behind them. We know there is so much subtext under everything they say -- both of them have lost people they love, and both of them cling so strongly to their respective coping methods. Ed doesn’t come out the clear victor here.

Then suddenly, it’s action time! Clay tries to assassinate Al, and in the process we discover that there is nothing inside his armor. Ed knocks him out with a quip, showing he’s used to this kind of violence, but Rose has a breakdown. Al tries to explain that this state is punishment for trespassing in Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, but Rose just runs away in horror. The brothers pursue, and find Rose has led them into Cornello’s trap.

Ed accuses him of having the Philosopher’s Stone, and reveals that’s what he’s been looking for. Cornello admits to it, but once again does a good job of keeping up the act: he claims the Stone is a gift from God, and points out that he’s done real good for the town by reviving it from the ravages of war (a theme that will become important later). Rose outright accuses them of selfishness by wanting to steal their hope.

Cornello’s opening attack is to transmute the floor to sand, sinking Al -- something that was foreshadowed in the opening. Clever. Cornello then sics his chimera on Ed (with some exposition), who makes a spear out of the sand. But I thought you said alchemy couldn’t change materials, Ed. Possibly it’s supposed to be pure silicon? That might explain why it breaks so easily.

Cornello then turns the bird he revived earlier into a huge raptor, which crushes Ed’s spear with its claws. It then tries to do the same to Ed’s leg, but fails -- which I guess is confirmation the spear can’t be a strong metal. Ed punches it out, but is attacked by the first chimera, which similarly fails to tear his arm off. Ed tears his coat the rest of the way off, revealing his automail.

And that’s where we end! Cliffhanger!

FMA Brotherhood Episode 3: "City of Heresy" (part 1)

Brotherhood compresses this arc into one episode, so for now we’ll only cover it up to the same point as OG.

Wikipedia’s plot summary:

Edward and Alphonse arrive at Liore, where they witness Father Cornello gaining the devotion of the townspeople by performing "miraculous" transmutations, which they believe could only have been accomplished using a philosopher's stone. They meet Rosé and request to see Cornello. When Cornello realizes that Edward and Alphonse are alchemists, he ambushes them with a chimera. While battling the chimera, Edward unintentionally reveals his prosthetic automail limbs, and Cornello realizes that he had attempted the taboo of human transmutation.

As to be expected from compressing two episodes into one, this episode feels incredibly rushed in comparison. There’s not even the opening scene in the desert -- we start with the Elric brothers already in the city and listening to the broadcast. They don’t spend as much time talking about Cornello (no specific good works are mentioned), Rose and Lust don’t appear, and fixing the radio is much faster. Ed doesn’t offer to fix it first, which is a reasonable minor detail to cut but I thought it was a good bit. Once again, this only makes sense if you assume the audience is already familiar with FMA and doesn’t need this exposition and character establishment.

The townspeople recognize Ed on their own and once again mistake Al for the Fullmetal Alchemist, and... here is where we get introduced to one of Brotherhood’s aesthetics I hate: the cartoon shift.

I know, I know, this is a legitimate technique in anime and manga. I don’t think it’s inherently bad, and it can actually work really well in works that don’t take themselves too seriously, provided this level of comedy is appropriate.

...And I just don’t think that’s the case for FMA. FMA, even Brotherhood, is a very dark and serious story with a lot of violence, death, and heavy themes. And like. Maybe it could still work if the cartoon shifts were restricted to only a few scenes, but they’re not. Brotherhood does it all. The. Time. Even in the middle of serious scenes. And that completely kills the mood for me. I cannot take anything in Brotherhood seriously, simply because it never knows when to stop. This case is a genuinely comedic scene, so it’s not egregious this time, but oh, it will get worse. This very episode, in fact.

We immediately jump to Cornello’s demonstration instead of waiting a day. He only does one miracle, turning a flower into a... crystal? The stone’s influence is less painfully obvious -- it’s prominently displayed, but doesn’t glow. The Elrics still exposit about the law of equivalent exchange, but it makes sense because they have no one to exposit to (Rose isn’t introduced yet). Alphonse also claims that changing vegetable to mineral is a violation of equivalent exchange.

We then jump straight to the church scene. This is our introduction to Rose. I feel like Ed now looks like a bigger dick because he doesn’t even know this person -- in OG he had a reason to talk about God and resurrection, and he was actually trying to help her even if he was terrible at it. Here he just spits on her faith for no reason.

Rose still has her bit about prayer making him taller, but it’s in cartoon style, and a sound effect helpfully informs us she’s being sincere, so she no longer gets the dignity of clapping back to Ed.

Then we get Rose’s reaction to Ed listing body materials:

HA HA, THE DUMB COUNTRY GIRL DOESN’T UNDERSTAND THE EDUCATED MAN. LAUGH.

This is not an appropriate time for comic relief. It may not be immediately clear, but Ed is trying to have a serious philosophical conversation by touching on the trauma that defined his life. This is an incredibly important scene to both characters, but now I can’t take it seriously at all. Similarly, Rose’s responses sound silly -- they’re robotic evangelical cliches, not anything grounded in her own situation or true emotion.

Why? I think it’s telling that when Ed gives his line about humans being cheap, the camera focus is on him instead of Rose.

Rose isn’t important in this scene. She’s just an object for Ed to talk at to show how much smarter he is. (But tell me more about how Brotherhood treats its female characters so much better.) OG challenged Ed here; BH just validates him. In both cases, that’s very telling of how the story will ultimately shake out.

Then out of the blue, Ed does a 180 and says he wants to meet Cornello, praise God! Rose sees nothing suspicious about this.

We then get the meanwhile scene where Cornello fears the state is closing in on him, but he’s much more pathetic. He’s visibly sweating and emotional, slipping up multiple times.

