#both are very stuck in the past in ways that are not actually accounting for their actions | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

creativesaturn · 2 months

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Can you do Emiley w/ bau f!reader. They are on a case and get stuck in a hotel room together w/ only like 1 bed (I know, overdone, but its my fave) But Reader hasn't told Em that she has a crush on her, and Emiley kinda figures it out and teases her for a while? Idk, smut if you want? But you can also just like ignore if your over this scenario. I love your stuff! <3

Summary: Emily chose to room with you, but she didn't account for the one bed.

Genre: Fluff , Suggestive

Pairing: Emily Prentiss x gn!reader

Warnings: One bed trope , kissing!!

Word count: 1.4k

a/n: the way I was already working on a one bed trope for her 🤭🤭 but don't even worry cuz the one bed trope is my absolute favorite as well

You sat in the lobby with your go bag at your feet with the rest of the team. Hotch went to go check everyone in, since the case was so last minute it was hard to check in beforehand.

You looked up when Hotch walked over, "That explains why we couldn't sign in beforehand. They're completely booked." He spoke, "But I managed to get us 4 rooms, meaning we're all going to have to share." He explained, holding up 8 key cards.

"Can you behave and choose who you want to room with? Or do I have to hand them out randomly." Hotch asked, making eye contact with everyone one at a time.

You turned your eyes to the couch in front of you, catching eye contact with Emily who had already been looking at you. A slight pink tint filled your face. These past few days have been.. different, with Emily. Stolen glances, goosebumps every time she said your name. And butterflies going wild every conversation.

You couldn't not look away, it was like she had you in some sort of trap with no way out.

"Can me and Derek share?" Penelope asked, biting her bottom lip with a wink aimed at Derek.

Derek laughed in response, his eyes going to Hotch as he waited for the answer. "Sure." Hotch responded, handing them both a key card.

Penelope giggled as she stood up, grabbing onto Derek's arm as they made their way to the elevator.

"I'm not rooming with anyone, but Hotch. You guys can't be trusted." Rossi raised his hands as if he was surrending to his own words. He stood up and placed his hand in front of Hotch, Hotch laughed but nodded, placing a key card in his hand. Shoving the matching card in his own pocket.

Your eyes had finally left Emily's, trying to think who the best person to room with for a week. Your eyes on the floor, lost in thought. Emily watched you contemplate, but she had other plans.

"I'll room with, y/n." Emily blurted, standing up from the couch with her hand out.

"Y/n?" Hotch asked, turning his eyes to you for your answer.

"Huh? Oh-- uh.. Sure. I don't mind." You finally answered, standing up and grabbing the card Hotch handed you.

Emily grinned at you as she began walking towards the elevator, you following close behind her. As you both entered the elevator, you turned your head.

"Why'd you want to room with me?" You asked, genuinely curious on why she suddenly wanted to room with you.

"Who else would you rather room with?" She asked, obviously teasing, finally turning to look back at you.

"Didn't have much time to think about it." You admitted, listening to the ding of the elevator as it pushed open, both you walking out and trailing the halls for your room.

"I haven't actually roomed with you, now that I think about it." She stated, opening the door and letting you step inside first.

"Yeah, it's not very common that we have to share in general." You replied, quickly stopping in your tracks with an annoyed sigh.

Emily furrowed her brows at your expression, and the moment she stepped inside her mouth made an 'O' shape with a soft chuckle.

"I can sleep on the floor if you--" You quickly spoke, but quickly being interrupted by Emily.

"What? You're not seriously sleeping on the floor." She scoffed, walking towards the back of the room that had two chairs to place her bag on top of it.

Her back was facing towards you as she slid off her jacket, "Are you sure?" You asked, placing your stuff on the opposite chair.

"Please. You wouldn't be the first person I shared a bed with." She scoffed, "I call dibs on the shower." She raised her brows, quickly lowering them as she entered the bathroom, leaving you alone.

You sighed, unable to argue with her as you looked around to take in your surroundings. You checked your watch and when you noticed how late it was, you decided showering can wait. You took the time you had with Emily in the shower to change your clothes.

You slid into the bed, sighing at the feel of the plush mattress beneath you. You pulled the blanket up your body and kept your back towards the bathroom, trying to catch up on your sleep.

You weren't surprised you couldn't sleep. The first night in the hotel is always the worst. But you kept your position and continued your attempt.

You listened to door of the bathroom open and the light that peered through turn off. The mattress dipped from the weight of Emily that got comfortable behind you.

"Y/n?" She whispered, clearly testing to see if you were awake.

"Hm?" You hummed lazily.

"You don't mind that I don't wear pants to sleep, right?" She asked, a wide smirk on her face when she spoke but you were unable to see.

You stayed silent for a while. The thought and realization that Emily, the woman you've had a crush on since you started at the BAU, was inches away wearing no pants.

Your face flushed and you unconsciously tensed your thighs together, which Emily couldn't help but notice.

"I'll take that as a yes." She continued to whisper, clearly teasing you at this point.

"But I didn't say anything." You furrowed your brows, your words slightly stuttering and more above a whisper.

Emily raised her brow, "You're right," She responded, "Is it okay?" She asked again, her back against the mattress but her head towards your direction even if your back was facing her.

"Oh-- yeah.. Yeah, it's fine." You muttered, silently cursing at yourself at how embarrassing that was to answer.

Emily couldn't help but laugh. She wanted to keep the conversation going, obviously you were having trouble sleeping if you were still up, and she already knew she wasn't going to be able to.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked in a soft mumble, shifting her weight to lay on the side of her body, staring at the back of your head in the hope you'd turn around.

You hummed to let her know you acknowledged the question, now thinking of a reply. "The case." You answered honestly, well slightly.

You weren't lying. Just.. bending the truth.

She groaned as a reply, "Other than the case."

You thought about it once more. Finally deciding to answer honestly.

"You." You managed to mutter between your racing mind and your now dry mouth.

You finally adjusted your body to lay on your other side, finally making eye contact with Emily who had a wide smile on your face.

"I could've told you that." She laughed, her white teeth showing, almost blinding you with how pretty she looked in the moment.

"What?" You asked, knitting your brows together. "You knew?" You questioned her, genuinely confused, you thought you hid it well.

"Are you kidding? You're always a wreck when you're with me. It's adorable, honestly." She grinned, her smile never leaving her face. In fact, you swore you saw it grow bigger.

"Oh." Was all you said, unable to find the words that could explain how you felt. But your actions did. She could see your face grow redder even from the darkness, your fingers fidgeting with each other, and your eyes unable to find a place to sit for more than five seconds.

"Don't be embarrassed," She cooed, shifting herself closer towards you, close enough to where you could feel her breath hit your skin.

"It's cute, really." She whispered, her hand trailing up your hip, getting caught on the fabric of your t-shirt.

You couldn't find your words, staying silent with your eyes locked onto hers even when she wasn't keeping eye contact.

"Cute?" You breathed out, your words hiding in your mouth, barely being able to mutter anything.

"Mhm." She hummed, bringing her hand to your face to rest her palm against your cheek, finding herself moving closer to you and closing the gap between your mouths.

You kissed back in an instant, letting the soft flesh of your lips move against her before she pulled back.

"You think you can be quiet for me?" She teased, her lips slightly grazing your own.

Your head bobbed up and down in a nod, "Yes."

reposts and comments are appreciated <3

#creativesaturn #syd's emily fics #criminal minds #criminal minds smut #criminal minds fic #fanfiction #fanfic #emily prentiss #emily prentiss smut #emily prentiss x reader #emily prentiss fic #emily prentiss fanfiction #emily prentiss x you #emily prentiss x y/n #emily prentiss x female reader #emily prentiss x gender neutral reader #gender neutral reader

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meraxesmoon · 10 months

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Yandere HOTD Husbands <3

note: im tired of u guys pretending corlys isn't fine af 😭

warnings: yandere content, dark content, mention of pregnancy and having children, so afab darling, darling is called their wife, infidelity, possessive behavior, touch-starved aegon, gaslighting, you guys forget that aemond is not a pookie bear, criston

Aegon

♡ He's a mess, but at the end of the day, Aegon just wants to be loved. You can imagine his darling is just miserable with him, but Yan! Aegon is a different case. He just wants his sweet wife's attention on him, and he'll go to whatever means necessary in order to get it.

♤ Aegon has no real use for whores or servant girls anymore now that he has a wife that he craves, but that doesn't mean he won't use his past sexual deviancy against his wife if she refuses to give him the attention that he wants and needs. Aegon can be petty, and he uses the threat of fucking other women against his darling if they refuse him. His mother berates him for his behavior, but it works for the most part, so he doesn't care.

♡ He's extremely possessive over his wife. Aegon never gets any positive attention from anyone, so if he's blessed with a wife who actually dotes on him, he becomes obsessed with their attention. This, however, can become problematic. Aegon isn't keen on sharing his darling with anyone, and seeing his wife shower anyone else with their love makes Aegon delirious with jealousy.

♤ He really is starved for affection, so there's no doubt that Aegon's wife would have at least a few children. Aegon is a very sexual being, and he craves his wife like no other. There will be children. If his wife suffered from infertility, he'd probably just snatch one of his bastards up and bring them to his wife 😭 however, Aegon isn't the best father and just wants his darling wife to be happy with him. His children aren't strangers to Aegon, and he doesn't hate them, he's just focused on other things.

♡ Aegon is the type of husband who gaslights his wife all of the time, too. He's so scared that they'll get tired of him and find themselves a lover that he has to make them believe that he's the only man that could ever love them fully and as they are. He's absolutely toxic.

Aemond

♡ Believe it or not, Aemond is even more toxic than Aegon. Both of them are desperate for their respective wives, but the difference is that Aegon is obvious about his desperation, Aemond is not. That's not how he operates within his marriage, and Aemond can get increasingly aggressive when his wife doesn't do their duty to him as their husband.

♤ Aemond is dutiful, over everything else. He knows how to be a dutiful husband due to the way his mother talks about how wives should be treated, but when his wife is stubbornly intaking moon tea every morning, you can imagine his frustration. Aemond wants his wife to be willing to give him children, obviously, and he doesn't quite like the idea of forcing it upon them, so he's stuck in a bad mood until the problem is resolved. That being said, he would definitely tamper with his wife's tea once he gets his hands on the maester who's making it. He has more power within the castle than his wife does, the maester can't refuse him.

♡ That's not to say that he's a completely horribly husband, though. Aemond courted them before they were married, and he's clearly obsessed with his wife. He holds no hate for them, and many say he's a better husband than Aemond's wife could have asked for. He's accommodating, and he makes sure that his wife wants for nothing when they're with him.

♤ Aemond, however, has the soul of a dragon. He has a fiery temper, almost like Vhagar herself. His jealousy is unrivaled, by all accounts. Aemond, in the eyes of Westeros, is disabled and maimed. He went through phases of learning how to work around his lack of an eye, but people still consider him less than other men. That being said, he gets extremely uncomfortable when other men approach his wife. Aemond had to pull some legs for (Name)'s parents to agree to marry them to him, and Aemond isn't willing to share them with anyone.

♡ Aemond's jealousy would definitely cause some arguments between him and his wife, though. These are mostly one-sided arguments because he's rather scary when he's angry, but they leave Aemond feeling empty and insecure in his marriage. Aemond has this habit of locking his wife in their chambers when he's in this kind of mood, despite his mother telling him it's inappropriate.

Criston

♡ He can not actually have a wife, obviously, but the way Criston acts with his darling makes it look like he might actually be their husband. I imagine that they're a lady-in-waiting for either Alicent or Helaena. Maybe they're just a random servant. Criston meets them right after his big blowout with Rhaenyra.

♤ Just so we're clear, he was absolutely destroyed after what happened with the princess, so I can see his darling being someone who he feels safe around. I actually really like the idea of his darling having a motherly vibe, so they coddle Criston in secret. Unlike Aegon and Aemond, there isn't much of a sexual aspect to his relationship with his wife. Criston is sort of averse to the idea of sex after Rhaenyra.

