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#and like even if she bought me a new identical one that wouldn't help at all cause she still threw my stuff in the trasg
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like a regular bin, not even recycled or anything
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aphroditelovesu · 6 months
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Yandere Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Adrien Agreste Headcanons (Poly!Romantic)
❝🐞 — lady l: hi!! I finally wrote this and it's set in an au where they eventually discover each other's identities to make more sense. I hope you like it and forgive me for any mistakes! ❤️
❝tw: obsessive and possessive behavior, stalking, polyamorous and unhealthy relationships.
❝🐞pairing: yandere!adrinette/ladynoir x gender neutral!reader.
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Everything was always very complicated between them. Marinette in love with Adrien and Adrien in love with Ladybug, both unaware of each other's identities and feelings.
Marinette always remained hiding her feelings for Adrien, too embarrassed to say anything and Adrien continued to yearn for Ladybug. This continued for a long time, until your arrival in their lives.
You were a new student and felt out of place after leaving your old school and your friends. You hoped to make friends at this new school, but you were afraid you wouldn't be able to do so. But luckily, or unluckily, you met Marinette first and she introduced you to her friends, who immediately liked you.
Marinette liked you, at first sight, you were so kind and sweet. She almost fell right there and it confused her, but she couldn't help but admire you.
Adrien became interested in you after a few conversations, and you caught his interest and attraction. He had something about you that made him attracted, and curious, an unknown feeling that he wanted to feel more of.
It wasn't difficult to notice their interest in you, Marinette constantly stuttering and blushing when you were around and Adrien, although shy, loved flirting with you and seeing you blush.
It wasn't easy to admit their interest in you, Marinette was still in love with Adrien but she really was in love with you, therefore, she didn't know what to do. Adrien was more resolute and acted in the way he knew how wanting to declare himself because he could no longer keep his feelings to himself.
Adrien was the one who first noticed Marinette's interest in you and he was surprised to notice that he didn't have a problem with it. If it were anyone else, he would have, but not with her. Because Marinette had a habit of stalking you incessantly, it didn't take long for her to realize that Adrien liked you. She was curious and excited, not jealous like she thought she would be.
They talked and decided to act quickly, both confessing to you. You were surprised and flattered and accepted, and finally, a romance happening.
Marinette is very jealous and overprotective, always wanting to know where you are and she will be very worried if she doesn't know. She will go so far as to use her Miraculous to look for you, even knowing the consequences.
Adrien is possessive, getting jealous very easily, and doesn't react well to it. He doesn't like it when you're with someone other than him and Marinette and will use intimidation to make someone stay away from you, whether with money or even his Miraculous.
They have always been very protective of you and at any sign of danger you will be quickly hidden and protected. They already talked about giving you a Miraculous, but Adrien considered it too dangerous. There was always a chance you could get hurt and he wasn't going to allow it.
You are spoiled intensely, clothes made by Marinette and bought by Adrien, jewelry, food, expensive and extravagant gifts to the simplest ones, like roses. You will never lack for anything as long as they are by your side.
They want to see you happy more than anything and will do everything to make that happen. They can't even think about the idea of ​​you being akumatized, the idea alone sends them into a frenzy at the thought of it happening to you. No, they have to be sure that this will never happen.
Marinette is very kind and soft, a mask of her true stalker and extremely jealous side. Adrien is kind and calm, always with a smile on his face and ready to make you smile, but he acts very strangely when you don't do what he asks.
They know they shouldn't use Miraculous for selfish reasons but when it comes to you, they won't care. Marinette doesn't care about ruining herself for you and Adrien has been ruined for a long time.
You are theirs and anyone who tries to get in the way will suffer the consequences. After all, you didn't just belong to Marinette and Adrien, but also to Ladybug and Cat Noir.
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bside-cassette · 7 months
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This is both a love letter and a retelling of @fakecrfan 's Constructor/Architect story, but set in my own superhero universe. She has a specific identity in this, as unfortunately, you can't really have the reader *be* the main character in a visual format, but I hope that's okay with you :)
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My name is Na Su-Yung. Two years ago, I thought I was a normal person. Another mortal. Another drop in the ocean, looking up to the clouds. To the gods living amongst us. Until I found out that I'm nothing like the ocean around me. I was different. I was an Anomaly.
I was just a college kid in Cosmopolis, another normal human who was awestruck every time I saw The Guardsman zoom across the city, or see a news report of Nitrous' crime-fighting shenanigans in Sunset City, all the way on the other side of the U.S. Another fragile human being, merely made of flesh and bone and nothing else, that cheered each time The Vanguard came together to save the world.
When an attack on Cosmopolis by the villain Sergeant Steel destroyed the foundations of my apartment and others in my neighborhood, I thought I was gonna lose everything. That I was gonna die. I just accepted my fate as the floor began crumbling beneath me. To my surprise, however, it seemed that the entire building was frozen in time. I stopped it from falling. I gave other residents enough time to escape to a safer area. I was a hero, even if no one, not even I, knew what I had done.
I spent time exploring my abilities in my free time between lectures. I don't know why, but it took me months, nearly a year, to be able to control the same amount as I did when I first gained my powers. So I started small. I floated pebbles between my hands, then on a single hand, then I was able to attract them to my hands from a few meters away. For the first time in my 21 years of life, I didn't feel weak, or pathetic, or forgotten. For the first time, I felt like I could be more than myself. And so I did.
I'd go to places in Cosmopolis where Guardsman had recently done battle against one of his rogues. I'd studied architectural engineering thoroughly before going on my first outing, so I was able to reconstruct a lot of the buildings in a few weeks. Just the broad strokes, though. I couldn't get the electrical or water systems down, so I just left a lot of the buildings with hollow walls to let the actual electricians and plumbers do their work.
Still, no one gave a shit about me. I was just some rando in a washed-out CSU hoodie and sweatpants.
I eventually realized that I would probably be able to work better if I had the blueprints for the buildings. Just walking up to wherever they keep them and asking for them probably wouldn't work well, so I planned. Well, "planned" is glorifying it. I did the first thing that popped in my head: make a costume to get attention. And so I did.
I was never the artsy type, so I just bought a wetsuit and mask online. But it worked. After the metas had their fill of fighting, I'd arrive on the scene and start working. The bigger news reporters would keep their focus on Guardsman or Harddrive or whoever did the day-saving, but the smaller news organizations turned their focus to me. Knowledge of my presence was slowly increased, especially online. People on Reddit and Tumblr took to calling me either The Constructor or The Architect. I took up the latter.
One day, when even the larger news networks in Cosmopolis had turned their attention onto me, someone came up to me. She told me her name was Sandy and that she had a proposition. She'd be my manager, managing any relations or exchanges I don't have the time to deal with, and helping me with marketability. I took her up on her offer. She made me a new suit, talked to the city to get blueprints, and whatever else. It's been a while, I've forgotten a lot of what we did.
Hero teams contracted me to restore their headquarters, standalone heroes and vigilantes needed help with rebuilding their bases, cities wanted cheap labor. I did it all. I finally felt like I was contributing to society. That I mattered. I was finally told that I mattered. Until the day I chose to do what I knew was right.
Cosmopolis, despite what outsiders think it is, is just like any other city. One side of the city is covered in skyscrapers, the other in slums. Struggling people who can't escape their situations, whether that be out of discrimination, mental disabilities, mental illnesses, addiction, criminal affiliation, they all live with constant strife.
The worst part of it all, however, is that I'm just like everyone else. Every time I passed one on the street or from inside a cab, I looked away. Seeing them suffer under the city's hand tore out my soul. It didn't matter that my reasoning was different from those who averted their eyes out of spite or disgust, I still looked the other direction. I refused to be like them. To kick them while they're already down. So I started building them up, literally.
I'd scour throughout the city, look through sites listing run-down neighborhoods or buildings, and I'd go there. I'd tear them down and build them back up. I gave people places to stay, where they wouldn't go cold or without a bed for the night. I gave them the kindness that might help them stop simply surviving, and finally begin living.
Then the comments came. Middle and upper class began shouting their complaints online and in my face, whether personally or through a reporter. They hated seeing people, who they deemed "undesirable," getting any help. Giving some cash was already too much for them to handle, so I can see why they saw this in such a bad light. Why their hateful eyes had seen this as a sin.
I went to interviews and I kept trying to get my viewpoint out there. No one listened. No one cared. All they saw was filth getting help by more filth.
So I made shelters around the city in places no one would notice. Rooves out of land in the parks, more empathetic architecture. I removed the spikes underneath bridges that prevent people from getting shelter from the rain and made the benches softer for those who had no beds. But still, no one gave a shit. The city made laws against how much anyone could alter it. I gave up on that.
I was sent death threats. I was told that I was helping the scum grow. That I was making Cosmopolis shine less. It didn't help that Guardsman was comatose from a battle for nearly 6 months at that point. It meant I had no one, not even the hero of heroes, the embodiment of infinite kindness to everyone, to back me up. I was alone. I stopped everything. I pushed away everyone. I fired Sandy, apologizing every second of it. I basically disappeared from the face of the Earth.
Then I heard that they were building a stadium on the Southeast Side. Displacing hundreds of people. Their hope being snuffed out by the fat cats on the top of the totem pole. I wouldn't stand by it. I came as fast as I could and I tore it all down. Every beam and panel and every square inch was just rubble when I was finished.
M.I.R.A. was contacted after the cops weren't able to get me to stand down. They trapped me in an Akonite cell in Pandora's Box. The media labeled me as "a false hero," "a fallen angel," "a wolf in sheep's clothing," "a villain." I just wanted to make things better. With The Vanguard keeping their eyes on the larger threats, and each individual member focusing on the broad strokes that are their respective cities, there were barely any who were looking out for the little guy. That's all I wanted to be. The one to look out for the everyman, the people on the streets. My people. I wanted to take care of my neighbors, friends, and loved ones. But I guess all people care about are themselves.
I eventually found that Akonite didn't work on my powers. How or why, I don't know. Maybe it was because it was just another mineral. Maybe it just didn't have an effect on me. Either way, I knew that this wouldn't stop me. I'm The Architect. I'm a hero. I won't let corruption, greed, and cruelty hinder that. I'll dissent from the indifference. From the apathy. From the fear of helping my city.
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ari-zonia · 11 months
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Limbus Company "World of DnD Identities"
More thoughts of this weird AU me and my friends developed after a long discussion of shitposting (aka we were just shooting the shit for a while)
Reference this post for more
Main joke of this AU is all of these guys (Sans Ishmael) are immigrants to the US and live in New York
Yi Sang: Head researcher at a Med-Tech company. He's under 50 thousand NDAs so he's not allowed to talk about work at the table and doesn't feel like it anyway. Often overworked and spends what little time he has off writing poetry. Probably has a pet crow he nursed as a hatchling. Work pays enough he lives on his own, but you wouldn't believe it based on the lack of food at home.
Faust: Freelance worker or high-security tech manufacturer, or both. Shares an apartment with Ishmael and Outis. Whenever pressed about work she ignores the question and elects to remind everyone they're trying to play a board game. Should honestly be a DM but prefers playing characters that know everything so she can be condescendingly coy.
Don Quixote: Theater major who lives in an on-campus apartment with Sinclair. Her classes are super spaced out so she ends up with a lot of free time. Major con nerd and her room is packed with merch she's bought (especially commissions). Has a dedicated sewing room instead of a dining room. How she affords all this is a mystery. Attends a LOT of Broadway shows, and has introduced Rodion to them.
Ryōshū: Traditional art major who lives out of an abandoned warehouse she found and uses as a studio. Actually is constantly skipping classes but somehow hasn't been kicked out yet. Doesn't sell any of her art but that's because everyone's disgusted by it being made out of pig's blood 90% of the time. Where is she getting all this blood? Why pig's blood? She says its because she'd run out of her own. No one knows if she's serious, or needs help. Lots of anecdotes of how Japan is different from the US, especially with holidays or food. Has lots of photos of Halloween costumes she's made for herself. Again, mostly with fake or pig's blood. Something is seriously wrong with her.
Meursault: Works in an international company as a businessman. Lives alone in a small studio to cut company costs during his stay since he doesn't require much room to live in. There was an incident at work so he's not able to go into the office and is constantly in and out of court proceedings. He's not able to discuss what happened, or even if he was involved. Doesn't talk much about himself either. (Everyone swears they don't even know his first name). How he was convinced to come play tabletops is generally a mystery because he's never played before in his life. They think he's enjoying it, because at least he's paying attention.
Hong Lu: He sorta just showed up one day, hanging out with Sinclair. He has a million stories of home, but nothing about the government or anything like that. Lives alone on money from his family but otherwise doesn't work so he ends up just wanting something to do, so he hangs with these guys.
Heathcliff: English in the way that he's from Hong Kong. According to official paperwork, he's not here. Actual story is he was a stowaway on the last vessel Ishmael was on while they were docked in Liverpool. Says he's a government agent, but for who? Also wanted by Interpol and is a bit of a drifter. Legally does not exist because he doesn't have a last name (according to him, wife took it when she died. How much of that statement is true, no one knows). Rooms with Gregor because he can afford it, but only Gregor can sign the paperwork. Always has a new story that invokes more questions of who the hell he even is. Things like "I'm banned from entering Hokkaido", "You know how easy it is to sneak into Switzerland from Lichtenstein?", or the like. Also apparently not to be within a hundred miles of the president. The one friend with a Costco membership, and has bought a lot of weird shit.
