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#and therefore the side of the debate that annoys me more because i actually see it regularly

lullaebies · 7 months

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While I know that a lot of the things of the books are vague and therefore are open for different interpretations HOWEVER Ryan's interpretation of the dance is the worst I've seen, and I've seen alot of different takes/interpretations since I've been there in the fandom for like 9yrs, but Ryan manages to come up with the worst. Especially with Aegon's character, like I know Aegon (&his mother &his brothers) plays the role of antagonist or at least the closest one to such role, so I wasn't expecting him to be a jesus-like figure in the show but the way Ryan has made him sooo cartoonishly evil (he is objectively worse than Joffrey) but also so pathetic without any endearing qualities that cool villains have is soo jarring and annoying to me especially when Ryan pat himself thinking that the abomination he has created is some sort of "grey complex character"

See I don't really hate everything on the show; clearly if I did I wouldn't be half as obsessed with it, but I feel they chose one of the most dumbed down options for the Dance in the matter of the political debate and intrigue. If they took the Greens and their concerns any type of seriously we could've had a show more on the level of the first seasons of GOT. Most of the Green characters suffer from characterization issues, Aegon is simply the one you can tell on the most because it's fucking ridiculous with him lmao. (this is not to say TB doesn't suffer from characterization issues, but the vast majority of them are kids rn who frankly just didn't get screentime so that's a damn shame. The adult TB character's suffer more from lack of consequences and critique from the narrative imo). As for the Aegon section of the ask - You know the real kicker is that the use Joffrey in interviews as a measuring stick to say "he's no Joffrey" like... did you by any chance... read what you wrote? As you said, he's worse. And even worse are the inconsistencies - you expect me to believe he goes to fighting pits and rapes girls every sunday before sept mass when this man cries at his mother looking at him pointedly? Like, you can glean characterization off of Aegon, you can make him interesting if you tried, but they did not try to make him any sort of grey character in the first season. (in fact, the sympathetic parts of his story are glossed over and he is villainized over them!) He's just a menace that we are told to watch like: "look at this loser the greens are trying to replace Rhaenyra with". And they set it up from the get go with him as a child being a bully and a pervert, being mean to everyone around him, and I don't need to talk about adult Aegon, do I? I genuinely feel like the first season as a whole did its best to say "he sucks, he has no redeeming qualities, do not support". And it's so stupid, because people would've supported Rhaenyra regardless. She has an actual plight trying to ascend as the first queen in her own name. But the showrunners will masquerade Aegon II as a grey character while writing his actions and words as morally black as the night to act as if they don't have a favorite side. I don't know. I hope Tom managed to plant so ideas in their head as to how to handle him better, I do hope we get some sort of character development after the initial events of S2, but in the matter of being truly sympathetic in any way and morally ambigious they already shot themselves in the foot.

#answered #sorry i got a bit heated i think #hotd critical #i really do think this show would've been more interesting if they actually tried to be more neutral #and not only say that they are

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ineffablebookgirl · 2 years

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psychoanalyzing Aziraphale and Crowley through the ages instead of doing my research project that's due next week. pt. 7: The Bastille

[Okay, before I get started, I just want to acknowledge that recent post about how the Bastille actually fell in 1789 and therefore 1793 makes no sense as a year for this scene and therefore Aziraphale was so Extra with his contrived rescue scenario that he miracled the Bastille back into being, because I have been internally howling with laughter about that since I read it.]

So, this is just about 200 years after the Globe meeting. They're in very similar place in their relationship, but the anxiety is creeping back in. They are comfortable with each other, they know each other well by this point, and they have layers of unspoken understanding.

The scene starts with the first time Crowley calls Aziraphale "angel." (I don't count the "You're an angel" in Eden, because that was, in my mind, about his title, not a term of endearment, and in the book and the script book, it's meant to be sarcastic but Aziraphale misses it.) And then we get treated to another one of Michael Sheen's signature Incandescent Aziraphale Faces. But by the time he's turned around, he's reeled it in. Even if he physically can't restrain himself from giving Crowley a thrice-over, he doesn't unleash the Smile again this scene.

Because now, Aziraphale has gotten a letter from Gabriel. Heaven is taking note of the "frivolous" way he's been living on Earth, and he has to cover his tracks a bit. I know people like the idea that there was no reprimand, and Aziraphale made it all up just to get Crowley to go out on a date with him. I tend to take the story more at face value. I know Aziraphale's a bastard, but he's also a high-anxiety people-pleaser and I feel like a ruse that elaborate would end him at this point in his character development.

Aziraphale isn't the only one more on edge this time. When Az says, "I suppose I should say thank you," Crowley leaps to his feet, which kind of ruins the effect of the casual sprawl he had going on milliseconds prior. "Don't say that. If my people hear I rescued an angel, I'll be the one in trouble, and my lot do not send rude notes." This is the first time we see Crowley worried about consequences of his dalliances on Earth.

We're also back to debating what it is demons and angels do and don't do. Crowley says he got a commendation and we get the first, "So all this is your demonic work!?" from Aziraphale, to be repeated in the 1940s, "These people are working for you!"

It's a little tragic, really. We go from Aziraphale's hopeful flirtation and delight in getting Crowley to do little kindnesses for him, to these accusations of atrocities. Defense mechanisms. If Crowley is truly cruel to the humans, maybe Aziraphale can convince himself to put these feelings to rest. Or convince himself that it's okay that he keeps Crowley at arm's length while continuing to benefit from his acts of service.

On Crowley's side, he is still of course ready to leap to Aziraphale's aid at a moment's notice. But maybe we are starting to see that element that David Tennant talks about in a couple of interviews -- "Crowley loves Aziraphale and he hates that he loves Aziraphale, it's really annoying for him." He's tense and frustrated here.

And then, there's the whole casual second-hand murder of the French executioner. I can't quite wrap my noggin around it. At the old hospital in Tadfield, we have that moment of discomfort when Crowley turns the paintball guns into real guns, and then the relief of realizing they're all having miraculous escapes. But there's no moment of relief here. It's feasible that somebody recognizes him before he gets to the guillotine and he winds up fine. But that's not what's implied by the end of the scene.

So, part of me wonders if this is another one of Aziraphale's chaotic backpedals. If he really did manipulate the situation to get a date with Crowley, maybe he feels like he needs to balance that out somehow by doing something that's "really" bad to somehow justify his own "bad behavior" to himself? "I'm a bad angel, so it's okay for me to do bad things like go on romantic dates with demons in Paris"?

Or is it some kind of roundabout display for Crowley, to say, look, I can be demonic too, I'm not just a soft foodie.

Or maybe he's just being petty and getting revenge on Jean-Claude for locking him up and trying to touch his clothes.

I'm not totally satisfied by any of these explanations. Either way, there's a lot of angst at play under the surface in this one, and it lays the backdrop for the first breakup a hundred years later.

#good omens #good omens meta #aziraphale x crowley #ineffable husbands #gomens #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable spouses #through the ages #hard times #good omens 1x3 #meta #long post #bastard angel #bastille

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liskantope · 1 year

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It's happened again on Freddie's blog. *sigh*

And it's annoying, because on the one hand, I completely sympathize with FdB's frustration that commenters (albeit a very small handful of commenters, who are presumably not earlier offenders because those would already have been banned?) continue to outright disobey his very clear rules. On someone else's blog, you should respect what the host wants the vibe to be in their comments sections even if you feel the host's preferences are unreasonable, instead of pretending you didn't understand them the first five times he told you, ya know?

And on the other hand, it's like, Freddie, did you really think nobody in your audience would reach as far as connecting (at least in their minds) a post about transracial identities to the topic of transgender identities? I suppose that you're going to say yet again that part of your audience has some bizarre pathological fixation with trans rights stuff because they have a tendency to bring up our culture war battleground du jour every time you rant about people constructing an identity around race or constructing their identity around a (real or perceived) mental illness, because you just can't imagine why criticizing a fixation on an internally felt identity would possibly bring the whole trans issue to people's minds (gee, these people would think a convo about tax rates is an excuse to bring up trans stuff, they're so obsessed!)?

This time we did get one brief, very dismissive paragraph from FdB on why racial identity is significantly different from gender identity, which I think I could have argued better from the perspective of there being scientific evidence for an internally-felt gender region of the brain which doesn't have an analog for race. (Of course, it would bring up thorny questions of how many of today's younger newly-self-identified trans people actually have that sort of thing going on in their brains.) I myself a few years back wrote down my off-the-cuff thoughts contrasting being an otherkin with transness in favor of transness being an entirely valid thing. I still don't really see why FdB couldn't write a (much more polished) post of this sort (disabling the comments section for it, of course) to address the issue, instead of just being instantly dismissive of anyone who disagrees with him on it.

Note by the way how FdB straight-up says that the only people who don't get the obvious difference between the experiences of race identity and gender identity are the ones with a transphobic agenda. It doesn't feel in keeping with his perspective as a contrarian whose own political agenda is constantly mischaracterized.

I will say that this behavior is tipping me further in favor of the more charitable interpretation of FdB where he is just being honest and his intentions are purely in support of the LGBTQ community against comments he finds offensive, and that he genuinely can't understand how some people could be so dumb/obsessed as to connect any of his criticisms of some failure modes in self-identity to the trans thing.

By the way, on the topic of having an "obsession" with the debate over trans rights, again, do you really think the trans-activist part of the Left doesn't try to relate everything it can to trans rights? I recently ran into this article, which has some possibly quite valid points about LGBTQ people having worse housing and health care access and therefore being more vulnerable to climate change, but in my opinion really tenuous and reaching with some arguments like how there are higher rates of smoking in the LGBTQ community so they are affected worse by air pollution, therefore pollution is an LGBTQ-rights issue. I'm not saying that the Right doesn't also try to make as much as possible about trans issues as well, because I'm sure nowadays it absolutely does, I'm just not exposed to nearly as much fully right-wing content. But I am saying that both sides reach pretty far to relate everything to trans rights, because that's what both sides in a culture war do with the most hot-button culture war topic, and that they're reaching much farther than a bunch of FdB-readers who bring it up mainly in response to blog posts about self-identity.

So, yeah. I'm really going to try to shut up about this now, because it's clearly a situation that isn't going anywhere new or productive anytime soon.

#freddie deboer #trans issues #racial identity #comments sections #climate change #smoking

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hematomes · 2 years

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hello i wanna be annoying and stay hanging around here bc i can’t talk to any of my irl friends rn skfkgkd

can i ask abt why diluc is beloved? like more than just bc he’s hot?🦈

UR NOT ANNOYING DW <3

i can't talk for every diluc enjoyer out there but. i have many reasons to love him (mostly platonic tho, i just want to kiss his forehead and tell him he's doing so good but he can take a break now. SOBS) and his looks are really just an added bonus to me tbh. anyway

- his personality. ngl it's actually the 1st thing that had me hooked, not even his looks. he seems kinda rough but he's actually one of the most gentle souls in the whole game, and it's hard to see at first bc in the beginning quests he was a bit cold/reserved, which is understandable bc we had just met him. however when you look at his voice-overs, he's so caring and soft, in little things like saying u can use an umbrella, and that the only thing that matters is that you're safe at night etc

- game-wise, he's way stronger than people make him out to be, and therefore became kind of a niche dps? and i like underrated characters a lot because they deserve the love. and i still think the diluc treatment is unfair, but that counts for many other characters (like xinyan, for example). his gameplay is also extremely fun imo, the mechanics of his skill are <333

- his relationship with kaeya. im talking strictly platonically here because i can't speak on the whole translation debate (since yours truly does not speak a single cn word and does not wish to get involved), BUT from a 100% platonic/brotherly perspective, their relationship is extremely interesting. not only in the whole literal way its orchestrated (the fact that diluc almost killed kaeya and caused him to get a vision, the guilt that must eat at the both of them at all times, the way they still keep in touch even if it seems one-sided etc), but also in the symbolics (red/blue, fire/ice, the golden child and the outsider, the introvert and the extrovert...). in a way, their younger selves remind me of achilles and patroclus (still platonic please people, don't rip me apart) and im so sad to see many people sleeping on it, because it involves one guy that's banned from snezhnaya and managed to single-handedly take on multiple harbingers (iirc) and one mysterious fellow coming from an otherwise destroyed civilization, whose intentions remain DUBIOUS. so two characters who've been there since day 1 and could be involved in the last parts of the whole story

i could probably go on for hours about all of this but im gonna stop there bc it's already getting LONG. anyway. diluc deserves the world and i can't wait to see what they do with him in the 2.8 update

#♡.— 🦈 anon #long post

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skipps-writes-for-gojo-satoru · 3 years

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A lot of people say Gojo is a narcissist, faking being annoying, or incapable of feeling emotions/pretending he has emotions- it's really an incredible misinterpretation of his character to call him a sociopath/psychopath when he's actually just an ENTP. He's the most ENTP ENTP any ENTP has ever seen.

Just a little info: people with the ENTP personality type are extremely charismatic. They are often the center of attention with their quick wit and on point humour. You can see this with Gojo's antics and in your face behavior. However, ENTPs lack emotional sensitivity and are not afraid of expressing their disdain for topics such as tradition, which they discard quickly and easily, or any loose ideas they decide to debate on, which can leave people feeling offended or offput. They are Thinkers, with an underdeveloped feeling function (they are enTp not enFp) and are more likely to use logical reasoning when facing circumstances rather than their intuition or senses.

When it comes to friendships, ENTPs often enjoy people who can match their quick-witted nature. They need someone who can hold their ground during arguments and debates against him for mental stimulation. This makes ENTPs effective communicators, but many would find them to be extremely annoying or tiring to be around, especially because they are often unself-aware of how their words affect others. It's their natural tendency to argue and rebel against set ideas, whether it be for attention or to cure their own boredom that they express such so openly. They are confident even while speaking of their natural inclination to discard existing systems in society, leaving many infatuated with an ENTP's way with words. ENTP's just can't stand willful ignorance and tradition. However, many see this as pretentious of them. However, ENTPs don't argue for pleasure- it's simply the truth and they only ever debate ideas based on facts. Many people misunderstand this as egotism. We can see this when Gojo is constantly verbalizing his distate for the higher ups- he may act high and mighty, but his goal is always to prove his point and send a message across, which is that he cannot stand their archaic, inefficient way of handling things and if pushed, he will fight back. It's not him acting superior, he's simply stating fact, even if it offends the other person. As an ENTP, he simply has an undeveloped feeling function that prevents him from understanding his and others' emotions. Therefore, even if others are annoyed at what he has said, it's fine because it's only the truth, right? That explains why when Gojo had to ask his students if they would continue the exchange event even tho people had died, he was so nonchalant. See how him and ENTPs are so similar?

That said, when it comes to emotions, ENTPs are inclined to suppress their feelings. They're not known for their sensitivity no matter how much they understand the other person's position. When put in an emotional situation, despite being able to argue both sides of a topic, they are remarkably bad at putting themselves in other people's shoes. They also often misjudge others' feelings and push situations way past others' tolerance levels. We can tell Gojo is someone that most people cannot understand and vice versa- he was raised as the strongest, with many fearing his very existence. Therefore, he is even less inclined to be able to understand the emotional needs of other people. That is why he doesn't even realize Utahime hates him. He only thinks her bad attitude towards him is a joke (as said in Gege's fanbook. Shiro on Twitter has the translation). Most ENTPs don't even realize they're annoying to other people. They're just being themselves. Most people just struggle to handle such a person. This doesn't make Gojo an emotionless person- rather, he has feelings, but his natural tendency to suppress them in order to find a logical solution rather than put himself in another's shoes- something he's inherently bad at- infringes in his ability to understand other people.

Therefore, Gojo Satoru is not some emotionless psychopath or sociopath who's manipulative and narcissistic. He simply falls under a commonly misunderstood personality type called the ENTP, an mbti personality type. ENTPs only make up 3% of the population, making them one of the rarer personalities, which is why so many people can easily create misconceptions on his character. His enthusiasm and confidence in expressing his beliefs and attitude even if it annoys people is something many people can't stand, yes. He has a hard time understanding other people's emotions because he's more rational than intuitive, sure. But that doesn't make him a bad person. He's just one of a small group people on the planet who are dominated by logical thinking and debate, along with personalities like the INTP (Albert Enstein, for example) and the INTJ (Isaac Newton).