The Elric brothers visit Cornello’s estate and the climax takes place there. Similar thing where the secretary tries to kill them, but Al doesn’t lose his head.

Cornello shows up and tries to pretend he wasn’t trying to kill them and very badly denies the allegations he’s using alchemy. What is the point of this?

Then Cornello appears to make a statue out of literally nothing.

Cornello tries to convince Rose to kill the Elrics instead of just killing them himself, because...?

Cornello also gives the exposition about her boyfriend here, while Rose is being a pathetic frail woman and hesitating.

Rose levels the gun at Al and we get ANOTHER comedy scene where Ed is affronted at the mistaken identity because now is definitely the right time for comedic relief.

Rose shoots Al by mistake (I think?) and this is where we learn he’s an empty suit. Except the backstory episode is before this in Brotherhood so we already know, so the impact is kinda lost.

Now Cornello decides to summon the chimera, finally. In this one, Rose is still down there with the Elrics in the line of fire.

The chimera’s claws break off when it tries to claw Ed, which is ridiculous. The chimera in general is a lot more pathetic: we hear it whine and see it have pained expressions when Ed kicks it. I honestly feel bad for the poor thing.

Ed tearing his coat off is the same, but he looks more generically bishonen (less muscle definition). I’ll admit that this does make sense with the idea he’s a growth-stunted 15-year-old.

The mid-episode break corresponds exactly with the end of OG’s first episode, so I’ll end it here.

#fullmetal alchemist #fma #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fma 2003 #liveblog

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disrespectfullcalum · 7 years

Text

Walk the line (Pt3/?)

Word count: 2,415

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Summary: Being the granddaughter of Peggy Carter, you always try to stay away from spotlight. The lure of Hydra is still out in the world, but you get away from it whenever you work at that small diner a few blocks from the Avengers tower. You even befriend one particularly nice customer and let him help you with your language essays for college. But what are you going to do when your family name collides with reality and you finally realise what past is behind those sad eyes and shy smile from your favourite customer?

Warnings: drinking, angst, explosions, cliff hanger, swearing (I, uh, think that’s it???)

A/N: So sorry it took me so long to update!! But I’m not sick anymore so I had to go to work and catch up and also take care of family stuff. I’m gonna try to update every other day until this is finished and maybe start some shorter stuff? If you want? Anyways - please, please reblog if you like it, I enjoy reading tags and/or comments!

MASTERPOST

It's quarter past eleven, I'm not in the mood to think Mr. band leader, let's kick out the jam

You knew this was a bit ridiculous. The dress, the shoes, the complete make-up – you looked like a clown, ready for the show. Plus, you didn’t even really know any of these people that would turn up and they didn’t know you. They all were just going to talk to you because of your name. Not your first name, no first name was interesting enough for that. It was your family name that caught their attention. Carter, that is. And if it hadn’t been Steve himself who invited you, you probably wouldn’t even go.

This all had started three months ago. After that weird evening where James had come in with his two… friends, yeah, that’s what you would call them. You hadn’t seen him that much since then and when you did, he was almost always covered in bruises from head to toe. There weren’t too many questions asked because you knew he didn’t like that. You would just place a glass of coke in front of him with his usual menu, he’d smile at you with that damn stupid half-sided grin, and then just eat and drink in silence before leaving with a more than gracious tip. There’s was pretty much no talking anymore, no more correcting of essays or anything. It was like that stupid comment his friend had dropped just – broke everything. It made you feel lost, it made you miss the times you would just throw remarks at each other during your shifts and you realised that he actually had made most of your shifts much more fun. He would hum along to the songs in the background, sometimes writing down the titles and artists in a small notebook. He had you so intrigued with his non-existent knowledge of popular movies (old and new) and you happily lectured him hours on end on your favourite ones.

Like Harry Potter. You probably spent an entire month telling him all about the storylines, the different characters, the canon pairings and possible pairings, the little details – you told him literally everything there was. He was even allowed to borrow your most favourite editions of the books, the well-loved and used versions you had owned since your 13th birthday. That was an honour not too many people in your life were granted and he had thanked you for it with actual notes of his thoughts. He actually wrote down his thoughts of every single chapter and as you read them at night, there was no way you couldn’t smile at them. During the first chapters of the Philosopher’s Stone, he wrote: Snape = suspicious. Probably up to something. Hermione is nerve-wracking, but will likely be useful to the boys in future. The pure thought of James staying up late, reading a children’s book and watching the movies and being so irritably bitchy about their lack of content – that was enough to make your insides warm and fuzzy.

But all of this stopped, and you felt lonelier than before. You hadn’t realised how much you relied on him as emotional relief until you no longer had him around. Sure, you still had your other friends who listened to everything, but you still found yourself missing his presence. He had managed to sneak into your heart without you realising it and now that he didn’t show up anymore – the hole he left was gaping deeply. And as if it was a weird coincidence, another guy had stepped into your life right at that time. And by another guy, you were talking actual freaking Captain America! You had gotten an invitation to S.H.I.E.L.D. which already startled you as you had never actively contacted them. Sure, your family name was like a holy grail and they most definitely had data about anything you did – you had just never expected them to actually contact you. It had been three months before the anniversary of your grandmother’s death and apparently, they had decided to celebrate it. Like, complete with speeches, music, and any other extravagancy they could come up with.

And they wanted you to join. You, as the granddaughter of the legendary Peggy Carter, should hold a speech at this ridiculous event in her honour. You were sure that this was the last thing she had in mind but well, if that meant to get them off your ass, you would do it. You had sent them back a letter in which you were stating you would do it but only under the condition of not being named anywhere. Not on any programme flyers, not on a poster, nowhere. That was the only condition for you and it was funny enough that that one thing made Steve Rogers appear on your doorstep.