Ishmael: Former marine that hated the military life but loves the sea. Often flips between sailing for journalism or marine biology. Not many other qualifications otherwise. Rooms with Faust out of necessity because she's so far away all the time it's hard to keep an apartment by herself. Quite disgruntled she's the reason Heathcliff showed up because she failed the inspection for stowaways, apparently. Only noticed after he drank half the Guinness they picked up. Has a lot of stories from her life on the water. Generally doesn't have a lot of money, so she appreciates how much food gets brought to game night.
Rodion: Absolutely elated with being here. Still working on her accent and figured she'd get better with conversing by playing tabletops. She was wrong, her vernacular is now full of memes. Spends most of her time working casino floors ("professionally"). Basically lives in her hotel room like a princess. Seems to know the most useless of information about her group (Sinclair's shoe size, Faust's bra cup, Hong Lu's inseam length, etc). If asked if she'd ever visit home she vehemently denies it, she's content with all the fun things available to her.
Sinclair: Says he's taking a year or two off school and works part-time. Doesn't seem to need to work, but it gives him something to do apparently. Considering going into school for finance or something ("like my dad was", he often says). Really quiet but appreciates the company. Sometimes gets nagged to translate Faust when she starts talking German with Gregor but he barely understands her sometimes, her accent is different.
Outis: Served her time in the military and is currently retired. Works several odd jobs to keep herself busy rather than make money, at least help Faust and Ish pay rent. Weird old lady of the group, about as mysterious as Meursault and Heathcliff. Most of the work she did is still classified so she's not at liberty to discuss it. Though, she still carries her mannerisms from her active duty.
Gregor: Also served in the military (same deployment as Outis but different unit so they didn't know each other), he was honorably discharged after a massive injury to his right arm. Currently works retail but spends more time on workman's comp than working (something always seems to be happening to his right arm between fractures and other injuries). Eternally grateful to Heathcliff's bank account giving him someplace to live. Usually last pick for food runs because of how often he buys too much deli meat (especially after the 15lbs of brisket incident at Passover).
Dante: New DM that met Vergilius by chance. Don't really know that's going on, has barely played DnD at all and still chose to DM this stupid group. Definitely tries to limit the group to only five active participants a week, but there was an incident where all twelve had open slots for a while. They regretted it highly. Convinced Vergilius to stack the loot table with revival items so the group didn't need to make new characters EVERY session or two. Though, that's come at the price of them losing self-preservation tactics.
Vergilius: Veteran DM that has a frankly insane amount of books (he's been collecting for years) and takes his role very seriously. He was the one to convince Dante to have a maximum of five players a week, until the incident, then he started throwing insane challenges at all of the players to punish them for throwing the game off track so many times. Soft spot only for Charon and allows her to come up with combat encounters (she once suggested three silver dragons)
Charon: Vergilius' daughter. She doesn't play, or even care about DnD. All she does is suggest more and more stupid encounters to kill everyone with because it's funny. All food runs must pay a Charon Tax (aka she gets her own snacks no matter what).
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j4m3s-b4k3r · 4 months
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10 years a LEFTY
After my stroke at the end of 2012, my focus for most of 2013 was on learning how to walk & talk again, and navigating the bureaucracy of disability benefits. By September, I was still very much a mess, but finally wrestled with an issue that had weighed heavily on me the entire time - whether I’d ever draw again. 
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Sketching in Golden Gate Park.
Janine Dawson had sent me a sketchbook while I was still in hospital, complete with pre-dated pages. I could not keep to her schedule though. Partly because I had so much physical therapy and became exhausted easily. Also, I was deeply afraid. My clumsy attempts to draw with either hand caused despair. So I focussed instead on the many other things I needed to do. There’d been hope that sensation & motor coordination might return to my right drawing hand eventually, but 9 months later it was still asleep (and in most respects, still is). I finally accepted that my trusty right hand was kaput, and wouldn't draw again. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but only after that acceptance could I train the understudy to go on stage - My LEFT HAND. 
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A self-caricature in my wheelchair, 2013.
I drew for its own sake, with absolutely no expectation of ever drawing professionally again. That filled me with sadness, but the idea that I might not draw at all was worse. Drawing was always part of my self-identity. So, Julia & I often drew together. I was painfully slow, but started to enjoy the random quality of my drawings done with my non-dominant hand. Never exactly sure what my LEFT hand would do, I drew in a spirit of exploration, like when I was a child. (I now believe that this open lack of expectations actually set me free). My mobility was even worse than it is now and we often drew paused images from TV, but went location sketching too, starting at the college campus near our apartment.
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Sketches of SF State campus, 2013.
Julia had bought me two beautiful leather bound sketchbooks for Christmas 2012 (and I had a stroke the very next day). 2014 was when my drawing had progressed enough to start filling one of them with sketches. I went out sketching with her, or sketchmaster Matt Jones. Unsure of how to earn a living, I often considered what other job I might do.. Be a writer? A teacher? Kevin Richardson helped me explore script writing. Steve Purcell & Derek Thompson called me for a few weeks of story brainstorming. It is hard to overstate how much those first short gigs meant to me. I began to feel useful again. In the first year of my stroke many friends (from many studios) had arranged fundraisers to help with my medical bills, but I was too frail to attend. In 2014, Ben Walker arranged “Bizarro Sketch Night”, where artist friends bid on each other's art, drawn with their non-dominant hands. A fun event that I was able to participate in myself. I'll never forget all these encouragements from my community.
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"Bizarro Sketch Night", 2014.
John Hoffman gave me a sketchbook, and in 2015 it was where I began to sketch out a graphic novel. The plan is to incorporate old pages done with my RIGHT hand and new pages done with my LEFT, and for them to be compatible (this art-therapy project continues to this day). Julia encouraged me to start colouring my blog stories digitally (and for Christmas that year, she bought me a new cintiq!) Using Photoshop with one hand was tricky, but the workarounds I learned came in handy when I got my first ever LEFT-handed paid drawing assignment, a cover for Carol Hughes’ book!
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2015 projects.
2016 had so many work opportunities that I was taken off disability. My financial safety net was gone, but it was exciting to take the plunge into freelancing as a LEFT handed artist. Again, friends gave me encouragement & chances. Steve Lee got me a brief teaching assignment (at the Academy Of Art). Then Jim Capobianco asked me to storyboard on "MARY POPPINS RETURNS". This was very exciting development for me. It was a long gig, subletting a room in one of the satellite buildings of PIXAR's Emeryville campus, where old colleagues were watching my progress..
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"Mary Poppins Returns", 2016.
In 2017, I did LEFTY storyboards for Brad Rau at GHOSTBOT. Soon after,Jonas Rivera suggested I try out storyboarding on a PIXAR project, which became Pete Docter’s "SOUL", and after a few months, that became a staff position. It was wonderful to be working again with my old roomie Rej Bourdages, who’d always supported me in my darkest hours. Keeping up with all the other inspiring drawing geniuses in Emeryville is intimidating for a one-armed old duffer, but is a great way to improve. In 2018 & 2019 my drawing dexterity & speed increased (and with this steady job, I finally paid off my mountain of medical debt). The 2020-2022 pandemic years were ironically a boon. Working from home gave me extra hours (previously sucked-up by my commute) to do more spare time personal projects, where I pushed my LEFTY drawing skills even further.
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"SOUL"
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"the INVENTOR"
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"ELiO"
Animated films worked on since 2017.
It’s been a decade since I began drawing with my non-dominant hand. Every day is still a struggle, but I'm so grateful to be where I am now. On this day in 2013, I had absolutely no hope that I'd ever become a full-time professional cartoonist again. That I actually got here is due to many colleagues, friends & loved ones not only encouraging me to draw, but giving me real professional opportunities to do so.
All throughout this topsy turvy journey, at every low & highpoint, Julia has never lost faith in me. Even though I became a feeble old man overnight, she stayed with me. She understands how important drawing is to me (as it is to her too) and she has always offered encouragement. She has gone out drawing with me. Challenged me, and pushed me to new levels. Her artistry is a constant inspiration. I'm extremely lucky to have her by my side.
I'm profoundly grateful to all of you, who've supported me in so many ways over the past 10 years. You've given me great joy.
Thank you!
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vhaenessavelaryon · 6 months
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setting: king's landing, the velaryon’s quarters of the red keep. before deimos and nefeli leave as envoys of new valyria (before the coronation?) @nefeli-velaryon
"No, I don't want to hold her. What sort of question is that?" Vhaenessa couldn't help the shadow of revolution that crossed her features when the wet nurse offered the small toddler, her niece Rhaenys, to her. It wasn't that she disliked the child -- on the contrary, the day she'd been born, Vhaenessa had seen that the babe would want for nothing. Rhaenys was Velaryon, after all -- she was perfect, just like her aunts, her uncles, elder brother and sister, and father. Nefeli was.... close enough to perfect, though not Valyrian. Had named her daughter for the Queen Who Never Was.
Uncle. Not uncles. Aerion is dead.
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The gifts hadn't anything too extravagant. A brigade of silver spoons that depicted various insignia of House Velaryon, a jewel encrusted Bravossi cradle... There had been the swaddling blankets of the richest and most expensive thread from Volantis. The golden mobile, of course, that dripped with seahorses, shells, ships, and precious glittering sea-toned gems (the elder twins had been gifted with identical pieces, as would each of her other nieces and nephews as they came into the world.) The endless flow of designer toys from the priciest vendor in King's Landing weren't even bought from abroad. Basics.
The wet nurse blanched, the color leaching from her face in an instant. Tsk. She was new. She could be spared a verbal lashing, Vhaenessa supposed. But just the once. She wouldn't allow their household to be filled with idiots -- the girl would learn, or she would leave. Not that Vhaenessa had true say over the household -- no, that was her good-sister, Nefeli. But when you got on The Siren's bad side, you complied, or....
She smiled to herself. Or, nothing. They became nothing. Nobodies. Classless, social pariahs. Who would hire a maid who'd -- for the lack of a better phrase -- pissed off a lady of House Velaryon?
"Go read our sweet girl a book, or... something." She waved at the maid, then wagged her long finger nails at her niece, making kissing sounds with her red lips. But Vhaenessa didn't apologize to the wet nurse, looking over at her good-sister. "She's precious, Nef. Believe me. Sweet cherub, the future Beauty of Dirftmark, blah, blah, blah. But she leaks. So do the twins... and my dress is imported Lysene." Vhaenessa gestured to the gossamer, silken design. "We'll all bond when they can form full sentences." She paused, as if to ponder. "Or drink. Whatever comes first."
One of her lithe shoulders moved up and back down in a carless shrug.
"Is Deimy here? I heard you two were off soon, and I can't let him leave without a headache. It'd be a crime. Truly, good-sister." She slithered over to her, grinning. "He'd never forgive me." Vhaenessa kissed her on both cheeks -- peck, peck -- though made sure the gesture was light.
She'd didn't want to smudge her lip stain. It was her favorite shade.
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v-as-in-victor · 1 year
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A House is a Home
I would have told you that people were a home, but I've changed. And I like it.
I got married to my ex-husband when we were very young, and much of it was that he loved me, loved me, loved ME. Enthusiastically, romantically. I was working from so much evidence that no one would ever see me that way that I hung on tight to that. I loved him enthusiastically too. We were young, we were on the same wavelength, we made each other laugh, and we were there pouring everything we had into each other, filling up hungry voids.
We lived together from when I was 23. Our first home was his apartment, and nothing would change that - it couldn't be ours. But he was there, and that was what mattered. The place we lived in deeply depressed me and I was in complete denial about the grief I was in about leaving my country and the city I felt alive and queer in.
We moved to Boston together because of his dreams. But also even though I was scared to leave our tentative stability for a crazy situation (no home, no job - I hit a temp agency on day three and had a job by the next Monday but our plan had him in school earning nothing and housing was SO expensive) I chose to do the scary thing because I hoped it would be better.
And it was. Boston is better. We lived in rental properties and because this was 20 years ago, things slowly got better financially. And that's when we bought so much IKEA furniture.
A solid MALM birch effect bedroom. Blond veneer on every surface. Look, I knew we had different tastes, but it was okay. I could live with this scandi-japano-bland that helped him feel calm and soothed. My eye for blending rococo and nouveau with the run down offices of an 80s parody of a noir detective was a LOT, and it was fine that we kept things chill in the no-style style he preferred.
And when I had my own space, it was fine to do what I wanted with it. He even liked that I followed my vision in my own space. He enjoyed helping me shop for bits and pieces.
Then he met someone else and they fell in love. We weren't monogamous so this isn't that story at all. In fact, I thought she was great too! It was very important to my ex that I thought she was great! Later I wonder how much of that was his fear-driven intolerance of people close to him not liking what he liked. As if his identity would be threatened if his wife, his closest person, differed from him.
But in the context of "hey let's all move in together," which came up pretty quickly, it was great that I liked his new person. Not hard - she's hot and funny, and we had a lot in common.
So we got a new place and it was time to decorate and things got weird. Because now ex-husband seemed to be working reactively from the idea that he would't have enough control over things. That having found another passionate person, his quiet, calm, orderly stuff would be overrun by us.
(Aside: Earlier in our marriage I tried to tone myself down to be the person I thought he wanted and that was wrong too - we almost broke up and he assured me that he'd fallen in love with me at loudest.)
So, it was fine. I had a space of my own that I had how I wanted. He had spaces of his own that he could do what he wanted with. Our partner had a bedroom that was her own space and a home office. One of the shared spaces is painted a hideous buttermilk yellow because he was holding his ground against our partner's alleged desire to paint everything cool colours.
So the thing is, when I came home from work at the end of the day or when I came home from traveling, he was still my home. It was the cuddles and the cute notes and the words of affirmation.