Gojo Satoru is a regular human being just like the rest of us, and he's not some philanderer who manipulates women and would cheat on them. ENTPs definitely struggle with commitment, but that's only because most people can't keep up with their constant need for intellectual stimulation rather than emotional. While they may find people who are incredibly emotionally sensitive to be intriguing at first, those relationships usually end with the ENTP realizing they would rather have an intellectual equal, like the INTP. They want to feel understood. However, the INTP's personality type only makes up for 3-5% of the population, which makes them, like the ENTP, misunderstood and commonly left feeling alone in the world. Similarly, Geto, the person who got the closest to Gojo, has the INTJ personality type, a thinking type that gets along most with the ENTP and only makes up 2% of the population, even less than the ENTP or INTP's rarity. Just from that, the person that would match Gojo's personality type is rare even statistically. Even so, Gojo himself doesn't even have time for sleeping around. The man hardly even sleeps much himself, he's so busy.

Source: a bunch of ENTP articles, threads, experiences, and other people's experiences.

Just wanted to clear that up, got tired of this Gojo slander lol 😖 Thanks for reading! Would love to hear any thoughts on this 💙 - 🤔 anon

OH MY GOLLY MOLLY 🤔 anon you are out educating the people YES YES I ABSOLUTELY AGREE wow reading this was such a learning experience yeet the people who think gojo is a psychopath. Gojo is just a really complex character and its understandable that some people don't understand trust me even I have my moments when writing when I struggle to keep him in character. I want to explore more sides to him yes the happy bubbly gojo but also the more emotionally oppressed gojo and other sides to him. I definitely agree he drives on logical thinking the dude literally wanted to have a debate on the separation of the state for fun. I am absolutely loving this and yes I am so tired of the gojo slander people don't judge a book by its cover 😤 that goes for other characters as well ☝️ really sorry for the late reply I LOVE YOU 🤔 ANON thank you so much for taking the time to explain 💙💙💙 virtual hugs 💗

#gojou satoru #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen gojo #jjk gojo #jujutsu kaisen x reader #gojo satoru #jjk imagines #gojou satoru x reader #gojo satoru x reader #skipps chat

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thedragonnerd · 3 years

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Rayaari headcanon - let's go back to school with a rival teachers AU

(inspired by this lovely anon)

When it comes to science teachers - and indeed, teachers overall at the school - Miss Raya is one of the most popular. She's not much older than the oldest students themselves, full of a somewhat chaotic energy that keeps the classroom energized, and a willingness to blow things up in the name of science and education, no matter how much it exasperates Headmaster Dang Hai.

Miss Raya is also popular thanks to her legendary (at least amongst the students, although arguably also in the teachers' lounge) rivalry with the History teacher Miss Namaari, whose classroom sits opposite her own.

Miss Namaari is simultaneously feared and admired by the students. She rarely cracks a smile, and there are so many stories about how scary she can be when angry, that no-one tries to misbehave in her class. Despite this, she keeps classes interesting with her lesson plans, forever challenging her students and ensuring they are engaged enough to receive some of the highest marks in the school.

There are all sorts of rumours as to why both teachers seem to be in an endless rivalry, starting from the week they both began work at the school.

Some students believe it's because they are always in competition to win the "Teacher of the Year" and the "Best Department" trophies at the school's annual award shows, and are therefore trapped in a battle to see who can encourage their students for the best grades and feedback.

Others think that it's simply because they have very different views of the world. Between classes, when the students are shuffling to their next subject, it is common to see both teachers standing on guard beside their own classroom doors, arms crossed and glaring at each other from opposite sides of the hallway. Most of the time, this is accompanied by an ongoing debate of the day, where they argue with raised voices over the general noise of the students on a dizzying array of topics. There seems to be no coherent theme to their debates, but no doubt whatever they are discussing, they'll be on opposite sides of the argument.

The most believed, and perhaps most simplistic answer, is that Miss Namaari is simply and consistently annoyed by Miss Raya and her unusual ways of teaching, and in return, Raya thrives on annoying her further. At least once a week, and undoubtedly after one of her signature loud scientific experiments, the door to Raya’s classroom will bang open, and Miss Namaari will be peering inside with a glower on her face, saying ‘Yet again, Miss Heart, your classroom is being utterly disruptive to my students.’

Sisu however, has a very different theory as to what is going on between her two teachers. ‘Sexual tension,’ she says wisely, between mouthfuls of her lunch. Noi makes a disgusted sound next to her – at her eating habits or her theory, it isn’t clear. ‘Can’t be sexual tension,’ she refutes. ‘Firstly, because ew. And secondly, because Miss Raya is happily married.’ Sisu doesn’t have an argument for that second point – Miss Raya indeed does seem very in love with her wife.

It was something the students discovered early on in Raya’s time teaching at the school. She wears a small and simplistic silver band around her finger – not something that appears to be a wedding ring at all. But one day, a student makes a joke about her ‘husband’, causing Miss Raya to flush bright red. ‘Wife, actually,’ she mutters, and then continues on with the class as if nothing happened. But her smile in that moment lights up the room.

A while later, one of the braver students asks her about her wife, and the ring. It’s so unusual for them to meet an adult in a non-straight relationship, and there are many teenagers who hang onto her words curiously and hopefully as she explains the origins of the ring. ‘We were 18 and had no money,’ she explains with a faraway smile on her face. ‘She proposed anyway, because we didn’t want to wait. And this ring was all she could afford. She’s asked me several times if I want a new ring now we have money all these years later, but there’s no need to change perfection.’

Students are smart, and students are sneaky. They are quick to notice if they ask at the start of the lesson about Raya’s wife, even a quick ‘how is she?’, then Raya will be a lot happier and cheerier during class…leading to more chaos and excitement.

‘My wife made me watch an entire marathon of Star Trek,’ she says one day, with a bright smile, when they ask about her weekend.

‘She tried to make you all cookies, but accidentally set the oven on fire,’ she explains another day, when she comes in looking slightly tired and smelling faintly of smoke.

‘She beat me in sparring – it was a very impressive one-two kick-punch,’ she tells them another morning, when they notice a bruise on her face. The faraway look in her eye tells them that she is now thinking fondly of her sparring fight with her wife, a strange habit it seems to the teenagers, but clearly something Miss Raya enjoys.

One day, Miss Raya comes in looking extremely upset. Her wife is ill, and she’d much rather be home than teaching for the day. The students are almost as upset as she is – ‘Miss Raya’s wife’ has become a beloved figure to them, someone they’ve never met but feel as if they know anyway. They send her home with get well cards by the end of the day, and for the rest of the week, Miss Raya takes vacation days so she can play nurse.

‘Miss Namaari won’t know who to yell at today,’ Noi jokes, but Boun leans over his desk while shaking his head. ‘Miss Namaari’s class has a substitute also,’ he informs them. Sisu’s eyes narrow slightly. ‘Must be something going around,’ she says slowly.

The discovery comes several months later, and purely by accident. Sisu is on the other side of town to her usual haunt, searching for the perfect gift for Tong’s birthday, when she decides to get some caffeinated fuel for her shopping mission. She slips into the nearest café, lining up for her order before something out the corner of her eye catches her attention.

Miss Raya is here, sitting on one of the comfy couches and drinking coffee. Her clothes are casual, and her hair falls loosely around her face as she laughs loudly at whatever her companion has just said, leaning forward to lay a hand on the person’s knee. Sisu is just about to call out a greeting to her teacher, when she suddenly notices who exactly is with Miss Raya.

‘Come on, dep la,’ Miss Namaari says, standing up and then bending down again slightly to grasp Miss Raya’s hands and pull her up also. ‘Let’s go home.’ Miss Namaari wraps an arm around Miss Raya’s shoulder, kissing the side of her head softly, and Sisu, hiding behind the person in front of her in the queue, witnesses the same bright smile flash across her face as Miss Raya’s whenever she talks about her wife. Miss Raya’s nose crinkles in amusement, and then two women walk out of the café slowly, eyes only for each other.

The next day at school, Noi and Sisu are walking together towards Miss Raya’s classroom when they hear the unmistakable voices of their two teachers, bickering back and forth in yet another debate of the day. The bell rings loudly, making them hurry their footsteps so they aren’t late, but before they reach the door, Sisu sees a bright smile on Raya’s face as she winks to her debate partner across the hallway.

‘You know, you’re right,’ she whispers to Noi as they settle into their seats. ‘Can’t be sexual tension – Miss Raya is far too in love with her wife.’

#rayaari #raya and the last dragon #ratld #raya #namaari #raya and namaari #raya x namaari #rival teachers AU #well well well ladies #you are not as subtle as you think #rayaari headcanon #allll the headcanons

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serpenteve · 3 years

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So I ship Darklina, but I actually...don't hate Mal? Sure, he was a dick sometimes (so is the Darkling, in different ways), but he was also like 17 or 18 right? And, to me, he'd changed by Ruin and Rising. He went through a lot of character growth. He's not my favorite character by any means. He's probably one of my least favorite, simply because of how boring he is, and I think him and Alina would have been better off as friends or siblings for a platonic familial type thing. But he's also a teenager. That doesn't give him an excuse for being a dick but I feel like from what I've seen from Darklina stans (and what I myself have done in the past) is we hold him to such a high standard but we excuse everything the Darkling does. Yes, he's the villain, but he's also a love interest, which means he does need to be somewhat held accountable. I love the Darkling, he's my boy, and he makes Mal look like a piece of cardboard in comparison, but if we're able to love a centuries old villain and forgive his mistakes, shouldn't Mal at least get some grace? Heroes are allowed to mess up, especially teenage ones. Hell, when I was 17 I was a wreck. It just feels weird to write off everything a centuries old man does but tear apart everything a teenager does, you know?

But I also understand the Mal hate and I don't expect people to love him (I don't even love him lmao). I just wanted to see if some Darklinas are more open towards Mal because I understand most Darklinas hate his guts (understandably so).

Sorry for the long ask. What are your thoughts on Mal?

I don't think all Darklinas hate Mal but a lot of people who hated a number of things in the books happen to be Darklinas. If you hate the book romance, then you're more likely to criticize other aspects of the storytelling like the plot and writing choices.

I definitely think people's perception of Mal hinges on whether they feel like he redeemed himself in Ruin & Rising and/or whether or not they were exposed to the fandom discourse and reactions surrounding the characters. For example, if you read the Grisha trilogy after seeing people endlessly simp for the Darkling and talk about Mal like he's the Worst Character Ever™️, then probably you will think book!Mal really isn't that bad and people excuse the Darkling's actions despite him like.........destroying an entire town for funsies and terrorizing Alina across the country 😂

The whole Mal vs Darkling debate originally arose out of audience expectations. Mal was presented as a heroic love interest while the Darkling was basically a false romantic lead turned villain who Alina kinda still had the hots for but had to heroically resist lest she become seduced to the dark side. The Darkling wants to control and exploit Alina and will stop at nothing to do so. Therefore, we expect Mal to embody the opposite of this: support Alina in doing what she wants and not treat her like a trophy he's entitled to. Instead, Bardugo---perhaps unintentionally---set the opposite in motion.

I actually really don't mind Mal in Shadow & Bone. Yeah, he was kind of an ass to Alina at parts, but he apologized and helped her get the stag and most of his faults can be overlooked as dumb teenage boy things. The problem arose in Siege & Storm when Mal grew entitled, possessive and emasculated because Alina had this power he did not and Alina had this great destiny that didn't revolve around him. Regardless of what Bardugo intended with this lover's quarrel, many readers interpreted this as Mal wanting Alina to be weak and dependent on him. And now, when readers look back at his more annoying traits in Shadow & Bone that initially didn't bother us that much, it holds more sinister implications. It wasn't that Mal and Alina were drifting apart, it was that Mal doesn't care about Alina until someone else cares about her and then he realizes "oh shit! my biggest fangirl that i took for granted has been taken away and has a life of her own??? unacceptable!!11". This combined with the Grisha being coded as any marginalized group and Mal's bigotry towards Alina and then her ending where she lost her powers so the author could pair her with Mal also left some.................IMPLICATIONS 👀

And listen, it would be one thing if I was the *only* reader who was whining about how Mal's character drives me up the wall......but like literally 3/4 of the fandom hated his ass because Bardugo accidentally made him toxic in a very *familiar* way that the Darkling's toxicity is not---at least for that part of the fandom. And this clash between reader expectations and what was actually on the page is what gave rise to a lot of Mal hate. You mentioned that readers hold Mal to a higher standard than the Darkling and that's true. But it's also because Mal is supposed to be a hero, not a villain. The expectations we had for the Darkling were literally on the floor after he decided to randomly massacre Novokribrisk. Whereas Mal being toxic in exactly the same way a chauvinistic garbage IRL man would be toxic was way too much for some readers and we just ended up shipping Alina with the Darkling out of pure spite. Especially when said villain is saying things like "I've seen what you truly are and I've never turned away? Can he stay the same?" or "He’s otkazat’sya. He can never hope to understand your power, and if he did, he’d only come to fear you."

ALSO, I'm a big believer that the reason the Darklina shippers grew in number is directly because the Darkling and Alina are never in a romantic relationship. The failed and wasted potential was indeed a huge draw, but the fact that we never got to see what their canon relationship would be like allowed us to fantasize about an ideal situation in which the Darkling comes to the error of his ways and learns to treat Alina as an equal. The quotes I mentioned above are up for interpretation. He says he will never turn away and that he would be able to understand Alina's power...........but he also proved that he isn't above using her as a weapon without regard for what she wants. Because we never get to see the Darkling and Alina in a real romantic relationship, we can now choose to interpret that line seriously in fanworks, regardless of whatever the hell Bardugo intended with it.

#viv answers #i could probably write an entire essay on this but i feel like ive rambled long enough lmao #anti mal

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stillness-in-green · 2 years

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The sentiment that the league can be sympathized with but not overhaul makes sense bc readers take things like abuse personally but it doesn’t stop it from being annoying

When you’re right, you’re right, anon. I suspect it’s a combination of two factors. First, as you say, that issues like abuse hit much closer to home, so people take them much more personally (and, in our current fandom environment, get much more reactionary and nasty about the characters involved) than e.g. arson and murder.

Second, there’s always that issue of character familiarity: Overhaul abused Eri, who is about as picture-perfect a victim as you could imagine, a bedraggled waif with recent wounds, limpid eyes and a halting, fearful manner. He also killed Magne and Nighteye, both named characters who’d been around long enough to accrue at least some measure of audience affection. By comparison, while the League has obviously harmed significant characters, the people they’ve actually killed/permanently taken out of the action are either villains (Curious and Overhaul; a bunch of skull-masked quirk racists) or people who we see mere glances of at best: a schoolboy Toga attacked here, a Twice clone killing a then-unnamed hero there, Shigaraki’s Decay wave catching heroes we’ve spent little to no time with and/or a bunch of MLA soldiers/civilians whose presence we can only posit because it’s unrealistic to suspect that everyone was able to get out of his radius in time.

Then there are Dabi’s thirty innocent victims, and for the purposes of this post, I want to talk about them a little more, because they’re the ones that really get to me.

So like, we assume that a lot of those thirty people are like the roughs Dabi killed in the alleyway in Chapter 115, and I’ve seen a lot of people suggest that those guys can hardly be called “innocent” (and therefore, by implication, that burning them alive is totally fine). But those men were innocent, at least of any wrongdoing to Dabi.

As best we can tell, he walked into their alley, they turned to face him and made some broad, aimless, face-saving threats that didn’t even reach the level of serious plausibility: ”Buzz off or die,” one said, with his hands still lowered at his sides, and the other speaker hadn’t even taken his hands out of his pockets. Dabi raised his hands first; Dabi murdered them for no reasons but that they’d given him some lip after he walked into their patch, and that they were eyesores whose “type” the League (or he himself, or the world at large) didn’t need.

Every single one of those street dudes could have had Twice’s backstory. Or Magne’s, or Spinner’s. They could have been like Overhaul’s trio of Tabe, Setsuno and Hojo, clinging to the only friends and the only place to belong they’d found after years of being treated like disposable trash. We don’t know, because we don’t know them, but the average person with anything to do with their life probably isn’t hanging around being surly in a dark alley. But, again, it’s not like they lured Dabi in to mug him; he came to them, showing the same callous disregard for their lives and their worth to society that he would himself later face from Geten.

