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rosie-b · 6 months

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True Blue

Chapter 11: Going for Gold (in the bad luck tournament)

“You’ve decoded the Grimoire?”

Marinette’s face grew warm as she tried to explain. “No, no, but I looked at the pictures in it and I think I managed to isolate the ingredients for a possible cure. M. Agreste didn’t want me to, so please don’t tell him,” she begged.

Nathalie sat down. “But you managed to figure out a solution? How? Listen, I won’t tell M. Agreste, but it’s very important that you tell me exactly what you’ve been doing. I might be able to help you.”

You can read the rest on AO3 or below!

It was becoming painfully clear that making potions wasn’t Marinette’s strong suit.

She’d made several different versions of the rock/gold/feather mixture she’d finally determined was what the Grimoire’s pictures hinted to on several different days. She didn’t exactly have the right ingredients, but then, she couldn’t tell what those were without a written translation of the book. Instead, she’d tried mixing chalk dust or tiny pebbles, gold-colored links from old bracelets, and ground-up pigeon feathers in various combinations.

So far none of her mixtures seemed to have worked, not that she’d had a real way to test them other than spooning a tiny amount into a vial necklace, wearing it all day, and seeing if it did anything to alleviate her symptoms. Which it didn’t.

Marinette wasn’t going to give up! It was just... well, her methodology needed to change. If wearing her hodgepodge brews in a vial necklace wouldn’t work, then maybe ingesting the potions would.

There was only one problem with that theory: Marinette did not want to ingest ground rocks, gold, or feathers. Maybe it worked for the witches of the past, but it just didn’t seem healthy to her modern sensibility.

Well, maybe she could ask M. Agreste for the proper ingredients and get the potion to work that way!

But he hadn’t been exactly supportive of her idea when she’d introduced it to him, and she didn’t want to upset him by insinuating that she knew more about the Miraculous than he did.

Still, he had access to resources (like money) that she did not, and without his help, she honestly doubted that she would ever get her hands on meteorite dust, molten gold, or a peacock feather (although come to think of it, she could always steal one from the zoo).

It was with this storm of nervous thoughts in her head that Marinette made her way into the Agreste mansion on Friday. Nathalie gave her the three pills she took every morning, and Marinette downed them without hesitation. She was used to the routine by now, and though it helped less every day, she was grateful to M. Agreste for his generosity in doing what he could to offer a cure.

“Marinette,” a voice called, faint and far-off to Marinette’s ears. “Marinette,” the voice called again, and she looked up from the dark wood of the desk.

“Hmm?” she asked pleasurably.

Nathalie sighed. “I asked if you were feeling good enough to help M. Agreste with another akuma today. He’s tentatively scheduling it for an hour before Adrien comes back from school.”

Marinette squinted her eyes to keep Nathalie’s features from swimming together like a Picasso painting. “That sounds fine. You know I don’t have any reason to say no to helping.”

Setting her tablet down, Nathalie looked closely at Marinette. “Maybe you’ve committed to helping M. Agreste, but you don’t need to do it at the expense of your health. You aren’t getting better, Marinette. You’ve been getting worse — don’t bother denying it. Don’t feel like you need to be in every fight, either; an irregular schedule keeps Golden Bug and Chat Grise on their feet. I can tell M. Agreste that you need more time to catch up on schoolwork, so you don’t need to worry about upsetting him, if that’s what’s keeping you.”

I wouldn’t be getting worse if I could just get the cure to work, Marinette thought.

It must have been out loud, if Nathalie’s face was anything to go off of.

“You’ve decoded the Grimoire?”

Marinette stared. Was Ms. Sancoeur lying to try to get some kind of confession from her? Was she going to be fired and summarily banned from ever talking to Adrien again for this?

Nathalie held her gaze patiently, looking truly concerned about Marinette’s attempts.

“Fine, I’ll tell you,” Marinette decided. “The ingredients are meteorite dust, molten gold, and an element from the animal represented by the kwami of the broken Miraculous; in this case, that’s a peacock feather. Since I don’t have any of those three things, I’ve been using substitutions. I ground them up, mixed them into a potion, and put them into this vial necklace. I wore it for days and tried different mixtures, but it hasn’t helped. I’m afraid that M. Agreste was right, after all.”

“If you haven’t been using the right ingredients, then we can’t make that jump just yet. M. Agreste and I,” she said, and her voice trembled ever so slightly, “We’ve been trying to find a solution ever since Emilie fell ill. Any idea is a breakthrough worth considering and testing in full. If you could prove your hypothesis to M. Agreste, it would do more than guarantee your health. It could heal Emilie and remove our need for the other Miraculous! You would win the fight without throwing a punch. Well,” she snorted, “With a few punches. But I do think that this is the best possible outcome.”

Marinette hesitated. “Really?”

She wasn’t ready to take hope back into her heart yet. M. Agreste had been against her idea, and he had had a good reason for it. Who was she, a girl who’d only recently learned about the Miraculous’ existence, to advise Hawk Moth himself? To go against the wisdom of a man who had spent years in search of a cure for his beloved wife and son?

But Nathalie, though she’d just looked more excited and energetic than Marinette had ever seen her before, looked solemn as she nodded. “Really. We’ll keep it a secret from M. Agreste for now, but I will provide you with the ingredients and we’ll finish making the cure. Then we can decide if it was a fool’s quest or not. You have found a new path to success, Marinette. That is no small thing.”

Finally believing her words, Marinette let a smile creep across her face. Could she really have figured out the way to end this ongoing fight? Save Emilie, and maybe at least one of the other parents, too?

There was still the matter of Adrien, and the other senti-children, too. But that was more a matter of protection than anything else. And Adrien might call himself her knight, but Marinette was the one fighting as his soldier, secret and steadfast in her mission. She would make sure no one hurt him or used his origins against him, ever.

__*__*__*__*__

The ingredients arrived that afternoon, just before the akuma attack. Nathalie had the Gorilla, who did not know their purpose, deliver them to Marinette’s house, and reassured her that nothing bad would come from her trying to make the cure once again.

Then it was time to face the so-called heroes.

The akuma today, which Marinette had eventually convinced Nathalie to let her help with, was a little boy who had wanted a lollipop. “Gigantitan,” Hawk Moth had named it.

Marinette privately wondered why Hawk Moth had bothered keeping this akuma, when it had been meant for the man across the street, not the literal baby. The butterfly had been diverted from its course by the strength of the baby’s emotions, and the baby had agreed to Hawk Moth’s offer of powers, so she supposed it must be okay. Still, something about it seemed off.

“Hey, Miss Blue,” Golden Bug greeted her as she arrived on the scene of the akuma battle. “Skies been matching your color recently?”

Chat Grise slid under the akuma’s giant foot as it stomped on a playground swing set and wailed in disappointment.

“No, but I think her emotions have been. Look at her face,” she murmured in the same quiet voice as usual.

Golden Bug clucked as Bluewing tried to steel her face and hide her emotions. “Oh, being a villain got you feeling blue? What a pity,” he remarked as he signaled some sort of plan to Chat Grise, who nodded and leapt off. “Maybe switching to the right side would let you feel light as a feather again!”

He tossed his yo-yo towards Chat Grise, clearly intending to make a tripwire to bring Gigantitan down with.

“Turn around!” Bluewing called up to Gigantitan. But Gigantitan must not have heard her, because he kept moving forward.

Mildly desperate and doubting Hawk Moth’s ability to control a months-old baby, Bluewing rushed forward and shoved Golden Bug towards the end of his yo-yo string. The tripwire collapsed, but now Golden Bug was directly in Gigantitan’s path and would probably get smushed in a few seconds.

Realistically, Marinette should be cheering about that fact, because hey, maybe he would give up his Miraculous after this to avoid getting stepped on by an oversized toddler again!

Unfortunately, no one had told Marinette’s heart this. It was crying out in agony that oh, the love of her life was about to be crushed under that oversized toddler’s foot! Wasn’t that awful? How could she just let this happen!? and so she swooped forward, unable to resist the impulse to pull Golden Bug out of the danger zone, not that he needed her help.

Before she could reach him, he was already pushing himself up, and he used his yo-yo to swing over to where his partner stood. They shot Bluewing twin scowls as she belatedly realized (while tripping over her disloyal feet) that she’d played herself, and now, lying on her back where her enemy had just been, she was the one about to get crushed by a toddler’s onesie-clad foot.

Adrien, I’m so sorry, she thought, and hoped that getting stepped on by a baby wouldn’t hurt as bad as getting trapped under the Eiffel tower had.

She never found out.

Golden Bug’s yo-yo wrapped around her waist and pulled her out of the danger zone just before Gigantitan’s foot touched down. Bluewing had a few seconds to feel relieved, but Chat Grise immediately seized her fan and broke it, ruining the moment.

She’d done that during nearly every single battle Bluewing had been in, and Marinette couldn’t blame her, although it was a little bit annoying. She’d finally learned a technique where a fan could be helpful in a fight (from Avatar: The Last Airbender, but who was counting), and losing her fan still made her feel like a failure. Well, more like a failure.

“Lucky Charm!”

Golden Bug’s call snapped Bluewing back into action, and she dove to grab whatever object he’d summoned this time before he could. A giant plastic lollipop smacked her in the forehead, and she fell to the ground, dazed.

“Sorry, Miss Blue,” Golden Bug chuckled as he bent over her to pick up the Lucky Charm, “I’m guessing this means you couldn’t tell the difference between good and evil if it smacked you in the face!”

Bluewing groaned as Chat Grise and Golden Bug struggled to lift the fake lollipop up and wave it in front of Gigantitan. She could forgive a bad pun here and there, but did he have to look so stupidly handsome while he was telling them?

The akuma was defeated before Marinette pushed herself up to stand on wobbly legs. A friendly swarm of ladybugs flew around her as Golden Bug’s Cure healed her injuries, and as they left, she saw the hero her enemy catch the baby who’d been akumatized as he fell from the air.

“Ooh, was that an exciting big fall? Was that fun?” he asked the baby in a playful tone, and the baby gurgled happily. Chat Grise, standing by her partner, dangled a real lollipop she’d asked a vendor for in front of the baby, and he went cross-eyed as he grabbed for it. Golden Bug laughed and held the toddler close to his chest as they walked over to a woman who must have been his mother, and her grateful praise faintly reached Marinette’s ears as she turned to go back to the mansion.

It was just another victory for the false heroes; another failure for the real ones.

Marinette let herself fall along with her transformation as soon as she reached the safety of the mansion.

Hawk Moth, frowning, informed her that she should come back for further training that night.

__*__*__*__*__

It was almost dark when she reached the mansion that evening. The pale pink hue of the clouds was fading from them, and the sky was mostly dark except for a few pockets of blue near the clouds.

Marinette watched the darkness spread and tried to hold onto the courage she’d found that afternoon, after the battle. She’d gone home and begun work on the possible cure with the ingredients from Nathalie; mixed the meteorite dust with the peacock feather and added gold, heated up by the Bunsen burner Nathalie had sent with it.

This mixture didn’t come out looking like the others had. It was glittering gold, and there had been a little blue puff of smoke as Marinette added the final ingredient. After it had cooled down a little, she’d put some of the potion in her vial, whispering a short prayer — was it a prayer? — under her breath as she put the necklace on.

Repair the damage, please repair the Miraculous damage!

She’d felt a wave of relief hit as the vial brushed against her skin, and her legs had strengthened immediately. Suddenly, she wasn’t afraid of falling over at the lightest breeze; she knew that she could run and jump like a kid on a playground and not worry about her muscles suddenly weakening, or that a wracking cough would overtake her as she spoke to her friends.

This time, the cure had worked.

Now, she had to be brave enough to tell M. Agreste that it had.

“I’m disappointed in your work today at the fight,” he began as soon as she stepped into the dojo, not even waiting for her to say hello. “It was sloppy on both of our parts, I suppose.”

“It would have gone better if the baby hadn’t attracted the akuma to himself,” Marinette offered, keeping one hand in her pants pocket.

Gabriel hummed. “It would have. But you should have protected yourself from the menaces better. The cat broke your fan, and you didn’t even make a move to stop her.”

“I was still trying to process the fact that the akuma was about to step on me.”

“And whose fault was that? Why did you bother trying to help Golden Bug? If he’d been crushed, then so much the better for us! We could’ve won the fight! But I know you are still adjusting to the demands of battle. You need more training, and we need a better plan. Have you ever thought about making a sentimonster of your own?”

Marinette felt like she’d been punched.

“What? We agreed that I would never, I mean, Adrien, and the other kids, and that’s too much power! I wouldn’t know how to use it!”

“I could teach you. Not all sentimonsters look like humans, you know. You could have created a stick man out of lollipops, born from the akuma’s frustration, to help win the fight today. I know you’re nervous about abusing the Miraculous, but believe me, you wouldn’t be. Not under my guidance.”

Marinette clutched a hand to her chest, where the Miraculous would rest were she wearing it.

“But, the damage; wouldn’t the Miraculous poison spread faster if I used it to make a senti? And end up like—” she gulped, pleading with her eyes to understand what she was saying.

Gabriel frowned.

“Fine, you have a good point. We’ll table it for now. Back to the point of your visit, I have a new technique for you to study. It is called—”

“I have something to tell you first,” Marinette interrupted, pulling out a second vial from her pocket. “I made it. I made the cure.”

Eyes filling with fire, M. Agreste stared at the gold liquid held by the necklace in her hands.

“I warned you not to do that,” he hissed. “You’ve endangered the entire mission!”

Marinette swallowed.

“Sir,” she started again, clenching her other fist at her side to keep calm, “I know you didn’t want me to look at the pictures—”

“But you did. You went directly against my wishes. You disobeyed me.”

Notgoodnotgoodnotgood—

Marinette took a deep breath and remembered how happy Nathalie had been to hear that there might be a cure. She’d had faith in this solution, the best outcome. Marinette had to stand her ground, for herself and for Adrien.

“I know there wasn’t a translation for the Grimoire. I know the pictures don’t mean much without words to go with them. But they were enough, after all! Sometimes a solution really doesn’t exist, and sometimes... you just need to find a new way to create it. Please listen to me,” she begged, holding out the vial in her hands. “I think that my cure can heal Emilie — it’s already working on me — and then you won’t even need the Miraculous, at all!”

“Won’t need the Miraculous?” Gabriel roared, seething as he looked down at Marinette. “Have you forgotten about the other parents, the ones who have already died from the gruesome poison of your Miraculous? Do you think a witch’s brew is going to bring them back? No,” he spat out, and Marinette flinched. “And what of Adrien, and the other sentimonsters? Do you think some glittering sludge is going to cure them, too? Keep their souls safe from a world bent on destroying them? No, don’t hide it; give me your hand, Miss Dupain-Cheng.”

She extended her hand again, trembling. “Please...” she whispered, unsure what to say.

Gabriel snatched the vial out of her palm. Stuffing it in his pocket, he removed a silver ring from the same pocket, clutched tight in his fingers. This he placed in Marinette palm; folding her fingers around it, he offered her a stern frown.

“This is Adrien’s amok.”

Marinette would have recoiled, but M. Agreste’s firm grasp on her hand kept her standing in place.

“So that you know the true weight of this object, I would like to tell you a story. Follow me, and put the ring on. Keep it safe.”

He led her over to the elevator, down to the basement garden where Emilie’s bed lay, avoiding the stairs so that they wouldn’t disturb Adrien, who was studying in his room and didn’t know that Marinette was there. When they reached Emilie’s place of repose, Gabriel turned to Marinette and began to speak.

“When Emilie created Adrien, she did it out of love. She knew that anyone who holds a sentimonster’s amok may use it to control them, and so in her wisdom, she split his in two. Now, no one can have complete control of Adrien unless they hold both halves of his amok. The ring I gave you holds one half of it. You can use it to control him, give him any order you wish, but I alone know where the second half of the amok is, and so long as I hold it, I can reverse your orders and protect Adrien from your control. Does that sound fair to you?”

“No!” Marinette cried. “No one should be able to control him, ever! Why would you give me this?”

“It is because I trust you,” Gabriel said solemnly. “I don’t think you are losing your battles on purpose. But perhaps you will try harder to win them if I remind you of what’s at stake.

