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fanboykyle · 1 year

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Fanboy Fantasy: Quixo-WWE 2021 WrestleMania 37

(originally posted November 21, 2020)

Introduction: Since I've moved away from my old Quixotronic website, I will be posting some of my old wrestling articles here on Tumblr to see how they turn out. This way they can be saved here? Or something. Either way, here is how I would have booked 2021's WWE WrestleMania 37 back in November 2020.

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We’re at the halfway(ish) point of the WWE season now that we’re past SummerSlam and especially with the brand draft now finally done. What does that mean? It’s time to fantasy book next year’s WrestleMania far too early! Hooray!

So fun fact - I had an entire card in mind before the brand draft happened and easily dismantled 80% of the card. Most of the card’s story revolved around the unification of the major titles - Drew McIntyre vs Roman Reigns for the World/Universal titles, Asuka vs Charlotte Flair for the Raw/Smackdown Women’s titles, and pretty much all the tag teams in a gauntlet match for the Raw/Smackdown Tag Team titles. This would have all set off by two things: Charlotte Flair winning the Smackdown Women’s title and deciding to do what Brock Lesnar couldn’t and win the Royal Rumble as champion (which she does) and choosing to face Asuka to unify the titles. Of course Brock Lesnar shows up in the men’s rumble and wins it only to declare that he wants both titles due to his history with both men’s champions (Brock would be pulled from the main event for reasons). At that point why not also unify the men’s Tag Team belts (the IC and US belts would have remained solo to each brand).

Another match I had planned was Big E vs Kofi Kingston vs Xavier Woods in an Intercontinental title match not because they broke up and were feuding, but because Big E had won the title and they were defending it under Freebird rules and having all of the fun. All of it. They then decide to have friendly match to see who would win (spoiler - it would have been Woods). But is that possible now?

Big E did not need to be separated from Kofi & Xavier to get his singles push. Nobody wants this. Not the Quixotronic offices, not the New Day themselves, nobody. But what if we made it work? The Big E singles push in my original thought would mirror Kofimania to show that god dammit these guys are friends and they support each other no matter what. But what if the story is about the opposite? What if it's about when that support goes away?

Big E feuds first with Baron Corbin who mocks him for no longer having any friends (seriously, you can just picture this one, right?). They end up both being on Team Smackdown at Survivor Series (along with Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins, and Kevin Owens just to make it a team that just does not want to cooperate) against a somehow smoother Team Raw (Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, AJ Styles, Andrade, & Keith Lee). Big E and Kofi refuse to fight each other if they happen to be tagged in at the same time, and Team Smackdown wins with surviving members Big E and Baron Corbin. Big E and Corbin settle their differences at the December PPV (TLC?) with a solid Big E win before clearing them both for entry into the Royal Rumble.

In the Rumble, the final four are Big E, Kofi, Andrade, and Keith Lee. Andrade is able to eliminate Lee and then faces down E and Kofi. New Day huddles to decide on a game plan until Kofi just jumps out of the ring. Both E and Andrade are shocked but Kofi yells that it’s E’s time. Kofi’s been there, he doesn’t need it again. Big E (obviously) wins and the New Day celebrates in the ring as we close out.

At this point, Roman Reigns has defeated Jey Uso (again) forcing both Usos to admit that he is their Tribal Chief (™) and are members in his new stable The Tribe or Bloodline or The Family or whatever. Roman brings Tamina into the fold as well as the Usos' dad Rikishi, but this is “I did it for the Rock” Rikishi - he’s a badman. Roman has also sent feelers over to Raw to bring Nia Jax (who is still Women’s Tag Team champs with Shayna Baszler) into the fold as his agent on Raw. Naomi, also on Raw, is not brought in and is used a leverage against the Usos to keep them in line.

What was Roman doing while Big E was winning the Rumble? He was absolutely demolishing Daniel Bryan in a title match because he decided he could. Every time he won the Rumble, people chanted for Bryan instead. Every damn time. So yeah, Don Roman wants to ruin everyone's Royal Rumble again - Bryan is eaten within three minutes.

(Did somebody say three minutes?)

Mob Boss Roman Reigns first sends the Usos to Raw the night after the Royal Rumble to cost New Day their Raw Tag Team titles in a match against Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander of the Hurt Business. This causes Triple H to close the borders between Raw and Smackdown - any wrestler who interferes on the opposite brand will be first fined and then terminated. This fully separates Big E from Kofi and Xavier just as Roman wanted. (Why is this the act that finally stops inter-brand shenanigans? For crying Big E reasons).

Roman next manipulates Seth Rollins to go after Big E based on their Shield history, though Murphy can clearly see that the Savior of Smackdown is just being used. Rollins thinks he helping save Roman from himself somehow. Big E defeats former-World Champion Seth Rollins at Elimination Chamber to establish that yes, he can defeat World Champions (yes he’s defeated Sheamus also but it doesn’t have the same feel, right?). Roman sends the Usos, at this point the Smackdown Tag Team Champions, formally after Big E in a handicap match at Fastlane with the stipulation that if Kofi and/or Xavier show up that Big E loses his title match at WrestleMania since they can’t really be fined for being at a show that has both brands anyway. Big E is able to power through and wins the match - one of the Usos also may or may not have allowed Big E to pin them in solidarity just like during KofiMania, but it’s less obvious this time.

That leaves us with one final destination: Big E vs Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. One man who's mostly lost his family and refuses to let the darkness consume him against the main who has remade his family in his own darker and darker image. It's very dramatic - here's Big E's review of the story and match:

Who will survive!?

Quick ground rules - we're still in a Quixotine so WrestleMania is two nights again. Also despite Edge vs Randy Orton being an obvious match, I'm not sure if Edge will be healthy by then so we're skipping it and Orton is taking the night off.

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Quixo-WWE 2021 WrestleMania 37 - Night One

WWE World Title Match: Andrade Almas vs Drew McIntyre ©

Fanboy Fantasy: Despite us living in a world where Andrade was somehow not drafted in the brand draft this last week, we’re fixing that. Andrade makes his return to Raw with his fiancé Charlotte Flair as the new power couple. Andrade goes on to join Team Raw at Survivor Series (see above) and is the last surviving member before falling to Big E. He rebounds with strong wins over Jeff Hardy and Matt Riddle before being the iron man of the Royal Rumble by entering #3 like his future father-in-law and being the last surviving Raw member. Andrade goes on to win a mini-tournament to crown Raw’s #1 contender defeating Keith Lee in the finals due to Retribution interfering and costing Lee the match (a little more on that later). This leaves Andrade primed to once again defeat McIntyre like he did in NXT for the NXT title. However, we’re going to start WrestleMania on a happy note: McIntyre retains his title. Sorry, Andrade!

Your winner: Drew McIntyre

Buddy Murphy vs Seth Rollins

Fanboy Fantasy: After Rollins and Rey Mysterio are both eliminated from Team Smackdown at Survivor Series their feud is somehow ended. I don’t care how anymore. Rollins and Murphy focus on the Rumble where Rollins eliminates Murphy. Later on Rollins tries to explain that it was for the greater good and Murphy bides his time. Rollins then falls under the sway of his former Shield brother Roman Reigns and is used as a hitman unsuccessfully against Big E. Rollins gives every excuse possible to explain to both Roman and the WWE Universe why he couldn’t finish off Big E. If Seth Rollins has been playing Jesus this whole time, then Roman is his father/God and maybe he needs to die so he can once again save. Roman gladly grants him this wish at Fastlane in a rare heel vs heel match. Roman retains and Rollins again lashes out at Murphy when he finally stands up for himself and fights back to set up a WrestleMania showdown. However it’s not quite Buddy’s time yet - Rollins wins.

Your winner: Seth Rollins

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Titles Match: Artist Collective (Sami Zayn & Shinsuke Nakamura) vs Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode vs Los Mysterios (Dominik & Rey Mysterio) vs Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) vs Usos (Jey & Jimmy Uso) ©

Fanboy Fantasy: The Street Profits hold onto their titles for the rest of the year until on a random Smackdown they lose the belts to Los Mysterios, giving Dominik his first taste of WWE gold and proving that Rey can still go. By this time Jimmy Uso is healthy enough to rejoin Jey as a fellow unwilling member of the Tribe and Roman tells them the Family wants the Tag Team titles. The Usos go and do what they do and win the titles from Los Mysterios. They are able to retain against the former champs (both Mysterios and Profits) though, as already mentioned, do lose a handicap match against Big E at Fastlane. This makes them possible underdogs going into WrestleMania when we have a generic throw-multiple-teams-in match. However the fear of Roman prevails and the Usos retain. Don Roman is pleased.

Your winners: The Usos

Keith Lee & Mercedes Martinez vs Retribution (Dominik Dijakovic & Mia Yim)

Fanboy Fantasy: Keith Lee loses the #1 contendership tournament due to Retribution costing him the final. Why? Because after being in the final four of the Rumble, Retribution tried to unsuccessfully recruit him to their cause - apparently being fighting friends with Dijakovic means nothing anymore. After costing him the match we get a full main-roster feud between Lee and Dijakovic because they should fight forever (clap clap clapclapclap). To make it a touch different, we’ll bring in Mia Yim (the other main Retribution member with history with Lee) and Mercedes Martinez as the Retribution member who got out. Lee and Martinez are able to defeat Retribution and cause them a momentum-blow going into our other Retribution-related match of the night.

Your winner: Keith Lee & Mercedes Martinez

Three Stages of Hell Match: Bayley vs Sasha Banks

Fanboy Fantasy: Bayley retains against Sasha Banks at Hell in a Cell and gives her a “career-threatening” injury. Guys, Sasha may never wrestle again. It’s okay, she can always star in more seasons of The Mandalorian, right? Bayley, absolutely full of herself holds onto the title a little longer until a fluke loss to Smackdown-newbie Bianca Belair. Belair retains in a rematch. After a second rematch that Bayley loses, Banks returns to attack Bayley - but after Bayley had already lost just so Banks can rub it in. Their hate leads to a Three Stages of Hell match - the first pin fall is a normal match, the second is first blood match, and the last is an I Quit match. Bayley wins the first match by cheating behind the ref’s back, but Sasha busts Bayley open to win the second fall. Sasha locks on the Banks Statement on for an unbearable 5 long minutes to force Bayley to admit she quits.

Your winner: Sasha Banks

WWE United States Title Match: Mustafa Ali (w/ Retribution) vs Ricochet ©

Fanboy Fantasy: Mustafa Ali has been busy since coming out as the leader of Retribution - he first feuds with the New Day because what some people forget about KofiMania is that Kofi wasn’t even supposed to be in the Elimination Chamber match that year - Ali was. When he went down with an injury, Kofi was subbed in and something magical happened - but that was Ali’s spot. After losing that feud at Elimination Chamber, and while members Yim and Dijakovic deal with Keith Lee and Mercedes Martinez, Ali gets himself a United States title match with champion Ricochet (he beats Bobby Lashley for the belt at some point) after Ricochet also declines to join Retribution. The two have what can be described as an AEW-style match with all the flips and all the kick outs but Ali secures the win with no Retribution interference.

Your winner, and NEW WWE United States Champion: Mustafa Ali

Firefly Funhouse Match: AJ Styles vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt

Fanboy Fantasy: Since switching to Raw, AJ Styles starts acting as neither face nor heel - he’s just putting on great matches. He becomes part of Team Raw at Survivor Series. Styles is eliminated from Team Raw when an Undertaker gong goes off mid-match and freaks him the fuck out. At this point Styles is having PTSD-like flashbacks to being buried alive and his work begins to suffer. Bray Wyatt, the helpful friend that he is and now backed by both a fully possessed-Alexa Bliss and golem-like Braun Strowman (for love of Eddie Guerrero give me this!), offers to help Styles with his problem - all he has to do is what John Cena did last year - come into the Firefly Funhouse and work out his issues with Bray. Ignore the fact that Cena did not come back after said match. The Fiend will show him the way. If AJ realizes all the accolaides he's had that the Undertaker never had, it would repower him! The Fiend will show him. The Fiend will let him in. AJ makes the worst decision he can and accepts the match(?). AJ’s statistician Joseph Park warns him not to but AJ enters anyway.

AJ awakens in a WCW Thunder ring teaming with Bray Wyatt in the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles tournament - we don’t see their opponents but their silhouette’s appear to be Undertaker and John Cena - and we hear Cena yell “Get out!” Bray laughs the “noise” off before an Undertaker gong goes off. We have a quick cut of Undertaker dragging AJ across the graveyard from last year before opening back up on an unfamiliar and plain ring with a beaten Jeff Jarrett in the middle of the ring. AJ is now holding a blurred-out NWA World Heavyweight title belt. Bray, in a referee shirt, whispers to AJ "did he ever have that?" and laughs.

A gong cuts us to the next scene - and another quick cut of Styles being buried alive - followed by a similar plain ring with broken tables and blood splattered all over and Joseph Park kneeling and crying in the corner and a mask near him. Styles runs to him and asks him why he followed him. Park heard the whispers - the familiar whispers and he couldn’t help himself. John Cena's voice screaming can be heard in the background as the lights begin to blink out. The screams fade as Wyatt can now be overheard telling Park to “put the mask on” while Park cries “no please no.” Park slowly lifts the mask up and Styles yells as the lights go out only to come back with Park fully dressed as TNA’s Abyss once again - he powerslams Styles through one of the tables and disappears.

Another gong sends us to the next scene - another quick cut of Styles being buried - and then Styles walks out in a Japanese-looking arena and walks past Finn Balor in full Demon paint. The two eye each other as they walk past and Demon Finn fades away as Styles passes him by. Cena, dressed as NJPW’s Kazuchika Okada, is laying in the middle of the ring as Alexa Bliss hands him another blurred out championship. Bray whispers again and tells Styles this is another win he has that Undertaker doesn’t. Soon he’ll be able to face Undertaker again and do what he couldn’t before.

Undertaker gong, quick buried cut, and we’re on the Smackdown set and AJ is face to face with John Cena who looks very worried and is wearing his nWo shirt from last WrestleMania. “AJ! He won’t let me leave!” but the two then go into the motions of a match while Bray laughs. Quick cut and now we’re finally back at the Graveyard match from last year and AJ is face to face with Bray Wyatt dressed as the Undertaker. AJ tenses up to fight but instead uses his words - he’s not mad at Undertaker, he’s mad at himself. He's not mad at Cena either, it was just his job to fight him.

Bray, as the Dead Man, continues to smile. "AJ, the Undertaker is done and you lost. There is only the Fiend now - and you're in my home, boy. You're now part of my collection!" Bray transforms into fully into the Fiend and throws AJ into a shallow grave where AJ lands next to Cena’s unmoving body. We cut to a POV shot from in the grave to see Fiend, Bliss, Strowman, and Abyss all staring down into the grave as dirt is shoveled in. The two are buried and Bray and his crew walk away laughing.

Your winner: The Fiend

Baron Corbin vs Chad Gable (w/ Daniel Bryan)

Fanboy Fantasy: In my official “does this really have to be on the card” match of the show, it’s also very specifically slotted to be the match between the Firefly Funhouse and night one’s main event - feel free to go grab a snack and take a piss. After Daniel Bryan’s murder via Roman Reigns (see above), Corbin decides to mock Bryan now that he’s done mocking Big E - it’s not a great start but for Corbin it works so damn perfectly. Corbin and Bryan face off at some point and Corbin beats Bryan cleanly. It’s at this point that Chad Gable comes to Bryan’s aid. You see, back when it was revealed that Jason Jordan was revealed as then-Raw General Manager Kurt Angle’s son (sorry for the reminder), Chad Gable started jokingly calling then-Smackdown General Manager Daniel Bryan “dad.” Gable is tired of Baron Corbin getting the last laugh on Daniel Bryan when he was down, he’s tired of Corbin pinning Kurt Angle in his last match, and most importantly, he’s tired of going by the fucking name “Shorty G” because of Corbin. He may have lost to Corbin in the finals of the King of the Ring tournament and allowed Corbin to call himself “King Corbin” but that’s all done with. Corbin isn’t facing Shorty G at WrestleMania - he’s facing Chad fucking Gable and he’s got Daniel Bryan in his corner. And it’s a quick match: Gable with the upset (?) win.

Your winner: Chad Gable

WWE Raw Women’s Title Match w/ special guest referee Becky Lynch: Charlotte Flair vs Asuka ©

Fanboy Fantasy: After returning alongside Andrade, Charlotte Flair wins the women’s Rumble for the second year in a row because we can’t have nice things - also she was also #3 like her dad and fiance. Though she has won every women’s singles belt, she has never walked out of WrestleMania with the Raw Women’s title (she won the WWE Women’s title at WM32 pre-brand split, retained the Smackdown Women’s title at WM34, and won the NXT Women’s title at WM36 - thanks random wrestling stat generator!). Plus, she’s beaten Asuka already at WrestleMania so why not do another repeat while she’s at it. However, this isn’t just-out-of-NXT Asuka, who to be fair is a monster anyway. This is dancing and murdering Thunderdome MVP Asuka. Sorry Raw power-couple, no double gold this time: Asuka retains. Asuka dances. Delight in all things Asuka.

Your winner: Asuka

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Quixo-WWE 2021 WrestleMania 37 - Night Two

WWE Intercontinental Title Special International Ladder Match: Aleister Black vs Apollo Crews vs Cesaro vs Kalisto vs Sheamus vs Kevin Owens ©

Fanboy Fantasy: Much like Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic on Raw, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn fall into the “fight forever” side of things. After Survivor Series, Zayn tries to reteam with his good friend Kevin Owens, but Owens sees how annoying Zayn has become and powerbombs him immediately. Owens beats Zayn for the title on the Christmas episode of Smackdown, Zayn regains the title at the Royal Rumble due to interference from Cesaro & Nakamura, and Owens regains it again shortly after due to botched interference from Cesaro. Cesaro ends up splitting off from Zayn and Nakamura who decide to pursue the tag belts. Owens defends against Cesaro at Elimination Chamber and Kalisto at Fastlane. Owens decides to hold an “International Challenge” match where every competitor is from a different country, so we get Aleister Black (Netherlands), Apollo Crews (America), Cesaro (Switzerland), Kalisto (Mexico), Sheamus (Ireland, Owens invites him because he feels sorry that Sheamus has won everything except the IC belt and even covers the money needed for him to show up on another brand) and Owens (Canada). They’re not all winning storylines folks. Aleister Black wins the title because I want him to have nice things.