♡ Once he becomes more comfortable around his darling, I think he would dote on them a lot in private. They're so precious to him, and Criston is just so thankful that they exist, so he does everything in his power to make them happy. This may come off as rather smothering, but he's incapable of stopping.

♤ The one thing about him is that he gaslights his wife a lot. He's afraid that they’ll find out that he isn't the white knight in shining armor that he makes them think he is, and that terrifies Criston. He doesn't want his little wife to lose the love they have for him.

♡ He lets his invasive thoughts win sometimes and almost asks Alicent to actually wed him to his darling.

♤ He's delusional <3

This has been in my drafts for a while, i like the way it came out :)

#yandere aegon targaryen #yandere aemond targaryen #yandere criston cole #yandere hotd #yandere house of the dragon #yandere headcanons #yandere imagines #yandere #kay writes #rhxegal

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infamous-if · 6 months

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Reading the Rowan, Orion Drabble has me curious about the band members’ perspectives on MC and Seven. Cause honestly to me it doesn’t seem like they really knew the depth and how intertwined the two were. Rowan is upset at MC for choosing UW, despite knowing MC’s history with Seven, they lost their person in such a horrible manner because of a vote the band members brought up…while it’s not their fault how things went down…it still feels like it a little..if the vote didn’t happen maybe things would have been different.

SV is all up in arms with Seven, but MC’s band has moved on with MC still possibly being stuck in the past. They are aware of that much, but still question them when it comes down between UW and SV? It seems strange for people who are MC’s presumably closest friends to be upset with them for not wanting to share with their ex (platonic/romantic) soulmate type person after everything that went on, after everything they witnessed, and to not understand how hurt their lead singer actually is.

Well, you have to remember Rowan is pissed. That scene happens literally right after MC chooses UWB. Rowan is not thinking about MC's feelings in that moment because he's upset. They're not perfect people; Rowan is selfish in that moment that he thinks his way is the best way. It happens.

You have to remember the band spent years being friends with Seven and being around Seven. They witnessed the breakdown themselves, which means they can have a more informed opinion on it. Soft Violence know nothing aside from what Seven tells them. Seven is super invested in that whole situation because they were deep in it and their feelings are still very complex when it comes to that, so of course SV is going to be up in arms over it because they're going off what their friend told them. If Seven is making it a big deal, they will act accordingly and make it a big deal too.

Canonically, MC's behavior towards that situation takes a more internal approach while Seven's feelings over it are very external.

And yes, the band has moved on from Seven. They're not going to be stuck in the past. It is what it is. They were close to Seven, very close, but their relationship with Sev is very different from MC's relationship with Seven. It was very personal for MC and Seven made it that way because it was personal for them too. They're adults, they have to move on eventually. It really only makes sense for Seven and MC not to have moved on because of how personal the vote was made for both of them.

This is also a competition and the band takes that into account as well. Seven is a very distracting person. They have a really strong presence, and being around them can throw the band off. They're adults once again, they love MC and they are MC's closest friend, but when they know MC is being swayed by their own internal feelings they have to step in and put in their own opinion for the sake of the band. That was literally what the vote was about. Sometimes friendship isn't always about coddling your friend. Sometimes it means being the adult and giving them tough love/putting feelings aside.

The band will do that a lot. And maybe people don't like it, but they've been friends with MC long enough that they're not even friends really. They're family. And they're at a stage where they don't question themselves about whether they should say something or not. All that social etiquette was thrown out the window a long time ago haha they're honest with each other.

And yeah, if the vote didn't happen things would be different. Everything would be different.

#inbox #the band #seven lawless

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cupcraft · 22 days

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Okay but what really guts me about S6E21 the therapy episode is the moment where I think House really feels like Dr. Nolan's not hearing him or getting him which contributes to his feelings of distrust to um gtfo of therapy 5ever. Which this is not to say House should've done that or that Dr. Nolan is bad, it's more like this contributed quite a lot because well I'm making 0 sense let me explain.

So, I'm thinking about the scene where Dr. Nolan was like "what do you think Cuddy & Wilson talked about together. Walk me through the conversation?" House does and he basically concludes to his therapist that his interpretation of his friends is that they view him as the "House Problem" that they're more worried he's going to do something "bad" or "attention seeking" or "[insert anti-addict recovery rhetoric/ablelism/etc thing] here" because of Wilson kicking House out, out of the blue. And in a way, this is truthful and from an audience's perspective it is a believable interpretation. House is generally pretty perceptive about the people around him and their impression of him given that he does purposefully construct a certain impression of himself (so that he is not harmed by people by allowing himself to be genuine). And even though Cuddy and Wilson are the people he's the most genuine to, he still self-destructs around them and struggles with trust. Anyway, based on how Wilson and Cuddy have handled a lot of things in the past (not everything) such as the Morphine/saline thing, the first time he went cold-turkey on opiates, the tritter situation, forcing him to go to his abusive father's funeral, etc. it really does seem believable they'd view him as the House Problem, or in a way it makes sense House thinks that way overall.

Though this is not to say House is right. He is right and valid to think that they'd be worry he'd relapse/etc. and he is right to have trauma from previous horrible responses done to him and thus not have faith in any different. But House is in fact wrong because Cuddy and Wilson do genuinely care about him and do not actually see him at this current stage in the show as the "House Problem". Especially Wilson, which it was clear Wilson later realized his actions were impulsiveness and fucked up and not at all recovery informed (especially as the person of stability he agreed to be for House's recovery) since House felt forced to go back home. There's also the issue that Wilson created a home for him and House (as reiterated by Dr. Nolan and the fact the thing Wilson chose for himself was the organ, solidifying House's permanency in that home) only for him to be like jk i dont see a future for you here even though Sam who hates you doesnt mind. House doesn't realize that a Cuddy/Wilson conversation would be done out of care and guilt of an impulsive mistake and not because they just keep him around to stop him from being a "Problem".

SO, Dr. Nolan does challenge this rightfully so but he doesn't do it in the right way which contributes to House feeling unheard and stuck and realizing god I am miserable and i distrust this. Dr. Nolan challenges it by imagining the conversation in a way we the audience knows would not be how at the very least Wilson would talk. He posits Wilson as a very rational person to the point it is comical because Wilson is also toxic and irrational (again the very thing that Nolan says it was a home for you both and then he kicked House out!). I think even House recognizes this because he looks as though Nolan grew a second head like what on earth Wilson would never say that which I think really in the end makes House feel unheard. Because the message "Hey Wilson and Cuddy do in fact love and care about you" didn't come across. The "I think wilson is being rational" is what actually comes across, when House feels hurt by Wilson over what is an irrational reaction (especially given Wilson's apology to house goes poorly and comes off as more guilt than accountability, see the apartment scene).

So it guts me. it guts me that their communication got crossed and the outcome didn't work out. That House felt unheard and that Nolan wasn't able to reach him. Because it does bode poorly for House to leave therapy right now as he is at a point of crisis in his support network and he's returned home to the place that is triggering to him for a lot of reasons (hallucination/relapse/etc).

and as always for my ramblings feel free to add on/send asks/etc. :)

#house md #meta #just polite discussions ofc

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ofsappho · 5 months

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Treehouse Ask: I hope you are doing well this holiday season? My ask regards Morpheus' proposal of marriage to Reader. How does she feel about becoming his wife? She's currently adjusting to becoming his queen, but how does she feel about the idea of tying her mortal self to him in holy matrimony?

Hi!!! Thank you sm for resending this ask and I hope you’re doing well too.

Yesterday I had a surgical procedure where they stuck some really big needles into my spinal column while I was under anesthesia to inject steroids. Still feeling pretty achy and not great, but big needles will do that to you lol.

Anyways on to the good stuff.

I’m going to start with getting into Morpheus and then Reader’s perspectives, to add context.

I’ve mentioned before about how I’m approaching Morpheus as a very old fashioned/proper being used to a specific standard and protocol when it comes to interpersonal relationships of all kinds. Not only is he a royal king, but he’s also an ancient god who follows ancient rules (for the most part). As a king and a god, he wouldn’t be beholden to any of his partners or feel a sense of accountability from them. They just weren’t equals. He could do as he pleased and demand what he wanted and they couldn’t. His past marriage with Calliope and past romances with Nada, Killala, and Alianora reflect this. (I also want to emphasize that the reason why Morpheus behaved this way in the past in treehouse is because that’s simply the way he learned how to behave in relationships. That was custom, both in the Waking world, which affects the dreaming, and the custom when it comes to royalty and people in power in general. And he was/is a selfish being so this feeds into that for him.)

He does truly love Reader and want to marry her, but the only way he knows how to love her is how he loved people in the past, which was dysfunctional/neglectful/toxic. Morpheus never learned how to be another way.

But he wants Reader more than he’s ever wanted anyone else and is like, if I can obtain her and secure her to me, everything else will fall into place! A lil delulu lol, but he’s not the god of thinking shit through.

On the other hand, Reader is a modern woman. Not just a modern woman, a modern woman who walked into this relationship with the expectation of modern treatment. Being treated equitably, being mutually responsible and accountable towards one another. Complete trust, honesty, and respect.

She’s not truly opposed to marrying him, but she’s less concerned with the “marriage” part of this equation as she is about the parts of a relationship that make a marriage successful. Can she trust him, will he remain true to her, will he protect her and not mistreat her, will he remain obsessed with her and not grow distant or bored. That’s where Morpheus’s one track mind and her clash.

She wants this relationship but on her terms, not solely his, from a position that can be negotiated from.

While Reader clearly isn’t secure in their relationship at the moment, she’s secure enough in herself that she isn’t afraid to hold Morpheus accountable even if it might jeopardize their future.

Spoiler alert - she does eventually agree to marry him and they have a fairy tale wedding before the baby is born and I’m sooo excited hehe.

But right now they’re essentially going through marriage negotiations, as royalty once arranged marriages. But they’re not negotiating over alliances or land or titles, Morpheus finally has met his match who wants something much more important than those things.

And every time she refuses Morpheus, he comes back with a better offer, so to speak. He’s already learned he can’t dazzle her with jewels and gold and things. He has to actually change for the better as a person to keep her. (More Hades and Persephone influences!)

(The way I see it, Calliope’s royal father, King Zeus, would have done all of the negotiating with Morpheus over their marriage. That’s what was done in Ancient Greece and what was/is done all over the world. Negotiating over the possession of Calliope, taking her from her father’s house and adding her to Morpheus’s house (aka family). This is a scenario that naturally lent itself to objectifying Calliope, placing her on a lower status to her husband.)

Reader is a very very special character to me. Not only does she represent me and how I view the world and how I view other people, she also represents the person I wish I could be and the strength/courage/bravery I wish for all people. By giving her her happy ending that she acquired on her own merits and strengths, not by compromising who she was but because she stuck to her guns, I hope to give us all a future where we love and are loved for who we are, not in spite of it.

#treehouse #the sandman #dream of the endless x you #dream of the endless x reader #sandman #dream of the endless #morpheus x reader #morpheus x you #lord morpheus #morpheus #lord morpheus x reader #lord morpheus x you #sandman comics #the sandman comics #the sandman tv show #sandman tv show #sandman season 2 #sandman netflix #the sandman netflix

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polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup · 8 months

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heyy 📓

I have this one fic that I’m deeply fond of but will likely never write due to the inexorable confines of linear time that’s basically assistant Jon trying to gaslight the entire archives that his husband, Gerry Keay, is dead. He is not. He is trying to bring Jon coffee and wondering why his dear, dear husband is shoving him into the bushes.

The idea is that Gertrude figured out that Elias was trying to groom this feverish nerd as her replacement (he is not a subtle man) and, as a matter of checkmating him, made Jon her assistant to basically give him an out from the contract in the case of her death. A deadman’s switch, basically. She didn’t explain shit to him with the transfer, however. She wanted to keep her options open until she decided how exactly to play the matter.