“Adrien’s life is bound to his amok. If that ring is ever damaged, the destruction will be reflected in him. If it is so much as scratched, he will suffer, just the same as he will if we do not win the Miraculous from Golden Bug and Chat Grise. It is our responsibility to do everything in our power to win, Marinette. Everything. Do you understand?”

Marinette looked down at the ring she now wore on her finger.

“I understand,” she said quietly.

“I appreciate your trying to find a cure,” M. Agreste said in a calm tone. “But as far as I’m aware, the Miraculous is still broken, no? You may have healed yourself temporarily, but each time you put your suit on, you will be poisoned again. Your cure only works partway.”

“But, Emilie...” Marinette’s voice trailed off. “Don’t you think it might help her, sir? I understand now that we need to make the Wish, but in the meantime, wouldn’t you like to have her back? You have the cure; won’t you at least try to see if it will help her?”

M. Agreste pursed his lips. “It may have been too long since the poison took effect in her for it to help,” he said bluntly. But as Marinette’s face fell, he added, “I will see what I can do.”

Brightening up, Marinette threw her arms around him in a hug. “Oh, thank you, M. Agreste! Thank you!”

Squealing excitedly, she wiggled as M. Agreste sighed and led her back to the elevator.

“Pay extra attention to the lesson tonight,” he instructed her. “Now that you’ll be back to your former strength, I expect you to be even more effective in akuma battles. Don’t pull any of your punches, understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Marinette said, and smiled to herself. Finally, she’d done something to help Adrien!

“Oh,” she remembered. “The ring. Let me give it back to you.”

She started to take it off her finger, but M. Agreste stopped her.

“Keep it. I trust you won’t use it to control Adrien, will you?”

She shook her head, anger flashing in her eyes. “Of course not!”

“Good. Then by keeping it with you at all times, you may do more to keep it, and my son, safe than I could have by keeping it in the mansion. You have my blessing, Marinette. I only ask that you do nothing which could make you lose it.”

__*__*__*__*__

The next day was Saturday, and Marinette was scheduled to help out with one of Adrien’s photoshoots.

M. Agreste wasn’t there, but Nathalie oversawMarinette’s efforts. She’d felt nervous but excited as she laid out the different outfits Adrien would be changing into. So far, everything had gone swimmingly— that is, until the akuma struck.

Nobody had bothered informing Marinette that there would be an akuma that day. Or that Valentine’s had come so early this year! But here she was, running (possibly for her life) from a dark-colored, winged akuma who was shooting arrows at her and Adrien.

“Chloe rejected me for you?” the akuma, who was calling himself Dark Cupid (and possibly used to call himself Kim) squawked. “I don’t know why she wasted the energy! It’s clear where your affections lie... for now, at least,” he finished with a chuckle.

Adrien pulled Marinette behind the bushes in the park the photoshoot was taking place at just in time to avoid the latest barrage of arrows.

“I really did not need this right now,” he muttered, keeping his arm raised as if to ward off another attack that way.

Marinette nodded in agreement. “It wasn’t in my afternoon plans, that’s for sure,” she agreed, holding back a hysterical giggle.

What was she supposed to do right now? Surely, Hawk Moth wasn’t targeting his son and apprentice on purpose! Should she rush back to the mansion, on foot if necessary, and transform? Or should she presume that this was an even worse rogue akuma than Gigantitan had been, and try to take it down before it caused more damage?

She didn’t get any more time to think about her options, though. A winged shadow fell over their hiding spot, and she felt Adrien freeze next to her.

“Did you really think you could hide from me in that scrawny bush?” Kim laughed and shot another arrow towards Marinette and Adrien, who glanced once at each other and ran towards the Gorilla’s car. Adrien pulled the door open for Marinette, who was about to crawl inside when she noticed Dark Cupid notching another arrow in her periphery.

“Adrien, look out!” she cried, leaping in front of him just as the arrow flew home, striking her in the chest. She staggered forward, eyes drooping closed as she wrapped her fingers around the shaft, trying to yank it out. But before she could push past the pain blossoming in her chest, her world faded to black.

__*__*__*__*__

When Marinette opened her eyes, all she could see was green.

The vivid color belonged to a familiar pair of eyes — Golden Bug’s eyes — but the gentle pressure on her lips quickly proved that this was just another dream, just one more quiet moment of bliss before she would inevitably wake up and feel the weight of her guilt come crashing down on her.

But this time, Marinette didn’t want to wake up, so she wrapped her arms around her forbidden love, eagerly pulling him closer, and pressed her lips more firmly to his. His green eyes fell shut as she deepened the kiss, and a shiver ran through his body as she tangled her fingers in his soft, golden hair. She thought she heard a moan catch in his throat, but she was too focused on kissing him to be sure, too wrapped up in this moment of perfection.

It ended, of course. It always ended.

This time, it just happened to be a little worse than it ever had been in the past.

The boy who Marinette had been kissing pulled back, gasping for air, and his eyes blinked open, peering into hers.

Adrien worked his jaw for a little before he pushed the question out. “Marinette, are you okay?”

Ah. Of course, this kind of thing would happen. Of course, she kissed her best friend, thinking that he was someone else. Her friend, who happened to be her boss’ son!

The same green eyes as before were still staring into hers, but this time she recognized them as Adrien Agreste’s, not Golden Bug’s. He was pinned to the ground under her, his back pressed uncomfortably against the wall of the Agreste mansion. When had they gotten there? Weren’t they just at the park?

Marinette backed off of Adrien, giving him the space he needed to sit up and slowly begin to massage the sore spots on his wrists, the deep marks her fingernails had left on him.

No. No, no, no, no, no!

She’d just been entrusted with Adrien’s amok yesterday! She’d sworn not to misuse it, not to hurt him, and now—! Now, she’d done just that! And on top of whatever akuma-influenced scars she’d left on his body, s he’d just kissed him on the lips ! He was probably so freaked out!

“I’m so sorry!” She spat it out, horrified, unable to look away from Adrien’s wide eyes, his reddened lips and hot cheeks. “Adrien, I— I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened, I swear!”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Adrien murmured, bringing one hand up to lightly prod his swollen lips. “We didn’t know what the akuma could do. And it could have been worse.”

How?

This madness had to end. Marinette had to make sure the akuma’s reign ended, and fast. Luckily, she wasn’t that far away from the Miraculous which would give her power to do just that. And poison her. Again.

Marinette, her mouth thinning, reached a hand down to Adrien. “I’m going to go inside,” she told him as she helped him up. “Stay sa— please stay safe,” she begged. Afraid that she’d keep messing up and control Adrien without thinking, she hurried around the corner of the mansion, taking the steps two at a time until she reached the door. As soon as she’d pulled it open and stepped inside, she slid down against the wall in shock.

Oh, what had she done? But she didn’t have time to waste feeling guilty! Adrien needed his wounds to be healed, and that could only happen if the akuma was taken down.

Marinette forced herself to her feet and marched towards the safe where the Peacock brooch was kept. She didn’t hesitate as she punched in the combination and pinned the brooch to her shirt. While the suit was still wrapping itself around her, she was already running to the side door, ready to jump into action.

But first, she had a call to make. Putting in the earbuds that came with the suit, she pressed the button which appeared on the base of her fan and waited for Hawk Moth to pick up.

“Marinette! I’m glad to hear from you. The akuma is—”

“I know what the akuma is, trust me,” she said bitterly. “It’s out of control. It made me hurt Adrien.” Her voice caught in her throat, and she swallowed as she took a break from running to catch her bearings.

“Dark Cupid wasn’t as effective as I might’ve hoped,” Hawk Moth admitted. “Still, the ring is safe, is it not?”

Bluewing ran her thumb over the space on her finger where her— where Adrien’s amok had been when she transformed. She couldn’t feel it now, but she knew it was there, hidden under the suit like her clothes.

“It’s safe,” she confirmed. “Now, where’s the akuma? We need to take it down!”

Hawk Moth coughed. “Hold on, Bluewing. Adrien is no longer anywhere near the akuma. Golden Bug and Chat Grise finally showed up; Dark Cupid is distracted and there’s no need to recall the akuma at this point.”

“Yeah, well, we still need Golden Bug to release his Cure,” Bluewing shot back. “Or did you forget the part where I said Dark Cupid made me hurt your son?”

Hawk Moth was silent for a moment.

“You don’t think I would leave him unhealed in my Wish, do you?”

Bluewing scowled as she spotted the fight a block away and started heading towards it. “Fine. I don’t even know what the akumatized object is, so I’ll let it be for now. But this better be the last time you take risks with who you akumatize. If another akuma gets diverted by an unideal subject, don’t go through with the akumatization.”

She leapt into action, tripping Golden Bug and then lunging towards Chat Grise. She managed to steal half of her baton and toss it away, but that still left her with two enemies to fight. Where did Dark Cupid go?

Across the street, chaos was reigning; lovers, friends, and family were fighting over what seemed to be the akuma’s influence alone.

Just like what I did to Adrien, Marinette thought with a shiver.

“Hey, Bluebird! Good to see you!” Dark Cupid greeted her as he swept back onto the scene, somehow still with a full quiver of arrows.

“It’s Bluewing, actually,” she corrected as she ducked under Chat Grise’s jab. “You didn’t teach him to call me that on purpose, did you, Bug?”

Golden Bug only scowled in response. “Lucky Charm,” he called out. “I don’t have the time for this today.”

Chat Grise kicked Bluewing, sending her flying before she could try to steal the Lucky Charm again.

She was quick to get back on her feet, charging toward Golden Bug while he was staring at the object which had landed in his hands. Dark Cupid was already notching a new arrow, preparing to let it fly. Good. The battle would be over soon.

“Chat!” Golden Bug called out just as Bluewing got close to him, and the cat came flying out of nowhere, grabbing Bluewing’s wrist and sending her flying towards Golden Bug. What? How could that possibly help either of the heroes?

Bluewing caught herself as she stumbled, pinwheeling her arms for balance, which she briefly regained for a moment before an arrow struck her right in the center of her back.

“Come on!” she howled, because really, this was absurd. She’d never been hit by an akuma before, and for it to happen twice in one day was just unlucky.

It was taking longer for the darkness to overtake her this time, a potential weakness of the akuma perhaps. She had time to notice the odd way Golden Bug was looking at her, then back at the candy apple in his hands.

Bluewing swallowed. Could he somehow tell what she’d done to Adrien earlier, when she’d mistaken her friend’s green eyes for his?

But why would she have kissed Adrien (ugh, she’d kissed Adrien) if she’d mistaken him for her worst enemy? Why hadn’t she pummeled him into dust while she’d had the chance? She should’ve ordered him to beg for mercy on his knees while she taunted him for all those stupid model poses he’d taken so much to heart that he was using them everywhere, even at home.

And Golden Bug, how dare he smirk at her like that? She’d show him to curse the world with that disgustingly perfect smile!

Dark Cupid was saying something in the background. He sounded pissed. Marinette was pissed, too.

Stalking towards Golden Bug, she raised her hand and slapped him right across the face, or she tried to, anyway. He avoided her blow and hopped backwards to safety. His sneaky partner stood by him, ready to fight.

“Ugh, you’re both so doggedly persistent!” Bluewing rolled her head backwards and groaned.

“Isn’t that a compliment?” Chat Grise asked in a pathetically tiny voice.

“No!” Bluewing yelled, snapping her head forward and glaring at her. “It isn’t! I hate you! I hate you both! And you won’t stop bothering me!”

“Wait, what? What!?” Golden Bug was talking to her, but she didn’t care.

There was a billboard with Adrien’s face on it behind the bratty ‘heroes,’ and Bluewing wanted to take it down.

“You ugly-pretty model!” she shrieked, looking over and past the two menaces’ heads to address the offending advertisement. “There is no need for your face to be on this many billboards! We’re already plagued with your face from the moment we get up to the moment we go to sleep! I hate you!”

“You hate Adrien, too? How do you feel about akumas?” Golden Bug’s voice interrupted her bloodthirsty thoughts.

“Oh, Bratty Bug,” Bluewing crooned, lowering her gaze back to him and the other menace. “I think they’re the only sane people left on this earth. They can take over control of the place once I’ve watered the ground with your blood.”

Golden Bug took a step back.

“And... Hawk Moth?”

“A terrible person. I’m going to kill him, too. I’m going to kill all of you! The whole planet! I hate everyone except for akumas!” She paused for a moment. That statement hadn’t felt quite right. “And Chloe Bourgeois!” she added triumphantly.

Golden Bug dropped his yo-yo. In the sky behind him, Dark Cupid wheeled about, shooting his arrows and laughing victoriously.

“Giving up already, coward?” Bluewing taunted, stepping forward with a glint in her eye.

Chat Grise moved to stand in front of him defensively, holding her baton out at the ready. But he pushed her arm aside and stepped forward.

“Hey, if you’re so powerful, and if you hate that billboard so bad, why don’t you go do something about it? You want to kill the whole world; why don’t you warm up by killing him?” Golden Bug gestured toward the billboard in a congenial manner.

“Wow, that is the first smart thing I’ve heard you say,” Bluewing said with a cackle. “Stay here, so I can kill you when I get back. You can follow simple directions, can’t you?”

“Sure can,” Golden Bug said, grinning tightly and wrapping one arm around Chat Grise. Bluewing shot her a particularly fearsome glare as she stalked past.

And there he was: her enemy number one, Paris’ favorite golden boy, Adrien Agreste.

Utterly ridiculous.

She started work by hopping up onto the narrow platform and punching his well-lit face a couple times, sending sparks flying down to the streets below.

“Go! Die! You! Ugly! Billboard!” she shouted, laughing when the perfume ad went dark and the metal squealed in agony from her hits.

As she began tearing the billboard apart piece by piece, Marinette grinned to herself. This was good! She was saving Paris from this piece of scum, slowly but surely! And once she finished with this, she was going to kill that super-ridiculous duo! She was going to murder Gabriel Agreste and his son, and Nathalie, too!

Grinning, Bluewing wound up her fist, ready to punch Adrien again, when suddenly a swarm of ladybugs surrounded her, releasing the curse and restoring her senses.

What was she doing?

Bluewing stepped back from the billboard, wondering how she’d gotten there. She’d transformed, headed to the battle to help Hawk Moth, and— oh, no. She’d gotten hit again.

And it was even worse the second time, because she actually remembered some of what she’d done. She’d insulted Golden Bug, Chat Grise, and Hawk Moth, and threatened to kill the whole world! Then she’d tried to kill Adrien, even just a billboard version of him, because of how much she’d hated him!

So much for the loyal soldier.

Bluewing didn’t bother sticking around to watch her enemies celebrate their victory. She headed straight for the nearest empty alleyway and tore off her brooch.

It glittered in the sunlight, proudly displaying its broken feathers and beak and heart. Marinette had to use everything she had to control herself and not dash the Miraculous against the brick road.

Instead, she sank onto her knees and let a bloodcurdling scream tear out of her throat.

#bluewing au #ml fanfic #rosie-b writing #miraculous ladybug #ooh what's this? an adrinette kiss? in my fic?#it's more likely than you'd think #*laughs evilly*

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mikesigninspection · 6 months

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I wanted to tell yall my opinion on "who would Mike first come out to".

Okay so I suspect that it might be El, Nancy or Karen. The reason why I choose these 3 is bc I feel like anyone else would make that coming out scene feel "too warm" (for exp. if he came out to Joyce).

Now ofc I believe that Mike will come out to Will during the confession but I feel like we need more, colder one? I am not saying that I need Mike to be unaccepted by anyone (thought that would be interesting to watch cause then they would show both sides of coming out) I am saying that I feel like if he comes out to these characters specifically, the whole scene is gonna feel more sad ( the vibe of it). Like when they do that blue/dark sort of coloring to express that this scene is supposed to make audience more sad than happy. It's hard to explain.

Alright.

If MIke comes out to El, it would be on accident. It would probably happen in the middle of a fight where he would spill it out and El would be shocked. Tho, she wouldn't be very confused and surprised (at least from my point of view.) She probably caught up with Mike and Will's problems and she could see the reason for it but she is still not so sure or she is in denial. I just feel like she wouldn't be all that happy, she would prob. ask him to leave her to think abt this but would be very understanding at the end.

