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zwy01 · 4 months

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Raegyn doodles!

Yaaaaaaa giving my snarky smartass boy some love.

This is my OC, Raegyn Kertia! He is Regis and Rael’s son, and the latter’s heir.

I haven’t gone in depth with his backstory yet, so I figured I could do that lol. He’s one of my 15 “main” characters of my Millennium AU and his full bio is up in my pinned post.

I’ll be mentioning some other names in here too so to quickly recap, Raegyn is the older one of the two Regis/Rael kids and his full-sibling and younger sister is Arya K. Landegre. (Raegyn has three half-siblings, with his elder half-brother Kaelestis Blerster on Rael’s side, and younger half-brother Garyth J. Loyard and younger half-sister Alethea J. Loyard on Regis’ side.) Raegyn has a pretty good relationship with his loving family, buuut it wasn’t always like that, which is the fun part I’m getting to later. Woo!

Raegyn is a really interesting one and I had so much fun making his design and I can’t wait to dive into his story in detail. Let’s get started yaaa! My beloved Ray’s (almost) full backstory.

So we already know that Raegyn is the smartest and most popular of his generation. The star of the show, the center of attention, Lukedonia’s local celebrity… the number one guy. Loved by all, respected by all. Everyone wants to be his friend, maybe even competing with each other for his attention. People constantly shower him with admiration. It’s like he’s walking on the red carpet wherever he goes. People just can’t get enough of him. It’s always “how is Raegyn?”, “what is Raegyn doing today?”, and “I need Raegyn’s advice, where can I find him?”… etc. People are always saying his name, and frankly, he enjoys the attention he receives. Sometimes he thinks it’s funny how he’s not the Lord yet he arguably gets more enthusiasm from the general population than she does. Hah. Hilarious.

Raegyn’s just so lucky, isn’t he? He’s got the brains, a radiating confidence, an irresistible charm, a loving family, and a literal empire of friends… if life is a giant lottery then he had already won it all. Life can’t possibly get better than what it is now, can it? Well, for Raegyn, life is good indeed. Very good.

Everything he has ever wanted gets handed to him easily. If not, he just needs a minute to work it out in his head and say a little something to make the other person give in, and it works every single time even when his requests are obviously beyond reasonable. Basically, Raegyn knows how to use his thinking skills and his natural charm to his complete advantage. Thus life is easy for him.

But because everything comes so easily, life… is also boring. There was nothing to surprise him, to make him go “well that was fresh”. Now what? Life is predictable and repetitive, at least from his experience, because he is so capable of fine tuning things and people to be the way he wants. And the thing is Raegyn does like to be in control of every precise detail in his life, so he would rather have life be a bit boring than to give up on steering everything in his direction. Sometime in his early childhood, he had a single taste of being in control, and he has been hooked ever since. To lose that control would be a big no-no for him. Frankly, without it, he probably has little idea of how to actually live life as it is, which is letting things naturally unfold without his intervention. Yeah. He’d actually physically cringe if he had to stay idle.

This leads to my next point, which is Raegyn’s childhood. Oh boy. How do I even begin. Raegyn is the first child between Regis and Rael, but he’s not Rael first child. Rael is the soul fragment donor of Karias’ heir Kaelestis, who is Raegyn’s elder half-brother. This means Kaelestis is technically Rael’s first child, though the latter is merely a donor in both title and practice. Despite that, Rael was very much involved in Kaelestis’ early childhood as an adult figure, a mentor etc. Kaelestis adored his donor “other parent”, and Rael loved his sweet Blerster boy very much. Donor and son were close and made wonderful memories together, which led to Rael becoming very excited to have his own heir. Maybe even the exact reason why Raegyn was born not very long after Rael and Karias had Kaelestis. (Raegyn was born when Kaelestis was the equivalent of a 6-8 year old human) Rael was more than ecstatic to bond with his second son, his beloved heir, the light of his life. He loved his little boy with all his heart and he couldn’t wait to experience the joy of parenting. He was certain that it was going to be great.

Eeeexcept it didn’t go quite as Rael had expected. Uh oh. The fact that Raegyn didn’t automatically love Rael wasn’t even the worst part about it. Raegyn seemed to despise him. This hurt Rael very much, as he didn’t understand why his heir didn’t want anything to do with him. Raegyn resisted being communicated with telepathically, ignored words spoken at him, never responded to questions, looked away when being looked at, and squirmed with all his strength when any adult tried to hold him. At one point Rael gave up on trying to read Raegyn’s mind because he would find some… not so nice things Raegyn had to say about him, and he didn’t need to break his own heart any further. Rael didn’t know what he had done wrong, if anything. He had already gained experience as a parent from his time with Kaelestis; he learned how to be around kids, what to do and what not to do, and in general just how to handle them. He just couldn’t get his second son to like him. Something is wrong here. Kaelestis was fine with him, then why doesn’t Raegyn like him? And it wasn’t just Rael. Regis was also very puzzled by their son’s behavior, as Raegyn seemed to actively resist him as well. Regis tried to comfort his husband by telling him to not take it personally, because Raegyn… well, he disliked everyone equally. Rael was not convinced at all. Rip. At least Regis tried.

And so this went on for a while, until by complete chance a very tired Regis chuckled something along the lines of “You know what, child? Your behavior isn’t helpful in the slightest, and your father and I are having a hard time. Here, why don’t we make a deal so all of us get the most out of it while we’re still living in the same house?” Boom. That was it. The correct answer. To both his parents’ surprise, Raegyn actually responded. He turned around, stared at his fathers in the eyes, and said “Only if you have something good enough to offer. Just so you know, I won’t settle for less. Very well, Rael Kertia and Regis K. Landegre. Convince me.” Regis swore he heard Rael’s jaw drop to the floor, and he himself was speechless. So their son was capable of communicating with them after all, it’s just that he never did simply because he didn’t want to. The two of them came to the conclusion that their son didn’t like being treated like a child, and they were using the wrong approach the entire time. Regis and Rael thought they were doing the right thing, but they were quite mistaken, as their son needed to be treated as an adult, basically as their equal. None of that kiddie talk, mushy coddling, nonstop love smothering… nope. Interact with him like they would with any other adult? Yep, that got Raegyn talking and assured that they would get milder and even positive responses from him.

That’s when Regis and Rael realized that Raegyn was different, even if they can’t put their finger on it. It was a mix of surprise and curiosity. As impressive as it was, they couldn’t help but feel uncanny. Maybe they were even a bit reluctant to admit that they were uneasy, but Raegyn was their son after all, and they didn’t want to overthink it. I mean, this kid’s first (spoken) words were him trying to bargain with his parents. Maybe their son was just being funny and pranking them all along. They laughed it off, no big deal, all while still keeping an eye out for their unusual kid. From then on they’d modify their approach with their son and things changed for the better and Rael was finally able to bond with Raegyn, though not quite in the way he had expected. Anything is better than nothing, so Rael has no complaints. He might as well beg his son for attention if he really is that desperate.

What about from Raegyn’s perspective? Well, unfortunately, Raegyn wasn’t being funny nor was he pulling pranks on his parents. He was dead serious. He was no ordinary child, and he hated being treated as one. To Raegyn, his parents and the other adults treating him like a baby was a direct insult because he thought the adults were messing with him. That’s correct. Raegyn believed that the adults somehow conspired together and formed a sort of mutual agreement between them where they all treat him like he doesn’t know any better because they think he’s too dumb or something. It wasn’t until later, when Raegyn eventually realized that he himself was the outlier, the odd one out, not them. The adults handled him like they would with any normal noble child. Still, Raegyn disliked it, and it felt disturbing to him. In his eyes, it was like some sort of shallow game of pretend, ill humor that he can never bring himself to appreciate.

That’s why Raegyn purposely ignored the adults even when they demanded his attention, because why on earth would he respond to their silly games? That would just be positive reinforcement and they’d force that shit on him even more. But being the extremely smart kid he is, he is aware of his own gains and losses. He knew he didn’t want to pretend to be a normal kid, he didn’t want to copy their mannerisms just so he could fit in, because that just isn’t him. Blegh. Gross. Reducing himself to their level…nuh uh. But he also figured out that pretending to be one gets him what he wants. To be precise, when Raegyn is his usual self, the adults feel uncanny and have mixed reactions. On the contrary… when he pretends to be normal, they react very positively. Isn’t that weird. Turns out adults like cute kids that act like kids instead of kids that make them uncomfortable by acting way beyond their age.

So Raegyn adapts. Inquire about their day, be enthusiastic and beg to be allowed to tag along, maybe even cry some fake tears when they say no until they say yes. Smile at them and watch them sign boring paperwork all day. Fake interest in their tedious gardening tasks, patrol duty, anything the adults were up to. And when that’s done, ask for new toys and clothes. That shiny ruby brooch? Pout and say you like it very much and want to have it, and Clan Leader is the best dad in the world because he gets what Rayray wants. And with that, maybe a matching bow tie. And a matching silk shirt. And a matching fur coat. You get it. It didn’t take long for Raegyn to master the art of acting and now he’s got everyone wrapped around his little finger. That’s where the fake smiling and enthusiasm began, and he never stopped ever since. Regis and Rael were happy for their little boy, because he finally acted more like a normal child. But deep down they knew he is an outlier, as they had been dealing with his true self until now. They didn’t understand why Raegyn seemingly became normal overnight, but to question that would be useless. Well… at least Raegyn looked like he’s finally enjoying himself now, and that’s a good thing, right? Deep down, they knew something was up. Obviously there was a reason for Raegyn’s sudden behavioral change, but to investigate it would break Raegyn’s trust so ultimately they did nothing and hoped for the best. For Raegyn’s future, and their future together as a family.

Raegyn’s always constantly evolving depending on who he’s dealing with. By the time he was around the equivalent of a 10 year old human, his false persona is such an integral part of his life, he never goes outside without this metaphorical mask. Despite Raegyn’s success at adapting himself into society in the present day, his childhood was a difficult one, at least in the very beginning. It did get better as he got older, but fundamentally, he is still the same on the inside. Raegyn hated how things were structured and the expectations he was obligated to fulfill. Raegyn didn’t understand why he was automatically expected to give his parents his unconditional love, respect, and attention just because they were the cause of his birth and entire existence. That’s the reason? Wow. He never asked to be born, not that he minds existing or anything, but more so it was just weird to him how now he’s permanently stuck with two adults who are way too obsessed with him for their own good, and he won’t be able to get away from them for centuries. His parents got sad when he didn’t respond to them, especially Rael. What did they expect anyway? To Raegyn, things like respect and love had to be earned, and no one automatically deserves it just because of “family” or whatever shallow term they use. And this applies to his own parents as well. If Regis and Rael wanted him to obey and love them, then they have to earn it, and prove themselves worthy. To Raegyn, even if they are his parents, they’re just like any other person out there. They were strangers he couldn’t separate himself from. The point is Raegyn isn’t purposely trying to distance himself from his parents specifically; that’s just how his brain works.

The good news is Raegyn eventually does develop genuine love for his family, which happens during his childhood. It’s true that Raegyn had his doubts about unconditional love and whether that even existed or not, but being the smart person he is, he did pick up on his parents’ love for him. They genuinely care about him, and he… appreciates that. So they were being serious this whole time. Raegyn, who is always right, was wrong, for the first time in his life. Raegyn was finally defeated, in a good sense. It feels good to be loved. But as much as Raegyn was impressed, he was also bothered by something. He was touched by Regis and Rael’s sincerity, and for that he is grateful, but something felt off. That’s when Raegyn realized he was feeling guilt for the very first time, for everything he had done to his parents. To this day, guilt remains the only emotion Raegyn can immediately and correctly identify, which is something I will bring up later. Every other emotion, even the positive ones, he has to think about it.

For the most part, Raegyn is neutral. Even when his little sister Arya was born, he didn’t feel anything. She was just another being he had to live with from now on, just because they share the same parents. Not only was he expected to tolerate her, he was supposed to take care of her. Ick. Luckily Raegyn does develop a genuine bond with Arya, even if it took a long time. They are close as siblings, and Regis and Rael? They were super relieved that Raegyn seemed to accept his little sister immediately, and even more relieved that Arya was a normal child with normal development. To be honest, Regis and Rael were nervous about having their second child aka Regis’ heir because they were afraid that Raegyn would react negatively. Surprise surprise, he didn’t. That is character development right there, from resisting his own parents to welcoming a new sibling with open arms. The truth is Raegyn simply made an effort to prevent his true apathetic self from seeping out because he didn’t want to ruin the moment for his parents. If he were to be honest, well… he couldn’t care less if Arya vanished into thin air on the spot. Raegyn only did it because he didn’t want that feeling called “guilt” to bother him for years to come, so he might as well be nice. Even if Raegyn’s goodwill didn’t stem from true consideration, it was still a massive improvement. He is still learning, but he is getting there… right? Only he knows.

