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rwbyremnants · 3 years

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=Chapter 36

In no time, the three of them were in the backyard. Ruby looked nervous to the point of nauseated, but she was trying to be good about masking her nerves. And failing.

“What’s going on?” Yang finally hissed.

“Yeah, and why am I here?” Weiss asked. “Seriously, I thought you would only want your sister’s advice.”

The small girl squirmed, fidgeting with her fingers. “Well… jeepers, I think you’re really swell, Weiss, and you’re so nice to me! And you helped me and Yang start talking again, so it seems to me like you’re great at advice, y’know? A-and I thought it made sense to ask you! But if you don’t want me to ask your advice about stuff anymore, that’s fine! Really!”

“Why don’t you tell us what the problem is first?” Yang chuckled, cuffing her around the chin.

“Okay. I… yeah.” Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself. “I d-don’t know what to do about Homecoming!”

“Huh?”

“The dance! Remember? The… one you asked Weiss to?”

Rolling her eyes, she said, “I know what Homecoming is. What’s your beef with it?”

“Penny. She asked me, and I kinda… shot her down, but I didn’t mean to! She just really caught me off my guard - since I don’t even think girls can go with other girls. But now she kinda thinks I don’t want to go.”

“Ohhhhh,” Weiss breathed, nodding in understanding. “Yeah, I remember that now.”

“Right!” Pulling at her hair, she started pacing as she went on, “And now I wanna make it up to her in a really big way! But… this isn’t my thing, y’know? And I don’t even know if I like her in that way, but she seems to have caught it from you guys.”

Unable to help herself, Yang burst into laughter, doubling over and slapping her knee. Ruby pouted, and Weiss patted her arm gently until the Dragon could manage speech again. “CAUGHT! Like it’s… the goddamn measles!”

“Well, she did! Seeing so many girls dating? Y’know?”

“Ohhhh… oh boy, that was great.” Straightening up and wiping her eyes, she said, “You’re a big tickle, Sis!”

“Forget her,” Weiss sighed in mild annoyance, patting Ruby’s shoulder now. “I think it’s very nice that you want to go with Penny… assuming there’s no fella who’s caught your eye?”

“Not really,” she admitted with a little shrug.

“Then there’s no reason you two can’t go as friends. If she wants to think of it as a date, that’s fine, right? Just… tell her you have bad breath if she wants to make out.”

Yang snorted. “You don’t even have to do that. Okay, here’s what you’ll do…”

As she whispered into Ruby’s ear, Weiss tried to busy herself with staring off into the clouds. The whispering went on, and on, and on, and Ruby only nodded and breathed a little “Ohhhh” or “Yes!” to indicate she was listening. Eventually, she decided the two sisters needed this time to conspire and made her way back into the house, knowing she would scarcely be missed. They could always track her down later.

“Why the long face, Little Weiss?”

She squirmed. “My father was the last one to call me that.”

Kali frowned, setting the pie that had just come out of the oven down in the middle of the dining room table to cool. “It will never be uttered again.”

“No, no, I… it’s alright. You mean it very differently than he did.”

“Naturally.” She came over to drape her arm around her shoulders. “What was the matter before you came in here, then?”

“Nothing, actually. Today has been… very nice. All up and down the map! I just felt a little left out trying to keep up with Ruby and Yang. And I know that’s stupid,” she hurried ahead, making sure she got her words in before Kali’s rebuttal.

“Of course it isn’t stupid. Erroneous, maybe. But your feelings are your feelings.” When Weiss still didn’t look convinced, she guided her over and sat her in a chair. “You’ve had Yang all to yourself all day, and now you don’t, so you’re sad. But that will pass.”

Nodding, she stared down at the table for a second. Then something strange came to her; something she wasn’t sure she should say. But she began with, “Mrs. B?”

“Kali,” she corrected gently.

“Kali. Um… I know Blake has been weird about it, but… I think it’s a kick that you and my mother are becoming friends. And I can tell she’s really happy, too.”

The older woman blinked a few times before her lips twitched into a small smile. Weiss knew that one; adults always smiled like that when their children were being good in a “cute” way. “Thank you.”

“Ugh… fine, nevermind.”

“No, no, I mean it.” She took Weiss’s hand and squeezed it gently. “I actually do appreciate you saying so. You’ve already pointed out how strange it would be if I stopped flirting with you to flirt with your mother, and I can’t disagree, but… as of right now, I really am just happy to be there for your family. And having your support in that only makes me even happier.”

Allowing her lips to twitch into a smile, she breathed in relief, “Good.” Then she patted the back of Kali’s hand. “Where’s Blake, anyway?”

