#did it knowingly accept the risk it was taking or was it a mistake | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

itsclydebitches · 2 years

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Assuming Ozpin was smart enough and realized Jaune had faked his transcripts, but let him in due to seeing his potential. What would have happened if Pyrrha hadn't saved Jaune and he just hit a tree and died on the spot during initiation?

If we're assuming that Ozpin really is "smart enough" then I kinda half to believe that Jaune wouldn't have hit the tree at all. Ozpin essentially has a problem (how does the no-aura, untrained kid survive initiation) and a solution presents itself without his input (Pyrrha takes a liking to him), but if that solution hadn't shown up for some reason, I have to believe that Ozpin already had another solution lined up. He's the Headmaster of Beacon. He knows Jaune's limitations if he figured out that the transcripts are fake. He's a 1,000+ year old strategist trying to keep a (relatively) low profile. Put those three things together and you can't equal anything but "Ozpin had a way for Jaune to survive." Just because we don't know what that way is (because RT never had to write it) doesn't mean it doesn't exist, simply because to assume otherwise is a pretty unpersuasive reading of his character. We'd have to argue that Ozpin accepted a student he knew would be in grave danger without doing anything to assure his safety; that he'd be willing to let a kid not just die, but almost inevitably die, risking his standing in the community (a key part of this war) and decimating his other ethics for... what? The hell of it? It makes no sense. It's like trying to argue that Ruby knowingly and willingly walked into a massive grimm invasion without her weapon. Is it technically possible for that to happen? Sure, but based on what we know about her (a fighter, well trained, always has Crescent Rose on hand, etc.) why in the world would she? It makes more sense to assume that Ruby has a weapon hidden nearby, even if we never see it because she snags another along the way, than it is to assume this talented, trained, hyper-vigilant fighter just Randomly Did The Stupidest Thing Ever for No Understandable Reason. (Which, you know, has kinda happened in recent volumes, but that's not the point lol). Ozpin had his own "weapon" hidden somewhere nearby because to assume otherwise clashes with everything else we know about him. He might warn the kids that this test is legitimately dangerous and it's possible to die in it, but that's not the same thing as letting the newbie go in without some kind of safety net, thereby assuring his death. Ozpin doesn't actually want Jaune splattered against a tree. Certainly not after he's taken the time to accept him. If he was that indifferent to Jaune's safety, why bother bringing him to Beacon in the first place? Just let the kid stay home and don't bother with him at all.

Or, you know, we could ignore everything else about Ozpin's character and say nah, he's a cold-blooded bastard who's sacrificing children anyway, he would have totally let Jaune die if Pyrrha hadn't stepped in. Okay, cool, but then that puts a huge damper on the whole manipulative chess master angle. Men out to control children in a long-term war don't just randomly throw their pieces onto the board, uncaring where they land or how quickly they fall. If we're assuming that Ozpin is pulling all the strings here, then he's also pulling the strings of Jaune's safety. If he's not than I guess he's not controlling enough to be orchestrating this war either.

But regardless, all logic aside, Ozpin is Ozpin. He was the rescuer, then the father, then the teacher. Whatever his mistakes (and regardless of how often the show tends to forget this) he's defined by his desire to keep others safe, even if that safety comes at a great cost. He's not a guy who's going to fling vulnerable kids at trees without a backup plan. Even if that plan is as rudimentary as believing in his students' willingness to help one another, a belief that Pyrrha honors in spades.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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lizardbytheriver · 4 months

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The truth is... third genders & trans people have existed for thousands of years and through multiple cultures. The truth is... trans people are a reality, an unavoidable reality, on our Earth and in our modern times. That is the truth. Matt Walsh does not care about who his bigotry hurts. Matt Walsh does not care about who his bigotry kills. Matt Walsh is saying his bigotry and worldview matters more than Trans People's actual lives. Putting other people's lives at risk, knowingly doing this, and then acting ambivalent... is immoral, disgusting, irresponsible, and evil. This man is evil. He is saying that he is prepared to sacrifice other people's lives, to sacrifice a whole minority group, in-order to pursue his crusade. Trans People did not agree this. Trans People have been asking & demanding him to stop. But to him, their deaths are "a risk worth taking" (if not the true goal). And he will not stop at Trans People. Notice his mentions of "sexual orientation". He will go after gay people, lesbians, and many other minorities. Because that is Fascism. Fascism is always expanding the definition of the "other". Nazis did not stop at the Jewish People. Nazis kept killing... Gay People, Trans People, Communists, Socialists, Union Members, Slavs, and Romani. And if the Nazis were not stopped, there would have been more and more minorities persecuted. Matt Walsh is a fascist. He may call himself that "ironically", but every opinion and stance he takes is fascistic. That is not a mistake, a joke, or a goof. He is a fascist. No one gets to decide that 'this or that' minority group is an acceptable causality, is an acceptable loss. This is hyper-individualism, my quest and my goals are worth more than anyone's life. This is a cancerous worldview.

#Rightwing Nonsense

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milkytheholy1 · 3 years

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Good soldiers

A/N: Oh mi gosh guys I actually did it! Somehow I managed to write it all before 10.30, it's a little crap but oh well, I just need more Tech content tbh. Now this is based on episode 7, so definite spoilers for that episode, so read at your own risk. Anyway, let me know if you want more bad batch fics and enjoy!

Ultimate masterlist. Star wars masterlist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You didn't trust this planet, the decaying ships just gave you a bad vibe, although who could blame you. You quickly picked up speed, running to catch up with the others as they ventured into the depths of the unknown. They came to a sudden halt, your distracted mind slamming into the back of Tech's back, sending him only a few steps forward at the impact. Glancing back he caught your sheepish eyes and guilty smile, he knowingly grinned back at you, a silent acceptance of your little mistake.

You felt his hand snake down towards your own as you listened to Rex speak, something about climbing across the gap with some cable. But you couldn't focus on it for too long, you found that even just having the smallest of contact with Tech was too much for your brain, your thoughts erupting in only Tech related memories.

The boys had soon shimmied their way across the gap, you watched with nerves as Omega huffed along the rope, a beaming smile on her cheeks. Jumping off into Hunter's arms on the other side she cheered, "That was so much fun!"

"Good job, kid." Rex praised, patting her on the shoulder. Everyone's gaze turned to you and Wrecker, the last two people to make it across. You didn't like heights, similar to Wrecker, and that fear of yours was very apparent at this very moment. "Wh-what if I fall, o-or the rope snaps," you stuttered out, fingers ringing together as you peaked over the edge to see the steaming water, or what you hoped was water. Tech pushed himself to the front of the small crowd, sending you an encouraging smile, "My dear you have to cross, there's no other way to get around it. My advice would be to not look down."

"Why would you say that!" You freaked out taking another look down, your face going pale. Omega cheered you on from the other side, and who wouldn't feel motivated with that amount of positivity? Huffing in a breath of dusted air, you moved onto the rope, hugging it like a koala bear. Your body shuffled along, Wrecker repeatedly promising you that he was holding the rope with a tight grip. Before you knew it, Tech's arms were wrapped around you as he pulled you from the rope and onto the ground. You shoved your nose into the depths of his neck, finding the crook comforting while your heart beat rapidly.

After the chaos that was saving Wrecker from whatever creature lied waiting in the water, you all managed to find the med-bay with Rex's help. Tech gave the room a quick glance, noting the disrepair of it all, "I would no longer call this medical bay a sterile environment," he remarked. Rex strolled past him, helmet held under his arm, "Do you prefer to use the facility on Kamino?" he smirked back. Tech's back straightens at the question, he adjusted his glasses before darting to the pod, "This will do nicely," he muttered out.

You wanted to laugh at him, you really did, always by the books when it came to the important stuff. Wrecker was the first one on the bench, hand clamped to his head as he quietly moaned in pain, that headache of his had been getting worse and worse over the last few days; it was starting to worry you. Tech stood before his brother waving the device that he had built to help locate the chip, "Time to get scanned, Wrecker."

Wrecker's eyes flicked up to the device, giving it a once over before sighing, "Let's get this over with." he lamented. You turned away from the boys and went over to the others, watching with a smile as they chatted away but heaven knows what. Standing beside Echo, you caught what seemed to be the tail-end of the conversation, "It's more dangerous to leave their inhibitor chips in." Rex fussed, staring with a glare at Omega. You flinched back at his tone, guess you knew why he was a commander.

Unlike Omega, you didn't know much about how clones were made and all things related to the chips, you were just a simple pilot turned part-time medic. Your jobs were simple: Fly the ship better than the others and slap some bacta on them when they came back from a fight. You didn't even expect to still be in the group, although if it weren't for your relationship with Tech, you knew you probably still wouldn't be here.

Blipping back into reality, your ears picked up Tech's voice amongst the others, "I think I found something." You all crowded around Wrecker, awaiting his results with puppy-dog eyes. Tech held the scanner a little closer to Wrecker's head, said clone shying away from the contact, "Ninety degrees from his right orbital floor, below the parietal and temporal intersection..."

"Get that thing away from me," Wrecker groaned, swatting his hand like he was trying to kill a fly. Tech was unamused by the gesture, not one to waste time, Tech went back in again with the scanner. You stepped forward to get a better look at Wrecker, placing a gentle hand against his shoulder you inspected the way he winced in pain, "Somethings not right," you stated with furrowed brows. Wrecker shifted again with violent movements, you pulled your hand away taking short steps back as to not be attacked by flailing arms.

You felt a hand raise onto your shoulder, flicking your head up you caught Rex's gaze before it solemnly cast back onto Wrecker, "We need to speed this up," he rushed out. Tech rolled his eyes but approached the pod again with determination. Rex's hand slid off of your arm as he walked away, you and Hunter shared the same look of confusion, you all had questions and it seemed Rex was the one with the answers.

"Why haven't the guy's chips activated then, since you said earlier that yours did?" you probed, following the captain. He turned back to look at you, all of you, "You boys got lucky, very few clones were immune to the effects of Order 66. It's rare. When the regs attacked the Jedi on Kaller, we didn't understand why." he looked down in guilt, there was some heavy baggage there that wouldn't be explained.

In the distance, Wrecker's groans persisted, occasionally getting louder and louder as you spoke. "Relax, this won't hurt a bit." Tech's voice soothed, you couldn't see what he was doing, you could only hear the gentle notions of his voice. The room was vaguely quiet except for Hunter talking and Wrecker's pained grunts, but the silence was haunting, like the calm before the storm in a horror movie.

"Wre-Wreck-ker," Tech gasped out, his fingers scratching Wrecker's hands in an attempt to pull him off. His eyes were wide, Tech could feel the limited amount of air get dragged away from his throat as he tried his hardest to focus on not passing out. "You're in direct violation of Order 66." Wrecker's voice boomed, catching the squads attention. When your eyes caught Tech's scared gaze, your mouth dropped open in shock, "Tech!" You screamed out moving to free him. Echo grabbed you with his free hand, pulling you back along with the others as you watched on in horror.

Wrecker slammed the genius against the wall, causing all sorts of rusted metal to fall on top of him. You cried out as your boyfriend was thrown like a ragdoll, struggling in Echo's grasp. Wrecker's large form dominated over the group, leaving you in a shadow of his former self, the gun he held in his hands was aimed at you, you didn't know if it was set to stun or kill. Rex reached for his gun, pulling it out at unseen speeds but it wasn't quick enough to stop the rogue clone. Wrecker easily knocked the blaster out of Rex's hands, Echo's grip on you tightened as he began pulling you to cover.

"Wrecker?" Omega questioned, fear as clear as day. Suddenly, Wrecker unleashed hell with the blaster, firing it at his brothers and closest friends like you were nothing to him. You dived under some turned over medical tables, shielding your head with your arms. "He'll destroy the equipment if we don't get him out of here." Echo pointed out, panting heavily.

"You're all traitors!" you heard Wrecker shout, gun still blasting against the walls. Hunter ran possible plans through his head, was he trying more because Rex was here or because he didn't want to kill Wrecker, but he had to be prepared to take the chance if things went wrong. "We'll draw him out, (Y/N) and Omega, stay with Tech." you nodded in response, wrapping a hand around Omega's much smaller one and silently crying as her grip tightened.

As soon as the boys leapt from the room, a brainwashed Wrecker quickly following behind, you pulled Omega to her feet and made a dash for your beloved. Falling to your knees, you dropped Omega's hand and instead placed Tech's head on your lap. Your fingers traced over his face in an attempt to wake him up and check for any fractures, "Tech, please wake up." You wanted to shake him but didn't know how badly he was damaged, damn his clone armour.

Omega sat by your side, her gaze constantly flicking to the door in hopes of seeing a smiling, carefree Wrecker again, "Do you think he'll be alright?"

"Who Tech? Well, he's survived much worse." you mused, thumb tracing his cheekbones. Omega shook her head, a small smile emerged on her lips, "No Wrecker, do you think they can fix him?" her voice sounded broken, most likely matching the state of her heart. You wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into your side, "If I know Wrecker, he'll be back to himself in no time." That seemed to put her mind at ease for now, but the constant blaster fire failed to fill her enthusiasm entirely.

"...ion of Order 66 shall be terminated." Wrecker's voice wavered through the hallways and corridors, you weren't sure what was going on and before you knew it Omega had left your side and ran for the door. "Omega wait!" you called out to her, unable to move due to your unconscious boyfriend using you like a pillow. You watched with worried eyes as she crept out of the door and towards the fight, you only hoped Hunter would see her before it was too late.

Small groans and moans reached your ears, the sound coming from beneath you. Looking down you caught Tech's blinking eyes, "Tech!" you beamed down at him, you quickly found his hand and took some peace in knowing he was okay. "Did I worry you at all?" he mused, using his free hand to sit up, albeit with some aches and curses muttered from his lips; yep, that's your Tech. "You need to be careful, you did get bodyslammed into the wall after all."

"Yes, I'm glad you reminded me, (Y/N)." Tech deadpanned, adjusting his goggles so they sat on his face just the way he liked. "Are you going to be alright?" your tone was light but Tech could see the worry lines in your face, see the pent up fear and anger in your eyes, "Nothing a bit of bacta can't fix, I'm sure." he chuckled out. Your eyes widened, did the Tech just make a joke?

"Ah, you're in luck, that's my speciality." You leaned forward and pecked his lips with a gentleness Tech didn't know you possessed. Helping him to stand, he immediately went back over to the pod, "Do you know how much damage Wrecker did after I was so gracefully knocked out?" You shook your head 'no', joining him on his left side as he tinkered away, "No, Hunter and the others got him out of the room before he could cause enough damage."

The loud banging sounds behind you caught you off guard, both you and Tech audibly gasped when you saw Wrecker's unconscious body carried between Hunter and Rex. "What happened?" Tech enquired, pointing the two clones over to the pod, where he presumably wanted Wrecker to go. Echo shuffled in, rubbing his head, "We happened that's what, just happy it's over now."

"Quite, all we can do now is wait."

And so that's what you did, you all just sat around and waited for Wrecker to wake up, which took a lot longer than you all had initially planned. You watched with tired eyes as Tech laid back in his chair, the day's action finally getting to him. You wanted to point out that his chair was about to tip over but took joy in seeing his surprised face when Hunter dragged the chair back. The poor boy was almost sent flying, yet that didn't stop him from trying again.

With seemingly nothing after you at this very moment, you thought it was a good idea to get some rest too, besides it's not like you knew what would happen after this; you could be blasted into another job the moment you step outside. Leaning back against the gun-shot wall, you felt the heaviness of your eyelids as they shut closed for a few hours. It had felt like you were in the great unknown for days instead of hours, enjoying the sense of peace it brought in its quietness.

"He's awake!" Omega's voice roared, instantly waking you up from your rest. Your eyes were wide and shoulders straight, moving to your feet you wandered over to the pod and took your place behind Tech; who just as equally looked as surprised as you.