It was a late Saturday night, you had been studying your ass off trying to understand this complete ass of a German news article and the whiskey bottle next to you was nearly half empty. Bourbon had been a favourite of yours since forever – Peggy had actually given you your first ever bottle of it when you turned 18 because that was the legal drinking age in England. No other reason needed. It probably also hadn’t helped you that since you still visited your grandparents frequently when you were over 18 and had drunk together with them. It had made you a bit immune to its effects and made you a wonder at every single frat party you had attended. But tonight, you weren’t drinking to feel good or goofy, you were drinking because you wanted to drown that stupid feeling of being lost. This feeling of not really having anyone who knew you. Your parents had died when you were 16 – officially it had been an accident, but you knew they had been working for S.H.I.E.L.D., so it had most likely been during a mission. And during all this mess, your doorbell rang. Quickly, you wiped your eyes and tried to make your hair look a bit less messy as you walked towards the door. You didn’t even bother looking through the small spy even though you didn’t expect anyone. It shocked you therefore when you opened the door and there was this stupidly hunky man standing there. His shoulders were broad enough to touch both sides of your door frame and his blue eyes felt like they were looking right into your soul. “Hello?” Your voice was a bit smaller than you wanted it to sound, you didn’t want to seem intimidated by his height or anything. “Are you… Y/N Carter?” His voice was calm, a bit worried maybe. And his eyes held a spark of hope that was all too familiar. Your eyes squinted slightly as your head tilted to the side. “I know you. From pictures. I think we should talk about this inside.” And with that, you ushered him inside, quickly glancing up and down the corridor to make sure nobody had seen literal Captain America waltzing over.

He had stayed nearly the whole night. When he left, there had been two more empty bottles of bourbon, a lot of tears shed, and a lot of tissues on your couch table. You two had spent the night talking about your grandmother, him sharing his memories of the younger her during the war and you telling stories about her as a mother and grandmother. It was nice to have someone who could relate to losing someone so close and loved – sure, your friends had lost their grandparents as well for the most part, but none of them had been as close as you and Peggy. Steve met you a few more times and after a while, you grew used to his visits. He reminded you of James in a way: He, too, didn’t know too much about modern movies or music but that was due to him being frozen and you made it a mission to show him your favourite stuff. It also didn’t take you too long to realise that he was dating your only cousin, Sharon. She was unlike you in the most parts, but you both were close nonetheless. And while you had preferred to stay in the shadows, she took part in S.H.I.E.L.D. and worked on the heritage of your grandmother. And bless her, she was good at that.

But tonight, you would have to step out of them. You felt utterly ridiculous and nowhere prepared to talk to all these agents. There was nothing you had in common with them, absolutely nothing. You were a languages and business student, they were field agents who fought one-on-one and some of them had only nearly escaped a certain death. Plus, the fucking Avengers were going to be there. Steve had told you that much about the preparations because apparently, even Captain America himself didn’t know everything. As if the mere presence of Iron Man or the Hulk wasn’t already intimidating enough! Your hands were sweaty, and you wiped them unconsciously on the side of your dress, making Sharon grab them in her own hands and squeezing them. “You’re gonna be alright, Y/N. You have your notes on these cards, you just look at Steve and me the whole time and you’re gonna be fine.” A deep breath escaped your chest. “I seriously don’t know what I’d do without you.” She gave you a half-sided grin and patted your shoulder. “Well, you certainly wouldn’t be here. Peggy would be proud of you.” The last part was merely a whisper, but it echoed louder inside of your head than anything else.

The scent and the aroma refuse to breathe It's more like a haze that's trying to succeed It's drawing me in and pulling me to you And every thought I have turns the language blue

His nose crinkled as he tried to get this stupid tie correct. This had been his forte back in the 40ies, but those times – well, they were long gone now. He hadn’t been wearing a suit or a tie for decades and Bucky swore under his breath as he got it wrong for what felt like the 40th time. A quick glance to the watch on his bedside table showed him that he was already late. Annoyed and frustrated, he threw the stupid thing back onto his bed and fixed his hair one last time in the mirror before walking out. He had been excited for this evening because he had met Peggy during the War. She had been strong and beautiful, and it hadn’t been hard to see how much her and Steve had loved each other. Bucky only wished that he spent more time with her back then and deeply regretted his typically-douchebag behaviour from these days. He hadn’t thought much of women in the army, saw them as too fragile and emotional for the job. But Peggy – she had changed his mind. And every time he had met a female agent at the headquarters of S.H.I.E.L.D., they had reminded him of that strong woman. In a weird way, Y/N had reminded him of her as well. The way she held herself up, this natural confidence, even the twinkle in her eyes.

Y/N. Her name alone made him frown a bit. He had only been down to the diner a few times because he didn't really want her to see him like this. All the missions he went on now, they had left him in desperate need of patching-up and it was a true piece of work to hide all the bruises. Bucky wasn't going to let her see him all messed up. She already worried and if he turned up even more worn-down, she would ask too many questions he couldn't answer - and that was a risk Bucky was not ready to take yet. He liked her, there was no denying that! But he could still remember the person he had been before, he remembered the things he had done, and he was not going to let Y/N anywhere near the danger that came with him.

He took the stairs two steps at a time and had trouble to catch his breath at the top of them. With a quick look around, he managed to spot Steve standing a few meters away together with Sharon. They were giving the thumbs-up to someone up on the stage, but Bucky didn’t give it too much of a thought as he walked towards his friends. “What took you so long, frosty?” The woman greeted him with a bright grin on her face. He gave a dirty look while his hands reached up to fix his hair one more time, but Sharon was quicker and stopped the movement. “You look fine, Buck. Even though a little haircut wouldn’t be a wrong thing to do.” Sharon stated while Steve nodded in consent. But he just shrugged his shoulders and fixed his eyes onto the stage where Director Fury was standing – Bucky had to take a double take because he had never seen the chief in a suit or anything like it, he almost looked unrecognizable. “Next up, we have a very special guest coming. Her family name has been engraved into the minds of all our agents, her very family is the foundation of our organization. Please, welcome the granddaughter of our founder, Peggy Carter – Y/N Carter!”