But home sure wasn't the house. Because the house was ground that I had given over, at this point barely noticing that all I did was concede ground so he wouldn't stop being the person who proved to me that I could be loved.
Anyway.
He made a big mistake.
No matter how much in love they were when we all moved in together, he moved me in with someone who wasn't accustomed to just folding all the time.
And someone who hadn't sawed the ends of their personality to keep the atmosphere pleasant.
We talked about how the exterior of the house desperately needed painting. I didn't even suggest colours I would ever want to paint it. I had taken them off the table because I knew he'd say no, and not just say no but react as if I were being absurd and contrary for suggesting them. Like I was doing it as a jab at him.
Nothing happened about painting the house because nothing happened about critical maintenance tasks quite a lot. My role wasn't to assert things or make things happen.
Somehow any shared spaces turned into contested spaces instead, where if he wasn't entirely in control of what happened, the whole space was taken from him. There were tears before bed time when I asked for a double sink in the basement laundry area.
And then - some years passed and I don't want to tell stories that aren't mine - but the falling in love was over and now his partner and I were getting along fabulously and building a happy life that he kept writing himself out of. So it was probably inevitable that he left.
The house still needed painting.
I dared to suggest a colour I loved. We had the house painted that colour. It makes me SMILE every time I come home.
Shared spaces have decisions that we made without anyone looking like they've been punched in the gut because someone wanted to move a cooking implement. It's not so much just that there are things which are to my taste. It's that I have ownership over making decisions.
Sometimes I just DO THINGS and then tell my partner and it's fine.
It's not a home because I'm coming home to someone who reassures me with words that I am loveable and loved. It's not even a home because it's decorated more to my tastes.
It's a home because it's a place where I can safely be loveable or unloveable and it doesn't matter at all - because what I am is a person with agency and power in my own space.
That home is also a person is just an extra bit of glow on the whole chandelier.
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boldlyanxious · 3 years
Text
Mistaken Identity
@sailormarelda apparently your wish is my command
If you enjoy, check out my masterlist
Just her luck that some asshole on the subway dumped his sticky energy drink all over her. It wasn't just wet. It was sticky and soaking through her shirt. Somehow he managed to pour it on her front and back.
He didn't even apologize. He just shoved past her and got off on the next stop.
It was only a few more stops until her stop. She checked her directions again before she climbed the stairs to get to the street. Maybe luck was on her side because there was a vendor right there with shirts for sale and a very inviting looking coffee shop. She bought a shirt and hoped the coffee shop had a decent bathroom for her to clean up in.
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She laughed in the mirror at the shirt and artfully tied it so the ab muscles drawn onto the Superboy shirt for where hers were and it still showed off her dark skinny jeans. It was the best she could do to show off her designs on her outing since her blouse was not currently worth seeing. She hoped she could get the drink stain out later.
The barista did a double take when she ordered and looked a bit confused. She clearly wanted to say something but she took a breath and told Marinette the total. They didn't know her here so they wouldn't know that she frequently ordered drinks like that. She could probably chug it and then take a nap but she definitely needed it for the rest of today.
---
Roy was by the back of the counter throwing away his paper cup when he heard a name he knew coming from the baristas,
"If she weren't clearly a girl I would think it was Tim Drake. It's the exact same order too."
"He was here earlier today. He was wearing the same shirt."
"Maybe there is an evil plot in the city and he got turned into a girl."
"Stranger things have happened for sure."
Roy pulled out his phone and tried to text Tim. Girl Tim was on the phone and definitely not reading any messages. He snuck closer to hear the conversation.
"... Definitely got a look for ordering my regular coffee.
I've got a new look though. It is guaranteed to protect me from villains.
Okay. Well I have my coffee and I'm on my way. I'll see you there."
She hung up and grabbed the coffee. But Roy couldn't just let her leave. Tim needed help and the Bat family would want to know about this right away.
---
Marinette walked down the street happy to have her coffee. It was exactly what she needed. She was already feeling better. She jumped back from the street when a car suddenly came right at her. So much for American traffic coming from the other direction. Luckily her coffee didn't spill.
"Hey, did you need anything?" the driver called out.
"I'm fine," she responded then muttered to herself, "You clearly need driving lessons."
She hoped he didn't hear her because he was suddenly getting out of the car. He was walking towards her and ask her alarm bells were going off in her head.
"Are you sure? We probably need to get you help."
Marinette looked around trying to make a plan. She looked one way and then took off running the other way. That didn't do enough to confuse his reflexes. He grabbed her quickly and closed her into the back seat of his car. She tried the handle and it was locked from the inside.
She had dropped her coffee and her purse before he pushed her back here. He had grabbed the purse off the ground before he got in and sped off but she didn't think she could reach it. He had a flashing light on the car so no one would question his erratic driving.
Maybe she had been confused with a criminal. She would just need to wait it out until she could explain who she was. Her stomach turned when he pulled off the street and into an underground parking area. He went all the way to the lowest level and to the back. There was only one other car and a door. No one was around.
---
Roy didn't know what had happened to Tim but he seemed to have no memory of who he was. Jason had probably contacted the others by now and they could figure out how to help him. Although it would be easier if she weren't fighting while he was trying. He ended up pulling her out of the car by the leg and throwing her over his shoulder.
She was still yelling at him and hitting his back but no one was around to hear before he entered the code and went through the door. He didn't even bother with greeting Jason. He deposited Girl Tim into a safe room and closed the door. They had a 2 way mirror they could use and an intercom system.
By the time he was finished, Jason was already looking through the glass.
"Damn, Tim makes a hot girl. And loud." Jason said.
"Do we have any idea what might have happened?" Roy asked.
"Oracle is searching and the others are coming. I'll let her know about the loss of memory too. That could complicate things for anyone else affected. If people don't know anything happened we will have to rely on missing person reports."
---
Marinette tried not to think of all the warnings she had gotten before moving here. They had been plentiful but she brushed them off. It couldn't be that bad. She knew people who had lived here for years and they said it was mostly over blown. But sure had been here under 3 days and had just been kidnapped in broad daylight.
She knew the guy had been acting weird. She should have run immediately. She should have stopped being polite and thrown her $12 coffee at his face before running away. She tried to be nice and it was going to get her killed.
---
They all took turns looking through the glass at their friend/brother/son. But Girl Tim didn't know any of them. Oracle had confirmed that the coffee shop was the last place Tim's phone had been and Steph had seen him before he left wearing the same shirt. Roy told them about the phone conversation he has heard and it all fit.
Now they just had to figure out what had happened and how to reverse it.
---
Eventually Marinette got tired of taking to the wall. Technically it was an intercom imbedded into the wall but it felt like it because they didn't seem to hear her at all. There were more of them now. She didn't know how many more but it had to be at least 4 separate people. She was pretty sure it was more than that though.
She didn't know what they could possibly want with her.
She flopped down onto the bed and covered her face with the, hopefully clean, pillow and screamed into it. It felt really good. It was exactly what she needed, aside from her coffee and freedom.
But apparently they choose that time to make a move. Hands were on her holding her and moving here. She saw a needle and she did everything she could to fight them. She definitely hit a couple of them but the needle still went into her arm.
She wasn't sure what they were expecting the result to be but she allowed herself to relax against the arms that still held her. One moved to lift her back in while the others filed out of the small room.
She waited until the doorway was clear before she moved. She jumped back up and hit his chin with her head. He was not dazed for nearly long enough but she ran for the door anyway. She was out of the room and halfway to the exit when he caught up with her and pinned her down.
It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Another man walked in right then.
"What is the deal with you all blowing up my phone? I'm trying to get some work done."
The room froze. They all just stared at him until the man pinning her down spoke.
"If you are there and perfectly fine. Then who is this?"
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@theymakeupfairies | @emjrabbitwolf | @vixen-uchiha | @trythisagainlove | @adrestar
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animeyanderelover · 3 years
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Hey I’m sorry to bother you but if it’s possible could I get a prompt 48 for Touka from Tokyo Ghoul or Prompt 29 for Mikasa from Attack on Titan?
I chose Touya since I rarely write anything for her.
Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, mentions of stalking, jealousy
Prompt 48: “I hate it when you pay attention to something else besides me."
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Being jealous was something Touka was by now familiar with. Ever since her darling had gotten into her life, she had been introduced to quite the ocean of new emotions. Emotions from which she knew that they weren't something any sane person would do. Even as a ghoul she had no way of justifying all of her actions rooted from her feelings. Stalking you, being very protective and even going violent against potential threats were all things she had started to do actively ever since she had come to embrace the truth.
She couldn't get you out of her heart.
Luckily you were someone she was able to see almost daily and for that you were easier to approach. You two went to the same classes after all, so asking if you could help her with certain subjects and studying together from time to time had been arranged quickly, even if you had been hesitating a bit at first. How couldn't you? After all Touka had been the same person who used to coldy avoid and ignore you.
All because she had been ashamed of her emotions back then. She had never planned to fall in love, this all had come so suddenly. It wasn't like she hated you for being human, it was just that she knew how many humans thought about her kind. What if you were just another one of those? Who thought ghouls had no right to live in Tokyo and terrorize this world?
For once this world had decided to be nice to her, all because you didn't hate ghouls. Sure, you were afraid of them, but you understood that they wanted to live and survive as well. Maybe your optimism was just very naive since you believed that ghouls and humans could peacefully coexist together. The purple-haired woman had joked about this belief of yours already very often. In reality she envied you a bit for this firm hope of yours. She had given up her hope to be accepted by humans already long ago. Even you were still in the dark.
It just was very complicated to somehow tell you who she really was, even with you not really afraid of creatures like her. But you had never encountered a ghoul before, so how could you already be so sure you wouldn't be afraid of them? It kept her awake at night, trying to come up with a good solution. At one point she would have to tell you, hiding her true identity from you would at one point become too hard. Even if she forced the food down you bought and made for her, weakening herself by doing so and acted so that no one would ever suspect her of being different, lying only would bring her that far.
Today was supposed to be a day where she should be able to throw her worries away for a bit and just enjoy her time with you. That part was true though, for now she had been able to remove those thoughts from her mind. But sadly she wasn't enjoying herself either, instead watching with narrowed eyes how you were scrolling through your phone whilst chewing on some bubblegum.
Being jealous of a person was at least less embarrassing than being jealous of some damn phone. Worst was that you had a good excuse to why you had to use it right now despite her having come for an abrupt sleepover to you. She just had wanted to do this for a while now, but it had taken her a lot longer to finally ask than she would want to admit. It was only because of Irimi who had asked you during one of your visits in Anteiku if you two had ever done this since you were a fresh couple. A confession that had taken a good amount of time as well.
So here she was, dressed in some comfy pajamas and tapping with her fingers impatiently on the ground whilst watching you scribbling down something for school that you had wanted to finish tonight of all days.
A sigh was heard from you, feeling the slight glare Touka was giving you from the mattress you had prepared for her. You doubted anyone could have ignored that stare of hers for too long, a feeling of slight uneasiness settling inside of you because of it. You did understand from where she was coming from, you had done nothing else since the last half of an hour, though you were nearly finished. Maybe you had miscalculated the time needed for this homework just a bit. There was more to this topic than originally expected.
"I know, Touka. Just give me a few more seconds. I swear, I'm nearly finished.", you told her, not wanting to let her wait for that long either. There was a scoff heard from behind you which literally gave away what she hadn't spoken in words.
"Sure, you've only said that twice before now."
Chewing on the sweet in your mouth didn't help the frustration inside of you and your handwriting had become more and more messy due to you trying to speed things up more and finish this project. Touka wasn't the most patient person you had met in your life.
Only hasty scribbling sounds were audible to you, created from you own hand swooshing over your exercise book as you took down the things you had collected from all possible sources in the internet. Your hand hurt from all the writing and somehow you had managed to die your fingers in a few spots of blue ink, but otherwise you only focused on just finishing what you had to do.
When someone suddenly blew into your ear without any sort of warning, you slid scared and surprised away from your desk, hands instantly shooting up to protect your ear.
"What was that for?", you asked slightly flabbergasted, giving Touka a shocked look who had somehow sneaked stealthily behind you and decided that it would be funny to surprise you by blowing into one of your ears.
Your girlfriend huffed a bit and glanced for a short second at everything scattered on your desk, everything that was to blame for you ignoring her those last 30 minutes.
"Just wanted to remind you that I, your girlfriend, is here as well. Why did you even invite me over when you weren't planning to do anything with me in the first place?", she replied with her own question, sounding very grumpily.
"If I have to be honest, I kind of forgot that I still had to finish this and when I remembered, it was already a bit too late to cancel our sleepover. I knew that you were excited for this, it would have been too impolite for me to delay it. That's why.", you admitted, scratching your cheek a bit awkwardly.
"You really should learn to write things you have to do for school somewhere down so you remember them. Then such things wouldn't happen.", you heard her continuing to grumble. Touka from all people knew best how forgetful you were since she had to constantly remind you of anything. It was a pity you two didn't have all the classes together, otherwise she was your personal notebook. This was precisely the reason you had forgotten it this time, because the class was one you didn't have with her.
"I am so sorry for making you feel like a third wheel now, but it's really just one more sentence I have to note down! After that I'm done and we'll do what you want! I promise!", you begged her, clapping your hands in front of your face together and giving her a pleading look and trying to act cute.
It seemed to work, Touka shifted her gaze to the side, not wanting to see you acting adorable for her. She got quickly embarrassed when you happened to do so though you looked cute when you did so.
"Fine! Just hurry up! Otherwise I'll take that damn phone of yours! You should know that I hate it when you pay attention to something else besides me."