Yet somehow, only Dabi’s indignation is righteous.

Like, I don’t care if people like Dabi despite his wrongdoings; all my favorite characters in this series are villains too! What bothers me are the double standards, the way certain villain fans just trip over themselves rushing to downplay and excuse everything bad the League does while at the same time espousing the most uncharitable interpretations possible of characters they hate, in some cases even if that interpretation is blatantly at odds with the text itself!*

I hate these ridiculous Who Has Transgressed In Ways Too Problematic To Be Forgiven debates. They’re like fandom’s version of the Oppression Olympics, and it’s not possible to play those games and maintain any level of consistency and intellectual integrity. Just accept that people are allowed a) different interpretations of the text than you and b) to like fictional characters regardless of their equally fictional wrongdoings. It is seriously not that hard.

Thanks for the ask, anon! Go in peace and love your problematic faves.

* For example, I don’t think Kotarou was hitting Tenko on the regular, nor do I think Endeavor was beating Shouto outside the confines of his (definitely abusive; don’t get me wrong) training regimen, but at at least you can argue those things without necessarily contradicting the text. But things like, “Endeavor crying in his hospital room was a abusive manipulation tactic to make his family feel bad for him,” when Enji started crying while he was alone, before anyone else even entered the room? Like, there’s having a different interpretation of the canon, and then there’s being so stratospherically wrong that I have to wonder if people are even reading the manga at all, or if they’ve just moved on to getting all their information from their friends. Which is fine and all, but at least fucking own it.

#stillness answers #fandom double standards #bnha

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smolstarthief · 3 years

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Persona 5/Persona 5 Strikers: Pro-Police or Anti-Police?

Hoo boy... So this honestly has been a LONG time coming on my end because I have seen so much of that debate on social media (Twitter namely) and I can see the points of BOTH sides but there have been moments where it just got out of hand... Especially whenever people tried to put in a more grey/nuanced take only to be slammed and taken out of context. Even repeatedly mentioning the interrogation at the beginning of P5 which, I will admit has gotten tiresome. At least for me, I do still feel for Joker and I wished the game acknowledged his trauma more but there's a thing called, "beating a dead horse" and this is one along with "Haru says ACAB" in Strikers (which was done THREE TIMES in the same arc and it got annoying fast, like shut up already! We get it!). So, let's dive in a little bit:

MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!!!

Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal

Now let me just say I know! Police in Japan are just as bad if not worse than the West and I STILL hate the idea of Makoto wanting to become a cop for such naive reasons (especially with what happened to Sae, her own sister!)... But there are at least some of form of nuances sometimes and by that I mean, I can see what they were trying to do? I do agree that P5/P5S backpedaled SEVERELY by deciding to sweep issues under the rug after addressing them and not continuing from such. In fact I feel like it could have been a hell of a lot better. But P5 did something different compared to previous games and addresses the issues DIRECTLY right at the beginning of said game! It was tense and horrifying, but needed. Of course... They then sweep it under the rug and act like nothing traumatic happened to our protag which is NOT a good look at all and I'm still pissed off about it. In the main game's case, it's portrayed as more black and white with only a SMALL amount of nuance like that cop that was trying to help Futaba when she went out by herself and got lost (which people ignore entirely by the way). So I CAN see where people got the "anti-police" message from... But that's only the tip of the iceberg as it's ACTUALLY more about Systematic Corruption, not exactly or JUST police corruption. Namely in politics with Shido and the Conspiracy (which is apparently still somewhat around in Strikers until Owada's downfall) controlling everything all the way to law enforcement. The force had been basically under his payroll (including the corrupt SIU Director before his death) whether by force or not (mostly not in this case though). Now honestly, the police depicted there are undoubtedly rotten to the core save for a VERY SMALL handful (the cop that was trying to help Futaba which, again, gets ignored by several). Look at the interrogators who ruthlessly beat and drug a minor without any second thought or remorse for example. But again, the black and white narrative the game kept unwittingly doing ended up being to its detriment in a way. I'm not defending those assholes AT ALL! They deserved every punishment given to them! But for a game that goes on about grey morality... It doesn't quite deliver on that. Still though, it does emphasize that it's more of the fault of the whole corrupt system, not just one part of it. There needs to be change and reform which is what our MCs were trying to do in a way (more like inspiring change but still). In the end, it's all about the following:

Corruption and abuse of power.

Again the police depicted in this game were incompetent at best, corrupt at worse with very few silver linings. But it's not just them but rather the one person responsible for the whole mess. Who had them under his payroll? Who controlled them and by extension all of Tokyo? Who was willing to dispose of anyone who "outlives their usefulness" or is perceived as a threat to what he wants (including his own family)?

SHIDO AND BY EXTENSION THE CONSPIRACY

Bottom line: They are definitely a problem but it's not just them.

"But, Joker and his trauma?"

I definitely understand that and still do. I fully believe he has and still has trauma with the police. Easy! But... I do feel like people go too far with it sometimes. It's hard to explain but there have been moments where people either use it as a justification/argument against someone trying to provide a more nuanced view of things or... Dare I say, depict him like a "uwu soft traumatized boi." Like I said, it's hard to explain on my end so feel free to ignore it. Everyone deals with trauma differently so there is STRONG chance that I'm overanalyzing it. I just remember moments where I just feel a little, I guess annoyed? I'm not sure exactly but final thing: I understand what he went through and I can't imagine how long it would take to recover but I hope he DOES overcome it.

"Sae? Akechi?"

Yep, even though their jobs are different, they are by and large members of law enforcement no matter how you spin it. Both were broken in a way. Akechi is pretty easy to explain with how Shido negatively impacted his life but not much about Sae, who dealt with sexism/misogyny at her workplace along with the trauma of her father's (also a cop) death. She no doubt had some idealism only to be hit with the fact that she's gonna have to use underhanded/downright illegal tactics to get by and even rise up the ranks. She, therefore ended up (well, nearly) corrupted herself before coming to her senses. That's honestly one of the BIGGEST REASONS why I felt like Makoto joining the force to become a police commissioner isn't a good, even a downright naïve, idea. I honestly would have been somewhat fine with it if it weren't for that fact among other things. Regardless of her willpower, it will go south fast.

Now... Onto Strikers!

Persona 5 Strikers

Since the game came out and I started playing it, I still feel like the system is still beyond saving, especially when attempting to do it from the inside. But I don't mind the added nuances that P5 didn't do much of. It's still continuing the critiques, just shows more of what does happen within said system and even has an ACTUAL officer (Zenkichi) say, "Yeah, my job sucks, everyone's corrupt, there are much better ways to do things and make a change but not this. I'm only staying because I have a daughter to take care of and it's all I know. I'm no different from them." Was it all handled well? I wouldn't say "yes" (Joker's trauma is BARELY addressed at all of course) but a little better than what P5's narrative did which only addressed the issues but not exactly follow up on them. Now to be fair... In the system, regardless of where you live, any one within it who remotely tries to do something or speak against it either lose their jobs or even go "missing" irl. Those have happened and it's more proof that yeah, it's rotten to the core. There's no denying it but regardless, that's NOT what the game is about at all. At least that's what I feel about it as it's only PART of the narrative. I think Zenkichi puts it best here:

Speaking of Zenkichi... Oh boy... Now I definitely understand some of the criticisms with him but honestly, he was the best written (PT) character I've ever encountered! He was honestly the perfect representation of those that genuinely want to help and do good, only to be held back by an extremely harsh reality. It was already hinted at with Sae but here? It 100 percent confirms just how harsh and even cutthroat it can be if it could break someone's idealism so badly. Even Kaburagi of all people thinks the same thing Zenkichi said:

Then there's his past and it's a tragic one! But let's look more at the decisions he ended up making:

While it was no doubt done to protect his daughter, he ended making a selfish decision along with a selfless one (which was brilliant!) with not only allowing the cover up of his wife's death and denying justice for her, but also ruining an innocent person and their family's lives.

It's horrible, but also... There's a grey area/nuance as with the rest of his character. It was both understandable, but also wrong as he, as Akane's Shadow puts it:

He sacrificed his values, his morals, all for the sake of having a peace of mind. Speaking of Akane, she's also an interesting case in a way that she more or less perfectly represents the more "black and white" views on justice in general. Namely the more toxic/biased kind. Her reasons are also understandable but she was also acting selfishly by only focusing on how SHE was effected by Aoi's death and not even considering those that were also grieving her death and/or that people grieve/handle grief differently than her. But back on topic.

Her own views and beliefs that law enforcement basically SHOULD be dismantled (mostly out of said childish bias and black & white views) and it's framed as WRONG and it's very much correct on that. Chaos and order are two sides of the same coin, one can't exist without the other. When I say ACAB, I'm calling for reform, defund, have the corrupt held accountable for EVERYTHING and even face jail time for their crimes! Defund the police, have the ones that arrest, harm, and even murder out of bias (race, gender, etc.), lose their badges/jobs and locked up, make improvements! It's saying that there IS still corruption out there and there's no denying it. But fully eliminating the law in general will just lead to more problems. Now granted, she's young and clearly doesn't fully understand why those views are ultimately wrong but still... It was a very interesting subject to tackle and I feel like they handled it well.

Now back to Zenkichi, he was at first in denial about his decisions ultimately being the wrong ones too and even tries to justify it. Of course, his Shadow said otherwise and that was when he finally admitted that he really did act no different from the criminals he despised. But it also doesn't mean he can't redeem himself and that's what ultimately leads to his new resolve:

That right there along with everything else! There's the nuance! And ultimately despite some hiccups, Strikers handled the grey morality and nuance beautifully! Especially regarding law enforcement! Dare I say, even better than the base game! It continues the critiques with no problem but also showing different sides and areas of it! There is good and evil, but what about in-between? What about the more greyer area? It still says that there IS corruption, sometimes even beyond saving but... Sometimes a small silver lining is hidden somewhere.

Now, the ultimate question:

Is P5 & P5S (namely the latter) Pro-Police or Anti-Police?

Personally, my answer is this: Neither.

Why? What theme do they both have in common?

JUSTICE

Someone puts it best on Twitter that the games are more pro-justice and I fully agree!

P5/P5S gives the idea about following your OWN justice, your OWN moral code and rules, paving your OWN path and not let others dictate it! That's what the MCs ultimately start to learn in both games. Therefore it's pro-justice. Again, do I agree that the system is beyond saving? Yeah. Do I at least acknowledge and understand what the narratives are trying to say and nuances regardless even if I don't agree with some writing decisions (ex: Makoto wanting to become a commissioner despite everything)? Also yes. But at the same time, don't judge a book by its cover for other people (not just law enforcement and politics mind you). Especially some that genuinely DO want to help at best. That there is nuance and greyness, just have to look closely. Some of the MCs are still TERRIBLY written and executed (even annoying) but the message was still somewhat there.

Final Thoughts

Now I fully understand how you all feel of course! I still believe in ACAB and even I agree that maybe I'm one to talk and have a lot more to learn about the world... This is just my own attempt at putting my own two cents in. If you disagree, that's fine! This is just what I've felt should be at least talked about more often. And I tried to phrase it as best as I can without coming off as insensitive or ignorant and if I did, I sincerely apologize for that! I'm not trying to say, come off as a "bootlicker" or any of the sort. I'm just trying show discuss more of the grey areas and nuances that are, more often than not, constantly overlooked. How one interprets both games is ultimately up to them. You, the player. And this is my own interpretation. Simple as that. I hope you all have a good day/afternoon/evening!

#starchild rambles #analysis #persona 5 #persona 5 royal #persona 5 strikers #p5 #p5r #p5s #p5s spoilers #p5r spoilers #p5 spoilers #long post

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paragonrobits · 2 years

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Go ahead and tell about the followers/recruits! I'll admit i'm mostly interested in Fallen-From-Grace, but give me the entire list! (You should draw her at some point.)

X D i might consider that!

so im putting this under read more for length

Morte: he's an automatic follower and its best to keep him, especially if you're not statted up as a combat monster, because Morte, despite his appearances, IS. He's a fighter in terms of class and he's actually got some fairly high stats. You need to do some side quests (such as one gained from helping a woman in Sigil named Ingress; you recieved a bag of teeth tat level up with Morte, and are INCREDIBLY useful since you're most likely to keep him throughout the game.) Incidentally, a thing to keep in mind is that Morte IS a chronic liar, but he is the only explicitly Good party member for a reason and while you probably can't trust him to give a straight answer, you CAN trust him with your life. Note, however, that his claims to be a mimir are highly suspect, as they're non-sapient constructs made of metal, and he's rather more similar to the namesake, Mimir of Norse mythology.

Dak'kon: He's a fighter/mage and a really strong one at that. He's probably the most straightforward combat monster in the party in a normal playthrough, and he gets even stronger when you complete his personal quest by going through the dialogue concerning his religion and backstory, which opens up as you learn from it. He's easy enough to get, too, by talking to him at thE smouldering corpse bar. He's also noteworthy in that he retroactively influenced his entire species; prior to this game they were chaotic beings, but afterwards, they were reworked to match his stoic, Zen vibe.

Annah: She automatically joins your party after a certain point in the story, and she's the main thief in the game. You can get trainign to become a thief, and she can help you spec into being a thief if you change class. (She is EXTREMELY tsundere.)

Fall-From-Grace: Again, its actually pretty easy to recruit her, and is almost story mandated; she is in fact the game's primary healer. Eventually you will go to her Brothel of Slaking INtellectual Lusts (a combination of a woman's educational college of sorts, and a debate club that invites people to different kinds of intellectual discourse; FFG has a strange sense of humor). You can recruit her, i think, fairly easily by engaging her in social discourse and doing a side quest; if you have high INT and WIS, though, you can recruit her on the spot.

Nordam: He's actually pretty easy to miss. You have to buy a specific item from a dealer in strange curios in Sigil (in roughly the same area where you can meet FFG); a modron cube, which you can play with like an action figure to annoy Morte, but you can also use it to open a portal to what is essentially a parody of dungeon delving. Torment is unique in otherwise not having much of that kind of gameplay, and it was created by modrons (mechanical spirit creatures from the plane of Order, Mechanacus) to understand adventuring. Eventually you should gain the option to make it more difficult and Nordom is hanging out in a room in the Hard difficulty; its a pretty dangerous area and can take a LONG time to navigate, so be cautious! Nordom's a weird robot guy but is also shaped like a friend. "I think, therefore I am," he says. "...I THINK."

These guys are the assumed default party; the ones most conducive to a Good playthrough, and generally assumed ot be the canon party. There are also two other party members, but you would have to choose not to take oneo f the above to bring them with you:

Ignus: The sMouldering Corpse bar has a perpetually burning body within it, seemingly delighted at its own constant agony. This is Ignus, whom you might have heard as the guy who killed an entire district in Sigil, burning everyone in it alive just to see it burn. If you find a certain item in the catacombs beneath Sigil, during a story-mandated exploration, you can use it on him to wake him up, and you can choose to recruit him. Note that while he isn't evil (and is explicitly of the Chaotic neutral 'force of nature, incapable of understanding the harm he's doing') he is still most approprirate towards an evil playthrough, and he's very unpredictable and prone to lashing out when upset.

Vhailor: Oh man, this guy. You can find him during the latter part of the game, nearly towards the end, imprisoned in a prison beneath a city called Curst. It's actually impossible to miss him, i think; he's a big spiky suit of armor and you HAVE to walk by him to progress. He is a living suit of armor, previosuly the most fanatical Mercykiller in existence, and remains so commited towards the ideal of Justice that it empowers him, even in death, and he's not actually aware that he IS dead. He is able to see the crimes of others, and gain the power to punish it, and gets along poorly with you and your party members. If you're unable to pick the right dialogue options, he may attempt to kill you. As a rule, he's Lawful Neutral, NOT Good. His sect is dedicated to the idea of murdering the concept of mercy and compassion, and he is dangerously obsessive and strict even by their standards. He is cruel, heartless and without remorse, and gets along VERY poorly with Fall-From-Grace, whom he calls 'Mercy's whore'. (For her part, she's adept enough in philosophy to essentially back him into a corner and force him to concede that point.) Its not hard to say that he and Ignus are mutually opposed to one another. I've never seen what happens if they meet, but its probably not pretty.