To say that Raegyn doesn’t doubt his relationship with his family anymore, and that he trusts them unconditionally, would be a lie. His parents would die for him, and his sister adores him. He’s sure of that. But on second thought… do they really? This is how Raegyn falls into the perpetual cycle of questioning himself. That’s why he is so conflicted. He feels guilty because he is doubting those he should trust the most, and then he decides to give them his complete trust in order to get rid of that sense of guilt he got from doubting them in the first place, and finally ending it by rescinding that trust because he realizes he was foolish enough to trust anyone but himself. Rinse and repeat. Then again he overthinks it because he just can’t help it. This entire ordeal bothers him, and he would never admit it. In the long run, Raegyn overthinking things would go on to hurt his own ability to make meaningful relationships with people, and that is something I will bring up later.

Now onto the last bits of Raegyn’s childhood before I move to the time skip. I want to mention Raegyn’s relationship with his peers too. Ever since Raegyn’s birth, he has been silently watching and judging everything and everyone. He could be minding his own business, but his eyes were always looking at something. Even if he didn’t want to be a part of whatever the other kids were doing, he wanted to know what’s up, so he observes them from a distance. And he was always disappointed, of course. I mean, this is Raegyn, why wouldn’t he?

They weren’t bright enough to hold an interesting conversation with Raegyn. They got bored, whined, fidgeted, or fell asleep when he wanted to talk about a very long and obscure piece of ancient Lukedonian history that he recently taught himself. Or that time when all the kids just got up and left, when he promised them he was bringing “something super valuable” to their next “playdate”, and everyone expected a treasure map or something and instead Raegyn rolled out a five meter long checklist on how Lukedonian laws can be improved. Raegyn is, of course, very offended. This is his ideal vision of a playdate, after all, because playing means having fun. And this really is what Raegyn thinks is FUN. And his peers? Raegan’s giving up on them. They’re all under-qualified. Every single one of them. Too slow, too dim. Too hyper, too lazy. Too impulsive, too cowardly, etc. They weren’t worth his time, and to spend an extra minute with them was a waste of his energy. Thus Raegyn was a lonely child. He was surrounded by people, yet he didn’t like their company. He didn’t enjoy what they had to offer, yet he couldn’t fit in as himself either.

Raegyn wanted something else. Something more grand, more controversial; something that shakes the very foundation of noble society. History, philosophy, ethics, anything really. The deeper it is, the better. Sometimes even the more taboo, the better, as he likes a good challenge. He wants to hang out with someone who has the capacity to prove him wrong, and reaaaaally force him to get those brain cells working. A good, long debate is more thrilling than the best spar. He needed someone to share that joy of thinking with, someone who truly resonates with his passions. An intellectual soulmate basically. Just a reminder that Raegyn is still the human equivalent of an elementary school kid at this point. He already knew what he wanted in a friend, which is someone who can really match his wavelength, yet this person simply didn’t exist. Raegyn was frustrated. And the thing is Raegyn is an extrovert by nature so he does need a decent amount of socializing to stay healthy emotionally, except there’s no one at his caliber to keep him in company where he genuinely feels fulfilled. This is where things get complicated, and Raegyn is conflicted. He needed that company, but he couldn’t find the right people despite his best efforts. Raegyn was lonely, and his fathers noticed how their son would just slouch and sigh all day.

This would lead to Regis and Rael insisting on Raegyn hanging out with the other kids, because there must be something they can bond over, right…? What they weren’t aware of was how Raegyn was simply at the top, and his loneliness couldn’t be solved with a simple solution, if at all. What about Raegyn? Well, he knew that obeying his parents would cause him less trouble than resisting them, so he obliged. If it makes his fathers happy to see him happy then… he’s willing to pretend to get along with the others for as long as his sanity remains.

So what happened was Raegyn put aside his desire to talk about great subjects and deep matters, and simply went with the flow. He pretended to enjoy their tea parties, tree climbing, fishing, wrestling, etc. It was all so boring and tedious. And then it hit him. Hey… they didn’t whine and run away this time. They reacted quite positively when he pretended to be interested in their shallow activities. They even invited him back. Now that was easy, wasn’t it? Raegyn remembered the tactics he used on his parents and the adults. If he could manipulate them, maybe he could do it to his peers. He did crave that social interaction, and even if what was available to him wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy him, it was still better than nothing.

And even if he honestly wasn’t interested in his peers and what they were doing, the principle of making and having friends wasn’t bad at all. Raegyn already knew that if he made an effort to someone, they would reciprocate it. Take that, and times one thousand, maybe even more. If he shall pretend to be friendly to one person, might as well do it to everyone, because the amount of effort he has to make is the same anyway. And you never know when having a bunch of friends is useful. Who knows. He could get some of them to run errands for him. Give him their things. Tell him useful secrets and information that they shouldn’t be spilling. Maybe one of them will even be willing to die for him. Neat. And this is when Raegyn decided to go all out, and there he established his signature false persona of a friendly, enthusiastic, altruistic, diplomatic, insightful and responsible Kertia heir. He calculated his potential gains, and his conclusion was that the pros outnumbered the cons and this was the way to go. Not only could he impress his parents, but he could also get himself an empire of friends that might become useful to him. Surely this is a better alternative to wandering around aimlessly trying to find his own match. Now he could aim to climb to the top AND find his own match at the same time, sweet! Kiddie Raegyn is tapping into his ambitious side, how wonderful.

(FYI Izar does come up later on but that dude is only interested in math and astronomy, which isn’t enough for Raegyn. And there is an age gap between the two of them: Raegyn is roughly 200-400 years older than the traitor clan kids group so Raegyn was already an adult by the time Izar came into existence. And I say “roughly” because nothing with the ages are set in stone and I’d like it to be flexible so that’s just approximations for context. Anyways)

Yayyyy. Fast forward to Raegyn in the present day as a young adult.

Raegyn’s reputation is perfect. He is perfect. His ambitious childhood goal was to make everyone love him, aaaaand he 100% succeeded. People knew his name, and you could bet that at any given moment, someone in Lukedonia is talking about him, praising him for everything he has done. He’s the big shot. No one would ever guess that behind the glorious, radiating light of his persona hides a cold and apathetic true self. He worked hard to get to where he is today, and he isn’t going to admit to everyone he’s been lying this whole time because that would be throwing his merits away. He has his empire of friends, why would he give up on that? They love him for his false persona, then so be it. He’ll keep it up until he dies.

Part of him legitimately believes that his gains are worth it, and part of him feels like he has gone too far to go back. As much as Raegyn would hate to admit it, he isn’t quite sure who he would be without his false persona. As in, he is afraid to know what will become of him, what will remain of him if he is left alone with his true self. Which is funny because for a person whose hobby is thinking, he doesn’t want to think about that. In a way he is running way from himself, and he knows he feels slightly uncomfortable because fundamentally, that isn’t what he wants. But all these years he couldn’t find his match, nor did Lukedonia have anything else to offer to satisfy someone of his intellectual level. He was losing his patience, but there was nothing he could do. Raegyn never forgot his true self, and he never abandoned it either; he is just suppressing it… to the best of his ability. His vision of a fulfilling life wasn’t realistic, at least from his perspective, so he turned to what he is doing now. He has many, many friends, but no one whom he truly bonds with. He owns many things and people also keep giving him things, yet he has no use for them and isn’t interested in them either. Raegyn started to feel restless. Despite that, he made sure that side of him never showed, to not worry his family, and because he is also too prideful to admit that he’s sick of it too.

That’s when Raegyn discovers a new method of entertainment. He is a nice guy, right? Everyone loves him, that’s a fact. They didn’t know that he had been silently judging them, being nice on the surface and saying mean things about them in his head at the same time. Raegyn needed a new rush of fun. Something fresh to make him feel excited again.

And then… yeah. Raegyn sets his next goal as “seeing how far he can discreetly push people’s buttons without getting into real trouble”. Only a few individuals have his complete respect therefore excluded from his list of “people I can smartass” list… and for the rest of them? They’re all there for his amusement. Even Lord Raskreia.

Oh yeah, her. Remember how I mentioned that Raegyn only believes in authority that is earned? Well, he’s one of the nobles who believe that Raskreia is incompetent. In his eyes she is not qualified to sit on the throne. Too dependent on her feelings, too stubborn, too impulsive… he could go on forever. If it weren’t for the Previous Lord, she wouldn’t even be sitting there on the throne. Raegyn thinks he’s a better candidate for the position of Lord than her. Maybe even the best candidate. Too bad Raegyn isn’t interested in becoming Lord, even if he is curious about the idea of what it is like for him to become Lord. Real life Lord? No thank you. Too many responsibilities, bleh. He wanted to have fun without responsibility, and being Lord would mean having all sources of his entertainment cut off. And his own clan, the Kertia, and Grandia, are pretty cool so… you’re welcome. Meanwhile he can just judge her from the side and keep testing her discreetly to see how smart she is. Which is even funnier because Raegyn should fear Raskreia, as she is his Lord. But just as much as he believes authority should be earned, the fear that comes with authority should also be earned. And Raskreia doesn’t even qualify for that from Raegyn’s perspective. She doesn’t deserve his loyalty. (His cousin Reiner does, which I will explain in a future post where I highlight the cousins’ relationship with one another)

Anyways. Despite Raegyn’s false friendliness and hidden apathy, he does encounter people who genuinely want to connect with him in the midst of him fooling around with his celebrity persona. He is aware that most people love him for the show he puts on, and he’s fine with that. But every now and then there would be someone who wants to know more about him. Someone who doesn’t just want to know Raegyn the great and glorious, but also the mundane Raegyn. The everyday Raegyn. The kind of music he enjoys, what flowers he finds pretty, even the kind of weather he finds the most soothing. The smaller details of his life that people usually don’t associate with him, because he’s known for his great accomplishments. And Raegyn is capable of detecting genuine effort and… this is exactly what makes him uncomfortable. He is confused, surprised, and doesn’t know what to do.

This is where my previous point comes in. Remember when I said Raegyn is struggling in a perpetual cycle of guilt and doubt? Well, this is because Raegyn believes that all relationships are fundamentally transactional. Let it be parent and child, friends, lovers, ruler and subject. People only stuck together for some sort of gain, for their own benefit. It took him a long time to accept his own parents and develop what he would call love for them, and even then, he’d occasionally find himself questioning their relationship. It’s even harder for outsiders, whom he basically categorizes as anyone who is not direct family. The thing is Raegyn is incapable of forming meaningful relationships with anyone. He has a massive following, but no one good friend to share his life with. Not because they didn’t make an effort, but because he kept pushing them away. Raegyn was the one who drove them away when they got too close, even if that meaningful connection was what he yearned for. You can say that Raegyn is projecting himself onto others. Raegyn is almost entirely unable to treat someone genuinely, as he is used to a life full of manipulation and lies where he is the one doing all the manipulating. This is the problem because he’s been doing this for so long, he doesn’t know how to treat someone genuinely. In fact, he can’t really recall when was the last time he treated someone with honesty. By his logic and projection, he believes that those who are trying to take a further step to connect to him are trying to manipulate him, and they’re being dishonest. Do you see where I am getting at. He mistakes all of that for deception from the other side. Karma, reaping what you sow… whatever it is, is coming to kick him in the ass. Now he’s stuck in the loop of pushing people away and complaining about why he just can’t find people to bond with.

If Raegyn could just set aside his need for finding his so-called intellectual rival, he could’ve found a best friend already. Someone who doesn’t necessarily share his capabilities, but truly cares for him. His unrealistic standards and need to maintain his pride is hindering him, yet he can’t quite let it go. Raegyn the glorious is truly pathetic. What a shitshow.

Good news is, eventually he does find a best friend! Like an actual best friend. No bullshitting, no lies. Someone whom he is comfortable enough with to completely drop his act and just be himself, and that person is… Jia! Wait, isn’t she the dumb one? Aren’t they the complete opposites? Yep! They’re healthy best friends, which is nothing less than a miracle. They bring out the best in each other. I’ll be talking about that in a future post!

More on his general personality. Raegyn is a bit snarky and arrogant at times, but people can’t ever get mad at him. He always gets away with being a lil’ shit, because… well, he’s never wrong. No matter how much you want to slap him in the face for something he said, even if you are dead sure that he definitely had no good intentions, when you think about it again… hey, he’s actually right. It makes sense, even if it hurts to hear. He’s totally right. Damn, how did you even get mad at him in the first place? That was dumb, wasn’t it. Now you should slap yourself in the face. You are wrong, because he is right. This is Raegyn, after all. He can present an insult as a compliment. He can turn something totally unfriendly and malicious into a piece of enlightenment, and all of a sudden you actually owe him because he gave you precious insight.