Nancy

Now this is a different story. This is where he would come out when he prepared himself. Why do I feel like Nancy is one of those people? Not just bc she is his sister so it would make sense but smt else. Something about how they see each other.

Now, we all know that siblings fight constantly. Well most of siblings. And it isn't because they hate each other or something, it's mostly just siblings thing.

Ofc, Mike and Nancy also fight like other siblings do. However, their relationship is not the best. They often don't talk with each other. Hell, they would rather get hit by a car than talk about their feelings with each other like Jonathan and Will do.

So why do I believe that Nancy would be a good option?

It is simple. I believe that Mike thinks that Nancy is pretty neutral abt stuff. Maybe he thinks that she won't even care? He probably believes that her reaction to this wouldn't impact him that much since they don't talk. But there is also a part of him that hopes that she will understand and so is probably scared.

I feel like they might try to act like Will and Jonathan which is why they will try to talk to each other. Who knows?

Karen

So we know how Karen wishes that her kids talk with her( like deep talks)? She has been waiting for that for a long time now. Mike coming out to her would be a thing that would fulfill her wish. And her reassurance would mean the world to him. It would make him braver and more emotionally stronger which will make Vecna's plan harder to proceed.

One thing that makes me believe in this theory is her talk with him in s1. If you are a straight viewer you may catch this message harder but if you are a queer person, you would notice.

Karen talking about how Mike doesn't have to hide anything from her, how he can tell her anything doesn't apply to Mike being upset abt Will going missing. It also doesn't apply to El bc she didn't know abt her yet.

Others know that Mike and Will's relationship is different from the others. However, not all of them think it has to do with romance. But Karen does. She can see the difference between how Mike acts with Will versus how he is with Lucas and Dustin.

Her speech in that episode means so much to queer community bc it represents a parent who is reassuring their closeted kid that no matter who they love, they are gonna stay and love their kid the same. And if they also have a hard time accepting it themselves, their parent is there to help them.

That is that.

#byler #byler endgame #gay mike wheeler #gay mike truther #mike wheeler #mike wheeler coming out #theories #stranger things s5 #stranger things #will byers #eleven hopper #nancy wheeler #karen wheeler #coming out

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clownboymcchucklefuck · 7 months

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Colored Gaze Theory: Zachary Has a Mental Disorder.

WARNING: PLEASE DO NOT ROMANTICIZE ANY BEHAVIOR I TALK ABOUT IN THIS THEORY. IT IS NOT HEALTHY AND YOU SHOULD SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW SHOWS SYPMTOMS.

Theory begins under cut:

Does anybody else find it kind of strange that the dev is so open about Zachary being the "worst" LI and showing his bad side?

The whole point of Colored Gaze is to find out the LI's true "colors" and so far Seth and Simon haven't shown their true ones in tumblr/CC asks unless it's a little lore hint here and there. We all assume that Zachary is the most dangerous but what if it's the exact opposite? After all, Zachary is the only LI I couldn't see killing MC.

"Oh but Zachary's basically been the most of a bitch from what we have seen on the tumblr/cc so far!" But what if that's what the dev is trying to make us think just so that they can throw a curveball at us and catch us off guard?

In a past theory I had mentioned that on the C.C that Zachary has depression, but I’m now realizing that it probably meant that Zachary needed to see a therapist and I’ve figured out why.

Zachary has Borderline Personality Disorder.

As crazy as I may sound, it actually makes a lot of sense. Lets also think about how it's been said that Zach’s parents were never really “involved” with his life so if he did show any symptoms of a mental disorder at a young age his parents never would have known and brushed it off.

Source:

“Zachary... hmmm.... despite having a 'perfectly' normal childhood with his parents supporting what he wants to do and capability to do pretty much anything... his parents weren't really super involved with him deeply. Like, they kind of lack major presence or never really had a deep connection with him, they're just 'child and parent'.”

Comparing Zachary’s behavior to BPD.

Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder:

"Bold – Impulsivity is a BPD trait that can be positively linked to being bold, courageous and having the ability to speak one's mind. Creative – The high intensity of emotions can be released into creative endeavors. Many people with BPD put their entire emotional expression into music, art, performance and writing."

Now correct me if I’m wrong, (and I very well might be) but Zachary’s interest with photography could fit into the creative endeavors part.

He's also very bold with his flirting as we see in the demo whenever he kisses MC's hand within the first 3 minutes of knowing them.

"individuals with borderline personality disorders can also love intensely, although somewhat erratically and egocentrically."

“Relationship problems: People with BPD often have intense, tumultuous relationships with others. They may “fall hard” when they meet new people, putting them on pedestals. Their loved ones may describe them as overly needy or clingy.”

For some context for people that haven't listened to Zachary’s playlist; Most of the songs do include lyrics about a very strong love and loving intensely so I believe this fits him.

“Depending on symptom manifestations, both men and women diagnosed with BPD may experience promiscuity, impulsive sexual behavior, hypersexuality, or sex avoidance. These sexual changes may also affect the ability to maintain healthy and stable relationships.”

“One of the hallmarks of BPD is impulsivity, which can manifest as engaging in risky behaviors, including reckless sexual activity. Hypersexuality can be a coping mechanism for individuals with BPD as they try to fill an emotional void or deal with intense emotions.”

Now I think we all now that Zachary is a horny bastard which is what made me look into this being one of the symptoms of BPD in the first place. It could very much explain why he’s so horny. But it makes more sense when you understand that he somewhat cannot control feeling that way now that we know he’s not just being horny just to be horny but it's because he’s more than likely hypersexual.

“Romantic fantasization is a common feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD). The unpredictable emotional state associated with borderline personality disorder can cause confusing fluctuations in how borderlines view their romantic partners.”

This could also explain a lot of things about Zachary like why he wants kids with MC so badly, why he’s so “persistent” about being with/marrying MC.

I also found another article basically talking about why some people are attracted to people with BPD and I’m going to put another disclaimer that this type of behavior is not healthy. I am not encouraging or romanticizing it so please don’t either.

“They're easily seduced by the borderline's extreme openness, charm, and vulnerability. In addition, the borderline's passion and intense emotions are enlivening to non-BPDs, who find being alone depressing or “healthy” people boring.”

“A person with impulsive borderline personality disorder often displays the following signs and symptoms of the subtype: Flirtatious with others, sometimes without even realizing it. Captivating, able to act with a natural magnetism. Elusive and mercurial.”

Correct me if I’m wrong but this somewhat explains Zachary to a T. Albeit he only flirts with MC but it has been said that even when he was in school and on valentines day he would get alot of cards and gifts and such because of how he attracted people. I’m pretty sure in past posts its mentioned that Zachary has a “charm” too, along with his parents raising him to be a gentleman. I’ve talked about how him being raised that way may have affected him in a past theory/shitpost too which I will put here:

Me: Zachary probably has years of repressed sexual desire because of how he was raised to be gentlemen and thats why he's such a freak (horny) all the time and I can only imagine how the standards he had to meet of being a "gentleman" affected him mentally considering its been stated that Zachary hasn't felt love before MC and that he himself probably holds himself up to impossibly high standards which in way is shown by him being a perfectionist and thats probably why he's depressed-

My friend who just asked if I wanted a pringle: wtf

This changes everything. We’ve always assumed that Zachary is the yandere because of his behavior that the dev is suspiciously open about. Zachary isn't the yandere, he is mentally ill.

Once again I just find it very suspicious that it's so obvious that Zachary is the "yandere". There's also a song on Zachary's playlist called Borderline too which is what made me think about this in the first place.

There's also a couple other disorders I could tie to Zachary too.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder [OCD]

Obsessive Love Disorder

Now the second one has only recently been recognized as a mental disorder by professionals so I doubt it may be OLD. (hehehehe get it? Cause Zachary's old- I’ll shut up now.)

Now somebody brought up Zachary possibly OCD to me because of how clean he is and how he wants everything to go his way. However, the "wanting everything to go his way." Could also tie into him having BPD and the cleaning part I have to remind them that OCD doesn't stand for Obsessive Cleaning Disorder smh.

Now this post is already long af so I'm going to stop it right here. I've tried to provide as much sources as I could so that people won't be asking clrdgaze blog where I got it from. (Smh guys just ask me, I swear I don't bite and I love asks. 😭) Thank you for reading my unhinged rambling and have a nice day. ♡

[Reblogs are greatly appreciated too!]

_________________________

Zachary belongs to @clrdgaze

@dont-wannadothis-anymore @mysticnebula

#yandere vn #yandere visual novel #yandere #visual novel #male yandere #coloredgaze #clrdgazevn #colored gaze #coloredgazevn #yandere male #coloredgazevnzachary #coloredgazezachary #clrdgazetheory

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mymoodwriting · 5 months

Text

Beyond The Stars

F!Reader x EXO

Genre: Amnesia AU, EXO Universe/Planet

Warning: Angst, Hallucinations, Drugs, Revelations, Resurrection

Words: 1.9K

Chapter Eighteen

(Prev//Next)

Prompt: You’re the most important thing to EXO, you’ve been with them for years, and when you wind up missing, it greatly upsets them. Their journey to find you and bring you home starts a chain of events that leads to facing their own greatest fears, making unlikely allies, traveling to other worlds again and finally gathering the strength to take down their greatest enemy. Along the way you get to see their true colors and fall in love all over again, although you might come to realize you don’t like what you see in the mirror.

@suhappysuho @starillusion13

“She knows she’s home.”

Suho and Chanyeol were still processing what they had just discovered, but the others needed to know as well. There wasn’t much to explain, but everyone agreed that you needed space. No one was happy about the situation, but they also had another pressing matter at hand. All the preparations were complete, so now they just needed the start. Lay was in the water, Jooheon and Shownu having been the ones to volunteer and get in with him. Of course the difficult part was getting Kihyun into the in-between. There was no real certain way to do so, meaning the only option was for Kai to teleport with them.

It was something rather quick, and then Kai was in the water with Kihyun. He passed him over to Lay who gently fed him an elixir. Jooheon and Shownu both drank the same thing, laying back in the water and closing their eyes. The others could only watch on in silence. There was tension now between both groups. Besides the revelation of what had happened to Kihyun, there was now your past and disappearance. Still, the priority was Kihyun, so all they could do was hope for the best.

♥♥♥♥♥

To close your eyes and open them again to endless darkness was quite frightening. The fear was present only for a moment before Jooheon realized he wasn’t alone. Next to him was Shownu and Lay.

“Where are we?”

“The in-between.” Lay explained. “An endless void.”

“So Kihyun is here somewhere?” Shownu asked.

“In theory, but there’s no guarantee.”

“How do we find him?”

“You both have to seek him out. If he’s here, he’ll let you find him.”

“But where?”

“I don’t know. This place creates hell for those that get stuck, I can’t imagine where he’d be.”

“So, it’s up to us.” Jooheon confirmed. “What exactly do we do if we find him?”

“If you find you need to bring him back here, and together we can leave.”

“That’s it?”

“It might sound easy, but it’s not. Trust your gut, and good luck.”

“Thanks.”

For the sake of staying together Jooheon and Shownu remained close, walking in the darkness. Neither knew when Lay had disappeared, but it was just the two of them now. They kept walking aimlessly until they heard a loud crash noise and were blinded by a strong white light. When they regained their vision they found themselves on an abandoned road. Shownu had no idea where he was, but Jooheon recognized the place immediately.

“Kihyun…”

Jooheon soon found Kihyun running down the road, chasing down the car before it crashed. As much as he wanted to change things, he knew it wasn’t possible. At least not here.

“Kihyun!”

Jooheon chased after his friend, and soon Shownu was aware of what was going on. The two followed after the other until the car crashed and he stopped.

“Kihyun, please.” Jooheon begged. “You have to let go.”

It didn’t seem that Kihyun was listening, and soon enough the car reappeared on the road and drove past the trio. Kihyun chased after it again, and the two followed. Shownu managed to catch up and hold Kihyun back.

“Let go! I have to-”

“I’m right here.” Jooheon grabbed Kihyun. “I’m right here, I’m okay.”

“Jooheon?”

“Yeah, yeah it’s me.”

“You’re alive.”

“Yes, yes I am, and so are you.”

“Huh?”

“You can let go. We’re both okay.”

They all heard the car crash again and looked over. Kihyun stared at the scene before him, gripping Jooheon’s arms tightly.

“Let’s go home.” Jooheon said. “Together.”

There wasn’t much they could do but walk away from the crash. Eventually everything faded to black and they were walking in a void. When Lay had appeared he called out to them. Kihyun was so excited to see such an old friend, but the reunion would have to wait a moment. They all held hands and closed their eyes, placing their trust into Lay.

♥♥♥♥♥

When Jooheon opened his eyes he gasped, getting his feet under him. He could see that Lay was awake, and so was Shownu, although Kihyun was still unconscious. Before he could ask anything Kihyun opened his eyes, taking in a deep breath.

“Kihyun!”

All the others jumped into the water to greet their brother, overjoyed to see him alive. While everyone was caught up with that, Baekhyun snuck away from the scene, wanting to look for you. It wasn’t long before he found you locked up in one of the rooms, he knocked, but he already knew your answer.

“Go away.”

“Y/n, please let me explain.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

Baekhyun couldn’t understand much, but he knew he had hurt you. He sat down, leaning against your door. Even if you didn’t want to hear it he had to be honest.

“I’m sorry… there’s so much we should have told you before, but we just didn’t know how.” Baekhyun sighed. “We called this planet, this place, home for a very long time. Everything was good and we didn’t notice RF’s presence growing until it was too late. They captured us, and we were their prisoners for months… perhaps longer… when we finally escaped we weren’t in good condition, and somehow wound up at your place. Even though we were complete strangers you were so kind to us and helped us without question. Of course it wasn’t long before RF tracked us down. We knew we couldn’t just leave you for RF to find, so we took you with us.”

“… but why did you make me forget?” “It’s not like we could bring you home anytime soon…”

“Were you ever gonna tell me?”

“Honestly… I’m not sure. We had no idea you were close to Wonho and the others.”

“I don’t remember them… can I recover those memories?”

“You’d have to ask Lay, but those memories are buried deep… do you hate us?”

“I don’t know…”

At that moment Wonho came over. He was still a bit wet, but he wanted to talk to you. Baekhyun stood up as he came to the door, knocking and letting you know it was him. To Baekhyun’s jealousy you opened the door a bit.

“Hi.”

“Hey, do you think you could come out for a bit, so we can talk.”

You carefully opened the door and stepped out. Wonho gave you a smile, putting you at ease. Although you couldn’t look over at Baekhyun.

“Why are you wet?”

“We woke up Kihyun.”

“You did!? That’s great news.”

“Yeah. The others are examining him to make sure everything is good, but I wanted to check in with you. How are you?”

“I’m not sure… everything is fine but I don’t know who I am anymore… I’m not sure I ever did…”

“I’m glad you’re alive.”

“What was my life like?”

“You were incredible, very intelligent, had a nice job and your own place. Although I do need to apologize for something.”

“For what?”

“I, and the rest of my brothers, disappeared without a word. We made you worry so much, and then when we came back we couldn’t give you an explanation.”

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story. Why don’t we step out for a bit.”

“Sure.”

Baekhyun wanted to protest about you leaving the house, but he knew you wouldn’t listen to him right now. Even if things weren’t good between them right now, he still trusted Wonho to look after you, so he let the two of you go. The two of you walked together in silence for a while. The fresh air was nice, and it helped clear your mind.

“Wonho.”

“Hm?”

“How do you know EXO?”

“It’s a rather long story.” Wonho began. “Me and my brothers had our own troubles, and EXO came to our aid. They helped us out and took us under their wing. We learned about plants and their abilities, but we also drew unwanted attention. RF captured us all, one by one. They experimented on us and questioned us about EXO, but we didn’t know much.”

“But you got out.”

“We tried to escape, but that didn’t work, so… Hyungwon made a deal. He gave Baekhyun up in exchange for our freedom. I don’t know what happened after that.”

“So then what happened with me?”

“I was trying to put things back together, so I went to see you one night to catch up, and the next day you were gone. I feared it was RF, but I couldn’t do anything about it. The others told me that I had to let go, and for that I am so sorry.”