On the other hand, he's ALSO so ludicrously strong he can solo the final boss entirely on his own. And he's voiced by Keith David.

Generally speaking, my advice is to not recruit Ignus or Vhailor; you CAN talk to them without recruiting them, i think. Alternatively, if you can't find Nordam, pick one of these guys as your final party member, though Nordam is ultimately the best choice. If not in terms of combat ability, at least in character. He's a sweet, confused robot cube who talks to his crossbows. Better that than an omnicidal pyromaniac or a guy who is a living embodiment of how NOT to do a Justice.

#replies #planescape torment

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lunammoon · 4 years

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The Problem With Hetalia (As told by someone who actually in the fandom until like, 2016)

I'm hoping this post will explain to people who are still into Hetalia why a lot of people have an issue with from the perspective of someone who knows a lot about the show.

TL;DR: By making the WW2 axis powers come across as a lovable idiot, his serious friend, and the stoic voice of reason, it downplays the serious nature of what the Axis did and seeing as the real-life Axis harmed real-life people, many people have a justifiable huge issue with this.

I will go more into depth about this under the cut.

A lot of people are talking about how Hetalia is coming back after 5 years and a lot of people are rightfully annoyed at the show. But what I'm seeing is that a lot of the people who are upset are people who clearly haven't watched the show and therefore are unable to explain to people who have watched it why it’s bad. The most that you hear is:

"it glorifies the Axis Powers" (which isn't 100% accurate although the assessment that they are portrayed in a way that makes them seem less bad is accurate)

"Hetalia Cosplayers wore Nazi uniforms in front of a Holocaust memorial" (which I'd say is more of an issue with fans than the show).

That is not to say that there isn't an issue with the show, because there really is. But these observations are unlikely to mean much to someone who watches Hetalia. So, in this thread, I'm going to explain why Hetalia is Problematic with the added context perspective of someone who was into the show during most of middle school and until Freshman year of high school.

I knew the human names, used to jam to "Always With You" and "Pub and Go" and “It’ll Settle Itself Somehow” and “Light my Heart” and “Absolute British Gentleman” and “Mein Gott” and “World Rondo” and “Excuse Me, I’m Sorry” and so, so many more.

I lost my shit with everyone else when the season 6 ep dropped and Italy danced like he was possessed by a demon. When I hear “ACE” family, I don’t think of Youtubers. I actually took a side on the FruUK vs UsUk debate and if you look in my archive, you can probably find some Hetalia posts that I’m too lazy to delete.

The point here being, I’ve actually seen the show so I know what I’m talking about. This isn’t an outsiders perspective is what I’m saying.

So, let’s get right into it. While technically only seasons 1-2 are officially actually called "Axis Powers" (Seasons 3-4 are called "World Series" Season 5 is "Beautiful World" and Season 6 is called "World Twinkle") WW2 and things relating to the Axis Powers are an important part of every season and appear prominently.

While Hetalia has covered many things from all different time periods, the two most common periods covered are the modern-day and of course, the second World War. The show is Japanese and (I assume) because Japan was on the Axis side, these portions focus more on the Axis Powers of Italy, Japan, and Germany. The Allies do come into play. And while the Allies aren't directly like, evil, which would've been FAR WORSE they've got a kind of Team Rocket-esque thing going on? They're not exactly mustache-twirling villains but they're clear antagonists. Make no mistakes.

I think the deserted Island arc is the best example of the problems many people have with the show.

Take for example, that beach fight. If you've watched Hetalia, you'll know the one I'm talking about. The one that they reused like, 50 times. The Allies are clearly shown as the antagonists/aggressors while the Axis are literally just vibing on a (kinda) deserted island and defending themselves.

Now, if this was three dudes chilling on the beach and they suddenly got attacked by another five dudes also on the beach who they then fought off until the five attackers ran away that’s be one thing.

The issue is that this is supposed to be a representation of WW2. It's basically saying "oh, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy were literally just vibing, not bothering anyone when suddenly, the Allies attacked for no reason. Luckily, they (the Allies) retreated because the Allies are Cowardly but they keep coming back and bothering them,". Do you see the issue there? Most of the beach arc seems to be the writer forgetting that these are supposed to be Nations, not a random Italian dude, a German dude, and a Japanese dude.

“Oh, but they don’t glorify Nazi Germany. They don’t really even talk about what Germany was doing! Look at this pic of Germany in a lab coat holding a dandelion :)“

That’s not the defense that you think it is and it’s actually a main part of the issue that I, and many other people have with Hetalia.

I think the scene where this issue is the most obvious is the one where they are gathering around a campfire and talking and one of them comes up with the name "the Axis". The whole scene has the same energy characters in a moe anime coming up with a band name.

They’re sitting on a beach at night. I think there might’ve been a campfire, the stars are out, and the three of them talk about their dream of making a world that revolved around them. One of them comes up with the name “the axis” and then they all talk about how you would translate "axis" in their language. It’s all very found family-esque. The way the scene is framed is to encourage you to route for them to reach their goal. It’s the same kind of tone you’d see in a shoujo with a girl telling her friends about how she wants to win the singing competition no matter what or in Sword Art Online when Kirito talks about saving Asuna.

The issue is that their goal isn’t to win some competition or to save someone they care about. It’s to spread facism, imperialism, and bring about genocide.

There of course don’t SAY that that’s their goal, and outside of a one off line in the English dub that’s been since censored, they don’t really bring up what Germany was up to during WW2 vis-a-vie the Holocaust and if they did bring it up, I either wasn’t paying attention, it was in the manga, or it was in one of Germany’s character songs.

The issue is that during WW2 the show seems to at best forget and at worst, gloss over it that the main trio that they're focusing on are the villains. And not like, fantasy villains. Actual real-life villains that hurt real people in the real world. Imagine if instead of Ludwig Beilschmidt and Feliciano Vargas, it was Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Are you seeing the problem yet?

I get why people like to watch the show. Ignoring the WW2 bits, it’s actually pretty good. I, as an American, really like Alfred F. Jones and the way he’s portrayed.

If Hetalia had stuck to non-WW2 related things such as that episode where the nations all talk about how horror movies differ in their nations, or they talked about their Christmas traditions. Or the ones where America and Japan are roommates. Or when they showed that time when America airdropped XL condoms on Russia labeling them as "small" for intimidation reasons. Or that series of episodes where they talked about Micronations. Or that time they all had to come together to fight aliens. Or the bit where they talked about the WW1 Christmas Armistice. Then it would be fine.

The issue is that they didn’t.

If they kept WW2 stuff for SOME reason. They had two options.

Make the axis as proper villains

Be explicit in showing that the nations will doesn't reflect what their leader wants.

The first option wouldn’t be ideal if they wanted to cover any time period other than World War 2. The axis would be too unlikable and I doubt that an anime where Japan is the villain would appeal much to Japanese audiences.

But what about the second option. Have a bit where Ludwig is passing out White Rose pamphlets or smuggling people to safety.

Have Kiku (Japan for people who don’t watch Hetalia) purposefully looking the other way as Sugihara writes visas to get people to safety and covering for him against his boss. SOMETHING!

But instead of doing either of those, they took the bad third option which was, their choice to instead make the axis seem like likable individuals who are a group of three good friends who work together will in contrast with the “bumbling Allies” who are barely cohesive and constantly fight and argue. At best, makes it seem like both sides had a point and at worst, makes it seem like the Axis was a better than the Allies.

All of this is to say that liking Hetalia does not make you inherently a bad person, but you need to be more critical of what you watch and understand that there is a reason that some people have a genuine issue with it and they have a very good reason for that. You can still watch it the show, but do keep this information in the back of your brain as you do

#hetalia #hetalia discourse #hetalia 2021 #aph hetalia #discourse #long post #post under the cut #i hope that i explained myself well

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perpetuelledaydreaming · 3 years

Text

Illicit affairs -Chapter 2

summary: y/n and peter make the adults laugh -not intentionally-, y/n has always been the designated driver, she never deletes footage and can someone tell gwen that nobody likes her when she’s being possesive?

Listen to: Venus- Shocking Blue & Daddy Issues - The Neighbourhood.

word count: 10.9k

(author’s note at the end now)

SERIES MASTERLIST

When you woke-up on the rooftop with Peter’s body draped over yours, you hadn’t expected it to feel so familiar in a very strange way. The honey and cinnamon scent gave away that the pressure on your body wasn’t anything that you should be afraid of, before you had even opened your eyes you were sure that you were surprisingly okay, except for an awful headache.

You opened them slowly to see the red and black colors from Peter’s mask, you moved a bit to watch the starry night of New York, still the buzzing sound of the city in the back of your head without indication of any type of emergency.

You sighed in relief as you then focused on Peter and how he was positioned over you.

Black Cat had tightly wrapped your hands and legs together, effectively leaving you lying on your side with your arms placed behind with your legs bend. Peter, on the other hand, had been thrown over you without much consideration; his arms had been placed around your shoulders, while his legs had been placed over your hip and she had connected them with a tight hold on your wrists.

You weren’t actually sure how Black Cat had managed to place you in that way but you cursed her as you began to noticed how close Peter was. You felt your cheeks growing hot, quickly turning around to stare again at the sky.

“HAPPY, help me get this off”, you groaned as you felt a bit dizzy from turning around so fast. You were more than sure that you had a concussion, forcing you to close your eyes again. “Is Peter okay?”

“Miss Stark, Mr. Parker is okay, he seems to be unconscious but Mr. Stark is already on his way with Miss Romanoff”, HAPPY stated as your eyes opened like plates.

It was one thing to fail on a mission but it was another whole different thing for your dad and Natasha to find you and Peter in such an uncomfortable position after failing a mission.

“No! Tell them that I’m okay!”, you yelled as you tried to get off, twisting your body to break the ropes and after a minute or two, you manage to do so and waking Peter up in the process.

But either way, it had been too late, because as soon as Peter started to groan from his place on the floor, wrapping you in his arms as you tried to push him off; the characteristic metal sound of your father landing next to you made your gut turned over inside as you turned around to face him.

In the past, when you failed a mission you used to simply push your feelings to the side and face the consequences of your actions without a word, because how on earth could you say anything to your father, how on earth could you explain yourself? It never felt right. Therefore, you always used to feel miserable after the fact but Peter was always there to make you feel better. However, as you shouted at each other in the conference room on the compound with Fury, Natasha, Tony, and Steve watching you; Peter knew that all those feelings that you had kept tightly in a box had been let out as if it was pandora’s box.

“It wasn’t my fault!”, Peter growled at you while you glared at him from the other side of the table.

All the adults had laughed for a while about how Black Cat had managed to knock you out both in one move, Fury had even made remarks about the awkward position that you were found in, with a ‘That doesn’t look too comfortable’, followed by more laughter.

But now they were silently watching you two have a yelling match. It had been exhausting and you hadn’t even finished debriefing the mission, you hadn’t even managed to finish looking at the footage from the fight to look at possible strategies to take her down. It hadn’t even been that bad at the beginning, it had started as slight bickering between partners but it quickly escalated to a full-blown fight and before you knew it, you were hurtling nasty comments at one another.

“It wasn’t my fault either, you were the one who said she was unconscious!”, you huffed in annoyance, standing up from your seat.

“My senses didn’t felt that she was awake!” Peter replied in frustration as he passed a hand through his hair, looking away from you completely irritated.

You rolled your eyes.

“How useful they are, then”, you muttered watching him before Steve shot you an annoyed look.

Before Peter could even answer back to you, Nat shot up from her seat and slammed her hands on the table, making you whip your heads towards where she was standing, she was already glaring at you two.

“It’s no one’s fault!” she yelled at you, “She’s sleek and now you have footage of her fighting techniques, I will teach you some tips this week before we leave for our mission and, hopefully, you can catch her the next time”

You remained silent, still feeling the frustration with the whole thing bubbling on your chest but you knew that she was right. The more you thought about it, you wondered if you had been this upset because you had failed the mission or if it was how it ended.

“And she didn’t steal anything from Hammer, she hasn’t even shown her face again with all the new security reinforcement so you completed the mission either way kids”, Steve muttered optimistically.

But Fury and Tony remained silent, you watched your father curiously. He was always the one that had monopolized the scolding for Peter and you when you had become avengers, but now he was way too silent for your comfort.

“You could’ve still done a bit better”, Fury stated once more.

You whipped your head at Fury, mouth wide open and furrowed brows, completely offended once again by his statement.

“She was flirting with Peter, he got distracted!”, you cried as you pointed at Peter like a child.

“She was also flirting with you and you got distracted as well!” Peter snapped back at you, “You were the one that wanted to check how she was and that’s how she got away!”

Tony covered his eyes in frustration, while Steve and Nat simply gazed at each other as your screaming match continued.

“Enough you two!”, Steve shouted at you two, making you zip your lips together once more as you glared at each other again. “Follow Nat, you are going to train right now”

“But I have to stu-”, Peter started but was quickly cut off by Steve.

“You have been screaming for over thirty minutes at each other. We are going to start with the lesson now and kick your ass so you two can shut up!”

Peter and you both gazed at each other and sighed as you followed Steve and Nat without saying a word, Peter knew better than to protest and so did you. It wasn’t worth it to continue fighting, it was exhausting and now you were in for it, Natasha was going to kick your ass until you got it right and both of you knew it.

You followed them silently, Peter furiously typing on his phone while you arrived at the gym and Steve ordered you to change and then give ten laps to the compound before you started training. Peter turned to the dressing room, still entranced by his phone but before you followed him, you heard steps behind you, quickly turning around to see Tony walking towards you.

“She’ll be right there, Cap”, he muttered as Steve nodded and entered the gym with Nat.

You felt your stomach drop as you turned around completely and watched Tony silently. You felt his gaze over you, piercing you as you leaned against the wall.

“Y/N, I have to ask you something”, Tony said slowly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

You looked down for a second as if you had to pause before actually starting whatever this conversation was going to be like. You knew that Tony had been too silent before and you knew that this had been coming, not that he hadn’t been acting as usual when you were at home, but there was still something there.

“Go ahead”, you said.

Tony sighed as he pushed his glasses up, “Do you want out of this mission?”

You furrowed your brows as you raised your head.

“What?”

“You heard me,” Tony shrugged as he stared at you.

You stayed silent for a moment, debating if you should start something that you had wanted to avoid with Tony since you could remember. But you knew that you had to be true to what you had learned about yourself when you were away, you had to be yourself.

“You think I can’t do it?”

Tony shook his head sooner than you thought he would and someone you felt a brief flash of relief as you crossed your arms over your chest.

“No, it’s not that”

“So, what is it?”, you asked as you walked towards him.

Tony stayed silent for a few seconds as if he was trying to accommodate the words to not hurt you but you already knew by heart that what he was about to say, would probably hurt you. Tony had always tried to shield you from the poisonous tongue that he sometimes had and he succeeded most of the time, but sometimes he didn’t. You had memorized how his eyes moved from side to side, how his lip twitched, and how he barely opened his mouth and then shut it again; movements he had repeated each time when he was about to say something that might hurt your feelings. The first time was when you started to study his archives on the ironman suit so you could start developing your own, and him saying that you should probably not.

You had cried non-stop for days silently, barely talking to him but soon you started again and the next time he caught you, he couldn’t do much since you had already built it.

“I’m afraid that you are out of your game because I put you in this with Peter”, Tony finally stated.

You didn’t know how to feel as you saw your father watching you intently. The air became heavy between both of you as you took in his statement. If this was Tony telling you two weeks ago that you shouldn’t probably be on a mission with Peter, you could’ve listened to him and probably agree.

But now it was just bluntly offensive.

“Why aren’t you asking Peter the same thing?”, you asked calmly as you raised your eyebrow.

Tony rolled his eyes at your question as he placed his hand on the side of his head while you glared at him, “I know how affected you were with what happened with him. I just want to make sure tha-”

“You think I’m just an emotional teenage kid that can handle her shit?”, you asked again, the coolness on your voice seemed to surprise Tony but also the small cursing.