Your winner, and NEW WWE Intercontinental Champion: Aleister Black

NXT vs NXT UK Titles Match: Finn Balor © vs WALTER ©

Fanboy Fantasy: Finn Balor and WALTER were supposed to face each other at NXT UK Takeover: Dublin in May but then waves madly all of this happened. NXT UK went on hiatus and Balor came back to NXT Domestic and won the NXT title. However now that NXT UK is back and once Finn is healed from his broken goddamn jaw he starts calling out WALTER. He wants his match. Over on NXT UK, WALTER calls out Finn also, telling him to get his ass back to England and face him like a man. The announcers put over the fact that they can’t actually travel back and forth but by WrestleMania time the correct parties are bribed and WALTER arrives in the USA for a special NXT vs NXT UK titles match - winner takes all. The two put on a very British catch as catch can match before the rest of Imperium interferes causing the DQ finish and each man walks out with their respective titles. They’ll get another round whenever the next NXT UK Takeover is eventually held.

Your winner: Finn Balor (by DQ)

John Morrison vs The Miz

Fanboy Fantasy: The Miz gets more and more angry that not only is WrestleMania not in Hollywood like it was supposed to be because of the so-called “pandemic” but because he doesn’t have a match for the show. He and Morrison don’t qualify for a United States title match or a Tag Team titles match (they even try sneaking back into Smackdown and fail there as well - they have the cash to cover checking in on the other brand). Finally with a week before the show, Morrison has an idea - what if they turn on each other? They’d have to settle the score at WrestleMania! They both shrug, Morrison winks to the camera, and they very playfully hit each other while yelling "I'm turning on you!" and “how dare you!” and “I’ll see you at WrestleMania!” This of course works and they get a match on the card. The match starts with them having a nice gentle match but as it goes on they both start hitting stiffer and stiffer. Miz eventually wins by putting using his legs on the ropes for leverage - after WM he can use his win to argue into a future World title match with Drew McIntyre. Morrison doesn’t see the dirty win on the show - but eventually figures it out and really turns on Miz with Morrison sliding into the face role with Miz staying in the heel role as he forever should be. Morrison eventually wins the more feud to set him up as a hopeful world title contender.

Your winner: The Miz

WWE Smackdown Women’s Title Match: Zelina Vega vs Bianca Belair ©

Fanboy Fantasy: Bayley loses her belt to Bianca Belair in what she immediately calls a fluke but it really isn’t. Belair establishes herself by defeating Bayley in the rematch and goes off looking for challengers. Zelina Vega, now also on Smackdown and without either Andrade or Angel Garza, slowly defeats everyone else on the roster not named Bayley or Sasha who are off in their blood feud to become the #1 contender. Vega is able to score the win and take the title. This is when Aleister Black shows up to very darkly and calmly celebrate with his wife - it is Black and Vega who are your new power couple, not Charlotte and Andrade! Swerve, bro! Oh, and Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae show up on the Smackdown after WrestleMania. Boom, power couple feud!

You winner, and NEW WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion: Zelina Vega

Cage Fight Match: Bobby Lashley (w/ MVP) vs Brock Lesnar (w/ Kurt Angle)

Fanboy Fantasy: Here’s your special exhibition match for this year’s show - an MMA style Cage match (or Fight Cage as they called it during the Matt Riddle/Timothy Thatcher match on NXT this summer). Easy set up: Brock Lesnar returns in the Royal Rumble with Kurt freaking Angle by his side. He eliminates a few people (except iron man Andrade) before Bobby Lashey enters next a heads right for Lesnar - the announcers put over that Lashley’s MMA record is better than Lesnar’s though it was not UFC. The two brawl and eliminate each other. On the next night’s Raw, Angle informs us that since Lesnar lost at last year’s WrestleMania for the second year in a row, he thought maybe he was finished. Then his advisor, Paul Heyman, left him for one of his enemies, Roman Reigns, he thought maybe he was finished again. That’s when he reached out to Angle and the two agreed - Lesnar wasn’t finished yet. This brings out MVP and his client Bobby Lashley who issue a very simple challenge: Lashley/Lesnar at WrestleMania - they’ll make it Lesnar’s third strike at the show of shows. Angle accepts on Lesnar’s behalf and the match eventually becomes the cage match we get. In the mean time we get what we haven’t seen since roughly 2004 - a weirdly good guy Lesnar mostly due to his handling by Angle and he shows up to work (sometimes). At Fastlane, we get a preview of sorts when Lesnar and a partner of his choosing are allowed to face the Raw Tag Team champions Alexander & Benjamin and Lesnar shows up with former Team Angle member Charlie Haas (I just want to see Lesnar, Benjamin, Haas, and Angle all in the ring together for a minute). MVP causes a DQ and Hurt Business keeps the belts. Finally at WrestleMania we get the MMA(-ish) match - Angle and MVP are kept on the outside and Lashley gets the job done - he beats Lesnar clean. This completes the rebuild of Lashley as a World title contender (who perhaps is the one to finally beat McIntyre?) and Lesnar goes on to have a few special challenge matches with Angle at his side - Matt Riddle and Chad Gable are obviously contenders - before finally deciding to retire to the farm.

Your winner: Bobby Lashley

WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles Gauntlet Match: Flex Appeal (Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose) vs Lacey Evans & Lana vs Liv 2 Riott (Liv Morgan & Ruby Riott) vs Rhea Ripley & Shotzi Blackheart vs Nia Jax & Naomi © vs Shayna Baszler & [mystery partner] ©

Fanboy Fantasy: Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax continue to be the unlikely team as they chalk up win after win after win. However, after working so well together they start to fight again, but continue to win. At some point, Nia Jax (as a favor to Tribal Chief (™) Roman Reigns) decides to defend the titles with Naomi - and does so successfully. Baszler lays down the challenge - Jax and Naomi can defend their half of the title while Baszler and a partner of her choosing with defend her half at WrestleMania - winners take all. And because it’s WrestleMania it’s a 6-team affair - including NXT’s Rhea Ripley and Shotzi Blackheart because I like good things. It’s a gauntlet match and due to various match-determined reasons, Jax and Naomi will be the first team and Baslzer and [mystery partner] are the last team. Jax and Naomi first defeat Lana & Lacey Evans easily, and eliminate Ripley and Blackheart second (sorry). Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke come in fourth and pin Naomi to eliminate one half of the champions. Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan enter next and eliminate Brooke & Rose, and finally we get the other half of champions: Shayna Baslzer and of course RONDA ROUSEY. Baszler starts the match but as soon as Rousey gets in she refuses to tag Baszler back in. Her hubris gets the better of her and Riott pins her for the win and the belts. This gets Riott and Morgan the prize of being champions and also Riott revenge for losing to Rousey years ago in like 5 seconds. That was bullshit. Baslzer, already having lost one frenemy is the one that rehabs the relationship for the next few months, long enough to get a fucking WWE/NXT Horsewomen vs MMA Horsewomen match at the 2021 Survivor Series (Lynch might be ready to come back by then?). Then, and only then, does Baszler murder Rousey. Oh how the Quixotronic offices will rejoice. Murder, Baszler, murder!

Your winners, and NEW WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions: Liv 2 Riott

Hardy Compound Exorcism Match: Alexa Bliss (w/ Braun Strowman) vs Nikki Cross (w/ Jeff Hardy)

Fanboy Fantasy: Since moving to Raw, Alexa Bliss has become fully possessed by Sister Abigail and begins actively teaming with Bray. Braun Strowman, thinking wrongly that he was finished with Bray, tries to get through to Alexa but she finally turns him over to Bray’s side, becoming a golem-like unblinking uncaring monster who destroys only for Bray and Alexa. You know how in X-Men comics Shadowcat walks around with Lockheed the dragon wrapped around her neck? I want that with Braun and Alexa. The size-difference is not that far off. Nikki Cross, however, is now left alone and fully abandoned by her former friend and she doesn’t know what to do. After Braun bulldozes through Jeff Hardy in the Royal Rumble match, in the coming weeks Hardy comes to Nikki and tells her he saw something in Braun’s eyes - the same thing Nikki sees in Alexa’s eyes. It’s something he thinks he can get out of them, but they need to do it away from the Thunderdome and away from the Firefly Funhouse - they need to get them into the Lake of Reincarnation. The challenge is layed, Bray allows his minions to leave (especially after such great work the previous night) and we enter the Hardy Compound. Braun and Jeff are primarily on the sidelines and the main fight is Alexa and Nikki - Jeff mostly stops Braun from trying to smash his way into the fight. Nikki and Alexa fight all around the Compound and Nikki gets more and more wild throughout the match. They get closer and closer to the Lake of Reincarnation and fight onto Skarsgard the boat. The boat drifts out as the two fight harder and harder with Nikki trying to push Alexa over into the Lake. Alexa goes for a Sister Abigail but Nikki reverses it into a perfect Sister Abigail herself and drops Bliss into the Lake. Cross sighs in relief and sails back to shore. It appears that all is well until Braun’s fist appears from off-screen and knocks Cross out - the final shot is Braun quietly and calmly dragging the unconscious bodies of Nikki Cross and Jeff Hardy into the Lake as all three submerge. This eventually leads to Bliss/Strowman and Cross/Hardy switching roles - Bliss and Strowman are released from Bray’s control via the Lake of Reincarnation but at the cost of Nikki Cross, the new avatar of Sister Abigail and back to her crazy-NXT self, and Jeff Hardy, now working his Willow gimmick, both in employ of the Fiend. Now that Bliss and Strowman are back - what will they do to save their friends who damned themselves to save them?

Your winner(?): Nikki Cross

WWE Raw Tag Team Titles Elimination Match: Catch Point (Drew Gulak & Matt Riddle) vs New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) vs Hurt Business (Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin) ©

Fanboy Fantasy: Kofi and Woods hold onto the Raw tag team titles until the Raw after the Royal Rumble when they lose the straps to Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin due to the Usos’ interference. Hurt Business retain the titles in an Elimination Chamber match with New Day, Miz and Morrison, Lucha House Party, Mustafa Ali and Dio Maddin of Retribution, and new (but actually old) team of Matt Riddle and Drew Gulak - they’re like the Bro-serweights except Gulak likes to punch Riddle more. Once we get to WrestleMania we drop it down to a three-way match with New Day, Catch Point, and champions Hurt Business in an elimination match because Gulak couldn’t keep his mouth shut about being able to defeat both teams. Catch Point, of course, is eliminated first - Riddle even allows the pin to occur on Gulak (very un-bro of him). New Day is able to put away HB and retake the titles - now we wait for Big E to bring the rest of the gold home. (Also we’re not done with Catch Point - they face each other a few times but decide they actually make a better team… until Pete Dunne returns to the US that is!)

Your winners, and NEW WWE Raw Tag Team Champions: New Day

WWE Universal Title Match: Big E (w/ New Day) vs Roman Reigns (w/ Usos) ©

Fanboy Fantasy: And now the big match arrives. Big E arrives while New Day are still celebrating in the ring and the three dance for a moment before Big E readies himself in the ring and New Day goes off to his corner. Roman arrives flanked by the entire Family - his cousins the Usos, his brother Seth Rollins, his advisor Rikishi, his enforcers Tamina, Nia Jax, and Naomi, and his advocate Paul Heyman. All but the Usos (even Heyman) are ushered away as Jey and Jimmy take Roman’s corner. The Usos eye down Kofi and Xavier but never actually go after them. As for the fight - it’s far more evenly matched than it has any right to be. Big E holds his own against Roman despite him going into full Big Dog mode. Superman punch, spear, Big E kicks out. Superman punch, spear, Big E kicks out. The closest the Usos get to attacking New Day on the outside is when they get close to Kofi and while Roman powers up in the same corner, Jey Uso trips Roman and blames it on Kofi. Kofi owns it and acts as if he did it but Roman knows his Family doesn’t have his best interests in mind. Roman and Jey lock eyes and Roman knows. Roman knows. At this point the Usos and New Day end up covering all four sides of the ring as Big E starts to make his big comeback. Now we go classic setup - Roman spears the referee by mistake giving Big E time to hit the Big Ending three times and goes for the pin - New Day and Usos all count not just to three but to FIVE and E has Roman beat - but the ref is still out. New Day jump in the ring to wake the referee while the Usos help Big E up. However just as everyone is up Roman spears Big E out of nowhere. Superman punch to Xavier. Superman punch to Kofi. Spear to both Usos. Spear again to Big E and the referee counts one, two, three. Roman wins. Roman takes his title, screams at the Usos as they stay laying on the mat, and literally kicks Big E while he’s down. Roman grabs a mic and a camera guy and looks directly into the camera.

“This is not your happy ending. This is my life. This is my family. And this (he holds up the Universal title) is my life. Believe that.”

Credits.

Fade out.

Fade back in.

Epilogue. After we fade out from the arena, we cut back to the graveyard - we hear a shovel pulling up dirt. We see Styles and Cena’s dirty bodies sticking out of the dirt as a hand reaches out and pulls them both out. The Undertaker, more Dead Man than Biker once again, smacks them both awake. AJ and Cena are both glad to see Taker but AJ asks the obvious question - why did he save him? Last time he saw him he buried him alive. Why?

“Kid - you got better, didn’t you? Plus, he used my face. He shouldn’t have done that.”

Fade out.

#wrestling #wwe #wrestlemania #fanboywrestletronic #fanboyfantasy

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pocketramblr · 4 years

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What's your ao3 handle? Wrist au seemed really cool, and id love to check out some of your works!

same as here, pocketramblr

(that link should work) but yeah, Wrist Soulmate au will be posted on there when i actually finish writing it

#i rebloged my masterpost of all my fics a couple hours ago #if you want something more organized to finding specific flavors of aus #broke it down by fantasy vs family vs so on and so on #... have i ever written a soulmate au before #i guess not for this fandom huh #nice #ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 #pocket talks to people

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theriveroflight · 3 years

Text

Miraculous Ladybug Polyship Fanfiction Masterpost

All of my fanfictions involving polyamorous relationships.

Format:

Summary

All fics below cut.

leave you the dust (my loves) | M | 1069 | 1/1 | lukadrinette | vampire AU | 2/2/2020

there are two permanences: them, and death.

Momentum | T | 9464 | 1/1 | lukagami + adrigaminette | future fic | @miraculousfanworks July 2020 event | 7/17/2020

Fifteen years of a childhood in Japan.

Three years in France.

Another five back in Japan.

So why does Kagami feel like Paris is a magnet, pulling her back in?

i promised myself (wouldn’t let you complete me) | T | 1380 | 1/6 | ladynoir + lukadrien + marigami | aged-up AU | 8/30/2020

and all I do is cry and complain, 'cause second's not the same...

to face unafraid | T | 1088 | 1/1 | lukadrigaminette | boundary negotiation | 12/20/2020

Luka glides on the ice. There's not much to it, but...are they dating? Are they not?

Communication tries to save the day, at least.

Impulses | T | 1165 | 1/1 | lukadrigaminette | future fic | 1/26/2021

Adrien cares a lot for anything without a home. It's only natural that he'd bring home animals.

What Marinette didn't expect is for Luka to enable him - or participate in the rescuing.

serenade (feel our hearts beat, beat together) | G | 1767 | 1/1 | lukadrinette | music | 2/19/2021

In which Luka writes a song.

band the bright earth with new mysteries | T | 7943 | 1/1 | lukadrigaminette | fantasy AU | MLF Rewrite a Classic Event | 2/23/2021

The Forest whispers, and calls two to the throne.

A man tells his son to marry a woman, in the human town nearby.

Though utterly separate events, in congress they bring far more consequences than expected.

Additions | G | 8661 | 8/8 | lukadrigaminette | all four are superheroes AU | MLF Jan/Feb 2021 Exchange | 3/14/2021

Marinette is uncertain. Adrien is angry. Luka is trying his best. And Kagami is confident.

They all try their best.

need to keep you like this in my mind | T | 5416 | 1/1 | lukadrigaminette | secret identities | Spin the Record challenge | 5/1/2021

Are we growing up or just growing down? It's just a matter of time until we're all found out Take your tears, put 'em on ice Cause I swear, I'd burn the city down to show you the light

next to the mausoleum | T | 3406 | 3/3 | lukadrinette | ghost AU | Spin the Record challenge | 7/1/2021

Luka haunts a graveyard that Adrien frequents. Later on, he brings Marinette along to see it.

broke my soul in two (will you forgive my soul?) | T | 3533 | 1/1 | adrigaminette | ladynoir conflict resolution | MLF Sprintember | 9/22/2021

“I never thought you two would have something in common again.”

Chat Noir hasn’t been publicly seen since the defeat of Hawk Moth. Chat isn’t a villain, not quite, but there’s something resembling animosity between him and Ladybug. Everything is complicated, and she doesn’t know what she’s doing.

Four years since the last time they banded together, and this one over some young adults under an abusive parent.

She knows abuse is a sore subject for Chat. She remembers it, from all those years.

the cure to growing older | T | 1643 | 1/1 | gabenathemilie | pre-canon | Spin the Record | 10/24/2021

Just so you know, you'll never know And some secrets weren't meant to be told But I found the cure to growing older

heart vs duty | T | 1165 | 1/1 | lukadrinette | royalty AU | holidaze | 1/1/2021

Luka had to make a choice. It shouldn't have been this hard.

Wherever Life Takes You | T | 48910 | 6/6 | lukadrinette + marigami | pacrim AU | mlbb21 | 1/2/2022

Everyone makes the decision to go to the military academy for different reasons. Marinette for her family's financial security. Adrien and Kagami for freedom. Alya to learn to fight. Luka to rebel against his family. Nino to just go somewhere else.

A wrench is thrown in all of their plans when Adrien and Marinette are handed the jewels that lead to the Miraculous, a jaeger with a history of death. But will they finally best the person behind the akumas, or will they fall to the same flaws as their predecessors?

knight, pawn, rook, queen | T | 3315 | 1/1 | lukadrigaminette | enemies AU | lagoon valentine’s day | 2/14/2022

A chessboard has four sides. Reducing this war to two factions is reductive.

#miraculous ladybug #lukadrinette #lukadrigaminette #polyamory #fanfiction #my writing #masterriver #adrigaminette #gabenathemilie

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ginger-and-mint · 3 years

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Hey, I'm wondering if you have any advice on writing kink stuff? Basically, it feels like I'm writing the same story repeatedly. Coming up with stuffing scenarios that both make sense, and aren't just retreads, is really hard. It probably doesn't help that a) I don't have much writing experience, b) my interests are really narrow, and c) I have no imagination, lol. How do you keep stuff fun and interesting? (Jsyk, I sent this to Tiny as well, I love both your blogs 😊)

Hey, anon! Thank you so much, I’m so glad you enjoy my and Tiny’s content and I’m flattered to be asked for advice! ♡ I have a lot of thoughts about this, so I’ll do my best to boil them down into something useful.  ^^

Since you mentioned being pretty new to writing, I broke up my advice into a few different “stages,” starting with things that are easy to implement and moving to things that might feel more manageable as you get more comfortable with writing. Under a cut because Real Heckin Long. 