"Oh, you made it." Tech mused, you quickly slapped him on the back of the head for his comment, earning you a confused glare. "Welcome back, Wrecker." you grinned at him, yet his own didn't seem to convey happiness more so guilt. Hunter and Tech helped Wrecker off of the table while Rex held the head device in his hand, "One chip down. Three to go. Who's next?"

The rest of the batch were surprisingly fast and simple, though it helps when you haven't been stunned unconscious. You stood in front of Tech, his chip had just been taken out and he was sporting a new haircut, "So what do you think?" he asked carelessly. You hummed, eyes dragging to the dips in his hair and the seemingly missing chunk, meeting his eyes he begged for your reaction with a pout.

"Hmmm, it's not bad but I'll miss the original." you teased with a wink, Tech rolled his eyes and leaned to give you a kiss on the cheek, your own dusted a light pink but hard to see under the harsh blue lights of the medbay. "Can we go home now, wherever home is?" you begged Tech, only receiving a nod in agreement, "Yes, I have to agree. A little rest does sound very enticing right now."

"I'll think about it," Hunter spoke, turning his back to us to follow the Captain out. Tech's hand attached to yours, squeezing the skin with a loving embrace, "Will you give me that bacta speciality of yours back on the ship?"

"I'll give you anything you want,"

Tech paused to think for a minute, a devious thought in his mind. With lidded eyes, he replied, "Well, in that case, there are a few things I'd like you to give me."

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sesamestreep · 2 years

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your choice of Tenet characters for 6, "patting the other’s head"

i misread this as “patting the other’s hand” and I’d already written this whole thing by the time I realized my mistake, so I just went with it! 😬

It takes about eight years—that’s total, backwards and forwards, not each way, it’s worth noting—before they’re in a place where it makes sense to recruit Neil. The idea of it sneaks up on him, actually, that it’s finally time. It’s a thing he’s thought about and planned for and (honestly) worried over so much that it doesn’t feel like a real thing he could just decide to do one day. It feels too monumental, like he needs permission from someone else before it could happen. He has a whole network of people, too; he could theoretically ask someone for permission if that’s what he really needs, but he’s the one in charge, in the end. He’s not sure it would be good for morale if he shows any doubt.

Still, it’s weighing on his mind when he goes to have his regular lunch with Sir Michael. He hadn’t truthfully been all that surprised to find that his generous benefactor had actually been in on everything since the beginning—the beginning beginning, that is, which is saying something. He’d done a commendable job of not showing any recognition when Priya had connected them during the Sator case—which was the other beginning, or it was the end, depending on how you look at it—but he hadn’t actually been fresh faced to Sir Michael then. They’d met earlier, in Michael’s case—and later, technically, in his. Once he’d looped back to actually found Tenet in earnest, it had been clear that someone like Sir Michael Crosby would be an asset to them and he'd need to be involved somehow. If the timeline imploded or whatever, he figured they would just have to deal with it. They had so few friends, back then, that the risk was acceptable if it gave them even one more.

The point is this: if there’s anyone he can ask for permission about the Neil question, it’s Sir Michael. He’s not in charge, not by a long shot, but he’s older and significantly wiser and not likely to sugar coat anything. Besides, if you can’t trust someone who’s been knighted, who can you trust?

He lays the whole case out for him while they’re eating. Well, Michael is eating, unbothered and undeterred by business talk as always, while he rambles on for fifteen minutes. It feels like rambling to him, at least, accustomed as he normally is to staying professional and keeping the ends out. When he finishes speaking, he takes a big, obvious deep breath, which would certainly give him away if nothing else that came before it did.

Michael, of course, takes his time thinking it over. “You know as well as I do that you don’t need my permission for this,” he finally says, after he’s taken an introspective sip of his wine and blotted his mouth with a napkin.

“I’m not looking for permission,” he replies, carefully. “I’m looking for…”

“Forgiveness?” Sir Michael supplies, with a knowing look. He’s amused, though. That much is obvious.

He won’t rise to the bait, even though it feels suspiciously like the truth now that he hears it out loud. He feels vaguely embarrassed at the selfishness of what he’s about to do, even though he knows the end and it’s not all bad. Neil is an important piece of the puzzle that ends up saving the world. He said himself that they had good times together—in the past for Neil, but in the future for him. If he doesn’t recruit him, they don’t get those experiences, and they don’t save the world. But recruiting Neil also means sending him, knowingly, to his death, and that feels like a high price to ask for a few years of whatever good times they’re going to have. He doesn’t know what Neil meant by that—we get up to some stuff—but he hopes he does. If he’s being honest with himself, he knew where they were heading from the moment Neil sat down next to him in that club in Mumbai. The timing is the mystery for them, not the end result.

“I need an unbiased opinion,” he finally says, “on the strength of my assessment.”

“Then you’ve come to the wrong place, I’m afraid,” Micheal says, as he casually pops an olive into his mouth.

“How so?”

“I’m completely biased on this matter. You’re terribly good at what you do, my friend, don’t get me wrong, but I worry about you. About your soul. There are more things in life than work!”

“There can’t be,” he replies, immediately, as he shakes his head. “Not with this work. Not for me.”

Sir Michael shrugs, as though he expected nothing less. “You see? This is why I’m going to tell you to recruit Neil!”

“We would recruit him to work for us, so I don’t really see how it would help you, if your goal is to get me to work less.”

“My dear,” Michael says, unimpressed, “I know I have the glow of youth about me, but I was not, in fact, born yesterday.”

He feels his face warm, but he knows from years of practice that his expression remains pointedly neutral. “Point taken,” he murmurs in the direction of his untouched lunch.

Michael reaches across the table to pat his hand gently, allowing the touch to linger for a moment. “As much as I enjoy your company, I don’t think I can go on being your only friend,” he says, with a charming smile. “And all this talk of the end times does put me off my appetite occasionally.”

“Sure it does,” he replies, with an equally affable eye roll. If his eyes feel a little watery as he does it, no one needs to know.

”It’s settled, then,” Michael says, cheerfully, as he withdraws his hand and raises his wine glass in a mock toast.“You’ll go recruit that beautiful young man of yours and we’ll keep trying to avert the apocalypse. Together!”

Against his wishes, he finds himself smiling and he brings his own glass up to clink against Sir Michael’s. “Together,” he agrees.

#this has been complete for like a week I’m just posting it w/e #as always I cannot tell whether my tenet fic actually makes sense #it’s complicated baby that’s what we like about it #tenet #protagoneil #ask #prompt fill #touch prompts #firstelevens #as always Zainab thank you for indulging my tenet brain rot ❤��#sorry I misread the prompt bestiee 🥲#mw

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aleatoryalarmalligator · 3 years

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As you all may know, my mother is on a ventilator for covid 19. She didn’t believe in covid. I tried to tell her but she didn’t believe it. She tried to tell me some kind of Qanon bologne when I’d try to tell her. I would give anything to have more time with my mother. There is some signs of improvement in her feeling better but I am not wanting to become too hopeful. She was on the phone with one of my elder sisters for six minutes rather than two the other day. She was angry at her for letting her kids come in to her house knowing they had covid.

I’m very angry at her doctor who told her she didn’t need the covid shot, in fact just telling her she is healthy. She has a small body frame and is on the shorter side but weighs nearly three hundred pounds and struggles to get around. She’s 59 years old and works as a nurse at a nursing home and works way too hard on minimum wage, has given birth to six children, has always had asthma and is prone to bronchitis and pneumonia. She’s a prime candidate for covid, in fact she is who I thought about the day I remember reading about covid. It’s like this disease was designed to kill my mother.

They sent her to southern Idaho for a ventilator. She is lucky to get one. They’ve run out in many of these red states that didn’t take covid seriously enough. It does not bring me any joy that right wingers and people who didn’t believe in the shot are dying. I’ve had liberal friends say over simplistic things about people from red states getting what’s coming to them and so forth, and people have rejoiced at the idea of trump supporters getting sick and suffering and dying.

I am left leaning, but I never want to get so caught up in my political ego that I eradicate any notion of humanity to the people I don’t agree with or might not even like. Their pain and lives are real and legitimate as anyone else’s. Their families matter too. They are wrong, my mother is wrong. She’s been backwards about a lot of the world my whole life.

But she’s also a very kind person. She is always giving to people and has contradictory, while supporting a fucking horrible president, also put up for and fought her job because of racism she was seeing all around her. She doesn’t really think like a conservative and her way of approaching life didn’t really ever reflect a deeper conservative value or drive. I’ve noticed other conservatives never liked her.

She believed the wrong things because she was driven by religious faith and loneliness to believe the rabbit hole of alt right Facebook. She doesn’t have much of an education, was bullied and abused for most of her childhood. she went to over twenty different schools and moved a lot throughout her childhood. She got married and started having children very young. She always worked as a bartender, or as a caretaker to children with disabilities or elderly folk. She barely understood the internet. She believed in god and joined religious groups on Facebook very open and blindly without even understanding propaganda or the political climate of what is being fought for, which pretty much took her down this poisonous road. And now she’s barely able to talk in an icu all alone, as this virus that she didn’t believe in tries to kill her.

Moving to the city and always being left leaning, but being from a rural area of the inland north west, where I was outnumbered and lived amongst these folk who didn’t like me all that much but I was always having to find ways to accept and understand sometimes gives me a perspective perhaps that maybe liberal kids from middle class families from liberal cities have missed out on. I will never be able to see it as black and white. It would be easy to just say that the people in Bible Belt areas deserve this and be rid of any sadness or guilt. I was disgusted by the anti intellectualism I was surrounded by and I lived for most of my twenties in my own world to avoid it when I was growing up and lived in my home state which is fairly red. But people are the same everywhere. They really are.

Her recovery is slow and I worry something terrible is happening to her organs and lungs as she has fights for her life. I hope her body is strong enough to keep fighting. I appreciate the care and labor and sacrifice the hospitals have given to keep people alive. There is so much anguish. We have lost a mural of so many wonderful and beautiful souls to covid. It’s hard to even fathom the grief and pain it’s left in its wake. I can barely cope with my own.

I took a walk today to think. I haven’t wanted to listen to music in a long while because my mood is on my mother’s condition, but I put in John Prine. He was one of the first people to die of covid that I cared about, albeit indirectly as I only know him through his songs. I had a ticket to go see him play before covid took his life. It was going to be small and intimate outdoor concert in town. His music was always so real and down to earth. He sings about the quiet sad things of getting old and the way that love is about the daily existence with other people. How you build and cope with things.

One of his last songs on the album before he died was about how science has no business tinkering with nature. It’s so genuine. And ironic. Not everyone shares this belief, but I think that the covid flu was made in a lab and someone made a mistake and let it out into the public. I believe it was just human error in Wuhan. Nobody, no government or anything wanted this. And the Chinese government did everything they could to avoid fessing up to the mistake. So the idea of a lab grown virus being what killed John Prine kind of hurts in a way, though he also often sang about being comfortable with death and having peace with a life that was happy.

There are countless people I could blame for my mother’s disease. I could blame the dystopian Chinese government and their inability to admit fault, I could blame our government and our long-standing capitalist system that monetary prioritizes gain over human life, I could blame my mother’s cruel upbringing for not giving her the tools she needed to make wise choices about the world around her, or she herself for not taking care of her body. I could blame her mother and father and brothers.

I could blame my sisters kids for their lack of consideration of what covid would do to my mother’s health knowing she was high risk, or my eldest sister herself for being lazy and letting them go to my moms house knowingly.

I could blame some mentally unwell woman named Susan who my mother might have vaguely known for inviting her to a Facebook group of hate and conspiracy, or blame the nuns who drove religion into my mother’s head as a child. I could blame the easy to punch Ted Cruz or Tucker Carleson or any of the right wing mouth pieces for spreading lies and misinformation to the people they are supposedly speaking up for on behalf of about covid. I could blame it on our artificially based two party system that prevents real discussion from ever happening.

In the end, there is a myriad of things I could blame. So many pieces to the puzzle I could write volumes. But it doesn’t change where we are at now. And I have little control of the world around me. Or what made it that way. It’s disappointing. And in a way, John Prine has that message too. I’m just sad. I try to remember that my mom of the many people I have known was very accepting of death. Maybe it’s because she’s a person of faith, but she has a practical dark humor about her too that makes her accept it. I know she wouldn’t want me to be sad, but I am all the same.

It’s happened at this point where I am genuinely feeling my age and kind of at a crossroads in who I am as a person and what I want to do. I’ll talk about that some other time though. There is only so much a person can read.

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raayllum · 4 years

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no but like one of the things i love so much about rayllum’s dynamic, that i suspected since s1 but s3 only proved, in my eyes, is that

before callum, rayla’s never been loved this unconditionally in her life

because no matter what way you slice it, her birth parents did leave her. with trusted friends, but they still chose the duty to protect the dragon royal family over raising and protecting their daughter. runaan love(d) her but he’s not the most emotionally open person and still raised her with the expectations of an assassin. ethari loved her but still put his grief over runaan above her, to the point where he went along with the ghosting spell. and that’s not to say they don’t love her properly, because they do. but there are conditions to a degree and rayla has seen all of them

the only friends rayla mentions having are the adoraburrs at the meadow, where she’d spend hours in her youth. there’s no one else in the silvergrove she thinks wouldn’t have done the spell except ethari. and ezran, while her friend, still does leave the mission to go home (choosing his own duty) and returns because due to extenuating circumstances.

but callum?

decides everything about her is interesting, from her home to her parents to whatever her binding means, and that he wants to know it all. that he fights to get to know her and tries to cheer her up. and when she does open up to him, he takes it all in the stride. she says she wishes her parents were dead, and him, a boy who has knowingly lost both his birth parents, simply asks her what she means and accepts it. she bares her shame and he offers support. he says that she’s brave because of her fear, not in spite of it.

he adores her and she knows it. he calls her “brave,” and “heroic” in s1, “kind, good, fearless, fast, and strong,” in s2, “the most amazing person i’ve ever met,” among so many others in s3, and he’s unabashed about it all.

he trusts her enough to follow when she hurries them in a rush, even when she snaps and shoves his bag at him and won’t explain why they’re in a rush. he likes her against his better judgment. he’s the one who calls her a friend first in a face to face conversation, when everything is on the line with the ice and egg. when it comes down to the moment it matters most, he trusts her over soren and claudia, who he’s known his whole life.

he thinks about her comfort (pushing away the boat, offering to walk around the sea) and her problems (how she feels after the silvergrove, her wrist binding, how to see her parents’ history) even when she doesn’t or doesn’t talk about it herself.

he understands that she lied about harrow to protect him and forgives her without question. he risks his life to save her with dark magic. he jumps off the spire despite having every indication that the spell won’t work for him, but he’s going to either save her or die trying.

callum snaps “rayla doesn’t deserve this!” and only ever gets angry in s3 on her behalf (yes, even in 3x08, because he’s trying to convince her to not go on a suicide mission). when he presents the truth about her parents to her, he doesn’t try to make the decision for her then or even sway her; he just tells her what happened, and then says, “it’s your choice. no one else’s”—not his— knowing she still might choose to guard the dragon queen anyway.

he puts her comfort above the mission, no matter how long it would take. he puts her life and needs above his. he learns from his mistakes and then safe guards repeating them: “see, no winter no humans” --> “okay we might find a dragon egg expert, but we will definitely find a bunch of elf hating humans.” he puts her mission above his life: “if me dying is the only way to get you and zym into xadia.” he puts her life above his.

rayla blames herself for the egg? callum says “no, i should have trusted you,” and tries to alleviate her guilt and place it on himself instead.

rayla says that she’ll never be good enough? callum tells her to shut up and listen to him, and “you’re too good to feel this bad about yourself. i know that, and you should know that. you have true courage and a big heart. i’ve seen you get knocked down so many times before and every single time, you get up again. that’s real strength. and… and you’re ten times funnier than any human i know. see? see, you know you’re amazing. you’re smart, and fast, and beautiful,” and can make her laugh even when she’s been crying.

rayla shuts callum out and says that she’s fine? he runs after her and keeps trying. “are you okay? you saw something.” “rayla? you okay? rayla, it’s okay.” she shoves him away and he goes after her, every time. “i don’t care that you’re crying, i’m here with you.” makes it clear in his actual, purposeful confession that he loves her because of who she is as a person, and that even though he sees her as a hero, it is without expectation.

because callum from day one has been determined to know her, to bring out the best in her (“you know this is wrong”), to tease her and find her bad moods endearing, to care about her and protect her and save her. because he knows rayla is so so capable but not infallible, that she needs love and support just like everyone else, and he is determined to give that to her.

no matter how cutting her words might be (“i don’t have to explain anything to you!” --> “we’re lucky to have you as our friend. i do trust you”) or how many times she pushes him away, even when she’s difficult or stand offish or keeping secrets and “she’s not telling us everything, i can feel it,” even when she’s risking her life and is fully prepared to die, every time she tries in some manner to leave because she doesn’t think she’s worthy of staying, callum follows

callum says no, i’m right here, and i’m not going anywhere.

he loves her unconditionally in a way i don’t think she’s ever experienced before, and it’s one of many reasons why he’s perfect for her

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bloodraven55 · 4 years

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Dude I just saw the stupidest take of my life, someone waa like ' if you can forgive catra then you should be able to forgive shadow weaver because they are basically the same and catra never really apologized for anything and shadow weaver was also abused' It's like adam apologists all over again shitting on ilia even though she actually had remorse for her actions and tried to make good choices i am a f salt mine today literally fuming :(

Yeah that's some bullshit. See, here's the thing. It's fine if personally you weren't invested in Catra and her story, or if you never cared about her and Adora's relationship. We all have personal preferences and some stuff just won't be to your taste! But you can acknowledge that something is good without liking it yourself, and without trying to twist the facts to prove that your opinion is correct.