You bit your lip to repress a grin that wanted to show on your face.
"Sounds to me like someone's jealous, Touka.", you slightly jollied which earned you another serious look of hers, thoug you could tell that she tried to overplay her bashfulness with her tough act now.
"I'm not jealous. Why would I be?", she quickly scoffed at you, not wanting to show that in a way you were right. That dumb phone had gotten more attention from you than she had so far. How couldn't she be a bit envious and left with a feeling of being abandoned?
But you would just wait, if she really could do whatever she wanted tonight, she would get her revenge this evening.
"Just finally get it over with your homework. I have some nice ideas what we could do tonight."
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we-dragons · 3 years
Text
I'm from a different dimension actually Chapter 8 Damian x reader
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The school is shut down for a week ironically because of an attack by The Joker and Two-Face, that Robin and his team took down. The teachers sent out a notice with homework attached and told us to stay inside. Nightmare came back somewhere in the morning I couldn't tell the time because I apparently fell asleep along with Boy Wonder before the end of season 1 of The Highlander. I gently placed him down on the couch, gotten dressed, and made some breakfast, I only had eggs so I made some scrambled and put them on a plate for him and me. Nightmare got the last of the bacon. I put a plate over Robins while I ate mine sitting at the small table in the kitchen going over my homework. Sadly I finished my homework before my eggs and they have gone cold. I silently morn my eggs eating the cold carcass. "You stare any harder at that screen and you might break it." I jump, my head shoots upwards and I sigh, but then my eyes drop on my cat. My jaw drops the furball is purring in the arms of a masked stranger who is petting his head. Robin was petting my cat holding him like a baby and the demon is purring. Robin still had his eyes, and limbs not even a bite mark was seen on his skin.
"You traitor, you barely know him." I playful scold the feline, he meows nuzzling his face in Robin's chest.
"Your monster seems friendly."
"Nightmare looks like he's been introduced to catnip."
"Just a few scratches here and there." He smirks taking a seat next to me."Thank you for breakfast."
"Mhm." I turn back to the screen, "Will you be going back today Robin?"
"I might."
"Hmm." I finish the last problem for today closing the device, "Well I have to go to work, your welcome to stay if you want." I smooth out my clothes tossing one last look at the melting ball of fur. I quirk an eyebrow but move out to the door. I stop Halfway through the doorway and look back putting on my meanest face. "If you break a single window in my home I will find where ever you are and break you. Bye Nightmare, love you, I'll be back in a few hours."
_____________________________________________________________
"Nightmare! I'm back!" my keys skitter across the floor but no black fur is seen. He's still in the arms of Robin though it's not Robin, Green eyes. My stomach sinks and my mouth goes dry. "Damian?" His is just as much shock as me, he puts down Nightmare and rushes to me the door slams behind me. And I'm being dragged then forced to sit, his hands grip my shoulders. "Your early, why did you arrive early, you not supposed to be back for another half hour." I hardly heard him, I scold myself now realizing the obvious. Why else would Nightmare feel comfortable around him he had been here before multiple times noticed how I treated Damian and that's why he was a purring mess in his arms. I said be nice to him when he was over not Robin, but of course, they smell the same Nightmare associated with both people. I should have spotted it sooner, the voice, the height, the tone of his speech. Dear God, I can mom telling how oblivious, like she did when she won Clue. It was right there, he asked the right question and baited me for answers. I don't know why this is a shock to me. Now that I think of it I have to stop myself from laughing
"What the hell," my voice quivers. "Damian, Damian Wayne. You help Gotham." I start snickering, pulling my hand over my face. I throw my head back laughing then fall over to the side. "Nightmare you knew didn't you! Haha, that's why you were you were melting like butter."
"Your laughing!"
"Did you assume I wouldn't!" I wheeze, my breath nearly coming out to form words. "I can imagine you fighting, but saving people that's something else entirely."
"Do you think so little of me?" He sounds disappointed.
"I don't mean it to offend you but what else can I say. I didn't expect this." I sit up, clearing my throat and looking him dead in the eye. "Can I just call you Damian now, or do I still have to you different names."
"Why aren't you more surprised?"I Smile sadly.
"I thought you would have read up on me, do you know who killed my parents that day at home." He stiffens, he opens his mouth but continues. "My Father's sister, my aunt, killed them both during dinner. All because my mother wouldn't let her see those journals you asked about. After that it many people took off their masks."
"That's all it took?"
"What should it take, she killed her own brother because she didn't get confidential knowledge. To be honest, I don't really care anymore."
"You need professional help." I shrug.
"Probably, but getting sessions is expensive and I don't enjoy answering "and how are you feeling?" questions. I had enough of that already from everyone else."
"Where's your brother, Emil?" I feel myself frown.
"He's with someone I trust, I can't tell you who, sorry."
"The file says you died, you also made a miraculous recovery, recovery from what?"
"I prefer not to answer that question, It's rather personal." I don't want to explain that either, I know the doctor was shocked to see me come back. They had to call the professor to have him take me and my brother. After that this entire fiasco.
"You know I'll find out either way."
"Listen, I don't know how I made it, I was tortured by my she who will not be named and left for dead. I prayed for anyone and everyone who would hear me, someone did, the police found me and I was rushed to the hospital. I decided to take a nap, and I woke up to the sound of Emil crying. He cried, even more, when I woke up, screaming even, the good doctor nearly fainted. I was plugged into wires of all sorts, and my uncle was holding a plug, I assume he pulled, tackled me. My body lit up in pain and felt like I was run over, the next I am separated from my family and rushed into a place where they check on me every three months. At least I got to choose the place, they pay for the school, and I cover everything else." I give in, it feels nice to tell someone, something even if it's not the whole truth. But it seems to shut him up. "Please don't go looking for Emil, they haven't caught my aunt yet. I don't know if she's looking for them next, I would prefer not to stand over another grave knowing she got them too." I stare at him gauging his reaction, his face is still stone, unmoving in the uncomfortable silence. I pick up Nightmare, who has been rubbing against my leg for a bit, and scratch his head as he wants.
"Fine, I won't push further but I have terms."
"Really?" What would he need terms for?
"1, you don't reveal my identity to anyone. 2, you will not acknowledge that you know my family’s identities. 3, I come whenever I like as Robin or as Damian. 4, I add terms whenever I please."
"Why would I agree to any of that? I'm the one who has your identity." He smiles.
"Because I will tell Batman this information, and he doesn't talk as kindly to people hiding something. You obviously still are, but for now, I'll let it slide I'm sure by now you've decided to watch the news, so you know what he does." I gulp, I did see his more recent victim and he looked traumatized.
"Alright fine, but I binge so if you fall asleep tough luck, I'm not going back."
"Fine," he reaches back and pulls out his mask which he puts back on, walking out to the kitchen. "I back in a bit, pull out your couch bed while I'm gone. I will be staying here a while." I get up after him.
"Hey, that offer is for when I thought you were some homeless bums who fights crime, gets money from villain's wallets. You have a perfectly good bed at home!" He turns back one foot on the railing and a grappling hook in hand. "Term 6, I will stay as long as I like." he jumps off like before, not giving me a chance to speak.
"Bastard! I need my alone time!" He's gone I don't even know if he heard me. I grumble pulling out the spare sheets and blankets to set up the bed. "He better be paying rent, smug rich kid."
"Meow." Nightmare looks over at the window Robin left of.
"Yes, he's coming back."
"Meow"
"No, I'm not going tell him, not until I have to."
"Merrow"
"Shut up." I kick the side of the couch holding the two large cushions that lay on it, the bed springs out and makes a satisfying thud on the floor. "Go and see if the data has finished downloading, then put it back in the box I'll make you something in a how you feel about tuna our downstairs grandparents gave me a can."
_____________________________________________________________
The sheets are made, the cat is fed and now I am going over how I was going to cover for another person. How much would he eat, can he survive on pastries, ramen, and eggs. How long was he staying, would his family come asking about him seeing as he was here before. At both times, when he broke my window, and when they came for coffee.
"Hey, open the door." The voice is cold but still recognizable. I get up slowly taking my time getting there along with opening the door. He hurries in, dressed in some normal-ish clothes that still look expensive, but he still dressed like he came out of a photo shoot. He not only has a suitcase but some grocery bags, I frown at those. He seems to notice because he forgets his suitcase and charges into the kitchen. "Hey!"
"Y/N I am not eating ramen and eggs for god knows how long. I will cook a decent meal and you will have something healthy."
"How did you know I only had eggs and ramen?"
"I went through your fridge," He places a bag of tomatoes in the bottom drawer where I see green onions and various other veggies.
"I make stir-fry once a month, you have bought enough greens and reds to make that for two weeks. I don't even have rice."
"You don't like it when people spend money on you, do you?"
"I don't need other people's money," He opens his mouth, but I stop him raising a finger cutting him off. "And before you mention Molly, she remains the exception. Not that me telling her not to stops her."
"And why is that." He stops putting the food in the fridge.
"Because I've been friends with her longer," I look back at his bags and frown. "How long do you plan on staying again."
"For as long as I please."
"Won't they come looking for you? Your family I mean, the Detective stops by almost every day."
"Grayson won't be a problem, I left them a trail that leads to several other places." He stuffs the last of the food in the fridge, getting up and looking out the balcony window. "Should take a long while." I can hear the smugness in his voice.
"Your happy you tricked your brothers aren't you." He turns around forcing himself to frown but the corners of his lips twitch.
"Ho, you're a bastard Wayne."
"You're really gonna curse me?"
"You didn't tell me I couldn't Damian." I grab my computer and open Hulu putting on Star Trek; Next-generation where I left off. "Hope you enjoy space adventure, because I'm not starting this over its seven seasons and 4 movies. I'm halfway through season 3, if you want context just ask." I glance up signaling that I am waiting for a response, he leans on the wall in front of my kitchen. I can't read his face, but his face of neutral displeasure wasn't much better. "So, your done feeling good about yourself, or is there something else you need."
"It's been something I've been wondering for a while now, those iridescent pieces you fed me."
"Part of my mother's work." Not a complete lie,
"Was that what those missing journals about?"
"No." More of a lie but not wrong. He groans anyway, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Man, you really like to cut in deep and waste time. Just come here and watch some Star Trek with me I need someone else to groan in pain about Counselor Troy's and Will Riker's on and off slow burn romance." Begrudgingly he walks over plopping down next to me.
"Your tastes in tv are odd."
"You have no idea, my tastes in something go everywhere, after this and Highlander I have several old cartoons next. First, I might have to gather what you know about the Quack pack, Goof troop, Ducktales, and all that pizazz. Though I have a feeling that you would like Darkwing Duck more, or it could possibly be too relatable." He gives me a look.
"How could I relate to a duck?"
"We are a long way from that now, at the moment we must bear witness to Captain Picard and his adventures commanding the USS Enterprise."
"Has anyone told you how unbelievably weird you are?"
"Sir, you have entered my life for what looks to be the long run. You will experience the kind of weirdness only Molly has ever seen. But now that you are basically my roommate you might see more." I pat his shoulder. "So, buckle up, because this is now you've got a seat on this roller-coaster, and you can't get off till the car reaches a complete stop. Now can we please get back to the show I want to see some cosmic action?"
_____________________________________________________________
"Was that a statement or a question?"
"He can achieve the perception of feeling with a chip that goes into his hyper-advanced brain, lets his brother take it but can't make his own."
"I lent you my computer to catch up to where I left off for one night and that's what you're hung upon."
"Yes," his eyes look serious while he shoves some oatmeal in his mouth. "You are the one who can't stand the slow burn."
"Touche."
Before we got to the last season, Damian had asked he could see the rest of the show before the finally. I didn't expect that he would binge because it was a weekend, he even made extensive notes on character weakness. He still went out on patrol every night but came back with no one tailing him. That's what he says at least. He looks tired, with bags under his eyes and just lacking energy altogether.
"While I'm at work please go to sleep, you look like you fought an energy vampire and lost."
"I wouldn’t have lost to a vampire, they’re not that hard to kill.”
“But they drink blood they need to get close; energy vampires are more psychic they don’t even have to be a real monster.” He stops eating/
“How so?”
“They could be emotionally, physically, and mentally draining people. You know like Deity Skimmer, the girl in our science class. You can’t kill the energy-sucking vibes she gives off, can you.” He snorts behind his hand.” I mean it, even creatures of the night need sleep.” I drop my dishes off in the sink. I walk off to the door putting on my boots, I hear the chair slide and I feel his judging eyes digging holes in the back of my skull.
“Once again your conditions said nothing about teasing you, suck it up.” He scoffs. “I’ll be back around 5, don’t break any more windows while I’m gone.” I close the door before I hear any remarks once more about the incident. Though I laugh to myself, I straighten out my outfit and head down to the wonderful smells of the coffee shop. I walk slowly down the stairs looking out to the crowd that had been seated in the lounge. My managers were out by the couches talking to one of the regulars. Pull me behind the counter and relieve my coworker Meg, she looks exhausted and excuses herself. She takes what I assume is her coffee and puts away her apron and rushes out the door. I finish out what she didn’t clean and wait for anyone to come up to the counter. *Ring* though it is loud I hear the bell for the door ring.
“I’ll be with you in just a moment, I need to clean the nozzle here.”
“That’s fine, I can wait.” I flinch but catch myself, so it looks like I flicked something. I turn around with the best smile I can pull off. The sleep-deprived brother of Damian, peers at me from under his hair a frown tugging on his face.
“Oh hey! You came here with detective Grayson last time. Is there anything you would like?”