Now you’re curious and decide to stick around to see what other interesting things he has yet to show you. You discover that he’s very friendly and outgoing, and he’s actually considerate and always has solutions to your problems, and makes an effort to make your day. He’s witty, humorous, and a joy to be around, even if he throws a dark joke every now and then, but again you can’t help but let it slide. You start to really appreciate him and don’t even realize this is exactly what he wants to trick you into thinking. One more follower to add to his already super massive following; another shiny chess piece that he has successfully collected for his observation platform of… whatever they truly are to him. He makes it so that you feel like he’s there to entertain you and keep you company, but in reality, it’s the opposite. You’re there to entertain him, for as long as his shallow interest in you remains, which likely won’t last for much longer either. And when he gets bored and very discreetly kicks you out of his life, you’ll feel like it was your fault and now you’re jealous of his other friends and yearn to hang out with him again, even if it means doing whatever it takes to get him back. Raegyn is 100% aware of this, and he definitely enjoys it. He didn’t ask for an encore, yet it came by its own accord. Nice, even more drama for him sip on to ward off some of that boredom before he finds a new source of short-term entertainment.

(BTW just for clarification Raegyn never does anything illegal or anything that can potentially get him in trouble if he gets caught. He’s probably smart enough to get away with it anyway if he really wanted to commit crime for fun but then he doesn’t need to do that. His smartassing, bullshitting, manipulation etc is just on a personal level and never goes beyond that. Even if he’s borderline desperate for entertainment, he won’t do anything that has actual consequences. That’s why he’s not dangerous, he’s just petty and at most a pain in the ass. Can’t throw him in jail or anything, even grounding him would be excessive. He eventually does join Gloria and her search party for Reiner for a certain reason and that’s for another post too)

Just don’t delve any deeper or try to look behind Raegyn’s mask, because you will find something you don’t want to see, and something he doesn’t want to see, and it’s going to be a hot mess.

When he’s not being serious, he is pretty funny. If you can refrain from questioning his personality, he’s actually quite the humor depository. It manifests in the way that when he tries to be funny, it’s like he’s insulting you and when he is actually insulting you, you think he’s just being funny. If you’re in for a short-term, superficial friendship or just need to waste some time, he’s the perfect person to hang out with. He’s not going to be serious anyway, so if you’re interested, meet up and chat away. Just don’t actually develop an attachment to him and you’re good, because it’s no good for either of you. If it’s just for fun and nothing serious, totally go for it. He’ll keep you entertained and (hopefully) you’ll keep him entertained, and if you can handle some occasional arrogance and cheekiness from him, you’ll have a blast, and he’ll make you laugh. Win-win!

(I wanted to get to the details of Raegyn’s crush on Umbra + who he actually eventually settles down with in this post but it was already too long so I’ll do it separately in another post in the future)

And that’s it! Maybe I’ll do another one of these long character posts in a few months. Idk. When I feel like it. Feel free to let me know if there is any particular one you want to see next (did Kaekae last time, Raegyn this time, so 13 out of 15 left) but I will get to all of them eventually. Maybe will take years to complete but I want to get it done lol.

Again, thank you for reading, and stay tuned for future posts!

#noblesse #manhwa #myart #oc #original character #raegyn kertia #millennium au

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thirddoctor · 5 months

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okay my thoughts

Definitely a fun ep. The dance scene in particular was an all-timer. I'm slightly conflicted on this one though, not because it was bad by any means, but I think I have more to criticise about it than the previous two eps. Wild Blue Yonder was almost a 10/10 (and might reach that on rewatch when I can appreciate it even more), so I guess it's tough to compete with that.

Anyway, I thought the Toymaker was great. It was nice seeing Mel again even if her appearance here was very obviously to establish her for the UNIT spinoff rather than because she's at all necessary to the plot. Would've liked more for Donna to do, maybe give her more of a role in defeating the Toymaker? I wasn't really sold on how they did it. Felt too easy.

I also started groaning at all the references to previous companions and characters like Mavic Chen of all people. Not the end of the world I guess but I've just become very jaded by endless references.

Also need more time with Fifteen to form a concrete opinion on him. I think maybe I was expecting to be slightly more wowed right out of the gate, but that's not really fair, so I'll withhold judgment till the next special. Fourteen won me over against my expectations so I'm very ready to love Fifteen, just need to get a better sense of his character first.

Not sure I understand the bi-generation thing. Are there two entirely separate Doctors or will Fourteen eventually regenerate into Fifteen? I got the impression it's the latter but it's not really clear.

And finally, did the Toymaker imply his meddling is behind the changes to the Doctor's backstory? I could probably live with that, actually. Also I'm assuming this is how they'll explain the Davros change if they bring Davros back, and I think that would be a pretty clever way of doing it.

Anyway, enjoyed the episode very much overall, just thought it was a bit messier than the others.

#Ranger shut up about Doctor Who #DW spoilers

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astheswarmitcalls · 4 months

Text

PART 1: THE FOUNDATIONS OF DECAY

This is the first part of my 4-part analysis of MCR5, the Masterpost for which can be found here. Link to next part found at the bottom of the post. If there's something I missed, or you'd like to add your own spin/elaborate on something I brushed over, by all means I'd love to hear it!!

Although The Foundations of Decay was released as a single, I still believe it has heavy ties to MCR5 or has the potential to be re-released as part of the album. I’m going to go line-by-line through the song and dissect the language that links to the narrative and themes of MCR5:

“See the man who stands upon the hill

He dreams of all the battles won”

‘The man’ is referring to a leader, perhaps a general or the President. The hill he is standing on isn’t likely to be an actual hill, but maybe a stage, or a ‘hill’ of bodies, innocents killed in the fallout of war or bodies left behind in the wake of his power. He dreams of winning battles as either a political move to crush his enemies, or he hopes that the battles he wins will grant peace for his nation. OR ‘the man’ is a survivor, standing on the hill of bodies of those not as fortunate as him. He dreams of battles won so he may have peace. I’m thinking now it may be the latter because of the subsequent lyrics.

“But fate had left its scars upon his face

With all the damage they had done”

This may be referring to physical injury that he has suffered, or the fact having suffered war, his trauma reflects on his facial expression. He has been weighed down by the acts he has witnessed or has committed himself. As either a political figure or a survivor, these lines can also be linked to 9/11, which is referenced later in this song.

“And so tired with age, he turns the page

Let the flesh submit itself to gravity”

This man is old and grows tired of the conflict, and in turning the page he tries to move on. I can see these lyrics also mirroring the band’s journey; MCR formed over 20 years ago, and they’re ready to turn the page to a new era. ‘Let the flesh submit itself to gravity’ can refer to letting people fall/die as he cannot find it in himself to save them/take action OR again, linking with 9/11, he is stuck in the towers as they collapse and he, like many others, seeks escape by jumping out.

The opening verse ties into the events in which the album will reference heavily/explore the fallout of. This makes sense for a concept explored post-MCR reunion; they’re revisiting their origins, recontextualising the events but exploring the themes of anti-war in a contemporary manner. They’re walking the line between iconography and narrative that feels familiar, close enough to form, but still modern in its ethos. The attacks on the World Trade Centre, happened over 20 years ago but war and terrorism does not let up. If anything, we have been seeing much more war in the past few years, overseas and political war in our streets.

“Let our bodies lay, mark our hearts with shame

Let our blood in vain, you find God in pain”

‘Let our bodies lay’ may refer to letting rest one you are refusing to let go. This is a plead, a request, from MCR to let its old self lay to rest to make room for this new era of creation. People will hold onto that nostalgia, that desire for a return to what’s familiar, but what’s comfortable for the psyche might not always be what is healthy for the individual. ‘Mark our hearts with shame’ likely rings true to all the people demanding for the ‘Old MCR.’ The shame may also refer to survivors’ guilt, survivors of war or terrorism etc. ‘Let our blood in vain, you find God in pain’ War generates corpses, martyrs, and in times of hardship, when so many are dying needlessly, people often turn to religion. ‘Let our blood’ also brings forth imagery of bloodletting, the medical technique of age old where patients were drained of a large body of their blood, and it was believed it would purge them of illness. Obviously, this practice is done in vain, because bloodletting does nothing to aid in healing.

Allusions to religion/Catholicism are not new to MCR. ‘Thank You for the Venom’ and ‘House of Wolves’ both refence religious settings in their lyrics. With reference to God and use of ‘shame’, ‘canonized’, ‘saint’ and ‘altar’, we’re getting subtle nods to Catholicism. I am not Catholic and don’t have experience with a Catholic upbringing, but for what I can infer there’s a lot to be said about Catholic guilt, the belief we’re all born sinners, that if we suffer it’s God’s will. Gerard Way has said that being raised Catholic is ‘some scary shit,’ and I don’t believe they’re Catholic anymore. Here’s what they had to say in 2013 via Twitter:

“I was raised Catholic, which turned me off from religion because I had a very bad experience. Then, as a young adult, a death in the family resulted in a lot of anger and an even greater distance between me and faith, though I had always acknowledged I received my artistic gifts from God.”

I don’t believe for this song to be a critique on Catholicism, but more so alluding to those beliefs in a way that ties into the ethos of the album. First, with rebirth, like redemption. Redemption in the eye of God, repentance? Second, the whole ideology around suffering. We are not born sinners, and we don’t have to suffer to be granted a spot in heaven; likewise, you don’t have to be all fucked in the head to create good art. Gerard Way spoke of this, of having to feel depressed to make good music, which isn’t true in the slightest. You don’t have to torture yourself to create meaningful art. You deserve healing, and to pick yourself up from that debris and continue to create with a newfound perspective. Suffering and worthiness are not inextricable, people deserve to heal.

“Now, if your convictions were a passing phase

May your ashes feed the river in the morning rays

And as the vermin crawls, we lay in the foundations of decay”

Hope for those who betrayed their values/promises (political leaders) to burn and have their destruction create a foundation for progress and healing. WE ARE THE VERMIN!!! We swarm and infest and refuse to die. We eat rockstars alive. We feed off the decay in which our very same are trying to rise from. The Foundations of Decay is about rising from the rot, reanimation, using your own discarded remains to rebuild and grow from. This ties so beautifully with the ethos of MCR’s return, as well as the narrative surrounding the businesswoman, which I’ll get into later. Gerard Way you insane motherfucker I love you.

“He was there the day the towers fell

And so he wandered down the road”

Pretty simple here; Gerard Way witnessed 9/11, and that prompted them to start MCR and make positive change in a world that had been uprooted by terrorism.

“And we would all build towers of our own

Only to watch the roots corrode”

I believe this to be a direct reference to My Chem’s journey and eventual breakup. Initially, they were this scrappy, punk rock band from New Jersey with one goal in mind: to spread their message that it’s okay to be a little fucked-up. The commercial success that would follow each album was unheard of from a band of their background. These ‘towers’ refer to the name they had built for themselves at the height of their career, but those corroding roots wouldn’t be able to support them. A multitude of factors were at play in My Chem’s breakup, and ultimately the break would be vital for the health of the band.

“But it's much too late, you're in the race

So we'll press and press 'til you can't take it anymore”

Clear statement of resistance; ‘you’ve brought this upon yourself, we are unhappy, and we will make sure you know it.’ ‘We’ll press and press’ brings imagery of crowds, masses,,,, some may even say,,,, swarms. I’ll say it again, we are the vermin! We are the swarm! We are the infestation that runs rampant over the decay.

“Let our bodies lay, mark our hearts with shame

Let our blood in vain, you find God in pain”

Same as before.

“And if, by his own hand, his spirit flies

Take his body as a relic to be canonized

Now, and so he gets to die a saint

But she will always be a whore”

A political/military leader has died as a fallout of the conflict. A corrupt man dies and the nation mourns. Maybe not even a prominent figure, just a man. ‘By his own hand’ may refer to his martyrdom, dying by his own hand as he had fuelled the conflict that would kill him. Canonization is the act of declaring a dead person a saint. This man is held in high regard in his death, but the woman? Here we have these little inklings of character that tease the potential for MCR5. I’m going to revisit this character, this woman, a little later (a good 10,000 or so words to be exact), but she isn’t held in the same regard as the man because she’s a woman. She may be a survivor, but ultimately, she is just another tragic woman to be objectified and mythologised. He is a saint, but she is a whore, she is impure and unfaithful.

(Would like to add here we hear the line ‘You look stressed out!’ I think this is directed towards the woman, probably from a coworker or her partner. More will be revealed in due time.)

“Against faith (cage all the animals)

Against all odds ('cause the message must be pure)

Against change (you can wander through the ruins)

We are free (but the poison is the cure)”

We’ve got two opposing viewpoints; the hopeful resistance and the oppressors, the symbol of war.

The resistance fight back against the odds, against faith and against change. They fight back against control and war. Are we the resistance? The rats and vermin and swarm? The swarm runs rampant, in a sense we may have the most freedom. Also what Gerard said on tour “That may be true (that they’re unhinged/crazy with the new outfits), but I am free”. The lyrics in parenthesis are the words of the oppressors. ‘Cage all the animals ‘cause the message must be pure.’ WE ARE THE ANIMALS!! THE VERMIN SWARM!!! We are polluting the message, the belief we need war, with our resistance. We carry disease, probably. ‘You can wander through the ruins but the poison is the cure.’ They’re telling us we can try to rebuild from our own decay, but we’ll find solace in what has hurt us. We don’t need war! Poison and cure also tie to the theme of healing. Anti-venom may be used to treat exposure to venom, that much is true, but it’s not the same. Poison will not cure you if you have been poisoned. An antidote might, but ingesting more poison on top of poison will just kill you faster. This ties into Gerard’s psychology in the early days of MCR, that you have to torture yourself to create art. I’ll explore this more in the next part.