So for interest's sake let's break this down point by point.

“[Catra and Shadow Weaver] are basically the same.”

Catra is a highly traumatised teenager who was raised without a single positive role model or example of healthy behaviour, while being put through constant verbal and physical abuse from her guardian/parental figure which made her feel completely worthless and inferior to everyone, and as a result developed self-destructive tendencies and damaging defence mechanisms which caused her to lash out at people to avoid being hurt again.

Shadow Weaver is a fully grown adult who knowingly and insidiously abused and manipulated both Catra and Adora throughout their entire lives up until they were approaching adulthood and previously risked the life of a literal child performing a dangerous spell because of her desire for power clouding her reason. She was never shown to grow up in a horrifically negative environment and the trauma she suffered during the Spell of Obtainment was primarily her own doing.

There's a parallel to Catra in that Shadow Weaver also felt neglected and taken for granted by her mentor figures, but they are not remotely the same.

“Catra never really apologised for anything.”

During Season 5 Catra apologises on no less than three separate occasions (to Adora in S5E3, to Entrapta in S5E6, and again to Adora in S5E8) and she also tries to apologise to Scorpia on two separate occasions but can't because the first time Scorpia is brainwashed and the second time Scorpia hugs her before she can finish. And not a single one of those times does she attempt to justify anything she did, or attempt to put any of the responsibility on other people.

Catra has repeatedly acknowledged her mistakes and sincerely expressed regret for them without any blame shifting or dismissing the pain she caused, and to say otherwise is flat out not true.

“Shadow Weaver was also abused.”

I sort of already covered this, but yeah, this point also doesn't hold up at all. We're shown that Shadow Weaver felt ignored and sidelined by the other sorcerors, but never that she was deliberately stripped of her self esteem and repeatedly mistreated to the point of torture.

Comparing Shadow Weaver's frustration at her colleague's unwillingness to take extreme risks which could have equally severe consequences to Catra being constantly treated like literal garbage and ““punished”” with magic from when she was still just a child is ridiculous.

“Catra's toxicity towards Scorpia was the same as Shadow Weaver's abuse of Adora and Catra.”

They're the same in that neither situation was remotely okay. But again, equating a traumatised victim of child abuse projecting that cycle of abuse onto someone else to the perpetrator of said child abuse who began that cycle in the first place is, uh... Not a Good Take.

This isn't to excuse anything about the way Catra treated Scorpia or anyone else she hurt—those actions were entirely her own and she had to take responsibility for them and face the consequences—but to say those two examples are identical is wrong.

“Shadow Weaver deserved a redemption arc.”

No, she didn't. Because as you say, she never took any of the necessary steps to redeem herself.

Noelle has said that Shadow Weaver's death wasn't a redemption, and I also remember her saying that as far as Shadow Weaver was concerned, once she was working with the Rebellion she considered herself redeemed and one of the good guys. Which is exactly why Shadow Weaver never deserved redemption, because she didn't even understand that she needed to redeem herself.

Shadow Weaver never once hesitated over her decisions or showed any remorse for what she did to Catra and Adora. She never apologised to anyone, and the only truly good thing she ever did was to die so that her victims would be free of her forever. But even then, her “you're welcome” to Catra shows that she still wasn't being truly selfless and felt like she was obligated to some measure of forgiveness for doing the absolute bare minimum.

On the other hand, let's look at some of the main things Catra does in Season 5 as part of her redemption arc.

She saves Glimmer, risking her life and allowing herself to be tortured similarly to how Shadow Weaver used to ““punish”” her with her magic, I might add and brainwashed in an attempt to keep Adora safe.

She chooses to try and discover Horde Prime's plans by looking into his mind using her chip, even though it means reliving a hugely traumatic experience, in an attempt to help Adora and the Rebellion against Horde Prime.

She literally throws herself headfirst into fire with zero hesitation to try and rescue Adora.

She stays behind to fight what is essentially a giant potentially deadly monster alone, once again to protect Adora and hopefully allow her to save Etheria.

She lets herself be physically attacked by members of the Rebellion on multiple occasions without fighting back or holding onto any bitterness over it because she knows it's warranted.

She offers or at least tries to offer genuine apologies to the people she hurt the most (Adora, Entrapta, and Scorpia) without attempting to excuse any of her wrongdoing and without any expectation of forgiveness.

Catra achieves zero personal gain through any of these actions. They are wholly selfless acts, and that's how she proves that she's actually changing for the better. Not with one single instance of doing a decent thing which comes with a “you're welcome” as a final guilt trip, but with repeated good choices which she makes without demanding any sort of reward for them.

To give more examples:

In Episode 3, Catra starts to learn how to apologise for the things she did and express the regret she feels over her actions.

In Episode 6, Catra starts to learn how to let herself be vulnerable, and how to openly and honestly ask for the things she wants instead of assuming other people already know and then lashing out when they don't understand. She also lets Adora set clear boundaries without reacting badly, and manages to share her feelings knowing that Adora might choose to reject her or walk away.

In Episode 8, Catra starts to learn that feeling exposed and embarrassed isn't always a bad thing, and that when the rest of the group tease her it's a sign of them beginning to accept her rather than them mocking her— that they're laughing with her, rather than at her. She also shows that she's making progress towards working through her issues by finding ways to manage her anger rather than lashing out.

In Episode 9, Catra tries to reassure Netossa that Spinnerella will be okay, demonstrating that she's starting to learn how to empathise with other people more and express sympathy for their struggles.

In Episode 10, Catra is willing to go back to the Fright Zone with Adora and the others, a.k.a. return to the place which is the source of most of her trauma, because she knows it's what has to be done.

In Episode 11, Catra decides to go to Mystacor with Adora and the others even though it's Shadow Weaver's idea, a.k.a. follow a plan thought up by the woman who's the source of most of her trauma, because she knows it's what has to be done. She also willingly lets Adora go to the Heart and potentially sacrifice herself which has literally been Catra's greatest fear throughout this entire season, because she accepts that it's Adora's choice to make and finally understands that Adora's priority will always be the greater good and she can't and shouldn't change that.

In Episode 13, Catra chooses to stay by Adora's side no matter what, regardless of whether Adora feels the same way about her, because she's reached a place where she's able to accept that her feelings might not be reciprocated and she still wants to be there for Adora in any way necessary even so— even if it means watching the love of her life die in front of her.

Catra spends the entire season going through the personal growth necessary to become a better person and learn how to have healthy connections with people. She makes the effort to improve time after time and dedicates herself to the ongoing job of breaking her toxic tendencies and making up for everything she did. If you still don't believe that she deserved to find peace and love after all of that then I can't make you, but you can't just ignore everything that happened in the show.

tl;dr - you don't have to like Catra or her arc, but she more than earned her happy ending.

#she ra #spop #catra #she ra catra #spop catra #shadow weaver #she ra shadow weaver #spop shadow weaver #she ra spoilers #spop spoilers #she ra analysis #spop analysis #she ra meta #spop meta #asks #anon asks #raven answers y'all

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silverwhiteraven · 3 years

Text

Wings of Broken White - Ch. 3

Tag List: @marichatmay

[ Posted on Ao3 ] [ Chapter 1 ] [ Chapter 2 ] [ Chapter 4 ]

[ Summary: Literal and Metaphorical dirt. ]

Hawkmoth had learned the lesson Monarch did not. Do not mix the positive power of a Blessing with negative emotions. Instead, enhance those negative emotions with the power of something else. Let his Champions be fueled by the opposite of a Blessing, something that haunts and feasts on darkness.

Give them Demons; give them an Akuma.

But still. He knew that he had to pick carefully what emotions he harnessed and the people behind them. Hawkmoth couldn’t afford to lose control of another Champion. And Gabriel refused to risk his son.

So he bided his time, researching and studying whatever he could. And while he waited, he built his public empire, funding his underground renovations and the care needed to keep his wife healthy.

Still alive, Emilie was kept that way in a chemically induced coma to prevent further deterioration. To the public, she was missing. In private, she was under the care of doctors from the world’s best medical center, Mayo Clinic.

Adrien would have been aware of her whereabouts were it not for the mistake and loss of control over Monarch’s Blessing. Gabriel had delayed telling his son the truth, and now there was no way to tell what would happen if he knew; what powers White Rose had truly gained beyond what was originally planned.

The thing is, Hawkmoth would have never surfaced if Gabriel could have prevented it. He was ready to let his wife go. But he still needed to find a way to remove the Blessing from Adrien, so he continued to use the Butterfly Miraculous, continued learning about it and the others.

But Adrien just had to go missing one early morning, barely before the sun had risen. Gabriel couldn't find him, neither could Adrien’s ever-present bodyguard. So in an act of desperation, Hawkmoth was brought to be. He then Akumatized the worried and protective bodyguard, granting him an ability to track down their shared ward.

This only furthered things along and also put them to a grinding stop.

The wielders of the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous arose to combat Hawkmoth’s Champion. Rather than admit why he was using the Butterfly in a dark way, he decided to reveal his last-ditch plan that he thought he would never bring himself to use, anyways.

He demanded their Miraculous. He was glad they refused, because he would not trust anyone so willing to give up such dangerous powers so easily instead of using them to protect.

So while plans to experiment with the use of Akumas were furthered, it was the mix of one Blessing and one Hero that halted everything.

Paris had very few albino citizens. It would be almost too easy to track down the potential civilian identities of Chat Blanc. But those white wings tipped in blue, so similar yet so contrasting to the black Starling wings of a younger Adrien? There was no way to deny such a similarity. And the Black Cat Miraculous itself would not change it’s own color scheme on a whim, either. Monarch himself had experimented with designs and color palettes, learning that only significant enchantments and magical interference could cause anything even a noticeable difference, not to mention such an extreme as turning Black to White.

The last nail in that theory's coffin was how Hawkmoth could feel the whispers of the Blessing influencing Chat Blanc. Certainly, it could have been a much older Blessing from a previous Butterfly Holder, but Gabriel highly doubted such coincidences could stack like this.

So, Gabriel accepted the facts. He felt heartbroken for his son that had to fight him, even if Chat Blanc didn’t know who he was fighting behind Hawkmoth’s mask. But he was so proud of him, too. Monarch’s Champion White Rose was doing what he was meant to; protect others from the harm of the Miraculous. And Gabriel’s son Adrien was free to be happy, as happy as he never was when inside the Agreste mansion, even when Emilie was still walking its halls. So Gabriel and Hawkmoth did nothing more than play his part as the fatherly villain.

He really didn’t mind how long it would take for it all to come to a close.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Despite her semi-disastrous first time as Ladybug, Marinette rather enjoyed the side-job.

Akuma’s were few and far between, and oftentimes could be talked down instead of fought head to head. Their abilities oftentimes got dangerous, yes, but Ladybug and Chat Blanc, not to mention the rest of Paris, were more than thankful that their Supervillain seemed to have at least some sort of moral code. He would prevent Akumatized villains from causing mass amounts of damage. Once, he had even taken back the powers and the Akuma that granted them, all because the Champion he had made was being unreasonably dangerous to innocent civilians.

Sometimes, she swore Hawkmoth would Akumatize students just so the whole district would have to let school out early due to the emergency. Maybe he had a soft spot for kids, maybe a child of his own? Either way, she appreciated the breaks.

Soon enough, a whole six months had passed since Hawkmoth first appeared.

The most recent attack had been earlier that evening. Marinette had to distract her Akumatized friend Nathaniel. He was akumatized because of Chloé. She had made fun of his art, at first. Then, to make things worse, she told him that he was right to have his and his boyfriend Marc’s hero-sonas to both be wingless, because the ones Nathaniel had were ‘wasted on his talentless existence’ and ‘if Marc wasn’t already wingless, then they would be utterly useless on him, too’. In general, it was a rather nasty scene.

Marinette had been quick to tell her to back off and leave Nathaniel and Marc alone. Adrien has sprung up right after her, telling Chloé not to talk to his friends like that, and even if she is his oldest friend he wasn't okay with her actions.

Marinette was proud of Adrien for standing up for others in the face of someone important to him. It was brave.

Unfortunately, their combined efforts didn’t prevent the Akumatization. Luckily, Evillustrator wasn’t a bad villain, he just really wanted to mess with Chloé with revenge-pranks.

Marinette got herself caught up in it by distracting him with other ideas. For example, using his power to create objects to set up a date with Marc. Chat Blanc had shown up part way into the setup of said date, and as a way to prevent Evillustrator from starting a fight, she had roped him into helping with the decoration ideas and music selection. He turned out to be a natural with romantic set-ups, and an even smoother talker, convincing Evillustrator to hand over his Akumatized item in exchange for them escorting Marc to the date’s location.

Marinette had managed to step away long enough while Blanc went to find Marc to transform into Ladybug, and called for her Lucky Charm just in case. It was nothing more than a red rose and she laughed happily to have a simple item with obvious intentions.

When Blanc returned, she showed herself and offered the rose to her partner, trying not to be flustered by her own romantic gesture. “Hold this for me, Kitty? I need to make sure their date goes well, and that means Nathaniel has to be here for it. Don’t want yours and Marinette's efforts to go to waste, now do we?”

Then, she took the Akumatized item from Blanc and broke it, purifying the butterfly within.

“What about the Lucky Charm?” Chat Blanc looked a tad confused. “As soon as you call for Miraculous Ladybug, everything Evillustrator made will disappear. Their date will go poof!”

Ladybug smiled knowingly. “Already thought that through. You hold on to that rose, okay? Or maybe let Nathaniel hold it? As long as I can find it again later, just make sure it’s safe. I’ll use Miraculous Ladybug long after their date is over, so nothing will get spoiled. Gotta go, Bug out!”

She returned to the scene as Marinette once more, finding a de-Akumatized Nathaniel on a successful date with Marc, and Chat Blanc still watching over them, happy for the couple. Satisfied, she made her way home, away from the setting sun.