“Coffee.”
“Any particular kind?”
“Anything that will keep me from sleeping on this counter.” He knocks on the surface twice.
“I Can recommend our D&D potion bottle, it’s a personal favorite of the owners.”
“Why not, how much?” He fumbles around for his pockets, I stop him.
“How about, I make get it for you, and then you pay.” He brings his hands back on the counter and nods.
“I will only be a few minutes, please make yourself comfortable.” I pull out the ingredients for our powerful concoction, the pho fried ice cream, a large potion bottle with a straw, and 20-sided dice. I place the potion bottle in front of him and the ice cream but hand him the dice. He stares at the shiny plastic unmoving.
“I would roll that.” He does what I say and lands on a nine. “Well, sir after this one you can either have another potion or chose two desserts of any kind from our display or menu.” He takes a sip from the straw rather slow; his eyes perk up a bit.
“How Much did you say this was?”
“Oh! That will be $9.23?” He pulls out the exact amount, and I put it away in the register, placing it in the compartment marked D&D.
“And I would like another one of these to go.”
“Sure, would you like it now or before you go?”
“Well now should be nice, I’m leaving in just a bit.” I pull out a cup that is relatively the same size as the potion bottle. I go to give him his cup and notice that he finished the bottle and ice cream. Confusion hits me, but I don’t stare too long to turn to clean the mess. “Have you seen Damian at all?” And there it was.
“No, not since the Gala? Did something happen?”
“There was a…disagreement so he ran out, but if you see him,” He handed me a piece of paper with a string of numbers and an email. “Tell me. That is my number and email.” He does not say anymore and walks out the door, the bell signaling his departure.
_____________________________________________________________
When I got back, I told Damian what happened, he isn’t pleased and is currently pacing the floor.
“My guess is that he knows.” I sigh over my tea and stare sadly at the replaced window.
“No doubt.”
“You know I was rather hoping not to be having another visit from the Batman. What will happen when they find out that I know about the caped crusader thing.”
“He’ll either force into secrecy, turn you into a child crusader, or confine you to the manor.”
“So in other words no privacy.”
“None.”
“As lovely as that would be you told me this was temporary, so why can’t you go back?”
“At the Gala I was supposed to keep you entertained at the table so that we could trap you into to talking about those journals.” I knew it.
“So, you lied to me.” I look at him, faking shock and betrayal.
“It was for the sake of the investigation; I didn’t think that I would end up-.” He examines my expression and face palms. “What’s wrong with you.”
“I like to call it “I laugh in the face of danger” Syndrome, in a moment of despair I crave comedy.”
“You're worse than Grayson.”
“I like him, so I’ll let this one slide.” I sip the warm liquid feeling soothed at the pumpkin spice. “What are you going to do now?” Nightmare jumps on the table noticing my concern and waiting for his answer from me. He walks to the corner where he put his bag then went to the closet pulling out my suitcase. He then grabs his outfit Robin outfit from the coat rack and his other materials. “Get packed, we’re leaving. I’ll grab Nightmare’s things gab whatever you need. And I mean need, don’t pick it up unless it’s necessary.”
“What? I can’t just leave, what about my job? School?!” He Pulls out my backpack and puts some food in it. “Damian!”
“Just trust me, I’ll take care of it! I don’t want you tangled up in my family’s nonsense.” He looks at me something odd swirling in his eyes. “Please.”
“Fine,” I grab my suitcase and pack my box and my compiece which hasn’t gotten back to me on its progress. I throw a few sets of clothes. I open the box to make sure the journals, the scales, and everything else, then I hide it under the clothing and my laptop in the front pocket. I thank myself for making sure to get a suitcase that has a double use as a backpack. In the living room, Damian is all packed the bag is strapped across his chest and he’s holding Nightmare.
“Let’s go.” He hands me Nightmare and pulls me to the balcony. He pulls out and belts with a ring pultruded out on one side swiftly put it around me connecting the loop to his belt. “Hold on tight, and don’t let go till I tell you.” I Sling an arm around him and grip on to Nightmare, he doesn’t hesitate and shoots across the balcony with his grappling gun. I screw my eyes shut. And wait to stop, my heart beats wildly in my chest Nightmare begins purring maybe in hopes to soothe me. I feel something wrong, but it would mean I was away from the Crows. I’m running again, even if it’s not me who chose this it still feels wrong. Because in the direction he’s going it seems that we were leaving Gotham. And for some reason, I feel like it would be a while before I returned.
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chicoriii · 3 years
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Season 4, Episode 14 - Sentibulleur (Sentibubbler)
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I just seen the episode today, because I wasn't looking forward for another Alya-centric one, I'm already sick of it. I did it only now when have more free time. It's the first time, since I'm a Miraculous fan, when I'm starting watching a completely new episode without feeling even a bit of excitation. I'm not gonna lie that I enjoyed it, I don't, because it's not my cup of tea. This is why this post is more about why I dislike Alya favouritism than Sentibubbler itself. But I need to clarify that I didn't enjoy the episode mostly because of personal taste, I'm not trying to say it's "objectively" bad (though opinions are never objective, only facts could be). If you love Alya's arc, it's completely understandable that you probably love this episode as well.
I thought it would be a DjWfi episode (to be clear, I haven't seen any trailers of it, only one screenshot, which was said to be from this episode, but I don't remember seeing that moment in it at all, and the ending card), but poor Nino was just a background character. This is literally an "Alya is amazing" episode in which she is saving the world with a very little help of Ladybug and even less of Chat Noir, who is treated more like an offending trash. After watching it, I see fan edits like that are even more accurate to describe season 4 (not made by me, I just stole it from Cartoon Apocalypse's video).
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Adrien was supposed to be a deuteragonist and a second main character, but Alya is much more like ones than Adrien has ever been. He has never gotten as many episodes focusing on him as much like those with Alya in a season (and we can be sure, it's not the last one) and he has never be as much the main hero in a fight against villains in any of them. Instead of giving him more screentime, he's putted even more in the background than before, because Alya needs to shine. Why they can't do it without treating Adrien that much unfair? I'm not gonna hide that I hate it and it makes me feel that maybe I should stop watching the show, since it looks like it's not something I really enjoy anymore. Adrien is my favourite character, so I'm really pissed of that Alya is stealing his role. We will see, but once I will be sure that Alya favouritism is gonna last forever, I would consider stopping watching the show seriously. Especially that doesn't go hand in hand with good writing. In this episode nothing as much absurd like in Optigami happened, but I still have one big issue.
It's not a problem with Alya herself. I'm used to like her, even if she's been annoying me sometimes before S4. But I don't know what to think about her this season, since I have some issues with her writing. I just don't like the idea of as much favouritism any of the characters who are not the original main ones, especially if Adrien is treated that bad by the writing at the same time. I would say the same if it was Kagami, who is my third favourite character in the show, after Adrien and Plagg. As you see, I like the Japanese girl even more than Marinette, but I still don't think that making her more important than the protagonist would be okay (it would make no sense, but you know what I mean).
Besides, I've seen people speculating that Alya is going to fuse the fox with ladybug Miraculous in an episode in which Marinette is akumatised (if one will ever happen). Don't you see how much unfair to Adrien/Chat Noir it is? Alya is already getting much of special treatment, more than a character who was supposed to be the next most important one after the current Guardian of the Mother Box. An episode with Marinette as an akuma should be the one in which Chat Noir is saving her without help of any other heroes, just like she has saved him alone in Chat Blanc. If there was a fusion of the fox and ladybug, it would mean that's not a story mostly about Marinette and Adrien anymore. It would make it clear that the writers are not even try to hide the fact that's now it's Alya the second most important character. Adrien could be the third one at best, Chat is only a sidekick of the Ladies, not really a hero equal to Ladybug anymore. Besides, episode like that is most probably the only chance to see Tikki using her power without a wielder. Wouldn't it really interesting to see what bad happens when Tikki is using Lucky Charm all by herself?
And to be fair, this season has really way too much Alya generally, I'd like to see more other heroes, not just Rena Rouge and Rena Rouge over and over again. I want more new Miraculous wielders and since Ladybug is calling the old ones (though she definitely should not do it), I want to see them in action too. We need to get a full transformation sequence of Ryuuko at least once. But the more episodes they are released, the less I believe it would ever happen. Good thing that they found few seconds to show Chat's sequence (only a second time in 10 episodes!), but still no Cataclysm. I wonder if they are even going to show it after season 3.
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I have no idea what writers are planning to do. If they're want Alya to be a permanent Miraculous holder who is treated like co-guardian by Marinette forever, why they write her that way? Why isn't she really noble and careful? Why all those red flags she's giving Marinette (those she always ignore anyway): like letting Mr. Ramier know that Ladybug's the Guardian now, though she asked her to keep it as a secret, or stealing a Miraculous that almost made Ladybug's identity exposed. Are any of those events be relevant later? Are they there to show that saying Alya everything about the Guardian things and giving her the fox Miraculous permanently are bad decisions? If yes, what's the purpose of Sentibubbler? This episode doesn't seem to be really significant, it's more like another one fan service for Alya stans. The previous ones were actually important, this one could be missed without much a loss for the plot. The only reason it could be seen as significant is to make Marinette letting her guard down even more. But isn't she extremely careless already? After revealing her identity, she immediately started to tell Alya all the Guardian secrets, gave her a code for the Miracle Box, as well as the Miraculous permanently, despite her identity being exposed and all the wrong things she has done. Marinette is already dealing completely reckless with Alya, there's no reason to make her even more. Besides, that dream can't be a prophetic one, right? I remember that adult Bunnix really believed that exposing Ladybug's identity is something what Alya is able to do (from her time at least), but I think it's impossible to happen in real. That's why I see this episode as the most "fillerish" from all of this's season those have been released till now. Other ones introduced new characters or Miraculous wielders at least, nothing really new and crucial happened in this one. There's nothing bad in fillers, but why another Alya-centric one? Why not focusing on a character who hasn't been favoured this season instead?
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The most stupid thing in this episode is that Rena Rouge made an illusion in which Ladybug says that she won't give the Miraculous to her anymore, for two reasons. One is that Gabriel bought that very weak lie without questioning it at all. It's clearly a plot armor. I know that they tend to make Gabriel very dumb when they need it from the beginning, but it's extremely stupid even to him. Hey, Gabriel, you know Rena Rouge's identity for some time now and Ladybug has been already giving Rena the fox few times before after her identity being exposed. Why that sudden decision? Isn't it suspect? Second is that it's been portrayed as a clever thing, while it makes Alya unable to be Rena Rouge anymore, if they don't want to show to Shadow Moth that was a lie. I'm not talking only about the battles, Rena can't be seen in public, since Ladyblog is not the only place which is showing content about the heroes. So then there's no reason for Alya to keep the fox anymore. Unless I interpret it wrong, and Marinette doesn't think it would make Gabriel stop going after Alya. But to me it looked like that and that's also make Marinette dumb anyway, because she is still unable of seeing how dangerous it is for her best friend. Alya's plan worked once, but it doesn't mean it would work again, once he discovers the lie, it would make him even more suspicious of a bond between Rena Rouge and Ladybug. Marinette is risking not only safety of Paris and the whole world, but also safety of her best friend. Why everyone is able to see that obvious thing, not only the girls but also all of the Kwamis? I'm not going to change my opinion that they are dumbing down all the characters who are involved in it and that's just bad and lazy writing.
And where's Su-Han when he's needed. I've been working on the English subtitles for the French dubbing of Furious Fu recently and now I remember that he said that he's going to observe Marinette and take the box from her is she makes a slight mistake. She's keeping making bad decisions, but he still isn't showing. That was a lie? Because if he doesn't see anything wrong in how's Marinette is dealing with her guardian duty, I'm gonna to lose the rest of my faith in the writers.
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I'm so sorry. I wanted to be active on Tumblr at least a bit after seeing this episode, but I still don't feel motivated. It's painful to say that season 4 is mostly a disappointment to me, especially that I hate the biggest story arc of it.
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Here's a shortlist of those who realized that I — a cis woman who'd identified as heterosexual for decades of life — was in fact actually bi, long before I realized it myself recently: my sister, all my friends, my boyfriend, and the TikTok algorithm.
On TikTok, the relationship between user and algorithm is uniquely (even sometimes uncannily) intimate. An app which seemingly contains as many multitudes of life experiences and niche communities as there are people in the world, we all start in the lowest common denominator of TikTok. Straight TikTok (as it's popularly dubbed) initially bombards your For You Page with the silly pet videos and viral teen dances that folks who don't use TikTok like to condescendingly reduce it to.
Quickly, though, TikTok begins reading your soul like some sort of divine digital oracle, prying open layers of your being never before known to your own conscious mind. The more you use it, the more tailored its content becomes to your deepest specificities, to the point where you get stuff that's so relatable that it can feel like a personal attack (in the best way) or (more dangerously) even a harmful trigger from lifelong traumas.
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For example: I don't know what dark magic (read: privacy violations) immediately clued TikTok into the fact that I was half-Brazilian, but within days of first using it, Straight TikTok gave way to at first Portuguese-speaking then broader Latin TikTok. Feeling oddly seen (being white-passing and mostly American-raised, my Brazilian identity isn't often validated), I was liberal with the likes, knowing that engagement was the surefire way to go deeper down this identity-affirming corner of the social app.
TikTok made lots of assumptions from there, throwing me right down the boundless, beautiful, and oddest multiplicities of Alt TikTok, a counter to Straight TikTok's milquetoast mainstreamness.