Stage One — Don’t Sweat It

This might sound corny and unhelpful, but I genuinely think that especially when you’re first starting out, it’s best not to put pressure on yourself to write the world’s most original stories. Write to please your inner fiend and nobody else! If repeated versions of the same story continue to light your fire, there’s no shame in embracing that.

Doing this will honestly help you with originality in the long-term anyway, because you’re giving yourself the freedom to learn more about what specifics you really enjoy in kink writing. Later on, you can use that knowledge to put new twists on those specifics and invent new scenarios.

Stage Two — Stuffing Scenario Cheat Sheet

I completely agree that believable stuffing scenarios are really difficult to invent. What’s realistic is a matter of opinion of course, but for me, this is a quick breakdown of logical reasons for a character to overeat. If you’re getting tired of using the same justification in your fics, try picking something new from this list:

Accidental stuffing:

Character is distracted by something during the meal

Character eats so fast they don’t realize when they’re full

Character has been hungry for awhile and overdoes it when they finally get to eat

Reluctant intentional stuffing (motivated by external circumstances):

Character feels social pressure to keep eating **

The food will go to waste otherwise **

Eating contests / challenges **

The character is trying to bulk up

Enthusiastic intentional stuffing (because the character wants to):

Character just enjoys the feeling of being full

Character and/or their partner(s) have a stuffing kink

Character has temporary access to good food and is indulging while they can

Fantasy Shenanigans:

Side effects of being a magical creature (e.g. a werewolf eating too much for their human form to handle, a vampire needing to feed all at once, etc.)

Magic that causes a character to overeat (e.g. enchanted food, curses, potions, etc.)

Magic that requires a full stomach and/or extra energy to work (e.g. my di-mage spell mechanics, the antidote in this fic of Tiny’s, etc.)

[free space because fantasy lets you set the boundaries of what’s realistic, so your imagination is really the limit!]

** If you’re aiming for realism, I would be careful of these scenarios. In my opinion, they can be done believably, but often are not. Some things I would look out for:

Most foods can easily be stored for later, so if you want to use the “avoiding waste” trope, make sure that you’re either in a setting without access to refrigeration or that the food is something that genuinely wouldn’t keep until the next day (or at least would be way less tasty after a night in the fridge.)

Social pressure works best in scenarios with people that the to-be-stuffed character 1) doesn’t know very well and 2) wants to impress or keep face around (e.g. formal events, business dinners, first dates that involve food, meeting their partner’s family, etc.)

Loving friends, family, and partners don’t pressure or guilt people into overeating! Characters stuffing themselves because their loved ones are really insistent that they have to taste-test everything or act so disappointed because they went to all this work on some extravagant feast always ring at best false and at worst abusive to me. What kind of loving relationship is it if you don’t feel safe to say “no thanks, I’m full?” That’s not to say social pressure with loved ones can’t be done well, but it usually indicates some kind of character flaw (i.e. an inability to say no and/or a steamroller-y personality) that in my opinion, has to be acknowledged by the fic’s end if you want the tone to stay light and fluffy.

Again, this may just be my opinion, but eating contests only come across as realistic with certain character personalities and in certain contexts. Like yeah, I can believe that a himbo with YouTuber Energy would take on a hot wing eating challenge in front of all his bros, but not so much that an otherwise self-respecting character would drop everything to eat themselves sick because a friend randomly challenged them.

Stage Three — Change Up Other Elements When Using Similar Tropes 

Especially if you have narrow interests, it’s probably inevitable you’ll write same basic story structure over and over. I know I sure do! However, I would say that changing other elements of the narrative can give your writing an entirely different feel, turning it into a whole new story that will not feel like a simple retread to a reader.

One thing you can change up is setting. A lot of times kink writers will just plonk characters in the comfort of their own homes, which is valid — but setting hugely influences the atmosphere of a story, so the same Kink Plot will read really differently if it happens, say, at a campground or on a boat. Providing a rich setting can even become a feature of the kink itself. For example, setting your story at a lavish buffet could introduce an element of indulgence that hits you and/or readers differently than a story that involves casual takeout in the living room, even if the rest of the story is similar. Try bold settings! They’re fun!

Another element to vary is context. For example, the basic trope of “stress eating” would play out really differently if a character is about to go on an important mission vs. if they’re recovering from an emotionally difficult day; a story about about a character intentionally stuffing themselves will have a completely different flavor if they’ve been going hungry for awhile vs. they’ve been overeating all week; and so on. 

Finally, consider changing up the focus. An easy way to do this is to switch up whether you’re writing from the POV of the stuffed character or a caretaker. You can also focus on different details of the stuffing — for example, lingering on how delicious the food looks and tastes vs. how the character feels as their stomach fills vs. physical details like whether they’re getting bloated or grumbly.

Stage Four — Connect to Character or Plot

The most surefire way to make kink stories distinct is to give the story an additional purpose besides just being kinky. This doesn’t have to be some big, extravagant plot (although it certainly can be) — it can be a simple as writing a kink story the way you usually would, and just finding something within it that you can use to reveal an aspect of your character.

Start with an ordinary kink scenario and try to dive a little deeper. For example:

Say you want to write a story about stress eating. Okay — what is the character stressed about?

Maybe you come up with something relatively simple and generic, like school. Okay, what about this character makes them so likely to be stressed out by school? Are they a perfectionist? Are they facing a lot of pressure from their family? Do they have a goal that requires excellent grades? Have they struggled with this subject in the past?

Let’s say you decide to go with perfectionism. Now, what scenes can you use to show this struggle? And optionally, can you give the character some kind of resolution by the story’s end?

And there you go! Your fic now not only has kink, but also shows how your character reacts in a certain situation.

Character especially is a treasure trove of uniqueness, in my opinion, because well-developed characters react differently to the same scenario. Stories feel more original because even if a reader has read this exact same plot before, they will not have seen how this particular person handles it. So one of the best ways to make fics distinct is to spend time developing your characters!

If the goal is to simply write solid distinct kinky stories, trying to create detailed plot is more work with lower return than investing in your characters, if you ask me. You have to enjoy the process of creating plots itself for it to be worth it. If that’s something you’re interested in, I have a whole load more thoughts about that -- but since this is already incredibly long, I’ll save that for a separate ramble if anyone is specifically interested.

---

I hope something in this huge infodump is helpful to you! Some of it may sound intimidating if you’re just starting out with kink writing, but it’s absolutely all something that can be worked up to. Please feel free to ask any follow-up questions if stuff I’ve written doesn’t make sense. Good luck with your writing, anon, and thanks for giving me an excuse to just go off. ^^’ ♡

#happy nice things #asks

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highfaelucien · 3 years

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I completely agree with how you feel towards azriel. Thinking about azriel’s character now vs how I used to view him during acomaf times is just... sad and so so so much more complex. Part of me still wants to love him for the character that was presented to us in acomaf and other small good moments, like his friendship with nesta. And then the other part of me is disgusted, disappointed, and honestly kind of terrified of who he may become if sjm allows him to continue acting predatorily/toxic. The whole mor/az situation really fucked me up. As someone who is also a lesbian and an abuse survivor, it broke my heart to watch the situation unfold in acowar. It still hurts seeing many readers (and sometimes even sjm) take az’s side and paint mor as some sort of liar/two faced character that is playing everyone. I kept thinking that things would be fixed in future books, but instead az has grown worse and mor was, once again, sidelined and written out as a character. And honestly... as much as I love the idea of gwyn x azriel ... I think his books would need a lot more focus on his own recovery/growth and not center on a romantic relationship. If anything, I hope it’s written as friends to lovers so az has a better way of interacting and forming relationships with women. Because right now... well, that shit is borderline predatory and isn’t coming across well. And I really really do not want that for him. Basically, azriel deserves a better arc than what has been written for him. I miss him :( he used to be a character that made me feel safe and now :/ idk anymore

I'm going to quote parts of this/chop it up and reply to them a chunk at a time. because there's a lot going on here and I want to try and reply to as much as I can because I resonate with.....all of it. Please forgive me for the length of this.

I completely agree with how you feel towards azriel. Thinking about azriel’s character now vs how I used to view him during acomaf times is just... sad and so so so much more complex.

He feels like a different character? There was always an anger simmering under the calm surface, we knew that. But it was an anger born of love, deep down, and the desire to protect his family, and his court, at the expense of himself. Az was always the first to volunteer himself for dangerous missions, to spare the others.

Now that anger is directed at his family, and at the world, for not giving him what he feels he 'deserves'. That has NEVER been Azriel. Azriel's deepest issues and insecurities have always stemmed from the feeling of being unworthy, and undeserving of anything.

She's just made him into......Every other dude in this series tbh. Snarling, and possessive, and wanting to fuck anything in a skirt that moves.

Azriel was actually somewhat of an original, complex character initially. It's unusual that we see trauma affect men in the way it did Az. Usually it makes them angry, and vengeful, and eager to prove they are the alpha etc. Seeing them withdraw, and think less of themselves/that they're unworthy is something not explored often enough. But bye bye nuance hello #Drama.

Part of me still wants to love him for the character that was presented to us in acomaf and other small good moments, like his friendship with nesta.

I feel this. I found a lot of comfort in Az's character. Particularly the way he reacted with Mor. I was a big fan of their relationship, and I wrote a few 'missing scenes' style fics in the gap between ACOMAF and ACOWAR. One of them was where Az went to her when she had pushed everyone else away, including Cassian, and comforted and calmed her.

I hate that Maas took that away from Mor. I hate that Az no longer does that for her. I hate that Az was the one to betray her along with Rhys and bring her abuser into her safe space behind her back. I hate that he is no longer a symbol of calm, stable, dependable comfort and support for Mor, but is instead a threat. I HATE it.

Every now and then Az has lovely, gentle moments - his friendship with Nesta is a good example, and something I hoped we'd see. But also quieter times with Rhys, and their similarities being explored. And I adored the flying lessons with Feyre in ACOWAR, and the training he did with Cassian and the others in ACOFS.

But then she goes and twists him and does something else that just makes me want to fucking scream. Like the High Lord scene where he 'frightened' Mor. And his entire POV chapter which is frankly fucking gross.

And then the other part of me is disgusted, disappointed, and honestly kind of terrified of who he may become if sjm allows him to continue acting predatorily/toxic.

I agree.

I don't know how she can write a series that explores the effects of emotional abuse so well with Feyre and Tamlin...And then write what she did with Az?

The possession to a traumatised, still impressionable and desperate young woman, who likely finds the same comfort and safety in him that Mor did. Before that got shot to fucking pieces.

He sounds like a whiny toddler 'Cassian has a mate, and Rhys has a mate, where is mine!?!?!?!?' I DESERVE Elain, because I'm your brother and you guys have her sisters and what the FUCK. Who let that shit get published holy mother of god.

It's just...It's so unhealthy? Like, not even talking ship wars here (which I'm aware are rampant, and which I'm trying my best to stay away from). But that just.

How can that ever be a healthy foundation for a relationship? A man who thinks that he deserves, not only to be in a relationship with her, but to be bonded to her. Not because of HER, not because of who she is, or how she makes him feel. No. Purely because her sisters are mated to his brothers?

The whole thing made me feel so uncomfortable. It's predatory and toxic, just as you said. It's not right, it's not fair. Forget alliances and Lucien, even if none of that was a factor, that sort of thinking is still not right. And it's completely unfair to Elain.

But it also just. It didn't read like Azriel. The first part, where he struggles to sleep, and pushes himself until he passes out, and the insight that his shadows are basically hovering beside him screaming SELF CARE YOU DUMB BITCH at all times was very pleasing.

And the part where he goes to Clotho and leaves an anonymous gift for Gwyn. No fanfair. No audience. No pressure on either of them to react/perform. That felt like Az, too.

But everything in the middle. Everything with Elain, was just...Gross and out of character. And this is not because I dislike E/riel as a ship. I could get on board with it, tbh, if it wasn't written the way it was.

But it's not about ships, for me. It's just. Everything felt out of character. The predatory way he was with her. The fact he lies awake and gets himself off to fantasies of her. How apparently quickly he was aroused by putting a necklace on her. Idk, maybe it's my ace ignorance, but that doesn't sound normal/healthy to me.

Nor does him having to leave a room because he can scent her mating bond with Lucien. Or not being able to control himself to sit and eat dinner with her?

This is the same dude who has, apparently, been in love with Mor for 500 solid years, and who never did a damned thing about it. Who always kept himself in check. Even while she's had other lovers. But he can't control himself through one dinner with Elain?

It just. It doesn't feel like him. It feels like...Honestly not even Cassian. It feels like Tamlin on horny, predatory steroids. And that's not something I ever wanted to see from Azriel's POVs.

She could have explored a darker side to him without making it sexual? And misogynistic. And having him treating Elain as little more than a fucking object that he feels entitled to because 'everyone else got one, where's mine?'. What the FUCK???

The more I write it the more angry I get.

Because SJM has consistently put Az in the position of saving women when they were in danger? He was the one who found Mor near death at Autumn. He was the one who rescued Gwyn from her attackers during the war. He was the one to retrieve Elain when she was taken.

She always puts him in this position and, for better or worse, presents him as a safety figure for these women. The first person who they saw come for them, and fight for them, and protect them.

And on the inside she makes him this vile, predatory monster who just thinks constantly about fucking them? Who isn't actually safe at all?? It's sad. And it's infuriating. Because this isn't about ships anymore. This is about female survivors who have an apparent safe person who's presented as almost as dangerous as the people who attacked them in the first place. And that makes me feel so sick and sad that we've gotten here.

It still hurts seeing many readers (and sometimes even sjm) take az’s side and paint mor as some sort of liar/two faced character that is playing everyone. I kept thinking that things would be fixed in future books, but instead az has grown worse and mor was, once again, sidelined and written out as a character.

This is yet another vile thing SJM has done to queer readers with this whole fiasco. Because it puts me in a position where I want to call out her shitty writing, and what she's done to Mor - sidelining her as soon as she became queer. Undermining her power and her strength. Undermining her role as the survivor to look up to. Saying her power is truth but then making her seem like a liar. Which is all shitty, shitty, shitting writing.

But I'm also a queer person. And I will always always ALWAYS want to defend a queer person's right to remain closeted. Regardless of their reasons for doing so. But in this case it's a concern for their safety/a fear of how those around them will react. And I will NEVER condemn that. I will never say Az is suffering more than Mor for her being closeted. I will never call Mor a liar/a manipulator/two-faced when all she's doing is trying to survive.

I WILL condemn SJM for making this a scenario. For putting homophobia in her world purely to cause pain for queer characters, and drama for her straight ones. And for sidelining Mor as soon as she can't write graphic scenes with her fucking men because now she's a lesbian so we best get her off the page so the guys can get their cocks out some more.

And honestly... as much as I love the idea of gwyn x azriel ... I think his books would need a lot more focus on his own recovery/growth and not center on a romantic relationship. If anything, I hope it’s written as friends to lovers so az has a better way of interacting and forming relationships with women. Because right now... well, that shit is borderline predatory and isn’t coming across well. And I really really do not want that for him.

This is going to sound sarcastic but I actually mean it fully and completely genuinely: 95% of the drama inducing problems in this series could be fixed with some fucking therapy.

But I agree with you. I think it's high time Azriel worked on his own issues. Even if they've apparently made a complete 180 from what they were in ACOMAF.

I...Like the concept of Gwyn/Azriel, but I'm not sold on the ship. Not with the way Maas has been writing Azriel lately. That kind of man shouldn't be with any woman right now. But especially not a rape survivor who sees him as one of the first men she's been able to trust in a long time.

Basically, azriel deserves a better arc than what has been written for him. I miss him :( he used to be a character that made me feel safe and now :/ idk anymore

"he used to be a character that made me feel safe" - This shit hit me like a tonne of bricks because this is EXACTLY how I feel about Az, too. You just managed to say it in a few words instead of 12 pages of rambling, like I do.

And I think this was intention. Azriel was presented as a very dependable character. He rescued Mor, and was respectful enough to keep his distance, despite his feelings, for 500 fucking years. Because he didn't think she was ready/interested.

He had a very calm, and calming air about him. Always in control of himself. Without the expected bursts of aggression and temper we'd seen from...Every other male character in this series. He was stable, and solid, and that was comforting. An anchor. And someone who would quietly, and without fuss, seek out Mor/others when they needed someone to talk to or comfort him.

That was a very soothing, reassuring presence in the book, I felt. And now she's made him seem...volatile, and unstable. With this dangerous anger that he can't control, that he uses not to protect, but to intimidate, and to fuel his entitlement and desires.

it's just sad. It's sad that she's taken this away from Mor, but also from other survivors who found comfort and safety in Az. Because I'm sure we weren't alone in that regard.

I miss him. And I mourn the character he was, and feel anger for the character he should have been. but instead he's become yet another possessive, entitled, snarling cardboard cutout dude like...everyone else.

And I ache for the Az/Mor dynamic that we had in ACOMAF. Even without it becoming romantic, there was no reason for that to be destroyed/ruined.

She could have written it that Az is the only one who knows about her sexuality, and that he pretends he's still in love with her as a shield/buffer, so no one looks too closely/to protect her and make her feel comfortable.

Instead she turned it into a soap opera style drama. And wrote it almost as though her sexuality was her cheating on him? Denying him what he deserved. And now she's just...just pussyfooting around it. And apparently he's just. Just moved on. Without them having any kind of conversation or closure at all. He just wanks off to the thought of Elain instead of Mor, now, problem solved /s

I miss what they were. I miss what he was to Mor. I miss when she had that support system, and that safety net. I miss when he protected her. And looked out for her. And understood her in a way that no one else, not even Rhys, did.

Mor deserved that. Azriel deserved that. WE deserved that. And she nuked it for some fucking twisted drama that punishes a lesbian because a man is thirsting after her. it's a fucking disgrace. I'm so fucking done with SJM, y'all. So fucking done.

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platypuskenny · 3 years

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Can I get more f that Kenny’s physiology with his alter egos? I’m rlly interested in that

(assuming this means psychology, as a follow up to this post)

i’ve put it off cuz i’ve been busy with other stuff but i‘m really glad i got this ask cuz i love kenny and I love thinking about them in the context of their two alter egos!