“Out with Emerald and some of the others. I’m not sure. Would you care to help me with my pasta? It’ll be time to get dinner going soon.”

“Yeah! I mean, we have to pull our weight around here.”

“That wasn’t why I asked,” she laughed, glancing up as Willow entered. “Ah, good ‘morning’ in the afternoon.”

But Weiss’s mother was busy breathing in deeply, eyes closed in bliss. “That… smells… divine.” The other two only giggled in bemusement as they all headed into the kitchen.

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The rest of their Saturday was fairly uneventful and dull, but highly pleasant. Yang and Ruby stayed for dinner, the latter mentioning that Uncle Qrow had only been planning to open some cans of tuna for them that night - which made Kali turn her offer into an outright command that she not leave only to head toward such a disappointing fate. Blake turned up halfway through and wolfed down some food, making some excuses not to hang around with them more and heading up to bed.

When Weiss tried to ask what that was about later, she only whispered that she wanted to be left alone. She almost felt like pressing the point - since they had been making such great progress lately. But Blake insisted that nothing was wrong, she just wasn’t up to speaking a great deal. Nothing more to be done from that point onward.

The next day, Weiss strongarmed Yang into getting together with Pyrrha so they could all study again. The redhead was one of the most patient teachers she had ever known - and she wasn’t even an actual teacher - but even she seemed to find Yang’s inability to grasp certain concepts a bit taxing from time to time. However, through dogged determination and their combined efforts, they all managed to help prepare Yang for the upcoming test.

Not that Yang’s frequent bribes of kisses helped. Weiss only succeeded in fighting her off most of the time, and no amount of throat-clearing from Pyrrha seemed to put her off it. At least she seemed to be moderately less queasy about things like that now.

Which Weiss asked her about a bit later, when they were taking a break.

“Am I what?!”

“Are you interested in Cinder?” she asked again, voice steady and bald of any deception. “Honestly.”

Clearing her throat, Pyrrha smoothed her hand over her hair as they fished the bottle of milk from the refrigerator. Mrs. Nikos had made a fresh batch of cookies that would go nicely with that. “You’re wrong, Weiss. I… know how it looked, but I don’t have those sorts of feelings for women.”

“Then why do you look so nervous when I ask about it?”

“Because I- I’ve never been accused of liking someone!” she burst out anxiously. “Cinder’s affections feel so strange, I- my stomach twists into knots when she touches me, but not in the good way you’re implying. Not the way it does when I see Jaune smile in class. It’s more like I feel… afraid.”

“Alright, alright,” Weiss tried to reassure her, a hand raised as the other held the glass steady for Pyrrha to pour. “I didn’t mean to pry. Honest! But you know how it looked at the hospit-”

“Yes! Yes, I… I know. But surely you understand that I only wanted to… to make Cinder feel less wrong, less… oh…”

“Sad?”

Pyrrha nodded, setting the bottle back in the ice box. “Sad. I’m sure you felt the same way I did. It simply isn’t right for a woman so full of confidence to be so broken. Don’t you agree?”

“I do. Seriously… that isn’t the part I’m wondering about. I knew why you did it. But once it was happening, and you were sitting next to her on the bed…”

“Yes.” Her wide eyes turned to Weiss. “What about it?”

“Then… you looked as if you were enjoying yourself. You just wished you weren’t.” Their gaze met, both of them uncertain. “Were you?”

The room fell silent for a few seconds. Pyrrha looked down into her glass of milk but didn’t respond, didn’t elaborate. Now Weiss felt awful for having brought it up at all. She was honestly hoping that a little gentle nudging might help Pyrrha come clean, or at least settle any fears the two of them might have been wondering about. Instead, it just seemed to awaken them afresh.

“Pyrrha, I’m really sorry if-”

“Hey, what’s taking you two cats so long?” The instant Yang stumbled into the room, she sensed the bleak atmosphere in the room and flinched back. “Whoa… why do I feel like I goofed in coming down here?”

Pyrrha favoured her with a practiced smile. “It’s nothing. Just getting distracted; I’m sorry. Here, take your glass; we… we won’t have to carry so much this way.”

She took it, shooting a confused look at her girlfriend - who had no great idea of how to respond exactly. She wanted to make amends for pushing too much. Even now, she still wanted to know if Pyrrha really didn’t like Cinder in a way beyond friendship, or if she was merely afraid of enjoying those frequent advances and wanted to cover those feelings so completely that they would cease to exist for all intents and purposes. If so… lying to herself was only going to hurt her in the long run.

But most of that was speculation. And Weiss cared more about supporting her friend than digging for the truth. She just wasn’t sure how best to go about supporting her in this situation anymore.