She did not account for this feverish nerd going off the deep end at record speed, stalking everyone including her and her goth buddy cop companion, who found the fact that there was stupid enough to stalk the man accused of violent murder and subsequent skinning inexplicably attractive. Jons reasoning was anyone who burns leitners couldn’t be THAT bad, which did NOTHING to prevent Gerry’s burgeoning crush. Gerry explains everything to him pretty immediately after catching him at the stalking thing and they’re sickeningly in love in record speed.

Gertrude is a lesbian but honestly they’re disgustingly in love enough to make her homophobic. Stop holding hands where she has to see it. She has some regrets about this decision.

Elias manages to finagle past the deadman’s switch by getting him to re-sign through a very compelling hiring bonus. The compulsion is a gun and the bonus is his beloved husband doesn’t get shot in the fucking head. Jon re-signs.

The thing is that he signs on as an assistant again, because Elias is faking him out. Jon and Gerry are both half-Become and terrified of losing themselves. They’re desperately trying to find a way of breaking Jon’s contract and escape with their lives and souls intact. He knows that, if Jon was the Head Archivist, he’d follow in Gertrude’s footsteps to slow his own becoming.

Except the Archivist is a what and the Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute is just a title. Elias basically tricks Jon into thinking he’s trying to make Sasha the Archivist by promoting her and letting Jon “get one over” on him by interfering with her Becoming, furthering his own in the process. Jon thinks he’s just there as Gertrude’s former assistant who knows about her plans to stop upcoming apocalypses. Gertrude never told him that she suspected Elias wanted him for the job, so he’s completely blind to the real stakes. He thinks he’s protecting Sasha from her own becoming and instead just sinking further into his own.

The thing is that Elias has made it very clear that if actually tells Sasha and the rest of the assistants anything, Elias will find a way to kill both him and Gerry. And Jon’s very much tied to the archives, so they’re limited in ways they can protect themselves. He’s stuck pretending that he knows nothing and working in the background to keep them safe as he can.

Cue “Let’s see if we can track down this Gerard Keay fellow in all these Statements” “We, we can’t” “why not” “He… died. Very tragic. So sad.”

In Jon’s defense he panicked and also if they find Gerard Keay it’s a very short jump to “hey Jon why did we find a marriage certificate with your name on it and this very spooky man’s name on it” “hey Jon why did we find all these statements that featured both you and him in these spooky circumstances hidden in your desk” “hey Jon have you been lying to us this entire time” “hey Jon is that Elias with a fucking gun.” It’s just. It’s a slippery slope. The only reasonable thing to do is fake his own husbands death.

Gerry finds this solution hilarious and is immediately and violently reminded of why he married this man.

(“Oh I’m sorry I can’t do the dishes I’m too dead for that” “Gerry do you want to die for real”)

Guest starring:

Michael’s aggressive, mandatory, and deeply troubling adoption of Jon during his time as an assistant (he wants to prove he’s better at keeping assistants alive than Gertrude)

Wlw/mlm violence starring Basira and Daisy (Basira met Jon via Sectioned matters and they got on like a house fire, and like. It’s really hard to find those couple friends, you know? Like sometimes she wouldn’t mind going out to a pub with her partner and a friend who has a partner and they like, get group discounts or something. Daisy come on it will be fun. Only Jon shows up with accused murderer Gerard Keay and Basira shows up with a fucking Hunter. Both of them think the other has terrible taste in partners)

Sasha and Tim trying to set up Martin with Jon, who is absolutely not married to Gerard Keay, because Gerard Keay is too dead to be married to anyone

#tma #jongerry #this one is so fun and silly I wish I had time to write it

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justvora · 3 months

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Cassandra Cain should be BATMAN.

Art credits: Karahuset

Honestly, I am not going to expand much on this, even though I could do an essay.

Cassandra Cain should be Batman and take his place and role. Not a "she should be in an alternate future?" No. She should be him in the current continuity, and there's nothing that annoys me more than seeing how in hundreds of elseworlds they've made Damian Batman, but Cass has been left stuck in his legacy.

Why? Simply sexism.

Helena Wayne already said it at the time: the bat is a symbol, an indistinct mantle depending on gender or whatever. Batman is a symbolic figure, not a person, but a legionary entity that exists thanks to its myths, thanks to urban legends.

"She could be Batgirl, or Batwoman", no, darling, no. Those are completely unrelated legacies no matter how much they stick to the Batman nexus. They serve a completely different book in which their own story is told, ceasing to be the pages of someone else's book. And Cass is the only one capable of taking the Bat's book to capture her story there and continue that legacy, not being an extension of it, but a central part of it.

Kate Kane (taking into account the post-crisis continuity) was a self-destructive woman who was expelled from the army for having relations with her roommate and who saw in Batman the inspiration to become a vigilante herself, so she took her military knowledge to create her own "symbol", wearing a completely different mantle that, even so, was based on and inspired by the Bat's icon.

Likewise, the Batgirl title was born in a completely different form and, in the future, she would become an assistant to the Bat-family. Barbara Gordon started in a casual, spontaneous and independent way, wanting to "annoy" her father at a party, but everything would take a turn when she would end up acting more like a heroine in a given moment to stop Killer Moth.

Those are mantles that were born detached from that of Batman himself but that, in the end, have intertwined and crossed. The point is that they do not have the same meaning, nor do they represent the same thing within the fight against crime. In the end it's digging into unnecessary technicalities, but the point is that if Cassandra should inherit a mantle it would be the core one, that of the Bat itself to become "The Bat".

Cassandra Cain is the one who has taken the symbol more seriously than anyone else. The one who most adheres to the no-kill rule. The most apt and who has the best attitude for it.

With this I do not detract from characters like Dick, Jason or Tim, as they are building their own legacy and history away from what has been the history of the Bat.

In the past it was said that she lacked other skills to take up the mantle, yet Batman himself claimed that she was best suited to take up his mantle when needed. She could very well team up with her siblings to do the job, or co-exist with another Batman to complement their skills and increase the fear of criminals given the possibility that "Batman is everywhere".

But I actually consider Cassandra to have very good detective skills. Perhaps not as refined, but her past and the fact that she has been a murderer (even if she canonically only took someone's life) gives her the knowledge of how to prevent murders, both by her hand and by the hand of others; that is, she knows what to do not to kill and still reduce those who have done evil; and, likewise, she knows how a murderer will act, which helps her when it comes to solving criminal cases.

The fact that she has stained her hands only once makes her carry a great weight on her. Among so many things, she became Batgirl to redeem herself and give meaning to an empty life, absent of identity (something that did her a lot of psychological damage, which is why Babs wanted her to develop on a social level so that Cass wouldn't be so isolated); and that's why, more than anyone else, she doesn't want a single person to die. She doesn't want to shed blood in vain, and from the beginning she always put herself before bullets by sacrificing herself (although this was something she did in a "death wish" kind of way, something I personally don't buy into because of how stale it comes across, being a trope of the time, but it still demonstrates her calling and sacrifice for heroism).

She takes the rule of killing more seriously than absolutely anyone else.

"Nobody dies tonight."

"Okay, but... She does not have the deductive reasoning. She is not a skilled tactician. She has no skill at mind games on either side of them."

#1 Bruce Wayne: Fugitive storyline. When everyone figured Bruce was a murderer, Cass was one of the few who didn't write Bruce off. She looked at the victim's body and saw the first clue to Bruce's innocence.

#2 Skilled tactician. She studied tapes of the Brotherhood of Evil in action after her prior loss to them. She studied them so much the next time they fought she owned the three members that attacked her.

No mind games you say? Tell it to Deathstroke who she played mind games with owning him twice.

All this not to mention her body language skills, something that not only makes her a superior fighter to anyone, being the first person who could beat Lady Shiva in a completely fair one-on-one, but also a human lie detector as she is able to recognize the truths and secrets that people hide deep inside. This makes her a completely empathetic girl by understanding people's emotions better than anyone else, making her a more tactful girl.

Anyway those are characteristics to fulfill the bare minimum of being Batman, and she goes above and beyond. It's not just that they meet the necessary skills, or that she has the necessary attitude, determination and self-sacrifice, but that she is the best fit. Cassandra is an equal for Bruce, a reflection of his very person in a good way, though there is one thing Cass can still do unlike Bruce at the expense of all the years he carries on his back: Cassandra can change and be a full person. It is her ability to grow, mature and understand life under a full perception, because thanks to an upbringing next to a real family she can understand the world around her to be a self-made person.

She is not driven by revenge, but by justice. She is not hate, but love and hope.

Cassandra is a woman who believes in giving people a second chance, because she believes in redemption, in change.

Likewise, and to conclude, in the current continuity it is confirmed that Cass is not only Bruce Wayne's daughter (this is indirectly implied in her dialogue with Dinah), but that she is "everyone's favorite Batman".

“ Everyone experiences tragedy. Tim. Bruce. You and me. It's not about the city. It's about how you choose to see the world. Everything else is just an excuse. ”

#Cassandra Cain should be Batman #Cassandra Wayne #She's Bruce's daughter #why #maybe I would actualice this later #sorry for my english #kindoff stephcass #queer #dc comics #lady shiva

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acorpsecalledcorva · 3 months

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Ok actually I might actually have something to say on this. I originally wasn't because the idea of system responsibility/accountability seems like such a no brainer to me I couldn't even think of a response to that thread going around right now that wasn't just "lol, no". Like, if we both have the same information on the topic and that's the conclusion you've come to about it then I simply cannot help you.

I also dislike conversations about things being anti-recovery because there's always nuance where you simply cannot definitively say something is or isn't anti recovery in a way that applies to everyone. I have decided, however, that this topic might actually be dangerously anti-recovery for a lot of people and I'm probably just being a pussy not wanting to poke the hornets nest by avoiding it. So here goes.

A huge complication of this, is of course, the dissonance between therapeutic and community settings. The two will never line up, they will never wholly agree with each other, and there will always be conflict. You can never seamlessly take advice from one, and apply it to the other, not least of all because neither the community nor the therapists we see make up a cohesive hive mind. There are different goals, different methods to achieving those goals, and disagreements on what those goals should be.

That being said, let's at least explore these ideas in their correct contexts and see if it can at least expand our perception and understanding of them. You don't need to relate to these scenarios, simply try to see the topic from the hypothetical systems point of view.

Therapeutic Setting

The host of a system presents at a therapists office. She is aware of her alters and has good relations with many of them but struggles to manage her day to day life. She suffers from an intense fear of abandonment and has incredibly low self esteem. There are several alters in her system that she is deeply concerned about that have created conflict in her life. One is sexually promiscuous and has ended relationships by sleeping with people other than her partners, one that harms the body and is hostile towards her including strongly negative critical thoughts, and one that is dedicated to permanently ending friendships and relationships by being extremely cruel and harmful to the people she cares about. She is very scared of these alters and wants nothing to do with them, she resents them for what they have done and is scared of what they might do. Her goal in therapy is to create greater harmony within her system, to have better collaboration with her alters and reduce the amount of internal and external conflict in her life.

The therapeutic approach in this scenario would be to remind the host that the alters she is afraid of are the result of traumatic events, and formed as part of a defence mechanism to protect her younger self, but that these defence mechanisms have likely gotten stuck and may no longer be appropriate to help with the problems they seek to solve. These alters may also feel alienated from the rest of the system, they might feel like they are being unfairly punished for trying to help and resent the host for pushing them away and punishing her back. Therefore, the path to resolving this issue is to accept these alters for who they are and what they're trying to do. To be grateful for the help they provided in the past and how much they must care for her to do what they do. To work on the fear and apprehension, because everyone in the system is part of the same brain and so will know if she doesn't really mean it, so that everyone can be brought closer together and work collaboratively towards common goals. After all, they all share the same brain, the same body, and must live the same life and what affects one will affect the other.