Home to a wide spectrum of marginalized groups, I was giving out likes on my FYP like Oprah, smashing that heart button on every type of video: from TikTokers with disabilities, Black and Indigenous creators, political activists, body-stigma-busting fat women, and every glittering shade of the LGBTQ cornucopia. The faves were genuine, but also a way to support and help offset what I knew about the discriminatory biases in TikTok's algorithm.
My diverse range of likes started to get more specific by the minute, though. I wasn't just on general Black TikTok anymore, but Alt Cottagecore Middle-Class Black Girl TikTok (an actual label one creator gave her page's vibes). Then it was Queer Latina Roller Skating Girl TikTok, Women With Non-Hyperactive ADHD TikTok, and then a double whammy of Women Loving Women (WLW) TikTok alternating between beautiful lesbian couples and baby bisexuals.
Looking back at my history of likes, the transition from queer “ally” to “salivating simp” is almost imperceptible.
There was no one precise "aha" moment. I started getting "put a finger down" challenges that wouldn't reveal what you were putting a finger down for until the end. Then, 9-fingers deep (winkwink), I'd be congratulated for being 100% bisexual. Somewhere along the path of getting served multiple WLW Disney cosplays in a single day and even dom lesbian KinkTok roleplay — or whatever the fuck Bisexual Pirate TikTok is — deductive reasoning kind of spoke for itself.
But I will never forget the one video that was such a heat-seeking missile of a targeted attack that I was moved to finally text it to my group chat of WLW friends with a, "Wait, am I bi?" To which the overwhelming consensus was, "Magic 8 Ball says, 'Highly Likely.'"
Serendipitously posted during Pride Month, the video shows a girl shaking her head at the caption above her head, calling out confused and/or closeted queers who say shit like, "I think everyone is a LITTLE bisexual," to the tune of "Closer" by The Chainsmokers. When the lyrics land on the word "you," she points straight at the screen — at me — her finger and inquisitive look piercing my hopelessly bisexual soul like Cupid's goddamn arrow.
Oh no, the voice inside my head said, I have just been mercilessly perceived.
As someone who had, in fact, done feminist studies at a tiny liberal arts college with a gender gap of about 70 percent women, I'd of course dabbled. I've always been quick to bring up the Kinsey scale, to champion a true spectrum of sexuality, and to even declare (on multiple occasions) that I was, "straight, but would totally fuck that girl!"
Oh no, the voice inside my head returned, I've literally just been using extra words to say I was bi.
After consulting the expertise of my WLW friend group (whose mere existence, in retrospect, also should've clued me in on the flashing neon pink, purple, and blue flag of my raging bisexuality), I ran to my boyfriend to inform him of the "news."
"Yeah, baby, I know. We all know," he said kindly.
"How?!" I demanded.
Well for one, he pointed out, every time we came across a video of a hot girl while scrolling TikTok together, I'd without fail watch the whole way through, often more than once, regardless of content. (Apparently, straight girls do not tend to do this?) For another, I always breathlessly pointed out when we'd pass by a woman I found beautiful, often finding a way to send a compliment her way. ("I'm just a flirt!" I used to rationalize with a hand wave, "Obvs, I'm not actually sexually attracted to them!") Then, I guess, there were the TED Talk-like rants I'd subject him to about the thinly veiled queer relationship in Adventure Time between Princess Bubblegum and Marcelyne the Vampire Queen — which the cowards at Cartoon Network forced creators to keep as subtext!
And, well, when you lay it all out like that...
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But my TikTok-fueled bisexual awakening might actually speak less to the omnipotence of the app's algorithm, and more to how heteronormativity is truly one helluva drug.
Sure, TikTok bombarded me with the thirst traps of my exact type of domineering masc lady queers, who reduced me to a puddle of drool I could no longer deny. But I also recalled a pivotal moment in college when I briefly questioned my heterosexuality, only to have a lesbian friend roll her eyes and chastise me for being one of those straight girls who leads Actual Queer Women on. I figured she must know better. So I never pursued any of my lady crushes in college, which meant I never experimented much sexually, which made me conclude that I couldn't call myself bisexual if I'd never had actual sex with a woman. I also didn't really enjoy lesbian porn much, though the fact that I'd often find myself fixating on the woman during heterosexual porn should've clued me into that probably coming more from how mainstream lesbian porn is designed for straight men.
The ubiquity of heterormativity, even when unwittingly perpetrated by members of the queer community, is such an effective self-sustaining cycle. Aside from being met with queer-gating (something I've since learned bi folks often experience), I had a hard time identifying my attraction to women as genuine attraction, simply because it felt different to how I was attracted to men.
Heteronormativity is truly one helluva drug.
So much of women's sexuality — of my sexuality — can feel defined by that carnivorous kind of validation you get from men. I met no societal resistance in fully embodying and exploring my desire for men, either (which, to be clear, was and is insatiable slut levels of wanting that peen.) But in retrospect, I wonder how many men I slept with not because I was truly attracted to them, but because I got off on how much they wanted me.
My attraction to women comes with a different texture of eroticism. With women (and bare with a baby bi, here), the attraction feels more shared, more mutual, more tender rather than possessive. It's no less raw or hot or all-consuming, don't get me wrong. But for me at least, it comes more from a place of equality rather than just power play. I love the way women seem to see right through me, to know me, without us really needing to say a word.
I am still, as it turns out, a sexual submissive through-and-through, regardless of what gender my would-be partner is. But, ignorantly and unknowingly, I'd been limiting my concept of who could embody dominant sexual personas to cis men. But when TikTok sent me down that glorious rabbit hole of masc women (who know exactly what they're doing, btw), I realized my attraction was not to men, but a certain type of masculinity. It didn't matter which body or genitalia that presentation came with.
There is something about TikTok that feels particularly suited to these journeys of sexual self-discovery and, in the case of women loving women, I don't think it's just the prescient algorithm. The short-form video format lends itself to lightning bolt-like jolts of soul-bearing nakedness, with the POV camera angles bucking conventions of the male gaze, which entrenches the language of film and TV in heterosexual male desire.
In fairness to me, I'm far from the only one who missed their inner gay for a long time — only to have her pop out like a queer jack-in-the-box throughout a near year-long quarantine that led many of us to join TikTok. There was the baby bi mom, and scores of others who no longer had to publicly perform their heterosexuality during lockdown — only to realize that, hey, maybe I'm not heterosexual at all?
Flooded with video after video affirming my suspicions, reflecting my exact experiences as they happened to others, the change in my sexual identity was so normalized on TikTok that I didn't even feel like I needed to formally "come out." I thought this safe home I'd found to foster my baby bisexuality online would extend into the real world.
But I was in for a rude awakening.
Testing out my bisexuality on other platforms, casually referring to it on Twitter, posting pictures of myself decked out in a rainbow skate outfit (which I bought before realizing I was queer), I received nothing but unquestioning support and validation. Eventually, I realized I should probably let some members of my family know before they learned through one of these posts, though.
Daunted by the idea of trying to tell my Latina Catholic mother and Swiss Army veteran father (who's had a crass running joke about me being a "lesbian" ever since I first declared myself a feminist at age 12), I chose the sibling closest to me. Seeing as how gender studies was one of her majors in college too, I thought it was a shoo-in. I sent an off-handed, joke-y but serious, "btw I'm bi now!" text, believing that's all that would be needed to receive the same nonchalant acceptance I found online.
It was not.
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I didn't receive a response for two days. Hurt and panicked by what was potentially my first mild experience of homophobia, I called them out. They responded by insisting we need to have a phone call for such "serious" conversations. As I calmly tried to express my hurt on said call, I was told my text had been enough to make this sibling worry about my mental wellbeing. They said I should be more understanding of why it'd be hard for them to (and I'm paraphrasing) "think you were one way for twenty-eight years" before having to contend with me deciding I was now "something else."
But I wasn't "something else," I tried to explain, voice shaking. I hadn't knowingly been deceiving or hiding this part of me. I'd simply discovered a more appropriate label. But it was like we were speaking different languages. Other family members were more accepting, thankfully. There are many ways I'm exceptionally lucky, my IRL environment as supportive as Baby Bi TikTok. Namely, I'm in a loving relationship with a man who never once mistook any of it as a threat, instead giving me all the space in the world to understand this new facet of my sexuality.
I don't have it all figured out yet. But at least when someone asks if I listen to Girl in Red on social media, I know to answer with a resounding, "Yes," even though I've never listened to a single one of her songs. And for now, that's enough.
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felassan · 3 years
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Hi, thank you for your wonderful metas and explanations. Not sure if I'm getting this right though: if we get two last Archdemons as Dirthamen and Falon'Din and if they get killed.. wouldn't that make all Evanuris but Solas and Mythal, dead? What happens when the Archdemon dies? And if all the Archdemons are dead, will this end the Age of Dragon? Will there never be any more blights?
Hi Nonnie! Thank you :) Answer under cut due to length.
The first part of the line of speculation here depends on several things like: whether there really is a link between the Evanuris and the Old Gods (and if so, what is it? several different kinds of connection are theorized, including a number which don’t hold that it’s a case of direct one-to-one equivalence), whether Mythal is already truly dead or not (some think yes, some think no), whether it’s those two Evanuris specifically (a number of other candidates for the identities of the figures are speculated and entirely possible) and whether Solas will survive the events of the next game.
That stuff aside, the bulk latter part of your question is an Unknown that’s been set up as Ominous since Inquisition. Here’s Solas in dialogue with Blackwall:
[discussing the Grey Wardens]
Solas: The Wardens see themselves as the world's defense against the Blight do they not? Blackwall: Yes... Why do you sound so skeptical? Doesn't everyone know this? Solas: When an Archdemon rises, they slay it. What will they do when all the Archdemons are slain? Blackwall: Retire? Solas: Without Archdemons, there can be no Blights. Is that the reasoning? Blackwall: Right. Where are you going with this? Solas: Nowhere. I hope they are correct.
and Blackwall and Varric:
Solas: The Grey Wardens allow elves and dwarves into their ranks? Varric: Qunari too I imagine. They don't care about titles or blood, just stopping the Blight. Solas: A pity they do it so badly then. Blackwall: Would you care to repeat that? Solas: Argue if you like, your fight against the darkspawn is noble, but what progress have you made? Varric: Give them some credit, it's not like you can study the Blight safely. I may not like everything they've done, but without the wardens, we'd all be Blighted by now. Solas: They've bought us some time, I will grant them that.
and Cassandra:
[post-Adamant]
Cassandra: You don't think much of the Grey Wardens, Solas. Solas: They are fools, a fact only amplified by Corypheus' meddling. Cassandra: A harsh assessment. But after Adamant, perhaps not undeserved.
and Vivienne:
[post-Adamant]
Vivienne: You disapprove of Corypheus using the magic of the Blight, Solas? Solas: Every intelligent creature should. Vivienne: Yet you raise no objection to the Grey Wardens using blood magic? Solas: Blood magic is no worse than any other, properly used. But the Blight... Solas: The Blight corrupts everything it touches. Those who believe themselves capable of using it safely are mad. Vivienne: I understand that Grey Wardens are connected in some way to the Blight. Solas: Then that explains why we saw no old men at Adamant.
And here’s some of his dialogue during and after Here Lies The Abyss:
Erimond: A Blight happens when darkspawn find an Old God and corrupt it into an Archdemon. If someone fought through the Deep Roads and killed the Old Gods before they could be corrupted... no more Blights, ever. The Wardens sacrifice their lives and save the world.  Solas: [hella angry] That’s madness! For all we know killing the Old Gods could make things even worse!
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Solas: [super agitated] We must stop the Wardens from carrying out this insane plan Inquisitor! To seek out these Old Gods deliberately... in some bizarre attempt to prevent the Blight... [...] Those fools and duty... responsibility is not expertise. Action is not inherently superior to inaction. Forgive me, the entire idea is - unnerving. Inquisitor: I wouldn’t mind never having another Blight. Corypheus interfering is the real problem. Solas: [pretty irritated] The Blight is the real problem!   Inquisitor: And the Wardens are trying to end the Blight forever.  Solas: Yes! Would it have worked? Do you know? Did they? The fools who first unleashed the Blight upon this world thought they were unlocking ultimate power! 
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Solas: If you don’t stop them, we’ll all fall.
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Solas: Even if they could succeed, the entire idea is wrong. The Blight is not something one smugly outsmarts.
It’s clear he dislikes or disagrees with aspects of the Wardens in a general sense, even if they’d never gotten up to what they tried to do in Inquisition (that’s another topic). But he also either seems to know Something that he’s withholding, or else he fears possible consequences/potential unknown consequences of them (or anyone) succeeding in killing the remaining Old Gods. He’s incensed thinking about it. The idea deeply unsettles him, and he fears the Blight and what it can do. And I wonder if the ‘Something’ will be to do with the true nature of and the origin of the Blight. It also may intersect with things like the Fade and the Black City. 
So the question of what will happen with regards to the Blight when all of the Old Gods are gone feels like one we’re meant to be asking and speculating on at the moment, one we’re still meant to be in the dark about til some reveal. It’s often theorized that the Old Gods are ‘keys’ (or rather, more like locked padlocks) to the prison (or ‘prison’) where the Evanuris are caged, or that they’re vessels for pieces of their souls, or that they’re [functionally] like seals or gateways keeping something at bay from the world of Thedas, like, say, in the Black City - “And I looked up and saw // The seven gates of the Black City shatter // And darkness cloaked both realms.” - which as we know is Tainted and also apparently, according to the latest mural, infested by red lyrium too.. These sorts of ideas often make reference to the Dread Wolf Rises teaser mural, where there are 7 hemispheres arranged on the outside of the repeating concentric circles pattern which usually represents the Veil. Only 2 of the hemispheres are still lit, the rest are dark. They’re often thought to represent the 5 dead Old Gods and the 2 who remain alive, sleeping. These sorts of ideas cast the Old Gods’ current situation as a temporary solution, staving off a massive looming problem for a while, essentially. Sometimes the ‘something’ is linked to the Void/the Abyss. (It’s tough to call though as the pattern inside the hemispheres is the same as what’s found on elven foci/power orbs in other murals, which are almost certainly Titan hearts.)