“Y/N”

“Because that’s how you are making me feel when you question my abilities based on my past feelings for someone”, you continued, “I bet that you wouldn’t even say the same thing to Peter”

“That’s not true”, Tony intervened as he walked up to you.

“So, go ahead and tell him the same thing”, you tested him while walking towards the door of the dressing room, breathing slowly so he couldn’t see how it had become difficult to breathe.

But that only annoyed him even more.

“It’s because you have your emotions on a short leash lately and I just don’t know if it’s because of the mission or…”

“Dad,” you started as calmly as you could, “That’s sexists and just because before I left, I didn’t speak my mind, it doesn’t mean that I was handling my emotions well. Just because you thought that me being silent, meant that everything was fine, it doesn’t mean it was”

Tony blinked slightly with his mouth shut as you walked towards him again. You didn’t know if Tony realized how shocked or guilty, he looked. You knew that this was new information to him and that the bleak expression on your face meant that he hadn’t been as attentive as he wished he had been or as you wished he had been.

“I’ve grown and I’m speaking my mind, just like you always do and how Pepper has also taught me to be”, you continued as you forced your voice to be as steady as it could be “And if you don’t like that and you feel disappointed by me…”, you could feel the knot on your throat but you pushed through it, “Then it’s your problem Dad”

“I’m not disappointed…”, he spoke immediately as he walked towards you but you stepped back because you didn’t want to break down.

“I’m going to train now, to complete the mission that you assigned me”, you stated coldly and quickly walked towards the dressing room, where Peter was nowhere to be seen and you somehow felt thankful that he wasn’t as you wiped away your silent tears with the back of your hand.

You changed as quickly as you could and splashing your face with cold water, hoping that it could ease the redness on your eyes, and ran outside of the compound as you catch up with Peter who was finishing his laps. He immediately caught that there was something up with you, he could hear your small sniffling and he caught how you were looking away from his gaze as you began to run beside him in silence. You knew that Peter had realized that you were crying and you were thankful that he had decided to run beside you without saying a word, even giving more laps than what he was supposed to do. Deep in the back of your mind, you thought that maybe things hadn’t change that much.

And so, the training continued silently. The only comments shared by the two of you were advice on how you could avoid certain moves from Black Cat and a lot of groaning as both your asses got kicked by Natasha and Steve. There was something fairly difficult for you to catch with how sleek Nat, and Black Cat, was. Your suit wasn’t as chunky as your dad, its width had decreased a lot with the nanobot system but you weren’t wearing a suit like Peter’s, so it was even more difficult for you to actually fight Black Cat at her own game. So, you had ditched your suit in the middle of training, trying to fight her hand in hand without your suit and it improved your movements by a lot but you knew how dangerous it could be to face her without your suit. Nat recommended for you to try to fly away from her and take her with your repulsors or even pulse bolts to throw her off her game, which could give Peter a chance to catch her.

It had been taken a few hours until you had finally come up with three different plans to catch Black Cat and it ended up with both Peter and you laying down on the floor of the gym as Nat and Steve chuckled for a moment, telling you that you were okay and letting you finally free.

“I can’t feel my arms”, you complained first as you pressed your charm and the nanobots retracted to your necklace.

Peter smiled to himself as he sat down and gazed back at you, he could feel how he was blushing as he took a look at your outfit, grey high waisted leggings with a grey sports bra, you had discarded your shirt an hour before. He turned around though, as soon as you looked back at him. Without much thought he quickly shot his web towards where his phone was and pulled it towards him, quickly unblocking it and reading all the texts.

“Fuck,” he muttered to himself as you saw him typing furiously again.

“What?”, you asked him as you stood up with a groan, your whole body ached.

“Tony drove me here but he had to go early to watch Morgan, so I have no ride to the city” he answered as he stood up next to you while he still watched his phone.

He had promised Gwen that he would be back in time for them to go study for a chemistry IV midterm, since Peter had been MIA for the last couple of days because of the incident with Black Cat, he knew he had to make it up to Gwen soon before that started a fight.

“You want to come with me?”, you offered him without much prelude.

Peter turned around, widened eyes and gaping mouth but he soon smiled as he saw that you were looking back at him with a dimpled smile.

It wasn’t as you were trying to get your relationship back to what it was, but you knew that Peter still cared about you and if you wanted for this mission to work, you had to leave out the grudges and the fights. You didn’t want your new-found passion for being snippier to come between a good working relationship. You didn’t have to become friends and although you knew that your feelings for Peter were still swimming deep in your heart, you decided that a little hurt couldn’t be that bad.

“With one condition”

You couldn’t resist rolling your eyes but with a smile still plastered on your face.

“I’m doing you a favor”

“Don’t call me idiot anymore today”, he asked as he cocked his head to the side with a teasing smirk.

And you let out a real and free laugh, as you watched him teasingly.

“Fine, I’ll try to hold back”

Before you knew it, you were already changed and driving through the highway towards the city. Driving was one of your favorite things in the world as you listened to your carefully curated playlists in the background, it had even become a usual thing to do when Peter and you always went to the compound, the road trips there were always one of your favorite memories.

Although those memories usually involved singing to the top of your lungs, you were both silents. You were still thinking how you would spend the night since you knew that you couldn’t do more training or anything physical really, Nat had kicked your ass in more ways than what you had expected and you weren’t actually studying at the moment, you were still looking for options and that only left work: Trying to know more about Black Cat and King Pin.

Peter was thinking the same thing but after the whole debacle of that day, he didn’t know if he should really pursue asking or pitching any ideas about the mission for the day. Plus, he had promised to spend time with Gwen while they had a study session.

See, Gwen didn’t like that Peter was Spiderman, on the contrary, it caused a break in their relationship since her father loathed Spiderman. And it wasn’t like Peter wanted to tell her either, on the other hand, he had kept it a secret for the majority of their relationship. It had to be six months or so when one-night Peter landed on Gwen’s dorm room window after he had a big fight with Scorpion, he knew that Tony wasn’t available since he had gone Upstate with Pepper and Morgan, and the majority of the team was still in Europe. So, he landed there: bloody from his fight with Scorpion which didn’t end up so well, and on the verge of tears.

Gwen helped him, of course, but she refused to look at him as she patched him up and Peter knew it right away that he had made a mistake.

Soon, Gwen told him that she didn’t want to know more than she needed, in fact, if Peter could simply keep it out of their relationship it was better. She told him that she still loved him either way but she couldn’t handle it and that Spiderman wasn’t her boyfriend, Peter Parker was and she only wanted that.

Peter couldn’t help but to feel a bit hurt but he still cared about her, so doing as he was told, he had refrained from telling Gwen anything about his life as Spiderman.

And it had worked for a while, it had fixed the usual fights of Gwen telling him off because he had disappeared without explanation but now it was going the other way. Since Peter locked Scorpion up, he had been more available than usual and Gwen had been ecstatic but now with this new mission, he had been a little bit busier, he had spent more time studying the chemical compounds from the poison on Oscorp and the nanobots from Hammer, plus he still had to train and do research.

Gwen still hadn’t said anything about it, he knew she was keeping it in until she could use it against him in a fight and so, he had also refrained from telling her that you were also back.

“Are you busy tonight?”, you asked as Peter texted Gwen back.

Peter gazed back at you, your eyes still on the road too busy to see how Peter’s eyes had lightened up.

“What are you thinking?”

You passed a hand through your hair, “We should dig more into Kingpin and Black Cat”, you said as you turned around to see Peter for a second, “I mean, where do they meet or when, even more important: how did she ended up working with him and with what I probably think it’s vibranium claws?”

Peter turned to face you, even more, now completely focused on what you were saying.

“How do you know it’s vibranium?”

You doubted for a second if you should tell Peter, you had managed to get your hands in the video footage before your dad and Fury had a chance to download it and you had decided to delete some of it.

“She cut through my suit”, you muttered.

“What!?”, Peter asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, I know,” you answered as you raised your sleeve and showed Peter a small scar on your wrist.

Peter debated if he should ask why didn’t you told anyone about it but he knew that if you hadn’t explained it, it was because you were onto something and he trusted you enough to let it go.

“Damn,” he muttered, “She hasn’t scratched me like that”

You rolled your eyes with a smile, “Yeah, yeah Parker, I get it. She likes you” you said playfully as Peter laughed with you.

You laughed for a second as you gazed back at the other, Peter’s smile always made you feel warm inside and for a moment you let yourself watched him a little bit more than what a normal friend should watch her normal friend.

“Okay, so should we order food?”, he asked you as he took out his phone again and you simply nodded as you bit your lower lip.

“Sushi sounds good”, was all that you said.

Peter nodded as he quickly texted Gwen back.

I’ll be busy tonight, sorry. See you tomorrow.

And that was that.

The night went smoothly, Peter and you restrained from talking about anything else that wasn’t work and it seemed that it was a good plan. Tony and Pepper had offered dinner but you kindly declined as you kissed Morgan repeatedly on her cheeks as she giggled and gave Peter a toothy smile. Tony gave you a look as he watched you leave with Peter to your lab but you decided to ignore it, thinking about the conversation you had that day. Peter and you worked well together and Peter felt like he had almost forgotten how connected you were as you threw more information to the hologram walls in front of both of you, with classified files decorating all the room and maps from New York to profiles on criminals on other screens or holograms in different parts of the room.

It was hard work and honestly, it wasn’t leading you anywhere exactly new.

For some reason, anything regarding Black Cat and her appearances had been limited to newspaper articles and news channels, there was nothing more. You had even tried to run her face into the database for face recognizance but it hadn’t been matched. Peter suggested that her mask was extremely intricate, especially that it may be an advanced hologram to hide her real features.

So, after a few hours, you decided to dive into King Pin’s history, and there had been a lot that had kept you up until 4:00 am.

“I still can believe they didn’t charge him for Don Rigoletto’s death,” Peter said as he leaned into his chair a bit while he looked at his computer, you walked towards him as he talked, you brought a hologram in your hands.

“Well, he made a successful coup d’etat to the Maggia family”, you replied as you watched footage of Black Cat coming from Brooklyn capture by traffic cameras, you were trying to see if she was coming from somewhere specifically that might be King Pin’s office but you were being unsuccessful, “Who would want to mess with a guy like that?”

Peter nodded as he continued typing on his laptop, he was trying to hack into the database of one of King Pin’s business, that you both had guessed was a money laundry scheme but he quickly got distracted as you stood up in front of him with a little bit too big of hoodie that he guessed it was his, years before, and showed him something in the holograms.

Peter gazed and began to read what you showed him, one of King Pin’s cover-up businesses had opened another office near Albania, Peter covered his face with his hands tiredly, “So he has branch offices in Italy, Las Vegas, and Japan. Non-confirmed Branches in Asia and also… Eastern Europe?”

You nodded with the same frustration, “This guy is everywhere and everywhere he goes, he has arms and drug providers and dealers. He’s the type of guy that would work alongside Hydra in the places I went”

Peter remained silent for a second as he watched how you plummeted on your seat in front of your desk and groaned because of the aching muscles thanks to Nat’s training. You focused on Peter’s wrinkled nose as he supported his head on his right hand, he was thinking as he gazed at the hologram and then back at his computer, soon a quizzical smiled appeared on his face and you knew he was onto something.

And you smiled back, not only because Peter had already opened his mouth to tell you what he had found but also because you still could read him like a book.

“He has the biological paralyzer but he still needs the neutralizers from Hammer,” Peter started as he placed his computer into the desk in front of him, “From what I can tell, there are not many people in the world working on things like that, I think maybe this other scientist Olivia Octavi- well something like that”, he said as he tried to gaze back at his computer but gave up and stood up.

“That’s true”, you said with a yawn as you placed your head down on your desk for a second.

“And Black Cat probably is not doing a free-lancer job for a guy like Frisk, you wouldn’t do just a free-lance job for the most dangerous guy in New York”

You began to catch up and quickly raised from your seat to where Peter was standing.

“So, she must really need to have those Hammer neutralizers or else…”

“He wouldn’t hesitate to kill her”

“You are a genius”, you screamed as you threw yourself at Peter excitedly, “She needs to come back to Hammer Industries or she will most likely try to attack this other scientist so we have to be on the lookout for her there!”

The hands-on his shoulders might have been a bit too tight for a normal hold but you were more than excited that you had finally caught into something and Peter couldn’t help but to place his hands on your hips as you pushed him into a hug and he wrapped his arms around you. It took you both a few moments to finally let go and Peter was a bit stunned as his arms slowly slide out from around your back until his hands were resting on your waist. You, on the other hand, felt your cheeks burning as you searched his eyes.

“Okay,” you said as you cleared your throat and let go of Peter, returning to your seat. “So next thing in our to-do list is simply to know how we can patrol both labs, especially Octaviu’s and expect for Black Cat to return”, you said with a yawn.

Peter still felt tingles on his body from holding you, you saw how he played with his hands for a second as he walked towards your desk.

“Maybe you need a ten-minute power nap?”, he suggested.

You hesitated for a second, knowing that it wouldn’t be super appropriate to accept Peter’s request of him sleeping near you again as you had done before, your mind flashed for a moment and you felt a shiver ran down your back.

Heavy breathing and moans were the only things that could be heard as your hand gripped the sheets harder as you felt the hot slow kisses on your neck and sucking on the exposed skin while you whimpered.

“Sure”, you muttered, as you looked away from Peter for a moment.

You quickly placed your head on your desk as Peter sat next to you on his chair and lay down just like you on your desk, you ordered HAPPY to set an alarm to wake you in exactly ten minutes. You began to close your eyes as you watched Peter, who was gazing back at you and you couldn’t help but smile as you finally slip into your dreams.

You wished he wouldn’t notice but Peter heard your heart hammering on your chest. Soon, you fell asleep and Peter saw how calm you were that he ordered HAPPY to delete the alarm as he accommodated himself next to you, he fell asleep watching you.

A quiet ow was the thing that woke you up, your eyes fluttered opened to you realized how a shiny morning sun washed over your lab and that there was no Peter Parker in front of you, like how you had last seen him.

“What…”, you muttered as you raised your head and turned around to see Peter, a few files spilled all over the floor and Peter’s shoes on his hand while he scrunched his head onto his shoulders.

He was clearly trying to leave as quietly as he could but you could tell he had barely slipped because of the files that were still on the floor from last night.

“It’s 9:00 am, I…”, Peter answered with a shaky voice but he stopped talking, feeling his heart clenched in his chest as he saw you.

Peter had seen you wake-up a few times, especially the morning after that night, he remembered how beautiful you always looked; it wasn’t one thing in particular that he loved but the group of things: the messy hair, the lines on your face from sleeping in a wrinkled hoodie, how you rubbed the heel of your hand against your eyes to wake up and the small yawns and whimpers you made as you stretched yourself.

He found himself tongue-tied as you rolled your head back to stretch yourself, your body was still aching from the day before and yes, it was still screaming for a little bit more sleep but you couldn’t help to feel a bit elated that you had managed to caught him before he left.

“You…” you muttered slowly as you stood up and tried to fix your hair, as best as you could.

Peter quickly snapped out of his trance. “I didn’t mean to wake you, I’m sorry”, he stuttered as you crossed your arms across your chest, “I just have this midterm and I don’t have a suit, and I’m late an-”

You quickly sighed loudly which made Peter stop, you shook your head and wasted no time in picking the keys of your car that were laying on your desk. “I’ll take you”, you informed him as you passed by him.

Peter was stunned for a few seconds but he quickly followed you without any thoughts as he tried to put his shoes on. “Are you sure?”, Peter asked dumbly.

“Yeah, there’s nothing much to do and I think we have to discuss our plan for the next couple of weeks”, you said nonchalantly while you pressed the elevator, you were somehow surprised that no one had bothered you or Peter, not even Harley who was already working on his lab. You tried not to give it a lot of thought as you entered the elevator, Peter stood still as he watched you getting in. “Are you coming?”

Though you wanted nothing more than to have a good nap, you knew that you had to talk to Peter about a new possible stake out plan since Black Cat would probably attack the other lab now that Hammer’s was filled with security. Black Cat hadn’t appeared in a couple of days since the attack, so you were sure that you had now limited time until she decided to strike again and in the other lab.

“The only thing we have missing is to know where each one should go”, you informed Peter as you turned onto 12th avenue.