CW: discussion of child abuse and neglect, including inexplicit discussion of child sexuality. also a lot of discussion of The Whole Kenny Death Thing. also spoilers for the stick of truth if you haven’t played it!

kenny’s been treated a lot more seriously in recent seasons, with a shift in character to be a lot more mature as well, and it’s a development that makes a lot of sense in the context of “the characters have undergone A Lot and it’s really shaped their personalities because they’re at a stage when their brain is still very soft and malleable and susceptible to trauma.”

the addition of karen in “the poor kid” seems to have shaken up the depiction of the mccormicks a lot. in earlier seasons, kenny was more passive about his home situation, or at least went out of his way to ignore them, (like in “best friends forever” when he plays on his PSP and leaves the house while his parents fight). there are early scenes where he does have some responsibility to his family (i.e. trying to win a can of food for them in “starvin marvin”) but usually he’s just depicted as a kid trying to live through a tough situation. though his “willing to do anything for money even if it’s deeply upsetting, depraved, or outright deadly” character trait from “fat camp” kind of tracks with this understanding that he prioritizes financial security over his personal well-being.

however, ever since karen was added to the show, kenny’s been depicted as a much more responsible and often even tragic figure. his parents are too caught up in their own shit to address their children’s emotional needs, and kevin sadly gets caught up in their violence as well in “the poor kid” (he’s also vaguely implied to be developmentally disabled in the few scenes he speaks up but that’s mostly speculation). because of this, kenny ends up being karen’s main caretaker - holding her close when she’s distressed at losing her parents, buying her a doll, etc.

kenny’s situation is a textbook example of parentification. he ends up taking care of karen, at least emotionally, because his parents and brother are unable to do so. he also becomes the breadwinner in “the city part of town” as soon as he gets the chance. this is a really unhealthy scenario that a lot of children in poverty, especially older siblings, see themselves in. it can result in the child not knowing their true place in a family that takes them for granted, and thus not considering their own needs and/or feeling shame if they need help because they’re so used to putting everybody before them. i think this tracks with kenny being “the quiet one” and rarely asking for anything.

that’s not even getting into the constant death and the fact he spent so much of his life not even understanding why he was doomed to constantly die in horrible painful ways, and for nobody else to remember that he even died to begin with. (kind of symbolic of the neglected child, huh?)

this brings us to mysterion and princess kenny. in both the superhero game and the fantasy game, you’ll notice kenny is the one who tends to get the most involved, with the only exception being possibly cartman, who could be the topic of a whole other essay on identity issues. mysterion is the one superhero with a real power who exists outside of their superhero game (besides the kewn, whose superhero persona is entirely self-motivated anyway), and princess kenny gets so defensive of her identity that she betrays her friends in both the trilogy and the game. kenny also talks about lady mccormick in the third person in the first black friday episode, and i don’t know if any other characters speak about their personas in that way. so kenny intentionally places more distance between his personas and himself than the other kids do with their personas.

therefore, i see mysterion and princess kenny as how kenny copes with his deeply repressed psychological issues. it’s a way to compartmentalize his feelings towards his constant suffering and the burden his family inadvertently placed on him by developing these two identities. one embraces his role as caretaker to the degree of becoming a superhero, and the other rejects it in favor of being entirely doted upon. (some people have read the prominence of roles as signs of a dissociative disorder, and i can see that with this context, but i don’t know if it’s really a perfect fit for any specific disorder, especially when there’s little information on kenny’s consciousness when it comes to these personas.)

mysterion is more obviously a tool for kenny to express his discontent with his town. in his first appearance, he states, “i could no longer sit by and watch as my city became a cesspool of crime,” which tracks with his earlier characterization as reluctantly accepting his family’s poverty despite constantly suffering. (plus i’m pretty sure several of kenny’s deaths were the result of crimes.) he refuses to be unmasked because he “would stop being a symbol,” and only does so in order to quell the unrest that his mystery has provoked. that "symbol" wording suggests that mysterion is an extreme version of kenny's self-sacrificing lifestyle to the point where he defines himself as a symbol of justice and hope, not a person. kenny himself is also pretty quiet and secretive, but more because nobody cares about him and he’s kind of afraid of getting killed any second. mysterion’s secret persona is something bold, powerful, and masculine. he is physically adept in a way we don’t see kenny behave, and much more reasonable and cautious about what’s best for him and humanity. (a good visual of this to contrast with kenny is the “mysterion re-rising” animation in the fractured but whole, where he consciously rejects the chance to go to the heaven full of naked women that kenny loves because he has to return to battle.)

mysterion is also a way for kenny to reclaim his "curse” and use it for good. as mysterion, he uses death (albeit reluctantly) to get out of tough situations and save his friends. in video games like fractured but whole and phone destroyer, mysterion’s ability to exist as a ghost and revive himself is a gameplay mechanic. this self-sacrificial personality trait has shown up in earlier seasons, and he kills himself for the good of the community/world/etc in “cartman’s mom is still a dirty slut,” the movie, and “jewbilee.” but he’s not nearly as interested in world issues unless he’s under pressure to care. (for example: he does join the workers’ strike in “bike parade,” but he’s not very passionate about it and doesn’t even care about the issue until his dad takes him to a union meeting.) kenny’s good with solving short-term issues while mysterion worries about the deeper, long-term problems with the town.

this brings us to mysterion and the mccormicks. when we see mysterion’s interactions with karen, we see how mysterion represents kenny’s responsibilities towards her. mysterion is able to offer karen elaborate, heartfelt emotional support, and guarantee that he’ll always be there for her. he also beats up a girl who bullies her and threatens anybody else who thinks about hurting her - more on that aggressive instinct down below. while mysterion’s identity is known to his friends and the rest of the town, it’s not known to karen, who sees him as a guardian angel. presumably, this is so mysterion can remain a symbol of hope to her, just like he is to the town, and so karen feels like there’s people in the world who care about her besides her brother. however, this does backfire in the fractured but whole DLC where she laments how her brother doesn’t seem to spend time with her, which embarrasses mysterion as he promises to tell him to be there for her more often. this implies that kenny gets so wrapped up in being mysterion that he forgets that he has a duty to karen as kenny as well, further indicating that mysterion is a way to cope with the tragic responsibility of caring for a sibling not much younger than he is.

during the superhero trilogy, kenny also uses mysterion to question his parents about their cult meetings, something that shook him so badly when he learned about it that he broke character. mysterion also told his parents to be nicer to the kids, not beat each other up, pay their kids allowances, and not smoke. it seems that mysterion is able to approach kenny’s parents about serious issues while kenny himself mostly stays out of their business - possibly out of fear? (kenny’s more confrontational in later seasons, though - flipping off his dad in “bike parade,” for example.)

on a similar note, mysterion is way more openly angry and violent than kenny is, especially when it comes to the death curse, which he openly complains about in a way kenny himself never did. compare kenny complaining about stan ignoring his deaths in “cherokee hair tampons,” which only gets further ignored, and mysterion complaining about it in graphic detail in “coon vs coon and friends,” even killing himself in front of his friends, and understandably scaring the shit out of them. mysterion also gets really protective of karen, violently so, as seen with the girl he beats up in “the poor kid” and his distrust when the vampires befriend her in the “from dusk til casa bonita” DLC. such a mysterion is way more passionate and loud about justice and direct action while kenny is more resigned, and most of his good deeds are unknown to the public. if kenny has embraced this caretaker role, it makes sense that he vents his repressed anger through mysterion, especially if you take it in the context of dissociation - kenny can’t handle dwelling on his shitty life all the time, so mysterion holds that anger and finds a way to cope with it by trying to fix everything around them, including kenny’s home life.

princess kenny is very opposite mysterion in many ways. most obviously, she’s a girl. kenny’s relationship with gender is something i think about a lot in light of PK. “tweek vs craig” depicted him as the only boy in home ec, and he was thrilled because it was the safe alternative to the deadly shop class. i think that, regardless of your headcanon for kenny’s gender (i personally see them as feminine nonbinary - i’m mostly using “he” pronouns in this essay strictly for recognition’s sake and because i’m mostly talking about the show’s depiction of kenny), he sees femininity as safe and comforting, but nevertheless very powerful. (remember that his mother, while not super feminine, is a very outspoken and aggressive woman who calls stuart out on his shit constantly.) and what’s a better combination of femininity and power than a magical girl?

also one thing i want to note real quick is that karen still refers to kenny as her sister in the stick of truth despite not being super involved in their game which i personally choose to read as Trans Rights Subtext

this is how we get lady mccormick / princess kenny, who is largely a passive character during the black friday trilogy, sitting upon her throne and cutely commenting on the surroundings while stan translates for her. then when sony takes her in, she becomes the star of her own show, a magical japanese princess who doesn’t take shit from cartman or his army and gets whatever she wants because she’s a cute little girl and now she gets to be protected and doted upon! also she speaks japanese and is not muffled in the slightest despite wearing her parka....symbolism? and really interestingly is that when she supposedly dies, she brushes herself off and immediately revives, declaring that she’s okay. in kenny’s feminine fantasy, she doesn’t suffer when she dies, and revives without any mess at all. princess kenny is always gonna be okay!

PK is also very flirty and overly sexual. it’s no secret that kenny is very interested in and knowledgeable of sex. he also absolutely worships women’s bodies, as seen with his views of heaven and that whole plot of “major boobage.” i don’t even read this as lust, because he’s ten, but sheer fascination with sex. maybe it plays into that whole “growing up too fast” concept where he tries to indulge in the “fun” parts of adulthood to make up for the exhaustion of caregiving, but this has been a thing since before kenny was depicted as a real caregiver so IDK.

anyway, i think PK is also a way for kenny to experiment with flirting and sex, particularly with other boys. she uses her coyness and, in the games, her bare chest to entice boys. her cuteness also attracts grown men in “titties and dragons” which goes largely unremarked upon, which is a bit uncomfortable but still works with the idea that she’s the most “lovable” form of kenny. she also apparently thinks the new kid is “cute.” iit’s really funny to me how kenny is depicted as interested in strictly girls while princess kenny only focuses on boys, which could support the idea that PK is a separate entity from kenny, or that kenny just needs to figure himself out. either way, i imagine kenny finds some thrill in getting men to pay attention to them when their male friends often treat her as superfluous, and even then it often involves objectifying herself (this also tracks with their behavior in “fat camp”). it’s kind of sad if you think about it.

in the climax of the stick of truth, princess kenny has her own in-depth backstory, where she was an orc/elf rejected by both the elves and humans. i think this reflects kenny’s feeling of being “othered” as non-human (since this game chronologically comes after the superhero trilogy) and just generally not feeling welcome among their friends unless they need her. there may also be some parallels between her friends denying her the right to be a princess and kenny’s friends refusing to believe in his immortality. when she rebels against her friends choosing the stick over friendship, it’s another way for kenny to cope with their mixed-to-negative feelings about their friends. so while PK is a figure to be doted on, she’s still probably more gutsy than the kenny we usually know.

however, PK is not entirely selfish or apathetic about the world around her. in the opening of “a song of ass and fire,” her inner monologue explains her choice to deflect to the PS4 side as the side she believes “is best for all.” she also laments that everybody, including her parents, will be fighting on black friday. it seems that PK dreads the mere idea of war, which contradicts mysterion’s tendency to use violence as a means to protect others. PK still uses her adorableness to help her team, and only asks that they accept her, which really isn’t much. it’s just when she, you know, becomes a nazi zombie and puts the world in danger because she’s so pissed about not being accepted for who she is.

in my original post, i used the freudian personality theory to explain these three personas, which i regret because i fucking hate freud and he’s heavily responsible for modern consumerism and planned obsolescence. but the basic concepts of the id, ego, and superego do kind of illustrate what i’m getting at with these guys. i assigned princess kenny as the id, because she’s more about self-gratification and getting what she thinks she deserves as well as a tendency towards sexual gratification, and mysterion as the superego (hehe get it super) because of his strong inclination towards morality. however, this isn’t that black-and-white, as princess kenny has some moral considerations and mysterion has violent impulses (the “aggressive instinct”) that are more easily attributed to the id. nevertheless, it seems that kenny is still the balance between these exaggerated personas, and when he expresses attitudes similar to theirs, they are far more downplayed due to the necessities of his situation as a caretaker and an underappreciated friend. kind of makes you wonder if/how the attitudes of mysterion and princess kenny will manifest in him when he’s older.

#kenny mccormick #princess kenny #mysterion #south park #LONG POST #kenny #answers #my-nostalgia-is-horror #analysis

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metanoiamorii · 3 years

Text

❛Maybe we are not meant to be, not yet. Maybe we’re stars, waiting to collide in another life.❜

♧ Title: Be Still My Foolish Heart [BSMFH]

♧ Status: Brainstorming & Drafting

♧ Point of View: Third

♧ Genre: Fantasy, Action, Drama, Romance

♧ Warnings: Violence, War, Death of major and minor characters, nudity, past abuse, generational trauma, generational healing, racism, transphobia, homophobia, character corruption arcs, ethics vs morals, star crossed lovers, tragic endings, codependent and complicated relationships.

♧ Featuring: Diverse LGBTQ+ characters, enemies to friends to allies to lovers slowburn, complex and complicated characters, fantasy religions, plenty of symbolism, complex world building, ethics vs morals, a whole lot of moral grey can be fit into this bad boy, character redemption and corruption arcs, some found family, learning to separate one from their family's trouble and taking control of their life, soulmate trope, setting the groundwork for future generations.

♧ Setting: An Ancient Chinese inspired, fantasy setting

♧ Synopsis:

In Oidien there has always been a defined split against the Heavens and Ghost City. No one can remember what sparked the feud between them, it's possible after all these years of the fighting and endless war... they don't even remember themselves. They know it's tradition to keep fighting, to ensure the cycle of violence continues. So that is what they do; they keep fighting.

In recent years, the King of Ghost City has drawn back from the fields off battles and distants himself from politics. He leaves the affairs in his eldest children: Lianhauzi holds the crown, Lutaizi knows his way around the court, Suming’qiu is gifted with the army, and Taixuan is there to ensure everyone takes a break, to take care of her family.

A fight against children is how the Heavens view it... To their surprise, these children are more than gifted than their father. This isn't a game to them, it's a livelihood. They know how to secure a victory within minimum casualties, and they know how to balance one another's weakness.

The Heavens cannot take another loss. No matter how many battles they have lost, they have always managed to win this war. Each time. But on this account? They're afraid to admit they've been beat. So they come to a resolution: they have to take out one of the links. Take out one and the rest should crumble.

It's...

Not as easy as one would imagine. Or so their spies in court relay. The four know to keep their distance in public, and if they meet in private no one knows. They handpick their servants carefully, and they ensure each servant knows their tasks and do not overstep. They've taken every precaution necessary.

Even when it works, when one of their spies is welcomed inside that well guarded, hidden court... no one expects the game of cat and mouse to transpire. Their spy is humored until she's willing to change her allegiance and eventually is brought into the family by marriage... In the very least, she offers the weakest link to exploit to destroy the family.

♧ Tease

Of all I have done,

Forgettable they to none;

Has it now begun?

No, not forgiveness.

That I would never ask for, love.

I wish, regret comes.

You know as I do,

Games I once played, have turned you,

A pretty face blue.

I made no mistake,

You know as I do, the stakes

Required; played.

Once, for you, my rule

To survive, I broke, for you;

That forsaken dual.

My conscious it haunts;

My sleep, in dreams it will taunts

And it brings your scorn.

Pour me a wine glass,

For my sanity to last

And my wrath? To trap.

For me, preform; dance

Distract me with your nice laugh

Until I collapse.

And leave, in silence,

See to it, quiet your lips

Of the truth won't slip.

Allow me my sleep,

Don't be cruel, do not slight, cheat

You ugly she-beast.

A single night, peace,

That is all I ask for, please...

Better, just leave.

I have discovered,

Regret? No, I now confessed

Not for you, coward.

♧ Excerpt:

Her booted feet pattered against the puddles of rain droplets as she hugged the umbrella close to her shoulder, protecting herself from the storm. In a hurry she rounded the corner, following after the image of a soaked cat that had caught her attention and ran before she could approach it properly. It had been the first time in awhile since she had taken to sprinting, to follow the cat. Around the corner Xihuli came, brought to an abrupt halt when she turned into another person, as insane as she was to be out in the midst of a storm.

Her umbrella clattered to the floor, dropped as she staggered back a pace. The bright red silk was out of place, spinning upon the rain soaked ground. She gained her footing, no longer staggering to place distance between them. Her head threw back, an angry look quick to find purchase upon her features. Having yet to reach for her umbrella, the rain begun to soak the bright red and white silks she wore, drenched and sticking to her figure. "Watch—"

Her protests are so abruptly cut off. She watches the man tilt back his own umbrella, dark as the stormy sky with red spider lilies imprinted upon the fabric; the hanging tassels brush against his form, parting to expose his face. A youthful face that should have been smiling, with those eyes— so red to match the spider lilies upon his umbrella— staring at her as if she were a lesser being. The umbrella sits back upon his shoulder, head tilted forward with his chin forward, a sign he was in fact superior to her.

"Don't you know better, Zhuque?" The tone he speaks in, it's unlike that rambunctious voice he's known for, full of laughter that becomes too obnoxious for the ears. How serious it is, no jest spoken, no room for his games. He stares her down, staring through the dangling tassels of his umbrella. And how unkind that look is, a look that's no better than a wolf staring at a lamb. "You should never be out so late."

The two men, another prince and his own dog. Wine and lilac gives him away, wearing the golden lotus crown in his hair. Face unfriendly, a natural scowl he had been born with. He stands beneath the umbrella held above his head, keeping him dry from the rain. Held by that fucking bastard, smug and vain, with the bones acting as hair pins. He's uncaring if he gets wet, of course he is. When he controls the ocean why would he care about a little storm?

Lianhauzi pulls back his hood as he now stands blocking the last exit, Lutaizi and An Huli keeping the woman pinned in. He takes a step forward, Xieyuan moves with him, holding the umbrella in place. When he steps forward they all watch Xihuli push herself back, struggling to press her back into the wall, able to stare in each direction where one was coming from. "The fear in your eyes betray you... You know why we are here."

♧ Characters:

Love Interests

Shenguai Suming’qiu; Heizhao-jun

Amab • Agender • He/Him • Asexual • Reciproromantic

The Fourth Master of the Phantom Palace; that has earned the name of Black Sinister Claws. Said to be cursed from birth, as he has come to age and stepped into the politics and warfare, he has come to be their lucky charm. A conniving young man with a sharp intellect, and a shaper wit. For his family, he has taken up the role as master of intelligence and handles all correspondence, planning, and diplomacy. As a front, he appears an apathetic man, detached and void of all emotions, only hellbent on his work; only his siblings and a selected handful are able to see another side of him.

Yi Xianzi; Courtesy Name Ke’ai

Afab • Genderfluid • She/They • Pansexual • Demiromantic

The Young Mistress of the Yi Manor is a woman with high and strong morals, and lives to maintain peace for the Heavens, and secure a future for the younger generations. She bears conflicted emotions of supporting her mistress’ less than moral ambition, but often does not speak of them and turns a blind eye instead; she tries to justify these actions for the greater good, despite knowing better. Often at times, she is torn between her loyalty to her household, and her own sense of justice and morality.