Something to bear in mind also is that no more Blights (as in the plagues of darkspawn attacking the surface world directed by an Archdemon) doesn’t mean no more Taint/Blight or no more darkspawn. Blights are events, not the origin or the cause, and darkspawn have their own means of.. creating more darkspawn.. and darkspawn don’t disappear or combust when an Archdemon is killed, they go back underground to look for a new Old God. What if that compulsion was no more? Consider the Mother, who after being freed from the song/call of the Old Gods went mad. She birthed a new variety of darkspawn and there was a darkspawn civil war. Think of the Architect, who once wanted to spread the Taint to every non-darkspawn person in Thedas, and then accidentally caused the Fifth Blight. The Disciples, along with free will, gained higher intelligence, the ability to strategize and emotional behavior patterns (not just mindless plague-locust or worker-bees-to-a-queen-bee behavior anymore). The Messenger was fairly benevolent and if let go wanders around as a helpful traveler, but he still inadvertently spreads the Taint wherever he goes in that outcome, which cannot be permitted due to the impact on peoples’ health and on ecosystem health. Would darkspawn who are no longer urged by the Call to dig for an Old God stay on the surface wreaking havoc, in a perma-[quasi]Blight with no clear-cut way to end it as there’s no Archdemon to slay? Would we see something like the events of Awakening, only Thedas-wide? If they’d now have awakened intelligence, would they attack with advanced tactics? Or with some of them maddened and without an Archdemon to direct them, would it just be general chaos? I’d worry about Orzammar too; part of the reason why Orzammar has managed to persist thus far is that most of the darkspawn are usually burrowing away looking for the Old Gods, and only randoms and straggling groups end up attacking Orzammar (relatively speaking, at least). Without the Call, it could be overrun. 
Dragons are quite resistant to the Blight, compared to other creatures, able to section off parts of their own flesh to stem the spreading extent of its corruption - to a point. There’s a metaphor in there somewhere that links back to the notion that the setup of the 7 Old Gods, as they were anyway, slumbering, isn’t a solution that can keep Whatever It Is at bay indefinitely.
What’s Solas thinking of when he says “I hope you are correct”? What catastrophic thing happening have the Wardens bought us some time before it occurs? In what ways could things get worse? Why is Solas convinced in TN that he has no choice and that what he’s doing will save this world? Messing with the Blight never ends well, time’s running out, there’s something going on with the Old Gods, and the possibilities for what could happen if all the darkspawn were suddenly freed from their singular purpose of following the song are alarming.  Whatever will happen when the last Old God or Archdemon is killed, it doesn’t sound good though does it?
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topherfoxtrot · 3 years
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A new start
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In which John and Olivia move to the countryside with new identities tô start a new life post tfatws. Might be considered a fix it fic I guess? I just want my babies to have a kind of happily ever after. Hella Domestic. Also I don't live in the US so there might be some cultural and grammatical mistakes. Sue me. Hope y'all enjoy.
All the kids in the seventh grade class quickly sat down and made silence when the teacher announced they would have one of those Captain America educacional vids. They were still too young to find those cringe.
Olivia pressed the button and Sam Wilson showed up on the television. Some kids clapped, other cheered. The teacher remained in silence. Having a black Capitain America wasn't even in her wildest dreams growing up. Yet there he was. And yet Olivia couldn't help but feel a little bittersweet taste in her tongue. She was happy for Sam of course. But, an that the children on the class wouldn't learn on tv, the history of the shield is not as bright and heroic as Sam makes it seem to be.
After all her classes, before Olivia could leave the staffroom one of her colleagues called her name.
"Maria. We're going to Joe's tonight just for a couple drinks. It's still four of course!" She laughed, "Wanna come?"
Maria. Yeah. That's the name she chose. The people of witness protection liked it and so did John - now Jack. They decided to rename themselves after their favorite drink so John chose Jack after Jack Daniels and Olivia chose Maria after Tia Maria.
"I would love to but I have the thing tonight. Remember?"
"Oh right! The thing!"
Olivia gave her colleague a bright smile before leaving the staffroom. She preferred to go home by bike but at that time of the year it was super cold at Springville so the car was her option of the day. It took her half an hour to get to her new home.
The suburban house was simple. It had no second floor and no fence on the front. The walls were painted a dark green like olive and the door was carved with flowers. Olivia parked the car and entered the front door quickly to avoid the cold. The lights were all off. Olivia screamed Jack's name (just in case) and received a response from the backyard.
"I'm right here!" John said loud enough for Olivia to hear.
Olivia took off her gloves but not the scarf. She put her keys on the wooden table by the door where a couple photographs were. Usually none of them would pay much attention to them but tonight Olivia took a few extra seconds to look at one particular photograph. Herself, along with John and Lemar in their 20's. They had just gotten back from Afghanistan and spent a whole weekend partying and drinking together. Including of course jack Daniels, Tia Maria and Smirnoff, Lemar's favorite. Olivia smiled sadly before putting the photo back.
She then preceded to cross the small house onto the backyard where John was sitting by the fire. Once he heard her steps, John looked back to face his wife. His blue eyes met her hazel eyes and both of them smiled with their whole body.
"You look amazing." He said.
"I'm literally wearing work clothes Jack."
"which only makes it more amazing. Besides," he looked around quickly "we are alone... Olivia"
Olivia smiled and sat by John's side
"Okay... John."
He kissed her cheek and his thick beard made her tickle all over. Since everyone knew John's face duo to his time as Captain America he needed to keep that beard. It was the first time John ever let his beard grow that much. He said it was unconformable, but Olivia liked it a lot. It made him look like a character from a tv show they've been watching.
They just sat by the fire for a while. It was still daytime but the sky was filled with dark clouds. Olivia was the one who broke the silence.
"Crazy few months, right?" She tried to smile.
"yeah.." john tilted his head swiftly. "From hero to zero."
"Don't say that. You did your best."
"Did I?" John took a big breath. The cold air didn't bother him much. He was still getting used to it though. "I was not the hero they wanted me to be."
They both stayed in silence a little more. It was just so complicated. Olivia loved John like she's never loved anyone. Still even her couldn't say he was a saint.
"Did you bought it?" She said after a while.
"Yeahs, of course."
John grabbed a bottle of Smirnoff from the cold wet grass. They both looked at it in silence. If they had guests John would pretend to struggle while opening the bottle. Instead he opened the bottle effortlessly.
"I'll go first. Because, you known.. I won't.."
"Yeah yeah. Go ahead."
John drank like it was fucking water. His throat felt the burn but his brain remained intact. He then passed the bottle to Olivia who took a smaller dose. It was enough to make her head spin though.
"He would've loved Springville." Olivia said coughing.
"He really would!" John laughed.
Olivia laughed as well. Suddenly they started laughing out loud. But not for much. Their laughter got poisoned by grief like it did many other times in the past months. John drank so more.
"I can't believe it's been a year already." Olivia sighted.
"To Lemar!" John said.
"To Lemar!" Olivia repeated.
They continued drinking.
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alvacchi · 4 years
Text
Phantom Thief Hanako-kun AU Story: When They Truly Met
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(Image from AidaIro!)
This is my concept story based off of the AU! Enjoy!
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-The story started off when Yashiro asked Tsuchigomori why he retired from the police force and opened up his own private detective agency
-That didn't mean the private detectives and police force wouldn't work together from time to time but still
-Tsuchigomori replied that he didn't approve of Teru's violent methods towards criminals no matter the offense. Teru was one of the top promising policemen in the force.
Tsuchigomori had his personal reasons supposedly.
-Tsuchigomori told her to go join the police force then but Yashiro refused
-Yashiro, on the other hand, had a crush on Teru. She thought he's only trying to protect people. He was popular in the police force and she considered him a senpai.
-Yashiro is Tsuchigomori's apprentice and she wanted to learn from him as he's more experienced
-She believed it was better if she impressed Teru with her detective skills once she mastered them
-Yashiro asked about the latest heist note from the phantom thief Hanako
-Both of them were doing their jobs of helping to catch the thief. It had been their mission lately.
-Tsuchigomori forbade her to go this time though
-Yashiro asked why
-Tsuchigomori: "Minamoto Teru is going tonight."
-Yashiro gasped since Teru doesn't often come. He's mostly busy with other cases that were more urgent
-But was it really just Teru?
-Tsuchigomori went over Yashiro's problems during their previous heist searches for Hanako
-Like getting lost
-He also told her Kou and Mitsuba were not going either because it's going to get dangerous
-Yashiro questioned this because heists never brought any harm but entertainment for Hanako fans
-Tsuchigomori shooed her off though, saying she's got a lot to learn
-During the night. It was a full red moon
-The heist was happening and Yashiro was missing out.
-Yashiro was out of her apartment at the time, grabbing groceries for her and her little hamster Black Canyon
-She also bought new kitchen appliances since her old ones were getting worn out
-When she came to her door, she heard a noise inside
-Panicking, she prepared some self defense with a frying pan and kitchen armor and blindly charged in to hit the intruder
-When she opened her eyes, she found a bleeding Hanako on the floor
-'Oh no! I murdered him!' She immediately thought.
-But then after calming down a bit, she realized the bleeding wasn't from her frying pan but the chest area
-It looked like a bullet wound
-A bullet? Was there gun violence?! But who used a gun?
-She attempted to call 119
-Hanako grabbed her arm to stop her from calling the hospital, panting heavily
-A doorbell rang and pounding door knocks were heard
-Yashiro hid Hanako in a blanket without thinking
-She answered the door to find Teru
-Teru asked her if she's seen any suspicious activity like a certain phantom thief
-He was hunting Hanako down
-That's when it clicked to Yashiro that she's hiding the thief since the shock blinded her from thinking of his identity
-Recalling the bullet wound, for a second she doubted Teru but she fought that doubt. Surely not Teru, right? He had a whip and a sword but a gun?
-Her morals clashed and an internal conflict started
-Wasn't it too cruel to hand Hanako over at his most vulnerable moment?
-It was so unusual to see him in such a state, since he seemed to be having the time of his life at the heists
-Was this what Detective Tsuchigomori meant by dangerous?
-But Hanako hadn't technically hurt anyone from any of his heists
-She didn't even know his motive behind his stealing
-So she lied
-She said she hadn't seen anyone
-Teru took her word for it and went to search around her apartment building
-Yashiro let go a breath she didn't realize she was holding
-Then, she started agonizing on the fact that she lied to her crush
-She slapped her cheeks as she realized Hanako was still bleeding to death
-She went over to check with him and threw the covers off
-Hanako was unconscious now and Yashiro quickly checked his pulse
-It was faint but there
-He's still alive thank goodness
-She realized the wound seemed to be slightly bigger for some reason and his hand was tightly clutching onto something
-It's the bullet
-He took out the bullet with the new knife that was laying nearby
-She must have dropped her bags in pure panic
-Okay, this guy was crazy
-Did he want to die faster or something
-He must have fainted in the middle of applying aid to himself
-How did he not scream in the process
-Recalling that Hanako didn't want to go to the hospital, Yashiro assumed that it was because he's a wanted criminal
-She thought he was lucky that she learned first aid from Tsuchigomori as part of her detective work
-Also that she was living alone in her apartment
-So, she patched him up real good and left him to sleep somewhere
-During the patch up, she tried to feel for any gem he could be hiding
-But there were none on him
-Strange since he came back from a heist
-Did he fail to steal because of Teru? That'd be a first.
-Finally when her attention was off him, she realized she would have to clean the bloody mess
-And her window was broken
-The most likely case being Hanako crashed in through there
-Staring at Hanako asleep, she noticed a black cat mask on the side of him.
-Black cats were told to bring bad luck to those around them.
But that can't be right. That's just a superstition.
-Did Teru believe in it?
-Nonetheless, she had to pay for that window damage. Or make an unconscious thief do so when he wakes up
-By the time she woke up the next day though, Hanako was already gone with a note on the side that he would come by later tonight
-If Yashiro wasn't mad last night, she was pissed now
-Aren't phantom thieves supposed to be gentlemen?! He gave her nothing but trouble!
-She was really going to let him have it when he comes
-The time came and Yashiro found Hanako right at her window
-It's not even the first floor. Of course he had to make a grand entrance
-Yashiro grabbed him and pulled him into her room with anger
-She yelled at him for leaving suddenly even with a note
-Hanako: "Ow is this how you deal with your patient? I'm sad and hurt."
-Hanako told her that he had to go pick up the jewels he left
-Oh. So he was hiding them somewhere else
-Yashiro: "I'll have you know I'm a detective! I could arrest you right here! Right now!"
-Hanako: "Correction. You're a detective's apprentice. You wouldn't have the authority to arrest me."
-Yashiro's eyes widened.
-Hanako: "Hehe surprised? Your window happened to be conveniently close enough to land."
Yashiro: "How do you know who I am?"
Hanako: "I have my sources. How did you think I was able to have a successful heist every time?"
-Hanako walked closer to Yashiro and Yashiro stepped back until she was up against the wall.