“Yeah, yeah”, Peter muttered.

You turned around to see him with his phone plastered to his face and then quickly picking up his laptop and cursing as he realized that he hadn’t charged it the night before.

“You are so not paying attention to me”, you scoffed as you continue to drive.

“So-sorry”, Peter stuttered as he pushed his laptop back to his backpack and sighed, “I have to ace this test and I haven’t been able to study”

You shrugged, “I hate when that happens”.

Peter looked up to you finally with a slight frown, you felt the questioning look on his face and you turned around for a second as you shrugged again.

You had been homeschooled by the best teachers Tony and Pepper could find and you were constantly learning from both of them, especially Tony who had become more than elated to have you on his lab since you could walk, to Peppers dismay of a small child near dangerous tools. When you had finished high school, earlier than usual, you decided that maybe college could wait and that you could spend your days being an Avenger. It had worked until Tony had encouraged you to start taking a few classes on MIT and see how it went.

And you loved it.

But you knew that you couldn’t pursue that normal experience, even taking a few classes had been challenging and not because of the study part but because of the people. There were always slight murmurings when you walked through campus or even in class, you had been rounded up by groups of people more than one time that wanted a picture with you, and even worse, they had managed to sell photos of you in class to the media.

So, you had decided that you would get your degree nice and slow, you didn’t need it at the moment so it was going to be okay. In the future, you figure out you would be able to get your masters and then a Ph.D. when things calmed down and you weren’t going to be harassed. Peter had wanted you to go to school with him badly but you had declined, offering that you would still study together but that there was no way that you could go with him.

Although that changed when you went away.

“I went to Oxford last semester,” you finally said as you turned around and Peter’s eyes widened. “I had a problem with people recognizing my suit during the mission, so Steve decided that it was best for me to actively do my cover.”

Peter raised his eyebrows and leaned into his seat as you continued to drive beside the Hudson River. “Wow, I just never thought that you would ever be-”

“Studying like a regular young person?”, you finished his sentence as you turned to look at peter again, he simply nodded. “I know me neither, but it was nice. Oxford was…” you stayed silent, your mind flashing back.

Laughs as you walked through a cobblestone street with a large coat on, running, trying to get away from the rain as you felt how tightly your hand wrapped theirs before they kissed it.

“And what about now?”, Peter asked as you snapped out of the memory.

“Well, I’m still trying to see if I’m able to transfer to Harvard or MIT”, you explained as you then turned left to Broadway.

Peter couldn’t lie that he felt upset that the universities you were thinking about weren’t in New York. He remembered there was a time where he had begged you to apply to Columbia with him, and now that you were back, although he didn’t want to push you into doing something you didn’t want, he hoped that maybe you could relink your friendship by studying like before.

But he wasn’t sure if you would be able to relink anything if you were living in Boston.

“But with everything going on and Morgan, I think it might be better to stay in New York,” you continued as you arrived at the main campus, “I want to be a good older sister, especially with this life”

Peter’s face lightened up but you were looking away as you waited for Peter to tell you where to park in a non-inconvenient way, you still could feel his gaze piercing you but you didn’t want to look at him. There were two ways that Peter could be looking at you right then and there: one, twinkling eyes or two, icing stare. And you didn’t care to find out which one was it.

You quickly manage to see a spot near a Shake Shack and you guessed it was your best option, especially since Peter had remained silent, you turned around to make him react but his face was still blissful as you gazed back at him. His chocolate eyes mixed with the freckles made your heart skip a bit and that damn toothy smile he was giving you, the corners of your mouth pulled up although you were trying so hard not to smile.

But then his phone ringed.

“I’m sorry, here it’s perfect”, Peter said as he cleared his throat and took out his phone from his pocket, you finished parking and gazed back at him curiously.

Peter Parker got scared rarely on the work. He had grown from the teenage boy that didn’t know how to control his powers to this experience young man that knew the risks and the danger, but he did things anyway because it was the right thing to do. But the other side was when it came to girls, who after being in love with you for years and then being in a serious relationship, he still had no clue how to handle it as well as he thought he would be able to.

So, when you turned around to face him, you only saw a pale Peter Parker, widened eye as he stared at his phone as he swallowed hard; before you could even say anything, you heard a light tapping on the window and you felt your stomach sinking while Peter froze.

“Gwen”

The window rolled down slowly as you watched her. She had cut her hair a little bit shorter than the last time you saw her but her sapphire green eyes hadn’t changed a bit, if anything she looked more mature than before.

“Y/n”, she said, voice colder than what you had expected. She smiled, as she leaned into the window as adjusted her skirt. “Lovely to see you here.”

Your smile was forced, as you let go of the wheel and cocked your head nicely. If there was anything you weren’t ready to do at the moment was having an interaction with Gwen freaking Stacey out of all people. First of all, you were exhausted because of the no sleep and the emotional drained that you had yesterday but also, you looked like a mess with no time to get ready and simply driving Peter right away.

“Hey babe”, she said sultrily as she looked at Peter who forcibly smiled back at her, she was furious and he could tell. There was something on her clenched jaw and how she was staring you down that Peter didn’t like and he knew he needed to get the hell out of there.

“Hi”, Peter said slowly as he turned around towards you, “y/n thank you so much for the ride”

“It’s okay”, you answered coldly.

“Yes, y/n”, she said as she opened the door of your Audi, clearly anxious for Peter to get out of your car. “Thanks for making sure my boyfriend doesn’t get late to class”

If it was supposed to be a power move, you wanted to tell her that she had failed. When you were confident about who you were and what you had, then you didn’t need to make such blunt comments regarding it. Confidence was quiet and you had learned that from your father.

“My pleasure”, you answered as Peter closed the door and waved goodbye but soon, Gwen grabbed his hand in a tight hold as they walked away.

You tried not to watch them for too long after Peter got out of the car but it was inevitable, you saw how she grabbed his hand and how they looked “okay” together. You knew that she wasn’t a bad person per se, she was just protective of Peter and you understood how sometimes people liked to teach girls that they should fight against one another, be in constant competition for the attention of a boy.

And yes, although it still hurt to see him go with Gwen, it wasn’t your thing to fight for a boy.

But apparently, it was Gwen’s.

“When were you planning on telling me that she was back?”, she said with a tight smile on her face as they walked towards the science building. “You were spending time with her, weren’t you?”

Gwen wasn’t the one for an open outburst in public and Peter appreciated it, because he knew how it probably looked for her. Gwen knew how in love Peter was with you, how close you were and how he had mourned that you had left him to go for a mission. But the way she was spitting your name, as if it was poison, it didn’t settle on him

“You were the one that told me that you didn’t want to know anything about my things as Spiderman and she is part of my life as Spiderman”, he snapped silently at her as he opened the door of the building for her.

She glared at Peter for a moment and then rolled her eyes as she let go of his hand and entered the building. Peter gazed back for a moment towards you who was already leaving, he saw how you picked up your hair into a ponytail before taking off. You seemed to be so happy when you were talking about your time in Oxford that Peter couldn’t help but smile as he remembered the elation that was drawn on your face.

“Peter!”, Gwen called him, causing him to break his gaze from you and finally enter the building.

As soon as you got to Stark Tower you decided to take a very needed shower and then have a quick nap before you ran to your lab. The rest of the day you decided to spend it there, researching more on King Pin and Black Cat and making a few calls so you could talk to Dr. Octavius’ lab that was the next target for Black Cat. You managed to get an appointment with her the next day, plus she had agreed to reinforce her security and Fury had given permission, so you texted Peter quickly that you had an in.

But for the last hour or so you had decided to repeat once again the footage of that night and you couldn’t avoid lingering a bit more on the different parts where Black Cat was over you or when you were over her. How she looked at you, with those purple eyes that for some reason, made your heart hammer on your chest, she was wild and mysterious, she was too raw and you felt extremely curious about it.

It had to be almost 8:00 pm when Harley entered your lab with a wide smile drawn on his face.

“I figure you needed to eat something”, Harley’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts as you examined the footage of your fight with Black Cat.

He quickly threw an apple and you managed to easily catch it and then place it in your mouth as you took a big bite.

“Thanks”, you muttered as you pause the video. “You need something?”

Harley wrinkled his nose with a smirk. “What happened to you when you were away?”, he said as he pulled a chair next to you and sat down as you took another bite. “You were perfect miss sunshine and now you are just-”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence”

Harley and you were basically brother and sister, since the whole Mandarin disaster with your father, he had been in your life. Tony would always bring him in during the summer to spend time with him and teach him alongside you. And although Tony hadn’t ever really found out, Harley had been the one that had helped you the most before Tony agreed on letting you have your suit. Although he was a couple of years older than you, he seemed to be one of the few real friends you had and you loved him for it.

He could be a smug little shit sometimes, especially when it came to be known that he was Tony’s first-ever intern, even before Peter. The media had even tried to link both of you together but Pepper had given a statement for the press denying the whole thing, Peter had rather become a bit upset by it when he saw it on the news. Either way, the scrawny boy who liked to annoy people with his dry blunt sense of humor, was more than dedicated to his job at Stark Industries than anyone else except for Pepper, he was fully devoted to Tony and he became part of the family. Plus, the scattered gazed on his eyes and the sleepless nights that he spent in the lab, always gave Tony and, therefore the rest of the team, great advances in tech.

“And I’m still sunshine, I just don’t take anybody’s shit now”, you answered with a glare at Harley who took the apple of your hand raised his eyebrows.

“It seems like you take her shit,” he said as he pointed to the hologram in front of you. Black Cat was on the screen, she was on top of you with her legs wrapped around your neck. “Would love to switch places with you”, he muttered as you quickly kicked his seat.

“Don’t be a pig!” you yelled at him as you took Black Cat off the hologram, feeling your cheeks getting warmer.

Harley cracked as he finished the apple and threw it to the trashcan close by. “You know I’m kidding!”, he said as he walked closer again. “But you really do need to get her”

You groaned with a pained expression on your face. “I know, I know”, you muttered as you passed a hand through your face but quickly stop as you looked up to him. “Did my father say anything to you about the mission?”

But Harley quickly shook his head no causing you to sigh in relief.

“Thank god, he has been questioning me since I arrived”, you complained while Harley looked at you.

“I’m sorry about that, you know how Tony is with you,” Harley offered. “He just wants you to be…”

“Perfect?”

“No, just okay and he was scared that you weren’t,” Harley replied. “After all you did run away because of a boy you are working with”

You shot Harley an annoyed glare.

“It was so much more but my dad doesn’t see it!”, you snapped at Harley with a glare as he stared at you, somehow he seemed sorry.

“I know it was”, he assured you as he placed a hand on your shoulder for comfort.

“He just wants me to be this perfect robot without talking and it’s annoying, I don’t want to please him anymore and-”

You wanted to keep talking because you knew you had to eventually get whatever hidden feelings you had about Tony out but you didn’t know if it was the moment to do so.

“Ugh, whatever,” you finally said as you turned towards Harley. “Tell me what you have”

“It’s just, I’ve been doing my own research on King Pin, even before you came back and it’s not good”, Harley said nervously as he quickly took his tablet out and the hologram that was over it, he transferred it onto your screen as you began to read what he had found.

And it was bad.

Harley had managed to hack into many databases surrounding Frisk’s legitimate businesses and the money didn’t add up, the amount of money that was going in, and most importantly, the amount of money that was going out was without a doubt for something big. He had been seen talking with major arms suppliers and even the ones in the deep web that you only knew because of your mission to Europe, and as soon as you saw a possible copy of an arc reactor you took the hologram off and turned to Harley.

His clenched jaw and pinched lips gave it away that he was as terrified as you were and you knew that he had been sitting on it for a while.

“Does my dad know all of this?”, you asked, as you swallowed hard.

Harley shook his head. “I’ve been keeping this as side research because I know our focus is getting rid of Hydra’s nests through the world and after Peter sent Scorpion to jail, your dad has even been calmer about this Fisk thing. He has been spending more time with Morgan and, I just…”

You reached out and placed your hand over his, and he quickly took a hold of it. You knew what Harley was trying to do, as you had become very familiar with the behavior yourself. Tony had been traumatized for such a long time thanks to being an Avenger, the PTSD episodes were something that you couldn’t forget and neither did Harley since he met him as he was dealing with it.

It had become almost like an unspoken deal between the closest people who surrounded Tony: try to give him as much peace as he could. Sometimes, you felt haunted by the fact that you were running away to a dangerous mission that had done the opposite that you had tried to do for the majority of your teenage life but you felt somehow thankful that Harley had taken over it.

“It’s okay”, you whispered as you quickly placed another hand on his shoulder and Harley nodded, sniffling a bit.

“What’s your next move then?”, Harley asked with a tight-lipped thankful smile.

You were about to answer what you had been working on for the majority of the day but then it hit you, the shiver that ran through your body made goosebumps appear all through your skin.

“You zoned out”, Harley said but then you quickly took off the sweater that you were wearing and ordered HAPPY to open the window as Harley stood up confused and covering his eyes as you run on a top with high waisted leggings like crazy through your lab. “y/n, what are you doing?”, he asked, still with his hands over his face.

But soon he heard your repulsors going off and he uncovered his face in surprise as he saw you jumping from the window at Stark’s Tower.

“Tell my dad that I went to visit MJ!”, was the only thing you managed to say as you flew through Manhattan.

It was so obvious that you felt stupid for not realizing it before. Oscorp had already an intricate security system and still, Black Cat had managed to get in, she had even tried to get inside of Hammer when she would obviously have to fight you, she wasn’t afraid of anything and if she decided to wait a couple of days before she appeared again, it wasn’t because she was wounded or knew that she wouldn’t be able to, but as a distraction. She was going again for Hammer because she had more scary things that she needed to worry about: King Pin.

The night was rather freezing than what you had expected it, even with your suit already hugging your body, you felt somehow cold. It had passed only an hour or two since you had arrived and there was no sign of Black Cat. Peter and Tony had called a few times, but you decided to just text Tony that you would probably be spending the night at MJ’s dorm room and although he hadn’t sound completely convinced in a voice memo he sent, he stopped texting eventually. And on the other hand, you weren’t really in the mood to talk to Peter.

You wanted to tell yourself it wasn’t because of what had happened earlier in the day, although you knew it totally was. If this had been before, you would’ve called Peter immediately and tell him what you had figured out but now, you felt like you were invading his space and you hated it, the feeling of being unwanted crept it’s way again to your mind and so, you had around ten or more calls from Peter and a lot more of messages.

Until you finally sent him a small text that you knew would get him to stop texting, you could feel the resentment bubbling up in your chest as you hated but you couldn’t avoid hitting ‘send’ to the text.

Take a free night with Gwen and have fun, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

And it did work, he left you alone.

You sighed as your mind began to wonder what he was doing right now if he was climbing through her window and pinning her under him as he kissed her; you had sent him to her so what else did you expected? Deep inside of your heart, you also knew that that’s what you wanted but the more you thought about it, the more you thought that you should simply let it go.

“Those repulsors you have over there…”, the silky voice pulled you out of your thoughts as you breathe deeply. You heard the lights steps behind you and you could already imagine her plump lips curling as she walked towards you “Can you teach me how to build one, please?”

You whipped your head and started firing without a second thought, following Nat’s plan to disturbed her surroundings and not giving her the space that she needed to execute her plan. The loud energy sound of your repulsors echoed in the sky, as well as the slight smoke that appeared at the place where the shot had landed. As the smoke started to dissipated, you didn’t see any sign of Black Cat.

“Where is she?”, you asked HAPPY urgently as your eyes looked around.

H.A.A.P.PY scanned the space where you had fired, analyzing if there was any sign of movements but it didn’t seem like there was anything, you walked a few steps away as you tried to recover the needed space for her not to take you the advantage of you. You were about to start flying, to get a good overview but in that second HAPPY’s troubling voice warned you.

“Miss Stark”

Before you knew it, you were being pushed from the edge of the building. The only thing you managed to see was her white-silver hair clouding your sight as you fell from the roof. You felt your stomach drop as you fell but you quickly activated your repulsors and flew again into the roof, landing on your knees as you look for her. You saw a kind of anchor in the roof that was tightly holding a white rope. You quickly followed it to find Black Cat hanging from it, upside down on her head as she slashed the window’s glass with her nails carefully.