Community Setting

The host of a system enters the online system community. They are not the original host of the system, and do not go by the bodies name. They join system discord servers as well as follow many systems on social media platforms such as TikTok. They feel at home in these spaces as they are very alter centric. They, and the rest of their system are encouraged to share details about themselves, write lengthy bios, and differentiate themselves from each other. This works well for everyone in the system because it provides a freedom of self expression that is absent from their real world life. The alters find it very validating to establish their own identities and be treated as their own individual selves. These feelings are reinforced by sentiments shared in their communities that no one should force them to fuse, that fusion is equivalent to death, and that parts language is dehumanising. The system does not feel the need to seek therapeutic support as they are happy as a system and have heard accounts that made them wary of being invalidated by a therapist.

There is one alter, however, that likes to get up to mischief and create drama. They often front momentarily to leave inflammatory remarks, don't abide by community guidelines, and keep getting them into trouble. They post to Reddit to ask for advice on how to stop them when they're someone else and they can't control what they do and are told "your alters aren't different people, they're part of you and so it's up to you to work with them to change their behaviour". Well that doesn't sound right. The alter isn't them, that's the whole point of being a system. They decide instead that there's simply nothing they can do about it, that alter has nothing to do with them and controlling their actions would be like trying to control a random person on the street

Now it's completely understandable why two systems from these two settings would come away with completely different perceptions of what being a system is like. Why one would find the other anti-recovery and the other would find the other invalidating. But there is a key commonality between them, and that is both systems are distancing themselves from the alters causing issues, one through fear, and the other through absolvement.

System responsibility in both cases, therefore, is to accept their role in the conflict as an active participant and seek to resolve it. In the therapeutic setting it's to recognise that the hosts fear and resentment, if understandable, is contributing to the furthering of conflict and reactionary behaviour from the alters in question. For the latter system, it's to accept that as individual and different each person within the system is, they still share one body, share one life, use the same phone or computer, and have the same accounts. That they do not get special rights as a system that singlets do not. That if they want access to spaces where they can all be themselves then they all need to agree to abide by the rules or none of them will have access to protect the other members of the community.

Neither of these are nice or enjoyable or easy things to accept, but, and this is the really crucial bit, if you don't take responsibility for your system or your role in an alters behaviour, then you are consenting to the behaviour by your refusal and whether you accept it or not, others will hold you accountable for doing so.

So what's it to be? Do you want your friends and partners to be hurt and lose your access to spaces that you find so affirming? Or do you want to put in the work to build communication, participation, and collaboration with your system so that you can all enjoy your individual lives together?

#syscourse #system responsibility #system accountability

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askthefruitycorpses · 4 months

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★彡 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 / 𝙋𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤!! 彡★

★.•♫•♬• ▀▄▀▄▀▄ 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 ▄▀▄▀▄▀ •♬•♫•. ★

Hi!! Welcome to another Davesport ask blog. We had wanted to make one for some time but never fully thought people would care but we are happy to make one now! The one writing this post is me, @yui-lover-33! This is a blog that is run by me and my boyfriend @xe-the-void !! We co-own the account and general blog and will answer questions separately or together. Most of the time it may be together but don't get your hopes up as we balance our personal lives with this.

This blog won't be too different from many other davesport blogs other than the Dave and Jack are just me and boyfriends vers which just how our own personal projections and changes of backstory. The two aren't fully accurate as they have their differences from the cannon. You can ask them about it or not if you already know and have seen my posts on my main and twitter.

Whats the point of this pinned post?

It's just to better inform you on rules, characters, ownership of said characters, and creator stuff.

Side note: If you wanna know who is who posting or talking look for these indicators!! <:D!

Yui -🦎 Xe - 💜 Both - 💚💜

★彡 ▀▄▀▄▀▄ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 ▄▀▄▀▄▀ 彡★

As stated before this will clear up who owns what characters. (Yes, we own and draw specific DSAF characters.) It's not really owning them actually more so which ones we design and claim in the blog.

Keep in mind some are not designed and finished so some may come as a later surprise if you choose to ask them.

Any characters not displayed such as the other Phoneys just don't have designs and may not be included for a while. This may change later down the line, but your stuck with Harry and Rebecca for now.

╰☆☆ ▀▄▀▄▀▄ 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 ▄▀▄▀▄▀ ☆☆╮

Is asking other DSAF okay?

Generally yes, you can ask whatever characters from DSAF you want here. Our main focus is just Jack and Dave but we will happily do the others if you ask them.

Just wanted to clear that general question up but I'll state the ground rules now

NO NSFW / EXTREMELY SUGGESTIVE/SEXUAL ASKS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!

I of all people want to make this extremely clear as it pisses me the fuck off and I will not tolerate any shit like that. If ones like this are sent I can and will just instantly delete them. Me and my boyfriend are minors as of this post and will not do shit like that. Even if we turn 18 we will not do it due to a younger following!

Please keep stuff SFW and on topic with the blog

From our past experiences with ask blogs, It does nothing but irritate us when people try to insert their characters into the sk blog and do weird things. We both ask that you please stay on topic with the ask blog and account with the fandom and game we are doing please.

Please don't do weird magic Annon shit

We will allow magic annons but in no way any weird shit such as IDK fetish stuff, Possibly genderbending ( since Dave and Jack are trans ), turning characters into kids, and just general gender changing or any stuff like that. asks that discomfort us will always be deleted unless the habit is repeated then we will state it.

Please don't force your ver / ideas onto our versions

The vers we have are very personal to us and we please ask that you don't fetishize, change, be rude, or just generally try to switch them up. We ask that you respect the way we portray them as it is our preferred and most comfortable way.

» For more information on boundaries I recommend you refer to the carrd I made for em :P

☟

Overall, this will get updates over time, but almost half the time we will take the responsibility and charge to delete asks we don't like or don't feel comfortable with asking. It's no harsh feeling but we state what the grounds are here for all of you to know. We just do what we think is best and we just ask that you respect that.

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princess-of-the-corner · 5 months

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I think Adrien always being on time, Akumas or not, is more indicative of the writers not wanting to do anything with him than it is of Marinette's character with her always being late

Realistically, who should have a harder time balancing their super and civilian lives timewise, the intended to be average girl from a middle class working family, or the teen model who's been well known since he was very young, is the son of a former film star and the fashion designer who's outfits he models, who's super busy and restricting schedule is constantly mentioned? Adrichat.

Except, of course, Adrichats super busy schedule, his controlling father, and the two fully grown and very competent adults who's literal jobs are 'get this kid to this place at this time and don't lose track of him' never actually matter when he needs to be Chat.

But hey, an actual story arc where something like, idk, Adrichat being stuck at an event for so long he completely misses an Akuma fight where Ladybug is barely able to scrape by without him happens long before episode 100, and Adrichat realizes 'oh, this is gonna happen again if I can't figure something out' and he spends a season going back and forth with his father until he finally manages to get Gabriel to drastically cut back on his modeling, which then opens Adrichat up to being involved in his own civilian plots that don't just involve Gabriel being a dick would be ... a fun and interesting use of the characters.

Let's point and laugh at Marinette being late bc she spent so long drooling at...an add of Adrien in his normal civilian outfit.

Bc that's better writing!

(i know we've all pointed out on this blog that Mari getting in good with a bunch of celebrities in the past year kinda defeats the point of her being a 'normal girl with a normal life' but the writers never address that, so I believe they do intend for Mari to be seen as a mostly average teen with a talent for fashion and a secret identity, so thats how I talked about her in this)

Oh yeah no like.

It's absolutely a thing where they should focus on both of them but they just don't.

Because yeah it's. Logically: Adrien /should/ be having far more trouble than Marinette if only because even his free time should be accounted for. While Mari has some genuine free time where she doesn't have anything planned and can do whatever she wants last minute and off schedule and just say to her parents 'hey I'm going to go out' and they're like 'okay cool be back by curfew', Adrien has to request hangouts 4-7 business days beforehand and is often told no because Gabriel is a controlling fuck.

And there's multiple potential stories with this!!

As above: Adrien is having trouble sneaking away to be Chat Noir. Either he ends up being unable to leave and Ladybug suffers for it, or he does leave and ends up missing/late/etc. for his other duties and he's punished for skipping out. Maybe even accidentally making his friends look bad because Gabriel thinks they're bad influences encouraging him to skip out. This forces Adrien to either figure out better ways to sneak off, or he manages to get Gabriel to relax his schedule to allow for 'more social life', or hell maybe we have a Gang of Secrets situation with The Gorilla as the confidant and he helps convince Gabriel that Adrien is where he's supposed to be.

OR! Or! Let Adrien lie. We've already had one or two instances where Adrien sneaks out/lies about where he is. Go full force on it. Sneak around Gabriel by pretending to be where he's supposed to be. Forge notes and gaslight Bustier into thinking his father pulled him out of class. Might be a little tricky since this is a kids show to teach good morals but 1.) HA! 2.) they have Adrien break these rules on occasion anyway and 3.) just have an exchange with Plagg where he suggests sneaking out again for fun social friend things, and Adrien goes 'no, that's wrong. I only break the rules because I have to be Chat Noir and save people! I'm not going to do it for fun!' This could even set up for the Lila plot as a narrative foil in someone who lies because they have to vs. someone who lies for fun and profit. Even hammering it home with Adrien feeling guild despite his situation.

Hell, you could even set up other plots like the Chloé stuff! Have the school staff not report Adrien's absences. Either because they think he'll be like Chloé and demand daddy fixes it, or even have Chloé cover for him by actually playing the card. Whether you see this as her using her abilities for good to help out a friend even though it's still 'wrong' she's trying, or any abuse of power is bad and therefore more proof she's a dick depends on the season.

Just. Could've done plenty with it.

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skadren · 15 days

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2, 3, 6, and 8 for Tseeve~

send me a ship and a number and i'll tell you:

2. what their love letters look like

i don't think tseng has ever written a love letter before in his life. that is both way too easily perceived and way too impermanent at the same time. what if someone else finds it? what if it gets lost or thrown away or burned before reeve reads it?? what if reeve reads it??? his love letters are grocery store shopping lists stuck to the fridge and reminders for reeve to take his medications and protein bars and hot coffee "coincidentally" left on reeve's desk

reeve has diary entries. sometimes they are addressed to tseng: small jokes, the highlights and low points of his day, his current projects, proposal plans. wedding plans. reeve is a planning kind of guy, for everything. and before they got together, definitely pining. all the pining. he also has at least five separate entries wondering about tseng's hair care routine. his meetings notes may or may not be found with their initials doodled all around the borders (with ample questioning over what tseng's last name is. is tseng even his real name? is reeve a bad boyfriend for not knowing?? but wouldn't asking be an invasion of boundaries???)

3. which one outlives the other, and how they cope

both of them expect to die before the other. reeve because of how many goddamn medications he has to take and that must be terrible for his liver, and also he's older so that's how it works, right? tseng because of his line of work, and later on after he retires, because of the lingering issues from his past injuries. and the real reason is that neither of them want to think too hard on what it might actually be like to go on alone.

unfortunately tseng dies first. you can blame @takenbynumbers for that one. you know what you did

reeve puts on a pretty good attempt at going on outwardly unaffected, although he finally retires and passes on the seat of commissioner to someone else, like he'd been saying he would do for ages now. but he's never been very good at remembering to take care of himself; tseng is always the one who bossed him into doing it. so he sort of just... gives up on it?

(vincent accuses him of just giving up and waiting to die. reeve doesn't think he's wrong.)