Now, it was completely dark out and Marinette was drinking a thermos of hot chocolate on her balcony, wrapped in a warm blanket. The quiet night got interrupted by a shadow moving over the rooftops, followed by white boots lightly thumping onto her balcony. She sat up, surprised to see Chat Blanc still lurking about the city. He bowed theatrically with a gentle smile.

“Princess, what a lovely evening to see you! I presume I have found you safe and happy in your tower tonight?”

Marinette couldn't help but laugh. “You saw me maybe two hours ago, pretty-gryphlet, you know I’m perfectly fine.”

“True, but as your loyal, trustworthy, and handsome White Knight, I am obliged to check on you anyways.” He had bowed again and taken her hand, kissing the air above her knuckles ceremoniously. She had to fight back both her blush and her wing’s desire to flutter bashfully where they were hidden under the blanket.

“Silly gryphlet,” she smiled, before noticing his gloves were stained and had left some of it on her fingers. Then she noticed the dark spots on his boots and knees as well. She frowned in confusion, inspecting what was on her hand. “Why are you covered in dirt?”

“That dirty little secret,” he deflected the question easily with his pun and a cheeky smile, “I will explain soon. But first, I gotta ask, why do you call me ‘pretty Griflet’? I already know I look amazing, but is Griflet a reference to one of the knights of the Round Table? If so, I am honored to have such recognition.”

Marinette laughed and shook her head. “No, not a knight, a gryphon. You know, a mythological creature with the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle? You’re a cat, and you have wings, hence, gryphlet!” She explained proudly, before realizing how embarrassing it was to nickname one of the local Superheroes and retreated into her blanket.

Chat Blanc blinked owlishly at her explanation, but soon a smile bloomed on his face, and she could swear he was blushing under his mask.

“I like it,” he said softly, looking gentle and earnest.

“S-So anyways! Blanc Chat, I mean, Chat Blanc, I uh, You say were? Were saying? About the, uhm, dirt?” She turned away, grabbing her thermos to keep her hands busy.

“Oh! Right!” He brightened even more, his eyes starting to look like that of an excited kitten. “Come with me somewhere, Princess? I know it’s cold out so I won’t keep you long, but I wanted to show you something.”

She nodded, standing up and setting the thermos aside. Then she hesitated, once more remembering her wings. “I...Blanc, can you keep a secret for me?”

“Of course, what is it?” He looked curious and just so innocent. She couldn’t do it.

“Uh, never mind, next time, okay? I don’t think I’m ready. To say anything, I mean, not that I don’t want to see what you want to show me, but also I’m not ready to go yet for that either, wait, i meant-!” She closed her mouth with a snap, sucking in a breath and letting it out slowly. “What I mean is, let me just get something from my room real quick? I should really put on shoes and something warmer than pajamas. Then we can go!”

“Of course! I’ll be here when you’re done.” Oh Kwami, he was so patient with her, and understanding, too. Could he get any nicer, she wondered?

She fumbled her way back into her room, swiftly putting on a wing-binder, thick white leggings, and a warm long-sleeved baby blue dress. She remembered to grab some shoes, too. As she climbed back up to the balcony, she tried to ignore the fact that she had chosen to wear colors close to Chat Blanc’s. From the look on his face, he was probably trying not to think about it too much, either. “Ready, Marinette?”

“Ready. So uhm, how are we going to get there?” she shuffled on her feet, hands fidgeting.

He grabbed the thermos she had set down and put it into her hands, warming them, and subsequently her cheeks, too.

Politely he asked, “Permission to carry you?”

“Granted? Wait, carry? Like, on your back carry or- Woah!” He answered by sweeping her into a classic princess carry. “Uh, works, I guess, this does? I mean- Okay,” she finally squeaked out.

He chuckled and held her securely, but gentle. “Let’s not waste time. Hold on tight!”

She didn't scream dramatically when he jumped from her balcony, but she also won't admit she might have squeaked again from the unfamiliar feeling of jumping over rooftops while untransformed, let alone while being carried.

But the trip to their destination really was rather short, as only a couple minutes later he was setting her back down on her own two feet.

The rooftop was surrounded by decorative iron fencing. Candles, protected from the wind in glass jars, lined the top of the railing and between the bars. What really caught her eyes, however, where the Lily-of-the-Valley flowers spread around decoratively. She couldn't help but gape at them. The scene was gorgeous, and she wondered why Chat Blanc had brought her here. Did he do this? Was this why he was covered in dirt? She turned to him where he stood looking almost nervous for her reaction.

“Chat...It’s beautiful. Did you set this up? Did you get these flowers yourself?”

He perked up, glad to see she wasn’t reacting badly. “I did. I also learned I’m a really bad gardener,” he chuckled, and she smiled, amused. “And don’t worry, I didn’t steal any of this stuff, it was all mine already. Well, sort of. The candles were my Mother’s, and I use them sometimes. The flowers came from our yard- They would have died soon anyways, the brief warm spell this week made them bloom too early, so I thought I might as well put them to use. So, you like it, Marinette?”

She giggled and nodded, looking away shyly. “Why set all this up, anyways? Special night?”

He nodded, his own gaze shy as well. “Sort of? Ladybug trusted me with something. And earlier today, this amazing girl I know helped me take down an Akuma. So I wanted to prove I can be trusted with Ladybug’s thing, while also getting to show that amazing girl how much I appreciated her, even if it is only for a little bit. Here,” he stepped to the side, bringing Marinette’s curious gaze to a small table she hadn't noticed before.

It had a few more candles and flowers on it, but there was a delicate vase in the center. She quietly gasped as she noticed the red rose, Ladybug’s Lucky Charm, sitting in the vase. Chat Blanc plucked it from its place and held it out to her.

“For the most creative and wonderful Princess in all of Paris,” he smiled, bowing as he presented the rose. He chuckled sheepishly, then, “Well, you can’t keep it forever, because it is Ladybug’s, but I figured that if anyone was worthy of keeping it safe until she needed it, that person would be you.”

Dumbfounded and flustered into silence, Marinette accepted the rose with her free hand.

“Well, I guess I should take you back home now, huh?” He asked awkwardly.

“O-Oh, uh, sure,” she agreed, still distracted as she held the red rose close to her chest.

This time, she was prepared for him to lift her, and she stayed quiet on their way back to her balcony. This time, she noticed how warm he was and just how easy it was to trust him even as a civilian. She wouldn't admit to being sad when he set her down again, though.

“Until next time, Princess; I hope to see you again,” once more he took her hand and gave the air over her knuckles a kiss, but before he could let go, she clutched his fingers tight, pulling his attention up to her eyes.

“Uhm- It’s cold out, and I barely touched my hot chocolate anyways.” She turned his hand over and set her thermos into his palm. “Take it with you. You can return it, next time we meet.”

He beamed at her and nodded. “It’s a date,” he winked teasingly, and she giggled. “See you later, then. Have a goodnight, Princess.”

And just like that, he was gone, and Marinette was left a blushing mess on her balcony until Tikki finally came out and told her to go to bed.

In the morning, the red rose was still where she left it on her desk, proving the night before was no dream. Tikki then informed her that it had slushed a bit while she slept, so she should be careful when she goes outside.

Ladybug went off in the early morning to check on Evillustrator’s reactions, only to find that they had been washed away by the sleet. It seemed that just like all other forms of art, even the magical creations of an Akuma were susceptible to the natural elements when exposed long enough.

So that morning, Ladybug returned an intact Lucky Charm to Marinette’s room, and Marinette got to keep the gift of an everlasting red rose.

#marichatmay2021 #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #chat blanc #marichat #ml wing au #wing-binding #willowbendt

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robotslenderman · 3 years

Note

Ewww getting big privileged homophobe vibes from you. Blocking now.

Thank God.

I doubt you'll ever read this, but just in case hate-reading is your thing - I don't know why you bothered with anon. You're obviously not a follower because I talk about how queer I am here ALL THE TIME. I saw many queerphobes on that queer post, and even visited a few of their blogs. (Most of them were TERFs, except one - you, who claimed to be a trans dude. Maybe you are! Maybe you're not a TERF posing as a trans dude and you really are okay with being part of a movement absolutely dominated by TERFs!)

But there was only one that I left a comment on. You'd posted about how queer people are so horrible to call ourselves queer. Like the anthropomorphic personification of class and tact that I am, I trolled you by asking if my queer presence made you uncomfortable.

Clearly, it did. :)

So go ahead. Call me the first mean name that comes to your head, as if it bothered me what a random totally-not-anon thinks I am. I'm totally fine with queerphobes thinking my existence is homophobic, because the only way they'd understand otherwise is if I pretended I wasn't queer. My alleged homophobia is latched on to my identity as a queer person. The only way you would not accuse me of being homophobic is if I stopped calling myself queer.

So you use my very identity as a weapon against me. I am queer, and I am attached to not being a homophobe. You know that queer people do not want to be perceived as something they hate completely by anyone, strangers included, especially on a website where people harass first and listen later (if at all). So you hold us hostage - deny our queerness, and you'll drop your weapon. You'll drop the word "homophobic" and stop pointing it at me.

I'm not gonna cave to this.

Nor am I going to write an outraged essay about how I'm not homophobic. You know perfectly fucking well that not a SINGLE queer person is straight. You know perfectly fucking well that most queer people are same sex attracted or attracted to enbies. You know perfectly fucking well that queer people have accepted that part of us and aren't dealing with internalised homophobia or inflicting it on other people because we ACKNOWLEDGE our queerness and you can see this, otherwise you wouldn't be getting mad about it. In a homophobic society everyone has a degree of it, but by being what we are we have less of it than the great majority.

You know this perfectly well. Don't fucking pretend otherwise, I would have to believe that you are well and truly and sincerely STUPID to think for one second that you think I'm a straight person or a closeted gay person who's lashing out with malicious homophobia. Real homophobia, not "this person is part of a minority I am bigoted against, so I will claim they are inherently homophobic unless they get back in the closet or categorise themself in a way that allows me to fine tune my bigotry appropriately."

Because let's be real. Queer hasn't been used as a slur in decades and was reclaimed before I was even born. "Gay" was the slur of the time when I was growing up, but people like you never had a problem with that. Why? Because gay is clear cut and well defined. The problem people like you have with queers like me - the REAL problem, not the faux outraged you have made up about my label - is that queer means I have declined your insistence to more accurately categorise myself.

I mean, how else would you know specifically how to treat me? I could be bi and you might hate bi people, but if I'm a gay queer you don't want to aim the wrong type of bigotry at me by mistake - not because you care about gay people (you don't, because many gay people are also queer), but because you don't want to make yourself look silly by aiming the wrong type of bigotry at me. I could be queer because I'm an enby, and maybe you're truescum that would despise me for it, but you don't KNOW whether or not I'm an enby and that drives you mad! You don't want to risk alienating people who care about you by shitting on someone they might not agree is an acceptable target, so you target every queer and claim it's about a word when really, many queer people seek refugee under that term to hide from people like you, and you don't like that we can hide from you, so you try to strip our shelter away from us.

(And let's be honest. You probably don't even actually hate us. You're probably just afraid. Afraid of some identity you don't really understand because you've never taken the time to get to know us, or afraid that society will accept you less if we're "competing" for acceptance and so take some of the spotlight... I won't shit on you for fear, anon. We are all afraid of something. But I absolutely have a problem with how you're choosing to knowingly hurt people to cope with it. You called me "homophobe" to hurt me. There was no other way to possibly interpret the context of what you were saying. You meant to do this.)

So take away queer. Take away the shelter of queer. Force every queer person to divulge, upfront, who they are that makes them friends with queer. Force them out of the closet and pretend THAT'S not homophobic.

Send the gay queers back to the L and G of LGBT, let the TERFs flush out the trans people who are queer because they're trans* and shoo them away from LGBTQ spaces. Or maybe you really are trans, but you want to kick out straight trans people, or enbies, or pan people, or bi people, or ace people, or, one of the many populations that make up the true queer community.

* Not all trans people are queer, but many are BECAUSE they're trans. I would say "many are queer because they identify as queer" because that makes it sound like queerness isn't an inherent part of who we are and gives people like you ammo I have no interest in supplying you with. "Aha! So you CHOOSE to be a slur!" I just know you'd completely ignore everything I said to the contrary and say that.

Yes. The true queer community.

We've told you again and again that we're not calling you queer. We've told you again and again, if you're not queer, you're not part of the queer community. You're LGBT+, not queer. I'm not part of the LGBT+ community, I'm part of the queer community.

The queer community is not the true community of people who aren't straight and cis, that's not what I'm saying. We're not any more or less LGBT+ than you. I'm not invalidating the identities of people who aren't straight and/or cis, because they are who they are, and you don't need to be queer to be LGBT+. But we are the true queer community in that we are queer, and people who are LGBT+ but are not queer are not queer. Only queer people are queer.

("But people use queer community as an umbrella term to mean people who aren't queer, but are still LGBT+!" Buddy, if I have to deal with being called LGBT all the time even though it's not true, while having the people who use LGBT obviously mean me too because I'm not straight, then you can live with it too. That's mostly straights doing that, in which case you have no reason to get mad at US, or people who are are making something for a straight audience or a questioning audience, in which case they're making it accessible because not everyone knows the nuance of queer and LGBTALPHABETSOUP discourse. Or even - and I know this thought is incomprehensible to you, as the centre of the universe - it's actually referring to queer people and queer people only, not LGBT+ who aren't queer. Actually, I love that idea! Queer history is now history of queer people, no non-queer LGBT+ allowed :D)

I've never felt LGBT+ even when I thought I was one of the main four letters. But I've always felt queer, even as my understanding of my specific brand of queerness changed. Queer is an umbrella term that is opt in, that covers any and all LGBT+ people who know they are queer too, who know they're one of us, or who simply choose to call themselves queer for whatever fucking reason they want. Some of us are intrinsically queer, some choose to be queer because of the inclusiveness or relative opacity of the term, and you don't know which one a queer person is unless you have earned our trust enough for us to tell you.

And people like you fucking hate that.

So you know what?

I'm totally fine with you calling me a homophobe because the people who actually know more about me than the few sentences I've given you know that that's a joke, and their good opinion matters more to me than yours.

I'm totally fine with you calling me a homophobe because because it means I've won. I've gotten under your skin, just as your bigotry got right under mine. You're furious you can't categorise me. You're pissed off that I could be one of the LGBT+ people you actively dislike and want out of the LGBT+ community, but are finding a hell of a lot harder to flush out of the queer community because we all look the same at first glance and refuse to give you information you feel entitled to. Because it's easy to force people out of the closet in the LGBT+ community, but much fucking harder in a meritocracy like the queer community. To get into the LGBT+ community, you have to tell them which one you are. Queer? No questions asked, cause you already told us all we needed to know! Welcome home!

But let's say this is all a strawman.

That you really are some well meaning person who has nothing against the more obscure queer identities and that you really do just have a problem with the word. That you truly do think that queer people, the great majority of which experience same sex attraction, are... somehow... homophobic just for using the word despite their advocacy against homophobia and total acceptance of that aspect of themselves and others. That our fight for marriage equality and employment and housing protections and human rights is rendered COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY IRRELEVANT because we used a word that Boomers and even some of gen X hurled at each other because a guy was a little bit girly, or a girl refused to grow her hair long, or because men were scared that a man would treat them the way they treated women. (Because queer as an archaic slur, ultimately, comes from misogyny as much as homophobia.)

Let's say you really do mean well and really do know people who were called queers instead of fags, or you really did grow up hearing "that is so queer" to describe things people didn't like, or you really did have "queer" hurled at you by straight people as if there was something wrong with you for not being cis and straight.

(Notice something, there? You probably haven't actually experienced any of that, nor anyone you know. This wank about who I am as a queer person - it's always aimed at us. Never the straights that used it against us. Nobody uses the word queer except queer people any more, I am 99% certain that you don't know ANYBODY who has had it thrown at them AS a slur, so that means that the only people you can target on your crusade are... gender and sexual minorities. Not cis/straight people. Because they're not calling us queers and haven't in decades.