-He was really close and dominating over her, quite teasingly
-If Yashiro had a wild imagination, it was like a kabedon with both hands.
-Hanako: "Besides, even with authority, did you really think you could arrest me?"
-Yashiro flustered and quickly pushed him off, though careful not to touch his wound.
-Yashiro: 'Don't fall for it, Yashiro Nene! He's not even your type!'
-Yashiro: "Why do you steal?"
-Hanako only smiled at her.
-Hanako: "That's for you to find out, my dear detective."
-Yashiro pouted at the comeback.
-Hanako: "Let's make a deal."
-Yashiro: "What?"
-Hanako: "I'm indebted to you so why don't I come over at night once in a while? We could get to know each other."
-Yashiro: "Are you kidding? That's breaking my moral code! You know I can't do that!"
-Hanako: "You're curious though, right?"
-At that moment, Yashiro couldn't deny it. She indeed was. She couldn't shake off the incident from last night. Maybe Hanako had a reason for being a phantom thief. And maybe there was more to him than meets the eye.
-Yashiro: ".......Fine. We have a deal. But don't expect me to go easy on you during the heists!"
-Hanako: "Wouldn't have it any other way~"
-Hanako closed in again to kneel down and place a kiss on her hand. He looked up and grinned at her.
-Not so soon, Yashiro just kicks him out of her apartment, already a blushing mess.
-And so their relationship began.
287 notes · View notes
madeofitzits · 4 years
Text
In honor of the impending return of Brooklyn 99, here are 99 reasons that...
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1. He was precocious enough to know, at 5 years old, that he wanted to change his name (x)
 2. He has a bunch of nicknames: Sandy Amberg, Young Sandwich, etc. but the most endearing one is 'Droidy', his family's name for him (x) 
3. He is still super close friends with people he's known since: Elementary School (Chelsea Peretti) (x)...
4. Junior High/High School (Kiv and Jorm) (x) 
5. … Summer Camp (Irene Neuwirth) (x)
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7.  ...and Film School (Chester Tam) (x)
8. Before he met Joanna, he dated other famous ladies but - out of respect - he never discussed it/them (x) 
9. He loves turtles and tortoises. When he was a kid, he had a pet turtle that he named 'Squirt' because the first time he held it, it peed on him. His Mom, Margie, accidentally killed Squirt when Andy was at Summer camp... (x)
10. … Maybe this is why, when shooting 'Popstar', Andy fell hard for Maximus (Conner 4 Real's turtle). He says they "had a good thing going" and that he wanted to adopt him. In the end, he decided against it because there are a bunch of coyotes in his neighborhood and he was worried the little guy wouldn't be safe. (Popstar: DVD Commentary)
11. Speaking of his Mom, despite being a super private person, he appeared on 'Finding your Roots' so that he could help her track down her birth family (x)
12. When he succeeded he cried (although we never got to see it on camera) (x)
13. That's because, like all good boys, he loves his Mama which is why - as part of the same episode - he said "My mom is basically the kindest person I know… and many people would corroborate that" (x)
14. Andy's Sisters, Hannie (Johanna) and Darrow, used to make him wear diapers and put his hair in pigtails until he was 5 years old. He says he didn't mind because he just liked that they were paying attention to him (x)
15. That's why he sees his identity in comedy as being 'America's kid brother'. When he was young, he would annoy his sisters until they laughed and he claims to have been replicating that approach to entertainment ever since
16. Although a bunch of his characters have 'Daddy Issues', Andy definitely doesn't. He's super close with his Papa (Joe) and has said "he's a good man" and "the best Dad in the world" (x) 
17. Joe was Andy's youth soccer coach and in one scene in 'Hot Rod', Joe's favorite photograph can be seen in the background. It shows a very young Andy posing with a soccer ball, after "scoring the winning goal against Mersey" (x)
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18. He's been a loyal Golden State Warriors fan since he was a little kid, living in Oakland (then Berkeley) and, in 2010, he correctly predicted that they would "win a Championship in my lifetime" (x) 
19. The proceeds from his Umami Burger ('The Samburger') went to a deafness early detection program in Berkeley. This cause is close to his heart because Margie uses hearing aids and used to work in the special needs program, teaching deaf kids (x)
20. He, Kiv, and Jorm have made multiple donations to their old school district, including $250 000 to its theater program (x)
21. On the subject of The Lonely Island; Andy always goes out of his way to make sure that everyone knows how much he owes to his buddies. For instance, he told Marc Maron, during his WTF appearance, that "I get a lot of credit for what Kiv and Jorm have done" (x)
22. He makes this face when he knows he’s said something naughty…
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(Gif credit: @andrewsambags)
23. During his 'Wild Horses' appearance, he said that he can't watch scary movies because they freak him out too much. He told 'Complex' that he's still scared of 'The Shining' (x)...
24. … Similarly, when he was at UC Santa Cruz he worked at the Del Mar movie theater and he had a hard time coping with screenings of 'Species 2' (x)
25. He fell in love with Joanna, the moment he met her, when she greeted him by addressing him as 'Steve the C**t' (x)
 26. He listened to 'Ys', everyday for a year, before he and Joanna started dating (x)
27. He bought the original portrait that was used as the basis of the cover art for 'Ys' and gave it to Joanna as a Christmas present, so that she could hang it in her music room (x)
 28. He loves birds and goes hiking and birding with Joanna (x)
 29. Every new comment he makes about Joanna becomes an instant contender for 'most beautiful thing a person has ever said about their spouse' (x)
30. For example, he readily admits that Jake's iconic heart eyes are the result of him thinking about his amazing wife (x)
31. There are many stories about how incredibly romantic Andy and Joanna's wedding was and Jorm has said that it featured "the most magical vows I've ever heard" (x)
32. The Newsombergs now live in Charlie Chaplin's old house (x)
33. On the Emmys Red Carpet (2015), the year he hosted, they took a momentary break from posing for the world's press to whisper 'I love you' to each other (x)
34. At last year's Vanity Fair party, Andy carried Joanna's purse for her so she could grab a snack (x)
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35. He was a semi-permanent fixture in the audience for her recent run of shows for the 'Strings/Keys Incident' tour, even officially confirming his status as the 'President of her Fan Club' (x)
36. He used his Golden Globes monologue to call out the government for framing and murdering the Black Panthers (x)
37. On the Carpet for the Guy's Choice Awards, he called the event "a ridiculous farce", adding that "men already have it so easy - it's insane that there's a show that celebrates them". That makes sense when you consider that he, Kiv and Jorm have made an entire career out of parodying toxic masculinity (x)
38. He once said that only "idiot-ass men" think that women aren't funny (x)
39. He’s been wearing glasses since 7th Grade and he has the most heartbreakingly cute habit of nudging them up his nose, (especially when he wears his Sol Moscot frames) (x)...
40. ... and of rubbing his eyes under them (x)
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41. He barely ever wears glasses for roles but he also avoids contacts (because he doesn't like touching his eyeballs) which means he's almost always 'acting blind' (x)
42. He has worn his glasses in character a few times - as 'himself' ('Lady Dynamite'), as 'Paul' ('I Think You Should Leave') and during a very small number of SNL sketches (e.g. during his one appearance in a 'Gilly' with Kristen Wiig) (x) 
43. He can't tolerate glare and when that makes him squint it's a sight that's too cute for words (x)
44. He owns about six outfits and has been rotating them for well over a decade (x) 
45. He barely ever breaks during shooting/while performing, so when he does it's aggressively adorable. (x), (x)
46. He's a grown ass man who persuades people to come with him to the bathroom because if he goes by himself he'll get lonely (x)
47. He didn't announce he was leaving SNL, until after his last appearance, selflessly choosing not to detract from Kirsten Wiig's huge and emotional send-off (x) 
48. He undertook a quest to smell like Lorne Michaels (x) 
49. He's ageing like a fine wine (x)
50. To protect their daughter's privacy, Andy and Joanna never announced that they were expecting. They've never released their little girl's name or date of birth and most news outlets still report that they became parents in August 2017 (even though that's inaccurate) (x)
51. Although he's careful not to talk about his daughter often, sometimes he can't keep from gushing about her. For example, when asked about his first year of fatherhood he said: "It’s been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Just like a beautiful, incredible dream. It has surpassed every expectation I ever had. It’s definitely been very blissful" (x)
52. After their daughter was born, Andy and Joanna spent the first 40 days at home with her (in a practice known as 'confinement'). He's described it as being "a really special time". (x) 
53. Andy is famously mild-mannered but, when asked about what triggers his 'Dad claws', he admitted that if anyone attempted to touch his daughter, without permission, he'd "probably sock them hard in the face"…
54. ...Characteristically, he went on to add that he hopes that never happens, since he hasn't been in a fight since 6th Grade (x)
55. Cyndi Lauper was his first celebrity crush and he plays her record ('She's so unusual') for his daughter all the time. (x)
56. His is the very definition of a precious laugh (x)...
57. It's made even more wonderful by the way it makes his voice go high-pitched (x)
58.  … and the way it causes his eyebrow to rise involuntarily  
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59. It's impossible not to smile at his impression of his Mom (x)
60. And laugh at his impression of John Mulaney (x)
61. He was so convinced he wouldn't win the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical, that he didn't prepare a speech. Instead, as he explained to David Letterman, he "just went… and started drinking". The resulting list of improvised 'thank yous' was perfect in every way (x)
62. As producers, Andy, Kiv and Jorm have given life to some amazing projects ('Alone Together', 'Brigsby Bear', 'I Think You Should Leave')...
63. … and gone out of their way to support women in comedy ('Party Over Here', 'PEN15') (x)
64. As well as being a comedy legend, he's a super-talented dramatic actor, who gave the performance of a lifetime in 'Celeste and Jesse Forever' but, after the movie wrapped, and it was time to do press for it, he was straight back to goofing around (x) 
65. His lip bite should be illegal (x)
66. Even though he wears the same vanishingly small number of outfits, over and over, he has a vast collection of the most excellent socks (x)
67. He always gives 'editing notes' during his own interviews (x)
68. He has a super sweet and sincere way of thanking interviewers when they compliment him (x)
69. He adjusts his hoodie constantly (x)
70. The two most perfect Jake laughs in b99 are actually real Andy laughs 'https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W38A_xuXaeg https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sVm9nYrTWRQ
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71. Virtually everyone who has ever worked with Andy has talked about what a wonderful person he is. This explains why so many of them have been involved with more than one of his projects (x)
72. It's not only his colleagues who talk about what a delight he is (x), (x)
73. This lovestruck fool wore his own wife's merch when he went out to dinner (x)
74. No one else uses the word 'dinky' quite like Andy (x). The same goes for 'snacky' (see point 70)
75. He does this with his tongue (x)
76. He still likes to play soccer but his eyesight is so bad that he has to keep his glasses on for it
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77. When he lets his gorgeous floofy hair grow a little it sits perfectly over the arms of his glasses (x)
78. He gifted the world with Jakey's little curl (x)
79. At the James Franco Roast, he couldn't bring himself to be mean to anyone except himself (and Jeff Ross, a little!) (x)
80. In fact, he's always been willing to laugh at himself (x) and he still is (x)
81. He changes b99 scripts to make them more feminist (x)
82. Despite their humble insistence that they just benefited from 'good timing', the reality is that Andy, Kiv and Jorm (along with Chris Parnell) revolutionized digital media, when 'Lazy Sunday' popularized YouTube, increasing its traffic by 85% overnight (x)
83. He once attended the Vanity Fair party because his Mom told him to (x)
84. He has an amazing way of subtly but firmly shutting down inappropriate questions, like when this interviewer suggested that Holt being gay was something that could have been played for laughs https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=idQsYQfkR5o
85. He auditioned for SNL at the same time as Bill Hader. Hader thought he'd blown it because Andy had a bunch of props and Bill had none. In the meantime, Andy thought he'd blown it when he saw Hader and realized 'this guy doesn't need any props' (x) 
86. His bromance with Seth Meyers is one for the ages (x)
87. Every single second of this video is proof of why Andy, Kiv and Jorm deserve the world (x)
88. He once dragged Mulaney up on stage for SNL Goodnights, even though writers weren't allowed to join in (x)
89. He has a hilarious phobia of pooping anywhere except his own bathroom (x) 
90. His beautiful, beautiful, face: His smile (radiant), his eyes (caramel - hella disarming), his ears (adorably asymmetrical), his nose (perfect), His chin (the dimple… *swoon*), his jaw (could cut glass), The 'Sambeard' (another amazing layer of pretty) (x)
91. His body: His butt (x), his thighs, (x) his soft lil tummy (The ‘Sambelly’) (x), his hands. (x), his arms (x), his hips…
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(Gif credit: @amystiago /@badpostandy on Twitter)
92. All signs point to the fact that, like Jake, Andy uses his glasses case as a wallet (x) 
93. Jake's "cool-cool-cool-cool-cool-cool" is an irl Andy-ism that the writers worked into b99 scripts. What's even better is that Joanna does it, too (x)
94. He has a really good arm and is low key competitive, which is super hot https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e32K_nBDy3Q
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95. He's one half of the cutest Red Carpet pose of all time (x)
96. He barely ever seems to get mad but if angry Jake is anything to go by, maybe he should... (x)
97. He's a huge nerd, who geeks out over GOT, LOTR, 'Star Wars', 'Alien(s)' and anything relating to time travel (x), (x)
98. He has a gorgeous speaking voice, especially when he’s tired or a little sick. (Bonus points for any time he uses the word ‘correct’. See point 30) (x) 
99. He’s still so committed to his b99 fans and fam, even after all this time and is as excited as the rest of us that...
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