6. how they decorate their bedroom

neither of them are big on excess so i guess it would be a pretty... normal? bedroom? there is a bed. big enough to fit both of them but not too big, because what if one of them gets lonely at night? the bed itself isn't anything fancy; sturdy and comfortable with enough support for reeve's back. plain sheets. they have two sets of blankets that are horribly mismatched because one reminds reeve of the quilts his ma liked to make and the other is a gift from yuffie that tseng will never admit is the exact same pattern of blanket he remembers his mom using when he was a child.

they both have a nightstand but desks are banned from the bedroom. deskwork is also banned from the bedroom. not that it keeps reeve from trying to sneak paperwork once in a while.

cait also has a cat bed in one corner (even though he really does not need a bed on account of the whole robot thing). he gets exiled regularly but it works out because he does not want to see his dads getting it on, thank you very much.

8. what they argue about

reeve always tosses his clothes in the general direction of the laundry hamper and misses. tseng's hair clogs the shower and gets all over the floor all the time. tseng hates taking out the trash and reeve never remembers to do it.

more seriously, even if their dedication to their work is something they have in common, neither of them like how little free time it gives them to spend together. it can lead to arguments over exactly how much the other person prioritizes their relationship at all, especially since the way they express their feelings and validation for one another is very different-- reeve's love language is physical affection and verbal affirmation, while tseng's is acts of service. coupled with how reticent tseng is about talking about feelings at all, it can lead to reeve feel like he's lovebombing tseng to little response, while tseng feels like he's never good enough at reciprocating properly.

but their biggest argument of all time is still the one that takes place directly after the turks drop the plate. there is a lot of broken trust between them regarding whether their relationship was as meaningful as reeve really thought it was, how much tseng has been hiding all this time, whether reeve wanted to be with tseng at all or just an idealized version of him. i fondly refer to the entire time they spend separated until they get back together postcanon as their divorce arc.

#skadren rambles #ask game #long post #i'm sorry this is very long. this got away from me

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anxiousotters · 7 days

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5 things I like to write about

All my love to @cookiemonsterv3 for the tag!!

1. Redemption - I really like looking at villains or just antagonistic characters and asking “Why did you do it?” and “If things were different, would you have made different choices?”. Obviously I don’t think bad decisions should be excused, but far too often I see villains/ antagonists either A) sacrifice themselves to absolve them of the consequences of their actions or B) apologize for their actions but never do anything further. I love writing villains/ antagonists who make the choice to apologize, take accountability for their actions and own them, and try to reconcile and do better for their communities. I like when characters choose to do the hard work of acknowledging their faults and becoming better people, proving it’s possible to come back (can you tell I really want Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy’s POV?)

2. Religion/ Culture - I love exploring religion or religion-equivalents, how they function, and how characters interact with their religion, or religious around them that they’re not members of. In a similar vein, I love writing about culture and when a fictional culture isn’t completely fleshed out or has room for additions, I love adding little bits of my own culture to it (eg. detailing mandalorian formal tunics with Celtic embroidery). I also love writing cultural clashes, like what happens when two opposing cultures are forced to share space with each other. I just like it when characters learn that the other culture is full of different (but still important) things, and both sides learn to appreciate the other

3. Banter - who doesn’t love a good bit of banter? Honestly I don’t think writing banter is my strongest suit, but I love it anyways, especially sibling banter. As one of four kids with an additional gaggle of 30+ cousins, I really write how I think me and my siblings/ cousins would interact (or have interacted in the past) when I write banter. It always makes me giggle, and I love giving my characters siblings/ friends who are as close as siblings for this reason. I also love the tension and excitement that comes with writing romantic banter, especially if the characters aren’t together yet. Delicious stuff

4. Forged Family - you’ve seen found family, this is the same dish but with a hint of forced proximity and trauma. I like writing about found family where the family bonds form because the characters have suffered so much together and still choose to protect and love each other like family. The sentiment is very “I’m stuck with you, but I’d also choose to love you in every lifetime”

5. Rivals to Lovers - in same vein as banter, but different. I like a good conflict, I like the tension, I like the slow build/ melting of ice that comes with rivals to lovers. Specifically I like it best when the conflict comes from external/ cultural reasons and not miscommunication. I just think it’s juicer when the rivals actually have to learn to get along because they’re different in ways that cause friction, rather than they’re not having an important conversation that could solve everything. Almost all of my favourite ships are rivals to lovers, and I like to put the ones that aren’t into situations where they are (oops)

No pressure tags: @thenookspace, @firefly-fez, @maraliga, @ferretrade and anyone else who wants to play!!

#tag game #writing

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iwanthermidnightz · 8 months

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I don’t know if you want to post this long explanation and train of thought, but thought it might be worth sending my thoughts.

I’m on gaylor twitter as much as I’m on Tumblr these days, and I watched the rise of the term LSK. Where it came from was after Taylor seemed to make it clear that Karlie betrayed her (post-folklore and through the release of ITTG and Closure, her explanation of MTR at long pond, and during the confirmation of Karlie’s first pregnancy,) kaylor as a fandom essentially died. 99% of people believed they broke up, and it was ugly. Kaylor was already on life support after the masters thing, but this period essentially killed it. Even those who were willing to consider they were still together stopped posting about it because there was no point and we got a lot of hate. It was seen as embarrassing to still believe they were together. Why would anyone want to participate in something that brings no joy? A few like you and 9wift stuck around, but I know that even you took a step back for a while.

But starting around early 2022, a few people started admitting out loud that there were a lot of clues that maybe they were together. Because the evidence for them having broken up was so strong, still very few people would entertain the idea that they never actually broke up. But it started to become clear enough that there was something going on. And eventually enough accounts on twitter who made good points (and do so in a funny, joyful way, unlike the toxicity of tumblr at the time) it became relatively popular, and more and more people became convinced. These people needed a term to separate themselves from “kaylors” who believed they never broke up, at the time were very small in numbers, and had a very bad reputation because of some personalities, particularly on tumblr. They chose Late Stage as their term. It probably was already a term used in other fandoms, but I’m not sure. In the past, we used to describe swiftgron in terms if versions (1.0, 2.0, etc) so I look at LSK as similar to this. They see LSK as a sort of kaylor 2.0. A post-breakup reconciliation.

As is the case with all other subgroups, there are various beliefs about how and when LSK happened, and some of them even go back and forth about maybe they never actually totally broke up. But even those still call themselves LSKs as a way to distinguish themselves as a new generation (who look at things differently.) One of the most obvious ways they look at things differently is they are less concerned with josh. They see him as Karlie’s gay bestie rather than calling him names and thinking he is the devil, both Karlie and Taylor hate him and he’s blackmailing them and he’s a war criminal. All that became canon on tumblr over the years (and also among the meaner parts of Gaylor twitter, much of which was born on tumblr and The Lchat and migrated to twitter.) Most LSKs don’t like josh as a person, but they don’t believe Karlie hates him. This allows them to approach kaylor with fun and joy rather than being miserable all the time like a lot of the old tumblr kaylors. I think a fair amount of this is that there is some separation at this stage from the trump presidency and some of the most controversial kushner stuff and they are young and often not Americans, so it is easier for them to not know or overlook this part of things. Also over time as joshlie continue to be married and have children and look happy together, it becomes harder to see disdain. Another part of this is that they don’t know the lore. There are some advantages to this. While they might not understand all the stuff we understand and sometimes they say incredibly dumb things, they also aren’t weighed down with the baggage that we have that is so hard to let go off. And they can look at things from different perspectives, which also can be hard for those of us who made decisions on how we feel about things years ago, and therefore developed biases that can cloud our thinking. Again, there are pros and cons and neither perspective is necessarily better. But I tend to lean toward a way for people to enjoy their experience in this fandom rather than giving in to misery and anger. I don’t understand why anyone would want to spend a lot of time on something that made them unhappy. I would simply find another hobby. So the fun of LSK on twitter is one of the reasons it gained traction and a lot of the obvious clues that have been thrown at us, especially over the last year, were caught and popularized. That’s not to say they don’t still get hate from gaylors (and swifties of course) who can’t see it, but there are enough LSKs now who support each other to cancel out some of that negativity.

Wow. Thank you for explaining it like that. This is mostly a very accurate account of things. I don’t think that term (lsk) is accurate for us in these parts but it’s interesting to hear how it came about. Personally, I think the twitter gaylors are cute, but theres a gap in beliefs in some cases for sure.

First, I think a lot of us here never felt from the songs that Karlie actually betrayed Taylor. That’s where a lot of the disconnect is. Songs deserve nuance and the situation is of course delicate. It’s obvious there have been some real hardships and tests and breaks as normal relationships have, but nothing absolutely permanent. Who knows the period of time when this all truly takes place. She may have put it out on folklore, but that doesn’t mean it was recent events. I think she dug deep/went back time for a lot of those songs. MTR for example screams Scott. I wont get into song analysis but if one wanted to apply it to Karlie sure, they could. I can see why others would come to the conclusion that they were done forever. But it’s never that simple. Maybe the point was to kill kaylor if you get what I’m trying to say.

The series of events that happened during this time were intense. There were splits in the fandom, weird, crazy and toxic rumors going around etc. To be honest, I’ve pushed a lot of this period of time back in my conscious because it was traumatic to say the least. The amount of hate and toxicity here completely changed the way I and others went about posting for sure. The threats, the hate, the gaslighting, the daily harassment… getting blamed for certain things I had nothing to do with. Yeah. I stepped back for a while and was terrified to say what I wanted. A few people caught on. Even saying this gives me anxiety. If it weren’t for few close mutuals it would have been much harder.

But still there was evidence even through quarantine that things were fact not over between them. And you’re right, it was not popular to say so at the time. It was kind of like walking around with a letter A or K on your chest… the Hester Prynne’s of the fandom if you will. So a lot of us took our thoughts underground, but were still around. There’s some delicate things I still rather not talk about, except for privately.

I think whatever people want to call themselves is fine… and that most of us have the same idea in mind as to how things may turn out. I get there’s varying opinions and thats fine too. There are bigger things to worry about as long as it’s respectful.

And tbh, my opinions on certain things have changed. Or at least how I’m willing to talk about it i.e. jk. I really don’t want to talk about him. Personally, ignoring him/making stupid silly comments about situations has done wonders for me. That does’t mean I like the dude. But to hold that much animosity continuously isn’t good for ones mental health. I don’t want to keep reliving one of the worst periods in history.

That said, we’ve all been through a lot. Like you mentioned, theres a lot of baggage. But for me, taking a different approach and making an effort to be both positive and realistic at the same time has really helped. It’s not being naive. It’s choosing what’s best for you. I don’t want to be that person spewing negativity all the time. I refuse to. I’m so thankful for the people here who choose to see the light through dark times. Sending an extra hug to everyone around 🤍

#hope this answers some questions i know some of you have #memories feel like weapons #wont be answering anything else on this tonight i’m exhausted this took a lot out of me lol #Pisces being Pisces

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k-evans-reads · 2 years

Text

On Deck

Chapter 13

Summary: Although they grew up in the same small town, Chris and Sam had both gone their separate ways a long time ago. Chris moved up to become a MLB star, one of the best in the business, while Sam stayed stuck in the same small town. But when multiple injuries ended the Red Sox prodigy’s career, he winds up back in the same small town he swore he’d never be back to. The past may not stay in the past any longer, as old wounds begin to creep back up.

Pairing: MLB!Chris Evans X OFC Samantha “Sam” Merrick

Word Count: 5,005

By: @k-evans-writes and @ourfinest-hour

We do NOT give permission for our works to be reuploaded, translated, or reposted on any other site. Our work is our own.

Warnings: Arguments. A lot of them. Abandonment issues from childhood, poor parenting. The works.

Previous | Main Masterlist | On Deck Masterlist

The sound of the tiny bell ringing above the door rang through the diner as Chris stepped inside. He slid his keys into the pocket of his running shorts and reached up to move his sunglasses on top of his head while his blue eyes searched around the diner that had a few sporadic tables full of patrons, but Chris headed straight for his usual stool at the end of the counter.