There was a big round of applause as a young woman walked up the stage, but all Bucky could think of was how funny it was you shared the same name as the granddaughter of Peggy. Before he could make out a face though, there was a loud thud. Within seconds, there was shattered glass, terrified screams, and the sound of guns being loaded. Bucky had instinctively thrown himself onto the ground, as well as Sharon and Steve. Sharing the same panicked and frantic look, they all whispered one thing: “Protect Y/N.”

#walk the line #bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes #written #marvel

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halothenthehorns · 4 years

Text

NICOLAS FLAMEL

Despite the emotional baggage of that chapter, James was very pleased indeed that Harry seemed to have gotten the idea of that dog out of his son's mind. He was all for focusing on Harry finding Nicolas Flamel however, or even moving past that and going along his school looking for something more fun to do, and so read on eagerly.

Harry was having nightmares now, dreaming of his parents disappearing in a flash of green light while an unseen voice laughed.

"Not appreciated, not one little bit," Sirius said, shuddering in disgust, and not mentioning that he had a very similar nightmare the previous night.

"Sorry," Harry said honestly.

"It's not your fault," James said, a shade paler than normal, "it's not like you can help what you dream."

When Hermione came back from break, she was just as disapproving of Harry's nighttime wanderings, fearing if Filch had caught him,

"Ah, he'd have only threatened to string you up by your thumbs or something," Sirius shrugged it off, since they hadn't actually been caught, it seemed rather funny to him.

and disappointment that he hadn't at least found out who Nicolas Flamel was.

"Did she expect you to, honestly?" Remus chuckled.

The three were about to give up hope on ever finding this out. When school started again they'd be back to searching at odd moments through infinite books.

"So we were right the first time," Remus said sadly, "Harry might not figure this out for years."

"Oh come on," James said bracingly, "I'm sure he'll find a Dumbledore Chocolate Frog Card again."

"We don't know how rare they are in this time," Sirius reminded him.

"And he most likely won't reread it if he does," Remus agreed.

"Well then he should start trying to memorize them in his free time," James laughed.

Harry was back to near constant Quidditch practice, since if they won their next game against Hufflepuff, they would overtake Slytherin in the house championship.

"Always a good motive," James and Sirius agreed.

Apart from wanting to win, Harry found he had less nightmares after an intense training.

"Also true," The two players agreed.

Harry's enthusiasm for his next game went down some though. At the next practice Fred and George were miming falling off their brooms and goofing around as usual, when Wood yelled at them to knock it off, they couldn't be doing that kind of stuff at the game, because Snape was refereeing this time.

"What!" The uproar was so loud, the neighbours may have heard that.

"James, tell me you're joking," Sirius said, looking faint.

James just sat there, frozen as he stared at the page.

"But he can't," Lily said weakly, "Madam Hooch always referee's."

"He would have had to get Dumbledore to say yes," Remus agreed, running his hand through his hair in frustration. "Which means that Dumbledore didn't have a problem with this."

"I have a problem with this," James yelped in disgust, "couldn't McGonagall have protested on bias."

They all shared devastated looks, but then glanced at Harry, only slightly reassured that he was still sitting here, looking as upset as the rest of them, but still here. Safe and sound.

George Weasley really did fall off his broom at these words.

"Can't blame him," Remus muttered in disgust.

The whole team began complaining loudly, but Wood pointed out he couldn't do anything about it, they just had to make sure they didn't give Snape a chance to pick on them during the game.

"When does he need an excuse to do anything he bloody wanted," Sirius hissed.

After practice Harry sprinted back up to the common room to find Ron and Hermione playing chess, the one thing Hermione wasn't particularly good at.

"Humility is beneficial in the long run," Lily agreed, distracted. She knew for a fact she wasn't going to be able to settle down again until this particular game was over.

Ron noticed the look on Harry's face at once though, and told him he looked terrible.

"And a good day to you to," James forced a laugh.

Harry quickly caught them up on Snape's sudden sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee.

"Now that's a sentence I never bloody thought I'd hear in my life," Remus said, looking a bit

queasy.

Ron and Hermione both told Harry he shouldn't play, Hermione suggesting Harry could pretend to break his leg, and Ron adding on Harry should really break his leg.

All three boys forced chuckles at this, while James pointed out, "good offers, but Madam Pomfrey could fix that in a second."

"You could have a potion's accident," Remus offered, "those get a bit trickier."

"And accidentally poison himself." Lily snapped.

"Got any better ideas?" Sirius snapped back.

"Read and find out," Harry said loudly when it looked like they were about to start really arguing.

James threw Harry a grateful look, then read on.

Harry pointed out if he backed out of this game, then Gryffindor didn't have a reserve Seeker, so the team would lose.

"Which is a bad idea honestly," the former Quidditch Captain shook his head, "you should always have a backup team."

"Well you can write him a letter later," Lily muttered.

Before the conversation could continue, Neville hopped into the common room. He had to hop, because his legs were bound together with the Leg-Locker Curse.

"Damn," Sirius let out a low whistle, "I'm impressed he made it all the way to the seventh floor. Where was he when that happened? Just think of going up one stair case like that!"

"He doesn't know the counter curse?" Remus asked in surprise, "it's a pretty basic curse."

James shrugged, deciding to read on.

He must have somehow hopped all the way up here, and the thought promptly sent every student into a laughing fit, except Hermione who jumped to her feet and performed the countercurse.