------------------------------------------

Monday morning brought school, and even more confusion about everything. Blake had been quite sullen and distant again the night before, but that morning she was all sunshine and rainbows, telling Weiss she looked nice and that she hoped they would all have a nice day in class. Pyrrha also acted like nothing had happened between them the night before, just plastering on her patented “politician smile” and greeting everyone cheerfully. In contrast, the normally-chipper Ruby was walking around in a cloud of uncertainty, acting jumpy - as if someone would spring out from inside of a locker and demand to know her true feelings about Penny.

Life was kooky.

The only thing that did make sense was Yang being in a fantastic mood. Their skinny dipping session had seemed to ease a lot of her anxieties and sorrows about other situations - such as her mom, and the fate of the Dragons overall. She locked arms with Weiss often and they chatted about fun, light topics. It was just what they needed.

Unfortunately, Ruby didn’t make good on any of her plans that day. Weiss asked what they were but Yang remained tight-lipped; she said it would be much more fun as a surprise when it went into effect. But it seemed they weren’t going to get that surprise today.

They were going to get another.

“Hey, kiddo,” Qrow called out as he strode over from the parking lot, his white-and-grey suit standing out like a sore thumb on the campus full of boys in sweater-vests and tweed sportcoats, polo shirts and lightweight jackets. The wave was casual. Yang tensed, but Weiss tried to remain calm; she wanted to see how this might go.

“Hey, Uncle!” Ruby piped up, grabbing him up in a hug. “What’s up? Am I not catching the bus?”

“Not today. Gotta head over to a neighbouring town for a run. Need my copilot.”

Her smile only widened at the prospect. This girl really did seem to love living with him as much as Weiss loved having her own mother back in her life. “YAY! Road trip, road trip!”

“Pipe down,” he rumbled in his gravelly voice, tousling her hair. The girl only giggled. Then he glanced over at Yang, face becoming somehow yet more passive than the already-nonchalant expression of before. “Yang.”

“Qrow.”

“I don’t believe we’ve been introduced,” Weiss shoehorned herself in, reaching out a hand. Hopefully, it might diffuse the tension. “Weiss Schnee.”

“Yeah. I know. Schnees have been runnin’ this town for years.” She drew back the hand an instant later. He hadn’t even glanced at it.

“Hey, lay off my girlfriend,” Yang warned him.

“Ooooh,” he breathed with both hands raised in false fear. “I’m shakin’. And shocked ya turned out just like your mom.”

Yang’s face darkened with anger. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Chasin’ skirts instead of chasin’ fellas. It’s…” He paused to choose his words carefully. “...a crazy coincidence, don’t ya think?”

“Mom doesn’t chase anybody. You know that. She doesn’t even go out anymore, she’s always working…” Her lips shut and she turned to march away, then thought better of it - but only enough to force herself to stand there with her back to Qrow and Ruby, arms folded over her chest and entire frame seething with barely-restrained rage.

“Sure, kiddo, sure. Been a while since I even talked to her.”

“That’s your fault. You picked your side, and you… you picked wrong.”

“Yang,” Ruby whispered, but Yang sighed in annoyance and she fell silent immediately.

“Really believe that, don’t ya?” he asked with a slight edge of biting humour. “Little spitfire. Too much of your mom, too much of your dad. Or maybe just enough.”

Folding her arms tighter, the Dragon grunted, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothin’. C’mon, Ruby.” But just as they began to stride away, Weiss hurried to circle around behind them, blocking their path. “Excuse us.”

“No.”

“Wanna try that again?”

“I said, ‘no’!” She stamped her foot as she went on, “You and Yang are going to talk, and if I have to… to kick you in the shins until you stay, I will! Don’t think I won’t!

Looking distinctly unimpressed, the man grunted, “Yang, do you wanna tug on your little girl’s leash here?”

However, Yang sighed in defeat, rubbing at one side of her face. “No… trust me, it’s not gonna make any difference. She gets something in her head and there’s no stopping her; we might as well accept it. What do you want us to do, Weiss?”

“Talk. Now. Is that really so crazy of me to ask? Really talk, don’t just say a bunch of mean things.” When nobody answered, she rolled her eyes and turned back to Qrow. “Let’s start with this: what did you mean by ‘just enough’ of her parents? I think you were going to say something nice.”

“You think all you want.” But of course she still wasn't moving. He rolled his eyes and said, “Fine, fine. I was gonna say… this is stupid.”

“No argument here,” Yang said with no hesitation. But before Weiss could protest, Qrow was actually answering – and it was a genuine answer.