━━━━━━━━━━

Phantom Paradise

Shenguai Bixie’e; Guiwang

Amab • Nonbinary • He/They • Pansexual • Apothiromantic

The King of Ghost City. Despite years and generations of war with the Heavens, he remains undefeated and stays alive. Defying the odds, many believe he is unkillable, and quite well, untouchable. He has retired, for the most part, from the battlefield, and remains within the Phantom Palace, allowing his children to helm the war. He spends his time with his concubines, or with his council. Few see his face, fewer are able to gain an audience with him.

Shenguai Lutaizi; Heige-jun

Transmasc • Genderfluid • He/They • Omnisexual • Demi-Homoromantic

The unorthodox First Master of the Phantom Palace; that has earned the name of the Lord of the Black Song. First in line to the throne, he has conceded his right to it, and would concede his own royalty if not for his siblings. Despite being a Prince of Ghost City, he is nothing like his father. Carefree and reckless, he would prefer to spend his days drinking, goofing off, and living life to the fullest, uncaring of a familia grudge that makes little sense to him.

Shenguai Taixuan; Duandaojian-jun

Transfem • Nonbinary • She/They • Demisexual • Panromantic

The Second Master of the Phantom Palace; that has earned the name of the Princess With A Broken Blade. She takes greatly after her elder brother, and refuses to partake in a war that has not personally done her wrong. Despite her heritage, she is a woman with a strong sense of justice, morals, and honour. She protects her family from harm, and she will not turn away someone in need, no matter their origins. Opposed to being a sister and a daughter in her family, she fills the role of mother and acts as the woman of the household.

Shenguai Lianhauzi; Baoli’jífeng-jun

Amab • Agender • He/They • Asexual • Akioromantic

The Third Master of the Phantom Palace; that has earned the name of the Violent Tempest. Pressed by his elder siblings, he has taken up as their father’s heir to the throne; the Crowned Prince. He is known for his bad temper and strict nature. At heart, he has good intentions, he lacks the best judgement to execute his intentions.

Shenguai Kuangre Ai Du De; Dubo'mogui-jun

Amab • Genderfluid • They/He/She • Pansexual • Cupioromantic

The Sixth Master of the Phantom Palace; that has earned the title of the Gambling Demon. He is a man unaffected by grudges, politics, responsibilities. He prefers to take a page from his brother, Lutaizi’s, book and spend his time enjoying life to its fullest. He is very much a hedonist, and a compulsive gambler. Everyone he meets, he is obligated to gamble with them, at least once. The catch? He’s capricious, he’s erratic, and he will always change the game and stakes with every person.

Shenguai Jiaxiu; Mei-jun

Amab • Genderfluid • He/She/They • Pansexual • Frayromantic

The Seventh Master of the Phantom Palace; that has earned the name of the Beauty Lord. Arrogant and narcissistic, he is a very conceited man. He enjoys simple flattery and having others fawn over him, being the center of attention. Out of admiration he has taken after his brother, Suming’qiu’s, footsteps and assists him with his tasks. Himself, he carries out the more… darker duties called for, and gathering information; assassinations and spying tends to be his expertise.

━━━━━━━━━━

The Four Calamities

An Huli; Chui Feihong

Transfem • Agender • She/They • Homosexual • Homoromantic

Little Fox, as she’s called, is the favored of Prince Lutaizi, and the oldest of the Great Calamities. She is a woman who knows what she desires, what she is determined to do, and she refuses to allow anything or anyone to stand in her way. She comes off to be blunt, spiteful, angry; a she-devil, some claim in kinder terms than a bitch. Ahead of her time, she refuses to hide herself behind a mask, to be perceived as a gentle woman when, in truth, she is a walking storm, and for that, many frown upon her.

He Ruxie; Hei Xieyuan

Amab • Agender • He/They • Demisexual • Gyneromantic

Lord Black Water, as he is called, is the favored of Prince Lianhauzi, and the second of the Great Calamities. Formally a scholar in his past life, he experienced a string of bad luck, costing him his family, his wife, his daughter, his livelihood, his freedom, and soon his sanity. When he perished in his mortal life, he returned as a malicious spirit, and soon came into the service of the Shenguai family and serves loyally and viciously

Da Chen; Nitu Guiguai

Transfem • Nonbinary • They/She • Asexual • Demiromantic

The Enlighted One, as they are called, are the favored of Princess Taixuan, and is the third of the Great Calamities. In their previous life, they lived the life of an honest priest, surrounded by corruption and sin. When they met their end, their resentment for their peers remained and thus they rose to power to root out the corruption and seek retribution. Of the four, they are the amicable. They often forgo emotions and act only in rationality. Their mind is never clouded, and each act they make are in good conscious. Good will is shown to those that live an honest life, no matter their origins; ruin is shown to those are decide to live a dishonest life.

Wusi Linghun; Bai Wulian

Closeted Transmasc • Agender • He/They • Akiosexual • Demi-Akioromantic

The White Devil, as he is called, is the favored of Prince Suming’qiu, and the youngest of the Great Calamities. Formally a young lord in the Heavens, he turned his back on a betrothed he held no affection for. Openly, he cast aside his previous life, to serve the Shenguai family, and became a quick aid to the Fourth Prince. He is said to be two-faced, in some encounters being ruthless and apathetic, and other times he is genuine and compassionate; a toss up upon which side someone will see when their paths cross with him.

━━━━━━━━━━

The Heavenly Host

Meng Zhang; Courtesy Name Amnizha

Transfem • She/Her • Demisexual • Demiromantic

The First Master of Dongbu, and the acting Qinglong. Kindness is the one rule she lives by: kindness to her family, kindness to her allies, kindness to a stranger, kindness to her foes. She sees no reason to rule with fear and hatred, and actively will not promote negative emotions. She is a stern and serious woman, she takes pride in her knowledge, her power, and securing the truth. Behind closed doors, she opposes Xihuli and the Emperor, knowing both have secrets they would prefer to keep buried, in public she maintains an appearance of being a close ally.

Ling Guang; Courtesy Name Xihuli

Cis-female • She/Her • Demisexual • Apothiromantic

The First Master of Nanfang, and the acting Zhuque. Openly, she is perceived as a compassionate woman, who puts the needs of her people before herself, and acts selfless; in truth, she is surprisingly violent and vulgar. She continues to fuel the war, slandering and starting rumors of false deeds to rile the public, and gain the support of her supposed allies. There is nothing she is not willing to do to gain fame, support, and what she desires.

Jian Bing; Courtesy Name Cixia

Afab • Genderfluid • She/They • Asexual • Demiromantic

The First Master of Xibian, and the acting Baihu. She is known for being a compassionate woman, she wears her heart upon her sleeves, and acts out of the goodness of her heart. She openly encourages peace, to cease endless war and bloodshed; to make amends. For which, she is seen as an enemy to Xihuli, but is a close friend to Amnizha. Her only downfall are her chronic illnesses that have left her sickly since birth.

Zhi Ming; Courtesy Name Lu'yongshi

Amab • Agender • He/They • Closeted Homosexual • Homoromantic

The First Master of Beifang, and the acting Xuanxu. He has a reputation that precedes him as an honorable gentleman. He is a man of his word, he acts in accordance to justice and honor, and rarely strays from it. At heart, he is a warrior, and lacks the delicacies for social greetings; he comes off as blunt, uninterested, distant, and often lacking a heart to care.

Zhi Shi; Courtesy Name Yansbi

Cis-female • She/Her • Asexual • Aromantic

The younger sister of Lu'yongshi, the Second Master of Beifang, and acting Xuanshe. She happens to be her brother’s polar opposite. She is less than honest, she lacks honour, she craves power, she will use blackmail to get what she desires. As, she is not above blackmailing and guilting her own brother to act in accordance to her own agenda. She is also a close associate to Xihuli.

Long Jianhong; Courtesy Name Canren

Cis-male • He/Him • Bisexual • Apothiromantic

The current Emperor of Zhongxin, and the acting Honglong. A prideful man that cares more of his own person than his own people. Often, he turns a blind eye to all suffering, and allows Xihuli to do as she pleases. He is a womanizer, with various concubines’ , and elicit affairs with others. He was loveless to his wife, as there are rumors he was behind her untimely death. Whether these rumors are true or not are unproven, and few challenge them out of fear.

Long Shisan; Courtesy Name Li Busengren

Amab • Genderfluid • He/She • Quoisexual • Quioromantic

The Fourteenth Prince of Zhongxin. With twelve siblings in line of succession to the throne, Li Busengren acknowledges the chances for him to be the heir are little to none; this is added by the factor of being, from birth, his father’s least favorite child. With a will to prove his father wrong, and desperate for his father’s approval, he’s ready to do anything for an ounce of recognition.

Taglist

BSMFH: @writings-of-a-narwhal, @kittensartswriting, @inkflight, @qelizhus,

General: @endlesshourglass, @writerray, @poore-choice-of-words, @alexwritesfiction, @primusesgiantmetalballbearings

Both: @cecilsstorycorner, @little-boats-writes, @hazard-writes, @egg-shark

#My writing #Wip intro #Wip introduction #Writeblr #Writeblr community #Writing community #Writers on tumblr #Writers of tumblr #Fantasy #Star crossed lovers #Original writing #Fantasy writer #Morri's collection #Morri's wips #Did Morri really say instead of being productive with new content they would just make a re-intro to this wip?#Yes yes Morri did #Original works #Original story #in the midst of chaos there is queue

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strideofpride · 3 years

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DAIR APPRECIATION WEEK 2021 DAY ONE: Why do you love Dan and Blair?

I broke down what I love about Dan and Blair into five parts under a read more below. The tldr is: their compatibility, their parallel arcs, their slow burn, the larger message it would've given GG if they were endgame, and finally their mature, adult relationship (aka "pure and simple love").

Warning: I basically wrote a fucking essay lmao. Cited my sources and everything.

I. Compatibility

Dan and Blair have great chemistry sure, but they have something that I don't think any other pairing on the show really had: common interests. They were pseudo-intellectuals who could talk about books, literature, art, etc. with each other ("Dan and I have a real connection. We did things like visit the Dia and debate Charbol versus Rohmer..."). And I know in TV world all anyone cares about is chemistry, but in the real world the key to a long lasting relationship is common interests.

And yet they are also still an opposite attracts pairing, just in the best way, where they are opposite in personality and background, but still share lots of common interests. Blair was the rich mean girl from the Upper East Side and Dan the "poor" loser from Brooklyn, but they still can relate to one another, they can still find stuff to talk about together, they still come to enjoy each other's presence and friendship.

And back to their chemistry: it isn't steamy chemistry 100% all the time (although they can certainly go there). Their's is a sweet chemistry, a chemistry where it's clear that they respect each other, that they know each other on a deep level, that they understand each other more than anyone else. It's a chemistry that you believe could lead to a satisfying marriage one day.

And I know I've said this before, but to me Dan and Blair are just soulmates.

II. Parallel Arcs

I am such a sucker for when two characters' life journeys parallel one another and Dair had that in spades. In season 1 especially, they were both dealing with the abandonment of a parent (Dan's mom/Blair's dad), they both lost their virginities and entered into sexual relationships with much more experienced partners (Serena & Chuck), and they both had their sights set on one school (Yale & Dartmouth - although come season 2 this became Yale for Dan, giving them even more in common).

I've also already talked on here about how you can parallel all of their other romantic/sexual relationships to one another, as well as how they both were abandoned by their best friends sophomore year. And, they both have a bad habit of going back to the same person over and over again (again, Serena & Chuck).

To me, Dan and Blair are almost narrative foils. Dan's relationship with his father starts out pretty solid but deteriorates over time - Blair's relationship with her mother is the exact opposite. Dan pines, while Blair loves to live in denial. Blair sees her life as a movie, Dan sees his life as a novel.

And that makes it all the more satisfying to see them come together, to learn to appreciate their differences, to accept their similarities, to see them grow together (albeit briefly) over seasons 4 and 5.

III. Slow Burn

A lot of people on here use this word incorrectly. If the characters kiss during season 1 (unless it’s under false pretenses) it’s not a slow burn! But Dan and Blair are a true slow burn (whether or not that was intentional).

From that hallway scene in 1x04, it's clear that Dan and Blair have a deeper connection and understanding of each other than they are letting on. We get brief glimpses into that in 1x15, 2x08, 3x18, and 3x22. All of that very slow build up makes it all the more satisfying when they become friends in season 4.

I truly think the W arc is the best written arc of the entire show. You very slowly see them accept their common interests, grow to begrudgingly respect one another, even begin to accept that there might be an attraction there. It never feels rushed, when they kiss in 4x17, it's earned (I use this word a lot - buckle in).

And then, yeah, the Louis arc was fucky (I stand by that they should've kept the love triangle Dan vs. Chuck, or Dan vs. Louis, all three was too much). But Dan standing by Blair through everything she went through that season was beautiful, to see her depend on Dan in her darkest moments, to see her realize that he's the one who will always be there for her...it just really, really worked.

And so that moment when Blair finally calls him "Dan" to his face, when it becomes clear they are finally going to be together...it's one of the single most satisfying moments in the entire show. Because, again, it was earned.

IV. Larger Message

As this video essay posits, the showrunners were left with a choice after the 2008 economic recession: "Either adjust to the times or lean further into an escapist fantasy where extreme wealth is the status quo...and lean they did. For the sake of providing their audience with an escape, the dark underbelly of extreme affluence became the show's core theme. The more it began to sell cynical opulence as standard escapism, the more the writers and fans turned on the less wealthy characters."

Furthermore, by revealing Dan as Gossip Girl, "It transitions him from pretentious soft boy to borderline sociopath, actively ruining the lives of his friends, family, and crush just to get a foothold in Upper East Side society. And then the show did something it had seldom deemed to do for a less wealthy character: it rewarded him...And thus, the show presented us with the most insidious message of all: wealth, privilege, and power corrupt...and that's okay."

By having Chuck & Blair and Dan & Serena as endgame, GG became one of the most cynical shows on the planet, where (to quote Constance Grady) "all relationships are transactional".

But yet: "The sole bright spot in the midst of this cold universe in which relationships are bought and sold like real estate came in the form of Blair’s brief season four romance with Dan...it marked the last hurrah of the first version of Gossip Girl: In a world in which money is so powerful that it makes romantic relationships indistinguishable from prostitution, Dan and Blair were working to create an authentic, meaningful bond outside of the influence of wealth and privilege."

If Dan and Blair had been endgame (and Dan hadn't been GG - although we all know that one is bullshit anyway), it would've been a rebuke to that ideology, it would've shown that there is more to a good marriage than a shared tax bracket, that a genuine connection is more important than wealth and privilege. That abuse does not equal love.

But alas, that was not the story they wanted to tell I guess.

V. Mature, Adult Relationship (aka "Pure & Simple Love")

I am personally not much of a fan of grand romantic gestures. I often find them shallow, childish, and showy. To me, it is far more romantic for Dan to have secretly written a book about Blair, for Blair to submit Dan's article to Vanity Fair, for Dan to say "it wouldn't to me" when Blair asks if it would matter if she was pregnant with another man's child (especially since this moment is (take a shot here), you guessed it, earned - we know he's being honest because we already saw him do this with Milo).

Now, I am personally not as much of a fan of the Met Steps moment as everyone else (Blair's desire to be royalty is probably the thing I like least about her), but that was probably Dan's grandest romantic gesture and yet...it's still so simple. It's really just a plastic tiara and a cab ride. Which is what makes it so beautiful. Because it's not about the money or the extravagance or showing off to anyone else...it's about Dan showing Blair he truly knows her. And to me, that's the healthiest way to do a romantic gesture.

I also love their bad sex arc in 5x18 because a) it's real - most real world couples don't have earth shattering sex the first time together, it takes time to learn what your partner likes and needs and b) because they actually (after getting drunk at Dorota's & Nate's) communicate about it and work out their problem like adults.

Because that's the thing about Dan and Blair - it's a real adult relationship. It's not a never-ending game of cat and mouse, it's not a fallback, it's not a bad habit...everything else just melts away when they're together. They grew and changed together...they learned to put aside their prejudices and see each other beyond their facades. They became better people together. They always had someone they knew they could turn to.

And that's what true love is supposed to be.

#I hope this is coherent #people will deserve a medal for actually reading the whole thing #dair #gossip girl #dairaw21 #dan x blair #dan humphrey #blair waldorf #gg meta #otp: dan loves me for me

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tsu9live · 3 years

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Before I start, this is in no offence to anyone else’s opinion. You are all valid and probably make more sense than me. This is a bit of a rant and then a short character study.

Warning: This got too long.

I tend to come online for manga updates and ended up reading through opinion posts because I am a curious cat. Most of the time I come across really well-thought out posts, really valid points. But then MHA is also a soap opera/family drama where the main character is not supposed to have any progress in his story unless its to bolster or move along the other favs . But then they shouldn’t be bolstering his story either because why is a story about Deku’s journey all about Deku?

But then there are people who are happy Deku is finally edgy and they want him to wipe the floor with his classmates who love him and are willing to fight him if only to get through to him. So there are both extremes and honestly there is validity in all these thoughts because despite the writer’s intentions, a reader brings the story to life.

I personally hate making my own predictions because most of the time I feel it ruins the experience of reading a work for me. I go in with different expectations and when the story goes a different way I don’t enjoy it as much but I feel its more my fault.

So I do understand and respect the difference of opinion because there is no fandom without discourse.

In my opinion though, this Deku solo arc was a long time coming and I think Horikoshi has handled it really weird. I’m still trying to understand what he wants us to think about.

A story about heroes and putting your life on the line for someone else is controversial, but, I thought it was a given. Recklessness had been part of Deku’s character but an overly-cautious character would do nothing. Deku’s lack of self-preservation wasn’t unnatural for a hero, he rushed in to save Bakugo from the slime-villain when Pros stood by putting himself at risk but it spurred AM to act. Katsuki experienced it as well during the war arc, when his body moved to save Deku.

Going to Kamino to save Bakugo was suicidal, reckless and potentially flawed but story-wise it made sense. How is hero-work anything than risky? Kirishima and Todoroki initiated it.

Disclaimer: Deku, Bakugo, Uraraka, Momo, Toga and Shigaraki are characters that are very dear to me because they have had me extremely invested since the beginning of the story. This is my personal opinion, flaws, rant... basically me working through my feelings about this manga I had been obsessed with recently.