He sat there patiently for a long moment before he felt a hand rub along his back, causing him to turn his head and smile widely when he saw a familiar curly headed brunette with those dimples showing as she grinned right back at him. Chris couldn’t help but feel warm from the inside out just from that look on her face, Sam just holding his gaze for a long moment before sneaking a quick kiss to his cheek when none of the customers were looking.

Chris sat back on the stool when Sam walked around to the other side of the counter, letting him see all the little pieces of hair falling out of her bun that she tried to smooth down before asking him, “So what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to have some of this award winning cuisine you serve here,” Chris smirked, eyes traveling Sam’s lanky body and following the movement of her hand, lingering on the curly dark hairs.

She scoffed, her nose scrunching as she said, “Yeah I bet.”

“Well there may be a waitress I’m kind of into that I wanted to see,” he then shrugged, a matching smirk on his lips.

“Sorry, Ify’s already married.”

“Very funny smartass,” Chris chuckled with a shake of his head. “I am actually hungry though. Can I get a sandwich, baby?”

“Sure,” Sam nodded easily, pushing herself off the back counter. “Anything else?”

He shook his head again, body relaxing finally after a few hours of errands. “No, I was just out picking up a couple things for Mexico and wanted to swing by and see you,” he admitted.

Sam turned to put the order in on the small touchscreen at the end of the rear counter, her back to Chris. “You’ll be proud of me,” she turned her head slightly to look at him from over her shoulder. “I actually used your card to buy a couple things for the trip yesterday.”

Chris kept his mouth shut at first, not wanting to tell her that he had purposely been checking his account history for that card, hoping he’d see some charges on it. But what he didn’t want her to know is how much his heart broke when he saw some of the charges on it were for such basic things like a suitcase, swimsuits, and even some new underwear since he had seen that most of hers had holes, were fraying or had obviously been sewn back together. He wanted her to feel comfortable to keep using his card though, so he purposely acted as if he didn’t know any of those things and instead just told her, “I am proud of you, baby. I want you to keep using it for whatever you want.”

A blush appeared on her pale cheeks, a tight look suddenly appearing as she amended, “Well I’m only buying a few things, but I did buy Riley that pair of Nike’s he wanted since he’s been… well, you know.”

“Is he any better?” Chris asked, eyebrows raised. He’d left the apartment before Sam that morning, going on a run around town and by the time he returned, both Sam and Riley were gone for the day. “I feel so bad for him. It’s so hard getting dumped and I know how crazy he was about Kayla.”

He watched as Sam deflated, a genuinely upset frown on her face. “I’ve never seen him so down in the dumps before. He’s just been so quiet. I’ve tried to get him to open up but he’s just bottling everything inside,” she whispered, moving back to Chris once she sent Chris’ usual chicken pesto sandwich into the kitchen.

Chris tapped his fingers on the slightly sticky counter, quietly telling her, “I’m going to try to talk to him.”

But before Sam could respond, the short-statured bald owner of the diner poked his head into the main room, a deep frown on his face as he barked, “Merrick! Are you going to do your job or stand around talking all day?”

Instantly Sam’s narrow shoulders tensed, her demeanor deflating and a deep red blush appearing on her cheeks. “Sorry,” she murmured, tossing Chris a last glance before she grabbed what little dishes were at the waitresses’ station and headed towards the doors to the kitchen.

“You better get your act together Merrick, I’m not keeping you around if you’re just going to flap your gums the whole shift,” Chris could hear Ken chewing her out as he followed her, Sam and Ken pausing right before the doors of the kitchen. “If I don’t see you working, I’m not giving you that time off.”

Sam turned to Ken with a confused expression on her face, her brows deeply furrowed. “Brooke and Ify are covering my shifts though,” she pointed out quietly.

“I don’t care, I already am regretting letting you have an entire week off in the first place so don’t test me, Merrick,” the man warned her, pushing in front of her and heading into the kitchen. Chris was quiet, but was seething with anger towards the rude asshole as he watched Sam revert back into herself, heading into the kitchen to drop the dishes. A few moments later, she returned with a soda in hand for Chris and headed back to his spot at the counter as he eyed his girlfriend carefully.

“What’s that look for?” Sam asked quietly as her eyes moved over the nearly empty diner.

“You know what,” Chris replied with a shake of his head, his voice just as low as hers. “I hate that you let him treat you that way.”

Sam sighed and shook her head, eyes staring down at her feet. “There’s not much I can do Chris, he’s my boss and I need this job,” she insisted with a deep breath, then shook her head again and met his eyes. “I better get back to work or Ken’s going to jump down my throat again. I’ll bring your food out as soon as it’s ready.”

Chris reached across the counter, giving her hand a small squeeze before she went back to running around the old diner. He hated seeing her here. Now that Sam spent most of her time at his apartment, he had seen how she was coming home from work. He saw the pure exhaustion, swollen feet, and bruises from bumping into things all over her legs and hips. He hated seeing her getting chewed out by Ken and not being appreciated for all the hard work she did. Chris knew he couldn’t change it all, but the more and more he got closer to Sammy, knowing the vulnerability and emotions underneath, he wanted to help her. He had come to see just how little support Sam had ever had in her life, someone cheering her on or helping encourage her but he was determined to be that person. He wanted to be that person because the more time that went on, the more he knew just how deeply he loved her.

Chris was well aware that his relationship with Sam hadn’t been exactly conventional so far. It had been so rocky in the beginning but over the past month, he could feel just how much had changed both in and between them. He had seen how much trust had been built between them and how they relied on one another in a deeper way. Ever since Chris had taken Sam to Boston, he’d seen an entirely different vulnerable side of her, finding out more of her deep feelings that she had been shy about sharing, they had naturally grown closer. Sam was a strong person, she always had been, and Chris admired that so much about her, but he had tried to help her see that she didn’t have to always have everything all together. He wanted her to know it was okay to feel things and express things, and in the process had learned it himself. He had come to see how much he hadn’t dealt with so many of his own emotions and stuffed them down, but when you had the right person to open up to, it somehow wasn’t quite as scary as it felt before.

He wanted to be that person for Sam, and when Susan had hurt her feelings so deeply at the awards banquet and Sam had come to him in tears, he knew he had made it to that status. He was the person Sam went to when she was hurting or in trouble and he wanted nothing more than to always be by her side supporting her. That feeling had only grown as he found out a little more into her childhood, finally having a full picture of why Sam had always fended for herself and why she stepped in as a mother figure for Riley. She never had time in her entire life just to do something because she wanted to or because she was excited about it. Everything in her life was out of necessity to take care of herself and Riley.

But Chris wanted that to change.

And he had started to see some of that slowly happen. He had seen how Riley had come to rely on Chris, calling him when he needed help changing a flat tire on their old car or asking for advice on school decisions, or even just calling Chris first on occasion instead of Sam, which allowed her to focus on her work. He was able to take some of the responsibility off of Sam’s shoulders and he had seen how much it had allowed Sam to have a tiny bit of just emotional freedom, letting her smile more easily, laugh more often, and not have the weight of so much responsibility pushing her down.

It was several hours later when Sam finally walked in through the front door of Chris’ apartment, kicking off her beat-up sneakers with a sigh. Chris yelled out a greeting to her, telling Sam that he was in the kitchen getting dinner ready for them, and gave her a smile when she wandered in. He immediately gave her the hug she silently asked for, listening as she let out another sigh before she pulled away and grabbed a glass of water before she sat down at the island bar stool and watched as he began putting beef on the stove to cook.

“Is Riley coming home soon?” She asked, Chris glancing at her from over his shoulder to see Sam looking at the clock.

“He texted me a few minutes ago and said he was on his way,” Chris informed her, a slight frown settling on his face as he took in her tense shoulders and slight scowl. “How did the rest of your shift go, baby?”

“Terrible,” she admitted with a shake of her head. “Ken just would not get off my back today. He’s so pissed I’m taking off to go to Mexico so there just was nothing I could do right in his eyes today.”

Chris sighed as his heart broke. He watched her deal with Ken’s bullshit day in and day out, but he’d never seen her so defeated as he had this last week. Every night she came home, he could tell she’d gotten chewed out for something she didn’t do, and Chris was starting to become sick of standing by and letting her get treated like shit at work, especially when he had the means to solve the problem. “Sammy, a boss shouldn’t treat you that way,” he said through another sigh, shaking his head and he moved the ground beef around the pan.

“Well he does so I just have to deal with it,” she told him and tried to shut the conversation, her mouth set in a tight thin line.

He gave a half shrug, looking at her over his shoulder again. “You really don’t though,” he murmured.

But Sam gave him a look, something in her eyes as she began, “...You know what it was like when I tried to get a different job. Nowhere will even look at me because I don’t have a college degree so I might as well stay, at least I get tips.”

“I actually was kind of thinking about that…” he paused, turning his attention back to the pan. “This fall I’m going to be back in Boston for a good chunk of time getting ready for broadcasting and commentating on the playoffs, so I was thinking you could come with me.”

“Um, did you hear how Ken reacted to me getting a week off? Yeah he’s not going to give me time off in the fall,” Sam laughed bitterly, Chris listening as he heard another one of those deflated sighs of resignation to her fate that he was so tired of hearing.

Chris tensed his shoulders as he moved them in a quick shrug, keeping his eyes off of her as he suggested, “Just quit.”

“Chris-”

“Sammy, I’m serious. I think you should quit and just take some time off, figure out what you want to do,” he interrupted her, turning off the burner and moving the beef to the side before he turned to face her with his arms crossed over his chest. “You know I’d take care of you.”

Her face was blank, almost reminiscent of the disdain she’d held for him in the early spring. “Well I still need to save to try to get at least some money to pay for Riley to be able to at least do some community college in case he can’t get a scholarship,” she replied quietly.

Chris sighed, knowing what he’d decided several weeks ago but hadn’t even said to anyone yet. “I hadn’t said anything yet, but I want to pay for Riley’s college baby,” he told her quietly.

If he thought Sam looked upset - or even frustrated - before, it was nothing compared to now. Her face fell and her eyes were almost hurt as she rejected the offer, “Absolutely not.”

“Sammy, I want to.”

“I know, but the answer is no. I’m not going to bank on you just footing the bill,” she told him loudly. Then, her shoulders fell and she almost looked a little insecure as she finished, “Besides, it’s not like we’ll even be together come next year.”

“What?”

“I just don’t want you paying for it Chris, I’m not comfortable with that.”

“No, what the fuck was that comment about not being together next year?” He asked her loudly, confusion and near-anxiety flooding him. “Do you have something you’re wanting to tell me, Samantha?”

Her shoulders fell again and she shook her head as she stared at the countertop. “C’mon Chris, be realistic. It’s not like you’re going to go back to your fancy major league baseball world and then want to come back to your trailer trash girlfriend.”

Chris froze at her words, that intense anger running through his entire body from her words as he snapped at her with a pointed finger, “I told you to never fucking say that phrase again.”

“It’s true Chris and you know it,” she told him, her voice meek.

Chris knew that Sam didn’t have a healthy view of relationships. She hadn’t grown up with a man in the house longer than a few months, making her see relationships as more transactional and temporary. She wasn’t used to this, she didn’t quite understand it and although Chris knew that, it didn’t make her comments hurt any less to know that she thought he’d just throw her out like trash once he went back to Boston. He couldn’t even comprehend how hurt he felt in this moment, knowing what was going on inside her and how even the thought of her giving up on this relationship absolutely killed him. His impulsiveness and hot temper exploded from the comments and he could feel the anger bubbling inside of him as he stared at her from across the kitchen counter.

“That’s not fuckin’ true!”

“It is and you know it,” she repeated, her voice still quiet and emotional. “Look, I’m not trying to be an ass, I’m just saying let’s just enjoy it while it lasts, okay?”

He ignored the sound of a door opening and shutting as he listened to Sam’s quiet words, but when she finished speaking, he couldn’t help himself as he loudly said, “I cannot fuckin’ believe you’re saying this, Sam! How could you possibly think that!” He paused, scoffing as he threw his hands in the air. “Why the hell are we even together then if you just think that this is some fuckin’ summer fling?”