That means you are knowingly targeting minorities over this EXCLUSIVELY, I am completely fucking certain..

... but I'M the homophobe?)

In which case all I can say is: I hope that the well-meaningness that's made you put this hateful thing into my inbox, that's made you say such hateful things to a minority because of their identity (there's a word for treating people differently because they're a minority, especially hostile treatment..), will outshine the hatefulness of what you're saying and lead you to a better way to express your desire to protect people.

If you truly are coming from a misplaced belief that we're somehow deprecating ourselves by being queer, and not a desire to force us out of the closet or to run off any gender or sexual minority, then I apologise for my hostility, acknowledge that learning takes time (and patience that I am unable to give, for I am tired of bad actors pretending they're not and cannot do it), and wish you the best in learning to be inclusive and loving so we can count you one day, at least, as a friend of us queer folk. Maybe one day we'll even welcome you as one of us. I'd love to do that more than I'd like to deal with THIS crap. I can't imagine me going off on you will have helped at all, but from in my experience people who want to protect gender and sexual minorities protect them. They don't target them. That's why I am writing this post under the assumption that you wrote this because you have bad intentions towards me as a queer person, and not out of a well meaning desire to protect anyone you think I've somehow hurt by being me.

In which case? Get fucked.

#long post #queer #queer queer queer #you know how I just said that I often come across as aggressive without intending to?#Disregard that this post is 100% aggressively intended #do not pick on my fellow queer folk or I will Go Off on you #also I don't get using privileged as an insult #that's like insulting me by calling me white #it's a descriptor #some people are privileged #I am privileged in some ways and not so in others #my queerness tho? definitely not

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lastcrystalwitch · 3 years

Text

Competing with Drugs

It really sucks when you have friends who use drugs. Eventually, when they get addicted, they will make the choice to choose the drugs, over you. Or they will overdose and end up in the hospital, or in a casket. That is the truth of it. Many people don't want to hear it, but there it is. The cold hard truth.

Making friends isn't easy for me. I'm such a trusting person. I get hurt easily, but out of everything that has ever happened between two people, drug and alcohol abuse takes the cake. The metaphorical cake that is all the happiness and trust in a relationship. With drugs and alcohol that cake turns to rotten mess of maggots.

Truth is, there's never a good enough reason to take drugs. After seeing the danger that is a mean machine, drug abuse is something that is serious. Deadly serious. I've talked to many people who are between 25-30. They said that their high school friend group, best friends and buddies from school. They always used to hang out together. Most of them are dead now. There are only a handful of survivors from my friends friend group. 4 left out of 11. That's a lot of deaths. That's a lot of grief, waking up in the morning and getting a phone call, or finding out on social media that your best friend is dead.

Its crushing. Overdose is just another form of suicide. And after one suicide happens, many people think to themselves that it was their fault. That is an irrational thought. The dead person who overdosed knew that it could kill them, and either intentionally or accidentally took too much, and died. Now their friends and family are left with a heart wrenching grief that will take years to come to terms with and accept.

After my brother in law hung himself in my living room, right after my cousin by marriage shot himself in the head, I was thinking about suicide. The two happened only 48 hours apart. Less than that actually, I think. And many of the family were talking about suicide, making death pacts. It was overall an extremely unhealthy way of thinking. And the problem with it is, you can't ever tell that person that your mad at them.

A lot of thoughts stir around in your head when something like this happens.

And they're heavy thoughts. Deep. They get their claws into your soul and holds on.

I spent my high school and college years away from drug usage. I didn't want to do anything with anyone if I knew that they were doing drugs. I knew that I didn't want to get wrapped up in that. I didn't want to watch my friends die. I had a goal to get a Bachelors Degree, so I could make a lot of money doing art. Unfortunately a Bachelors of Art in Game Art & Design, might just be the most useless degree out there. It doesn't translate over to any other field really. One mistake that cost me 120,000.

With that price, I should be telling kids to get off my lawn. Get it? 120,000 and I could have had my own quaint little house.

I would still encourage my kids to go to college. Actually, If they were good with their hands, I would have sent them to a trade school. Trades are in a lack of people right now, and if you don't mind making bucko-bucks, going inside and outside, trade schools might be for you.

But right now, I'm dealing with family and friends abusing drugs. Some say that doing drugs helps them feel closer to the people who overdosed and died. That's like hurting yourself because your copying someone else hurting themselves. It Does Not Make Sense. Its what psychologists call irrational thoughts. Thoughts that do not make sense, that people can tell themselves to believe no matter what.

And by the Gods, this is a difficult subject.

But if you do try drugs, you're going to get addicted. You're going to be addicted, and never have any money. You will be in poverty. If you get addicted, say goodbye to being happy because as long as you are addicted you are injuring your body. I've seen what meth can do to kidneys. It makes them start shutting down.

Drugs make you lie. I work for the courts, and drug test people. I have had people lie right to my face about what drugs they take, when I am the second one ever to see their lab results come back when they test positive for drugs. I know what they took.

I have seen people lose their family. Women have picked drugs over their kids. They couldn't stop for whatever reason and lost their homes, their cars, their husbands, their kids. I have seen alcoholics be court ordered to take their car into a mechanic, and get a machine installed, that forces them to do an alcohol test to make sure they aren't driving drunk, because they can't stop trying to put other peoples lives at risk because they can't stop drinking. They are selfish and don't think about how they could be driving and kill someone in a car crash because of their own bad decisions. All these people have are excuses. Bullshit excuses and irrational thoughts. They smile and tell you their tale. And all while they lie.

I paint drug abusers and users in the same category. Bad.

Because it is. I've seen first hand how your heart gets torn out when everyone around you is grieving and falling to pieces over a loved ones suicide, that was linked to drug and alcohol abuse, emotional abuse, and unchecked and unbounded mental health problems. You can lie to yourself, and listen to your friends as they tell you its not all that bad. It makes them feel pretty good actually.

Sure, in the moment, drugs can make you feel pretty good. Alcohol goes for the same way. It can make you feel pretty damn good.

But not only are you poisoning your body with alcohol, damaging your kidneys and making your organs work double time, but you're going to become irresponsible. I see it more times than not with teens that survive into adult hood. They want to feel really good so they hide their problems and run away from them by turning to drugs and alcohol. They get drunk, have a good time, have a hang over that lasts for a day, and usually call into work, wasting their bosses time and making the employees and coworkers suffer by having to pick up the slack.

And your own happiness comes first absolutely. But at the expense of other people's happiness? That's pretty fricking selfish. And I have been the one who called out of work because I had a hang over. And I regret calling out. But even more so, I regret drinking when I had to knowingly work the next day. That was just stupid. I knew what would happen, and somehow made it feel like I was the one people should be feeling sorry for. Feel bad for me, give me easy things to do, I have a hangover. People like that don't deserve special treatment. People like that deserve to get punished for their actions. If you put your hand on the hot grill, you know its going to be hot. Why act surprised when you get burnt? Why be surprised when you have everyone pissed at you at work the next day because your dragging ass, because of something you did intentionally without being responsible. Its just irresponsible.

Doing that is like knowing its bad, and doing it anyway. Be a woman about it though. Take responsibilities for your own actions. You want to drink the day before? Go for it. You'll only make others around you pissed that you're not feeling well enough to work if you decide to power through the hang over, and you will absolutely hate yourself. The migraine and vomiting that promises to follow will ensure you feel like shit. But I don't feel bad for people who do this, because they are knowingly doing it to themselves. It was self inflicted.

I'm tired of holding someone's body over a toilet, watching them convulse and slip into shock because they drank a half gallon of 80 proof whiskey, while I hold their body up with mine and wonder if they are going to be the next person to die in my house. Will I have enough time to call for the ambulance? What if they stop breathing in their sleep. At this point the person was completely blacked out and unresponsive. I'd ask them their name and they wouldn't even be able to respond. It is SO scary. Its traumatic too. Traumatic means the you can have PTS (formerly known as PTSD) episodes about it because if you've already lost one person or more to suicide, it is easy for others to adopt that mindset and follow it. You have to fight it.

So that's what I'm doing guys. I'm fighting it. And it hurts because I see the people I love ... LOVE ... hurting themselves and those around them by their alcoholism and drug use. And I feel like I am going to wake up one day ... and I'll get that call. I'll get that call that I really don't want to get saying that they died. I don't want to get that call. I don't want any more of my friends to die. I don't want my family members to die.

So I fight. By doing the only thing I can. Telling others that I love them, and that they should talk to someone. I feel like no one listens to me. All I hear excuses. People standing behind what makes them weak instead of facing the facts and being responsible.

Seek counseling. I married a man whos getting a Masters in Counseling. That's 6-8 years of college. He knows what the frick he's talking about. I know a little bit too because I help him study. Go talk to someone. Not your buddy, but a professional. They're are different styles of counseling out there and no two counselors are exactly the same. Look up Gestalt vs. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Two huge differences.

And maybe you've found a counselor in the past that didn't listen to you, or you didn't like. Go get a second opinion. Do you marry the first man you date, and then give up on love completely when it doesn't work out? Of course not. That would be an irrational thought. The first counselor I went to didn't work out for me, so I'm never trusting them again. Irrational thought. A thought that actually, sorry to say, does not make sense. I've had some shit doctors. Not all doctors are created equal. Not all counselors are created equal. I can only recommend my own doctors, and counselors, psychologists and psychiatrist.

And did you know? Counselors and therapists cannot help their own friends and family. Its against the rules. Rule number 1) if you give advise to someone and it doesn't work out, especially if that is a family member, you've just ruined your trust and relationship with that person. That person might never trust you again, when you were only trying to help. 2) It weighs on the counselor. Conflict of interest due to personalities involved. Keeping secrets weighs on you. Did you know that ALL therapists and ALL counselors are encouraged by their peers, and other professionals to have their own therapist that they can talk to? Its a heavy line of work, emotionally. Respect.

That's what my husband is dealing with right now. We have had 4 deaths from suicide and overdose within a year. All close family. I've had friends who've lost just as many. 2020-2021 wasn't for the faint of heart, like me. Who is trying to not take everyone else's problems on as her own.

But that is where the inner conflict happens.

I want others to be happy. Codependent issues. I'm working on that.

All I can do is give good advise to those I love, and take care of myself. It just sucks watching them destroy themselves. It hurts.

#mental health #suicide #suicide awareness #anxiety #personal #drinking #food #high on drugs #girls who like drugs #drug blog #drug use #withdrawl #addiction #life #battlefield my life

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therainbowstuffs · 4 years

Note

Can i request an imagine for cheryl where the reader is a co captain for the vixens and she is sick at practice?

Cheryl Blossom - Vanilla and Cherries

Genre; slight angst? Fluff? Idk.

I love her a lot, omg.

I think I overdo it again. Sorry about that. It took me a long time to write this because I wanted to write more than just reader being sick at practice.. But I think I overdo it. This one was supposed to be short and light but well 😂

I hope you don't mind...? Let me know what you think though but I hope you still enjoy it. Thanks for the request! 💕

---

The beat of the loud music came from the speaker echoed the entire place caused you a sharp pain of dizziness inside your head.

You were barely paying attention at what's happening around you.

It was a blur.

You saw some movements, jumping and dancing, flashes of yellow and the smell of vanilla and cherries.

You inhaled deeply, trying to calm yourself and trying to focus. You can feel the soreness at the back of your throat, so you hope to ease it with a cool water as you slowly grab the bottle beside you.

Your hands were shaking.

Cheryl's loud voice beside you caused you to flinch, holding back a groan when another of sharp pain shot right inside your head.

Cheryl sighed loudly, "This is hopeless." She crossed her arms on her chest, "Start again!" She hollered, frowning while watching the girls take their place to start another routine. "Look at them," she shook her head, "What do you think, Y/N/N?" She turned her head at you, asking for your input.

Her postures relaxed slightly, uncrossing her arms slowly when she finally take a good look at you and realized your unusual silence, "Hey," she put a hand on your shoulder in concern.

People wouldn't believe the sight if it weren't for the fact that you are one of those people that Cheryl Blossom does not despise. You're her best friend and favorite person beside her twin brother, she cared for you.

You're one of the reason she was still here, fighting after everything that had happened to her with you as her anchor. You accepted her as she is, though there was a few fights about her character.

You gulped before looking at her, forcing a smile. "They are good. Just need to fix their tempo and improve a little bit more, Cher." You weren't paying attention and didn't really understand what you were saying, it was like an automatic respond.

Cheryl scooted closer to you and wrapped her arm around your back, "Y/N/N, you're quiet than usual. What's wrong?" She stroke your clothed arm softly.

"Nothing's wrong, Cher. I'm just tired, I guess." You shrugged slowly, careful enough to not show any pain on your expression.

There was another thud when some of the girls bumped into each other, making another mistake from their routine causing Cheryl to sigh loudly - bringing her attention away from you. "I didn't have to look to know that was another failure from all of you hopeless creatures." She rolled her eyes.

You breathed out gently, "Cher." You mumbled in protest at the choice of her words and slowly making your way forward.

You told them you wanted to demonstrate, to show them the right way of the team's routine - ordering some of the girl to help you.

Your body were heavy, it was like there was something holding you back, ready to pull you down.

"Y/N, you're burning up." Betty's eyes widened in concern when she took her place to help you, rubbing your shoulder worriedly.

Veronica shared the same concern when she cupped your neck and placed her hand on the skin to feel the temperature.

Cheryl's eyes twitched at the over friendly gestures as she watched you with her arms crossed, not happy at the sight.

She was always overprotective over you. She had to share you with the other girls and she doesn't like it. Cheryl Blossom does not share.

You waved their concern away with a smile, "I'm fine. Come on, you wouldn't want to spend another hour on practice, would you?"

Veronica shuddered, "Definitely not."

"Okay, take your places!" Cheryl clapped her hands when you gave her a nod to show that you were ready to start.

The pain when you moved around was unbearable. Every movements, there was pain everywhere.

Cheryl was alarmed when she saw how sluggish you were, something was not right. You were always such a good dancer, you always perform with such perfection, so to watch you like that worried her.

The girls started to form another routine, getting ready to lift you up to the position of the main routine - standing on each other's shoulders with you in the highest position.

Another movement you made, you felt your world spinning and you were down on the ground in seconds, hard and loud. The thud definitely caused Cheryl to jumped up from her seat in a second to make her way to you, worried more than anything.

"Did someone drop her?!" She stomped, pushing the girls away from surrounding you and knelt down beside you. "Y/N/N?" She gasped as she carefully held you, feeling your body burned with fever.

She snapped her head towards Betty and Veronica, "You knew she was unwell, why didn't you say anything?!"

They shared a guilty glances toward each other.

"Make space, you guys. Don't surround her too close like that." Toni voiced out, feeling your neck up with her hand in worried.

"Practice is over!" Cheryl ordered, dismissing the girls while trying to lift you up. "Move!"

Toni stayed to offer, "Let me help."

You were oblivious on what's happening while you tried your best to stay awake. But your eyes were droopy and there was more pain, everywhere all over your body and head.

The smell of vanilla and cherries invading your nose when you were brought to a sitting against a chest, arms protectively wrapped around your body when everything went black.

Hours later though, you could feel yourself slowly gaining your conscious, opening your eyes slowly, staring at the ceiling of the room in a total blankness.

First thing you noticed was a smell that soothes you immediately.

The smell of vanilla and cherries.

Cheryl, you thought knowingly and your body immediately relaxed at the thought of you with her - at her house, in her room, laying on her huge bed.

"How are you feeling?"

You turned your head at the source of the voice and found Cheryl observing you with a blank expression on her face, sitting on her vanity's chair in a straight posture.

"Cher, what are you doing over there?" You hoarse out a question, clearing your throat at the soreness.