1) There is an opinion where Bakugo had a right to be upset/angry/bully Deku because he wanted to be a hero but did nothing for it. Firstly, I don’t understand the need to justify his behaviour when he himself has expressed regret on it. People want others to move on from the “go jump off the roof comment” but won’t stop talking about how everything about Bully Bakugo was justified. Deku was weaker, but he had the same dreams, dreams that were the basis of their friendship earlier on. Regardless of how Deku wanted to achieve them, Bakugo had no right to keep trying to stop him from doing so. No, 5, 10, 14 year old Bakugo did not do so because he had the brilliant foresight that Deku would be self-sacrificial and it was for his sake, he was an angry kid and Deku was a timid, wannabe that confused him, intimidated him even. Taking out his anger was a way of working through those feelings. He was in Deku’s words “a punching bag”. In a world where the powerful reign, Bakugo couldn’t understand how a quirk less, weak little boy could think he could stand shoulder to shoulder with someone as gifted as Bakugo. Yeah, society is very much to blame. The change and maturity Bakugo goes through where he is humbled by a cast of amazing hero students who are just as gifted yet with inspiring personalities and then traumatic consequences of being kidnapped, watching his hero use the last of his powers to hold back a great evil, having that fight with Deku where he bared himself open, failing the licensing exam, training with todoroki, the internship... the war has changed him in a way that has brought out his full potential as a hero and a person. There is a lot to admire about him yet I see so many people fixate on headcanons that glorify his every action/word instead of praising the amazing person he has become/how well written his growth has been.

2) “Deku wanted to be a hero and he did nothing for it”. “He could have been a quirkless hero like Batman.” Listen, the story is about AFO vs OFA first and foremost. Hori has done a good job of worldbuilding and adding a cast of interesting characters that its easy to forget what the main plot point of the story is. But it really is about a weak/timid boy who was born with a sort of handicap who dared to dream to be someone strong enough to have others rely on him instead. A lot of the times people want to become something they feel they needed, someone who gave people hope just by existing. Its natural for someone who is ‘considered useless’ to want to be the most useful person ever. His mother didn’t believe he could do it, Bakugo told him repeatedly he shouldn’t even try, everyone else made fun of him, and his hero gave him a wake-up call, no... you can’t be a hero without a quirk. Deku studied heroes and quirks all his life, hoping he’d find something that could work for his advantage. Not every hero relies on physical strength, their bodies are adapted to the nature of their quirks. Deku’s analysis, quick-thinking and impulsive nature is what helped him progress even after getting the quirk because he didn’t gain control until really late. People act like he was handed power, seem to forget he has just learned to use it without consequences. His studies of quirks also made him the best candidate to get new quirks, quirks that he has learned to utilise as tools quickly and efficiently. He was doing what he thought was going to help him become a hero without guidance, without backing and constant discouragements. Its admirable and relatable. If you don’t relate to him that’s fine, your life was different.

Batman was loaded. Deku is not an inventor. The Editors shot that idea down because it would not have survived in a genre where power fantasies are the main hooks. Aizawa, sure he’s training Shinso because he sees his potential now but he would have either expelled Deku/moved him to General studies on that first day for scoring the least in that test. He changed his mind not because of Deku’s quirk but because of Deku’s ingenuity.

When Deku did find his guidance, he tried to do years of work/training in a short period of time. He acknowledges how far behind he is, that the rest are leagues above him and all he wants is to be able to stand side by side with those incredible people and he would go to all lengths to do so. DEKU has never said he wants to be the number one hero. He always says he wants to be one so reliable he saves people with a smile and later on, he wants to be a hero that can save without having other people worry about him. Bakugo works hard, he’s not just exceptional he works hard for it, all of 1A do but saying Deku does nothing when he is constantly shown, studying, training his body, understanding his shortcomings and working on it is just petty. You don’t like him because of his saviour complex, newsflash, that is a hero thing. Hero course is about that, Deku’s is just highlighted because of how often he gets hurt. How can you be a Todoroki stan and hate Deku (although to be fair its your right, I’m just making a point), the kid saw Shouto and decided that it was more important for Shouto to stop hurting and gave him a hell of a fight. I still remember Shouto’s smile, it gave me goose bumps.

Deku’s lack of self-preservation is a part of his programming so much that he hasn’t noticed it yet. Deku broke his bones, but he didn’t realise the permanent damage. When Deku got injured with Muscular, he was never intending to fight him alone. He wanted backup, his phone was broken and he wanted to get Kouta out and tried but Muscular gave him no opening. He was driven into a corner and fought his way out. Like Aizawa said, “He got that injured because he has no intention of dying.” Before rushing to find Bakugo, he informed his superior first, knowing she can spread the message.

The fight with Stain, he messaged his location to all his classmates, didn’t intend to fight Stain alone, just defend Iida long enough for help to come along. Fight with overhaul, he just wanted to get Eri away and when he understood Eri’s power, he gave her the opportunity to fight back against her oppressor by teaming up with him, keeping her secure with the cape made out of Lemillion’s hair. During the whole fight he was present-minded enough to take the fight away from civilians and managed to prevent damage and casualties. During Natsuo’s rescue he played support.

During the war arc, he realised with despair that Shigaraki was coming in all his destructive glory for him and tried to stop him before but he didn’t object to Bakugo joining him. In the movie Heroes Rising (the initially planned ending) he willingly gave OFA to Bakugo, because he trusts him with his life, and was willing to be quirkless again if that’s what it took to keep the kids safe, and himself and Bakugo alive. Its mostly been good decisions on his part.

Its the war arc that’s been his downfall. Watching his childhood friend/rival almost die, his best friend, his mentors almost die while he could barely hold Shigaraki back set off a fight or flight response in him. The seriousness of how Shigaraki came for him and left such death and destruction in his wake because he was not strong enough and AFO is a monster and the sight of Shigaraki and the reality of his situation pushed him down the current path. His solo arc started well because constantly training in the field has helped him master his quirk, and he had the backup of the vestiges who trained and guided him in learning to use it as a toolset instead of a one-punch solution. Then coming face to face with the flaws of hero society and the power, manipulative nature and destructive intentions of AFO has prepared him emotionally. He is not acting like AM, he hasn’t in a while. He is acting like NANA and i don’t blame him because she’s in his head. No adult stopped him from doing this, instead using him as bait to lure out the league.

When they started realising he’s spiralling out of control, that’s when they realised they messed up.

He’s running on adrenaline/fumes alone and I think he’s actually terrified.

“AFO is OFA’s responsibility” “Tell the world I am here” “You’re not as strong as me yet,” “You are not a worthy successor”

Deku isn’t self-centered and but I agree with the screw loose comment (its years of “you are useless, not good enough, not worthy and I bet a dozen or so concussions, bloodloss, dehydration lol). I know Bakugo means well and that’s how he talks. At the moment, he’s probably the only one whose sole goal is Deku’s survival. Deku’s like a wild animal, terrified, lost and as always backed into a corner. AFO has him where he wants him and I am curious to see how class 1 A are going to get through to him. I don’t want them to fight, all those fanarts of Bakugo reaching his hand out to Deku and then maybe punching him in the face would have been a lot better then the mocking (the slow clap was a little triggering for me) but again maybe it just bothers me and Deku needs it. I’ll just have to wait and see. Deku and his class together would be an unstopabble force and I am waiting for that to finally happen.

P.S. Class 1 A looks so mature, everyone going crazy about Bakugo and his tie and I’m here like, look at baby Kirishima and his roots <3

I’m sorry if I gave anyone a headache lol.

#bnha spoilers #deku #personal rant #character study #midoriya izuku #bnha 319 #mha

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tree-wizard · 3 years

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White Night Fantasy

@promiseddifferent @roseprincess1994

My second fic! I got insanely carried away with this one and wrote like 7 pages of Scroldie just laying bed????

Anyways, this takes place right after that implied Prisoner of White Agony Creek scene. So lots of mention of sex but nothing explicit in any way. Lots of introspection and fluff.

I was very intentional with the way I wrote Goldie passages vs Scrooge passages but no one is probably even going to notice.

Title is a Nightwish reference as always. The lyrics of that whole song are perfect.

And oh I made both Scrooge and Goldie Demi .... BEACUSE I CAN HEHEHEH

Goldie starred up into the darkness. She’d gotten a bit carried away in the last hour but now she had to focus on what this had all been for. The nugget. She started to run through different plans but then suddenly stopped. She’d already stolen it. She’d literally had it in her hands last night. Along with the rest of the lockbox with its deed. That was the whole reason why she even let him take her to this isolated barren place. He was knocked out, she had a ride to Dawson, it was more perfect than she could have imagined. But then she saw a curl of her golden hair. The one he’d stare at every night. And she came back. She came back.

Had the sex been for no reason then? She’d always had a reason. Money, future favors, stolen treasure, something. It was always pleasurable once she was in the depth of it but she never had the urge to do it just because. But this time was different. She actually longed for it, without having anything to gain. Except him. She’d longed to have his rough hands move over her body, to have his lips bless her, to feel his breath. She’d never felt like this about anyone before and had no idea sex could be like this.

And in the midst of it all she wasn’t thinking about angles. She wasn’t plotting future moves. All that had matter was being with him. Her defenses had lowered. The defenses she’d gotten so used too, she forgot that they were even there, that she had existed at some point without them. But, oddly, she hadn’t felt exposed. It had felt natural, she felt present and secure. It had just felt right somehow.

And now he was in her bed with her. Wait, no, she was the one who was in his bed. She passed her hand over the wood. His bed. It just dawned on her that he had slept where she lay every single night before she was here. He broke his back over the same stiff wooden frame, held the same blankets tightly to his shivering huddled body. The heat of the stove would warmly embrace his legs, making him relax his shoulders after a long day of work and convincing him to give into the awaiting rest. What did he think of—those days when he wasn’t too exhausted to think at all as she was sure was the case most nights—before slumber overtook him? His family back in Scotland? All his past travels and endeavors? The fortune he wished to find? Did he face the wall or the open room? Did he squirm in his sleep a lot? What dreams did he have, if any?

Did his spirit linger all the days she slept here? He’d always been with her in that case but now he was actually here. They were sharing the bed. In a sense it was theirs. That felt bittersweet for some reason. As if she knew she was lying to herself and she had to forget about such stupid fantasies and grow up. But she pushed the uneasy sense to the back of her mind and tried to focus instead on the warm comfort spreading through her. Their bed.

Scrooge lay in bed waiting to cool off and catch his breath. The rush of the last hour was settling down, leaving his head clear for reflection. The contentment was turning into nervousness as he realized that she was lying only a few inches away.

He had a hard time believing what had just happened. It felt like his whole world had shifted slightly and now everything was slightly off. He presumed that it was actually a pretty normal thing and something that typically happened much earlier than thirty. But it never really crossed his mind at any point in his life. He didn’t care for women, or anyone for that matter, before. He couldn’t understand why other men would go all googly eyed and waste their money on random bar girls. Why would they go crazy at seeing a woman with slightly lifted skirts. He didn’t pay attention to all the dance hall girls in Dawson and that’s probably why he could work besides Goldie whereas any other man would probably be losing their mind the whole time.

But as the days working next to Goldie had passed, he’d felt an unusual twisting warmth take up a home at the bottom of his stomach. He wanted to reach out to Goldie whenever he looked at her lately. He wanted to be near her. Wanted to have that warmth envelope her too. He would heat up when she kissed him and he burned when she went further than that. He didn’t know what was going on with his body. Why was it betraying him, now after thirty years?

He used to think that if he ignored it, it would go away, but it had only grown, the warmth spreading through his whole body. He used to want to get rid of it but now he didn’t mind that much. He’d felt so much relief and pleasure when they made love. He felt special and he liked to see her enjoyment too. He wanted to be with her.

It seemed that everything around him stopped when she kissed him. There was only mindless passion. The hard exterior he kept up, especially around her, and all his doubts about himself and her all disappeared. But now that they were done, Scrooge didn't know what was going to happen. Were they just going to wake up tomorrow and go back to their constant bickering, eyes filled with rage? Had it all just been some weird slip up?

Or worse, had it all been a trap? Maybe all that just happened was just a way for her to seem innocent, to make it look like she cared for him, to spin his head so that she’d have time to run away with his gold. He didn’t drink her coffee, her poison, earlier that day so this was plan B. Using her seductive powers to enchant unsuspecting men just long enough to steal their gold was her specialty. She was a siren, ready to drag men that passed her into deep dark waters. He’d already fallen for it once and he’d always curse himself for that.

Except he didn’t feel too bad about it now for some reason. NO NO! He had been foolish and he couldn’t let it happen again. He wasn’t like all those other men. He couldn’t show any kind of care for her. That would be giving in. She’d know she had him in her grasp. He was smarter than the smarties, tougher than the toughies, sharper than the sharpies. He had to be.

But he felt his cheeks warming up. Maybe the need to constantly mask his feelings wasn’t just because he needed to keep her from having an advantage over him. Maybe it was easier to pretend that he hated her than to confront the reality: she hadn’t only been able to do the impossible and turn him on, he had truly fallen for her. Find gold, send money to his family, make his fortune. That’s all he planned for, all he had focused on for the last two decades. This was not part of the plan. He couldn’t get distracted when he was finally so close to reaching his goals.

And yet simply going back to the way things were and pretending that this night never happened seemed impossible. He could just tell her to leave tomorrow morning.

But could he just let her go like that? Make her leave? Never see her again? Remain in this infinite loneliness?

He turned to look at her. With the aid of a moonbeam, he could make out that she lay on her back, her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes closed. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed and she seemed to be thinking about something. She seemed so soft and peaceful like this. He’d seen her face when it was furious, annoyed, exhausted, focused, lustful (an image that sent electric shivers down his spine) but this one seemed the most precious.

He silently whispered her name. Goldie.

He thought about her all the time and wondered what she thought of. What she was feeling? As much as she was truly the Ice Queen of the North, he could tell that she had a tender heart. Maybe so much that it made her swear to keep up her walls, be strong and never vulnerable. Just like him. They really were so alike. She loafed around and complained a lot and barely did any work in the first few days but he’d watched her slowly get more and more focused until she was just as determined as him. She tried to hide it but he’d noticed how excited she got any time she found some nuggets. He smiled to himself. She really understands now how rewarding hard work is. And she definitely could rise up to the challenge, to all his expectations, and seemed eager to prove herself. She was like a hearty gold veil, full of vigor. Head held high. And she was just as beautiful and shone just as bright as one too. He loved to see her proud with herself. To see her wipe her hands at the end of the day, look proudly down at her findings and smirk at him, with a hint of a giggle, claiming to have found more gold than him. Of course he always replied with a cold stare and a disapproving sigh but he actually really loved when she did that. He loved to see her rare giggles and genuine laughs, and when she’d playfully punch him or make faces at him or throw snowballs in his face. He loved it when they would settle down for meals and she’d listen to him retell his adventures with curious soft eyes. And when she’d talk about her own past and her success with her saloon. He loved that wistful look in her eyes. He loved how she’d sit with her face nestled in her hands, around their evening fire, and just attentively look out ahead, taking in the quiet beauty of the valley painted by the glow of the setting sun. The alpenglow on the mountains in the distance. The grandeur and purity of the Yukon wilderness. He just loved having her work and sit beside him, hearing her breath and feeling the whispers of her feathers.

He loved her.

But such affection was foreign to him. Even if he let himself admit it was there, even if he let himself give in to it, he had no idea what to do with it and that scared him. Fighting with her, keeping her at bay was the already well trodden path, the matted snow. But there on his side was fresh new snow where he hadn’t been before and as much as it was beautiful and glistening and tempting he had no idea what lay under it. It could be jagged rocks or feet upon feet of just snow that he would fall through once he took a step into it.

He had no idea what Goldie even thought about him. She’d kissed him and then she’d hit him and threw the coffee pot and a bunch of plates at him and then she’d made love to him. He didn’t know what to make of that. He could understand why she’d be angry with him. He’d taken her against her will. He’d taken her away from her business and who knew what would happen to the Blackjack now? He’d essentially kidnapped her. She had to stay with a stranger in an unknown land. And he forced her to work every day too. He felt very ashamed of all this now. She had stolen his gold but she hadn’t deserved this. He could understand why she’d want to get away, even if she didn’t take his gold. She’d return to her home, to the business she had made from nothing and that meant everything to her, where she was in control and where her name, her name, mattered.

She’d told him earlier that if she’d wanted to steal his gold again she would have done it long ago. Maybe she cared for him at least a little then. It definitely felt like she did when they did it but that was most likely because it was his first time and he didn’t know better. He felt so special and adored then, like it was only the two of them in the whole world. But she’d probably had countless similar encounters before. He’d taken her away from the saloon, from Dawson, and she hadn’t seen anyone for a whole month. She probably just finally decided that the clueless virgin was her only option right now. And now she’d return to Dawson, to better men. Did he really believe that Glittering Goldie, the Star of the North, the Ice Queen, would actually love someone and if she did it’d be him?

He felt his chest ache from all those thoughts. He desperately wanted to touch her. To feel her warmth and at least pretend that she cared for him. He turned to face her again and froze.

Just do it, you big dope. Reach out to her. You are the Master of the Mississippi, the Buckaroo of the Badlands, the Terror of the Transvaal, the King of the Klondike and you’re scared of this? You’re Scrooge McDuck, for God’s sake!

At that Scrooge slowly extended his hand and moved away a strand of her face and stroked her cheek. Goldie jerked from the sudden contact and then turned to him with a mischievous smirk, and a catty look in her eyes. But he noticed her expression soften and her eyes become full of longing. He was suddenly reminded of when he came home from shoe shining when he was a child in Glasgow and Matilda would run up to him all upset because some mean boy had teased her and all she wanted was to be scooped up and embraced by her big brother. Her eyes would glisten with a prelude of tears but they’d also be brimming with joy at seeing her brother.

Goldie turned to him with her default expression but suddenly felt herself melt. There he was. His nervous innocent face. Less than a dozen inches away. With those curious big brown eyes. The clear pearl blue moonlight, speckled with floating dust angels, trickled over him. She was so close to him and it felt so intimate and peaceful. She could almost see the warm fuzzy tension in the air suspended between them. She felt herself blush. She wanted to lay here and look at this cute miner forever. The night was endless. It was just them in the cabin, in the same bed, under the same blanket, and her past, the outside world, time itself seemed to fade to the background.

She shifted closer to him and nestled her head into the crook of his neck. Scrooge’s eyes widened. He certainly hadn’t expected her to reciprocate his touch. She pulled the sheets closer over them and started to move one of her hands in small circles over his chest feathers. The movements sent a warm stream through him and pulled him out of his stupor. He finally grew accustomed to what was happening and rested a soft kiss at the top of her head. Goldie smiled at that and pulled him closer, Scrooge wrapping an arm over her back. He closed his eyes. She’s in my arms.

Goldie could feel his heart beating fast so she started to coo quietly in hopes of calming him down (and herself- her own heart wasn’t beating much slower). He squeezed her shoulders. Did he really stare at her curl of hair every night? Could he really love her? For something other than her body even. She felt so comfortable laying in his arms. And this was new for her. She didn’t let other men come this close before. They were foolish and mean and repulsive. But she liked being in this duck’s arms. They were strong and gentle. It seemed like he wanted to press her as much as possible to him, to his heart, but didn’t want to crush her.