“Because I love you, but I’m just not going to pretend that this is something that it’s not,” Sam replied, her voice raising as well.“You’re going to go back to your real life and I can’t follow you.”

“Don’t you fuckin’ think I’d come back to you every damn time I left?”

“I don’t know.”

“I can’t even believe this shit I’m hearing!”

Suddenly, Sam’s eyes widened and looked over Chris’ shoulder at the open archway to the hall, Chris following hers to find Riley standing still in the archway, his eyes moving between Chris and Sam.

Sam stood up quickly, reaching an arm out as she moved across the room, murmuring, “Riley…”

But Riley’s face set in an angry look - one Chris had never seen on the teenager - as he looked at his sister, telling her factually, “I fucking hate you Sam.”

“Hey!” Chris cut in, voice unintentionally raised. “Don’t you fuckin’ talk to your sister that way!”

“Fuck off, you can’t tell me what to do,” Riley shot back, his voice nearly venomous. “You’re going to ditch us anyway.”

Chris’ head moved quickly to look at Sam, pointing a single finger as he demanded, “Are you putting this shit in his head now? Are you trying to assure that we fuckin’ break up, Sam?”

He couldn’t even hear her answer as Riley spoke over her again, and Chris poured more fuel on the fire as he joined in the chaos. It was several long minutes of the three yelling over each other before Sam’s hands flew in the air frustratedly and she screamed, “EVERYONE JUST STOP TALKING!”

Chris ran a hand through his messy brown hair with a shake of his head. “I think we all need to sit down and take a breath,” he whispered, watching as Sam nodded and led them to the island counter. “Riley, why did you say that to Sam?” Chris asked quietly once he had calmed himself down, eyes trained on the teenage boy.

Riley was staring at the expensive countertop and shrugged his shoulders petulantly, muttering, “Because.”

“Riley, c’mon,” Chris sighed, willing the frustration and anger from Riley’s words to ebb. “Tell us why.”

Riley let out a sigh, his nostrils flaring. “Because she’s being an ass and fucking everything up,” he whispered, eyes darting over to Sam before they returned to the countertop.

He watched as Sam struggled to find the words for several moments, reaching a hand out to grasp her own and rested them on her lap. “What do you think I’m fucking up Riley?” She asked her brother, voice even and low.

Riley was quiet, nearly shrugging but thinking better of it. “...This,” he finally said, waving a hand around vaguely as he looked at Sam. “Chris loves us, Sammy and you’re just ruining it all and now everything is just going to go back to the way it was before and Chris is going to leave.”

Sam sighed, reaching her empty hand out to rub her brother’s shoulder comfortingly. “Riley, we were fighting, but everyone fights. It’s not the first time Chris and I have argued and it probably won’t be the last. It happens but that doesn’t mean everything is changing right now,” she murmured, giving him a tight, small smile.

When Riley looked back up at Chris and Sam, his eyes were filled with tears as they moved between them. He shrugged helplessly again as he recalled quietly, “You said it yourself that Chris is going to go back to his life and leave us.”

He could see the moment Sam took in his words and realized the implication of her own words from earlier. “Hey, I want you both to listen to me for a minute,” Chris murmured with a squeeze to Sam’s hand. When they both met his eyes, he gave them a genuine loving smile. “I don’t know what the future holds. I’m not saying that Sam and I are going to get married and everything will be perfect. I don’t know yet what will happen, but I do know that I love you both so much and if Sam and I are done, it’s going to be because our relationship isn’t working, not because I’m going to leave either of you and just go back to Boston.”

Sam opened her mouth to interject, saying, “I just-”

“No, listen to me baby. You think I’m going to leave this and go back to my ‘real life’ but this is it. This is my life. This is the life I want. The best thing that ever happened to me was getting hurt and having to come back here because I got you…both of you and I’d do it all over again if I knew I’d get you both because of it. I mean that.”

Chris knew by the silence and watery eyes that were looking at him that his tone left no room for question. He looked between the two Merrick’s that he loved so deeply and gave them a soft reassuring smile, but saw when Riley ducked his head again, twiddling his thumbs while muttering, “...But what if you do leave?”

“Do you trust me Riley?” Chris asked plainly, reaching across the counter to put a hand over Riley’s fidgety ones.

Riley brought his face up to look at Chris, allowing him to see the inner turmoil running through him before Riley finally answered, “Yeah.”

“Then I want you to trust me when I say I’m not leaving you, okay?” His eyebrows arched as he looked at the teen who he knew was filled with so many emotions right now, that only being confirmed when a few hot tears spilled out from his eyes.

When Riley nodded his head before furiously wiping away his tears, Chris pushed himself up from the counter, coming around to wrap his thick arms around Riley’s lanky frame and pull him in for a tight hug that he refused to let go of for a long moment. Chris almost felt as if he could feel his heart breaking, knowing that Riley and Sam had never had anyone to lean on but each other. It wasn’t any surprise either of them had attachment issues knowing the way they grew up, but Chris just kept holding Riley tight, wanting the reality of his words to sink into the teenager.

As the emotions started to calm down and Chris could feel Riley’s heart rate return to normal, he let go of him, rubbing his back before Riley’s head turned to his weepy eyed sister. Chris watched as Riley opened his mouth to speak before closing it again, repeating this a few times as he figured out what to say before finally just coming out with, “I’m sorry for what I said Sam, I love you.”

“I know you do. I love you too Riley,” Sam reached out to pull him in for a hug, squeezing him tight for a long moment before pulling back so she could look into his face while rubbing her hands on his arms, telling him, “I know you’ve had a lot of hard stuff lately so maybe you should just call it a day and go relax, huh?”

“Okay,” he nodded with a soft smile, telling them both goodnight before heading into the guest room.

Silence fell over the kitchen as Sam stayed sitting at the counter, Chris leaning his hip against the marble countertop as they heard the sound of the shower turning on in the guest bathroom. Knowing so much had not only just happened, but laid between them, Chris let out a long sigh as he ran a hand through his hair before coming to sit at the stool next to Sam. He angled his body to be toward her, reaching a hand out as he tucked a stray curl behind her ear tenderly which allowed him to see the unshed tears still glossing her eyes.

“Sammy…” Chris started, reaching out to hold her slender hand in his, a non-verbal way of telling her that they were on the same team before he brought up the fact, “I think we need to talk about what happened earlier.”

“Yeah, I know,” she sighed, looking anywhere but him.

“I’m sorry I got angry so quickly,” he apologized for the way his temper could shoot out of control, knowing it didn’t help the situation any.

A small smile appeared on Sam’s pink lips before she glanced over at him, shrugging, “Well, you are an ass sometimes,” which only made Chris bark out loud laughter at her statement, happy for the break in the intense emotions.

“And you’re still damn stubborn,” he reminded her with a twinkle in his eye before letting his tone turn more serious, “But I just don’t understand where you’re coming from thinking that once I go to Boston, that’ll be the end of our relationship.”

A long silence fell over them while he watched Sammy staring down at their joined hands, quietly admitting, “I just don’t see how you’re going to go back to that life and still want me.”

“Samantha Merrick, I love you more than I knew I could love someone,” he used his free hand to gently turn her chin so he could look her in those gorgeous brown eyes as he finished, “And if going to Boston doing broadcasting means I’m going to lose you, then I'll quit in a heartbeat.”

“I guess… I just don’t know how to explain what I’m feeling,” she deflated, her eyes falling once again.

“Try for me, baby,�� Chris’ gentle tone encouraged her as he tucked more of her stray curls behind her ear.

“I… believe you now. I believe what you say when you tell me that you love me, but I just don’t see how that’s going to stay the same,” he could see the internal struggle written all over her face before she explained, “After my parents divorced when I was a kid my dad promised that even though he wasn’t going to live with us, he and I would still be close.”

“Did that not happen?”

“It did for a few months I think, I was only four so I don’t remember exactly, but I do remember that once he met someone, he went off with her and I never saw him again,” Sam shrugged sadly, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Sammy… baby, I had no idea,” he felt that heavy weight of sadness in his heart while looking at her.

“He just left us. Then after that my mom always had a boyfriend. It was always someone she said would be around and they always ended up leaving. I don’t think most of them were even around longer than six months,” Sam now sounded more resigned than anything, a hand waving in the air as she finished, “I mean, I don’t even know who Riley’s dad is.”

“Does Susan know?”

“I have no clue,” he watched her shoulders shrug, “I guess I’ve just always seen people leave, but I’ve never seen them stay. Then add on the fact that you’re this successful wonderful guy and I just don’t see how it’s going to work.”

“Baby,” Chris whispered, staring at her as Sam’s gaze stayed fixed on the counter, “Look at me for a minute.”

He watched as her head turned, allowing him to study her face, seeing the worried lines in her face and turmoil in her eyes. But when her brown eyes landed on his blue ones, something in her face changed… a wave of calm seemed to relax her features and when he gave her a small smile, he saw that twinkle return to her eyes.

“Sammy, I’m not asking you to commit to anything or marry me or anything like that, but I want you to know that you’re it for me. I already know that. I love you and there’s nobody for me but you.”

“I just don’t-”

“No Sammy. I mean it. You’re it for me. You always have been,” his voice was firm, no room for questions as he went on, “Everything in this relationship I’m looking at through that lens of already knowing I want you forever.”

“...That’s how I feel about you,” Sammy’s voice was soft and vulnerable but not unsure, her brown eyes full of honesty as she told him, “You’re it for me too, Chris.”

Although neither were always the best with words or expressing all of their feelings, at this moment, neither needed any more words. When Chris wrapped his arms around her frame, pulling her in tightly against his chest, the way they clung to one another spoke more than any words could, knowing in this moment that they were in this together and knew they always would be.

A/N: We hope we didn't give anyone any bad ideas with that sneak peek yesterday! But we had to ;) cannot wait to hear your thoughts! As a reminder, we will be taking a break from June 26th - July 10th, so we will see you in a few weeks with another Sam update!

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mr-deblob · 4 months

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Hear me out on this: I honestly think Kairi could be the main playable character in Kingdom Hearts 4

Or at least a significant playable one.

I know that it sounds ridiculous to entertain the idea, especially with how badly she's been sidelined for the past 20 years. But taking into account the structure of mainline games and the current locations of our characters, it starts to look likely for both narrative and game design purposes.

Sora and Riku are stuck in Quadratum

First things first- there's no way in hell Nomura's letting Riku rescue Sora in the beginning hours of KH4. They definitely won't just hop back to the Realm of Light when they find each other. He might make questionable plot decisions, but he's not gonna pass up a chance to torture the two of them even more, especially since *something's* going on with Yozora and the Master of Masters.

In a GameInformer interview he gave, he was asked about how much time we'd spend in Quadratum.

I think it will be a pretty good amount of time since it is set as the initial base within the game. You spend time there and then go to different worlds and then go back there. Because the graphics are more realistic this time around, I feel like there’s more of a realistic daily life aspect to Sora’s life. You can see him go in and out of his room and spend time there. I feel like players will get to see more of the day-to-day routines he goes through.

It sounds like Quadratum will act more like an interlude between worlds, where the developments that happen in the Realm of Light (or wherever else) will cause more troubles to pop in the city. We've already seen Sora fighting a giant Heartless(?) that just showed up out of nowhere. There might be more events like that, or even encounters with the mysterious figures staring down from the rooftops. And when nothing's threatening the world, Sora might simply be living daily life with Strelitzia.

I'm uncertain on how much we'll actually get on the nature of Quadratum since it is just Tokyo, but part of me is feeling like the story beats will be more important than the setting on this side.

Kairi can have a blank-slate start

I'm sure everyone who picked Kairi in that final fight was a bit surprised by how aggressive it was. A strike raid teleport and a barrage of light flooding the battlefield were amazing to see in her first time in the spotlight. We know she can fight, so wouldn't those skills carry over to her next game?