“Even if you did try to look for me, I doubt you would have found me.”

You and Wonho stopped when you heard a noise, looking around and seeing Hyungwon. Wonho immediately stepped in front of you, but you grabbed his arm. You knew there was tension between the two, but you didn’t want anyone getting hurt.

“What do you want?” Wonho spat.

“I merely want to help fill in the gaps. I overheard you talking, and I thought you might want to know the truth.”

“About what?”

“The night y/n disappeared.”

“You know what happened to me?” You questioned.

“I do. You see the night Wonho went to see you is the night EXO escaped. With the limited power they had, Kai teleported to the nearest person he trusted. That happened to be Wonho. He was at your place moments before they appeared, so that’s how EXO wound up in your backyard.”

“So it was my fault…” Wonho mumbled. “I’m the reason-”

“No.” You interrupted. “You can’t possibly blame yourself for something like that.”

“She’s right.” Hyungwon said. “Somethings are fated to happen, you can’t blame yourself for that night.”

“Was I always meant to meet EXO? To be close to them?”

“As far as Tao could see into the future, the answer was always yes.”

“Tao?”

“He would have loved to meet you, all of the others would.”

“Others…”

“What is it that you’re doing here?” Wonho asked. “No one’s exactly happy with you right now.”

“I know, but I want to help.”

“How?”

“I have a message for EXO. The base is the same, and the security system will be shut down in two days for scheduled maintenance. That’ll be the best time to strike, and this is only the beginning.”

“You expect me, us, to believe that?”

“I haven’t enjoyed my time with RF. Everything has a purpose, but I hope you’ll relay my message.”

Hyungwon left without another word. You had a lot to ponder now, but you knew it was best to get back to the others. When you returned your boys expressed their worries, but you assured them that you were okay. You still needed space, but you promised not to run off. Even if he didn’t like it, Wonho still relayed the message, and now everyone was on the same page.

“That’s why you came back.” Minhyuk said. “You want to destroy RF.”

“We won’t run anymore.” Xiumin stated.

“We’d appreciate a hand.” Chen added. “But you don’t have to. They’ve done enough to you guys.”

“All the more reason to assist.” Changkyun said. “It sounds like payback.”

“Am I included in this?”

Everyone looked over to see Hyungwon had made an appearance. Although he set his sight onto Kihyun, and the two stared at each other.

“Hyungwon…”

“It’s good to see you again.” Hyungwon smiled. “It’s been a while.”

“Yeah…”

“I can help with this plan. I know the base inside and out, but I understand you don’t trust me.”

“That may be the case.” Suho said. “But I don’t think you’d be here if you were truly untrustworthy.”

“You trust me?”

“I believe you have valuable information you’re willing to give us. Don’t you agree?”

“I do.”

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madwheelerz · 2 years

Text

Time Manipulators Theory

Okay, so I recently witnessed librarygate and like I’m super excited right now so forgive me if some of what I’m typing ceases to make sense, but I think Vecna is killing people with powers to manipulate time.

Six clocks at Philadelphia Public Library. Six ppl. Six people. Six people who wear their watches on the right hand that I’ve identified in this picture.

(Let me know if you happen to catch anyone else who wears their watch like this)

Four of these people we know for a fact have been targeted and died at least briefly. Barb’s mom is a mystery because she hasn’t appeared in the show since season two, but Mike has been in the show since the beginning. In season three Barb was basically pushed into the back of our minds. It was easy to forget about her if you didn’t pay close attention in previous seasons because we didn’t hear her mentioned.

In season four, however, we see flashbacks of her in Nancy’s memories and Vecna goes out of his way to remind us about her. We know Barb and Will were in the library, but only one of managed to make it out alive. Barb’s conditions for being attacked are different as are the other individuals in the picture.

When Barb was found it was with a slug crawling out of her mouth both times. Something Will does in season two. Barb is also the only person outside of Will that we know of who is specifically taken to the Upside Down before she was killed. Barb was also taken two days after Will was taken. The 6th and the 8th with the 7th being a day where no one was directly harmed by the forces of the Upside Down.

B*lly’s possession is different from the other flayed in that he doesn’t merge into the mind flayer like the others and his eyes change color similar to the way Will’s eyes did under the possession of the mind flayer. Fred’s circumstances were different from both Max and Chrissy in that Vecna told Fred to “join him” unlike Chrissy, but he was not able to escape even once unlike Max. Max is a double target. She manages to escape once only for her to be lured back in by Vecna unveiling his sinister plan.

Those are the conditions of the four in the picture who ended up dying at least temporarily. Barb’s mom hasn’t been in the show since the end of season two, so we don’t know what is going on with her. Mike has remained relatively safe and unharmed physically despite the constant brushes with the supernatural, but his luck might be up.

My thought is everyone who has their watches on the right have the ability to manipulate time to some extent and I believe if this theory is true then Mike has the strongest control over time which is why he can’t be around when Vecna is doing his thing. If Mike can manipulate time than that explains why he’s constantly associated with time, and it might also explain why he seems to know so much about things he shouldn’t.

Mike might be subconsciously tapping into the future and offering insight that way. There are a few things I’ll mention later that could offer some points for this theory, but for now let’s move on to why I think there are others.

Stranger things opened the door to the idea that some people are simply born with powers while others are experimented on or volunteer in dangerous experiments and gain powers that way. There are multiple ways for people to gain powers. There’s no reason to believe that the lab would have found more people with powers particularly if they didn’t know where to look and if those people weren’t aware of the fact that they might be using their powers.

I don’t believe any of the individuals on this list, if this theory checks out, know that they can manipulate time, so it most likely happens subconsciously. We focus a lot on Mike’s time associations, but what Max? She has them. In season two we see Max frequently be told off by B*lly for even the potential of being late. In season three we see Max mention she has to go home because of her curfew. Finally in season four it’s literally a fight against time for Max’s safety.

We also brush past Max’s strange behavior in “Dear Billy”. She literally walks into Vecna’s mind. Even Vecna was confused.

If this were El then it would make sense because she has powers, but it’s Max. Max doesn’t have powers unless she does.

As always with time manipulator theories we can’t go without mentioning the Voyagers thanks to one @doriandrifting. The Voyagers is a show from the early 1980s and is about time travel. It’s interesting that we know Vecna referred to himself as a “traveler” at one point and that the term “curiosity voyage” is used twice in the show and once is in reference to Max.

Mr. Clarke is also next to a clock as he says this. The term “curiosity voyage” is also used two epsiodes apart, first in Max’s introductory episode 02x01 and then in 02x03, and we know that there is something going on with twos. Two days later being something that has us all asking questions, but I do believe that it is apart of a reoccurring trend.

Now we also have Vecna’s very interesting dialogue to consider. We see Vecna speak to Fred, Max, and Chrissy of the four victims. We do not see him speak to Patrick. We do have differences in his dialogue to Max and Fred vs his dialogue to Chrissy. While Vecna says the words “join me” to Fred and Max, he does not say them to Chrissy. We do find out later that he said them to El. So, what could possibly separate all three of them from Chrissy? Perhaps the existence of their powers.

While going back to check on my information I decided to check on something interesting that I remember someone mentioning awhile ago. This is the idea that Mike’s monologue actually seemed to slow Vecna down and I wanted to check it out myself and what I noticed was surprising. We see the vines tightening around El during Mike’s monologue, but before Mike starts talking Max is already in the air meaning Vecna was right in front of Max at this point and El couldn’t do anything.

Max is suspended during the monologue and Vecna proceeds to attack Max right after it ends prompting El to push herself to escape and like she’s definitely suspended for a bit because we see Lucas fight of Jason prior to any of the creepy stuff happening so why the pause? That pause cost Vecna a lot in terms of time and a full success. This theory would suggest that Vecna was incapable of attacking while Mike was speaking (excuse me I’m speaking-sassy Mike Wheeler era lol).

This part is one that interests me because I’m very interested in Max’s revival. In the script and what we see on screen we are flip to Mike before entering the void where Max is slowly losing her life. One of the last things we hear before El tries to reach Max is Mike’s voice. With this theory the idea is that Max wasn’t suddenly healed by new powers from El, but instead her time was rewind by Mike while El proceed to ensure that her heart kept beating using her powers because otherwise Max would’ve died again even if her time was moved back.

If you look at the revival scene it very much looks like it’s winding or turning something, which inclines me to think that maybe what happened to Max was a time thing.

Also, part of the reason I think Mike might be involved in this is because of his framing later.

He’s in frame for these scenes while Will is conveniently not. If it’s true, that he had a hand in this then that might be why. We then see the frame move solely to Lucas and El who were the only ones to see her.

#mike wheeler #time theory #watch theory #thoughts and theories #alternatively if mike has powers so does max because they are the same person #byler #<- visibility #and because i think you guys would be interested

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darkcrowprincess · 2 years

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(Don't like don't read. Post hate and I'll block you)

Pink Astronaut headcanons(plus general headcanons I have for both their characters)

Paulina at first started the phantom blog mostly because she of course has crush on phantom and loves writing posts about phantom, getting videos of clips about phantom and writing(surprisingly actually really good) fanfiction about phantom. But than she takes a liking to writing and learning about ghosts and the supernatural. She also gets kinda a thrill managing to record whats happening during ghost fights on her phone or camera. She basically becomes a little bit of a Lois Lane for ghosts and tries to find out actual real (and actually helpful) information about ghosts and what their like(unlike the Fentons) to her followers. And her tips actually do some good at getting students out of danger and avoid/stay safe from ghosts.

The problem is that she's being reckless trying to get the best recordings and pics that she ends up needing Phantom to save her lot. Through lots of trial and error she gets better.

Star helps her a lot with the blog and her and Paulina actually become close and better friends because of it. Star has her own segments with fashion tips, tarot card readings and something call 'Star opinions' what she thinks about certain ghosts, people and fashion. Stars actually really funny and sweet. And Paulina actually doesn't mind Star getting attention because it's so good for the blog, she's becoming a better person, and it gives her more time to write.

Meanwhile Danny is constantly between super worried and annoyed at having to save her all the time. At the same time he secretly enjoys it. Plus he gets to spend more time with his crush. So it's complicated.

Danny eventually hears about the blog. Checks it out and is pleasantly surprised by it. Paulina actually managed to do some decent work, the research is good. And her theories are for the most part true. The warnings and fights on ghosts actually seem to help people avoid getting in the middle of them (which means less stress for Danny worrying someone might get caught in the cross fire between another fight between him and Skulker). Her writing is actually really good. Though he blushes at her fanfiction. He's kinda flattered that he was the inspiration for it.

Danny nicknames Paulina 'Lina'. Paulina likes it because it's sweet, and because her Papi calls her that too. She only lets the ghost boy and her Papi call her that though.

Other than ghost boy, Paulina nicknames Danny ángel, whixh means angel in spanish.

Paulina gets a lucky break and manages to catch the ghost boy in a good mood. She asks him if he'd be willing to do a interview that she could write for her blog. She promises she'll be respectful and that if he's uncomfortable with certain questions he doesn't have to answer. Danny agrees( mostly so they can spend more time together)

The interview happens on top of an old abandoned building that Danny sometimes uses as a hide out to stich himself after a fight or just get away from his parents( yeah I don't like Danny's parents)

The interview goes pretty well. Mostly it's silly questions like what's Danny's favorite foods( cheeseburger or milkshakes) or what does he like to do in his free time ( star gazing or flying. )

Why Paulina is asking questions Danny shyly at first, but soon with growing confidence asks her questions to( What’s your favorite colors: pink and green, what's your favorite anime: sailor moon)

They soon get to a few serious questions that Danny has trouble answering to. Paulina tries to tell him it's ok he doesn't have to answer, but in the end he does, but of course doesn't tell the full truth( Why do you fight ghosts and protect people? Answer: It's kinda like need to, I have to. Besides if I don't a lot of people will get hurt. Who is your worst enemy? Answer: Plasmius. And I won't explain why. Just know he's a freaking fruit loop and stay clear of him)

Later when Paulina finds out who Danny really is and who exactly Plasmius really is, she finds Vlad a fucking creep too. She calls Vlad 'gringo pendejo' as an insult or just 'pendejo'. There's this hilarious/badass moment later in pink astronauts relationship where because Vlad was too busy gloating/monologuing in his human form, Paulina manages to hit him with a car and save Danny and his friends( she knocked him unconscious, but still alive. Only thing really hurt was the fruit loops pride) Danny fell in love with her for that moment and kissed her for it as they drove away for their lives. Some how Tucker recorded it and they laugh about all the time.

The interview ends well, and Paulina manages to get a kiss out of the ghost boy(something she surprisingly keeps to herself. That interview was for her blog. But that kiss between her and the ghost boy, she's taking it to her grave)

Sam Manson obviously is getting really jealous over all this(sorry I just don't like Sam's character very much). Over how close Paulina and Danny are getting. She tries to hide it and tell Danny she's shallow, she'll expose your secret. Danny doesn't think so( he honestly believes Paulina has gotten better and change. And blog has.) Danny believes the blog has actually help. And Paulina isn't trying to pry. She honestly wants to spend time with him. Or at least his Phantom side of him.

Paulina and Sam get into a fight(a physical fight) later at school when Paulina finds out about Danny and pink astronauts relationship manages to work out (and get better to Sam's horror) as a result. Sam manages to get a few good hits but ultimately Paulina kicks Sam's ass. Mostly cause she's a physical fit cheerleader and beautiful Hispanic girl with a dad for a cop( her father definitely taught her how to defend herself) in almost all white town. Sorry no rich white girl is going to be able to kick her ass.

Paulina's Family: her dad is amity parks chief of police. Her mom lives somewhere else because she's an abusive alcoholic( due to family trauma), her aunt( her dad's sister lives with them) is a lawyer, she has two older brothers, and had a twin sister who died when they were both 8. Mostly her abuela takes care of her, but her dad and aunt try to be their as much as they can. Her family isn't rich, but they're not poor either. Mostly because her family works a lot, it's mostly Paulina and her abuela a lot. An abuela who loves ghosts and ghost stories as much as she does, and likes to spoil Paulina a lot( her dad does too).

Paulina doesn't like to talk about her mom. But she's why she had a lot of the issues she has. Especially about beauty. Her mom hit her a lot.

Her and Danny bond over their bad parents.

Song that makes Danny think of Paulina: Waiting for Superman by Daughtry.

Song that makes Paulina think of Danny after she finds out the truth Let's here it for the boy by Deniece Williams.

After they had their first kiss after she found out the truth Paulina listened to that song on repeat and was dancing all over her room.

Paulina realizes she's in love with Danny after Danny's tells Paulina one of his darkest fears. Dark Dan. Paulina quickly reassures Danny that she isn't afraid of him. Seeing his flaws and the worst of him. Added to what he deals with on the daily made her realize Danny with or without the ghost powers is an incredibly kind and brave person. And that's why she loves him.

(That's all I have for now will probably write more later.)

@imekitty @sailor-toni @thebooo-merang @chintadraws @lalaeliz

#Danny Phantom #danny phantom #cartoons #danny fenton #paulina sanchez #pink astronaut #paulina x danny #my writing #My writing

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onyourleftrogers · 11 months

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muse: Ellie Rogers limit: 18+ only please, mutuals and non-mutuals set: a coffee shop in New York City, Earth-616 open to: other Marvel/comics muses, multifandom crossovers, ocs, whatever! triggers: apocalypse, parent death, severe injury, grief

Ellie Rogers should have been dead several times over. For all practical purposes, she was, a ghost passing through the multiverse without leaving much of a mark. She doubted there were many people in her home world who even remembered she'd existed. Her life on Earth-85826 had been largely joyless and a constant fight for survival under tyranny, but at least she'd had her dad. Her hero. Everyone's hero. That was the Captain America legacy, the one she still struggled to hold up. She wondered constantly if Steve would be proud of her now and quietly seethed against Zola and everyone like him that she would never get to ask.