“You got your mom's spunk. And that fierce loyalty that almost nobody really sees. She could have dumped you out in the streets, but even though she's about the worst candidate for a mother I've ever seen-”

“Forget this! I don't need to hear you talking about her like-”

“Wait, wait,” Ruby spoke up, finally seeming to catch on. She and Weiss shared a little smile. “I think… you should let him finish.”

Qrow looked a little ruffled by all the attention, but was trying to hide it behind a veneer of disinterest. “Like I said, she’s no prize as a mom. And she knew it. Always knew it; that’s why she gave you up in the first place. But after you two lost Summer… she took you in anyway. Takes a lot of guts to do something you don’t think you're any good at for somebody else because you’re the only name in the hat - and she’s been doin’ it for years and years. Because she doesn’t turn her back on family unless they give her a good reason. Real loyalty.”

Yang’s mouth just barely uttered an “Oh.”

“And as for Tai… he was kind of a flake, still don't know why he twenty-three skidooed on us. But he had a lotta love in his heart for his friends, family. Strong and didn’t know the meaning of ‘fear’. And, uh… I think you got a lot of both of ‘em. That’s all.”

“O-oh,” she breathed again, and this time Weiss noticed her eyes were watering. But she turned away, arms tightly folded over her chest. “Fine.”

“Yang,” Weiss insisted very quietly. But Yang didn’t budge. So she turned to Qrow and nodded at him. “Thank you for saying that.”

One hand waved it off while the other fell to his almost-niece’s shoulder. “Eh. C’mon, Ruby, we’re burnin’ daylight.”

“Okay,” she said quietly, favouring Weiss with an uncertain little smile. “See you later, okay?”

“Yeah. See you, Ruby.” Once they were out of earshot, Weiss stomped over to Yang and seethed at her back for a few seconds. “You could have at least said ‘thank you’ instead of ‘fine’.”

“Wh-why should I thank him? He just… still didn’t… what a big clod.”

Her arms wrapped around Yang’s waist, hugging her from behind as she shivered with unshed tears. “I know, I know. What a meanie, telling you that you’re loyal, and brave, and you have a big heart. How dare he!”

By that point, Yang was truly sobbing, and she turned to hold her girlfriend as close as she could, needing the creature comfort. Weiss did her best not to let her shock at this release show; just held her, petting over her back and hair and giving her the chance to have all those feelings. They stayed like that until Blake happened along and asked what the matter was, to which Yang completely sidestepped before rushing off to get home.

“That girl is just weird,” Blake remarked with a small shake of her head. “Mondo strange-o.”

“Yeah. So, um… do you think maybe her mom would let you come over now? Because it still seems like she’s being stubborn about houseguests. I think that stinks.”

Her shoulders raised up and down within her leather jacket, staring off after the blonde driving away on her motorcycle. Wistful but resigned. “Nah.”

“No?”

“Probably not. But I see her enough in school. And when the Dragons hang around, too, I guess.” When she saw Weiss squirm, she sighed and rolled her eyes. “You can stop now. I’m not a charity case, and I’m… okay with how things turned out. So enough with the babysitting. I’m fine, Weiss.”

She bit her lip for a second, indecisive. Then she finally hugged her around the middle. “I’m glad. Because I’m a Dragon now, too, remember? If you’re in pain, then I’m-”

“I get it,” she laughed weakly. “Let’s go home, you weird hug-monster.”

When they got there, they saw a few more bikes parked in the drive than were normal. And Weiss was just beginning to get familiar enough with her fellow gangsters to tell which bike was whose.

“Salem? And Vernal, and… and that is Cinder’s bike, I think, but she’s not even out of the hospital yet!”

Blake shrugged as she left her helmet on the handlebars. “We really need to get that new Shopkeeper’s set up. Somewhere.”

As she could have expected, Salem was seated in the living room with Kali and Sienna, discussing things in hushed voices. Weiss noticed her own mother was conspicuously absent; that would have worried her, but Kali looked far too calm for it to mean anything dire. Probably had her hidden upstairs.

“Ah, there are a few of our babies,” Kali said with a half-smile. “Good day at school?”

“High Dragon,” Weiss said with a slight bow in her direction. Salem barely tilted her head downward in recognition. “Where’s Cinder?”

Almost as if summoned, Cinder appeared from the dining room with a glass of iced tea. She was still heavily bandaged, and leaning on Emerald for support, but she looked a little more hale and hearty than she had the last time they saw her. Flirting with two women at once had done wonders for her complexion.

“Schnee,” she rasped with a slight smile, which Weiss returned.

“Fall.”

“Belladonna,” Blake grunted in mild annoyance at being ignored. Cinder smirked. “Now, what’s this all about? I didn’t know we were having a pow-wow. We would have told Yang.”