"Well that was rude," Lily huffed.

"I can imagine it being a bit funny," James said fairly, "but I'm glad Hermione fixed it," he said at once at his wife's sharp glare.

She escorted Neville over to their table and kindly asked what happened, and Neville told them it was Malfoy.

"Not that prat again," Sirius groaned.

"What possible reason could he have for cursing Neville? As far as we know Neville's done

nothing wrong to anyone," Remus said.

"Seems to me that boy doesn't need a reason to curse anyone," James muttered.

He'd seen him outside the library.

"Ouch," Sirius groaned in real pain, "had to hop up a whole floor. I can't believe he didn't just go to McGonagall, then he would have only had to go down some stairs, which would be far easier."

"Shame perhaps," James said, "no student wants to go whining to the teacher's if they can help it."

Lily shook her head in disbelief, she thought that was ridiculous, but could hardly say anything since she didn't exactly go to the teachers with all of her problems either.

Hermione urged Neville to go report this to the teachers, but Neville refused, saying he didn't want any more trouble. Ron insisted Neville shouldn't let Malfoy just walk all over Neville,

"I think that was supposed to be helpful," Sirius said, mouth twitching, "but it didn't come off very well."

"At least he's trying," Lily said in approval.

but it only seemed to make Neville feel worse as Malfoy had already told him he wasn't brave enough to be a Gryffindor.

"Why that little," James yelped, now wanting more than anything to punch that git in the face, "he has no bloody idea what he just said."

"Someone needs to tell Neville he's the lucky one," Remus agreed.

Harry felt around in his pocket and found his last Chocolate Frog card he'd gotten for Christmas and handed it over to Neville.

"That poor dear," Lily sighed, but then she added on, "that was very sweet of you Harry."

Harry smiled at her, knowing he would have done it again in a heartbeat.

Harry told Neville he was worth twelve of Malfoy, that Neville was the lucky one while Malfoy could keep his stinking Slytherin status.

"Much better," Sirius said bracingly, "If that doesn't cheer up Neville then I don't know what

will."

Neville unwrapped the chocolate while thanking Harry, eating the frog but handing the card back to Harry as he went upstairs. Harry glanced down and saw it was Dumbledore again,

"Yes," all five of them cried with joy.

"So long as you look at the back again, you should at least find his name again," Sirius cheered.

"I think I just remember without having to look, finally," Harry said cheerfully.

then Harry gasped and did a double take at the card.

"Yes!" They all cheered again. They didn't even want to imagine the frustration if Harry hadn't remembered that.

He eagerly read out the back of the card's information again, including Dumbledore's famous work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel.

Lily suddenly burst into giggling, gaining strange looks from all of the boys.

"It's just that, I'm thinking James read that from memory more than anything, and of all the things he's bothered to memorize," then she trailed off still laughing.

It was Hermione's turn to jump eagerly to her feet, sprinting up to the girls dormitories and returning a few minutes later with an enormous book.

"So Hermione read his name at some point to," Remus said in surprise.

"I don't know, she seems like the kind who remembers everything she reads," James said slowly.

"Maybe it was something else Harry just read, maybe a book on alchemy," Sirius suggested.

Hermione began eagerly tearing through the pages, saying she had checked this book out weeks ago for some light reading.

"Still an overachiever," Lily said indulgently.

Ron mocked the word light due to the bulk of the book, but Hermione shushed him as she flew through the pages until she found what she was looking for. Ron grumpily asked if they could speak again, but Hermione ignored him.

"Well that's just rude," Sirius laughed.

"You'd think he'd be a bit more excited at having finally found out a lead," James chuckled.

Hermione read out eagerly that Nicolas Flamel was the maker of the Philosopher's Stone.

"So she did read his name elsewhere," Lily said in surprise.

"Guess even Hermione can't remember everything," James shrugged.

None of them noticed both Remus and Harry seemed to be thinking really hard about something.

This meant nothing to either Harry or Ron, so she pushed the book towards them and had them read the passage, while mocking the fact that they never seemed to read,

"Well none of us knew it either," Lily said, rolling her eyes.

the book said the Stones properties including giving immortality and turning metal into gold.

After James got done reading that, he looked up to see everyone in the room looking at him like he'd grown a second head.

"You mean that's a real thing?" Remus spluttered.

"You've heard of it," Sirius demanded.

"As a rumour," he admitted, "like James said earlier, alchemy is one of the most untested studies. There have been rumours for years that someone made a stone that could utilize its magic, but I didn't think it was real."

"You still could have mentioned something," Lily said, staring at him wide eyed.

"Did anyone else catch on that Elixir of Life?" James demanded, "this thing sounds like a piece of eternity in your hand."

"You really think that's what's being hidden in the school?" Lily asked in concern.

This brought the other four boys up short. They had been so excited at figuring out this mystery, they hadn't come around to this yet, but now Remus said slowly, "well then it may not even be hiding from a dark wizard. Anyone would want it."

'Someone like a disgraced Death Eater' Sirius thought bitterly, but chose not to say that. He really didn't want to start another fight.

"Why now though?" James asked slowly, "do you think Flamel may have passed away and he left it to Dumbledore, or-"

"Hello, Elixir of Life," Remus reminded him, "I don't think that's it."

"Well, now we know what it is," Harry said, finally cutting them off, "now let's so what we did with that information."

All four adults turned wide eyed looks at him, Lily demanding, "Why would you have to do

anything with this? You followed your curiosity because you stumbled across this, fine. Now you know, and you can let it go."

Harry gave her an exasperated look, but when he looked around and all the boys were nodding in agreement, he decided to keep silent. There was no need in preemptively getting yelled at for what he was sure he had done. If his gut was anything to judge by.

James felt quite excited that at least one of their curiosities about this book had been answered so far, so he read on.