She couldn't explain what happened when Ian's elevator exploded. She'd been barely conscious, and multiverse travel was well above her pay grade. She just knew he'd been gone, and she was somewhere else-- not her world, but not the one he'd been trying to get back to either. She understood that it was the symbiote that had saved her life, not even the inherited powers from the serum enough to protect her from that much damage. Its call hadn't been as strong cut off from Venom and the rest of the Vipers, and when she woke in a different ruined world, it seemed almost as disoriented as she was. It healed her, and she fought back against its hold over her mind, and it might have won eventually if the Next Avengers hadn't found her.

She'd lost a brother she'd barely had a chance to know when she lost Ian, but she found another in James, son of Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff. Ultron had killed the Avengers before he'd ever had a chance to know them, and their children had grown up and fought back for their world. It was a shared camaraderie, and between them--James, Torunn, Pym, and Azari--they'd helped her remove all traces of the symbiote from her body. Ellie didn't care if it had saved her life or could again. She just wanted to see it dead. It took longer to work out how to repair the elevator, months and then years with a new resistance, a new family, but it was the Rogers in her that never really settled.

She wanted to find Ian. She wanted to at least let him know she'd survived. If the people they couldn't save weighed on his conscience as much as they weighed on hers, he deserved to know that much. It had been weeks on Earth-616, and it was still utterly strange to her. It was the first unbroken world she'd ever been in, and everything about it baffled her, from the noise and color to the things they took for granted-- food, media, shelter, everything so readily available that it was breathtaking.

She kept mostly to the shadows in New York City while she looked for some sign that Ian had made it back to this world. Unlike Nomad, Captain America was everywhere here. In theory, she understood the concept of a Steve Rogers in every universe. In practice, she wasn't sure she wanted to meet someone who looked and sounded like her dad but wasn't. That didn't stop her from turning every time she heard the name though, this time on a television in a diner. Even seeing him at a distance in some news or history clip was enough to make her breath catch, the pain sharp. She turned abruptly away, accidentally knocking into someone with a mumbled apology. She wasn't going to find anything sitting in a coffee shop. It was best to keep moving.

#open starter #marvel rp #comics rp #indie starter #indie marvel rp #verse: 616 #tw: apocalypse #tw: parent death #tw: severe injury #tw: grief #sorry that got out of hand #no need to match

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freshthoughts2020 · 8 months

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DON'T GET GREEDY AND WAX FOR NO REASON

August 21, 2023

I.EVERYDAY I’M HUSTLING

In these survival days, hustling is all that really matters, and people hustles varies from person to person. No matter what hustle it is, don’t get greedy and start being super tax man, this is mostly in reference when dealing with celebrities.

You may have saw the video where Meek Mill is attempting to purchase the Nike SB x Air Jordan IVs (man those are some beauties) and the guy on the video wants to charge Meek the tax price. Meek urges that he can get the sneakers at retail from the store, so why would he pay him the tax price plus if he would’ve showed love, Meek would’ve been incentivized to shop even more with the young bull.

First, Meek is capping, you can’t get those sneakers at retail, maybe a lower price than what buddy was selling them for but they will be above retail, too much hype around them. These days everything work off hype. If you don’t get them at release you ain’t getting them without paying the resale ticket, unless the shoe sat on the shelf, you might get an under retail price.

Secondly, his point still stands and he’s absolutely correct in theory. Taking off shoe guy and putting it on general hustlers for a minute. When you are selling a product and its fire and consistent, eventually you will catch the eye of a celebrity, maybe multiple.

II.SHOW YOU HOW TO DO THIS SON!

I can attest to this personally multiple times, I’ll just use one example for now. Some years ago I drew a pic of YG and Kamaiyah. YG dm’d me about purchasing it you know of course I was excited. This was in early corner days too, so I first started getting celebrity attention/recognition. Before I could respond you know I told some of my people.

You know what they said instantly after I told them the news. “You need to charge him a band”, “Oh yeah he gotta at least drop 4Hunnid on the pic”, and other nonsense.

No disrespect to the people that told me this but this is why people can’t scale up because they wanna do stupid stuff like that and tax for no reason.

III.CAN’T TEACH NO ONE HOW TO HUSTLE..

Just because someone’s a celebrity do not mean you charge unwarranted high prices, it instantly throws smut on your name and can close doors that you ain’t even noticed that was opened. Let me explain why I didn’t tax YG in the first place.

1) the picture was only 8” x 10”, 2) that is a small picture , and 3) it was a sketch without much detail. It was colored and great in my style but my pricing is always on what I would pay for it. Also, the bigger the size the more it is reasonable to charge high prices.

I wouldn’t pay over a few hundred for a small picture unless it was by an artist whose work was unattainable, if it was to personally support an artist I know, or if it is extremely detailed but the canvas chosen is just small.

This particular picture did not fit my laid in criteria, if any normal person wanted that same picture I wouldn’t have charged them more than $50 at that time. Now he never followed through on the purchase but imagined if I would’ve came at him saying give me a rack for this. If he’s smart with his money, he would’ve instantly been off put and possibly stopped any other doors that could’ve been opened.

When it comes to celebrities you have to think more than the money, they carry an audience. Why do you think they get so many free items in the first place? They are walking billboards plus they can actually employ if you’re actually dope enough.

That YG interaction I had could’ve went a thousand ways, now it didn’t go anywhere but I definitely wouldn’t had helped if I came out the gate thinking “get as much money as I can out of him.” That’s short sighted, fast-money, flip everything thinking. You may get a payday but you lose out on the long term. I couldn’t play myself like that in life I think in long term for everything!! Its how I maintained the patience and faith to become a lawyer and run this website because there are extreme peaks and valleys!

So if you got a hustle going on learn from that vid with Meek and this article. Think about the bigger opportunity, think about what is attached to a person with clout, how doors can be opened if you treat this rare interaction the way its supposed to go. Don’t lose out your blessings beloved, Get money..

visit gettothecorner.com

follow me on Twitter (X) twitter.com/onlyonejaevonn

#meek mill #life lessons #life logs #survivasl #survival #hustlers #jaevonn harris #air jordan iv #nike #nike sb

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thepassionatelady · 2 years

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Lore Olympus Theory 203 (SPOILERS)

I do not own any of the characters of Lore Olympus. These bullets are my opinions and based on what I think will happen. Thank you!

* So right off the bat. I know it’s not Erodes who pulled her down. Yet it was Kronos again with hades’ body. I was so off! That’s the point of theories! We see Hades saying to her, “I waited a long time for you.” And “ I’ve got big plans for us.” Hinting that Kronos might or might not use Persephone's powers. In the beginning, we see three different colors of hades to show Persephone delusional and maybe making it where Rachel is tricking us that is the real hades ( even tho it’s not) without blacking the eyes or his speech bubble until later in the episode

* Then we see from later episodes she mentions Hades and that she will be together again soon. Now she tells Hades she also wrote a letter for him that she said a while back. Yet we see Hades react in the opposite direction or how we wanted him to respond. Another reason why I think this is Kronos without the context clues (hinting about the black eyes and black speak bubble for Kronos).

* Then Persephone gets upset by saying do you still love me? Yet, Hades/Kronos didn’t say it. If this were Hades, he would not have reacted the way he did, and he wouldn’t be clean shaved, short hair, etc. Hades/Kronos then repeated, “Of course I do. Didn’t I say we have big plans? We are getting married!” Then we see Persephone getting hurt because the ring is too small, and Hades/Kronos is forcing her to do his bidding or move her without her consult. HE EVEN TOLD HER NO ABOUT BRINGING HER FRIENDS AND EVEN HER MOTHER. That’s not our Hades.

* This “new evil” Hades/Kronos is kinda acting like Apollo. I say this because most of the conversation is making Persephone UNCOMFORTABLE. So she uses the method that all women use when they want to get out of an uncomfortable situation — the bathroom. Meanwhile, she is trying to get out of this sticky situation. Is she trying to think she can’t get the engagement/wedding band off? I believe this is some form of tracking device, magic stealing, or something along those lines. Then she tells the readers that it is not Hades, and it’s Kronos! Now, after that, Hades' eyes are black, meaning >> Kronos

* Maybe this Hades is in his head but with a twist of Kronos magic in him. As we all know, Hades wants to be with Persephone, but maybe he is so desperate to be with her that Kronos is doing this on purpose and playing with his feelings. Like Hades' feelings, but it’s Kronos' actions. If that make sense?

* “If he wants a fertility goddess, I will give him a fertility goddess.” Badass line ever in this episode!! My theory is she finally accepts her fate and finally accepts all of her powers and wants to give him the complete 100% instead of like 20% or 30%.

* Persephone then goes on about how she misses him and how they need to play his favorite game. Meaning to give her more time to flee and get with Zeus and Morpheus. As she explains why it’s famous, Persephone tried to think of a quick way to waste time

* I love how Persephone was like, “Stupid Old Horny Shit” 👏👏 🤣🤣 so funny!! So when Persephone catches up with Morpheus and Zeus, Persephone tells them that it is not Hades. All of them, Zeus and Morpheus, and Persephone, are trying to figure out how to save Hades' mind, soul, and body from Kronos. Persephone suggests that she goes into Hade's dream to wake him up, but Morpheus tells her it’s risky. Yet Persephone is willing to do anything >> MY THEORY: Persephone is going to go into his dreams but see something terrified with his childhood trauma or something excellent/sweet with Persephone (from a sample, Hades might be dreaming about Persephone as the future queen). Persephone told them they must keep Kronos busy so she could wake up Hades 👀! I feel like it’s going to be tough for everyone…

* As the episode ends, Morpheus puts Persephone to sleep, and she wakes up. Could it be her dream? Hades dream? Someone else’s dram? I am hoping she sees Hade shut; it’s something more terrifying than it was before.

What are your thoughts?

#lo hades #lo hermes #lo persephone #lo theory #lo zeus #lore olympus #lore olympus hades #lore olympus persephone #lore olympus season 2 #lore olympus theory

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yuna-writes · 1 year

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Seeing things differently

I always felt like I saw thing differently from other people but wondered if it was all in my head? The mind is a tricky because it just creates issues that doesn’t really exist. Some of the most weirdest experience I’ve encountered in school to test how my brain works is that I remembered my school would invite a cop over to explain to the kids about driving under the influence which is drunk driving for short. Basically, he wanted to show why drinking while being intoxicated is a bad idea and what the consequences for it. So he brought this goggle that simulated the perception of a drunk driver. The cop would ask each kid to wear the goggle and catch a ball he would throw at the kids and whether they would catch it. After that exercise, he would ask the kid to walk in a straight line and there was a string on the floor to measure this.

So about all the kids did pretty expected on what a drunk person would behave. When they wore goggles, they would feel dizzy and can’t even see things properly because it distorts your perception. I think I remembered one kid who was able to catch one ball and that’s about it. None of the kids were able to walk in a straight line when the cop told them to walk over with the goggle on. The goal of the exercise makes sense because it would demonstrate how drunk drivers can’t make accurate movements because they are intoxicated. Surprisingly, I was the only kid who caught twenty balls and walked in a straight line while wearing the goggles lol. The cop looked at me strangely. I still can’t really explain the reason either. We were still kids so none of us drank alcohol. To this day, as an adult, I’m allergic to it.

If my theory is correct, than if I really do have ADHD or autism, than it might make more sense why I was able to see through the goggles and be very accurate in my movement. There’s a hypothesis or study which explains why people who have it see things differently. The difference is usually they are very good at being accurate in terms of, let’s say, aiming at objects with precision but can’t differentiate whether the item is blue or red in color. Meanwhile, a neurotypical person wouldn’t be able to aim objects with precision but knows when to not shoot a blue ball but target a red ball instead. This is probably a very simplified explanation.

#notes

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mischiefandspirits · 3 years

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Bernard Figures It Out

Was reading through all the comments on @frostbittenbucky's post and all I could think of was that it was Bernard talking to Tim. Then I got to thinking...

"I've connected the two dots."

"You didn't connect shit."

"I've connected them."

Bernard figures out Tim's a superhero... sort of.

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

Tim fidgetted nervously as he waited on the front porch of his boyfriend’s house. Bernard had sounded so serious when he’d called during Tim’s lunch to ask him to come over after work so they could talk about something.

Which Tim had done, after spending an entire board meeting just going over the past week trying to figure out what he’d done.

The only thing he could think of was that he’d ducked out halfway through their lunch date on Wednesday to give Duke some backup, but Bernard had seemed understanding when Tim explained there was an emergency at GRC Labs. It couldn’t have been a tipping point, either, since Tim had managed to only flake on three other dates over the past few months they’d been dating. Kate had been happy to cover for him as often as she could “out of queer solidarity” when she found out Tim was dating a boy for the first time and Tim had managed to trick Bruce into covering a few actual Wayne Enterprises emergencies for him when they came up.

There had to be a reason Bernard was breaking up with him, though. Had he missed something? He definitely wasn’t forgetting an important day. He was good with days and Tam was even better, so she would have reminded him on the off chance that he had forgotten.

What was he missing?

Bernard was smiling when he opened the door, but there was a nervous energy to it that had Tim’s stomach sinking. “Hey, Tim.”

“Hey.” Tim gave his own nervous smile then slipped inside.

They went into the living room and sat down on the couch.

Tim frowned when Bernard grabbed a manila folder off the coffee table. Crud, had he screwed up enough that Bernard had had to make a list? He knew he was new to dating a guy, but he hadn’t thought he’d done that bad. He’d really been trying, especially with how his and Stephanie’s relationship had fallen apart at the end. “What -”

“Just let me speak, Tim,” Bernard said, waiting for Tim’s nod. “Okay, so you know Clark Kent, right?”

Tim blinked as Bernard opened the folder to show a picture of Clark. It looked like one of the employee pictures from the Planet’s website, with his dorky “I’m just a humble country boy” smile and the golden globe from their roof photoshopped in as the background. “Uh, yeah? I think so. He works for the Daily Planet, right? I think he’s worked at a few of Bruce’s events. Not a lot of outside reporters are willing to come to Gotham.”

“Exactly!” Bernard said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Tim.

“What?”

He pulled out the picture to show the next page was an article titled, “DAILY PLANET REPORTER… BATMAN!?”

A wave of relief washed over Tim and he placed his face in his hands. “Were you up all night on the hero conspiracy boards again?”

“No. I mean, I found this on a board and was up all night thinking about it, but I found it reasonably early.”

“One in the morning isn’t reasonable, Bernard.”

“Says the guy who’s always wide awake when I call to infodump.”

“Touché.” Tim leaned against Bernard and gave him a smile. “So tell me, why is some reporter from Metropolis from all places Batman.”

“First of all, living in Metropolis is the perfect cover. Everyone assumes Batman would live in Gotham, no one would consider he could be from anywhere else. Metropolis is outside the GMA, but close enough that the commute is still possible.”

“But it’s Metropolis.”

“And who would think Gotham’s Dark Knight lives in the sunshine capital? Plus, I hear he disappears a lot on the job. There’s gotta be a reason for it!”

Tim made a note to let Clark know he needs to cut back on the disappearing act some since people are catching on.

“And have you seen the guy? He is swol AF, babe.”

“Please don’t call me babe while you’re talking about how hot another guy is.” Especially Tim’s honorary uncle.

“You know I prefer twinks.”

“BERNARD!”

“I’m just saying,” he continued, ignoring Tim’s shout. “The guy is definitely hiding something! Besides, Kent is an investigative reporter. He’s gotta know a lot about cases and the underground and detective work.”

Not as much as he likes people to think, but more than he likes people to know Superman does, Tim mused. “But what about the other vigilantes?”

“Well, Kent has a cousin…” Bernard flipped through a folder and pulled out a picture of Kara. It looked like a screenshot of her interviewing Lena for CatCo. “She’s obviously the latest Batgirl. Look at her hair. And the first Batgirl and the current Batwoman were obviously Lois Lane, the red hair is just a wig. Did you see how she kicked butt at that last event she went to? She’s not as subtle as Kent. That means their son is the latest Robin. He’s exactly the right size.”

Oh, Damian better not hear about this, Tim cackled internally. His youngest brother hated being reminded that Jon was the same height as him despite their two years age difference. Damian definitely took after Talia when it came to body type, no matter what he said.