Cheryl stood up and make her way to her nightstand, grabbing a mug of water - opening the lid before letting you to take a few sips.

You rested your head back onto the pillow while she put the mug away. You closed your eyes for a moment, feeling safe despite being in Cheryl's room.

"I'm mad at you." Cheryl's quiet voice could be heard in the eerie silence.

You opened your eyes, looking at her in guilt. "Sorry I messed up the practice today." You took her hand to offer your apology.

She shook her head, huffing as she took her hand away from your soft grip and crossed her arms. "You could break your neck, Y/N."

You blinked in confusion, "Cher, it was just a fever."

Cheryl glared at you. "What would happen if you were already up there and suddenly fainted, Y/N?" She asked.

"But I didn't, Cher." You said softly, feeling sorry for not being honest to her.

"There's a few scenarios here." She continued, ignoring you while staring into your eyes.

"One, you could have been in the wrong position to land properly despite they were there and ready to catch you."

You nodded slowly.

"Two, you could lose your balance up there and fall without no one to catch you should they weren't in the right position to do so." She hissed, eyes tearing up at the thought.

You sat up slowly and pulled her gently into your arms, feeling her holding back a sob.

"You could get hurt, Y/N." She whispered against your shoulder. "I don't want anything bad to happen, especially to you, mainly you."

You sighed, finally understanding the main reason she was so upset at you. "I'm sorry."

You have nothing else to say except sorry because it is your fault for not being honest. Worse, you were risking the girls' safety.. And yours because you didn't want to worry her.

And to be honest, after letting you in, after showing you her everything that is Cheryl Blossom, fears and everything.. she was terrified of anything happening to you. Because she only has you. Only you, her best friend, her anchor.

You sniffed loudly, the smell in the air was barely there but you can still smell it despite of your cold. "Vanilla and Cherries." You spoke quietly. "Your perfume smell so nice."

Cheryl pulled back gently, "What perfume?"

"Vanilla and Cherries." You sniffed again. "I like the smell." You confessed.

"I wear no perfume, Y/N." She whispered, looking up at you.

You titled your head, "It was always there. It soothes me, always. Must be your lotion then." You shrugged.

Cheryl swallowed and reached out her hands, cupping your face. Your eyes widened slightly, heart was beating fast at the look on her face.

She leaned closer, watching you closely when she rubbed her thumb against your lips and the smell of vanilla immediately went through your nose.

You can feel her heart thumped loudly the moment her lips landed on yours. Her lips was so soft against yours, fitted like a perfect puzzle.

She pulled back softly after a few seconds. Her breath was heavy, yet it was hitting your face softly.

You licked your lips, "Cherries." You mumbled quietly.

"I'm always here. Can't you see?" She whispered softly, staring at your eyes meaningfully.

It wasn't the smell of vanilla and cherries that soothes you.

It was her.

It was Cheryl Blossom.

#cheryl blossom #cheryl blossom x reader #cheryl blossom imagine #cheryl blossom imagines #cheryl blossom x you #riverdale #riverdale imagine #wlw #wlw imagine #wlw imagines

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miss-smutty · 5 years

Text

Fifty Shades Of Billy Part 3

So this chapter is leading up to my two most anticipated scenes, which are coming up in the next two chapters. These next chapters are going to be smutty 😋 I'm totally ready for the smut now, the build up as been so tame I'm absolutely gagging for it 😂 that being said I do love a good tease and let's face it Billy is a massive tease. So I hope you enjoy! I would adore some feedback ❤️

Billy Hargrove X Reader

18+ only

Summary- You hatch a plan to get back at Billy for being a huge tease. But will it work?

Word count- 2.5k

Warnings- Swearing, masturbation and mentions of abuse and drugs

Part 1. Part 2.

Posted: 1st August 2019

He just fucking left me here. Dripping wet, ready to give him every little piece of myself and then just... left. What. The. Actual. Fuck. Thinking to yourself while you stood outside Billy's front door. Your heart still beating fast and the feel of his lips and hands still lingering in your mind. You were angry - no, fuming - that you'd given in to Billy and he'd just left you hanging. Muttering under your breath as you made your way to your car - frustration taking hold of you and leaving you bratty. You were completely ready to give yourself to Billy, after only meeting him that day. This isn't something you'd usually do, you'd never normally allow yourself to give in to someone's seduction so soon. Billy though, he was a different story altogether, you could see his vulnerability. Your empathy allowed you to see through his act, his fear of appearing weak. But he just oozed sex appeal and you were a sucker for it.

The trees passed by you in a blur as you stared at the road straight ahead. The frustration you felt was finally subsiding, allowing you to think clearly again. You try to concentrate on your driving but with your mind no longer clouded by lust and longing, the sympathy you feel for Billy creeps back into your thoughts.

He's a lost boy who needs to feel loved, I'm sure that's all he needs. Love. For someone to accept him. You wipe a stray tear away from the corner of your eye before pulling in to your driveway.

"And where have you been? Why do you look so disheveled? Have you been crying?" Your mom catches you as you subtly try to sneak straight up to your bedroom and bombards you with questions. You roll your eyes and continue walking up the stairs with your Mom tailing behind.

"It's a boy isn't it? You've been with a boy. Did he hurt you?" Your Mom presses.

"Really Mom?" You say stopping at your bedroom door and turning to face your Mom.

"Ok well what does he look like? Is he..."

"Mommmmmm" you stop her, rolling your eyes again and closing your bedroom door.

"Ok hon, you get some sleep but I want to hear all about it tomorrow" she shouts through your closed bedroom door.

You toss and turn in bed, struggling to shut your brain off. Re-running the kiss with Billy in your mind, over and over. You knew he was a tease but had no idea he was capable of such restraint, when you yourself had given in so easily. Absolutely no way that's going to happen again. I'm going to tease the hell out of him, show him how it feels. You thought, becoming hot all of a sudden. You kick off your duvet and lay on top of your mattress, remembering the feel of Billy's hard cock against your fingers, his soft lips brushing against your own and the deep, hungry look Billy gave you. You could feel the familiar ache in your groin as your pussy clenched together. Picturing Billy as you slowly snaked your hand down your front and into your panties. Squirming on the sheets as you used one hand to expose your clit and the other to gently tease it. The sensitivity making you quake as you used another finger and increased the pressure, circling your clit. His smirk. dipping your fingers in your opening to lubricate them. His deep voice saying your name. Picking up pace and pressure as you writhed on your bed. His deep, blue eyes undressing you. Your fingers dived into your pussy, massaging your sweet spot while your other hand circled your clit. His big, hard bulge pressed against your hand. You screamed out and grabbed at the sheets while your back arched as you held your breath. Your legs shaking uncontrollably as you reached a earth shattering orgasm.

Shit Billy what have you done to me? You giggled to yourself, finally feeling satisfied.

*************"****

Billy locked his bedroom door behind him, hoping his dad would be passed out in his chair all night. He threw himself back on to his bed, smirking as he thought about teasing you. How he just left you there opened mouthed, wanting more. If he hadn't have jerked off just before there was no way he'd have been able to pull away. But he was also terrified of you, the way you looked at him. Other girls just saw a handsome face but he knew you could see behind his mask. You could see into his soul and the little boy there, crying out for help.

He was terrified of what could happen, he has never had an instant connection with someone like that. An instant connection leads to feelings and feelings lead to the L-word. Love means talking about feelings, sharing stories of your childhood and showing the other person every side of you. In Billy's eyes this meant one thing - weakness - the one thing Billy had tried to hide.

The risk and reward were equally great, he just had to decide which was worth more to him - a chance to love or making sure no one saw his weakness.

************

Making your way, slowly, down the corridors of Hawkins High, you were secretly hoping to bump into Billy. Stopping at your locker to grab your books and making sure to check your make up in the mirror of your locker door, just in case. You catch a glimpse of Billy walking through the front doors, in the reflection of the mirror. Your heart starts to race as you think about what you are going to say to him. Keep your cool, you've got this you think to yourself as you close your locker and turn around just in time for Billy walking past. Billy walks straight by you, he doesn't turn to look your way, he doesn't acknowledge you in any way. Billy sauntered straight past you, to the group of girls gathered by the lockers. You can only look on as Billy flirts with the girls right in front of you. Your heart drops as you realise what's happening. What the fuck? Your anger begins to rise before you reign it back in, no way are you going to show Billy that you are bothered. That's just what he wants. So you pull your bag over your shoulder, take one last look in the mirror, take a deep breath and sway straight past Billy and his girls. You can feel his eyes burning into the back of you as you walk up the corridor to class and fight the urge to look back.

You sit down in your seat, next to Max, with a huff and throw your bag on the table. Lost in your own thoughts but Max had took note on how aggressively you were chewing on the lid of your pen. You were so frustrated with Billy, it's one thing to leave you all hot and bothered after a make out sesh but then to totally avoid you at school. I'm not having it. I'm not having him treat me this way. "I'll show him" you slapped your hand to your mouth after realising you'd spoke out loud and sheepishly looked to Max.

"Erm... Are you ok Y/N?" Max said looking genuinely worried. "I wanted to speak to you about last night but you looked so away with the fairies, so I thought I'd wait?" She said in a questioning manner.

"I'm fine" you spat, surprised by how bitter you sounded.

"Sorry. It's just... Well... I don't even know if... I mean I don't even think you'd want to know" you smiled half heartedly, shrugging your shoulders at the same time.

Max raised her eyebrows and tilted her head at you, almost knowingly "Billy?" She said matter of factly.

"Billy" you repeated, nodding your head.

"What's he done this time?" She rolled her eyes.

You laughed nervously, unsure of whether to tell Max that you'd kissed her step brother the day you'd met them both and right after you had witnessed him being abused. There was a sudden light-bulb moment where you realised that Billy hadn't been in the right frame of mind when he'd kissed you. Maybe him ignoring you today was his way of showing that last night was a mistake, that he wasn't interested in you after all. The embarrassment settled in making your cheeks flush a beet red, you could feel them burning as you willed the earth to swallow you up. As you finished your internal dialogue and returned back to normal functionality, you realised Max was wearing an expression like you'd just slapped her straight across the face. She'd been studying your facial expressions while you were battling with your thoughts and had come to her own conclusion.

"You didn't? I mean you didn't, you know?" She mimed out the action, unable to actually bring herself to say the words 'sleep with him' out loud because Eww - that's her step-brother. She made a circle with one hand and poked a finger from the other hand, back and forth into the circle.

It took you a second to work out what she was saying but when it dawned on you, hysterical laughter took over you. I mean there's laughing but this was something else. You nearly fell back on your chair as your head flew back and a deep, guttural laugh came from your mouth. You put your hand over your mouth trying to stifle the sound which only made you laugh louder. You could see Max watching you with a concerned look, in fact you could see the whole class had turned around in there chairs and they were staring too. Even the teacher was watching you, although he looked less than impressed. This all just made you laugh even more, you couldn't control it. Thats it, I'm going crazy. Billy is making me crazy. I'll be in a nuthouse by graduation you thought to yourself, which finally made you snap out of the psychotic laughing. Well that and the teacher glaring at you.

"Are you finished Miss Y/L/N?" He said using a finger to mark the place in the textbook he was reading from.

"Yes, sorry" you replied shifting in your seat as the teacher continued to uncomfortably glare at you.

"Well maybe during your hours detention tomorrow evening, you can tell me what was so funny"

You looked over to Max and rolled your eyes, making sure the teacher wasn't watching you whispered "an hour for laughing. What the hell?"

"Don't think you're getting off the hook that easy, we'll talk at lunch" she smirked.

***********

The lunch hall was full of people gossiping, as usual. The students usually stuck to their own cliques, choosing to sit together and rarely mingling with others. You weren't one to stick to rules so would normally sit where ever there was space, today was no exception. Noticing four chairs empty at the stoners table, you and Max make yourselves comfy. Knowing the stoners will be way too high to listen to your conversation, you thought it worked out pretty well.

Max takes a bite of her burger and even with a mouth full of food she still manages to continue the conversation from earlier. You'd been hoping she'd forget about that certain subject you'd been discussing.

"So... You and Billy? What's going on there?" She said in-between chewing.

"Oh it's nothing" you said nonchalantly, your eyes being diverted to Billy's soft curls as he walked into the hall. Your expression slowly changing to a frown as you see his arm draped over the shoulder of the biggest slut in school. As you aggressively stab your fork into the chips on your plate, Max follows your gaze.

"Nothing going on, yeah right!" Max turned back to you, putting her hand on yours "You can do better, he's a dick Y/N"

You smiled at Max, grateful for having her to talk to.

"Ok so what's the deal with Niel? Is he like that with you too?" You look down at your plate, pushing your food around with your fork before risking a glance at Billy. You see him whispering in Sally's ear and Sally giggling in response. You subtly pretend to gag which doesn't go unnoticed by Max.

"I really don't know what his problem is with Billy, it's not really spoke about but no he's never touched me." She said making light of it by pretending to punch her palm.

Your head snaps up as you hear people chanting and you see Steve strolling in to the hall with Tommy by his side. You'd totally forgot about basketball practice after school, everybody was going to check out the new boys moves - or just check out the new boy, like you.

"Heads up, here comes King Steve" you nod towards him and watch as he approaches. Yes! This is what I need. I can make Billy jealous by flirting with Steve

"Hey Y/N! You thought anymore about coming with me to the Halloween party?" He asked, running his hand through his hair.

You rested your hand on Steve's who had both his palms on the table in front of you. "I have actually, I'd love to go with you Steve" Smiling coyly. Max almost spat her drink all over you, she was obviously shocked but you'll fill her in on your plan later.

Steve stood back from the table, running his hand through his hair again. You'd come to notice he did this when he was nervous or flirting or just about anytime really. Steve sat in the chair next to you and sat so he was facing you and not the table. This was working out perfectly, you could see Billy behind Steve, so could see his reaction as you flirted with Steve. Max kicked you under the table, trying to get your attention as you over enthusiastically giggled at Steves jokes. You quickly smiled at Max and tried to communicate with your eyes, hoping she understood.

"Can I touch the quiff? It looks so soft" you giggled. Pushing your cleavage in his face as you leant as close as possible to run your fingers through his hair. You could see Billy from the corner of your eye, he was staring straight towards you completely ignoring whatever Sally was saying. B I N G O! Got you Hargrove you smirked sitting back in your chair.

Billy had tried to distract himself all day, by using Sally, it really wasn't working though. He couldn't get you off his mind, he'd seen you this morning in the corridor. The outfit you were wearing almost making him hard, he knows you'd made an effort for him and he actually felt awful for ignoring you. He really thought he'd made his mind up, that his image was more important to him but seeing you flirt with Steve made him angry. Not towards you, you didn't owe him anything after the way he'd treated you today. But Steve. Fucking King Steve with his hands all over you, it hit him like a ton of bricks and now he knew. He knew he wanted you and he wasn't prepared to let Steve stand in his way.

@cynthianokamaria

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thebeautyofdisorder · 4 years

Text

The Undone & The Divine (BBC Dracula) - Chapter 9

A/N: Hey, it wasn’t a full two weeks this time, yay. The ending got a bit poetic on me, I’m going to warn you, and I really don’t know why. But hey, it is what it is. Vampires and drama rather go hand in hand, right? Unresolved tension and vampirism lay ahead. Also a terrible pun or two.

Pairing: Dracula & Agatha/Zoe, off and on Dracula/OC

Rating: M, for blood, language, mercenaries with guns, blood drinking and hints at violence/death.

Chapters 1-2 Here - Chapter 3 Here - Chapter 4 Here - Chapter 5 Here - Chapter 6 Here - Chapter 7 Here - Chapter 8 Here

Can be found on AO3 - Right HERE - or enjoy below the cut

Tagging some new followers in case they wanna check it out. If not, don’t feel bad to ask to be removed either! And I let me know if the tags fails to work entirely? Tried copying/pasting and just re-tagging.