Salem waved a hand of dismissal. “This is not an official meeting, Blake. We’re discussing how to proceed.”

“He’s got a little too many higher-ups backing him to rub him out now,” Kali warned her, sounding as if she had already made that point before but was trying to rearrange her words so that they would be more convincing. Weiss’s gaze sharpened on the older women. “There’s no way it wouldn’t lead back to us - even if we asked the boys to do it instead.”

“Agreed. However, we may not have much choice; if we languish here while our enemy amasses yet more power, we may find the option vanishes from under our noses. He’ll be out of reach soon.”

Cinder spoke up, surprising them all. “Make it quick. Hell, I’ll do it - sweet revenge.”

“Wait, wait,” Weiss interrupted before Kali could speak again. “What is it we’re talking about? Who needs to be… you know.” She had a suspicion, but wanted to confirm.

Salem blinked at her a few times before she answered. “You haven’t heard? Our timetable has been… truncated.”

“I haven’t. I mean, apparently.”

For a moment, no one answered. Then Kali stood and crossed to her small television set, turning the dial to get it warming up. Within several seconds, they were staring at a black-and-white image of a newscaster with a handful of papers, gazing into the camera and trying to be serious without being dour, square jaw outlined in strong relief above his suit.

“...within these past weeks, with the fire at the abandoned building as further proof of criminal activity. Mr. Schnee says that he hopes his term in office as mayor will usher in a new age of peace and prosperity for the city of Vale. Now here’s Lisa Lavender with the weather…”

#princess and the dragons #freezerburn fanfic #rwby fanfiction #rwbyremnants

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chimswae · 4 years

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BTS Caretaker CH12

Summary: She may think she has Bangtan Sonyeondan wrapped around her fingers. She may think it is easy to love the members equally without hurting any soul. She may think the boys wont fall head over heels for her. She assumes it is okay to show a little love and affection towards the boys, what if she gets it all wrong? What if it only brings more complication to her already complicated life? Can she survive their charms? Will she be able to resist them? What if they just wont let her go?

- Pairing: BTS x Oc ( Yoongi x OC, Jungkook x OC)

- Genre: Fluff, Slight Angst, Romance, Idol!au

- Word Count: 4,582

- Author Note:Late update again hmm ;( i appreciate your feedback and comment, just drop in my ASK BOX :)

Previous | Next

Chapter 12

“Seul, come here for a second” Hwasa whispered behind the counter signalling Seul to come over. Seul guffawed at Hwasa’s randomness, and quickly cleaned the table before making her way to Hwasa.

“What is wrong with you?” placing the tray on the counter neatly, Seul shot her friend a disbelief look.

Hwasa glanced over the counter to an area which Seul had a hard time to decipher at first, yet she followed her gaze mindlessly hoping it was not the usual prank that she pulled to get her revenge. Sitting at the corner, a young man in his early 20’s with his face fully covered up by his bucket hat. They could not see his eyes due to that but Seul could tell, he was immersed in his work.

Clenching onto his sketchbook while his free hand did wonder on the blank paper, his muscle flexed due to the intensity that he experienced at the moment. A small smile crept on his face, as he carefully gave a light touch on his character’s hair.

Pretty. He mentally praised the outcome.

“And..you are telling me because?” Seul tilted her head in confusion.

“Didn’t you notice? That guy came to our shop at least thrice a week, sit at the same corner, wearing a plain white tee or sometimes black with a bucket hat on top to complete his fashion. Don’t you find he is a little suspicious?”

“Mmm..and how is this related to us? He could be an aspiring artist, Hwasa. Look at the sketchbook in his hand, he must find this place gives him an inspiration. Stop being so negative for goodness sake” Seul scolded and rolled her eyes in return. Hwasa could be impossible sometimes, her hunch could be a little too fiction.

“The inspiration happens to be you Ji Seul. Hello, wake up girl! I saw how he looked at you” she retorted with protest.

Seul flinched with a disapproval frown “No, he doesn’t, stop imagining things. I can’t remember seeing him that frequent in our shop. Why are you so nosy!” she jabbed her arms with small force enough to annoy Hwasa.

“It is called being observant you foolish girl. Stop being gullible! He is crushing on you, I could tell! Believe me for, once will you?” Hwasa was being adamant especially when it comes to convincing Seul with her words.

“You are being ridiculous Hwasa. He is not crushing on anyone, can you please stop writing your own fiction story, thank you. Letting negativity consumes your already corrupted brain is not healthy, for your information” she pressed her lips into thin line. However, it would be a lie even after the little commotion that Hwasa cause, it didn’t trigger Seul’s curiosity. She found herself glancing at the male who seemed engross in his little world.