“And Kent also has a brother.” This time he pulled out a picture of Kon. The clone must have been caught by a reporter out shopping with Ma since he was carrying some paper bags and glaring at whoever was behind the camera. “At least, he’s supposedly Kent’s brother, but he was a teenager when he first showed up with the Kents. A lot of people think he’s actually Kent’s son, that Kent got a girl pregnant when they were teenagers and something happened to the mom so Kent had to take him in. Now the Kents are trying to hide it by saying the two are brothers.”

That was… scarily accurate actually. Especially given Luthor and Clark were close friends at the time that Kon would have theoretically been born.

“And that beef would explain why the younger Kent brother went all crime lord on Gotham for a while before reconnecting with the family.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Kent Jr.’s got the perfect build for Red Hood.”

Tim bit back a comment on how Kon was shorter than Jason by a good foot. Timothy Drake-Wayne should not know that. Add Jason to the list of people who can’t hear this theory.

“And then there’s this girl,” Bernard picked up a picture of Lois, Jon, and Natasha Irons walking down the street together. “No one’s sure exactly who she is, but she’s been spotted with the Kents a few times. I think the cover story is that she’s Jon’s babysitter.”

“And the actual story?”

“She’s Black Bat, obviously. That’s why she wears a mask that fully covers her face. She doesn’t want to stand out as the only African American Bat.”

“Isn’t Signal also Black?”

“Yeah, but he works in the daytime so he’s already a standout.”

“And who is Signal in this? And what about Nightwing and Red Robin?”

“Well, Nightwing’s just a Blüd who came to Gotham. He doesn’t count.”

Ouch. Sorry, Dick.

“And Red Robin is obviously an older Robin, the one who was Robin when we were kids. Kent wanted to keep him on, and I don’t blame him. As for Signal, he’s got the same backstory as all the other Robins Kent picked up, he just went the Signal route because he didn’t fit the usual Robin mold.”

“Because the female Robin fit the mold,” Tim snorted. Robin Mold, as if he and his brothers were even the same ethnicity. Or even had the same hair color. Jason dyes his hair, Dick’s is brown-black, Tim’s is pure black, and Damian’s is more a dark brown and it’s only getting lighter as he gets older.

“She didn’t, that’s the point. Kent tried to give breaking the Robin mold a chance by letting his cousin have a go at it, but he realized it just didn’t work so she went back to being Spoiler and he got a new Robin.”

Not touching that with a ten-foot pole. “Right, and where does he get the usual Robins? Please tell me you’re not back on the secret government orphanages theory.”

“No, no, no. Kent travels sometimes for his job, right? And a lot of the time he’s going to places that have been hit by disasters or major crimes. So he’ll take in some of the displaced children to train as his robins.”

Tim pressed his face back into his hands.

“You see it, right?”

Honestly, Tim was just wondering how his boyfriend could be so close, and yet so far off. “How would Kent even afford taking care of a bunch of secret -- possibly illegally acquired -- children without anyone noticing?”

“Simple. Bruce Wayne is funding him.”

“Bernard, I love you, but what the heck?” Tim blushed and looked up as he realized what he’d said, but Bernard didn’t seem to notice as he steamrolled ahead.

“It’d also explain how he can afford all the gear and how he’d be able to travel to Gotham or anywhere else Batman goes without anyone noticing. He probably has a secret Batplane or something.”

“Why would Bruce do that?”

“Because Wayne cares about Gotham, everyone knows that, and this way he can make sure someone’s taking care of the city without anyone putting two and two together.”

“And two plus two is?”

Bernard gave him a hard look. “I’m not stupid, Tim. Bruce Wayne is obviously Superman. His face is right there.”

Oh, the others are going to love this! Too bad I can’t tell Damian or Jason. Jason especially would have loved this. “Right. Bruce is Superman.”

“He is. Superman is known for being nice and Bruce Wayne’s basically all that’s keeping the city running at this point. That’s nice as hell.”

Oh my god.

“And Wayne does charity for the victims of cataclysms, doesn't he? I bet he first saves people from them as Superman and then builds them new homes for free.”

Oh my god! Why am I not recording this!?

“And the Wayne’s were rich enough to hide the fact they adopted an alien baby.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “If you’re about to tell me this is why Bruce’s parents got killed, you might want to stop while you’re ahead.”

“It’d make sense. There’re all sorts of unanswered questions about their deaths,” Bernard muttered under his breath, flipping through the folder. He pulled out another picture of Kara. This time she was in full Supergirl attire with a bus held overhead. “So if Wayne is Superman, then that’d mean your ex-girlfriend could be Supergirl. They look a lot alike and it’d explain how she got involved with you all.”

“Bernard, she has a human dad. You know, Cluemaster. The supervillain.”

“Yeah, her dad. But we don’t know anything about her mom!”

“Let me guess…”

Bernard pulled out a picture of Karen. She and Helena were suited up and talking to a group of cops, two goons held over each of Karen’s shoulders. “Her mom could be Power Girl! Some makeup and a wig and she could look just like Crystal Brown! And Damian Wayne is obviously the new Superboy! That’s why his background is such a mystery, right? He had to stay a secret until he could control his alien superpowers. That’s why he’s always so mean. It’s a cover since everyone knows Superboy is super sweet!”

Sure, when he’s not helping Damian pull pranks or using his adorable powers to put the blame on Kon and I. “No, Bernard. Damian and Steph are just very human hellspawn. And Bruce and Crystal are human too. I can’t believe you called me over here just to tell me you think Superman is both Batman’s sugar daddy and my adoptive dad.”

“Well, that’s not exactly why I called you over,” Bernard admitted, the nervous energy coming back. He grabbed Tim’s hands. “Tim -”

Tim’s stomach sank. “You are breaking up with me!”

“What? No! I don’t want to break up!”

“Why are you acting all nervous and serious then!?” Tim asked, pulling his hands away to throw them up in the air.

Bernard shook the folder. “Because I’m trying to tell you I figured out you’re Superboy!”

Tim’s brain blue-screened and his hands slowly dropped. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I know you’re Superboy. The older one, obviously. By the way, you and Damian really need to figure out separate names.”

Forget Jason and Damian, Kon can never find out about this. He’d never let me live it down. “Bernard, you called me a twink five minutes ago. Su-” Shoot, I can not risk getting Kon’s attention! “The older one might not be as big as Superman, but he’s not a twink.”

“Well, yeah, that’s the shapeshifting at work.”

“The what?”

“Obviously you Kryptonians can shapeshift. Why else would you look so much like humans?”

… Why do Kryptonians look so much like humans? Was there some - Wait, no! Break into the Fortress of Solitude for research later! Reassure your boyfriend that you’re not an alien now! “Bernard -”

“And that explains why your step-mom was so hot.”

“Gross.”

“She and your dad were actors hired by Luthor so you could have a normal life! But now Bruce has custody so he adopted you.”

“No.”

“That’s why you and your dad were so weird with each other when I met him.”

“We were weird because he’d just gotten out of a coma not long before to find that his wife was dead so he decided to actually be a dad for once in his life, but overcompensated and became a helicopter parent to a kid who was mostly on his own for his entire life!” Tim blurted out. “I am not an alien, Bernard!”

“Well, not technically since you were cloned from Superman on Earth.”

“Oh my god! You were just talking about Steph being Supergirl! Why would I date my dad’s cousin?”

Bernard blinked. “Supergirl and Superman are cousins?”

Right, Timothy Drake-Wayne wasn’t supposed to know that. “I thought they’d said something like that before, yeah. Are people seriously saying I’m Superboy on the internet?”

“NO! No, I swear I would have led with that if I thought your identity was compromised. A few people have mentioned Wayne and Damian, but not you or Steph or Jason.”

“Wh-Jason!? You think Jason was an alien too!”

“No, not exactly, but a few times when I’ve visited I swear I’ve seen a guy in the manor who looks like Jason. It’s just been out of the corner of my eye and he’s gone whenever I look so I’ve always thought it was just Dick or Bruce or some picture of Jason that my mind was playing tricks with, but it makes sense now that I know Wayne is Superman. He must have been able to heal Jason with alien tech, but couldn’t say anything because that would give away that he’s Superman.”

Damn it Jason! And damn it Bernard! I’m dating the smartest moron in the world! “Bruce did not bring Jason back with alien technology and none of us are aliens!”

“It’s okay, Tim. I won’t tell anyone.”

Tim grabbed Bernard by the jacket and pulled him into a kiss. When he started to feel lightheaded, he pulled back, “Could someone whose skin is as solid as stone kiss like that?”

Bernard blinked dazedly at him for a moment. “How do you know what Superboy’s skin feels like?”

Tim screamed internally. “He’s saved me from a kidnapping before.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I can get you the police report if you want.”

“Huh… And the others?”

“Not Supers. I can stab Damian the next time we’re at the manor if that’ll prove none of us are aliens.” He’d rather stab Jason, but that would probably only confirm to Bernard that Bruce used alien technology to bring him back.

“You probably shouldn’t stab your brother if he isn’t an alien.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “I won’t stab him anywhere deadly.”

“That’s not the point,” Bernard said slowly.

“He’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

“So do you believe I’m not an alien now?” Tim huffed, letting go of Bernard’s jacket.

The blond’s eyes dipped down to Tim’s lips. “If I say no, will you kiss me like that again?”

“You’re ridiculous,” Tim said, but he kissed him anyway.

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

“Okay, but I still say Clark Kent is definitely Batman.”

“Sure, Bernard.”

#Tim Drake #robin #red robin #bernard dowd #timber #fanfiction

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thefanficmonster · 3 years

Text

Bouquet

Corpse Husband x Reader (Female)

Warnings: None

Genre: FLUFF, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: Having come clean about being single for a very long time now and considering herself completely out of the dating scene, Y/N’s confession is taken and responded to with a ton of kindness, especially from a special someone...

Requested by Anon. Hi hun! Thank you so much for your lovely request, it was such a joy to write! I’m so sorry for the long wait you had to go through but the fic is finally here and I hope you enjoy reading it! Love, Vy ❤

I roll out of bed with little to no desire to start my day. We haven’t got a scheduled stream for today and the clouds glooming in the sky seem to be promising rain so really what do I have to get up for except that it’s a rule society installed?

Just kidding, I’m basically stalling and that’s all.

So what happened was the streamer gang and I were playing Among Us last night and our conversation during the pause between rounds somehow swerved into relationship territory. I stayed quiet the majority of if not all the time because I had no valid input to offer.

If you know me you know I’m not one of the performers on the dating scene. I have never really confirmed it with my fans - well, until last night, that is - but I bet they have picked up on that fact considering I’ve been on YouTube for around a decade and have never had a partner. That being said, I’d have to also mention that I have in fact dated but someone but it was before my YouTube era started. Me choosing this career path, which back then was just a hobby, had nothing to do with the relationship ending but it still motivated me to not to actively look for a relationship while I’m still focused on my career. It’s too much work, too much stress and requires a lot of balance I most certainly either don’t have or I don’t have the energy to put in balancing my romantic and professional lives. Luckily, no one’s ever pressured me into finding a significant other, not yet at least, so no societal pressure for me!

But I gotta admit I felt real awkward admitting all this last night.

“Hey Y/N what do you think? You’ve been awfully quiet?“ Rae asks, causing me to jolt in my seat from where I’ve been reading my chat for the past five minutes, my mic muted.

I quickly unmute to reply, blushing ever so slightly, “Um, sorry I was reading my chat. What do I think about what?”

“The gesture of giving flowers to your significant other, is it romantic or a waste of money and plant murder?“ Rae explains, still managing to catch me off-guard with her question.

I ponder what my response should be for a little bit before deciding to level it to a neutral level where I almost sound indifferent, “It is in fact plant murder basically and artificial flowers would definitely be a better gift - plus they’ll last longer.”

“Mhmm yeah that’s true.“ Poki agrees with me, “But there’s still the question of whether it’s a romantic gesture or not. I personally don’t think it’s overrated or cheesy, I actually quite like it. What about you, Y/N?“

And now she’s got me in a real trap that I can’t wiggle out of without speaking my truth. I don’t know where this sudden anxiety around the subject came from but it now resides within me rent free and makes me feel self-conscious and embarrassed of the confession I’m inevitably make.

“Um, I wouldn’t know for certain, I’ve never received flowers myself...“ I say sheepishly, cringing at the sound of my own voice, “It’s not like I’ve dated plenty of people and the one guy I did date wasn’t really romantic or anything, I mean - we were teenagers, after all. But when I think about it in theory I think I’d like the gesture: it’s thoughtful, plus you get a temporary but beautiful piece of décor out of it.“

I’m gonna hope I didn’t sound too pitiful or desperate. Of course I’m not gonna check afterward on the stream cause I’d rather live in the illusion of having sounded humorous rather than be given the confirmation that I didn’t.

“Wait, wait, wait, did you date your last boyfriend like a decade ago?“ Corpse is now the one talking and that makes me feel even more anxious. This is not the impression one would want to give to their crush, is it? Oh well, no turning back now.

“Correct.“ I reply with a laugh that I hope didn’t sound as nervous as it was.

“And you’ve never, like in your whole life, received flowers from someone?“ He sounds astonished which sort of makes me want to shrink up in my shell like a turtle. Too bad I don’t have a shell though. I’m genuinely thinking of the option to rip the router out of the outlet right now to save me the troubles but I’m not that immature. I’m surprised I’m even reacting this way - this topic doesn’t usually bother me at all but now for some reason I’m red as a tomato and shrinking in my chair.

I know what the obvious answer is but I’d rather die than admit to it.

“Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds bad but I really don’t care.“ I make an attempt at changing the subject, swerving it back to the main topic rather than my lack of a love life, “I do, in fact, find the gesture sweet - it adds vibrancy to the relationship just like the flowers would add vibrancy and color to the space they’re put in.“

“Oh my gosh, that’s such a cool analogy!“ Rae gushes, “You’re totally right, it might be an old trick, but it’s aged like fine wine.“

Phew, God bless you Rae.

“Exactly, exactly.“ Corpse agrees as well but I don’t think he’s fully heard what Rae said since he sounds to have fallen in deep thought.

At least I got away with it with only making a SLIGHT nervous wreck of myself.

Yikes, was that horrible, though I don’t people will remember it for long. Sure, my fans have sent me thousands of lovely messages and pictures of bouquets and will maybe continue sending them for another day or two - which I highly appreciate, don’t get me wrong. I’m severely touched by this gesture of theirs and it almost makes me glad I finally ‘came clean’ about my romance-less life - however, it’ll fade overtime. I mean, who the heck cares if I’m single or not?

As I pour the milk over my cheerios which I’ve been snacking on dry for the past half hour as I rifled through the many notifications clogging up my lock screen, I hear the doorbell ring. I’m understandably puzzled by this, seeing as how I never get visitors so that doorbell rings only when I’ve ordered something, be it takeout or a random item off Amazon. However, I can’t remember ordering anything, at least not anything that should be arriving at the moment or even anytime soon - that glow-in-the dark curtain isn’t supposed to arrive until next week. I make my way to the door, unbothered by the fact I’m still in my pajamas, and take a look through the peephole.

It’s a delivery guy...and he happens to be holding a huge-ass bouquet.

“What the...“ I mutter to myself as I unlock and swing open the door in the blink of an eye, “Hi?“

“Hi there, are you Y/N L/N?“ The delivery guy, who I’ve seen many times before and who I’m on pretty friendly terms with, asks me jokingly, sending a wink my way.

“I sure am.“ I reply, my gaze fixated on the breathtaking flowers he’s holding, “But those can’t be for me, that’s for sure.“

He fishes looks at his clipboard one more time, nodding before he looks back at me, “I double and triple checked, Y/N, they’re for you. Here, have a look if you don’t believe me.” He turns the clipboard for me to see and he is actually telling the truth. I mean, I doubt he’d have any reason to lie to me but mix-ups happen all the time.

“Um, ok thanks. Sorry for the halt, it’s just...I’d hate to be the recipient of the flowers meant for another girl.” I apologize as I take the bouquet for him, still in awe of the fact I’m the one it was made and meant for and sent to.

I say a quick ‘bye’ to the delivery guy before practically running inside to inspect this bouquet for a card from the sender. I have my guesses: it has to be someone who was present during the stream last night and someone who knows my address. Hopefully it’s someone from my friend group and not a fan who watched the stream and just happens to know my address. I’d still appreciate the gesture, but I’d also install security cameras if that was the case.