“You must fix your heart

And you must build an altar where it swells”

This prechorus goes so insanely hard. Fixing your heart, healing yourself and giving yourself the space to care about other people alongside yourself, and building an altar referring to protecting/cherishing that connection. Honour your emotions, honour your empathy, honour your capacity for love. All this ties back into overarching themes of rebirth and healing.

I’ve got more to add to this; I just started reading the MCR biography Not The Life It Seems, and I’ve found an excerpt that really strikes me:

“In order for us to make something great, we have to give up normality,’ he said. ‘I certainly feel you have to suffer for your art. I feel that if we don’t suffer, then it’s not going to be sincere and honest. If we don’t suffer then the songs don’t come from a real place. The songs are always about extremely dark things; we can’t fake that. I guess the chaos that comes at us and surrounds us and occasionally tries to tear us apart is maybe self-created. So I guess there is a little masochistic side to us but it is the willingness to suffer for our art that’s more important. We don’t feel like we’ve made true art unless we’ve suffered a great deal. Only people who have suffered a great deal have something to say.”

There’re multiple instances of Gerard voicing these thoughts, the belief that you need to be suffering to create something worthwhile. ‘You must fix your heart’ I believe is a direct response to that. You don’t need to tear yourself open to create good music, you should cherish yourself first and foremost. The themes of healing are intrinsically tied to the fabric of the band’s return. Instead of ripping themselves apart to write music, they’re writing music that is cathartic and healing. I cannot stress enough that this era of MCR is my favourite. Their previous albums have had so much cultural impact and have saved lives, but in my mind the health of the band comes before the music. I’m so glad they’ve returned now and that they’re not slicing themselves open to create art.

“When the storm, it gains and the sky, it rains

Let it flood, let it flood, let it wash away”

May be reaching a little bit, but this seems too overt to not be a Noah’s Ark reference. With so much reference of decay, destruction, war, rebirth etc. this can’t not be a nod to Noah’s Ark. In the story, Noah is instructed by God to build a massive boat as he means to flood the entire earth, purging it of evil before starting again and it’s his mission to save all his followers and the animals. We are instructed to let the flood come, let all the evil in the world be washed away and revel in their destruction. We’re heading much more into rebirth territory, and is this song, the reunion, not a form of rebirth for the band? Gerard also said to ‘embrace the plague, embrace the unfair, embrace the absurd.’ Embrace the storm, embrace the change.

“And as you stumble through your last crusade

Will you welcome your extinction in the morning rays?

And as the swarm it calls, we lay in the foundations”

These lines are directed towards the oppressors. The crusade is another biblical/religious reference, men who, on a request to reclaim holy land (that wasn’t theirs for thousands of years either), left destruction in their wake in the name of their God. Welcoming extinction in the morning rays being metaphor for the new age, a new world that is anti-government, anti-war, anti-capitalism. ‘We’re entering a new era, are you ready to say goodbye now that you’re unneeded?’

“Yes, it comforts me much more

Yes, it comforts me much more

To lay in the foundations of decay

Get up, coward”

This outro lies on just the right side of unorthodox, but I love it. It’s comfortable to concede, to lay in your decay, it’s ultimately the easier and safer option. ‘Get up coward!’ Is a call to action, likely to the song’s narrator themselves (I’m guessing the Businesswoman but I’ll get into that later). ‘I’m sure it’s comforting to lie in your own rot but we have shit to do!’ Again, marrying into those themes of rebirth, a plea to come forth from the decay and build something from those foundations.

The Foundations of Decay tells the story of MCR’s own conception and rebirth, but also carries such explicit themes of anti-war sentiment. There are the explicit ties to 9/11 and the subsequent conflicts scattered throughout the verses, which tie into MCR’s origin but also gives us background on some of the characters that may be introduced in the concept album. The allusions to biblical stories further build upon these reoccurring themes of rebirth and purification. Us, the resistance, against the poisonous pro-war rhetoric, are the swarm that infests the decay and refuses to die.

NEXT PART >>>

#mcr #my chemical romance #mcr5 #mcr5 theory #mcr5 is real #btw this whole thing took about 3 weeks to write and edit #I ask kindly you don't let my efforts in vain but also it's cool if this is just Here yaknow?

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bagelrites · 3 months

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Have you ever had a fanfiction idea you knew was great but didn't have the time/courage/patience to write ? What would be the backbones of it and what scene in particular would you still like to see written one day ?

So my problem is that when I think of a fan fiction idea even if I have 20 other wips I still somehow think I will do it someday. There is one big fic idea that I had that I have pretty much given up on though, and that's the Squid Game AU. Obviously I thought of it when the DTeam were playing in the Squid Game tournament, and the premise would be that George and Sapnap are contestants who very early on become friends and form an alliance, and Dream is a guard who keeps somehow ending up in situations where he has to talk to George, and they start falling in love. There'd be a lot of complicated feelings, but in the end George escapes with Dream because in that final game he doesn't actually get shot when he loses (I think Dream would have gotten some of the other guards on his side,) but he plays dead until the field is cleared and then Dream comes and whisks him away and they escape on a boat together. George is kind of sad about leaving Sapnap behind, but he has a feeling he's going to win, and he's right of course.

I don't think I'll write more or a shortened version or anything one day. I had so little of it written, in fact, I could actually share everything I wrote here right now, so I'll put it below the cut :)

This was the opening:

George liked the blue hue of his jumper. He’d been told it was turquoise, actually, but it looked a grayish blue to him, cool and muted, like the still face of a lake reflecting the sky. The white stripes could be clouds, perhaps. The numbers over his heart the ripples of a fish flipping from the water, or perhaps the pearly feathers of an egret in flight.

And yes, technically it was a prisoner’s uniform, but George felt it was important to find comforts even—or perhaps especially—in circumstances such as these.

The dormitory was spacious, in its own way. The beds were stacked three layers high, but the mattresses weren’t terribly thin, and there was a wealth of free space opposite the bunks, plenty of room for all two hundred competitors to mingle together, or else find some corner to sulk in alone. The white walls were bright, too, and the ceilings were high.

George supposed if this was the room he was destined to sleep his last night in, at least it was clean and airy. Better than rotting away in a cramped prison cell, right?

He rolled from his side onto his back, staring up at the cross-beams holding up the mattress above him. It had been about an hour or so since they let the competitors into the dorm, and so far there was no word as to when the games would begin. George had been trying to nap in his bunk to wait it out, but everyone else was being far too talkative, and the din of voices kept him awake. Finally, he got antsy enough to get up, deciding to take a stroll around the room and scope out his competitors.

Not that he really thought it would help him win. He didn’t quite plan to do that. Didn't see the point in trying, if he was honest. If he won, he won. If he didn’t…

Then I had a few scenes of dialogue jotted down. First George teasing Dream:

“Why did you say that?”

“Say what?”

“That you trust me.”

“Oh. I don’t know. You’re fun to mess with.”

Dream looked away.

“George, you don’t even know me.”

“You could change that.”

“George—” Dream sputtered, and George giggled. He sounded so cute when he was flustered.

“You’re already talking to me. That’s a step in the right direction.”

Dream froze, and didn’t make any reply. George wished he could see behind his mask, see if he was angry, or scared, or just flushed from embarrassment. He was betting on the latter. “Oh, now you’re all quiet.”

And then here's George seeing Dream's face for the first time:

“Wow, you’re—” George paused, face flushing. “Nothing.”

“I’m nothing?” Dream chuckled.

“No, I mean—I mean you’re, um…” his mind raced for the right word, the least embarrassing word. “Handsome?”

“Oh, I am?” Dream leaned closer, smirking, and George covered his face with his hands.

“No, I meant hot! You’re hot!” he said, muffled into his palms.

Dream just laughed, the sound light and lovely and adoring, and George melted under the warmth of it.

And finally some George + Sapnap dialogue:

“Why do you think you’re gonna win?”

“Because I have to. I have to think it,” Sapnap said. “If I don’t think I can win, then I know I’ll die. You know?”

George hummed.

“I think you might actually do it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. I just… have this feeling that you’re gonna go all the way,” George said.

“Well, then I want you to go all the way with me.”

George smiled and couldn’t help snickering a little at that.

“What? I mean it.”

“Oh, c’mon. You know what that sounded like.”

#fic wip #my writing #dream team #dnf #answered ask

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1rsoldiersince2012 · 2 years

Text

Bound by Law (Matt Murdock x reader)

Words: 1333 (chapter 2)

Summary:

You and Matt met in the courtroom. Now, you may think that Matt was a knight in shining armour and defended you in the name of all United States laws, but that was not the case. Matt was totally destroying your client, and you wanted to tear him into pieces right then and right there, because with Murdock as your rival, your head is on the firm's plate with each case. Did Matt care? No, he only cared about bringing justice, he was a human-machine, driven by the need to bring righteousness no matter the cost. Or was he just that?

Find my other accounts on ao3 and wattpad under the same name <3

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1rSoldierSince2012

wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/1rsoldierSince2012

2. THE LOSING TEAM

Return to the courtroom was nerve-wracking to say the least. Matt's hand was a heavy weight not only on your arm but also on your heart. In any outcome, both sides can still appeal. Of course, you wanted justice to win, but you also needed to save your job, which can easily be taken away from you if you lose another case to Murdock. Your company sees Nelson and Murdock as worthy opponents for now, but other, even bigger firms see them only as mere ants in the crowd of giants.

Upon reaching your table, Matt lets go of your hand but manages to whisper in your ear quickly, "Don't let this go downhill."

You remain standing, waiting for the judge to return, feeling like your feet have been glued to the spot.

"Thanks for the coffee," Foggy carefully nudges you with his elbow, and you just manage to nod once.

"All rise for the judge and jury." The officer nearby announces loudly. You stay exactly in your place, watching how twelve people walk in a nice row, finally take their previous spots, followed by the even more bored-looking judge. The judge sits down, everyone in the courtroom does the same. You nervously glance at Murdock, who's looking right at the judge, and Nelson, sitting calm and composed, so different from his friend.

"I believe the jury has made a decision." Judge simply says, opening a file of documents and flipping couple of times.

"Yes." One-woman answers, briefly standing up and then sitting back down just as quick.

"May your representative present your decision?"

Someone nudges a man, who was sitting in the front row, and he stands up, obviously uncomfortable by the position he's been pushed into.

"Yes, your Honor. The Jury has decided that Mr Donovan is innocent and rightfully deserves the money and everything that is written in the will. Miss Donovan was too late and therefore, the second will changes nothing." The man says and waits for the judge to nod, after the latter does so, he sits down.

"We won, I knew I could trust you." Donovan shakes you by your shoulders and leaves his seat, already on his way out.

Judge slams the gavel once and stands up, leaving.

You remain slumped in your chair.

Foggy curses under his breath and collects his stuff, urging Matt to leave.

"Go, I'm okay." He says and Foggy shrugs, eyeing you weirdly.

"I hope you're not planning on sleeping here, are you, Y/l/n?" Matt smiles a little, leaning on his cane in front of you.

"I hope you're not planning on waiting for me, Murdock." You respond, putting on your mask again, as if nothing happened before. You collect your folders and sheets, hands full.

"Need help?"

"Wouldn't dare to bother a blind man with my things." You simply say, looking at the jury, also hurrying to leave.

"Well, I may be blind, but it doesn't mean that I'm not a gentleman, give me those." He folds his cane and puts it in his inside pocket, almost grabbing your folders in one hand, and offering you the free one.

You sigh and cross his hand with yours, he dares to stand closer to you than he did before, "Well, I guess I saved my ass today. No more cases against you, Murdock, I hope," you say as you get out of the courtroom, walking through the long corridor, your heels ring loudly in the already empty-ish place.

"What, you don't like being in court with me?" he smirks.

"I don't like having my career hanging on the thread. Because of you, by the way." For a while you say nothing, just walk together in silence, Matt is obviously burning to say something. "Well?"

"What?" he turns a little, bringing your folders closer to his chest, as well as pulling your elbow closer to him.

"I know you want to say something about the case. That's why you wanted to carry those for me, yeah?"

"Am I that obvious?" He smirks again, and you think for a moment if he behaves like that around every woman he meets.

"Yes. Now spill."

"Don't take this the wrong way but..." he makes a dramatic pause by taking a breath and then spilling his next words, "I want you to look over the case with me... And Foggy, of course. Together, all of us, and we combine everything we have, and not play the sides of our clients."

"Murdock, you know that I can easily get kicked out for that kind of extracurricular-"

"Please, y/n, just one day. Or evening. I'm sure you can squeeze us in your tight schedule." You both step outside, the afternoon sun hits your face.

"Why do you care so much about this case?" You sigh, closing your eyes for a moment.

"I care about justice."