But she's been asleep for a whole year to have her memories explored. They could easily explain the loss of former skills. Besides, the reasons for Sora always resetting to Level 1 are basically on the same scale. If you wanted more reasoning, then maybe Aqua's training is having her develop her own fighting style from scratch. It's very obvious she's trying to emulate Sora in her stance.

We also know that Kairi has her own unique combat pose. They've shown it to us at least twice in DDD and the KH3 opening, but we've never seen her actively using it in-game AFAIK. It sure would be an opportune moment to have her adopt it to signify her becoming her own person independent of Sora and Riku.

If the training time with Aqua seems like it would be too short to warrant Kairi going off on her own, keep in mind that we don't know how much time disparity there is between Quadratum and the RoL It could be synched up or be off by weeks, even months, more than enough to get her through the fundamentals.

Also, a mini-timeskip would give Nomura the chance to give the Destiny Trio new designs again. How Riku gets a new outfit and hairstyle while looking for Sora, I don't know, but he already pushed him through the Shadow Barber Shop. He can probably come up with something.

We still gotta have different Keyblades

Straight-up the title of this section. It's incredibly unlikely that Nomura would cut these, but as before, it's equally unlikely that Sora will get out of Quadratum into the RoL. Disney worlds are confirmed, and unless all of them are entirely new, I don't think there's a satisfying way to justify why he couldn't get help from the inhabitants, try to get off-world, or at least get in touch with someone if he still has his Gummiphone.

So if anyone else could go around to these worlds and collect these keychains, Kairi seems like a good candidate for that.

"But what about Destiny's Embrace?" Fair point. It's still got sentimental value to her and has familiarity. They wouldn't just dump it entirely.

However, I believe (and earnestly hope) that Kairi finally gets meaningful character development now. There's so much we could delve into (and we will later), but her current goal of growing stronger seemingly stems from a desire to determine her fate. For so long she's been carried by the tides of chance, waiting for what will happen rather than actively reaching towards her goals. In the end, it brought her down the path that led to Sora's disappearance, so she can't keep placing her faith in destiny.

Kairi might temporarily retire Destiny's Embrace, or perhaps her new mindset will trigger something in her Keyblade. We've seen that with Riku and the Way to the Dawn. It might be a more basic Keyblade like Braveheart, or she could end up wielding an iteration of the Kingdom Key to represent herself starting anew. Hell, maybe Sora fighting in her place in MoM passed it on to her, or she manifests it from her memories.

It'd be a convenient way to keep giving out new keychains while still making it feel like Sora experienced actual consequences for his misuse of the Power of Waking. They could even have Sora gain access to them through Kairi. His temporary possession of her at the end of MoM could be used as an in-universe way to hand-off the main PoV in a natural-feeling way, and she might be able to send him manifestations of the keychains as memories or something else that could cross over to Quadratum.

Masters and Maleficent will go wild

The KH3 ending brought back the Lost Masters through some unexplained mechanic. It also implies that they'll be the main antagonists of the new arc, but they're currently in the Realm of Light. I don't know how much Sora could do from the other side of reality. Not to mention Maleficent making even more schemes.

So the Keyblade wielders and their allies will have to defend against them and whatever other enemies crop up in their wake. But why would Kairi be the one pursuing their main goal? Why not Master Aqua, or at least one of the battle-hardened wielders?

Depending on the numbers, it'd be easy to say the other wielders are busy defending the worlds from the new threats, that they're spread too thin to take up whatever role Kairi would theoretically take. Maybe her status as a Princess of Heart could come up as another reason why it'd have to be her.

In any case, whatever Luxu has in that mysterious box spells bad news. The fact that there are going to be five ancient Keyblade Masters carrying out the Master of Masters' plan spells catastrophic news. Perhaps the missing Master Ava could work from the shadows to stymie them or to help Kairi on her quest.

Also, the Heartless are still gonna be wreaking havoc even if the Masters aren't. That will practically always be true, especially now that Xehanort's not controlling them all. Maleficent is going to do what Maleficent does best and use this to her advantage. With all these potential villains in the RoL, someone's gotta take care of them.

New worlds can develop Kairi further

Now that KH3 is finished and out of development hell, they're now free to consider new Disney properties, even those beyond 2014. And there's quite a few that could easily be connected to Kairi's desire to grow beyond her past and choose her own path:

Moana - Island girls who want to seize their destinies to see what lies beyond everyday life, both struggling with self-doubt. Also have grandmas who know more than they let on.

Coco - How memories connect us, that we can be together in heart when apart, the pains of love and separation. Fighting for your dream even when you're alone.

Encanto - Especially heavy exploration of breaking from the roles others place on us and that we take on, acknowledging and expressing emotions we hide from others.

Brave - "If you had the chance to change your fate, would ya?" Besides that, accepting that people can grow apart, that we each take our own paths, that it doesn't need to break our bonds.

WALL-E - Be open to change, don't let familiarity keep you stuck. Trust in the future, trust in yourself, break through the limits of your past. Go on even when all seems lost.

Frozen 2 - Self-determination and independence, grieving what has been lost, righting the wrongs of the past. Pain is a fact of life, do not let your fear of it keep you from doing what is necessary.

There's likely other films that could fit or other themes of these movies that parallel with Kairi, but these are rife with potential. Plus, the trend of female protagonists with little to no romantic storylines could let Kairi be perceived as more than Sora's love interest or someone to be saved.

Kairi is finally free to change

I don't think it's controversial to say that Nomura really mishandled Kairi's role in the series up til now. She's been stuck in character limbo, and even if we know more stuff *about* her since KH1, we haven't really gotten much *from* her. She's never had enough focus to really showcase her inner world, but I don't think it's due to disinterest on Nomura's part. Instead, I think that it was a result of very poor planning of her arc and his weakness at indirect characterization.

From the start, he probably had an idea of where he wanted to take Kairi's character. He must've, at minimum, pinned down the major strokes of her backstory involving Radiant Garden given the brief mention of her not remembering her home and the flashback with her grandma in KH1. KH2 and BBS both manage to flesh her out a bit more, and even her portrayal in the first game seemed to hint at something going on beneath her surface. Even so, she still outwardly appears as the same cheerful, kind, caring girl from the beginning of the series. I don't think Nomura decided to completely rip those seeds of growth from her character, but he has at least stifled them up til now.

In comparison to all the other main and supporting characters in KH, Kairi is noticeably lacking in any major character insights. From what I've seen, even people who dislike how the female cast is written can tell that the story is practically avoiding any chances for Kairi to verbalize her emotions. The conversations we do get with her almost always shift focus to the other person's feelings. If it does focus on her, the thoughts she does express tend to explore her relationships with other people instead of letting us know more about Kairi herself. As to why he'd make this writing choice with her, there's two possible answers beyond him just not wanting to deal with her.

The first is that he's trying to characterize her through her lack of characterization, that she's a people-pleaser who tends to put others' needs and wants before her own. We've already seen shades of this in KH1 on the dock and when Sora tells her to stay behind in Traverse Town.

In the former, it comes across as her trying to convince herself to go along with the plan about the raft, telling herself that she's ready to go wherever and holding onto the idea that she can always come back to Destiny Islands. Even so, you can hear a hesitation and uncertainty in those words. The only parts where she lets her fears bleed through are when she tells Sora not to change and arguably when she jokes about just the two of them taking the raft. Kairi tests the waters to see if Sora would be willing to go along with her alone before backing down. I don't think she'd actually go through with it, she's not that type of person. I can't say for certain that she hasn't entertained the thought, even if only half-seriously, but it's clear that she said it to avoid her thoughts on how Riku's changed. Kairi doesn't want to show Sora her doubts, especially when they're so close to setting sail. The only assurance she allows herself is asking Sora not to change, to stay her familiar friend, before shifting to expressing apparent excitement at setting sail.

When Sora and Kairi make their promise with the Wayfinder, she's afraid of how their friendship with Riku will have changed if he comes back. Still, she's willing to go help save Riku after seeing Sora's resolve to do so. When he tells her no, she pushes back, telling him that they have to stick together. She only starts to relent when Sora tells her that they won't be alone even if they're apart, then gives up entirely when he says she'd be in his way. Her laugh almost seems like an automatic response to cope with the hurt that statement would naturally provoke. Before he goes, she makes a compromise between their wants, getting Sora to promise that he'll return her Wayfinder to her- that he'll come back after everything's done. Then she tells him that she's always with him wherever he goes, taking Sora's statement and using it to reassure herself more than him. She doesn't want to inconvenience the ones she cares for, so she changes herself, adapting to their desires and opinions to ease any friction between them.

The other answer would be that Nomura's plan for her required her to retain her starting character traits until certain conditions were fulfilled. From where we are in the story, I'd wager that he she needed to be separated from Sora and Riku and for her to gain a meaningful motivation get stronger, at least according to Nomura's standards. The first half of that has been true for almost the entire series, as sad as it is, but we've only just now fulfilled the second. It's possible that he underestimated how long he would need to keep Kairi relatively unchanged for whatever he had planned in the future, causing her to be a static character for all this time.

Now, she's had to confront her fears head-on, needed to acknowledge the feelings of weakness and inferiority getting shattered by Xehanort gave her. It's Xehanort's fault that Sora disappeared, but she might partly blame herself for needing to be rescued rather than saving herself. Her tendencies of staying out of everyone's way and going along with their plans wasn't enough to keep Sora out of harm's way, to protect him. That failure can drive her to grow strong, to realize that valuing herself doesn't mean having to devalue others, that caring for yourself is an act of kindness for those who care about you.

I will acknowledge that even if these answers are accurate, reasonable intentions still don't excuse a sloppy execution. Nomura has skill in weaving a character's motivation into their actions and personality to add depth. However, he often relies on the characters voicing these out loud instead of letting the audience draw their own conclusions from what's presented. While this works well-enough for the series, it means that any indirect characterization he tries to do often ends up falling flat. Aqua at the Keyblade Graveyard is the biggest example of this. It's clear now that her time in the Realm of Darkness left her with some serious PTSD and that the massive storm of Heartless caused her to freeze up at the sight, but the way it was shown pre-Re:Mind ended up frustrating more people with her inaction instead of having them understand why she didn't act.

I'd argue the same thing's been happening with Kairi throughout the series up until now. A character like Kairi isn't inclined to express their unfiltered thoughts, leaving her to rely on indirect characterization to be fleshed out. Combine that with a weakness at subtle storytelling and a severe lack of focus and screentime, and you'll leave your audience almost nothing to discern about her character without close examination. Not to mention, any frustrations or disappointments or boredom regarding her character would only serve to make people even less willing to engage with her, especially stretched out over two decades.

Hopefully, Nomura feels free to put his plans regarding Kairi into motion now that she's gained the space for agency beyond Sora and Riku. I even think Nomura himself is aware of his struggles with nuanced character writing, something he hopes to fix. If you haven't heard, he brought on Akiko Ishibashi, the writer for Neo: The World Ends with You, to help write KH4. Anyone whose played that game can tell you about the amount of depth and complexity the cast of that game had, and her ability to transform one-dimensional archetypes into fully-realized people. I have little doubt that she'll breathe new life into the world of Kingdom Hearts, and I think that we'll see the start of this change through Kairi first and foremost.

In the future

This all sounds like wishful thinking, and it is, but I hope that it's not entirely unfounded. I'm mainly making this before any major trailers drop because, if this does happen, I can't imagine them hiding it for too long.

Maybe Nomura will finally give Kairi the screentime she deserves, and if he doesn't... well, guess we'll go through even more years of rightful disappointment in Nomura's handling of her.

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 4 #kh #kh4 #kh4 speculation #kairi #kh kairi #kingdom hearts theory #kh meta #character analysis #character writing #fan theory #speculation #game theory #akiko ishibashi #tetsuya nomura #please please please Nomura #don't prove me wrong here #let us know you care about Kairi

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