Something about the color scheme of the flowers - pink and black - gives me Rae vibes since she constantly teases me about my aesthetics contradicting each other. But then again, Poki does it too so it could be her as well....

Oh...OH GOD IT’S NEITHER OF THEM

~ ~ ~

I’ve been sitting here, keeping myself a safe distance from my phone so I’m not the first one to send her a text. So I don’t ask if she got what I sent her. So I don’t ask what she thought of it, how the bouquet looks in her living room, how it smells, how it makes her feel. I have so many questions so that phone is best off at a major distance from me. I’m the one who’s better off with such a huge distance between me and the device, to be perfectly honest.

Was it a bad idea? Should I have slept on it - or just thought about it longer cause sleep and I don’t get along? Should I have at least waited a day or two? Should I-

My phone vibrates with a notification and I practically fly to it from across the room, grabbing it and unlocking it asap. My heart sinks and takes off like a rocket simultaneously when I see I’ve been tagged in Y/N’s Instagram story. I nervously tap the notification that sends me to the picture of the bouquet I sent her with some text written over it.

“Thank you, Romeo ;)“

Somehow that one sentence answers all those aforementioned questions.

Is this what people refer to as butterflies in one’s stomach? Cause it feels significantly more like a crush...oh wait.

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five-rivers · 3 years

Text

Changeling Chapter 1

A DP Fae Au fic. I've been promising you this for so long XD. I can hardly believe I'm finally delivering, even if it's only one chapter for now.

Chapter 1: In the Beginning, There Was an Offer

They studied legends. According to those legends, today, Beltane, was a time of renewal, of birth, of fertility.

It was not supposed to be… this. Their dreams weren’t supposed to be crushed today. Not under this sun, not under these blue skies and among softly blooming flowers.

This kind of news should have come with rain. It should have come with storms.

Maddie wiped tears out of her eyes and Jack patted her on the back. The air smelled sweet and dusty at the same time. The bench was uncomfortable.

“We could try adoption,” said Jack. He sounded shocked, too. Drained. His voice was pulled taught over a great hollowness. “Lots of people adopt. We can- can do some good in the world, maybe.”

Maddie sniffed and cried harder. She’d wanted her own children, and Jack knew it. Adoption was all very well and good, but at this point the suggestion felt like some consolation prize, and she felt terrible for even thinking it was, because Jack was right, it could be a good thing, and…

She wanted children. Her own children.

“Excuse me, I believe I can help.”

There was something about how he said that, about how the voice wound and slipped through her ears that had Maddie’s head snapping up. The man who stood to the side of the bench wore a long coat with a deep hood. Symbols, symbols that Maddie had spent hours, days, weeks, researching were stitched into the fabric. His eyes glittered in the shadows. The fingers of his hands, clasped in front of him, were too long, their coloring faintly lavender, as if they had been dipped in ink and retained the stain even after they’d been washed clean.

This was not a human.

“How?” asked Maddie, feeling hope drip back into her limbs even as Jack tensed behind her. “How can you help?”

“We shouldn’t have done that,” said Jack as they drove home. “We really shouldn’t have done that. Maddie, they’re evil, there’s always a catch and it’ll always be looking for a way to push us into it.”

“The catch is in the open,” said Maddie, leaning back against the seat of the car and closing her eyes. “It isn’t as if it’s in the fine print and we’re going to stumble into it. We have one, and then I get my tubes tied, or you get snipped, and we go on with our lives.”

“What if we have twins? Triplets? Maddie, we should have talked about this.”

“There wasn’t any time,” Maddie said defensively. “I had to decide right away.”

“What are we going to do if we have twins, Maddie?”

Maddie bit her lip, her eyes opening without her full permission as she thought. “We know how to deal with things like him.”

The car jerked just a little to the right as Jack failed to suppress his flinch. “Do you remember our work on motivations? On why they take artists, musicians, children?” he asked. He forged on without waiting for an answer. “Creative sterility, we called it. For this one to be able to cure sterility, he has to be powerful. I don’t think nails in pockets and inside-out clothing is going to stop him.”

Such protections were hit and miss to begin with. One faerie might hate bread, another might love it. The sound of bells would drive off one, and another would wear them in their hair. Even cold iron was no guarantee against them.

“We’ll have to find something better, then,” she said, firmly.

Maddie laughed. Not a twin. A single child showed on the ultrasound monitor. A girl. A beautiful baby girl. Perfect.

On the other side of the bed, Jack sunk into a chair, obviously relieved. “She’s healthy?” he asked the OB/GYN.

“Completely,” she said. “This is quite the miracle the two of you put together here.” She shook her head. “We must have gotten something wrong during our examination. I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am to have put you through all that, and I won’t blame you if you wanted to find a new doctor.”

“It’s fine,” said Maddie, patting the woman’s arm. “It happens.” Yes, being approached by a powerful fae just ‘happened.’ “The important thing now is to make sure there aren’t any complications.”

They made sure Jazz was born on a Sunday, with two middle names, one of which Maddie made sure to forget. They scheduled her baptism for as early a date as possible, even though both Jack and Maddie were as lapsed as it was possible to be.

Precautions.

Jack had his surgery only a month later.

They were safe. They had won.

The family of three snuggled together on the couch. Well, Jazz snuggled inasmuch as a newborn was able. They watched TV.

“Jack, dear,” said Maddie, roused to awareness by a news story about a rising young businessman. “Is that our Vlad?”

Jack blinked at the screen. “I think you’re right,” said Jack. “I haven’t seen him since college. I don’t think we’ve talked to him since college.” He frowned. “Did something happen? The three of us used to be so close… He was the only one in the whole folklore department that would put up with our theories, do you remember?”

“I don’t know,” said Maddie, trying to remember. “It was like he was there one day, gone the next.”

“Do you think he’ll mind us getting back in touch?”

“Only one way to find out.”

(As it turned out, Vlad did not particularly care to get back in touch.)

Jazz was not a normal child.

She saw too much. She understood too much. Her teeth grew in early. She learned how to get the milk out of the fridge at about the same time she learned how to walk. Her eyes were too large, even for her age. She didn’t start talking until she was almost two, and when she did, it was in complete sentences. She took to responsibility like a duck to water. No, she demanded responsibility, from waking up the family in the morning to answering the door. She loved rules and games, and the rules of games.

But they had never raised a child before. Perhaps this was simply how they were. Perhaps this was within the expected variety of humanity.

Most importantly, Jazz was theirs. Completely.

Maddie was not terribly concerned when her period missed a few days, or even when it was late by a week. But when it started pushing two…

She bought a test.

It came back positive.

Danny’s birth was different from Jazz’s in almost every particular. Instead of being infused with a sense of joy, proceedings were overshadowed by dread. Jazz had been born in a hospital. Danny would be born at home, behind every ward and protection Jack and Maddie could conceive of. The midwife they hired was more than used to odd belief systems and threw a few of her own traditions in as well.

It couldn’t hurt.

It didn’t help.

After the birth, Maddie held Danny in her arms. He’d been born in a caul, which had been slightly alarming, even though Maddie had known that it was a thing that happened regularly, and that, by most accounts, it was lucky.

He was such a tiny little thing. Smaller than Jazz. Which made sense, he was a little premature.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” she promised him, whispering into the silky, wispy curls on top of his head.

Someone knocked on the door. Maddie jerked her head up, even though the front door wasn’t at all visible from the basement. Jack flinched hard enough to drop the towels he was holding. The midwife froze.

“Hospitality,” croaked Maddie. Those rules were always humanity’s first defense against the uncanny. Don’t want something in your house? In your life? Don’t invite it in.

Although, she had arguably already invited in the fae they were worried about. Hence all the other contingencies.

The knock came again. And again, louder.

Jack let out a sigh of relief. “It can’t get in,” he murmured. Then he smiled, broad and bright. “We just have to wait it out.”

Maddie nodded, tears in her eyes. The knocking continued. This was far from ideal, obviously, but she’d been half expecting the fae to simply rip through the wards like tissue paper.

Perhaps the theory that more powerful fae were more bound by custom, more vulnerable to their weaknesses, held water? She and Jack had always dismissed it as fanciful, but they’d never been able to gather evidence before.

Then, a sound that made her heart stop.

“I’ll get it!” called Jazz, childish voice muffled by distance and the obstacle of the floors above. She’d been told not to answer the door when Danny was being born, to wait patiently in her room, but for all her unusual maturity, she was only three.

Faster than she’d ever seen him move, Jack bolted for the stairs, pushing aside several pieces of furniture and medical equipment in his haste. He took the stairs four at a time and nearly taking the door off the hinges.

He wasn’t fast enough.

“Who are you, mister?”

“Me?” said a voice Maddie had prayed against ever hearing again. “I am your uncle, my dear. Did your parents not tell you about me?”

Jazz tipped her head to one side and stared up at the man, making her eyes extra big. She knew it made a lot of people uncomfortable when she looked at them like that, so she treated it as a kind of test.

The man smiled, kind and patient. He was kind of funny looking, but in a good way.

“No,” she said finally. “Are you Mommy’s brother or Daddy’s brother?”

“Ah, you already know about uncles, then. I was worried I’d have to explain. May I come in? I would like to greet your little brother, as your parents promised I could. I have gifts for both of you.”

Jazz liked gifts. “Okay,” she said. “But I dunno if Danny’s been born yet. Mommy said it can take a while. And I dunno if he can have gifts, yet. He’s gonna be really little. That’s what all my books say, and also the internet.”

“Jazz! Don’t!”

Jazz turned to see her Daddy skid around the corner, just as her uncle stepped across the threshold.

“Not quite on time, I fear,” said uncle. “Young Jazz has already let me in.” He patted Jazz on the head. She ducked away and stuck her tongue out, like she always did when Daddy did that. “Having greeted my niece, I would like to see my nephew.”

The fae did walk past the rest of the wards as if they weren’t even there. It didn’t even break them, just ignored them. Some of them he even commented on, as if approving.

He gazed down at Danny with his otherworldly eyes. The midwife had retreated to the corner of the room, refusing to look at what was happening. Jack had attempted to attack the fae with his bare hands, only to be pushed away with something approaching gentleness by an invisible wall. Maddie didn’t know where Jazz was. Upstairs, somewhere, hopefully.

“So beautiful,” the fae said, brushing Danny’s forehead with his off-color fingers. Faster than Maddie could react, he had a pair of scissors in his hand and was cutting off a lock of hair. “A lovely child.” The lock of Danny’s hair disappeared into the fae’s coat.

If Maddie didn’t know better, she’d call the expression on the fae’s face love. But she did know better. Love was as incomprehensible to the fae as fae laws were to humans, so she’d call it by its true name: avarice.

She tightened her grip on Danny, as if she could keep the fae from plucking him from her arms.

“Not now,” said the fae, after another moment. “Soon, I should think.” It ran a hand over Danny’s head. “Soon.” The fae looked up, meeting Maddie’s eyes. “I will return,” he said, “in one year.”

“For what?” demanded Maddie, unwilling to get her hopes up.

The fae blinked slowly. “For his birthday.” He tilted his head. “To determine whether or not he is ready. Perhaps, also, to visit my niece.”

“You stay away from Jazz!” snarled Maddie. “You have no claim on her.”

The fae merely shrugged, then smiled, slyly. “She does, however, have a claim on me. I promised her gifts, before your husband whisked her away.”

“Gifts,” repeated Maddie, hoarsely.

“For the sister of my child, yes,” said the fae, voice and face as calm and even as ever. “Would you ask me to forswear myself?”

“Then,” said Maddie, “you can leave them here, with us.”

“You will give them to her?”

“Yes,” said Maddie, through her teeth. She did not say how long she would let Jazz be in the presence of these ‘gifts.’

“Very well, then,” said the fae, pulling a number of boxes out from beneath his coat. “One year. Be prepared.”

And, with that, the fae faded from view, as if he had been an illusion all along.

Danny was still with them. Their son was still with them. Still theirs.

“One year,” she said, breathless. “Only one year.”

“One whole year,” corrected Jack, rushing to her side. “You’ll see, Maddie. Next time, that fae won’t know what hit him!”

“One whole year,” echoed Maddie, weakly.

“One year to prepare,” said Jack. “Look what we did with half that time! We’re Fentons! We can do it!”

“We can do it,” breathed Maddie. “One year. We’ll be ready.”

Jack nodded, firmly. “We’ll be ready.”

#danny phantom #dannymay #dannymay 2021 #dannymay 2021 day 30: fantasy #fae au #changeling #dp fae au

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ackerfics · 3 years

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hi, rory! <3 what majors would the sc veterans take if they were in the modern world?

hi, anon !! thank you so much for this ask, this is heaven in disguise from all my schoolwork. tbh, the whole time i was working for a lab report, my mind will go back to this ask bc i wanted to have the association as accurate as possible hhhajshw

i asked one of my friends for help and thank God for them bc my single brain cell really said 'it's time for you to rest' after staring at one backlog. without further ado, here are the veterans' majors if they're studying in university:

first off, hange zoe, because if you ask me this question in real life, they would be the only one i can answer. every damn time i would think of them in a college setting, being a biology major is really hange's forte. at this point, this is what everyone would associate them with.

hange is all about experimenting and doing brilliant breakthroughs in any field of science but knowing that they have this unparalleled fascination with the unusual and unexpected life-forms (ahem titans ahem), the biology lab would be the surest place where you could find hange. i feel like biology is too broad so i will add that microbiology or bacteriology are just some of the specializations they will be taking in their time in college.

imagine, being lab partners with hange and immediately knowing that you will have one of the highest grades in the class because they're that well-versed in a specific lab report. and if you're partners with them for the rest of the academic year, you might as well have a shot at an immaculate grade. i'm not saying that you should depend on them too much though hHHHH, hange is still a member of the majority of the student body who relies heavily on caffeine to keep them invigorated. who isn't at this point?

so far, some of the biology majors that i encountered (well, more like chatted behind a screen — online classes suck), they have this energy that could drain my social battery too quickly and hange fits that description. (note that this doesn't apply to any college bc i observed this in mine soooo 🤭) they're the type to always go on a tangent on a certain science article or coerce you into joining this org thing. i can imagine levi just looking at hange like they're the one sucking his brain cells out whenever they speak about a documentary in bbc they watched the night before.

and if you're stuck on anything biology-related, hange will be the best person to ask help from. they're the first ray of sunlight you get while waking up. they're that approachable.

okay, so erwin smith.

don't come at me but he just radiates this ceo vibes and with that, one of his probably majors is business administration. i know this is so stereotypical of me but let's face it, erwin is a smooth talker through and through and if he doesn't take up marketing, business is one way to spend his college years. knowing his personality in attack on titan of establishing deals easily with a determined resolve, he fits the broadest description of being a business administration major. (again, don't come at me because my consultant for this statement is google and nobody comes after google sometimes hhhhh)

just for the benefit of myself, i will add what google says about this major, "[they] learn the mechanics of business through classes in fundamentals, such as finance, accounting and marketing ... students find ways to solve problems using data and they develop communication and managerial skills." and i thank you.

he's also probably the most well-spoken and most professional when conversing with others among his friends (and i'm not saying this to drag the other characters but this is what i pick up on) and that is exactly the qualities his major specializes. it is expected for them to strike deals and be a people person and who better character for the job than our very own erwin smith 🤩

now i mentioned 'one of the probable majors' and yes, aside from business administration, philosophy just exudes erwin smith. ngl, when i imagined erwin in a college setting, this major will always come first. his mind is just so sexy to me??? and i hope you guys think the same, too, because i don't want to be the only one who thinks that 👀 kidding aside, erwin is one of the smartest people in attack on titan and every time he speaks in one episode, my brain will instantly go mush, and that's what i feel when i hear philosophy majors talk.

philosophy majors (according to any other youtuber who does lookbooks for various majors hhhhhh) challenge what is unanswerable and analyze questions with no right answer. i feel like erwin, like hange, will talk all night to explain a theory. just imagine a date with him and you just listen to him rant about a topic that they should be making a report on. just listen to this man, okay?? it's adorable when he lets his guard down to include you in his little bubble of philosophies. he would also mention random things that he learned in classes, sometimes finding joy in knowing the philosophies of other people, or even deciphering levi's dream of an apocalyptic world. (it pisses levi off but he just leave him be.)

if you want a man who can do both of these majors, erwin smith is the answer 😉

sigh, mike zacharias.

this man holds so many talents and will forever amaze me.

i assume all of us here watched the movie perfume. and no, i'm not saying that mike is going to be a murderer but just like the main character of that film, making perfumes will be his forte with that sense of smell of his. and here, i conclude that mike will definitely take up chemical engineering.

he gives me the vibes that if it covers the one thing he does best, he will love his major. (mr. zacharias, can you please spare me that quality because i really need that now 😩) being in the labs while experimenting mundane things that can be found in the environment to create different scents is also a likely situation you can find him in, again, very much like hange. he's the type of student who really puts so much effort in staying afloat the honors list, even to the point of topping midterms in his major, for the sake of his dream. there will never be a moment where you will catch him complain about his major and professors.

he's that type of friend in college who agrees to any rant you say but in reality, he's got his life easy 😭

i headcanon mike owning a perfume shop after college just like how levi always dreamed of having a tea shop.

okay, imagine this little scenario if you're dating mike where he creates this unique perfumes as random gifts for you. they're not the typical perfumes that can seep through the room and can make you gag for no reason, they're subtle scents that will stay for the duration of the day. because again, he's got a sensitive nose, so making perfumes according to what his sense of smell dictates will always result in a revolutionary experiment. if you're randomly blurting out that you want a fusion of flowers and fruits as your perfume, say no more, he's your man.

now, the veteran who i find the hardest to associate a major with — levi ackerman.

after much deliberation and a break from plant physiology, i see him taking up law or criminology.