"Murdock, do you even know how many cases don't bring the real justice?"

"Yes, but at least we can take one off the list-"

"This sounds like an obsession." You say, stopping near the stone wall that surrounds the grand court's stairs, "Mind if I smoke?"

"No, go ahead." He puts the folders on the wall and leans on it, standing impossibly close to you again.

You light up the cigarette and take a deep breath, inhaling the smoke, "so what if we do find something against Donovan," you exhale the smoke, looking at Matt who finally took off his red tinted glasses, "that's my ass burning, not yours. Is this your plan to win this case?"

"No, this is my plan to bring justice." He squeezes the bridge of his nose for a moment.

"I've heard enough of this word today."

"Even if they fire you, you can come work with me and Foggy." He says, with a serious expression, before reaching toward you.

"You smoke, church boy?" You huff a laugh but hand him the cigarette nonetheless.

"Hurt my feelings, y/l/n," Matt pretends to grab his heart.

"Who got hurt?"

"What?" he exhales the smoke, raising his eyebrows.

"Your knuckles. I could see those bruised from the last row."

"I'm blind, I hurt myself just by existing." Matt tries to laugh it off, but unsuccessfully.

"You know that I'm not stupid. Who did you beat? Hopefully not my next client, because it would be a pity to go against my greatest enemy." You finish, and Matt releases a breath, glad by the sudden turn of your thoughts.

"I don't think your next client would be able to go for a case now, so you're safe." He hands you back the cigarette. A moment goes by in silence, neither of you know what to say. "You live far?"

"What, want to beat me too?" You laugh, making Matt smile as well.

"Funny, but no, I don't beat women. Especially the ones who beat me in court."

"Yeah, you stick to them after the court and beg for a team-up to bring justice and world peace."

"Oh, I need to hide my plans better, don't I?" He laughs, putting on his glasses again, although you liked his image better when he was without them.

"Yes, someone else would've thought that it was a way to get one in bed." You huff and put out the cigarette, dropping it in the nearest trash can, and quickly grabbing your folders before Matt has a chance.

"Dick move, y/l/n," he puts his hands on his hips, getting into the 'dad pose', a disappointed look on his face, your previous sentence seems to have lost somewhere in the middle, but unfortunately Matt heard everything loud and clear, like he always does, just decided to let it slide this time.

"Well, no one plays fair." You smirk to yourself, before getting down a couple of stairs, "So I think Mr Murdock, this is where I bid you goodbye."

"What, no celebratory drinks?" He pulls out his cane, unfolding it in one swift move.

"I don't drink with the losing team. Hope you find your way home without any bumps!" You quickly get down the rest of the stairs, waving arms for the taxi that is nearing your spot.

"Oh, y/n, y/n," Matt sighs to himself and gets down the stairs as well, turning left, exactly the opposite of his home.

#matt murdock #matthew murdock #matt murdock x reader #foggy nelson #matts superhearing complicates things for you #lawyers #marvel daredevil #netflix daredevil #bound by law

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purlturtle · 23 days

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Romance Tropes Bracket, Sweet Sixteen

In this round, we have:

Blue: Bodyguard vs. Workplace, and Second Chances vs. Nanny/Governess

Yellow: Mistaken Identity vs. Only One Bed, and Kissing Lessons vs. Forced Proximity

Red: Grumpy/Sunshine vs. Just To Get It Out Of Our System, and Holiday Romance vs. Soulmates

Green: Marriage of Convenience vs. Friends to Lovers, and Sworn Off Love vs. Supernatural

Find out tomorrow who's getting ahead! Tell me who your favorites are!

Under the Readmore I'll tell you why all of these won out against their opponents, and I'll link a few fics in which I've used these tropes!

Blue

Bodyguard was up against Love Triangle - and that was an easy choice. I don't GET love triangles; my first impulse will always be "porque no los dos? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" and most stories don't deliver that. It just doesn't grip me if someone feels themself drawn to two and "has to make a decision". (Am I poly? Probably. Am I happily married? Definitely. Anything else is between me and my wife. :D) (Have I been thinking for some time about a Bering and Wells Bodyguard fic? Most certainly.)

Workplace was up against High School: not quite that easy, especially since I wrote a High School fic myself! In the end it won out because (a) a lot more of my stories qualify as workplace stories and (b) there is just a lot more variation that's possible with a workplace story vs. a high school story. People can have so many different jobs, after all, which can inform the story!

Second Chances defeated Made A Promise (90s style) very easily - first of all, promises don't really hold my interest, especially when they are treated as set in stone for all eternity no matter how much the circumstances and/or persons involved might have changed. Second, and much more importantly: second chances are The Best. Let's face it, we all mess up, and sometimes incredibly badly. And you can do so much with that, narratively! It can move the plot, it can show the characters' character, it makes them change and grow, it is a fantastic source of conflict AND resolution! Top Tier, honestly (and a lot of my stories are that; most obviously the Strata/Commutata duology)

Nanny/Governess beat out Sibling's Best Friend only narrowly, because "employer/employee who's charged to care for employer's kids" is dynamic I just like ever so slightly better than "someone who's been hanging around our house since forever and teased me when I was a kid and ganged up on me with my sibling and now I ~like~ them". Just, nah. Both of them are pretty low on the list, though.

Yellow

Mistaken Identity *easily* vanquished Age Gap; I've never really been a fan of the latter. I like my protagonists to be in a similar place in their lives (which is also, by the way, why "Person A's first queer relationship, but Person B has been out for decades" doesn't grip me at all; at least not if the story focuses *entirely* on Person B helping Person A navigate this situation). I'd *MUCH* rather read Mistaken Identity Shenanigans!

There could only ever be one winner in the Only One Bed vs. Love Potion/Aphrodisiac fight: the latter is fun for a smut fic, but we're talking romance here, and I'd rather that does not start with overruling someone's agency. Although I have to confess I did write that 😅 (47K words of it, even! With not even all that much smut in it!) But nothing beats "there's only one bed" as a trope to get two characters physically, intimately close to each other!

Kissing Lessons won over Amnesia, even though I wrote a Tumblr fragment about the latter! But the thing is: that is fan fic about two characters we already know, so it hits hard; amnesia as a trope usually means that Person A starts out amnesiac or is only introduced with very broad strokes, and that just doesn't grip me. Whereas Kissing Lessons is something that I have done myself, so... *grins*

Forced Proximity also easily defeated Secretly A Celeb/Royal - one of my absolute faves, and thoroughly explored in my Road Trip Series linked above (Strata/Commutata). In all seriousness, though: Only One Bed is Forced Proximity too, just one specific instance of it, so that's a bit unfair - especially since the Green sector has yet another one (Snowed In)! But yeah, faced with this, what's a celeb or, sheesh, a *royal* (insert dripping snark here)...

This is getting so long that I'm gonna put the other two sectors in a reblog 😅

#romance tropes bracket #tell me your picks!#sweet sixteen #part one

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tellthemeerkatsitsfine · 10 months

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Somewhat recently, the 1995 BBC New Comedy Awards appeared on YouTube, and I wrote a post in which I highlighted the main points that occurred to me as I watched it. Well guess what, everyone? Guess what? It happened in other years, and the 1999 ones are also on YouTube now:

youtube

I’ve seen this particular year for this particular award talked about before. I’ve seen David O’Doherty and Josie Long talk about this running joke about who beat who for comedy awards in 1999. Because in that year they were both finalists in awards geared toward new comics – So You Think You’re Funny, and the BBC New Comedy Awards. David O’Doherty won the former, and Josie Long won the latter, and I’ve seen them both amusingly hold their victories over each other twenty years later in ironic Tweets about it and things like that. So it’s very cool that I actually get to see the show in which one of those things happened, this being the one that was won by Josie Long. A version of Josie Long who would have been quite young, as I know she started stand-up as a teenager and these awards are only open to people who haven't been doing stand-up long (at least, not long enough to have achieved much).

So, here are some thoughts I have while watching:

- Host is Bob Monkhouse, who opens with his famous “They laughed at me when I told them I wanted to be a comedian, well they’re not laughing now” line. Looking very slick in his suit and tie, and comes out with a few slick one-liner jokes, interspersed as he explains the premise of the night. All done in a really professional way, full of humour but little irony.

It’s now a cliché that comedians will come out trying to look cooly causal in jeans and a t-shirt or whatever, I’ve heard people say it’s hard to stand out because “guys in t-shirts noticing things” are a dime a dozen in comedy, including on TV. But in my frenzy last year of reading all that Chocolate Milk Gang stuff, articles and interviews and anything I could find about that certain “new type of comic” emerging in the 00s, it struck me how much this was described as a novelty. That what made those people special was that they were not like their predecessors who wore suits and were slick and professional, they were nerds in t-shirts. Bob Monkhouse’s whole demanour does seem to highlight how much that really was relatively new at the time.

Not completely new, obviously. I think Bob Monkhouse represents the other extreme, not to mention an even older generation than the one that immediately preceded the Chocolate Milk Gang. Obviously not every pre-2000 comedian was Bob Monkhouse. Lots of them wore casual or just different clothes and were offbeat or whatever in their style. The CMG didn’t invent a previously unheard of way to do things, they just really committed to a direction that wasn’t so common back then. Took the type of thing that some people from the original "alternative comedy" thing might have been doing as rebellion, and made it the norm, and now it still is. If someone wants to stand out from the crowd today, they’ll have to dress in a suit and tie like Bob Monkhouse and tell a bunch of one-liners with practised professionalism.

At least, that's what I think. I don't really quite know enough to know what I'm actually talking about, but I'm interested in trying to work out what all those things mean, and seeing the way this is run looks like a pretty clear example of "Oh, that's the exact thing all those Chocolate Milk Gang articles are describing when the say they 'The CMG isn't this, they're different from the previous generations'." It's not just the clothes, either. I haven't seen Lee Mack wear many suits, but he's in that earlier style. It's the one-liner thing, the way that specific comedy style used to be in fashion and isn't as much anymore, but not just that (there are still lots of one-liner comedians too). It's the way that when Lee Mack's hosting something, he's smooth and professional and works a joke into every line. I don't know. I don't really know enough to know what I'm talking about.

- Judges: Richard Wilson (actor who’s familiar to me but I don’t know from where), Rhona Cameron (comedian whom I don’t know much about, which is odd considering that I’m quite familiar with pretty much all the other people in the category called “British lesbian comedian from that generation”), Peter Kay (probably don’t need to say more about him), Meera Syal (person in Goodness Gracious Me), and Patrick Kielty (guy I know a bit for, I don’t know, just being Patrick Kielty, he comes up when I’m clicking through YouTube recommendations of stand-up clips).

- Then there are various established (by 1999) comedians offering advice to younger ones. French and Saunders are mildly amusing about it. That guy named Arthur Smith. Harry Enfield looking unrecognizably young

- Evidence that in the 90s, there were definitely some comedians who weren’t just in a suit and tie all the time:

- Phil Kay looking, again, so young I would not have recognized him without the name at the bottom:

- Baby Ardal O’Hanlon:

- Baby Reeves and Mortimer:

- Second comedian on is a guy from Swansea who does a joke that I swear I’ve heard Rhod Gilbert do, about Terry Wogan and Pudsey the Bear. I’m pretty sure Rhod would have been starting comedy around this general time, so probably would have overlapped with this guy on the Welsh comedy circuit. Okay, who stole the joke from who?

- Three comedians in, all guys I’ve never heard of, but one thing that strikes me is the quality of this show is a fair bit better than the other one I’ve seen, from 1995. All three of these comedians have been decent, I can’t say the same for most of the 1995 finalists. I wonder if it’s a fluke, or if comedy was just getting bigger so fast in the late 90s that the bar for entry into the profession was raised significantly in four years.

- Oh my God! Baby Mel and Sue!!

I'd seen Baby Mel before (she turned up sometimes in French and Saunders things from that era, and I think was in The Vicar of Dibley), but Sue from that age doesn't look as familiar, even though I think she was in those French and Saunders things too. Maybe she wasn't in them as much as Mel was. Anyway... fucking hell. I'm having two separate reactions here. One is my usual reaction of: Oh that's adorable, look at the young versions of the comedians who are now less young and more famous! The other is a slightly less usual reaction of: You know how I sometimes had trouble focusing on Taskmaster season 15 because Mae Martin was so incredibly attractive? Well... that image of Sue Perkins is reminding me that this issue might crop up in season 16 as well.

- “And our next performer was lucky enough to get [words of wisdom] from her mom, who said, ‘Have a go, Jo.’ She’s doing her A-levels in her hometown of Orpington in Kent. Hoping to be top of the class, here she is: Josie Long!”

- I don’t know what I was expecting, I really don’t. I knew Josie Long would be a teenager at this point, since that’s the age she started comedy. I didn’t know what she’d look like as a teenager, but I was curious to see.

...Whatever I was expecting, it wasn't blond hair and a shirt that says "Keep Away From Boys".

Amazing, Josie. Amazing.