She lifted and turned her head and pressed her beak softly against his.

“With all that anger you usually direct my way, I didn’t think you could be this careful, sourdough.”

Scrooge got flustered at the sound of her voice. He shifted his head a little bit to look into her emerald shining eyes.

“I’m surprised ye aren’t running away with mah gold.”

She frowned at that. He’d probably never really see her for something other than a thief.

“I know you don’t trust me and I understand that, but I don’t want to steal anything from you anymore.”

Goldie felt his sigh waft over her head. “You can go back to Dawson tomorrow then.”

Goldie stayed quiet. She knew that made sense, but she almost felt upset with him for saying that.

“After everything that happened this month?” She heard herself ask, surprising herself. She didn’t fully know why that mattered. Why she felt like she had to push back at his suggestion.

Scrooge blinked a couple times. “Wha...I...I don’t understand.”

Goldie shut her eyes and leaned closer to him, clutching a handful of his feathers.

Scrooge suddenly felt his chest get damp. Alarmed, he shifted to the side and turned to face her. He clasped his hands over the hand that had been holding on to him.

“What’s wrong, Goldie?”

“Why are you such an infuriating warm sourdough?” She asked, slapping his chest.

Scrooge shifted nervously, unsure how to respond.

She sighed and looked away. “I don’t think I want to head back to Dawson just yet.”

She turned back to him and stared determined into his eyes.

“Look, I know I stole from you and I know you think I’m a distraction-”

“Goldie, I-”

“Just listen! You’re trying to find your fortune, and support your family back in Scotland and rebuild your ancestral castle, I get that! I know you care about hard work and being tough and making things square, and you think I’m just some lying, stealing, lazy, dance hall girl. But I want to be part of your world, and not just by being the woman who stole your gold.”

Goldie let out her breath and turned away from him, her face all flushed. She couldn’t believe she’d just said all that. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HER?

Scrooge’s eyes welled up and he reached out and cupped Goldie’s face, turning her towards him.

“Goldie, you...you’re already more to me than that. I’m so sorry I captured you and took you here and made you work really hard every day. I thought you hated me for that. But...but, I think I love you.”

Goldie smiled and shifted closer, wrapping an arm around him. She rested her forehead against his.

“Me too, Scroogey”.

#scroldie #fanfic #scrooge mcduck #Goldie O’Gilt #i was going to make it fit in with canon but oops #also million dreams reference in here

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sepublic · 4 years

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Luz’s Denial of her Feelings

You know what? I LOVE the idea of Luz actually low-key being in denial of Amity’s feelings towards her… Because Luz is in denial of her own feelings towards Amity! We know from Dana that Luz hasn’t noticed Amity’s crush yet, because she’s busy with a LOT of things in general (not to mention she’s ADHD-coded so her mind is constantly buzzing with a million thoughts at once no less)…

But once she DOES have time to start noticing, how would she react? Would Luz get nervous, because she’s never been someone’s crush, ever? The girl has a subtle tendency to undervalue herself, and how much she means to people… This can result in Luz being selfless and not expecting anything in return, and while on her own she’s already that compassionate, this lack of self-love could admittedly jeopardize that. It’s why it means so much to Luz, whenever someone tells her outright –like King did for example- that she means a lot to them…!

…But a crush? A romantic crush? This is Amity’s first big one. We don’t know what Luz’s love history is, if she’s had one… But either she’s not used to having a crush on an actual person that she personally knows, and/or she’s afraid of rejection. I feel like Luz is someone who probably DID try to be emotionally open with people besides Camila in the past, with fellow kids… Only to get shut down. To be closed off… Maybe someone DID get to know her, and was interested at first- But then they saw the ‘true’ Luz, and got turned off, and it broke her heart!

Luz is always concerned about what she can do for others, about not judging them… And while she knows to be herself, there is this potential concern that, what if this causes her to deliberately undervalue the opinions of others about her as a result? Luz doesn’t let criticisms from other people get to her, but it also means she’s not sure how to handle when someone is really genuinely interested? Luz is too used to not letting others’ feelings about her affect how SHE feels… And while this has worked in the past because a lot of feelings towards her were negative, how does she handle ones that are positive?

And I can see Luz just… running from this. Kind of a hilarious and a little angsty parallel to how Amity runs from her feelings for Luz. Kind of like how Luz runs from her fears during Grom, which was ALSO a rather Lumity-centered episode no less…! Luz doesn’t want to admit that Amity has a crush on her, because she really undervalues herself, and doesn’t know how to handle such an intimate opinion? Maybe Luz becomes afraid of letting down Amity, of losing her love and being rejected… So Luz overthinks how to be whatever makes her so lovable to Amity!

Of course, Luz learns that Luz being herself is exactly what makes Amity love her… That Luz doesn’t need to focus on being this or that in particular, that her own existence as-is is already perfect, whatever she chooses for herself! On another note, I imagine Luz being in denial of Amity’s feelings and thus vice-versa, because aside from rejection; Maybe she thinks she isn’t good enough for the girl? Maybe Luz thinks Amity is too good for her… Luz wants the best for Amity, and sadly, she doesn’t see herself as that? To Luz, it’d be doing a disservice to her friend as well.

Especially since she knows how harsh Odalia and Alador can be, Luz might not see herself as strong enough to protect Amity, either directly or by earning the Blight parents’ approval! Being in love with Amity would further complicate this dilemma, it’s easy to not care what THEY think… But they’re Amity’s parents, Amity has a lot of emotional stake in Odalia and Alador! Luz can’t just disregard that, so either she DOES acknowledge the feelings, or she doesn’t. Not to mention, Luz might be afraid of jeopardizing the hard work Amity has gone through, by convincing the girl to throw away everything she’s done just for Luz…

And Luz would HATE to ask that of someone, as well as to make someone feel like they have to do that! She didn’t want Eda to lose her magic for her, so I can see Luz denying her and Amity’s mutual feelings, so she doesn’t encourage Amity to throw away her life’s purpose for a ‘loser’ like Luz, whom Amity may fall out of love with anyway! Because surely Amity doesn’t care THAT much…! Not to mention Luz is probably critical of how she’s hurt Amity in the past, maybe she’s afraid of hurting Amity’s feelings again…

Perhaps for her AND Amity’s own good, the two shouldn’t be romantically involved- Even if Luz will of course be close friends no matter what! And while I see Amity also being content with that as well, it’s not good if this option is done in blatant denial to both parties’ true feelings. These girls need to be upfront about how they feel.

Regardless, Luz pretends not to notice how Amity feels… Because taking cues from Ordinary, she’s afraid of having to go back home, and she doesn’t want to ‘let on’ Amity by ‘tricking her’ into thinking that Luz cares back- When in reality Luz really DOES, but she’s afraid of her own ability to provide romantically, of losing everything she’s had with Amity and jeopardizing that, instead of being content with the friendship they already have! She’s afraid of how much more it’ll hurt when she DOES have to go back home, and how much it’ll hurt Amity in turn… So why not deny both of their feelings, help Amity admit that this isn’t a thing?

Maybe this could lead to something drastic on Luz’s side in a worst-case scenario, where she tries to avoid Amity… But of course, she remembers Grom. Not only did Luz not confront her worst fears, but Amity’s worst fear was Luz rejecting her… And there’s a difference between helping someone confront their fear, and forcing them to live through it. In the end, Luz knows that she’s being crueler to Amity in the long run by not acknowledging how she feels… And she’ll learn to be selfish for herself, and Luz will see how she’s being cruel to herself as well for not acknowledging these feelings!

Like Eda dismissing the curse so Luz and King wouldn’t get worried about her, this is just putting a bandage and ignoring an issue… The sentiment is sweet, but in the end it’s best to be honest with your loved ones and not hurt them, and address things together. I mean, look at Lilith- SHE was in denial over her own issues with Eda, and didn’t want to openly confront the curse she’d cast… And look how badly THAT messed things up! If there’s one thing Lilith taught her, it was to acknowledge an issue and face it, to be honest with yourself and your own shortcomings, and only THEN can you overcome them…! If you try to hide the truth, even if it’s for the other’s own good… In the end, you’re only hurting every party involved, and being a coward in the process.

With encouragement from her friends, such as Willow, or Emira and Edric (who are TOTALLY Lumity shippers, the OG ones and know of the crush), Luz can learn to be selfish. To get this thing she wants for herself, that she ISN’T confusing fantasy with reality this time –because that’s how she’ll try to dismiss it as first- and it CAN work out… And even if it doesn’t, there’s no way Luz and Amity can know unless they try, and even if it fails, that shouldn’t keep them from remaining close friends regardless! Regardless, Luz’s friends will remind her how brave and defiant she is, how she’ll always ask for it all both on her own behalf AND others’, just as Luz demanded multi-track learning for not just herself but the Detention Track kids as well!

If Luz can do that- Well, she can give it a try with Amity, for both girls’ sake, right? She’s not alone in this… She’s not Amity’s sole connection, Luz’s help has ensured that Emira and Edric are there for her, and Amity is likely rekindling things with Willow, or at least both girls are willing to provide solace if not outright friendship. Maybe while dealing with the issue, Luz will try to reflect by getting Amity some other friends… And while that DOES help, there’s also an ulterior motive of trying to distance Amity from her, maybe even get Amity to fall in love with someone else who’s way more worthy! But in the end, Luz is actually being selfish for herself in a different, more harmful way, VS admitting her and Amity’s feelings for one another and acting on it. Don’t try to undervalue yourself, Luz, nor should you try to make Amity reconsider her feelings…

After all, Luz values Amity’s agency, so if this is Amity’s choice, then it is! Amity HAS been indoctrinated, and I can see Luz being afraid that she lowkey ‘manipulated’ Amity into being in love with her, into being dependent… But in the end, that’s not at all what she did, and she already has other friends with their own input, who can put Luz back to reality- Such as Eda, King, Willow, and Gus! Maybe even Lilith, who ALSO learned to confront reality herself…! It’d be an interesting parallel to have Lilith’s willful ignorance of her issues with Eda, and the corruption of the system, VS Luz’s willful ignorance of her and Amity’s love for one another.

Nevertheless- This is making me imagine a scenario where Emira and Edric are pursuing Luz to make her date their little sister, and force her to confront the truth, because they’ve got personal stake in this as well amidst wanting the best for Amity… And Luz is just running away from her feelings and in denial! It’s like that meme of a dude being chased down the hallway by a floating T-poser! Except it’s Luz who’s running from Ed and Em, who are emblematic of the truth of Amity’s feelings- And in the end, they’ll make it clear to Luz, that she’s breaking Amity’s heart more THIS way, than if she were to at least attempt a relationship with the girl and then have it fail. Because, at least both parties tried with one another, instead of deciding any attempts weren’t worth it nor had a point!

And Luz… Well, you know the girl. She’s been learning more and more how much she’s been loved. Romantic love isn’t the same as familial love, nor is it better or worse… But still, if Luz can give familial love a try, having experienced it with Camila and with Eda and the rest; Maybe romantic love isn’t out of the question, either!

Basically- You know those I won’t say I’m in love animatics for The Owl House? Imagine those, but it’s LUZ who’s singing, while being cheered on by Emira and Edric and/or Willow and Gus! Maybe even Eda, King, AND Lilith, for that matter…! Why not even throw in all of Luz’s other friends, because they’d be supportive of her as someone who’s definitely worth it… And it’d be hilarious if Amity herself joined in as well!

#the owl house #owl house #lumity #the owl house luz #luz noceda #the owl house amity #amity blight #speculation

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365days365movies · 3 years

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March 7, 2021: Onward (Review)

Guess what my favorite Pixar film is now!

Yeah, it’s still Finding Nemo hands down. Not even a little bit of a question. But there is still a question. Where does this movie rank for me? And by the way, Finding Nemo is my FAVORITE Pixar film, but I don’t consider it be objectively the best.

I mean...come on. It’s Ratatouille. The hell else was I gonna say?

Ahhhhhh, SHIT, you make a good point there. Well...at least there’s only the two choices for objectively best

OH HOW GODDAMN DARE YOU

...Any more you wanna throw at me, you goddamn monsters? Huh? HUH?

...Crying, probably. Goddamn, OK, there are a LOT of good Pixar films, and this one doesn’t have a GODDAMN CHANCE against these movies. So...which ones does Onward beat, for me, anyway?

I mean, yeah, duh. I’d put all of the Cars films below Onward. Brave and The Good Dinosaur, too. All of the Toy Story films are above it, and...I think my initial assessment was correct.

And again, I like A Bug’s Life a lot! But I think that Onward’s about on this level for me in terms of favorites. Why is that? Well...let’s go through it, huh? You an check out Part One and Part Two of the Recap if you’d like, but the Review and my final opinions are down below!

Review

Cast and Acting: 9/10

OK, above everything else, I will say that Tom Holland and Chris Pratt are great in here, and they...mostly disappear into their characters. Maybe it’s because these are currently both MASSIVE names, but I never lost sight of the fat that these guys were playing Ian and Barley respectively. It’s a little odd, especially for a Pixar movie. Not as much for a Disney movie...which is an interesting point to revisit later. But they are good. And they’re also vastly surpassed, for me, by Julia Louis Dreyfus, WHO FUCKING OWNS HER ROLE! Yeah, sorry, Dreyfus is the MVP of this movie for me, and I genuinely love her and Laurel. Octavia Spencer was, of course, also good...but was also weirdly stilted in her line deliveries most of the time. I love Octavia Spencer, but she’s not a voice actress, what can I say? Still, Corey’s another of my favorite characters, so she’s not bad at it. Tracey Ullman and Mel Rodriguez are also good in here, for the record.

Plot and Writing: 9/10

You know...it’s funny. This movie doesn’t really feel like a Pixar movie, as much as it feels like a Disney movie. Not a bad thing, I promise, but it just doesn’t...feel Pixar to me. I can’t quite pinpoint the reasons for that...yet. But in terms of the plot, it’s mostly standard Disney/Pixar adventure fare, with some decent writing and good universe building behind it. However...I’ve been thinking about the ending, and it’s actually the most Pixar thing about the movie, mostly because it was, well...extremely unexpectedly good.

Yeah, I mean that. Ian’s sacrifice is NOT how I expected that to go down, and probably would’ve been different in a straight-up Disney movie. Credit to Dan Scanlon, Jason Headley, and Keith Bunin for crafting a unique and emotionally deep ending. If Pixar’s good at one thing, it’s emotionally complex endings. Coco eventually ends with Coco dying, Boo’s sort of just gone in Monster’s Inc (I know Sulley sees her again, BUT WE DON’T), Toy Story eventually ends in Woody leaving the gang with Bo Peep, and Finding Nemo...I mean, Nemo surpasses his disability, and Marlin learns to let go of his son, so...OK, maybe that’s the exception. STILL MY FAVORITE DO NOT @ ME

Directing and Cinematography: 8/10

Well...on one hand, it’s a Pixar movie. Obviously it’s got good directing (by Don Scanlon), but...I think this movie broke Pixar films for me. YEAH. I’ll explain, and understand: I’m not saying that the cinematography by Sharon Calahan and Adam Habib is bad, but it’s very Pixar formulaic. Here’s what I mean: I’m gonna put a bunch of GIFs of Pixar films up here. Look for the commonality.

THEY’RE PERFECTLY BALANCED. Which, at first glance, obviously isn’t a bad thing. But I just posted GIFs of films from SEVEN different directors! And they ALWAYS balance their characters perfectly on screen! I’d provide more proof of this, but LOOK!!!! It’s a very formulaic form of cinematography, and while it’s obviously not bad, it’s also...obvious. You want more proof? Let’s look at more unique Pixar films and directors. Brad Bird first.

Bird’s scenes feel more dynamic, more interesting, and he has a MUCH higher focus on the foreground vs. the background than these other guys. And yeah, he also centers some of his characters, because that’s find of how film works, but his films are a lot more visually complex, and they’re considered the best of the Pixar movies. OK, what about a more recent film?

A HELL of a lot of shots in Soul are unbalanced. Which is interesting, because this is Pete Docter, one of Pixar’s most prolific directors. He’s also the director of some of their most unique films, like Monster’s Inc., Up, and Inside Out. And his flair is in a lot of unique camera movements, but also interesting angles and shot composition. And maybe I’m going CRAZY with over-analysis here, because I am NOT a film student, AT FUCKING ALL...but this film made me notice this because it just feels so visually...formulaic. Not bad, just plain. And not just in terms of cinematography.

Production and Art Design: 8/10

These are Disney characters. THESE ARE DISNEY CHARACTERS. Which, I must once again stress, IS NOT A BAD THING. But it’s also not really Pixar. I mean, look at that collection of GIFs up there again. One of the things that Pixar is lauded for is its unique character designs and concepts. And, uh...this isn’t that. It’s still good...but it’s not Pixar’s usual fare. Again, not a bad thing, as they’re more than allowed to innovate, but...is a lack of innovation really innovating? Breaking formula, yeah, but pointedly not anything new. Which, sure, fine, but...it ruins something for me, I’m gonna be honest.

Now, again, IT IS NOT BAD. It’s still actually VERY good, from the lighting to the rendering, and to the unique world that’s been constructed. Well...mostly unique. It’s kind of just our world with magic. There’s definitely some uniqueness, but not enough for me in a lot of cases. I dunno, it’s weirdly low-fantasy for something that is POINTEDLY high-fantasy in origin. Which is pretty interesting, now that I’ve typed that out loud. I like the look of this movie, again...but I’d love something a little less Disney, and a little more Pixar.

Music and Editing: 9/10

Music’s good! And so is the editing, for that matter. Composed by Mychael and Jeff Danna, and edited by Catherine Apple, this aspect of the production carried over pretty well, I think. Soundtrack is definitely fitting for a fantasy film, that’s for sure. And, yeah, no problems with the editing (which, to be fair, is not the easiest category to judge for e, ESPECIALLY here). The point of is because, well...not putting it on my playlist. It’s good, but not the best music I’ve heard, this month, or from a Pixar movie. Real talk, whenever I mention Finding Nemo (I KNOW I KNOW I’LL SHUT UP ABOUT IT BUT HOLD ON), the soundtrack plays through my head with reckless abandon. Can’t really say the same for Onward.

I’m more than cool with a 86% for this one.

Look, it’s a genuine rarity for Pixar to make a bad film. Although...it’s funny, this is barely a Pixar movie for me. It mostly just doesn’t feel like a Pixar movie, potentially because it has the overarching structure of your more typical Disney fare. Which, no, certainly isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not...quite the same.