The book then gave a little information on Flamel, including his place of residence and his age, 665.

"How current was that book?" Remus asked in curiosity.

Harry shrugged, saying, "I don't know, I didn't ask."

Hermione then comes to the conclusion this must be what was being hidden in the school.

"Yes," Lily said slowly, "that makes sense, but are you telling me Dumbledore couldn't have come up with a better idea than a school full of children?"

"What better place than in plain sight," Remus offered.

"Yes, but since we've already established that someone did figure it out, and is after it," James said, "I'm going to agree with Lily on that one."

Sirius couldn't help but agree with them as well, thinking that anyone that had the powers to break into Gringotts and not get caught could certainly make it into the castle as well.

Harry agrees, saying something like that, it was no wonder Snape wanted it. Anyone would.

Lily pursed her lips, James had read that with a little too much conviction, and the other boys around him were all nodding in agreement. Unbelievably though, none of them verbally agreed.

They spent the rest of the night discussing this, but it wasn't until the next day during their DADA class where they were learning about treating werewolf bites,

Before either of his friends could open their mouths to make a sarcastic comment Remus snapped, "can it you two or I'll shove your heads into a lake."

Harry was biting his lip to keep from laughing, while Lily asked in genuine curiosity, "I remember some of that lesson, but I thought there was no cure for a werewolf bite?"

Remus sighed, looking up at the ceiling in self-hatred before answering, "there's not, but there are some solutions you can use on the infected wound so it won't scar as badly."

Harry cocked his head to the side as he investigated Remus, but thought it rude to ask to see Remus' bite, so he just let James go on.

that Harry remembered his coming match and close proximity to Snape. Harry tells his friends that he's going to play.

"So long as you don't fall off your broom again, sure," Lily muttered.

"Did anyone put in an inquiry why your broom acted up anyways?" James asked, realizing no one had mentioned this.

Harry shook his head, saying, "No, Professor McGonagall asked me about it, but when I told her I had it under control, she gave me a suspicious look and walked away."

All four adults exchanged uneasy looks, this didn't sound like the Professor McGonagall they knew. Something was up with their old head of house, she was acting very odd around their Harry.

James shook his head, still concerned, and decided to keep a closer eye on her actions.

The nearer the match grew, the more nervous Harry felt.

"I really can't believe my luck," James said with disgust, "I finally got a Quidditch chapter, and it's going to be awful."

Harry was gnawing on his lip for a moment, then he suddenly cracked up laughing.

"Just what was so funny?" James demanded.

"I don't know," he said honestly, "I just feel like there was another record broken in this game. Can't remember what though."

"It wasn't the record for the most bones broken by the youngest Seeker was it?" Lily demanded.

"No," Harry answered right away, shaking his head.

"Well, then let's get to it," Sirius said with high spirits now.

Could they really be expected to win the coming up game with such a biased referee?

"Still can't believe Dumbledore allowed that," Remus said in disgust.

Harry seemed to be having a lot of trouble avoiding Snape lately, he even wondered if he was being paranoid. The man kept popping up in corridors he happened to be in, and from the distrustful way he watched him, Harry couldn't help but wonder if Snape somehow knew they'd found out about the Stone, if perhaps Snape could read minds.

All four adults grimaced in disgust at this idea. If Snape had learned Legilimency, Harry's life would be a disaster.

At Harry's questioning look at all of them, Sirius said bracingly, "there is a form of magic, very difficult though, that can kind of do that. I doubt Snape can though, so you should be good. It's really difficult to learn."

Harry cracked a smile at that, then asked his Dad to go on.

The day of the match, Harry walked down to the pitch in the late afternoon,

"Afternoon," Lily interrupted, clearly distracted with worry and catching on a small detail she asked, "games usually start at eleven in the morning?"

"I don't remember, but something weird happened that morning," Harry said, shrugging.

"Dumbledore made an announcement the pitch was going to be closed, so it got pushed back. I never found out why."

The four of them were privately wondering if, perhaps, Dumbledore had heard about the last game, and had been investigating something? Why would he have waited so long since the last game though?

as Ron and Hermione were saying good luck to him, their expressions made it clear they were wondering if they were ever going to see Harry alive again.

"His friends are really chipper aren't they," Sirius chuckled, though he couldn't blame them one bit for this feeling.

Ron and Hermione went up to the stands, and Neville soon joined them, asking why they had brought their wands.

"You mean the students don't just carry their wands around with them everywhere?" James asked. He always had his on him, even while on the pitch.

Harry shrugged, saying, "No, Ron told me that teachers started discouraging it, so that fights wouldn't break out in the stands."

"Fair enough," Lily agreed.

Harry wasn't aware that Ron and Hermione had quietly been practicing the Leg-Locker Curse, which they fully intended to use if Snape showed any intentions of starting to hurt Harry.

"Brilliant," all five of them said in approval.

"Oh I hope they use it on him," Sirius said with glee, then when both parents through him a severe look, he tossed his hands in the air and said, "outside the pitch of course. I don't want them to have the excuse now."

Lily huffed, but James was appeased enough to go on.

In the locker rooms, Wood was turning his attention to Harry and told him that he wasn't trying to put pressure on him, but it was really important Harry gets the Snitch before Snape can favour Hufflepuff too much.

"How is that not pressuring him?" Remus demanded.

"It's not like Harry can magically catch the Snitch sooner just because he wants to," James agreed.

Fred was at the entrance and watching the crowd, and suddenly exclaimed that

Dumbledore was in the stands.

"Really?" All four of them said, beaming at once.

"Nobody would be dumb enough to hurt Harry with him around," Lily said at once, forestalling at least Remus and Sirius from saying the same thing, substituting Snape's name.