- Okay, I’m definitely going to cut that Josie Long video out and stick it in a different post, but for now I will say: That was fucking good. It was very good, for her age. Obviously with a teenage comedian there’s “good” and then “good for their age”, and I think Josie Long was legitimately both. Not, like, as good as she is now or anything. But good enough here to be better than just “good for a teenager”. To be honest, I think better than Kitson’s set from around the same age a few years earlier.

She had jokes. Classic, funny jokes, of the type that people on message boards several years later accused her of not having. She had them at 17! You can see that set was really carefully written and carefully rehearsed, which fits with the image of Josie Long as the overachieving student, would have practised the hell out of that before getting her chance to appear on TV. She also did a bit about drawing a tattoo on her stomach, which she did again in her 2008 Edinburgh show, as an actual adult.

...Surprisingly violently-themed set, overall. A fair bit of gruesome imagery in it. All quite funny, I see why she won. I really enjoyed that.

- Guy after Josie Long makes me think there is a correlation between wearing suits on stage and being all smoothly delivered one-liners. Also possibly a correlation between that and being shit (maybe not all of them are shit, but that guy definitely was).

- “Here’s a Dublin-based children’s book author who loves to hear the sound of laughter and know that he’s the cause. The brilliant David O’Doherty.” Wait, really? By 1999? I knew DO’D has written some children’s books by now, and I knew he did it early in his career. I think he’s said he did his first Edinburgh show in 2000, it went quite badly so the next year he just traveled and did other stuff and I think he wrote a children’s book then, then came back to Edinburgh in 2002 and it went better so he stuck with comedy. But I didn’t know he’s written a kid’s book by 1999.

Also, there may actually be something to be said for professionalism, because Bob Monkhouse pronounced his last name closer to correctly than most people do, I'm pretty sure. Definitely didn't put a C in there, the way a lot of British TV presenters do (I'm still not 100% sure on the exact correct pronunciation, but I know it's not "O-Dock-er-ty").

- Fucking adorable. Look at his little face.

- In case anyone was concerned about the lack of plastic keyboard in that previous screenshot, don’t worry, he has it with him:

He did a song that... I mean, it's probably fine that that song never made it onto any of his albums. And neither did any of the material from that set. Probably fine. There are little flashes of the David O'Doherty I recognize in this video, and a lot of flashes of something else that he was apparently trying to be at the time. He talks about kind of starting over as of Edinburgh 2002 when he worked with people he liked and figured out what he wanted to be and pretty much scrapped the few things he'd tried but disliked until that time... and yeah, that might be for the best. I'm definitely cutting out this video and putting it in a separate post too, though.

- They keep switching to the established comedians giving advice via videos between the finalists’ sets – here’s another new addition to those videos after DO’D’s set:

- Then they have a proper, non-comedy band come out, they’re legitimately very good at music. What the hell? What are they getting proper bands for? Bring back Bill Bailey.

- Then they intersperse shots of the judges talking about each finalist, with a quick clip of that finalist saying something about their own performance. Clearly, they were all just asked backstage to say something into the camera about what they were about to do, and all the others so far have made some kind of joke about the situation. Josie Long, meanwhile, went completely sincere, talking about just trying to get in the right state of mind and enjoy it and not be anxious. She always gives off the energy of the overachieving student, but it’s really coming out here, when she actually was a student.

- When commenting on her performance, almost every judge, including Rhona Cameron, focused their comments on how she was the only woman there, and she broke what you might expect from a woman (didn’t just talk about being a woman or whatever), and there’s a bit of a sense of “well that’s better than I’d expect from a woman”. Except – to his credit, and I wouldn’t have expected to say that – Peter Kay. Doesn’t necessarily mean much, obviously the TV version is just taking a couple of seconds from each judge, maybe it just happened to grab the gender-focused stuff from everyone else and cut Peter Kay off before he said “At least she didn’t bring up her period.” But still, that rather impressed me, that he commented purely on the originality of her surreal style (talking purely about her comedy style shouldn't be impressive, but it was compared to what everyone else said).

Am I hypocritical for complaining that they brought up Josie Long's gender, when I brought up how hot Sue Perkins is earlier in this post? That's a question I briefly asked myself, but the answer is no, because they're judging a comedy competition and I'm writing a Tumblr post.

- Rhona Cameron said she thought David O’Doherty was the best one, which I guess makes sense because he won a different new comedy competition that year with presumably the same material, so I guess something in it was worthy of a win. Though I have to say… she’s wrong. She’s just wrong, Josie was better. David O’Doherty is brilliant, and has been for at least 20 years. But this video proves I’m not sure he’s been brilliant for a full 25 years.

There were flashes of something good in his set, though. He had some creative and original (certainly original for the time, I think) ideas. You could see he could be good. But no, Rhona, he was not the best one.

- After all the deliberation, the judges declare that Colin Ward (the guy who went on after Josie Long, did a bunch of one-liners, and I specifically said he was shit) and David O’Doherty were the two runners up, and they struggled to pick a winner among those two and the winner. They might have been wrong to put Colin Ward up there with those other two, but I'd say history judged him correctly, as he's the only one of the three I haven't heard of.

- Genuinely fucking adorable, Josie Long after they've announced she's won:

She stops to celebrate briefly with DO'D before walking out on stage, also adorable. On both sides.

- Wow. And I thought Julian Barratt was not happy to receive his hug from Boothby Gaffoe when he won his competition in 1995. Josie Long has set a new bar for how much a winner of this competition does not want to have their hug from the host:

“Are they baby comedians, little tiny baby comedians? Oh, I love those little new ones. Little tiny new ones, they’re so sweet. They’re only about that big. You can hold them on your hand like that. Then they get bigger, bigger, bigger, and suddenly they’re Jack Dee!” – Dawn French, at the end

How fucking dare you, Dawn French? Don't you ever compare the likes of Josie Long and David O'Doherty to Jack Dee again. They've just done these impressive performances, they do not deserve to be insulted in this way.

...Okay, I've enjoyed this so much, I want to say more about it, accompanied by video clips of certain parts, but I really have to go to work, so posting this now but will come back with the cut-out clips soon. This was a lot of fun, I'm so glad I got to see it.

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lovelyfanatical · 10 months

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I Get a Sugar Rush Whenever I'm With You - Chapter 7.1

Happy Friday fellow Drukkari stans, or whatever day it is for you! Took a little longer, but I'm back with the first installment of the next chapter! If you need to catch up, you can find all other chapters on my table of contents here, or you can find me on AO3 (though you'll need an account to view). Last time, Sprite won Star Baker, Ajak was eliminated, and Makkari invited Druig over. Whatever will happen next? Find out now, in the next mini-chapter of Drukkari in the Great British Bake Off!

In the middle of the week, Druig found himself standing at Makkari’s door, arms full of groceries, wondering once again if this was a date or just a secret hang-out between friends. Hunter seemed to think it was the former, but then again, Hunter had said he’d marry Bobbi a third time if she’d have him, so perhaps he wasn’t the best judge of these things. Druig was leaning toward the latter just when Makkari opened the door, her eyes lighting up at the sight of him, and he found himself hoping that Hunter was right for once. She took a bag from him as she ushered him inside.

Druig wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting. While it was comparable in size to his own, Makkari’s flat was undeniably much homier than his. It wasn’t overflowing, but it was certainly filled with stuff, unlike his own sparse sitting room. That said, it was still tidy, and although he couldn’t decipher its organization himself, he felt there was likely a method to the madness. Instead of cleaning products, it smelled of old books and, as he neared the kitchen, something sweet he couldn’t quite place. As he put the remaining bags on the counter, it hit him.

Did you actually bake a lemon cake? he asked.

I’ve sort of been wanting one since last week, she answered, a playful smile tugging at her lips. Luckily, we don’t need the oven for this recipe.

Shall we get started, then?

Makkari’s eyes widened as he echoed her words from before, and her grin grew even wider.

Since they’d decided to buy cones rather than make them, they made quick work of the ice cream. Makkari guided him through it, observing him steadily as he followed her instructions. Although he was trying to concentrate, Druig thought he caught her looking directly at him rather than what he was doing more than once throughout the process. She’d looked away quickly, but not quick enough for him to not notice.

It wasn’t long before the mixture was in the ice cream maker, then all they had to do was wait. Makkari made tea to go with the lemon cake, which Druig had nearly started eating directly out of the pan, it smelled so good. Makkari had shooed him away while she cut it into slices before bringing him a plate. As they ate their cake, they chatted about work and tea preferences and practice bakes.

I mean, I baked a lot before, but practicing for the competition is practically a part-time job, Makkari said.

It would be, if they paid us, he replied with a mock-pensive expression.

Well, obviously! she retorted with a snort, which made him chuckle. But, if I’m being honest, I didn’t think I’d still be here in week seven.

Druig softened a bit as he responded, You’re not still having doubts about belonging here, are you?

Not nearly as much as before, thanks to you, she said, her expression softening as well. But I still haven’t won Star Baker, and I wasn’t so sure about my performance last week.

I’m sure you’ll win one of these times. And I wasn’t sure about last week either, but neither was anyone else. Well, except Sprite, Druig conceded.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure nothing scares her.

Agreed. I also think she’s actually twelve, maybe thirteen at most. Must’ve made a fake ID to get in.

You said it, not me, Makkari said, shaking her head but still smiling.

Well, I had no doubts that you’d still be in the competition, Druig continued. I’m slightly surprised I’m still here, though.

Hey, you’re not having doubts again, are you? Makkari asked, her face growing a bit more serious.

Only a little. Last week was tough, he admitted. I mean, Ajak’s been baking for years, and she got eliminated.

It is going to be weird without her there, she said sadly. I felt like she was always looking out for us.

Even when she was disapproving of your investigations? he asked.

Even then, she replied wistfully, but her expression grew mischievous again as she added, Although, she was wrong about not interfering.

Why do you say that? he said, though Druig had a feeling he already knew the answer.

I talked to Dane. He has decided to ask Sersi out! Makkari could barely contain her smile, and it proved to be infectious.

Wow, another successful case, then, he said, which made her giggle. I’m sure Sersi will be over the moon on Saturday.

I can’t wait to see her face! Makkari’s expression softened again as she continued, Thanks, by the way.

For what?

For always supporting my shenanigans.

Well, you do most of the heavy lifting.

True, but I couldn’t do it without your help. You make an excellent partner-in-crime.

The conversation was lighthearted, but Druig could feel the weight of her last statement, his heart swelling a bit. Between that and the way she was looking at him now, he was surprised he could form any coherent thoughts. He managed to sign, Thank you, Detective Makkari. It’s an honor to be your partner-in-crime.

Better than being Star Baker?

Undoubtedly.

She giggled at that, making him smile. As she looked up at him through her eyelashes, Druig found himself transfixed. It was as if nothing else in the world existed outside the two of them. All other thoughts seemed to drop away as he looked at the beautiful woman in front of him, and she looked back. They had begun leaning toward each other from across the small kitchen table as they talked, and Druig thought for a moment Makkari might be leaning even closer.

The ice cream maker dinged, and just as quickly as it had started, the moment had passed. Druig got up, and Makkari quickly followed suit. They sampled their chili mango ice cream, and Druig actually felt his knees buckle under him. As his senses came back to him, he noticed Makkari was laughing at his reaction. So, he leaned into it.

Glorious Makkari, I am defeated, he said, collapsing into a chair.

This made her laugh even harder, but she managed to sign, You, sir, are exaggerating!

Not even a little. I’d give you a handshake, but I can’t possibly get up.

She crossed over to him at that, saying, Well, I have to get my handshake.

Makkari offered him her hand, which he gladly took. And if their handshake lingered a bit longer than necessary, neither commented on it.

Alternate title for this chapter: Is This a Date: The Sequel! 😆 Hope you enjoyed the fluff!

Part 23

#lovelyfanatical shares #drukkari gbbo au #drukkari #druig x makkari #eternals fanfiction #eternals #druig: seriously is this a date?#who knows

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milarqui · 1 year

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Scarlet Lady: Intermission

Directory | Dark Cupid

It was finally Friday, and also finally the end of classes. And the girls were going to take advantage of it!

Granted, they were planning to study for their exams, but it was also a chance to have fun together.

“It was really nice of you to invite Chloé to our study sleepover, Marinette!” Rose cheered, smiling, while Marinette gave a more strained smile.

“Yeah, well... it was nicer of her to rip up the invitation,” she replied, remembering Mme. Bustier's face when Chloé made her choice.

“But did you have to invite Lila?” Alya complained.

“Alya, Lila is five times cooler than Chloé,” Marinette said, knowing that her friend still had a bone to pick with the Italian. “And I can't exclude people.”

“Yeah, Alya.”

Yeah, she was going to have her hands full with these two.

----

Meanwhile, the boys gathered together at Kim's suggestion.

“If the girls are gonna hang out, we should too!” he suggested, and everyone else let out a “YEAH!” in response.

“What should we do?” Nino asked.

“Movie? Museum? Arcade?” Ivan offered and Adrien lit up with the last one.