You quickly slashed the rope, just in time before Black Cat finished cutting into the glass with her nails, she quickly gasped as she fell from the building, head first to the street but swiftly you dived into the sky, following her and you took her by one foot, trying to be careful enough not to get cut by her again although she was twisting herself on your hold you had already placed a vibranium bracelet on her ankle.

As fast as you could, you pulled her up and then dropped her onto the floor harshly, causing the vibranium bracelet to gripped itself to the floor and her to groan.

“This is way too rough for me”, she growled as you fire another vibranium bracelet on her other ankle and one on her arm before she tried to slash your suit again.

“Not this time, Kitty”

Soon, she was immobilized and you were smirking under your mask, while you watched her bending herself in any way she could to getaway.

“What’s King Pin’s plan?”, you asked gravely as you watched her intently.

Your voice made her stop dead on her tracks as she turned around and glared at you for a moment before groaning and continuing to see how she could get out, “You know, I like watching you”, she said slowly. “You are smart and you are not as predictable as Spiderman but this isn’t it, darling”

You remained silent, standing closer to her in an attempt to intimate her.

“Why are you working for him? What does he want?”, you repeated as your mask opened, letting your gazes link as they did last time you saw each other.

Black Cat shrugged. “You are such a bore,” she said as she rolled her eyes.

“And you are getting on my nerves”

She smirked as she felt your irritation and she finally stopped twisting herself and turned her body towards you.

“You are the one getting on Frisk’s nerves”, she chuckled.

“Why does he want those things? Is he going to sell them?”

Black Cat sighed annoyed, her lips pressed together as if she was trying to savor the words that she was going to say before she said them, as if she was analyzing if it was even worth it to say something.

“If you did your job, you know that Frisk never reveals his real plan to everyone”, she replied with a transparent expression, “I just know bits and pieces”

“I did my job, you are not a regular worker of his, what do you know?”, you snapped at her and you could see how her eyes flashed with excitement.

She licked her lips and then looked at the cloudy night in New York, before you knew it, she was telling you exactly what you needed.

“I know that he doesn’t like you or Spiderman, I know that I’ve been demoted after our little encounter last week,” she snarled while glaring at you. “And I know that if you are as smart as I think you are, you are going to let me go and meet with me on Thursday”

Her words stunned you for a second as you furrowed your eyebrows together. This wasn’t the way you thought it would go, you suspected that she would tell you something minor and that she wouldn’t speak anymore, that you would have to take her to the compound and force her into an interrogatory.

But this was new.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I can help you Stark”, she said sweetly, honey dripping from her voice. “You know that Frisk’s not going to wait for me to get this and you also know that I have very few options if I want to live”

For once, she was right, and the more you look into her purple eyes you felt like she was being as honest as she could, considering she was a criminal. Plus, the slight hammering on your chest that you felt thanks to her eyes watching you as they did and how you felt your cheeks getting warmer by the second as you watched her lips… they weren’t a con either.

“How do I know I can trust you?”, you finally asked her as you got closer to her and she seemed to be a bit more relaxed than before when she watched you kneel next to her.

She watched you carefully for a few seconds before she answered. “Because I never negotiate”, she finally stated seriously.

You couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s because you are losing”, you answered.

And she laughed, an honest giggle escaped her lips and you felt tingles running through your spine as she quickly shut her mouth, realizing that she had shown something out of character. “I remember your pretty face between my legs a few days ago, I wasn’t losing and I’m not losing now but I’m not dumb either”

You nodded as you looked away, feeling your face burning and fidgeting with your hands, trying to avoid her intense gaze and before you knew it, you realized what had happened.

You inhale as you stood up from your place close to her. “You totally let me catch you!”, you gasped with an open mouth and widened eyes.

“You are as smart as I think you are”, Black Cat answered back with a smirk.

Soon, it was silent again and your gazes linked once more. You didn’t know what it was with her but she felt like she was real and transparent, you felt like you could talk to her and you didn’t have to threaten her like it usually happened with so many criminals. She seemed smart and knew what was her best chance, and at the moment you also knew, it was you.

“So, you want to help us?”, you asked.

“Well, although you are a sight for sore eyes and I would like to help you,”, she started. “I always survive”

You stood there for a moment, both of you realizing that this was the time of making a decision, that the ball was in your field and you could decide how you wanted to manage this mission. She had told you that she was going to help and that she was going to tell you things, she had told you King Pin knew you were back; now you had to decide if you were going to trust her or no.

“HAPPY, deactivate the bracelets”, you stated, Black Cat had a blinking expression as she heard your words.

“Miss Stark-”, your AI started, ready to recommend you to think it through but you quickly cut it off.

“Just do it and delete the footage from today”, you ordered and it seemed to do as it was told.

Quickly Black Cat’s hands were free, the vibranium returning to your suit as fast as it could, letting her go. She stood up slowly, somehow stunned by how quickly you had decided to free her but the good-natured expression drawn on her face, told you that she was…

“Thank you”, she said honestly as you stared back at her.

“I hope that you don’t make me regret this”, you replied.

It sparker the somehow malice she had in herself as she walked sensually closer to you with a smirk. “I would never,” she whispered close to your ear. “Come tomorrow night to Bill’s place, near The Bronx”, she stated as she adjusted her mask and began to walk towards the edge of the building.

“How do I recognize you?”, you asked as you turned around, confused by her statement.

Her suit shinned with the light of the moon that had just appeared as the clouds dissipated for a bit, her hair seemed brighter than before as she turned around to watch you from the edge. “You will”, she said playfully.

“But…”, you protested as you got closer to her.

“Ask for Felicia”, she answered as she jumped from the edge of the building.

****

taglist: @SPIDEYLOVIN @FANDOMTRASH100 @SOULLESSBABEE

***

THIS IS A REUPLOAD BECAUSE I HAVE NI IDEA HOW OR WHY IT GOT DELETED AND I HAD 100+ NOTES UGH.

author’s note: This was somehow a bit of a filler chapter? See Peter and Y/N getting back on their groove and also show that the identity issues that Y/N is having it’s not only because she left to Europe or because Peter broke her heart, but because she had deep rooted things since she was a child.

Anyway, I’m really excited that I’ve finished my exams and I’m sure that next sunday I’ll have chapter three ready for you and the secret meetings and clandestine hookup’s will start!!!

please please please let me know your thoughts and opinions on this chapter and if you have ANY theories or comments I would love to see them!!! I’m already so happy with the love you have given to the last chapters, I really hope you like it! any feedback is well received and thank you so much!

THERE’S ALREADY CHAPTER 3 ON THE MASTERLIST

123 notes · View notes

mangomochi-yn · 4 years

Text

[like a lost puppy]

bnha. todoroki shouto x reader

g. the crackiest fluff, like actually cracky

tw. baku cursing ig? none really wc. 1.3k lol

It was honestly a true wonder how you hadn’t noticed how much Todoroki paid attention to you.

The whole class—heck the whole school even—though all knew how much the Icy Hot student cared for you.

Whether it be pushing you to the side as Kaminari and Kirishima were being rowdy or whether when he gently removes an eyelash on your face— always giving you that same soft smile after.

But even as he offers you his homework after you mentioned forgetting about it to your friend, the class truly was bewildered at how you seemed so oblivious and unaware of the boy’s constant actions.

“Oh! Thanks Todoroki-kun! You’re a sweetheart, I swear!” You say as you gave him that same friendly smile you gave everyone else, not noticing how Mina just shakes her head in the corner— exasperated by your obliviousness.

“You’re welcome, Y/N. But call me Shoto instead.” Maybe it was the sudden blush that crept to your face, or maybe the fact that despite all his caring actions, Todoroki was never one to pull an advance more than what was borderline (like very border, too much really) friendliness.

This was a first and it had the class buzzing with excitement.

You hadn’t noticed how it got seemingly more quiet— everyone’s attention trained on the two of you.

“Oh, uh, sure. Shoto-kun.” Of course you just had to add the formality. Groaning, Mina finally drags you out of the classroom— not noticing how unlike the rest of the class, Todoroki’s smile was far from disappointed.

As soon as Mina had you outside though, it was a whole different situation. “Seriously, Y/N? Do you seriously not notice what Todoroki’s trying to tell you?”

Your eyes bug out at her sudden outburst, confusion evident on your face.

“What do you mean?”

Mina groans yet again and you swore she was about to pull the hair off her head at that moment.

“Y/N, listen to me.” After calming down, she then clasps both of your hands in hers, trying her best to keep her voice calm and steady.

“He brings you a juice box every morning, walks down the halls with you despite how you’re always in a conversation with a different person during. He literally always has one eye on you and gazes at you as if you were the only thing he sees— do you really need more?”

Her composure fails her by the end of her little rant and she could only sigh as she sees your face unreadable, assuming it was of incomprehension.

“He literally follows you around like a lost puppy, Y/N. Don’t you think it’s getting kind of obvious?” And finally as your face blooms into that of a rose, she shakes her yet again as if saying— “Finally, you’re starting to get it.”

Before you could even speak though, out emerges the boy in question, immediately taking place next to you with a look of worry on his face.

“Is there something wrong with the two of you guys over here? We could see you guys just talking through the window and Mina seems... agitated.” Of course he came at the right moment. But actually...

“Oh, I don’t know Todoroki. I was just telling Y/N here how I think you had something to say, don’t you?” And as he glances to your form, seeing how you fiddle with your fingers, he wastes no time wrapping an arm around your waist— the whole class inside was silent watching in anticipation.

What they didn’t expect though were the next words to leave your lips.

“They found out and it’s all your fault, idiot.”

Found out? What exactly? So you knew? And what happened to the ‘Todoroki-kun’ and ‘Shoto-kun’? Collectively, a million questions went around both Mina’s and the class’s heads. Only for it to be silenced by Todoroki’s statement.

“Oh, was it that obvious that you and I were dating?”

And it took approximately 2 seconds before Kaminari drops dead. Iida was spouting questions and comments a mile a second. Uraraka, Froppy, and Momo all just held each other by the shoulders as if trying to steady themselves.

“Tch, about time you guys went out with it.” Bakugo sneers at the corner.

“Wait, Kaachan, you knew?” This time it was towards the explosive blondie did everyone’s attention went towards to.

And with that same annoyed expression on his face, he made an outburst in frustration. “Hah?! It was so fucking obvious so I asked the stupid half and half and he said yeah.”

Meanwhile, it took you a second to register everything that happened before you had to lunge at Mina to stop her from falling as her legs gave out.

“Wait? So that’s not what you meant by Shoto being so obvious?” Truly, you couldn’t even wrap your head around what was happening. “No, you idiot! We all thought he just had a big crush on you and you didn’t notice!”

And collectively, as you took a glance at your newly exposed boyfriend next to you, him sharing that same look of confusion on his face —you two laughed and that laugh rang across the halls as if it mocked the class of their foolishness.

“Oh my god. That is so funny. Shoto, I can’t believe they thought it was one-sided.” He pouts at your comment, grip tightening around your waist.

“Hey, you’re the one that wasn’t showing me even an ounce of affection so of course they would think it was one-sided.” And you rolled your eyes as you flicked him on the forehead.

“Then that would ruin the whole plane of keeping it a secret wouldn’t it? And why did you even tell me to call you Shoto earlier?! I had to rack my brain for an idea for it to not be so obvious because of your little stunt.”

“I missed hearing you call me that.”

And really it was the kiss you two shared that truly broke the class. Their eyes all empty as they stared at the two of you in disbelief.

“I gotta admit that was fun though. Maybe we should break up so you can keep courting me like that then.” You giggle as the boy nuzzles against your hair. Soft breath tickling your neck as he huffs a whine against it.

“No. Now that they all know, you have to make up for the weeks of affection you didn’t reciprocate.”

Another kiss this time on his cheek, you laugh as the boy smiles against it.

“Alright, I’ll make sure to double it.”

bonus.

“How many months now?” “4.”

“And why did you guys decide to keep it a secret?” “Well it wasn’t supposed to but somehow we got too deep and it just felt awkward to announce it then.”

It wasn’t a surprise that, as soon as the shock had subsided and you and your boyfriend took your respective seats next to each other, did the whole class crowd and bombard you with a million questions.

“You guys are the devils, I swear.” Kaminari finally woke up to glare at the two of you.

“Especially you, Todoroki, we were all heartbroken at how Y/N didn’t seem to notice your affections but the whole time, behind the scenes you had her all to yourself?!”

“I believe Y/N is actually the more cruel one in this situation. She was the one that did not bother to even acknowledge all the affections nor being aware of it, therefore, she was the one being more harsh to Todoroki-kun.” Yaomomo and Kaminari argued.

If you knew that the class would be having a full debate on the whole situation for the rest of the day then maybe you would have gone against keeping it as a secret in the first place.

“You wanna go skip while they’re all caught up trying to fight each other?” You whisper to your boyfriend, who frankly seemed a little bit unaffected than you thought was fair.

What you didn’t know was that he was just glad that he could hold your hand out in the open and kiss your cheeks whenever he wanted to now.

“Whatever you want, darling.”

a/n. lol this was honestly so extra. baby shoto just can’t hide his love for you okay?? 😪 please forgive him. also should i make a prequel? 🤔

#bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #boku no hero academia imagines #bnha imagines #bnha scenarios #bnha fluff #bnha x reader #bnha todoroki shouto #todoroki shouto imagines #todoroki shouto x reader #mha imagines #mha scenarios

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knwsoft · 3 years

Text

[where did it goes wrong?]

— member. lee know

— genre. fluff, faint angst, arranged marriage!au, royalty!au

— words. 1.4k words

grew up as the only and most loved daughter of the kim duchy never made you worry about your future. that was until you got the chance to see your entire future in a dream.

in your dream, you just turned 16 years old when your happy life became miserable. the crown prince—who was your future fiance—falls into unrequited love with your adoptive sister. this made you blinded by jealousy thus got yourself and family executed by the prince because of the sin that you did toward her.

therefore, you were determined to reshape your future by treating your big sister as if she was your life. so, you wouldn’t be killed by the time it comes.

talking about the crown prince, you actually hate to send a man like him to your sister. he is a good-looking, sweet-hearted man of this age, and an invisible swordmaster with fierce passion toward his own people. but, you have to live. and in order to do that, you need him and your sister to love each other. that way, you could live with your own happy ending and spend a thousand years on your own.

the day you were waiting for had finally come—your twelfth birthday party where the crown prince made his first appearance and met your sister.

the beginning is important, so let’s do well.

the party went on with a speech from the duke and cheers from the guests, followed with some polite greetings and wishes for you. you politely thanked them, thought mind not fully paying them attention. you even didn’t know them or even their status that well. and the party itself was just fine. it's too extravagant to your liking.

thankfully, the boy you were waiting for finally came, making people turn their attention to him as he made his way to greet the duke.

he was no other than lee minho, the crown prince—and your possible murderer.

“it’s nice to see you come, your highness,” the duke greeted him back politely.

“how have you been? his majesty has sent a gift to lady [name] in celebration of her twelfth birthday.”

there was also one thing that you learned from your dream. the very reason why minho was engaged with you.

minho was a perfect man, but he doesn’t have one thing, which is bloodline. the emperor was known to not have married yet, and minho's existence as the sole heir to the throne became a debate between the aristocratic faction and imperial faction.

“it’s a gift from the emperor, so come out to receive it, lady [name].” a servant then came to his side and brought him the gift sent from the emperor.

that’s why, to secure his position as the crown prince and silence the aristocratic faction, the emperor pushed ahead with the marriage of minho and you, the daughter of kim duchy, the second most powerful family after the imperial family. but you know better that he will fall in love with your sister, who doesn’t help his situation at all.

now is the chance!

you hide behind your sister’s dress and grin, “my sister will take it for me.”

this should be work, you thought. you’ll get out of here on your own, so they two could get to know each other and fall in love. just like what you planned.

however, you didn’t expect that minho would kneel down in front of you to match your eye level and lean closer, shortening the distance between you two. this made you blushed and lost of words.