She shrugged off the thought away trying not to be mini Hwasa, that would be awful.

“Excuse you. It is you who being too positive. Stop seeing all the good things in people and for once start to doubt another human ugh. Not all of them are saint as you imagine!” she whined not liking the fact that her own best friend did not have her back on her.

“Okay Miss, this talk is pointless. Besides, that guy pays for his drink so let him be unless he is using this place for free just to hangout then we have the right to question his presence here. Now, mind your own business Hwasa, we have stakes of plate behind to be cleaned. Go go!” she gave her friend a light pat on her bum causing the latter to pout.

Taking a final glance at the man whom sat at the corner, their gaze lock without they realize. It surprised him as he quickly lowered his head with a small smile “Weird” Seul mutters at his weird antic.

I wonder when will I have the courage to talk you. He heaved a soft sigh while continue to steal secret glances at the hardworking girl. How her presence alone managed to take his breath away. It all started with a mere admiration, and as day passed he didn’t even realize why his heart will find its own way there.

She is an escape from the reality.

She is his muse.

Literally.

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Trudging to the kitchen as fast as lightning, his nose is greeted by the sweet smell of Jin’s cooking “COOKIES” Taehyung hollered with a goofy grin. Jin looked his shoulder eyeing the younger guy sternly “Do not touch it!” he warned.

“WHY?” he whined, sticking his lower lips out as an attempt for his infamous aegyo (acting cute).

“This is for the caretaker lad-Ahjumma” he corrected but Taehyung was quick to catch on. A sly grin could be seen across his face “Are you preparing this for the caretaker lady? Seul isn’t it?” he poked fun.

Jin frowned “I am just being nice since she kinda give me a good piece of advice that night, so I feel indebted” he tried to hide his flushed face from being seen, to react this way was super wrong. It was not like he liked her in that way. Weird.

“Are you sure it is just an advice? Did something happen between both of you which does not involve words of advice?” Taehyung poked the cookies with his finger trying to steal it away but only to be stopped by Jin.

He swatted his hand from touching the cookies and glared at Taehyung’s way “Dirty minded Taehyung, who taught you this? Namjoon?” the latter pouted again as if he’s innocent as charged. Well all he wanted was a piece of the cookie, but thrifty Jin seemed to only care about the caretaker lady.

“All I wanted was a piece of this yummy cookies, only to be called dirty taehyung this early making me sulky” dramatic Taehyung touched his chest indicating he was in pain.

“Do not be silly Kim Taehyung” Jin rolled his eyes getting used to Taehyung’s weird antic. He took a piece of fresh baked cookies from the oven and shoved it into Taehyung’s mouth. “There happy?” he jeered.

Taehyung gave him a thumb up and wink before skipping happily to the living room. Kids would be kids.

Jin looked around making sure there was no one taking a peek on what he was about to do, he pulled out a cute box and arranged the cookies accordingly with a genuine smile. It was just a simple act of gratitude, right? He did not outdo it, was he?

Finishing up the small token of appreciation for Seul, he left a simple thank you note on top of the box “I hope she likes it” biting his lower lips to surpass his excitement, Jin kept the box on the table hidden from his nosy members. If they happen to see this, he would get tease for the rest of his life.

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“What the heck Hoon, you are their fans and why am I being dragged into this illogical thing” Seul grumbled under her breath. His foolish brother had the audacity to make her attend BTS Puma Fansign just because he wanted to get that limited-edition winter jacket. In all honesty, she admired his passion in obtaining the jacket however hell man this is Bangtan thing and definitely not her cup of tea.

“How is it illogical when it is a Bangtan thing!” he was offended. What a true Army, clap.

Seul cringed “Because it is a Bangtan thing, stop acting like a fangirl”

Hoon argued “CAN’T A MALE FANGIRLING TOO? WOW SPEAKING OF BEING DOUBLE STANDARD” he guffawed cynically and continued “And there is something called fanboy for someone like me, thank you”

Seul shook her head while putting on her pink converse, she really needed to ignore his brother weird request from now on. Especially when it involved Bangtan. Persistence Hoon wont back away that easily, so he went to Seul side with his sad façade, prolly trying to impress Seul.

“Come on nuna, help me to get that winter edition jacket. I saved up my money for that, now because of my stupid speaking test. My plan to get the jacket burnt down to ashes” Hoon complained as if Seul was the reason why his early plan was doomed.

“For your information I have a better work to do rather than attending some weird fansign. Can’t you just get the jacket later on? They might put it up after the fansign, Ji Hoon! Why with the rush?” she retorted with a low scowl.