“Wow, I've never been to an arcade before!” he commented.

“Alright, arcade it is!” Nino said, and Adrien put his arms around Nino's and Nathaniel's shoulders.

“YEAH!”

“Let's win Adrien all the Marigold merch!” Kim said, and Adrien was shocked out of his enthusiasm.

“YEAH!” the others yelled.

“Wait, no!” he tried to interrupt.

Yeah, he had forgot to mention that little tidbit the other week...

----

School had finally let out, and Ondine and Kagami were making their way home: since the latter's house was on the way to the former's, they had made it a habit to walk together.

“It's too bad we couldn't go to Marinette's sleepover,” Ondine commented as they passed by an arcade. “Practice is really ramping up.”

“Yes. It's unfortunate, but my mother must remain ignorant of my friendships. Excluding Adrien,” Kagami replied, which was yet another thing Ondine thought was quite messed up with Kagami's mother. She chose not to comment on it, though.

“Almost, almost!”

“Aw, you dropped it!”

She recognized that voice, and turned to see that it was indeed her boyfriend.

“Kim?”

“Wuh-hey! It's Ondine!” Kim cheered up.

“Ondine!” Max said. It was clear Kim had come out with his friends, and since she was with Kagami... perhaps it was time to help her friend meet more people?

“Hey guys! Come meet Kagami!”

“Right now?!” Kagami asked, shocked. Oh, right, she was kinda bad at this. Well, as her best friend, it was her mission to help Kagami come a bit out of her shell!

----

“Hey, Kagami!” Adrien said as he arrived, and Kagami quickly clinged to him.

“Hello, Adrien.”

“You guys know each other?” Ivan asked.

“Yeah! We have fencing together!”

Kim gave Adrien a knowing look.

“So you know each other, or you know each other?”

“Huh?” Kagami said, confused. Adrien realized what was the meaning and waved his friend off.

“Oh, no, we're just friends!”

Kagami tugged on Adrien's sleeve.

“I thought we were good friends!” she said, and Adrien took her hands in his.

“You're absolutely right, I'm so sorry.”

Nino watched with bemusement.

“You guys are definitely giving the wrong impression,” he said, bringing the two Marigold dolls he had got out of the claw machine. “Here you go, dude!”

“Thanks, but you don't have to,” Adrien said, while Kagami kept her eyes on the dolls that resembled her favorite hero so much. “I don't have a crush on Marigold.”

“Whaaat?” Nino said, surprised – so much that he didn't notice Kagami stealthily picking one of the dolls. “I'm so lost, who do you like? You wrote that poem for someone.”

“It's Marinette, right?” Ivan suggested.

“Marinette for sure!” Ondine said.

“It's obviously Marinette,” Kagami added.

“WHAT?!” Kim shouted, and Adrien turned to see him, Nathaniel, and Max loaded up to the gills with the stuff they had won. “So you don't want this stuff?!”

“Oh my Lord,” Adrien said, shocked.

Even with Kagami taking one or two things, Adrien had found his arms full of Marigold merchandise, so much that he found himself unable to open the car's passenger door. Thank goodness Nino was there, even if he was still embarrassed.

“Dude, I can't believe how wrong I was!” he apologized. “I'll step up my game, promise!”

“No worries, Nino! See you tomorrow!”

----

As Adrien got into the car, he noticed that he had his arms full of merchandise from the heroine, Marigold. It looked like he was unable to fasten his own seatbelt, so he waited until he could put everything in a secure place and fasten his seatbelt – Mr. Agreste was always very clear that, save for emergencies, Adrien had to be secured before the car even started – which was hard because Adrien didn't even know how to put things without covering the car's floor.

Then Adrien looked at him and waved one of the objects, and he nodded. Carefully grabbing the statuette of Marigold wielding her weapon, he smiled.

This was going to go into his collection.

----

“Sir, Adrien is on route home,” Nathalie said, picking one of the grapes from the dish in front of her.

“Thank you, Nathalie.”

“It was kind of you to allow him to go, Master,” Nooroo complimented, taking advantage of the fact that, for once, Gabriel did not seem to be ready to akumatize someone else.

“Bah. Who knows what my son would do to retaliate if I denied him,” Gabriel complained. “He might wear crocs.”

“Adrien's rebelliousness has been increasing since he started school,” Nathalie noted, although the memory of him cursing at her before his first day at Françoise Dupont was still fresh in her mind. She ate the grape, savoring the mix of sweet and sour.

“True,” Gabriel admitted, “but the alternative is having him wander the house and discover our plans.”

“I'm home!”

Quickly, Nooroo hid away to avoid being seen by Adrien, and Gabriel and Nathalie looked towards the lobby... where they found Adrien walking in.

Wearing Marigold antenna.

And with an armful of miscellaneous Marigold merchandise.

“My friends scored!” Adrien happily said, unaware of how uncomfortable the two adults were feeling. “You want any of this?!”

Gabriel chose to reject the offer, but she decided to pick the spinning top: it was the most inoffensive of all the objects in the pile, and she felt a bit of comradeship with the younger girl, even if they were in opposite sides of the fighting.

“My son, a Marigold fan,” Gabriel lamented, covering his face.

“It's only natural, sir. She is a hero, after all,” Nathalie replied, testing the toy. “Look at it this way: at least, he's admiring the smart Marigold and not the incompetent leader, Scarlet Lady.”

Gabriel struck the table in an uncharacteristic fit of anger.

“Scarlet Lady is not incompetent! She's the slipperiest of the whole group!”

“Ah, of course, Sir,” she replied, trying to mollify him... even though she knew very well the real reason why he said that.

Because if she was an idiot, you'd be the guy losing to that idiot.

----

Chez Marinette, the hour was getting late, and it was clear that they had worked hard – and their minds were exhausted. Marinette palmed the table and stood up.

“Studying, done! Let's party!”

“YAAAAY!” the girls said in unison.

“I gotta charge my phone, go ahead and get into PJs!”

While the girls took turns to change their clothes, Marinette ran upstairs: she did need to charge her phone, but she mostly wanted to check on the one being that lived in her room, hidden in a part of her wardrobe.

Her phone was now charging – but also prepared to cue some videos. The spicy chips bag was opened just enough to allow Pollen to access its contents without risking an accident. And the bed was just perfect for her.

“Do you need anything else, Pollen?” she asked the kwami, who smiled at her.

“This is more than enough, my Queen! Thank you for such hospitality!”

Marinette picked Pollen up and gave her a sweet kiss in the head, causing the kwami to blush slightly.

“I just want to make sure you're taken care of. Let me know if you need anything!” she said, helping Pollen into the bed. “See you for patrol later!”

As the first video of the list began, Pollen pondered something.

Am I the Queen?

----

Now dressed in their pajamas, the group had sodas and popcorn ready while waiting for their pizzas to arrive, and Alya leaned down towards Alix.

“Hey, Alix, why do you hang with Lila and Sabrina?”

Alix turned to her classmate with a quizzical expression.

“Huh?!”

“I mean, aren't they a bit girly for you?”

Alix admitted it might look like that, but she wouldn't let that pass.

“Sure, they go shopping and dress up with each other,” she said, looking as Lila laughed at an imitation Sabrina was making, “but they're fun. I like talking to them. Isn't that enough?”

She pulled her phone and opened the photo folder.

“Besides, they're sportier than they look,” Alix finished, opening the photo from the last roller derby game, and Alya felt her jaw drop.

“WOW.”

It certainly deserved the shocked expression: Sabrina's look of utter wrath as she threw another skater into the ground, while Lila cheered in the background with a maniacal face, was something she had never expected from her 'girlier' classmates.

“Yeah,” Alix sagely nodded, “they got a lot of rage to work out.”

---

Meanwhile, Juleka had offered to do make up for all the others, which they gleefully accepted: Juleka could make wonders with the most basic of supplies, and she had brought a very diverse set of makeup tools to the pajama party.

Of course, that gave everyone free range to speak of personal matters, and for Mylène – who was currently in Juleka's capable hands – there was a matter she was really curious about.

“I never got to hear how you two got together,” she said, nodding at Juleka and Rose, who was acting as Juleka's 'assistant'. Rose giggled.

“You could say it took a while for us to get on the same page!”

“Huh?”

----

“Wanna get ice cream?” Rose asked.

Does she mean as a friend? Juleka thought, blushing.

----

“Will you go to the movie with me?” Rose asked, blushing.

As a friend, right? Juleka thought, uncertain.

----

“I love you, Juleka,” Rose said, kissing her for the first time.

As a friend?! Juleka thought, her face burning from the clash of thoughts. And because Rose's lips felt really nice against hers.

----

Juleka tried to push back those embarrassing moments to the back of her head, and turned to do her wonders on the party host.

“Is there someone you like, Marinette?” she asked, and Marinette smiled.

“There is, but... I don't think I should go for it.”

“Why not?!” Rose cried out: she was a sucker for romance stories, and seeing her friend lose hope in her own romance was something she disliked.

“He's a very busy guy with an erratic schedule, and I've been getting busier myself,” Marinette explained. “It's just not fair to either of us. I'm doing what I can to support him.”

Juleka pulled a spray and aimed at Marinette, who closed her eyes.

“Well, don't forget you have other options,” she said, pressing it.

“'Other options'?” Marinette asked, just as the doorbell rang. Shaking her face off, she rushed to the door.

“Pizza for you!” the delivery boy said, and she smiled when she saw who it was.

“Luka!”

Marinette picked up the boxes – feeling her face getting as warm as the pizzas – and invited Luka inside while she got the cash.

“Hey, Jules,” Luka said, greeting his little sister.

“Guys, this is my brother, Luka,” Juleka presented him.

“Hey, Luka,” Lila intervened, entranced. “Are you Juleka's older or younger brother.”

“Older,” Luka said, smirking.

“How much older?” Lila insisted.

“Older.”

Lila pouted at being denied such critical information about the cute boy in front of her, but her interrogation was interrupted when Marinette returned with the money.

“Here, Luka,” she said, adding a tip for the boy's work. Luka smiled at her.

“Thanks. You look really pretty, Marinette,” he said in an appreciative tone, making her blush even harder.

“T-Thanks!”

The moment was interrupted when Juleka grabbed a cushion.

“Okay, time for dumb boys to get out,” she declared, slamming the cushion on Luka's face.

“AH!” Luka complained, causing Alix to laugh as he tried to regain his dignity and left. The girls picked up everything they'd need for dinner and placed it around the table.

That was when Sabrina found a box full of toys and dolls.

“Huh? Marinette, what's all this stuff?” she asked, curious, and Marinette turned to her friend.

“Oh, that,” she said, picking the Marigold doll she had crafted a couple of weeks before. “It's for when I babysit! I had to make my own because they used to not make any. Scarlet Lady only worked with expensive brands, you know.”

The girls approached the box and checked Marinette's creations: they were all hand-crafted and very well detailed representations of most of the heroes and Akumas that had shown up since past September, and even if they were a bit of a bad memory for some of them, they thought they were cute, and began to pick one or two.

Meanwhile, Alya scratched the back of her head: Marinette's comment about Scarlet Lady had shaken her a bit.

“Uh. Well, she has an important job! She deserves royalties, right?” she suggested.

“Ha!” Lila laughed. “Royalties for what, sitting on her butt while being a glory hound?””

Alya's eye twitched.

Teams had formed.

On Team 'Scarlet Lady' stood Alya (with Small WiFi), Mylène (with Pebbleheart) and Rose (with Mini-Reflekta).

“Why, you–!” Alya said, her hand itching to close around Lila's neck for a moment. “She's a hero! Everyone knows she's the best!”

On Team 'Heroes' were Juleka (with Xiaomaotif) and Sabrina (with Rogersmall and Vanishrinker)

“I don't really care,” Juleka said.

“Yeah, all the heroes work hard, right?” Sabrina asked.

Alya turned to the last team, formed by Lila (with Volpiccona), Alix (with Timecracker) and Marinette.

“Well?”

“She's the worst,” Marinette declared, thus giving name to Team 'Worst', while Lila stuck her tongue and Alix laughed.

“Marinette!” Alya shouted, and tackled her friend to pull her cheeks.

Ignoring the roughhousing, Sabrina checked over the doll of her own Akuma, remembering how she had become Vanisher.

“Y'know, Chloé is probably Scarlet Lady's biggest fan, but I never understood why. She'd even say they're best friends even though I never saw them together,” she said, shaking her head. “But maybe that's why she started blowing me off.”

“Hm,” Lila mumbled, picking Volpiccona. “Don't forget, Scarlet Lady's never humiliated Chloé like she did me. Maybe she's telling the truth.”

“Hmmm...” Lila's words were correct. Perhaps Chloé and Scarlet Lady were, somehow, friends?

“YEAH, RIGHT!” Alix exclaimed, and all the girls began to laugh at how absurd the idea was.

“As if Chloé could stop herself from posting pics all over the place!” Lila mocked the rich girl.

“More like Chloé thinks they're BFFs!” Alya cracked up.