“my lady, i’m talking to you right now,” he looked directly at you in the eyes. he didn’t bat an eye at your sister at all, not even just for a mere second.

something definitely didn’t feel right here.

to play it safe, you hesitantly took the present before thanking both the prince and his servant.

for some reasons—and to your knowledge, minho didn’t like to be around the kim duchy family that much. if it wasn’t because of the arranged marriage and duty as your fiance, he might now not come to your birthday party. but weirdly, this hatred also included your sister, the one he was supposed to fall in love with.

not only that. whenever you tried to leave them alone, you would somehow ended up with him alone instead of your sister. to make it worse, his lack of expression face and habit of not saying much made the atmosphere awkward and difficult for you to bring up a topic. it felt more like you're talking to yourself than to the prince.

looks like this plan wasn’t going to be easy as you thought.

however, little did you know, minho secretly liked your presence.

he might look cold and rarely show his expressions around you. but once he did, it was no other than horror that was written all over his face.

you were just trying to protect your sister from this noblewoman harassment. and instead of slapping your sister, her palm landed on your face instead.

he saw everything. and with rage, he called the guard to take the nameless noblewoman away, not letting her to explain herself, and dismissed everyone in the room to leave you two alone. he quickly ran to your side in worry and asked you so many questions.

“i’m fine, your highness.” you assured him with a smiled while touching your sting red cheek. “more importantly, could you help me check on my sister? she-”

“how can you still care about the other in this situation?”

he wanted to roar with frustration, he wanted to cradle you close and never let this happen again, he wanted you to stop being selfless. he raised his trembling hand to your cheek and caressed it, “how can you still look for the other when you’re the one who is hurt here?”

“this is nothing compared to what happened to my sister, your highness,” you answered.

“don’t tell me this is nothing! you're my fiance, and whatever happens to you is matter to me.”

he was supposed to look after your sister and left you alone here, not worrying about you. yet, deep down, a part of you was happy he did.

is that okay for you to feel this way for him? why did he come closer to you in the first place!?

"but, don't you hate me? my status as the duke's daughter was the reason you are engaged to me. the reason why you have to be tied with me!"

you swallowed and looked down, ducking away from his stare for the first time, or else, you wouldn't know what else to do with your own feeling.

he just kept his mouth shut, surprised at your thought of him.

was that how you see him all this time, someone who doesn't care about his own fiance's well being and only cares about status?

"are you that blind?" he softly asked you in disbelief.

all this time, people were always trying to be careful around him. no one dared to displease him, nor get into his bad side. and minho found this boring and annoying. but, all of that changed after he met you on your twelfth birthday on the emperor’s order.

you weren't scared of him at all. while other people tried to avoid his eyes, you weren’t. you looked him back at the eyes like he wasn’t someone higher than you. though he never understood why you avoided him for a multiple time—using your sister as the excuse—before, you still never pushed him away. instead, you were the first one who wanted to talk to him normally.

he didn’t know when it exactly happened, but you started to be someone important for him. you’re the reason why he can’t seem to be focused lately. you’re also the one who made his day better just at the mere thought of you. so, when he saw that nameless noblewoman hit you, something inside him snapped. yet, you didn’t understand that.

"yes, i might hate kim duchy at first, but i never hate you. instead, i love you. i care for you more than anyone else in this world and i want you to be with me.”

you didn’t know what to say. you used to find joy in reading heartfelt confession novels you found at the kim duchy’s library. but, hearing it in person from the most unexpected person felt strange. happy, shock, confused—you didn’t really know how to describe this feeling at all.

“i...”

“let’s continue this talk later. we need to treat your swollen cheek first.” right before you could protest, he added, “this is an order. not a request.”

since when did this ‘being cupid for your sister’ turn into ‘making the prince love you’? where did it go wrong?

#lee know imagines #lee know scenarios #lee know drabbles #lee know x reader #minho imagines #minho scenarios #minho drabbles #minho x reader #stray kids imagines #stray kids scenarios #stray kids drabbles #stray kids x reader #skz imagines #skz scenarios #skz drabbles #skz x reader

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the-duke-of-nuts · 3 years

Text

The Battle Over Wine

After 3 months I’ve finally gotten around to finish writing one of the Loceit headcanons/prompts as a oneshot! This is the first fanfic I’ve ever written that’s in actual sentences and not in script form so forgive the MANY grammar mistakes and shitty plot for I am terrible at writing and don’t know how spacing works on Tumblr (*cough* Betas hit me up *cough*) ANYWAYS literally nothing in this makes sense but it’s fanfiction so roll with it. Hope you enjoy I guess!

Prompt/Headcanon by the amazing royalty of Sanders Sides headcanons/prompts @imma-potatoo: Janus and Logan constantly battle over which wine is better (they are both wine moms) Janus says red wine, Logan says white. They can and will get into hour long debates over this

Pairing(s): Loceit, Background Dukexiety

Word Count: 2,400

Warnings: Alcohol, Arguing, Blood mention (Nothing major just comparing the color to wine), Remus being Remus (Let me know if there's anything else)

It was a typical day at the mindscape for the Braincell Gays. They had just finished filming a video with Thomas about helping him with his mental health and his overworking issues. Janus thought both of their inputs and solutions were a success and decided to have some celebratory wine with Logan.

"Today was a success, wouldn't you say darling?" Janus said wrapping his arms around Logan's waist. "I must admit, today was pretty satisfactory, especially since we both helped Thomas with his dilemma and we were both actually listened to for once." Logan replied wrapping his arms around Janus' neck. Janus smiled and pressed a quick soft kiss against Logan's lips to which Logan of course reciprocated. "I say this calls for a celebration." Janus said. "What did you have in mind?" Logan asked, curiously. Janus smirked and summoned two empty wine glasses "I think you know~" "Ah yes, how can I forget your traditional celebratory wine." Logan playfully rolled his eyes.

"Oh you know you love it".

"You're correct about that." Logan chuckled.

Despite both of them having "serious" and "professional" demeanors around the other sides they enjoyed the little moments where they can actually goof off and make each other laugh and smile during their alone time.

"So, what will it be for the menu for today my love? Will it be the best and most savory of flavors of Roscato red wine, or are we feeling a little fancy and want to celebrate with champagne instead?" Janus asked. "Oh, well I was thinking we should have something far much more adequate like white wine."

The sound of glass shattering immediately followed after Logan’s response,

"I beg your pardon?" Janus stared in disbelief trying to process what his lover had just said. Logan, his darling, the light of his life, his beloved, had just disrespectfully claimed that WHITE wine was better than red in his own home! Well, their home and the other sides' home but that's besides the point! This is wine they're talking about here! "Well, I thought I made myself clear but I shall repeat myself, I said that I was thinking we should have something much more adequate than red wine which I suggested white instead."

Janus took a deep breath in trying to keep his composure

"Starling?"

"Yes Janus?"

"You know I love you right?"

"Of course I do, you show and tell me everyday."

"Well you're making it reeeeeal hard for me to want to show and tell you right now."

"Why? Is it because I was simply stating facts that white wine is much more superior than red?" Logan crossed his arms raising an eyebrow. "Those are NOT facts those are lies! Red wine is much more tastier than white wine!" Janus argued. "Yeah, if you have a figurative bitter tooth! Red wine is way too bitter and the sweetness isn't as flavorful as white wine!" Logan argued back.

"Y'know considering the fact that we have to deal with 4 other nincompoops in this damn house you'd be glad that red wine is stronger than white!"

"Janus, just because red wine contains more ABV than white wine doesn't make it the better beverage!"

"Oh says who!?"

"The literal personification of LOGIC and literally anyone who isn't you!"

"Okay you know what? That's it!"

Janus has had enough of the ridiculous bickering and decided to take matters into his own hands by summoning himself, his darling nerd, and all of the other sides back in the same exact courtroom him and Patton were in trying to convince Thomas to go to the wedding or callback.

"We're going to settle this debate once and for all!" Janus dramatically pointed at Logan. "Janus, this is ridiculous! Who exactly are we defending for this to be a courtroom scenario!?" Logan glared at his lover. "Ourselves and the law of wine!" Janus declared. "What the hell does that even mean!?" An annoyed, confused Virgil yelled from the jury box sitting next to Remus and Patton. "Hush Virgil the adults are talking." Janus said not taking his eyes off of Logan.

"We're the same age!"

"ENOUGH chit chat and questions." Janus made Virgil cover his own mouth growing tired of his complaining and faced Roman "Now, your honor would you kindly read off the charges please?" "Oh, we're doing this again, well alright let's see here uh, The state of Logan Sanders yadda yadda yadda, Janus, prosecuting for the state of Logan Sanders, under oath, information makes that Logan Sanders... Count one: Unlawfully and disrespectfully claimed that one alcoholic beverage was better than the other. Count two: Has terrible taste in drinks but better taste in men. Count three: Being too damn attractive for this world. Count four: Making Janus break two perfectly good wine glasses. Count five: Unlawfully not participate in self care by leaving his books all over the floor whenever he falls asleep while doing heavy research when he's supposed to be taking a break causing Janus to place a bunch of bookmarks in said books and put them away for him." Roman read off the charges Janus summoned him.

"And how exactly were those last four charges relevent?" Logan asked. "Because they are and you know it! Your honor, continue." Janus said. "Being so charged, Logan Logic Sanders, how do you plead?" "Not guilty." Logan said deadpan. "Count six for being too confident in that answer." Janus coughed out.

Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head, he didn't know who was more dramatic, Roman or his lovable self care wine loving snake.

"To make this quick and effective we're going to skip the other nonsense and get straight to the point by giving our UNBIASED views to each person and have them decide to see if Logan is truly a horrible wine 'expert'." Janus said as he arrived at the front of the courtroom

"Alright, fair enough. Prosecution, your first witness."

"I would like to call Remus to the stand!"

Remus appeared in the witness stand and immediately stood up and was about to jump over it and run "I can't go back to jail!" "Sit down Remus you're not going to- Wait what do you mean back?" Janus looked at him after doing a double take. "Nothing! So uh what's the question?" Remus immediately sat back down trying to change the subject.

"Alright Remus, red or white wine?"

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Alright, uhh hmm..."

Remus thought about it thinking of the possible outcomes that could happen if he chose a certain answer. Janus noticed him struggling to make a choice and had an idea and smirked

"You know Remus, if you're having a hard time deciding, just putting this out there, red wine looks like you're drinking blood and I think you enjoy that thought VERY much~" Remus gasped and instantly became excited by the thought "OOH! You're right! I could even add bone shaped ice to give it that realistic crunching sound!" "Objection persuading the witness with a biased opinion." Logan said. "Overruled. It's not really persuading since we ALL know my brother actually enjoys anything gruesome like that regardless." "I sure do!" Remus cackled at Roman's statement.

Logan sighed a little frustrated, this was going to be harder than he thought.

"I think I rest my case your honor." Janus smirked and blew Logan a kiss as he walked back to his table to sit down. Logan blushed and shook his head to quickly snap out of it and walked to the front and cleared his throat as he adjusted his glasses and tie

“Remus."

"Nerd."

"You enjoy pranking and getting on Janus' nerves is that correct?"

"Yes that is VERY correct." Remus snickered.

"And you despise when he forces you to partake in proper hygene as well as making you eat actual ingestible foods unlike deodorant and other non edible items?”

"Yeah."

Remus crossed his arms hating remembering the times Janus would force him to take a bath and purposely safety locking the cleaning supplies cabinets just so he had no other choice BUT to eat regular food.

"You also are not how they call a 'lightweight'?"

"Nope!"

That was a lie. Remus could drink three cups and he'd already become a drunk chaotic mess.

"Okay, so hear me out here." Logan started and Remus leaned forward becoming interested in what he was about to say. "Remus, white wine is clear therefore you can always "pretend" that you're drinking water so Janus doesn't question it for self care reasons nor harass you about it."

Remus went wide eyed at the realization and wagged his finger at Logan. "You... I like you... Keep talking."

Logan smirked, he got Remus right where he wanted him and continued.

"Also if you were to spill it there would be no noticeable stain therefore making it impossible for Janus to become upset."

"Wow, you make some VERY compelling points Four Eyes."

"Objection! I don't appreciate you persuading my son with your biased statements by using me as examples." Janus interjected.

"Janus, Remus is not your son!"

"You're right, my apologies. I don't appreciate you persuading OUR son with your biased statements by using me as examples."

Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head not wanting to bother arguing with Janus about his logic.

"I believe I've made my points your honor." Logan walked back to his table. "Alright, can I go now?" Remus asked. "Almost Remus. We just need to know your final answer, then you may leave and sit back down with the other two." Janus answered. "Okay umm on one hand I very much LOVED Jan's point about how red wine looks like you're drinking blood buuuut I would have to go with Nerdy Wolverine on this one and choose white wine because I enjoy pissing Janus off."

"Yes!" Logan whispered victoriously to himself.

"Oh you rat son of a bitch of course you would-"

"Language!" Patton interrupted.

"English."

"Spanish! Now you!"

"German. No! We're not doing a word association game!" Janus yelled frustrated. "Aw, what's the matter my charming smooth scaled serpent? Realizing you're losing against Logic?" Logan smirked. "NO and don't you dare flatter me using snake related petnames when you're looking like that in a suit!"

Logan smirked at Janus' flustered expression, "Alright, then bring out your next witness then." "I will! Remus, you can leave now." Finally!" A relieved Remus announced as he summoned himself back at the jury box. Janus summoned Roman to the witness stand wanting to get straight to the point.

"Roman?"

"Yes Janaconda?"

"You're the romantic one out of all of us correct?"

"Oh my god you already know he is just get to the point!" Virgil yelled from the jury box slowly losing his patience even more. "Since you are an expert on the matter, would you mind sharing with the court which wine do you think is more romantic on a date?" "Oh that's easy, obviously red wine." "Interesting, care to elaborate?" Janus smirked and glanced at Logan. "Of course! Imagine having a romantic candle lit dinner under the stars or a picnic date watching the sunset, red wine gives those beautiful moments of being with your beloved partner a general relaxing and romantic atmosphere and it also tastes marvelous with various different foods. I'm actually quite surprised Specs didn't side with red wine considering it's good for digestion." Roman stated. "Wow, you really ARE a romantic expert! I don't think I have any further questions." Janus smirked and walked back to his table.

Logan went wide eyed there's no way he can convince Roman, his answer was obviously clear but it's worth a shot.

"Roman, have you ever considered white wine being just as “romantic” as red?"

"Not really no."

"Okay, well uh it can because-"

"Logan, I know you're trying here but trust me I know what I'm talking about. Don't get me wrong, white wine is just as delectable as red but I'm gonna have to side with Janus on this one." Roman interrupted and summoned himself back on the judge chair. Logan sighed and walked back to his table, he knew by the amount of confidence in Roman's answer there was no convincing him. "Fair enough..."

"Alright, Prosecution next witness?" Janus decided to summon Patton in the witness stand next and smiled innocently clasping his own hands together "Patton~" "Uh I know this is probably a really bad time to bring this up now but um I don't really drink wine so I don't really have an opinion..." Patton blushed a little embarrassed. Janus sighed frustrated and put his head down on the podium and summoned Patton back in the jury box "Of course you don't."

There was only one person left and that person was Virgil, it was 2 out of 2 and his choice would be the one to officially break the tie and put an end to this illogical ridiculous debate trial.

Janus summoned Virgil in the witness stand " Alright Virgil, what do you think cause I'm sure we all know you don't have an important input."

"You wanna know what I think!?"

Virgil was fed up and snapped his fingers causing him and the other sides to appear back at the house and summoned two glasses of wine, one red and the other white. He shoved the glass of red wine in Janus' hand and the white wine in Logan's

"I think the two of you dorks-"

"Dorks. Whale penises am I right guys?" Remus interupted snorting.

"-Should actually ACT like you both have a braincell and never debate about something as stupid as this ever again!" Virgil continued angrily. "Maybe the reason why they both don't have a braincell anymore is because they both fu-" Virgil interrupted his boyfriend from finishing his inappropriate sentence by covering his mouth and dragged him out of the room. Roman and Patton followed them not knowing what else to do.

The Braincell Gays stood in awkward silence holding their wine glasses realizing their silly little arguement was stupid after all.

"Truce?" Janus asked raising his wine glass.

"Truce." Logan smiled and raised his glass as well.

They both clinked their wine glasses together and drank their wine happily enjoying each other's company and soon made it up to each other by agreeing to have a self care day together the next day.

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