“Oh god, you are really oblivious, aren’t you? By the time they put it on display, everything will be wiped out by the Armys! Don’t you know the power of Army?”

Seul scrunched up her nose in utter disgust “Ew, you sounded so righteous trying to defend your favourite idol. But, power of Army? What I know is, it turns you into a pussy” Hoon gawked at Seul’s sassy mark. No one really could beat that foul mouth of hers.

Hoon sensed anger and hatred in Seul’s tone, even worse than before. He knew Seul did listen to Bangtan songs even though it was not to the extent of fangirling yet back then before she started this caretaking job, she did not sound as salty as now. What exactly happened to change her into some kind of typical k-netz whom sometimes only know how to condemn everything that the idols do.

He pinched the bridge of his nose while digesting his sister’s rude demeanour “Okay, nuna. Let me put every piece together first. What exactly happened at work causing you to act this way? As far as I am concerned the worst thing that you ever said to Bangtan was Jungkook hyung is a lazy bum” he frowned.

“Not this Bangtan talk again Ji Hoon. Look I am running late so can we just drop this thing because their life is not my problem. Alright?” she stood up, patting her jeans lightly and made her way to the front door only to be stopped by Hoon.

“WHAT NOW!” she hissed angrily.

“Say yes to the Puma fansign first then I am letting you go!”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nuna please just this one! It is important”

“My job is important too and I have stomach to feed, get out of my way before I smack your soul out of your body. Go study and stop fangirling over Bangtan. Get a life Hoon” her brows knitted together into a deep frown.

“Just this one fansign please” Hoon threw his arms around her neck, basically clinging onto Seul for his dear life “I promise I will not ask anything irrelevant after this if you just help me to get the winter jacket” he begged with his puppy eyes.

“You are so annoying” Seul bit her lower lips trying to fall for Hoon’s request. She did not think meeting Bangtan members especially Yoongi and Jimin would be a good idea. Plus, to add to the suffering that she experienced, Jin was in the equation too. One fansign would not hurt right? They would not recognize her if she hid her face. That was face mask for!

Inhaling a deep breath, Seul finally gave in “Fine, just this fansign” Hoon hopped happily, squishing her sister into a super tight hug. He could be a little childish sometimes.

“I LOVE YOU NUNA SO MUCH” she felt a moist friction against her cheeks. Not a kiss Ji Hoon. Not a kiss, this grossed her out.

“Okay I am out from here, get off me” using her strength she pushed Hoon off her, so she could start walking and started her day already. She exited her apartment while rolling her eyes, then Hoon hollered at the back “It is today at 6! I will wire you the money and text the detail! Oh nuna! Get me the grey jacket thank you!” she sighed tiredly.

Thankfully, it was Saturday, so she didn’t have to tend Bangtan’s dorm. Much to her annoyance, she couldn’t imagine running around from one place to another just because of Hoon silly request. Unimportant much.

--------------------

Seul left earlier than she did to attend Hoon’s BTS Puma Fansign however to her dismay, she was stuck in traffic causing her to arrive 30 minutes later than the actual event. Another shitty thing happened after another, when she was not allowed to enter the venue with her face mask. What was the big deal again? She then, followed the rule anyways as much as she hated it since she already promised Hoon to get him that dreamy winter jacket of his.

She was amazed by the settings and by the time she entered the small exhibition room, fans had already lined up for the fansign. Even from afar, she could see the members were already in their seat getting busy with their fanservices. Some members were entertaining the fans on the floor with cameras, must be their fansites, Seul mumbled under her breath.

Without her facemask, she felt so exposed to danger especially that exact two members whom already well aware of her existence. Seul cussed in her head not liking this one bit, one of the staffs came to her demanded her to be in line. Now this was a real drill.

She had to pretend as if nothing happened then and ignored those two completely. What was the worse thing they could do in public? Ji Seul everything will be fine, just smile. She spoke to Hoon earlier about the ideas of getting the winter jacket only and to ditch the fansign, but that little filthy creature wanted Bangtan’s autograph on the poster too. What a brat.

Thirty minutes passed yet there was no sign of Bangtan members in front of her, there were about 20 fans before her turn. This by far the craziest thing that she ever did for someone named Hoon. It would not happen again, she will make sure that.

Seul almost dozed off whilst waiting and of course she paid no attention to the fans around her and her surroundings. All she cared was to end this thing instantly “My god why am I doing this” she rubbed her sleepy eyes, yawning away to ease the sleepiness in her.

Getting bored standing in line like a fool, her eyes wander around watching the excited fans whenever their favourite members reacted to their questions. Idols really are the best actors of the century, weren’t they tired? Seul still could not understand a fangirl’s life, the closest would be her brother.