This is still a great movie, and good for families. And I should say, I’m watching this film from the standpoint of an only child, and it was still a heartwarming look at a relationship between two very different siblings. I liked it, is what I’m saying. But this is it: we’re done with animated fare now. Although, blue animated magic characters from Disney does remind me of someone...

OK, the next movie is NOT ALADDIN, I swear. I’ve definitely seen that one. But, uh...since I’m moving to live-action anyway...

March 8, 2021: The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

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alexseanchai · 3 years

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Fanfic 2020 in Review

I got tagged by @kasienda @noirshitsuji and @marvelousmsmol and I am tagging whoever wants to play!

1) List of fics completed this year in the order they were finished:

*filters own works to complete and updated in 2020*

1 - 20 of 57 Works by AlexSeanchai

nope. *adds filter to include only works of at least 1000 words*

unless otherwise indicated, these are all Miraculous Ladybug:

“don’t bake it lying down”, post-reveal Marichat vs Felix Graham de Vanily

“veracity”, canon divergence from “Ladybug” featuring Mister Bug and Verity Queen (so also Marichat, I guess)

“(no request is too extreme, if) your heart is in your dream”, in which Hawkmoth wins, for the thirty seconds or so before Emilie saves Ladybug and Chat Noir’s lives

“tell me you love me and make me believe it”, in which trans girl Chatonne Noire ropes Ladybug into helping plan her civilian self’s escape slash social transition

“kingmaker, oathbreaker”, in which Hawkmoth wins and Emilie watches her son remove himself from the family

“stay and let me watch you break it down” (Twelve Dancing Princesses), a modern setting

“set a course for winds of fortune”, in which trans girl Chatonne Noire has already escaped and Gabriel and Nathalie are trying to bring Gabriel’s son home

“we ground love in a hopeless place”, in which post-reveal Marinette’s attempt to remain resolutely not in love with her partner dissolves like sugar in coffee when they start a pun war

“ring the bells that still can ring”, in which Alya is deeply confused about why Adrien and Marinette are planning a wedding when last night both were single

“burning wishes at both ends (the cold wind and long loud wail remix)”, in which Gabriel made a monkey’s paw wish and Emilie makes another

“words cannot espresso”, in which Marinette’s OC roommate is justifiably worried for Marinette’s safety, and meanwhile Adrien takes care of Marinette

“the compromise of truth” (the chronologically second-earliest part posted to date of nine lives, snake’s eyes), in which Adrien tells his friends how he won some freedom and respect from his father

“At The Present Time”, the Ladrien/Ladynoir marriage proposal follow-up to @art-deco-shrimp‘s “Your Presents Required”

“j'ai rêvé (so I don't have to dream alone)”, in which the events of canon must just have been a series of dream sequences, Marinette and Adrien both think, until they both arrive at Chloe’s Halloween masquerade dressed as themselves from the dreams

2) Number of words written:

ahahaha no. I am not counting all my scattered fic drafts and trying to figure out what I did and didn’t write in 2020. I refuse.

AO3 says I posted 162K in 2020. it is counting all of keeps you guessing (like any real love), which (a) I started posting in 2019 (b) is co-written by @galahadwilder; it is counting all of my meta snippets collection, much of which was written in 2019; it is counting the Vimeo passwords for my vids. but I probably cleared 150K by a safe margin.

3) Your most popular fic:

“veracity” has a four-digit kudos count, wow, when’d that happen? this is also the 2020 work with the most hits and the most bookmarks, but “tell me you love me” has four-thirds as many comments as its nearest competitor.

4) Your personal fav:

“cannot break us, not with a thousand swords”, no question about it. this is the one in which Ladybug proposes marriage to Chat Noir via Princess Bride meme on Tumblr. (if you intend to download the work or otherwise to consume it with creator style off, you want the accessible version instead of the primary version.)

5) Your fav scene:

aaaaaaaaa

—okay so this is cheating and I know it, since Uncertain Humors (the one where Marinette/Adrien is both Orpheus/Eurydice and Theseus/Ariadne) is nowhere near finished, never mind posted (maybe I'll get “Sanguine” done to post on my birthday?)

but it is still my favorite of the year. as you might guess from that description of the story, this scene has content notes for character death:

Hell is a maze. Marinette walks.

This acrid passage has little to see but damp stone, seeming blood-stained in the dim carmine light. At about the height of her heart, the faintly glowing thread cuts through the not-clammy air; it ought to be pulsing at the same rate as the heart it's bound to. She might be able to see her own reflection if she looked down at the open sewage pipe, or at one of the puddles that now and again she splashes through, dampening the canvas of her shoes. She might see reflected what's behind her.

She remembers Mme. Mendeleiev lecturing on human physiology. In healthy humans old enough to have learned how, urination is a voluntary action: one may not know which muscles one tenses and relaxes in order to do so, and probably isn't paying attention to those details when one is doing, but one has conscious control over whether one does. Usually. Stress and anxiety mean some people are unable to relax the relevant sphincter muscle and others are unable to stop themselves. It's voluntary for cats, too: it's one way they mark their territories. Cat-boys have other ways.

There is a moment in every human life when all one's muscles relax at once. Some Parisians have had several such moments.

The thread is braided with itself around her left fourth finger, rows of tiny red half-hitch knots, and falls loosely over the back of her hand to loop twice around her wrist. She holds it wrapped between the fingers of her right hand to keep it at a constant tension, as though knitting with this insubstantial thread, so fragile for something two (two dozen, two million) lives hang from—too thin to sew with, no thicker than one strand of his hair. As she walks, she winds it around and around and around her wrist.

Between her ring finger and her right hand, it loops twice.

Marinette's shoe lands in a puddle she didn't see. The rainwater splashes soundlessly onto her bare ankle and on the stone.

(With cat-like tread, upon our prey we steal— It's a very loud song.)

She walks on.

6) A fic or scene that challenged you:

where the firelight fades, no contest. this is the second story I’ve ever been able to stick with more than a couple hundred words past the 20K mark, but it’s easily the twentieth novel-length I’ve begun. (though also, you know that kedreeva post? well, 90K later, I’m less than 15K from completing this 10K fic! I think.) and I have been learning so much about long-form fiction.

there has also been a lot of weeping and tearing my hair. case in point: I just trashed the chapter 15 draft because I figured out the reason it wasn’t going anywhere! I can probably keep the first few hundred words of that draft without any editing, and another few hundred with some revision...

7) A line of writing you’re proud of:

from “j'ai rêvé (so I don't have to dream alone)”:

Everything about their partnership is fragments of sentences in the dream diary Adrien writes in ultraviolet pen. Disjointed flickers of thought even when examined under the black light he hides in the snack cabinet under packets of Super Yoyo sandwich cookies and bags of cheesy Monster Munch potato chips and boxes of petit écolier butter cookies (chocolat noir)—none of which explains the gym-socks smell. All fleeting incoherent flashes, invisible between the mundane lines of La Modification shelved at his bedside between Leroux and Dumas. None of it is solid. Adrien has more proof his room's haunted.

okay let me break this down for you!

* Adrien started a dream diary to make sense of the memories

* in invisible ink, in a book that (according to Wikipedia) is thematically appropriate and won’t (if Gabriel sees it) look like anything other than Adrien developing an interest in French literature

* shelved between Phantom of the Opera and The Three Musketeers

* look I didn’t come up with the name “black light”

* or “chocolat noir” for what English speakers call “dark chocolate”, or “petit écolier” (that is, “little schoolboy”) for that sort of butter cookie

* also not my fault that “chocolat noir” sounds remarkably like “Chat Noir”, which, attentive readers may have noticed, is not a name that appears in the story after the header and before Miraculous Cure

* I found the website of a store in Boston, Massachusetts that caters to French expats, and the yo-yo cookies and the monster chips were right there in the photos, y’all

* the snack stash and the black light live in the cabinet where, in canon, the Camembert lives; yes, that cheese smells in the real world like gym socks

* this story’s akuma was not able to affect anything but squishy human memory: nobody affected remembers anything about Ladybug or Chat Noir or Hawkmoth, not in any solid way, not even when they read news articles about the subject, and this includes Marinette and Adrien not being able to see or hear or remember their own kwamis—but you know what Adrien’s Insta post about his poltergeist and Adrien’s Insta post with the floating sock don’t show and don’t explicitly refer to?

* I love this paragraph so much (my housemates may have been lovingly mocking me over it)

8) A comment that touched you:

there are people (y’all know who you are) who said y’all are studying my style. I ded of blush.

9) Something that inspired your writing:

by volume of fic drafts that can be blamed on any particular person, the winner is probably @norakwami

10) Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc):

so that longest-story-ever-written record I set in 2007 with the 89.5K story that, till where the firelight fades, was the only story I’d gotten much past 20K?

I broke that fucking record!

and then I deleted the draft of firelight chapter 15 😭

11) Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

I’m starting work on a fantasy novel, a Sleeping Beauty retelling in which I explore (among other things) the economic consequences of the king’s ordering all the spinning wheels burned, and I want to make significant progress on that. and I want to not make my hands any worse; I kind of need those!

(breaking news alert: bodies fucking suck. so does giving yourself repetitive stress injuries in doing one and a half to two people’s worth of work for an organization that was never ever going to pay you more than one person’s worth of pay.)

#by alexseanchai #miraculous ladybug #tag game

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billiejeanisnotyourlover · 4 years

Text

GREEN — OBX

PAIRING: John B. Routledge x Fem!Reader

REQUEST: “Hey! I was wondering if you could do a John B x reader where the reader is Topper’s ex girlfriend and is now dating John B and maybe a jealous John B at a party or something 🥺🥺🥺 thank you so so much!!!” by Anonymous.

WARNINGS: Mentions of drug and alcohol usage by minors, I think that’s it actually.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: first request! i apologize if this is bad, i literally haven’t written anything in years, so this is quite the throwback. the beginning kind of drags but it gets better (i think) as it goes on. hope you all enjoy!

Okay, listen. It wasn’t like you were planning on going full-Pogue over the summer. No, you hadn’t been mischievously scheming your conversion to the “dark side” at all; you just broke up with your Kook-y boyfriend and started hanging around the local lowlifes a little more than you thought you would.

I mean, between the hours they spent at The Wreck—where, by the way, you’d been working for a good six or so months now after your parents basically told you that you couldn’t leech off of their money anymore—and the number of times you’ve bumped into them on your way home, hanging out with them turned into something a little more inevitable than avoidable.

It started out small, with little conversations that weren’t entirely based on the Kook vs Pogue rivalry that the group of teens were so set on keeping alive.

Kiara, your boss’ daughter, had been the first to show you even an ounce of kindness; another unruly customer had dumped their water all over you (whether or not it was on purpose depended on who you asked about the incident), and she had been the one to take you to the back, let you release some frustration, and then gave you a new shirt to wear.

After that, it had been Pope. While you were serving him and the two other boys one night, he mentioned something about school and scholarships, to which you opened up an entire conversation with him about, seeing your siblings had all gone through the interview process, so you knew a trick or two. You could tell he regarded you a little more kindly after that.

The next to break was John B, the cute, wavy-haired brunet boy. He’d been the easiest to break, even if not the first. While Kiara and Pope still treaded water, John B dove in head-first. You weren’t even sure why; one day, he’d been giving you a side-eye, and the next, he was inviting you around town with them.

Of course, the final Pogue left was JJ. Blond hair, blue eyes, and a total troublemaker. He didn’t take very kindly to you at all; sometimes you could hear him arguing with his friends about how they were associating with a Kook, even if you hardly qualified anymore. Sure, your parents were rich and you wore nice clothes, but all the people in Kooklandia were dull. Shallow. Boring. You wanted depth—and the Pogues could give you that.

Even now, months later, you could tell JJ was still sketched out about you, but you learned to ignore it as time went on, and every once in a while, he would extend an olive branch—with the olive branch being a blunt or a beer, most days.

Though, in all honesty, the hardest part of it all had been Thomas. Topper, as everyone else knew him. The two of you grew up together, practically joined at the hip since diapers, though there was a period of a few years in middle school and freshman year of high school that he would barely give you the time of day.

Maybe that was why you agreed so quickly when he asked you out one day. Maybe that was why the two of you started dating, because he finally was giving you the attention you craved.

Okay, wait, that sounded shallow. You weren’t shallow. You were just... lonely. Missing the human connection. Something like that. Being with Topper filled those holes in your heart and made you happier and happier as each day passed.

Until it didn’t anymore.

You remembered breaking up with him like it was yesterday, even if it had been at least three months ago now.

He yelled at you. You yelled at him. He blamed your new friends. You blamed his ego. It went on and on until, eventually, you just walked away. Told him not to call. Told him not to come by your house. You two could talk about it later, when you weren’t at each other’s throats, but it was still over. You and Topper were over.

Then, the next day, you joined the Pogues on their handy little boat and went off into the marsh. There were drinks and blunts and jokes and laughter. Then the process basically repeated the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day...

...and now, it was July. You and the Pogues were as thick as thieves (quite literally, in JJ’s case). You did everything together, and you finally found the friendships you’d been craving for so long. The friendships that engaged you, that kept you happy, that made you feel unconditional love. You felt like everything was finally complete for you.

And then you fell. Hard.

John B had always been nice to you. So incredibly nice. He let you in on Pogue things. He made sure you were happy. He always made you smile, and with all of that added together, it really wasn’t surprising when you realized that maybe, just maybe, you liked John B as more than just a friend.

Turns out, he felt the same, and only a few weeks prior just as summer break started, he kissed you.

Yes, John B kissed you. And you kissed him back.

Since then, you two were inseparable, always spending your days together and most of your nights, although you still had a family and had to go home eventually. Those nights, though, you stayed up for hours on the phone with him. Literally. Sleep never came to you until three or four in the morning then, and you’d get up at a whopping nine to meet him back at the chateau that very day.

Of course, the hurricane that blew in ruined it all. The island was a mess and the power was out, meaning there was no signal and you were forced to spend your nights at home in solitude.

That’s what last night had been like, but hours had passed and you met up with John B and the Pogues not too long ago, your group of friends and yourself now at the boneyard for an infamous OBX kegger.

“Hey! Watch this!” comes JJ’s voice from a few yards away. The blond boy had situated himself on a tree branch, and once he was certain he had his friend’s attention, he leaned back. He was holding himself up by his legs, now dangling haphazardly above the ground as he... tilted his beer can back and started drinking?

The liquid was going everywhere. All over his chin, dripping to the sand, and covering his face because he kept missing his own mouth.

You, of course, have to laugh. “Does he not realize that’s not going to work?” you ask, looking at the boy whose arm was wrapped lazily around your waist.

John B glances down at you with an crooked grin. The sight makes you mirror the expression. “He’ll realize eventually. After he chokes, probably.”

Sure enough, JJ starts coughing, the beer having gone down the wrong pipe as he struggles to sit up and correct himself.

You laugh even more, sipping from your own beer can and simply enjoying the amusing show. JJ kept coughing, and you and John B kept laughing, joined in by Kiara’s questioning of what the hell were you thinking would happen? and Pope agreeing with her entirely.

A squeeze on your hip draws your attention back up to John B, whose hand has situated itself on the exposed skin above the waistline of your shorts. His gaze meets yours, shining with a happy sparkle that only makes you smile.

“Yeah?” you ask.

“Come walk with me?”

“Yeah, of course.”

The two of your begin to walk away from the crowd, the cheers and laughter and chatter of conversation fading away just the slightest—until a voice calls out your name.

“Y/N!” It’s all too familiar, and slowly, you turn around in John B’s arms to face Topper.

Topper. What was he doing here?

“Topper?” you call back, furrowing your brows before a small pit of anger bubbles in your stomach. You don’t show to outwardly, though, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.

He jogs up in the sand to meet you, now standing just a few feet away. In his hand in a can of beer, but by the way he crushes it, you know it’s empty. You’re surprised he doesn’t toss it behind him and leave it.

“Still slumming around with these guys, huh?” questions Topper. You roll your eyes, and he smirks knowingly. “When are you coming back to the real world, princess? This little fantasy of yours can’t last forever.”

Next to you, John B bristles. “Shut up, dude,” he demands, a shadow now crossing over his face. You’ve only ever seen him upset maybe once or twice, so this was new even for you. “Do you have to come over here and harass us?”

Topper laughs. “You think I want to be anywhere near you, John B?” he scoffs, his gaze flickering to you. “I’m just coming here to remind Y/N what she’s doing. We still have to talk, anyway. Remember?”

“Yeah, I remember. But that was three months ago, Topper,” you remind him, and he stiffens for a moment. “We—” you gesture between you and him. “—are through.”

The blond Kook just scoffs quietly again. He doesn’t have a response right away, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t digging for one. Eventually, he sighs, “Whatever. You’ll come to your senses eventually and realize that life just isn’t as sweet when you’re hanging around with a few dirty Pogues.” He pauses. “Give me a call when you’re ready for that talk.”

Then, he walks away. The confrontation is short and not at all sweet, but it’s still enough to keep John B quiet even after a few minutes pass. The two of you continue down the beach together, but his arm is at his side and he refuses to even look at you.

You know what it’s about. It’s about the same thing he’s expressed to you time and time again. Why would you leave a Kook for him? Money, a good life... for someone from the Cut? He couldn’t fathom it.

“Hey,” you say gently, stepping in front of him. You’d been in silence for too long. “Look at me, John B.”

He does, and you sigh. His eyes are full and his face crestfallen.

“Just ignore Topper, okay?” you ask. “He thinks he’s some hot rod. He’s not.”

“I don’t like the way he looks at you,” John B replies. “Like—like he thinks he still has some claim over you. Doesn’t he realize he doesn’t? That—that you two are over?”

“He will. With time,” you promise. He’s still tense, though, and for a moment, his eyes flicker over to where Topper is now with the rest of his Kook friends. “John B.”

He looks at you again.

“You,” a finger is pressed to his chest, “are the only one for me.”

“I don’t—”

“No, don’t question it.” You shake your head, then smile as you stand on your toes and wrap your arms around his neck. “You’re the only one for me, John B. I don’t care about Topper.”

At that, he cracks a small smile, and for you, that’s enough. But you still press a little kiss to the corner of his lips.

“Besides, green isn’t your color,” you tease then.

“I’m not... I’m not wearing green?” he states, but the sentence comes out more like a question than anything, and you can’t help but laugh. He’s confused for a moment longer before it processes with him.

He was green with envy, and it wasn’t cool on him. He scoffs, a gateway to a little laugh.

“Okay, that’s it,” he decides, wrapping his arms around your waist and lifting you up with no warning. You squeal, and he lugs you towards the water. “I’ve had enough of your bullying!”

Your laughter drowns out the rest of the party, and you can’t help but feel beyond elated that finally, you’d found your place. Even if your boyfriend is a little green.

#john b routledge imagine #john b imagine #john b routledge #john b #outer banks imagine #outer banks #obx #outer banks netflix

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