Feeling quite chipper now, sure Snape was still going to be an arse during the game but at least Harry was safe, he read on with high spirits.

Harry felt elated, positive at once that Snape wouldn't try anything with the headmaster present. Perhaps that's why Snape looked so sour as the teams came onto the field,

"Nah," Sirius said, "he always looks like someone shoved a dung beetle up his nose."

"Maybe because of how often you tried to?" Remus offered, fighting back a grin.

something Ron noticed as well. He didn't get much time to celebrate the good fortune, as Malfoy made an appearance.

"Gah," James said in disgust, "they really should keep the houses away from each other, at least during a match."

"How on earth would they go about reinforcing that?" Lily demanded, "and that's still not even fair. It is possible to have friends outside of your own house."

All four boys rolled their eyes at her, but it just didn't seem worth the argument at the time.

Malfoy apologized for knocking into Ron,

"I'm so sure," Harry muttered to himself.

but Ron completely ignored him as Malfoy began a tirade of insults. Ron was too busy watching the game, where George had decided to hit a bludger at Snape.

"Well now he's just provoking him," Lily frowned.

Sirius gnawed his lip for a moment before grudgingly agreeing, "yeah, okay, I'll give you that one."

Snape was doing exactly as predicted as the game progressed, including awarding a penalty to Hufflepuff for no reason.

"Someone should call him on that though," James said, narrowing his eyes, "you do have to actually have a reason for penalizing."

Remus sighed and rubbed his brow, this was going to be a long game.

Malfoy was still talking behind Ron, going on about how the people on the Gryffindor team are only their out of pity, like the Weasley's because they were poor. Then he made a crack at Neville, saying he should be on the team because he had no brains.

"Can we please switch back to me in the sky," Harry said, frowning back severely. He really didn't want to sit around and listen to Malfoy insulting his friends, and unable to do anything about it.

"I would if I could Harry," James agreed, gnashing his teeth for a moment before continuing.

Neville turned on the spot and stammered out he's worth twelve of Malfoy.

"Aw," Lily smiled, "I'm glad he took your words to heart."

"Because they're true," the other boys agreed.

Malfoy wasn't impressed, but instead cracked up laughing. Further insulting both him and Ron at once as he said that if Neville had as much brains as Ron had gold, they'd both be dead.

"I think I'd be much more offended if he didn't keep falling back on the same dumb joke," Sirius grumbled.

Hermione hadn't been paying attention at all, keeping her focus on the game, and suddenly screamed out Harry's name.

"What?" the three adults without the book said, trying to cut James off, but he wouldn't hear it and kept going.

Harry was pelting towards the ground in a dive,

"That's not accidental," Remus breathed.

and Malfoy made yet another poor attempt at a joke by saying Harry must have spotted some money he could lend Ron.

"That one wasn't even funny," Sirius said in disgust, still too keyed up to get back to what Harry was doing to get to mad.

Ron snapped. He flew out of his seat and tackled Malfoy to the ground.

"Yes," all four boys cried with high spirits.

"That git had it coming to him," Sirius crowed.

Lily was smiling to herself, not able to find any bad feelings about this. The boy really had been asking for it.

Neville only hesitated a second before climbing back and helping, as Crabbe and Goyle began to do the same.

"Loving this kid more and more," Remus said.

Hermione wasn't paying attention to any of the boys, Ron who was punching Malfoy in the face, or Neville who was a whirl of fists amongst Crabbe and Goyle.

"Did he really take on both of them?" Harry asked, remembering vividly the size of those two boys.

"And holding his own it seems," James responded easily.

In the air Harry was still diving and finally came up just in time, Snitch in hand.

"Amazing," Remus yelped.

"How long did that match actually last?" Sirius demanded, feeling giddy as a child.

"Record short," Harry beamed, feeling pride blazing in him. This, he thought, was a real

accomplishment. Nobody could just say he was a famous name now, he had done something to be really proud of.

Lily and James suddenly squashed their son in a hug between them, causing peals of laughter from in between them.

Only after they had all settled down did James finally manage to go on.

The stands exploded with applause, that had to be a record short capture of the game.

"I think the official time was three and a half minutes," Harry said brightly.

Remus let out a low, throaty whistle before saying, "I'm pretty sure the record before that was fifteen. Way to go kiddo."

Hermione was dancing in her seat in pleasure, calling out to wherever Ron was in

excitement.

"Ron and Neville are a little busy dishing out their own justice," James grinned.

On the ground Harry jumped off his broom only to have a crowd of people swarm him with congratulations. Harry spotted Snape land a bit away and spit bitterly on the ground.

"I'm sure he did," Sirius snarled, happier than anything that this overgrown brat hadn't been able to pick on this team for too long, but most of all unable to hurt his pup.

Harry couldn't be happier with himself. He'd now proven he wasn't just a famous name, but had done something he really could be proud of!

"Now that's an accomplishment I'll never forget," James agreed, forcefully ignoring the sting those words left in himself.

Ron and Hermione could be spotted jumping around happily, Ron holding a bleeding nose.

"I hope we get to hear how bad Malfoy got it," Remus said quietly to Sirius, who grinned

vindictively.

Not to long later as Harry was putting his broom away, he was feeling quite pleased with himself about having one upped Snape, speaking of Snape... Harry spotted a hooded figure coming out of the castle.

"Hooded?" James murmured, that was never a good thing.

The shadow was heading right for the Forbidden Forest. Harry couldn't help but wonder why Snape would be heading there while everyone else was at dinner.

"Are you sure you're not just jumping to conclusions?" Lily said fretfully, picking at the hem of her shirt. Even she couldn't deny how suspicious this was.

Harry shook his head slowly, the happy feeling gone at once as it was once again replaced with the pounding pain of forgotten memories.

James sucked in a deep breath, couldn't he have savoured this victory at least until the end of this chapter, but decided to just read on.