(i asked some of this from my mom because she attended law school :>>>)

levi is so organized and detailed in the things that he do and he fits in either of these majors since they require tedious memorizations and analysis of laws and crime scenes while being assertive enough to defend someone. he's the typical person who blurts out the true situation of a crime scene when watching film adaptations. yeah, he's that person, the one who sucks the enthusiasm out of you while watching a movie because he just had to correct some of the scenes. nevertheless, he means well though, he just wanted you to understand the reality unlike how films portray gruesome murders. movie nights always end up with levi ranting about half-assed mystery clichés.

levi's binder of readings are always too bright for everyone's good. his notes are full of highlighters and scribbles that it can blind someone. for one, he's always up all night studying his readings and cases for a practice court so by choosing neon highlighters, it's a way for him to wake up. there isn't one book in his possession that he doesn't highlight like it's a fricking coloring book. hange once jokingly said that his binder now acts like his bible and for once, he agrees because he was never seen without one. hange had a field day since levi never agrees with them.

when doing practice courts though, his go-to resting bitch face always come in handy when carrying out his role as one of the lawyers. he's just so sexy with his hands in the pockets of his slacks as he tries to justify his supposed client. the way he questions the accused definitely isn't hot because he's like one of the panelists in your thesis defense, the one who just comes up with questions that have you melting on the spot. he's dangerous i tell you. it also doesn't help if you accidentally hurt one of his friends or just landed randomly in his blacklist for being annoying as hell. relax though, he doesn't mean harm other than the fact that he's ready to throw some hands from all the pent-up rage he gathered in his body.

of course, i couldn't forget how he dresses up like a typical dark academia fanatic so look out for eye-candy.

if you want someone who can recite articles from the constitution, this man is perfect for you 😌

i had so much fun doing this !! again, i'm not generalizing every major i've talked about in these little headcanons, this is all for fun and based on the people i encountered in college. if you want more of this, don't hesitate to ask !! 😚

#attack on titan #aot #levi ackerman #aot x reader #attack on titan x reader #snk #levi ackerman x reader #attack on titan headcanons #hange zoe #hange zoe x reader #mike zacharias #mike zacharias x reader #erwin smith #college au #erwin smith x reader

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novelconcepts · 3 years

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i think always about the scene where dani and flora were about to escape the manor before viola showed up, and flora asks where are they going dani said “i don’t know” or something. do you think that if they succeed to leave the house dani would’ve tried to reach jamie? after all they in theory had a date in the pub, so in theory dani knew the little flat above the pub…

It's complete luck, Dani will think later. True idiot luck, nothing more--maybe the first lucky thing to happen in the last hour. Absolutely, they shouldn’t find the village at all. Absolutely, they shouldn’t have managed it: a grown woman with no car, no idea where she’s going, and an eight year old girl sobbing against her shoulder as she runs. They should wind up lost in the dark, staggering desperately in a circle, maybe turning right back up where they started.

Utter luck, that the adrenaline holds out, that the darkness doesn’t swallow them whole, that she finds herself stumbling through the door of a ramshackle little pub with Flora. Shouldn’t happen. Some tiny part of her wonders if this isn’t the magic of Bly, extending far beyond the reach of that house. Some tiny part of her thinks, If it can reach this far, what’s stopping them from doing the same?

“Hey,” the old man behind the bar snaps. “You can’t bring her in here!”

“Please.” Her head is pounding. Her throat is raw. Screaming hoarsely into a gag will do that to a person. “Please, I’m looking for--for Jamie...”

She trails off, realization striking: she doesn’t even know Jamie’s last name. A woman she somehow feels she’s known forever, a woman she is painfully certain she is already growing to love in ways Eddie couldn’t have pulled out of her with an infinite lifetime, and she doesn’t know her last name. It would be hysterically funny, if she could remember what laughter tasted like.

More good luck, sweeping in like a thunderstorm: the old man is nodding, though he still looks uneasy at the sight of Flora’s puffy red eyes. At the sight, too, of Dani’s rubbed-raw mouth. They must look awful, a pair of ghosts in their own right, crashing into the easy calm of his night.

“She know you’re comin’?” he asks gruffly, and Dani shakes her head. “But she knows you.”

He’s looking at Flora, and Dani wonders if the small-town awareness Owen has spoken of with such irritation extends to the Wingrave children. Probably. Probably everyone in town knows the miserable story of two orphans left to cope in that big old haunted house.

“She knows,” Dani says, when it becomes clear Flora is incapable of her usual boisterous chatter. “Please. Can you call her?”

He makes a face, his hand straying to the black plastic handset behind his head. “Fine, but if you’re lyin’, it’s only fair I warn you she's got a temper--”

Dani lowers Flora onto a stool, leans her weight against the bar, presses a hand to her head. This is insane, she tells the spooling pressure in her chest where air does not seem willing to flow. This is insane, to think there are ghosts pulling at the Wingrave children’s strings, pulling at Miles even now.

Miles. She left him. She left Miles, Rebecca Jessel’s warm voice still ringing in her ears. It’s too late. Too late. Too--

“Dani?” Jamie’s voice, just behind her. She can’t bring herself to lift her head and look. It’d be so much sweeter to remember her last image of Jamie instead, the last glimpse of normalcy drunk greedily in with no knowledge of what would come next. There will be other nights. Promise. Jamie’s hands curled around her own. Jamie’s kiss pressed to her lips with uncharacteristic euphoria. Jamie had giggled, and Dani had felt ten feet tall, the luckiest woman in the world, the richest--

“Flora.” Jamie is bending, a hand pressed to Flora’s face, smoothing back the sweaty mess of her hair. “What’s going on? Where’s Miles? What are you--”

Flora makes a hitching sound, and Dani imagines trying to explain it--not to Jamie, who believes her so readily even when there’s no reason, but to Henry. Henry Wingrave, trusting her with his brother’s children. Henry Wingrave, who she’ll have to face and say, Sir, I did my best, but you never warned me about the ghosts--

“C’mon.” Jamie’s uttered that word once before, an incontrovertible command. Last night, taking Dani’s hand in the kitchen, leading her out to take in flowers and stories. She doesn’t quite do it the same way now--her hand brushes the small of Dani’s back instead of her fingers, urging her gently along--but Dani can hear that same calm charge in her voice. It’s as though Jamie understands something has broken, and has chosen stability in answer to the too-big horror strangling Dani’s ability to explain.

She lets herself be propelled through the pub, through a door at the back, up a flight of stairs. Somewhere at the back of her mind, she’s loosely aware that it shouldn’t be this way--that she should have visited Jamie’s flat for the first time on Jamie’s schedule, in Jamie’s truck, with Jamie grinning at her over a beer. But, then, what about tonight has gone to plan? What about tonight has been right?

“Sit,” Jamie says, urging her visitors toward a lumpy couch at the center of the small room. She looks calm, though Dani suspects it’s the kind of calm that might at any moment crack open. “Talk.”

An invitation, more than a demand. Dani buries her head in her hands.

“It’s crazy. It’s crazy.”

“You ran here in the dark,” Jamie says. “You ran here in the dark with Flora. Wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t bad.”

Shouldn’t have done it at all. Should have called Jamie--run through the house in search of Hannah--done any number of things that wasn’t a flat sprint over unfamiliar ground into town. Should have kept her head.

“Miles,” she says, and almost shatters right there. Her head is a land mine, pulsing warning. Her chest aches. Jamie is kneeling on the floor, she realizes, her hands busy at Flora’s face, her hands, searching for sign of damage. Dani inhales. “She’s--she’s okay. Rebecca made sure of it.”

Jamie looks up sharply. “What?”

Dani knows what she looks like, what she must sound like: a rumpled, ragged mess spouting dead women’s names like she has any right to them. Still, Jamie isn’t staring at her like she’s crazy. She’s watching with guarded eyes, her hands--satisfied that Flora is, physically, unharmed--moving to Dani.

“What about Rebecca?”

“She let us go.” Jamie’s thumb is pressing very gently to her jaw, tilting her head to give the lamplight room to spill over her skin. She hears a breath catch, hears Jamie make a tiny, wounded sound at the sight of the skin rubbed red around Dani’s mouth. “She told me to take her and run.”

And I shouldn’t have. I’ve never listened to ghosts before. Why start now?

“Rebecca,” Jamie repeats. Her hand slips behind Dani’s head, gently inspecting; she finds the knot soon enough, Dani’s telltale gasp of pain pulling something taut behind her eyes. “Fuck, Dani, what--”

“Peter.” Flora’s voice is very small, a shock of unexpected color amidst Jamie’s usual palette. “Peter said we were helping.”

The calm in Jamie does not just break at those words; it erupts, her entire body revolutionized by her sudden rage. She’s got a temper, the old man had said, and Dani’s seen notes of it--at the rose bushes, hoisting a shotgun in the dark--but never quite like this. She stands abruptly straight, her shoulders pulling back, her expression livid.

“What,” she says, “do you mean, helping?”

It spills out in a chaotic rush--Flora, mostly, explaining through hiccups. Dani supplements where she can, as if she understands any of it. As if she hasn’t, in some part of her throbbing brain, wondered all this time if the evening wasn’t a hallucination born of her concussion.

“He hit you,” Jamie says. Not a question. “Tied you up. In the attic. And he took Miles.”

Those are, Dani thinks wearily, the bullet points. “He said they were trapped. That the house would wear them away. Rebecca wouldn’t...”

“'Course not,” Jamie says hotly. “’Course she wouldn’t. Fucking Quint.”

Dani blinks up at her. Her vision is gray around the edges, she realizes. Can’t be a good sign. She shivers. “You believe us?”

A little of the rage melts out of Jamie at this--her eyes softening just a bit, her fingers uncurling from a fist. She almost smiles. “You two? Best people I fuckin’ know, why wouldn’t I believe you?”

“Because it’s crazy,” Dani says hollowly. “It’s crazy, but--” But that little boy had stood wrong, with Peter pulling his strings. That sweet, lovely little boy had gone hard around the mouth, had gone steely at the shoulders, had held himself like a man three times his age and thirty times more capable of cruelty.

“I believe you,” Jamie says simply. She gives Dani’s shoulder a squeeze, Flora’s hair a gentle ruffle. “I believe you.”

The flat is quiet after that, for a while. Wrung out, Flora is dozing against the arm of the couch before she seems to know it. Jamie gestures for Dani to stand, the pair of them gently shifting Flora until she is resting comfortably on a throw pillow. She breathes like she’s still preparing a scream, like she is still ready to charge back into that house after her brother, even as Jamie drapes a blanket over her small frame.

She leads Dani to the bathroom, then, sets her down on the toilet seat. Her hands are steady as ever, gentle as she administers a warm cloth to Dani’s scraped skin--cleaning around her mouth, around wrists that have been chafed nearly bloody--and a bundle of ice to the back of Dani’s head. Dani chases a handful of aspirin with cool water and tries to look as though the whole world isn’t swimming away from her.

“It’s bad,” she says. “It’s so bad, Jamie. I couldn’t do anything.”

Jamie makes a soft sound of acknowledgment. Dani’s wrist is upturned in her hand, her fingers skimming lightly across rope burn. Dani barely feels it.

“What if--” She doesn’t want to give it voice. Doesn’t want to admit it’s even possible. Isn’t there something to be said for the power of belief, unpredictability shaped by human faith? “What if he really is gone for good? How do I explain that? How do I live with that?”

Jamie raises her eyes. “Not gonna have to find out.”

Dani frowns. “What do you mean?”

“I mean.” She turns, drops the wet cloth in the sink, clicks the cap back onto the bottle of pills. “Didn’t let Quint get away with this shite in life. Don’t think for a fuckin’ moment I’d let him do it now.”

Dani shakes her head. “It’s too late--Rebecca said--”

“Love Rebecca.” Her voice is strangled when she says this, as though Jamie is speaking through the entire last year of grief at once. “Loved Rebecca, sister I never had. But she didn’t know everything. Christ, even just getting wound up with him--she makes mistakes, too.”

“But--”

“Dani.” Jamie takes her face between steady hands. Even just this easy proximity, the sweep of her breath not far from Dani’s own, settles something Dani thinks has been screaming most of her life. “I promise. Whatever we have to do--whatever it takes--we’ll fix this.”

“We’ll fix a ghost,” Dani says flatly. Jamie smiles, leaning in until her forehead knocks lightly against Dani’s own.

“We’ll fix Miles. Kid’s been through too much already. I’ll be damned before I let Quint have him.”

It’s just as insane a thing to say as the rest of the night. Jamie doesn’t know--can’t know--how to make this right. Jamie is just one woman, though maybe the best person Dani’s ever been fortunate enough to find. Jamie can’t turn back time.

Still. She almost forgets that, watching her make phone calls--to Owen, and to the house, where it rings and rings and Hannah never picks up. She almost forgets that Jamie is not a superhero, as she presses the ice pack to Dani’s head with one hand and says into the receiver, “Quint, yeah. Dunno how. Does it matter?”

She almost forgets that they are not superheroes when Owen knocks on the door. That they are only an au pair, a gardener, a cook, and a little girl. That they are no match for whatever the house has become over the years. She almost forgets.

Because the set of Owen’s mouth is uncompromising for the first time since she’s met him. Because Flora, refreshed from her nap and no longer tilting toward tears, is grim in the seat beside him. Because, thigh warm against her own in the backseat, Jamie is holding her hand like it’s never crossed her mind to let go.

They are not superheroes. They are not prepared for the ghosts of Bly Manor. They don’t know where Hannah is, how Rebecca is holding on, what Quint will do in Miles’ body. They don’t know anything at all.

But they are going back. Because some stories need changing. Because some tragedies cannot be simply accepted. Because Peter Quint deserves to be put in his place, and Miles Wingrave deserves a life of freedom, and whatever’s gone wrong at the great, good place--their home--can be set right. Dani can feel that, way down beneath the headache and the fear. It can be, even if she doesn’t yet know how.

You, she thinks, looking from Owen at the wheel, Flora seatbelted carefully in, Jamie running a thumb over her knuckles. Me, she thinks, watching her own battered face in the rearview mirror. Us, she thinks, remembering the dinner table earlier that night, Hannah’s smile, the music of their mingled laughter.

This can be fixed. Somehow. It must be.

“Right,” she says in a voice much stronger than she expects as they pull up the long drive. “Step one: find Miles.”

#fanfiction #ficlet #the haunting of bly manor #the haunting of bly manor spoilers #dani clayton #dani x jamie #I suspect this was a question more than a prompt but I've gotten it prompted a number of times #and...thought why not

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