"You needed me, didn't you?"

Zoe quirked a skeptical brow at the Count's surface-level consideration, not buying its sincerity for a moment. But that certainly didn't mean she wouldn't take advantage of it. As wont she was to admit it, she did in fact 'need him' for once.

"Do you even know what I need you for?" She asked, curious.

"I believe I 'get the gist' - you need to compare the effects of proper sustenance to whatever muck you've concocted. And considering you're refusing to properly nourish yourself to make that comparison, then naturally I'd be the only acceptable substitute."

She nodded, a smirk tilting her mouth to one side. "What do you want?"

He blinked in what was almost mistakable for innocent confusion.

"I'm sorry?"

Zoe scoffed, smirk still in place. "Don't pretend you're going to inconvenience yourself for something you completely disapprove of and not expect anything in return," she prodded knowingly. "Out with it."

The Count mirrored her smirk, taking her in with silent consideration. He could hear the whispers from the humans around them outside of the glass, those both panicked and conspiratorial, though they made for a pleasant bit of background noise to their negotiation. He understood that was exactly what it was, after all, anytime they spoke, and he was looking forward to the challenge.

"We both want the same thing, Dr. Helsing."

"And what is that?"

"To understand ourselves and in turn, each other," he replied simply, gesturing between them. "And funnily enough, neither of us can do that alone."

"Are none of your other 'experiments' going well?" She couldn't help but ask dryly.

He quirked a smug brow at her tone, the accusation of jealousy remaining unsaid but no less audible for it.

She scoffed, looking down at the table in annoyance.

"Perhaps I'd rather wallow in my success before risking disappointment."

"Poke and prod at your success you mean?"

"In a manner of speaking," he grinned, though seeing her returning glare, as endearing as it was, he redirected his approach slightly.

"From one scientific mind to another, you know as well as I do that working together is the best way to each get the answers we're looking for."

"I told you I wouldn't help you infect all of London," Zoe persisted, though more weakly than she'd originally intended.

He gave a shrug of his left shoulder. "For all you know, you could be encouraging me not to. Depends on what our findings are, yes?"

She narrowed her eyes, though he could see Agatha's vehement disapproval radiating through Zoe's wavering will.

"Since when did you learn patience?"

Dracula's amusement wavered, accusation coloring his tone, though it was too soft to belly resentment. "Since I learned there's nothing to be impatient for."

Zoe frowned, studying him further. "You won't harm anyone here."

It wasn't a question, though unlike when Dr. Connors had demanded the same, Dracula gave a short nod of agreement, eyes never leaving hers.

They made an interesting sight, if the focused attention was anything to go by. Two dark haired creatures of the night in what appeared to anyone outside the glass to be a standoff. Their conversation had been mostly spoken in murmurs - to their ears perfectly audible, but even with the sound enhancement, from the outside practically silent. A frustrating thing, if the purple hue of Dr. Connors' face was anything to go by, as Zoe briefly observed when she finally took her eyes off the vampire to observe their onlookers.

"Fine. But I still maintain my diet, and I want to know everything you know - no secrets, no assumptions," Zoe conceded, her stubborn posture relaxing only faintly. She couldn't completely let down her guard, even around him. "And I'll offer the same."

His lips tilted. "Are you saying you have secrets now?" He asked, his eyes glinting mischievously.

"Maybe I do," she replied, her poker face in full deployment.

The Count's brows gave a playful wag as he held out his hand, large and clawed as it was, over the table that separated them in a gesture of relatively peaceful acceptance.

"We have an accord then? From one lab rat to another."

Zoe studied it for a half a moment, the hand that had been wrapped with no effort at all around her throat not long before, before finally placing her petite hand in his, immediately feeling his long fingers curling around the whole of it. She could only grasp them in turn to hold her ground, forcing the image from her mind for multiple reasons, namely his ability to peek at it.

"We do. Permitted that you behave yourself."

"Only when absolutely necessary," he assured her in only a breath above a whisper with his most charming grin.

She rolled her eyes in return, but didn't argue. That was the best she could hope for with him.

There was an audible ah-ha-hem projected into the room, and they both turned with unenthused expressions towards the persistent if still clearly terrified face of Dr. Connors. Dracula’s upper lip curled upward in a quiet snarl and Zoe gave him a side-eye which he only faintly acknowledged.

“Count Dracula will be our control, we’ll reconvene after later testing,” Zoe announced loudly, and much to her pleasant surprise, despite looking like he wanted to argue, the other doctor just gave a curt nod and quickly began to gather his things to leave. Probably to go ‘report back’, she was sure. The rest of her colleagues seemed to be joining suit just as quickly if not more so. She looked back at the vampire’s faintly amused expression only to just take note of the fact that he hadn’t let go of her hand, and quickly pulled it back from his grasp.

His lips pursed slightly, but he didn’t, much to her relief, seem inclined to rub the slip of comfortability with him in her face, at least not at the moment. Thank heaven for small mercies.

“I suppose I should leave you to your preparations before I frighten anyone else away,” Dracula mused aloud, already gesturing outward to Dr. Bloxham to open the door – he could’ve just forced it easily, but he had said he would try to ‘behave’. Destroying their elaborate, if entirely useless toy cage would certainly be frowned upon – at least until they figured out exactly how useless it was. Now that was a day he was looking forward to.

“I do that perfectly fine all by myself, thanks,” she replied wryly, gathering her things and joining him where he awaited her by the exit, so used to playing the gentlemen she wasn’t sure if he even realized how much of a default it had become as he fell into step at her side.

“Wait until I teach you how to do it properly,” he suggested with a wag of his brows.

“I suppose that’s part of your experimentation process,” she replied blandly, turning towards him as they paused just outside of the main chamber.

“Naturally. Plus, it just sounds like fun,” the Count couldn’t help but admit, a gleeful smile brightening his features. “I want to, as Agatha enjoyed putting it, see the limit of your capabilities’.”

“And apparently the limits of my patience,” she prodded back, gesturing her head towards the elevators. “You saw your way in, I expect you can see your way out. I have work to do.”

“Good night, Zoe. And do try not to poison me again,” he made a mocking gesture of praying hands that brought him far more amusement than it really should have, before she saw him turn to walk away.

She took a much heavier breath than she really needed to. What in the hell had she just agreed to?

-----

It was pitch black when the vampire found himself re-entering the bounds of London proper, drawn by the crowds of lives and the unmistakable need for sustenance. He perused his phone, skimming past a decent hoard of messages from some of his more persistent conquests – he wasn’t exactly in the mood to play to anyone else’s whims tonight, and certainly not anyone vying for immortality. Normally he was delighted to corrupt the willing human mind, but as always in the wake of facing the trademark Van Helsing defiance, he found himself craving more of a challenge. A tiresome side effect, to be sure.

There was much to be had from good, old fashioned subservience, but every once and a while he did appreciate having to make an effort. Alas, the minute anyone discovered what Dracula was, they tended to attempt to appease him. No, please, I’ll do whatever it is that you want. Don’t kill me. Or they just downright bared their throat like a sacrificial lamb. A beautiful thing to behold, but hardly satisfying. And the aftertaste of idiocy that someone trying to fight him in earnest would leave made him cringe.

No, he needed an unsuspecting meal this evening. The Count’s thumb hovered over Kat’s name in his phone, lingering there for a long moment before heaving a dramatic sigh and putting the mobile device away entirely. Unsuspecting, yes, but she was too clever to remain that way for long if he made feeding from her a regular occurrence. He wanted to save her for a… later occasion. Seeing how long he could keep up the façade of humanity with her was an amusement, while fun, he didn’t have the patience for at the present.

He took to the streets instead, perusing his options - an old evil in a new world. It was beginning to storm, but in England that hardly limited his options by much. The expectation of rain seemed to be so ingrained into the minds of the locals that it didn’t even cause most of them to speed up or pause like it would elsewhere in the world. Even in the brightest sun, it seemed to him that the common businessman would sooner be caught without an umbrella than a warrior of old be caught without his sword. Just such a man caught Dracula’s eye.

Leant up against an aging brick wall under the awning of a restaurant with his umbrella at his side, the man was utterly oblivious to other passerby, a look of stern concentration on his face directed at his mobile phone quickly melting into impatience. It gave the vampire a moment to study him in proper detail. He was perhaps just over thirty, fine of feature, but well dressed in a way that spoke of refinement without determination. His expensive suit was crumpled, his hair tousled, and he sported a rough day-old shave that looked more like indifference than ineptitude while a half-smoked cigarette hung lazily from his lips.

Clearly, this was not a man who would be difficult to lure away. In fact, his very countenance radiated someone who wanted an escape and was failing to find one. Perfection, Dracula thought as he made his way up the darkened alley that exited on the narrow walk where he stood, leaning against the opposite side of the wall.

“Someone run over your dog?” He asked in a wry, pseudo-casual way, pulling out his own phone from his coat pocket.

The man looked up, in mild surprise, brow furrowed at the older man who he swore hadn’t been there half a second before, though it only stalled him for a moment, pulling the cigarette from his mouth.

“Oh…the wait time for a car’s bloody ridiculous tonight.”

“So I am seeing,” Dracula agreed blandly, scanning his own screen with practiced annoyance.

“Fuck I want to get out of here… apologies, this really isn’t my type of 'scene'.”

The vampire chuckled, flashing him a charming smile experimentally. “The stuffy overpriced scene? Congratulations.”

The younger man returned a slightly lopsided grin, though a tad more cautiously. “Yeah, more of a business…thing.”

“If you're interested in splitting a cab, we could try the main stretch back this way,” Dracula gestured with his head, through the alley he had come through that opened up to a street on the other side with a few more lights than the one they were currently occupying. Granted if one made it through the narrow darkness.

The younger man disguised his pause of consideration with a final long drag of his cigarette, but proceeded to nod as he flicked the butt into the sewer drain just ahead of them. The vampire could see the brief trail of thoughts as they flicked through the man's eyes with practiced ease. What harm could it possibly do? Not likely to be a thief, tall but I could take him if necessary.

"Why not? Better than standing about." He agreed, plucking up his umbrella from where it leant against the wall at his side. He didn't bother to open it.

Taking a last moment to eye his phone and pocket it, Dracula allowed the younger man to begin to walk ahead of him, giving him the lead. His pulse was calm, calmer than most when joining a stranger in a dark place. He'd drank, but nothing substantial, clearly wanting to keep up appearances - not enough to thin out the blood too much or taint the flavor. Good, the vampire conceded, he truly did hate that.

"So where are you headed?" He asked after a moment, interrupting the silence, keeping the man in a comfortable state. Conversation did, after all, proceed dinner.

Whatever his answer was, the Count didn't bother to acknowledge it, already tuning his ears away from the young man's voice to the steady beat of his heart. He allowed the thrum to overtake him, fill his senses completely until even his forced breaths and his footfalls kept in time with it.

They had neared the midway point now, and the sounds of other passerby were beginning to taint the pitter-patter of rainfall that provided the counterpoint to the lively rush of blood pumping under skin. The younger man paused his slightly speedy pace to check for his packet of cigarettes, but before his fingers could separate the damp material of his jacket, there were jagged bricks at his back and a large hand encaging his throat, halting any chance of escape.

His brows rose in bewilderment as dank breath cooled his throat, but just before the first tricklings of fear and panic began to descend - the vampire struck, sharpened teeth breaking skin and the coppery aroma of blood perfumed the air.

The young man's entire body tensed, broad shoulders flexing uselessly against Dracula's iron grip and the growing wave of lethargy that slowly but surely drug him into easeful darkness. Something akin to a groan, of protest or pleasure he would never know, fell from his slackened lips into the night.

Suppressed fury, intelligence and crushing waves of obsession filled the vampire’s mouth. A search for a man with no face, a splatter of blood on porcelain, and the love of a man with dead eyes and an angel’s face.

He’d always been a sucker for the tragic ones.

----

Zoe’s head wrung with rhythm of a stranger’s heart, thumping faster and faster and then slowly, ever so slowly easing back into a distant low hum. She froze, waiting with equal parts sickening dread and impatience for the pulse to stop completely and still to deadly silence...but the moment of death never came. Once again, Dracula had left his victim to a peaceful slumber - for how long, she didn’t know. She never knew. But somewhere in the night thunder clapped, and she could feel the pang of excitement and strangely, the hollow feeling of loss that accompanied it as lighting cracked the sky soon after.

His name was Malcolm and he was dreaming peacefully of vengeance.

----

Yeah, not really sure where that came from, but I just felt like writing him being a bit predatory. Then got some good old fashioned human murder concepts in my head and well...here we are. Enjoy, lovelies. Always let me know what you think! And if anyone ever has any ideas, suggestions, etc do let me know. I’m a fickle little thing who’s easily influenced and always looking for fresh inspiration for this chaos.

Tag List: @break-free-killer-queen @mephdcosplay @charlesdances @punk-courtesan @crowley-needs-a-hug @hoefordarkness @bellamortislife @malkaviangirl @imagineandimagine @chelsfic @dracula-s-bride @my-fanfic-library @hyacinth-meadow @mymagicsuitcase @littlemessyjessi @desperatefrenchwriter @ss9slb @crazytxgradstudent @claesbang @mr-kisskiss-bangbang @gettingcrazyforlife @carydorse @dreamerkim @gatissed @alhoyin @girlonfireice @festering-queen @jangleprojet @guardianbelle @vampiregirl1797 @serindiyoza @drsherlockmoffat @allis143 @leah-halliwell92 @xis23 @angielandon @profiler-in-courage @erislilith @kandomeresbitch @enchantedfleur @lets-talk-about-claes-baby @bloodspatteredprincess @river-soul @flyingleapdisco @onyxthevampire @katwoman06

#bbc dracula #dracula 2020 #dracula bbc #dragatha #claes bang #my writing #the undone & the divine

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pocminiseries · 5 years

Text

At Midnight|3

❤︎

The tension in the air was thick and uncomfortable.

Imani's eyes refused to meet her fiance's gaze that had been staring a hole into her back since she stepped out of the shower. He had scared her when she spotted him undoing his tie near the bed, barely even speaking a word to him.

What was there to say?

Instead of making an unnecessary attempt at conversation, she sat in front of her vanity and started her nightly routine. With her detangling brush in one hand, she started brushing her hair, feeling Jayden move about around their bedroom. She hated that he was here.

He had made it a routine of coming home late but now all of a sudden he was home right after he was done with work? It was bullshit but Imani had a feeling of what changed.

He no longer needed to hide.

"So we're not speaking now?" His gruff voice suddenly asked, causing her eyes to finally meet his as he stood behind her with his shirt now unbuttoned, exposing his muscled chest.

"I have nothing to say," Imani shrugged, putting down her brush and picking up her favorite scented lotion.

"You're going to be my wife soon Imani, communication is needed in every relationship," He informed her, almost causing Imani to roll her eyes. This muthafu-

"Work is fine. I'm fine. There, happy?" She answers, giving him an annoyed look before applying lotion along her legs.

His deep chuckle sent a chill down her spine because it was so sinister sounding. "Fix that attitude and address me correctly. You know better," He warns, placing one of his hands on her shoulder. "You know the role you're playing here don't you?"

Glancing his hand on her shoulder, then towards his dark eyes, Imani shrugged his hand off of her. "Yes, the one of your fiance. The one you proposed to. The one you're willing to say I do to under the watchful gaze of God but clearly, I'm not the only one you seek,"

The grin on his handsome face only seemed to grow at her words, not at all fazed by what she said. "As long as you know your place, Imani. Faithe is none of your concern. Do what is expected of you and everything will be fine. If not...you know I'm always willing to make another example out of you,"

The hate Imani had for Jayden only seemed to grow the more he talked, irking her brain even more. "You're right, it isn't my business but the next time you think about having your mistress in my bed, I'll put a bullet in her head and into her stomach as she carries your unborn child," She threatened, feeling an intense sting to her cheek as her head snapped back from his slap to her face a few seconds later.