----

The girls had gone to sleep in a good mood, and were now laying around, in different states of sleep, but all likely to remain so for the rest of the night.

All... but one of them.

As soon as she was certain the others would not wake up, Marinette carefully stood, tiptoed around the insensate bodies of her friends (particularly to avoid Juleka and Rose, who looked very cute together) and walked up to her room, where she carefully woke up her kwami.

“Ready, Pollen?” she asked, and the kwami smiled up to her.

“Mhm!”

“Buzz On.”

Opening the window as silently as possible, Marigold jumped out of her room and into the roofs of Paris, keeping an eye on potential trouble like thieves: Paris being what it was, it was not uncommon for problems such as those to appear.

However, it looked like tonight would be a calm night, as she made her way towards her accorded meeting point – where her Chat Noir was already waiting for her.

“Hey, Minou,” she greeted, landing next to her partner, who smiled at her.

“Hey, Goldie!” he greeted back as she sat next to him. “Thanks for taking on patrols, Marigold. Scar wouldn't even consider it.”

“No problem,” Marigold replied.

“Seriously, ever since you showed up, it's like I can finally relax. Even my civilian life doesn't feel like I'm drowning anymore!”

Marigold blushed slightly, looking aside with a pleased smile. This was the kind of vindication she had wanted to hear, and it felt so sweet.

“M-Merci,” she thanked with a minimum of stumbling.

“Oh!” Chat Noir exclaimed, pulling a hairband with antennas from behind him and offering it to her. “By the way, your popularity is on the rise! For you.”

“For real?” Marigold said, softly laughing. “Should I look for matching ears?!”

But, still, she put the hairband on. It was a present from Chat Noir, and she liked what it represented.

And after that, they kept talking. She didn't know why, but... she always felt so at ease when talking with him! It was so wonderful, not just because of what they had in common, but also because he was so nice.

But all good things had to end, and she brought up a particularly important matter.

“Master Fu said Scarlet Lady wasn't supposed to have the earrings,” she said.

“Yeah, he did.”

“Should we do something about it?”

“Hm.” Chat Noir put his hand to his chin. “Never really stopped to think about it. Sure, Scar does the bare minimum, but if we ever came close to defeating Hawkmoth? I don't think she'd give up her Miraculous willingly.”

Marigold clenched her fist. She had known for long how self-serving Scarlet Lady could be... and she could easily believe that she could fall that low.

“What about her kwami?” she asked. Knowing that one of Pollen's friends was in the hands of Scarlet Lady was distressing enough.

“Tikki?”

“Yeah. Can't she take the Earrings herself?”

Chat Noir shook his head, sighing.

“It's not that easy, or Nooroo would've nabbed the Butterfly Miraculous a long time ago. There are rules that kwami are bound to, apparently. Plus, Plagg says Tikki is particularly duty-bound. So long as Nooroo is in danger, she'll prioritize him over herself.”

“Poor Tikki,” Marigold complained. “It just doesn't seem to be fair.”

Chat Noir said nothing, but Marigold knew that his silence was in agreement.

The two of them watched the stars... and they thought of what the future might bring.

----

Animan

@zoe-oneesama Let's take a break, with fun times... and also the memory of Tikki being in the hands of a horrible boss.

Since we know that the Chat Noir and Marigold dolls are officially named Chaton Noir and Minigold, I thought about giving the other dolls special names.

* Stoneheart -> Pebbleheart (a pebble is a small stone)

* Maotif -> Xiaomaotif (xiao mao means little cat)

* Vanisher -> Vanishrinker (since the doll is like shrinking Vanisher)

* Volpina -> Volpiccona (piccola means "small" in Italian)

* Timebreaker -> Timecracker (if you try to break something but can't, maybe it just cracks)

#scarlet lady the novel #scarlet lady #milarqui #fanfiction #long post #marinette dupain cheng #marigold #adrien agreste #chat noir #girls PJ party #guys at the arcade

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bblackamethystt · 2 years

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I need to get this off my chest cause like wtf?? (sorry followers, I'll make sure to tag it so y'all can block it and for anybody else that doesn't want to see this)

Just because JD won the case, that does not mean that the effort women have put into be be heard (no pun intended) and be taken seriously about the domestic violence and other types just goes to shit (no pun intended here either). AH lost the defamation suit on ALL 3 COUNTS because her stories, the witnesses' stories, and expert opinions did not match up at all and in general were heavily exaggerated and falsified. She also provided "evidence" for everything other than the injuries that she supposedly had. She was awarded $2 mil. because of a claim Adam Waldman(?) made, not JD.

I've also been seeing that people have been coming for MB (actress from Supergirl) because of this??? Like she has a permanent eye injury because of the abuse she faced. Multiple things can exist at once and that is also applicable to this. AH lied, but that does not mean that every other woman that has accused a man of abuse has (obviously 🤧 but I've been seeing folks on twt doing the most with JD's victory and targeting folks like Melissa talking about "You're next.").

Like I said, multiple things can exist at the same time. This defamation suit gives male victims of abuse confidence to possibly come out and face their abusers. It also shows that women can be perpetrators of abuse as well. This also shows that just because the latter explanation is true, that doesn't mean that women who are on the receiving end of abuse and come out with their stories are straight up lying, like in this case.

I've omitted the word "all" from this cause it not the case for everybody; it's not 100% that the explanations above are true ALL of the time. That's just not a realistic ideology to carry in general.

*Also, stop telling people to kill themselves. Y'all may not believe in higher powers and stuff, but I do. I don't play with the dead and I don't wish death on others. Cut it out. That just causes the credibility of your argument to go down the drain. Stop playin' with that shit.*

#johnny depp #amber heard #depp v heard trial #just wanted to get this off my chest cause the responses of a lot of people to this is just 😵‍💫#supergirl #melissa benoist

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karen-kurobara · 2 years

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Some moments of the book "Sword of Destiny" that I want to highlight - Jaskier calls Geralt as "My dear" while they share a bed and talk about love.

Brief warning of No spoilers.

This second book, titled "Sword of Destiny", ends at the same narrative point as the first season of the Netflix adaptation, so this post doesn't contain spoilers for the main plot of The Witcher. Instead, I will highlight scenes from the book that were not adapted for television.

Having said that…

In the second book of The Witcher saga, named "Sword of Destiny", specifically in the chapter "A little sacrifice", part 4 (which unfortunately has not yet been adapted to the Netflix serie), Jaskier calls Geralt as "My dear ".

In fact, this happens twice, although both times during the same conversation... while Geralt and Jaskier share the same bed... and Jaskier steals the blankets.

If you want a quick summary and in order of everything that canonical happens in this chapter of the book (so you don't have to read the whole post), here it is:

Geralt annoyed by Jaskier's nocturnal adventures.

Geralt and Jaskier share a room with only one bed.

Jaskier steals the blankets.

Geralt despises himself as a mutant.

Geralt does not believe himself capable of being the object of human affection.

Jaskier tries to alleviate Geralt's self-loathing.

Jaskier compares the Geralt-Yen relationship (witcher and non-human), with the Geralt-Essi relationship (witcher and human).

Done this, let's develop.

Putting ourselves a little in context, Geralt and Jaskier have been days without money. Jaskier being the first to get a job as the second bard at a wedding (the first bard is the beautiful Essi Daven, who we will talk about later).

As part of the deal, they offer Jaskier and by extension Geralt free accommodation in the same room.

But, as always, Jaskier seduces a woman, returning to their room quite late at night and thus annoying Geralt, who was already resting.

This is how part 4 of "A Little Sacrifice" begins, with Geralt sarcastically mocking Jaskier's night escape, even comparing him to a drooling dog chasing a bitch (last dialogue of the screenshot).

From here, we can see that Geralt is unusually upset, I mean, Geralt usually has a bad mood but he's never that cruel to Jaskier, at least in the books.

Also, I like to think that here we are given the first clue as to why Geralt is so upset and that is "women". This is due to the fact that, although Geralt knows more than well the reputation of a womanizer and rogue that Jaskier has, the witcher never really reproaches him to his face, literally, this is the first time in the first two books that Geralt confronts Jaskier for dating so many women.

Even so, Jaskier doesn't get upset or at least doesn't complain about being compared to a dog, but he begins to notice that Geralt is obviously in a bad mood so hetry to make him talk and, of course, I love the Jaskier's reaction to Geralt's annoyance which is basically pulling the blanket.

From the latter, we can highlight a couple of things, first of all (and because it's more fun) that Jaskier is canonically a blanket stealer.

Can we fangirl for a moment because of how cute it is that Geralt and Jaskier actually share a bed, even blankets, and that neither of them makes a problem out of this?. We ourselves as a fandom have portrayed Geralt as someone reluctant to share a bed and yet here he is, with every intention of sleeping next to Jaskier, Geralt is even happy that they have a roof over their heads after days without money.

Anyway, Jaskier has obviously noticed how upset his friend is, even bringing up the subject of women and trying to get him to talk.

Since apparently, a blond blue-eyed bard has left a great impression on Geralt (and it hasn't been Jaskier but I love how the description is the same for Essi and Jaskier, both are bards, both are blond, both have blue eyes, both are attracted to a witcher, Geralt is practically in love to a female version of his best friend).

This is when Essi Daven (the aforementioned bard) enters the equation.

Putting ourselves a little in context, Geralt and Jaskier have met the wonderful Essi Dave, a female bard who is a friend of Jaskier with whom, surprisingly, he maintains a friendship more like that of brothers, small insults here, small affections there.

However, Essi manages to make a big impression on Geralt, causing a kind of love jitters between the these two.

and Jaskier knows it, and of course he mentions it, practically cornering geralt to admit it.

Here, it is the first time in the books that Jaskier calls Geralt as "My dear", not just Dear, but his Dear.

Continuing the narrative, I love this chapter because it brings out many of Geralt's insecurities as an object of affection.

Geralt knows that Essi is attracted to him, but at first the witcher attributes it to the fact that the woman is perhaps attracted to his mutations, rather driven by morbid curiosity, and not because of who he is, and this annoys him

Geralt literally despises himself and mentally classifies himself as "Not Human", coming to the conclusion that just a normal human can't love him just for the sake of it (wow, this is a common fanfic trope, but I swear it's canon and you can check it).

And all this, Jaskier knows and he is not afraid to confront Geralt about this, in fact, Jaskier is the one who draws all these conclusions.

Ok, maybe Jaskier's example of weirdness is itself weird, but he goes back to calling Geralt "My dear", hinting that Jaskier himself doesn't really care about Geralt's quirks.

This continues a couple more lines, where Jaskier he tries to tell Geralt that his differences, his mutations, don't really matter, they don't make him different in his eyes.

Even so, Geralt does not honor him with a concrete answer and only tells the bard that he does not understand anything and denies all his claims.

Of course, Jaskier continues with his monologue, but since Geralt is still rude, then the bard has to close the conversation with fire, bringing the topic of Yennefer into the already complicated conversation.

I love how Jaskier says between the lines that Geralt prefers Yen for not being a normal woman.

This is already reading the lines too much, but we ourselves as a fandom have given a thousand turns to the relationship between Geralt and Yen and how he prefers it for the simple fact that Yen is not completely human and therefore she do not have the inner problems of a human-witcher relationship.

Yen has her magic to protect herself, she will live for decades without the limitations of human lifespan, she will not require Geralt to settle down or leave her dangerous job, she does not even require a formal relationship.

In short, a relationship with her is more easier for Geralt

And Jaskier indeed has the audacity to compare her to Essi

I love our little Chaotic Bard

In any case, the conversation between the two does not continue much more, Geralt has reached his limit so he simply resigns himself by asking Jaskier to drop the subject and saying good night.

___________________________________________________

As we can see, it's actually a somewhat charged scene, it's not about a fight or a key point in the plot, but it is a moment of everyday life in which Geralt and Jaskier really talk.

We can think that perhaps Geraskier's objective is lost a bit because the scene begins with the attraction between Geralt and Essi.

But personally I think the special thing about this conversation is that Geralt and Jaskier really talked about how difficult it is for Geralt to have a loving relationship with humans due to being a mutant himself, bringing up his low self-esteem and even mentioning Yennefer.

And as icing on the cake, all the conversation takes place while the two share a bed (and blankets if Jaskier hadn't hoarded them).

Even the fact that Jaskier calls Geralt as his dear seems endearing to me since up to this point, this has been the only time he has done so, as if the bard wanted to soften the conversation, giving to Geralt a strange feeling of condescension.

Not to mention that all these feelings in Geralt stem from a blue-eyed blonde bard (practically a female version of Jaskier).

For all this, I love this conversation, most of the publications that I have seen revolve around Geralt and Jaskier sharing a bed, but the conversation that they both have in this scene is in itself very interesting.

As always I recommend reading the book so you can notice all the details that I have not mentioned and that makes this scene even more beautiful.

Finally, a brief apology for any grammatical errors that I have made, English is not my first language and I' m still practicing.

#the witcher #the witcher books #geralt #jaskier #geraskier #geralt book #sword of destiny #yennefer #essi daven

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