Harry jumped back on his broom and began following.

"Can't blame you there," Remus agreed, anyone would have followed that odd sight.

Gliding quietly behind him, he watched Snape enter the forest and come across someone else hiding in there, Quirrell.

"Odd place for a teachers meeting," Sirius muttered, shifting his weight about in agitation.

Harry couldn't really make out what they were saying, but he was sure he heard Quirrell stutter that this was an odd place for them to meet.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Remus yelped, "Quirrell's in on it!"

"So could he have been the one who let the troll in, as a distraction so Snape could get the Stone?" Sirius asked, unable to decide how he felt about this, "I mean he seems like an incapable moron, so-"

"Stop," Lily said forcefully before they could go on speculating, "I want to hear this."

Snape hissed back that this was as good a place as any, since students weren't supposed to know about the Philosopher's Stone.

"Well we were right about the Stone," James said lowly.

"How did Snape know you knew?" Sirius demanded.

Remus was shifting his weight around, maybe they were wrong, maybe Snape had learned Legilimency.

James wasn't giving them much time to think about it.

Then he wanted to know if Quirrell had figured out how to get past Fluffy yet.

"Why would either of them need to know?" Lily yelped, going pale as a sheet.

"Obvious ain't it," Sirius said, eyes narrowing in disgust, "they're in it together or something."

"Oh, that's just so obvious is it!" Lily yelled, looking ready to breathe fire.

"Okay you two," James snapped, "let me keep going or we'll be arguing for the rest of the year!"

Both of them huffed, and looked away from each other in annoyance.

Quirrell said he didn't, and Snape said they would talk again soon, when Quirrell had decided where his loyalties were.

Lily blinked several times, releasing a breath slowly. Oh how she dearly wanted to think Snape was saying Quirrell wasn't being loyal to Dumbledore, or something along that line.

If Sev was implying that Quirrill's loyalties should lay with him, that Sirius was right and these two were really in on trying to steal the Stone... she viciously forced her thoughts to stop right there, and allowed James to keep going.

Then he put his cloak back over his head and walked away.

"What do you make of that then?" Remus said, a rather ugly look on his face. Despite his earlier opinion, he was now thoroughly behind Harry and the others in thinking Snape was trying to steal the Stone, and dumping Harry Potter out of the way was a nice little distraction for Dumbledore. He never thought he'd say it, or even think it, but it seemed Dumbledore had been wrong with this person.

"Exactly what you do Remus," Sirius muttered back, "that Harry needs to stay the bloody hell away from that backstabber."

While James looked ready to defend his two friends, the other two looked torn, confused, and hurt. Lily just couldn't make herself believe it, not until Severus was walking out of the castle with the Stone in his hand.

Harry felt just as conflicted on the inside, but it was a battle of gut and mind. His eleven year old memories had him totally convinced that Snape was up to no good, and that they had to put a stop to this. While his gut was telling him he was being an idiot, and to get all the facts straight.

Taking a deep rattling breath, James knew very well he couldn't post on either side. He had promised Lily he wouldn't press judgment, no matter how compelling the evidence. He also knew he would back up his friends till death, because he felt they were right.

With no winning side to an awful argument, James simply kept going on.

Harry sprinted back to the castle to find his friends, and when he did Ron was eager to tell him how he'd given Malfoy a black eye, and Neville had taken on Crabbe and Goyle all on his own. He was out cold in the Hospital wing,

Shaking his head in slight amusement, James was more than happy to hear about these Gryffindor victories.

"Neville really is the kind you should draw into this group you've got," Sirius laughed, thinking briefly that if Harry did, they would sort of have their own set of Marauders going.

"Agreed, couldn't be prouder of the boy," Remus chuckled.

Harry was smiling around at them all, feeling a bit more at peace now that his innards weren't at war anymore, and said, "I think we just know Neville as a friend, but I don't think I ever get as close to him as I am with Ron and Hermione."

James was still happy to hear that, so read on eagerly.

but Harry quickly brushed them off and informed them what he'd overheard. Mentioning how Snape had something about Quirrell's 'hocus-pocus' and how he now thought there were other things guarding the Stone,

"Agreed," all four adults said, already having come to that conclusion.

like other enchantments like some anti-Dark Arts Spell that Quirrell put up, that Snape needed to break through.

Sirius snorted and said, "Now that I don't buy. If anyone needed help getting past Dark Art spells', it would have been Quirrell."

"Then besides Fluffy, who honestly I've no idea how to get past," Remus asked, "what on earth is Snape and Quirrell trying to figure out?"

"Who knows," Lily sighed, "hocus pocus could mean anything, relating to any magic." Then she sat back with her lips pursed, the only thing she could think to add was that Sirius had just delivered a real compliment to Severus, but she didn't think he would appreciate her pointing that out.

Hermione gasped as she realized that the Stone was only safe so long as Quirrell didn't tell Snape this information. Ron groaned that it would be gone within the week.

All four adults sighed in discontent, why on earth wasn't this book getting any easier to read?

When James made to pass the book to Sirius, Remus pointed out, "Eh hem. I do believe it's my turn, since Harry skipped me."

Harry blinked, then blushed saying, "Oh crap, I'm sorry. I just had a good feeling about Christmas coming up, and-"

Remus laughed at the way Harry seemed to think he was actually mad, before reaching forward and saying, "I think I might forgive you. Just this once though."

After taking the book and going to the right page, he glanced up to see James whispering into Harry's ear, "and every other time. Don't worry about it."

Harry's smile was all the confidence he needed to keep going.

#boookhater95 #The Life that Never Lived #complete #fanfiction #Harry Potter #HP #Marauders #James Potter #Sirius Black #Remus Lupin #Lily Potter #Reading the Books

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