With watery eyes, Imani held her left cheek as she stared up at him with hatred. "Watch yourself, Imani. That reckless mouth of yours will cost you problems, especially speaking on my seed. I'll warn you once, keep your fuckin mouth shut,"

"Or what?! You can't hurt me Jayden, yo daddy will kil-"

"No, bitch, I'll kill you," He cut in with that evil tone and look upon his face. "My dad doesn't run shit around here, I do and it's best you learn that," The grip he had on her arm tightened, causing her to wince.

"Please! If you had any say, you'd be marrying Faithe, not me," Imani retorted back, flinching when he raised his free hand again only to caress her heated skin.

"Don't get it twisted Imani, I want you...I mean look at you," He acknowledged, looking her over as he admired her beauty. "You know how many men out there that want you? But they can never have you because you belong to me and once I'm done with you...nobody will want you, I can promise you that,"

She was scared and Jayden could sense it. Her mouth was something lethal sometimes but he knew how to put her in her place. "I love you, Imani, I really do. I can make you happy. All you have to do is accept my lifestyle and everything you could ever want I'll give to you," He cooed, bending down to kiss her bruised cheek.

"Be obedient, that's all I ask," With that, he took a step back and headed straight for the bathroom, leaving Imani alone to pick herself up.

Her head shook as she fought to keep herself together. This couldn't be life.

How dare he?

Her fingers barely graced her cheek as she let out a hiss in pain, finally tasting the iron in her mouth. He damn near slapped her head off of her shoulders. Hearing the shower turn on after a few minutes, Imani sprung into action, knowing she couldn't just stay here tonight. Not after what he said or did to her face.

Pulling on a pair of sweats and a simple graphic t-shirt, she slipped her feet into a pair of sneakers and tossed her still slightly wet curls into a messy bun on top of her head. Quickly grabbing her purse and keys, she all but powerwalked out the door, carefully closing it behind her and hastily headed towards her car. She didn't even bother with a seatbelt, pulling out of her driveway as soon she started it up.

Only her soft sniffles could be heard as she drove to a random gas station a little ways into the city. Maybe she would come to regret this in the morning but she didn't care.

Even when Jayden blew up her phone, she ignored his calls and texts, not bothering to read them.

Her options were limited and he knew that. Jayden, along with his father had eyes and ears everywhere so she knew she had little time to figure something out. She couldn't turn to her friends because they knew all of them, not as if she had many to begin with.

Going to her parents was out of the question, they would only hand her over because of fear.

She was at a complete loss.

Sitting back against her seat, Imani reached for her purse and pulled out her wallet, looking through the few bills that she had when she came across a familiar card. One that she had forgotten about since that night he had given it to her.

Imani hadn't seen him since her scare inside of the women's bathroom at the restaurant. Once she had blatantly told him what was happening to her, she had quickly realized what she had done and clumsily fled out of the bathroom stale with him calling after her. She felt embarrassed that she exposed herself to him like that.

No one knew about her disease or how much it was infecting her. It was just another part of bad karma embedding itself into her life, so Imani simply accepted it. What more could she do?

Still, as she looked down at Leo's card the words he said to her at the gala replayed so vividly in her mind..."When you need me, come find me".

Biting her lip, she read the number and grabbed her phone and nervously dialed, throwing all caution to the wind. As it started to ring, her eyes glanced at the clock that read exactly midnight when she heard his smooth voice on the other end.

"Hello,"

For a second she hesitated, almost hitting the end button, knowing deep down what she was about to do was a mistake but the words she said next seemed to leave her mouth with no warning. "You told me when I needed you to find you and...I-..." She faltered, too afraid to let the words leave her mouth but Leo had heard all he needed to hear, recognizing Imani's serene tone immediately.

"Did he hurt you?"

Imani swallowed, biting into her lip in an attempt to force back her sobs, failing miserably as her emotions began to get the best of her. "Yes..." She choked out, gripping the steering wheel with her free hand.

"Follow the address I sent you...I'll be waiting," He instructed, just as Imani felt her phone vibrate against her cheek. "Be careful," He adds before ending the call.

Reading the text that he sent with his address attached to it and typed it into her GPS. In seconds she had started up her engine and pulled off onto the freeway, following the directions carefully. The entire drive she wandered of what would or could happen when she arrived. She didn't know a thing about him but she truly didn't have anywhere else to go.

It was literally the only place that Imani knew that Jayden wouldn't be able to find her at. The consequences were worth the risk.

Forty minutes had past when she had found herself driving down a gravelly road that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere until a beautiful two-story home came into her view. She could make out two cars that sat in the driveway as she put her own in park and cut the engine. As soon as she removed her keys from the ignition, the light on the porch was flicked on and out steeped the silhouette of Leo.

Nervously, Imani exited her car and closed it behind her. Her eyes stayed glued to him the entire time she moved up his walkway and to the steps, losing her footing when she saw that he was shirtless. She barely noticed him reaching for her and helping her inside until the sound of his front door closing filled her ears.

Imani knew that she probably looked a mess with her red eyes from crying after she told herself not to. Her cheek probably an ugly color of red and purple which Leo noticed immediately under the light in his entryway.

Grabbing a hold of her hand, he silently led them upstairs and straight to his bathroom. With ease he lifted her up onto his counter and begin to fix up her face, starting with her rinsing out her bloody mouth.

"You're hiding from him," He states knowingly, holding up an ice pack to her cheek. "I'm aware of who your fiance is, Imani...you're safe with me,"

Imani couldn't pinpoint it, but there was just something about the way he said that that sent a wave of relief through her veins. "I can't stay long," She reveals to him, knowing that somehow, someway Jayden would find her.

Moving a piece of hair from her face, Leo took in the beauty in front of him, taking special notice of the fear in her eyes. "You can but you're just too afraid of what he'll do,"

The fact that he could read her so easily was terrifying. "He'll kill you if he finds me here,"

Leo smirks at that. "He can try but I can assure you, he won't succeed," He casually states, knowing very well what he was capable of. Imani was completely clueless of the deadly man she had standing between her legs.

Though he was attempting to live a normal life, his skills still remained intact. He wasn't one to be tested.

"Why are you so nice to me?" She questioned softly, closing her eyes. To trust someone so easily was foolish but she has felt so safe whenever she was around him.

"Because you seem to need someone and I don't believe coming across you at that moment was a coincidence," He told her half truthfully. In reality, when his eyes had first landed on her at the gala he was intrigued. "Tell me I'm wrong?"

"Are you my savior in all this?" She asks instead, opening her eyes to look over his face.

"If that's what you need me to be," He easily claims, not being the one to lie.

A low chuckle slips past Imani's lips at that. "My problems...my issues...they run deep you know? I'm literally dying with no way out,"

"That was before you met me, Imani. I can fix whatever you need me to," Solving conflicts or issues was a specialty of his. It just usually ended up with someone dying by the end of it.

"This type of brokenness can't be fixed, Leo," No matter how fine this man was or how willing he was to help her...she could never have him as she wanted.

"You doubt me but you ending up here with me was because this was where you wanted to be, no matter what excuse you try telling yourself,"

Maybe he was right. Maybe she did want to be here but that made her nervous. Imani knew that if she crossed that line with him, it wouldn't be some one-time thing. No. Whatever this was between them was something deep and once she gave in, there would be no turning back.

And that alone scared her.

#got7 jackson #got7 #jackson wang #jacksonwang #jackson wang fanfic #got7jackson #team wang #pocminiseries #maturethemes #kpop fanfiction #kpop angst #kpop smut #AtMidnight #ambw fanfic #ambw kpop #ambwfanfic #interracialfanfic #pockpop #poc kpop

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chillingadventuresinpurgatory · 5 years

Text

Title: Double date with my ex

Ship: Sabrina Spellman + Nicholas Scratch (Nabrina)

_______________

When Rosalind suggested to Sabrina that they go on a double date together, the blonde didn't think twice and accepted her best friend's idea - even before asking Nick. She and Roz had quickly settled on a classic: movies and dinner. This way, everyone would be happy with the date choice, mortal or not.

''We don't do dates in the Dark World, less...double dates. I'm a bit confused. Care to explain it to me? You told me that in relationships, mortals are committed to one person, so what's the purpose of double dates?'' Nick asked, eyebrows pulled, not quite understanding the concept of double dates.

Sabrina chuckled from where she sat on her bed, pushing away her Herbalism book she was studying from. ''It's the same as a regular date, except we're two couples going together.''

Weeks ago, Nick had voiced his desires to be more involved into Sabrina's mortal life and learn more about mortal traditions - especially regarding love. He had been to Baxter High's Valentine's Day dance back in February and, surprisingly, had had a lot of fun. It was time to experience another mortal 'tradition'.

The young warlock rolled his eyes. ''I got that part. I meant, why? I thought you liked when we go on dates together, just the two of us...''

After attending the Academy of Unseen Arts, Sabrina started realizing and seeing all the wrongs in scary movies. All the spells, exorcism rituals or even the demons weren't as accurate as people thought. She was capable to see past it and enjoy the movie, unlike Nick who would constantly point out the wrongs throughout the movie and, although some would find it annoying, he made it quite hilarious. He was so mad and outrated on their first double feature date, Sabrina still laughs when she think about that night.

''I do, Nick,'' she assured him, crawling up top on the bed and joining the latter where he was laying.

She had told her aunts that Nick was there to help her study, she couldn't get too close to him and risk one of them - especially Zelda - to walk in and catch them not studying.

''But, it's a mortal thing...a best friend goal. Going on a double date with your best friend and your bae.''

He blinked. ''Pardon me. Your what?''

Sabrina shook her head, realizing that he probably didn't know mortal slang. ''Nevermind.''

''Mortals are weird...'' Nick declared. ''But, I'm willing to give this double date a try.'' He leaned and she craned her neck, meeting for a kiss.

Come the night of the double date, as she was getting ready, Sabrina realized something: not only she would have to go on a date with her boyfriend, but also her ex-boyfriend. She dropped her lipstick, causing a red smear of lipstick on her vanity table.

What did she get herself into?

Her sudden predicament didn't come from a possible regret. If there was one thing Sabrina was certain: she was over Harvey - romantically. Breaking up with her first love had been a difficult choice, but it was the right thing to do. And, although they weren't together anymore, she had never wanted to remove Harvey from her life. He was a good friend to her before they started dating and was hoping to have that again with him.

But, was going on a double date with Harvey a good idea? She didn't mind Roz and him dating, but was she ready for this? Or, was it too soon?

Before she could figure out responses to her questionings, the doorbell rang, signaling that Nick had arrived.

''You've been unusually fidgety since we left the your house, if everything okay?'' Nick asked as they were walking to the theater where Rosalind and Harvey should be meeting them.

Sabrina glanced up and flashed him a smile. ''Yeah, everything's okay.''

She knew that lying to Nick was wrong, yet she couldn't see herself telling him her doubts concerning the double date. He might get the wrong idea and think that he was the reason she didn't want to go, that she didn't want him to go out with she and her friends. Or, that she still had feelings for Harvey. That one was the farthest from the truth and sent a lump of guilt in her stomach.

He gave her an uncertain look, seeing through her lie, but didn't press, pulling her closer to his side, hands tangled together.

The October weather was kicking in, evenings getting chillier, and Greendale citizens were going all out for Halloween, putting out pumpkins on their porches along with spooky witches or other creatures of the night. While those decors were cute and classic, Sabrina always had a preference for scary decors like haunted houses and such. Even as a kid, her favorite houses to collect candies from were the one kids her age were terrified of.

Once they reached Dr. Cerberus's bookstore, Sabrina sighed and stopped in her tracks, unable to lie any longer. Honesty was key in a relationship, her aunt Hilda's voice reminded her. ''Nick.''

He glanced at the blonde half-witch, waiting expectantly.

''I-I'm not certain about this double date anymore...'' she admitted.

Nick furrowed his eyebrows, wondering why she had suddenly changed her mind. ''Why for? You sounded thrilled when you told me about it.''

''I was. But, I didn't realize until half an hour ago how weird the situation was. For me...and for you. For everyone.''

''Because of Farm Boy?''

''His name is Harvey,'' Sabrina corrected, narrowing her eyes at her boyfriend, knowing fairly well that he was mistaking Harvey's name on purpose. ''And, kind of. But, I don't want you to think that I'm having regrets regarding Harvey or that I still have feelings for him because that's not the reason why I-''

''I'm not thinking that,'' Nick assured her. ''I trust you, Sabrina.''

The corner of Sabrina's lips turned up. She was so used to Harvey getting suspicious of Nick after she had entered the Academy that it was a reflex - and a mistake - to assume the same of Nick. Cert, he wasn't a fan of Harvey - he proved it whenever he was purposely mistaking his name -, but he didn't feel threatened by him in any ways.

''I think we're rushing things with this date. I like Roz's idea, but I don't think it's the right time, perhaps. I don't want to be so uncomfortable that I can't enjoy the movie, you know? The times we got dinner with them, Theo came along and I think it made me feel more at ease. I don't think I can handle Harvey sending glares at you all night.''

An amused chuckle left the dark haired one's lips. ''The second I waltzed into your life, he saw me as a menace. And, he was right, I mean...look at that charming smile.'' He flashed her a charming grin, making Sabrina bite back a smile. ''What he feared happened: I stole his girlfriend's heart. I'd be bitter at myself to.''

Sabrina gave him a warning look. ''I didn't engage into anything with you until I broke up with Harvey,'' she reminded him.

In the in Dark World, polygamous was common. Witches and warlocks didn't have any problems with seeing more than one person at the time. In the mortal world, it was called cheating.

''I think you're thinking too much into it. You said it yourself: it's just a date. You can sit beside Rosalind at the movies and eat extra popcorn so we can fake a stomach ache for dinner.''

A faux-shocked gasp left her lips. ''Nicholas Scratch, are you implying that we lie to my best friend and ditch them after the movie?'' she asked with an arch to her eyebrow.

He shrugged. ''You're the one that said it.''

She crossed her arms over the chest and gave him a look as he grinned amusedly.

Nick's face softened, back to seriousness. ''I don't care if we go to the double date or not. It's your choice.'' He reached out to gently caress her cheekbone, hoping to make her concerns go away. ''You know I'd never force you into doing something you don't want to? If you aren't ready for a double date with your friends, we can go home and watch scary movies together.''

She leaned into his touch but shook her head. She couldn't cancel at last minute because she realized something she should've had realized long before. ''I told Roz we'd come. So, we'll go. But, I might take you up on that offer. My aunts aren't home and Ambrose is out with Prudence...''

A smirk formed on his lips, humming, visualizing Sabrina's unspoken thoughts. ''Say no more, Spellman.''

''Finally, you're here!'' Roz exclaimed, seeing Sabrina and her beau coming their way.

She pulled the blonde into a rapid hug while Harvey straightened, seeing Nick.

''Nick.''

The latter nodded politely. ''Harry.''

''Harvey,'' the boy in the plaid shirt corrected, sounding slightly irritated.

Sabrina swatted Nick's chest and he smirked. ''Stop it...'' she whispered.

''The previews starts in less than five minutes, what took you two so long?'' Roz glanced between Sabrina and the warlock knowingly. ''Did you two-''

Nick didn't let her finish, saving Sabrina an awkward situation. ''We got stopped by Sabrina's aunt when passing in front of Dr. Cerberus's bookstore. Lovely woman, but she has a lot of conversation.''

''Yeah, you know how she is,'' Sabrina added, backing Nick's words.

Roz hummed. ''Well, let's get going. I saw a mass of people walking in the theater ten minutes ago. Hopefully there's some seats left for us all.''

#sabrina spellman #chilling adventures of sabrina #nicholas scratch #nick scratch #sabrina x nick #rosalind walker #harvey kinkle

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