Her eyes were fixated on Jin, looking all glee and joyful with his fans. If and only that fan knew the real struggle behind smiley Jin, she sighed. The corner of her lips was tugged into a small smile upon witnessing Jin’s passion and his kindness with every fan who come to greet him a simple hello. He is a nice guy, she mentally complimented.

Seul felt a gaze on her as she shifted when the line moved forward, that weird feeling again. Jimin’s eyes were on her direction making Seul melted under his strong gaze. People might think he was actually staring into the lens, but no.

Jimin had his eyes on that one familiar figure not far from where he sat “Ji Seul..” he mumbled lowly not wanting to garner any misunderstanding from the fans and members.

Shoot, he knew me. Screw it. Seul turned her body to other side, steadying her heavy breathing. This won’t do, she must stay calm and act like nothing happen. This is their workplace, they should be professional anyway.

Jimin’s playful smile was slowly replaced by a genuine one as his attention now was on the fan in front of him. He could not wait until Seul’s turn came, there were a lot of things to ask.

On the other side, there was another person on stage whom seemed as surprised as Jimin, his beautiful lips were perfectly shaped into the most breath-taking smile which could blow any heart away ‘It is her. The lady from the tea shop’ he could not believe what’s in front of him.

His muse is there. He did not know she’s a fan well except her phone ringtone indicated she might be a possible fan, but to see her stood there in her casual clothes shook his heart.

She looked beautiful as always.

He returned his attention back to the audience and the members whom seemed too engross in doing something per requested. Guess, he finally had a chance to talk to her even for a short while in a bit.

-----------------

After waiting for another twenty minutes, her turn to be entertained finally here. Well not exactly entertained, she was doing it for brat Hoon. Deep down inside, she was as nervous as other fans, except she really hated the attention from the public. Being in public alone in this kind of event pressured her to be cautious of her surrounding even more.

Jung Hoseok was the first member who greeted her cheerfully, it baffled Seul to see energetic Hoseok. He was indeed the real sunshine of the group, never once she caught him frowning or sighing. It was incredible how he was able to maintain that face whole day.

“Your name?” Hoseok asked cheerfully looking into Seul’s eyes intensely. Seul felt her cheeks getting hot at this unnecessary fanservice, not like she’s a fan of them. God, she hated this feeling the most.

“Urm… Se-I mean Hoon” she mumbled nervously.

Hoseok tilted his head while blinking his stupidly cute round eyes “Hoon?” he didn’t sound convinced at first considering the name was too manly for a girl like her “Is this your first time?” he inquired.

“Mmm.. yes.. actually this is for my brother. He is a fan, but he couldn’t make it to the fansign” she cleared her throat in hope she didn’t sound too nasal.

His mouth formed into an ‘o’ shape with a soft nod “Say hi to your brother then, Hoon’s sister” Seul chuckled at his cheekiness. For an odd reason, his smile warmth her heart and for goodness sake Jung Hoseok is beautiful. His honey skin is everything, okay enough complimenting.

Seul shifted to other side to meet the second Bangtan’s members, she saw him before but couldn’t really call his name. He had a cute smile plastered across his face, as he scrunched up his nose cutely making Seul froze in her spot “Hi.. how are you? I like your smile by the way..” his voice was holly deep and sexy.

That was random as hell. What is with her smile again?

She turned fifty shades of red at the compliment “F..ine.. I guess? Mmm..thank you?” Seul wanted to force the word out from his mouth but only to be stopped by the person beside him, Park Jimin.

“Taehyunggie you are flattering her, don’t worry let me take it from here” Jimin slipped his hand in Seul’s cold one, pulling her in front of him. Seul could hear Taehyung guy whines at the background claiming Jimin stole his fan away, however to Seul, she was too preoccupied by Jimin’s presence.

How could a guy that she encountered few weeks ago could be this beautiful? I mean come on, Jimin was the real definition of living prince.

“Fancy to see you here again, Ji Seul-ssi” he caressed his thumb over her skin in circular motion whilst his other hand signed the poster in front of him. Ji Seul chose to remain silent, like what else she could say to this Park Jimin guy.

“I thought you were not a fan” he smug playfully making his eyes shrunk in process.

“Am not” Seul blurted with a long sigh. This whole thing was too much for her heart to handle, especially with Jimin stroking her skin as if she’s his lover. Was he this affectionate with his fans? Crazy.

Jimin bit his lower lips enjoying the scene in front of him, he had the upper hand now. It was rather interesting to see her overreact to his little touch “So, why are you here? Do you like someone from Bangtan?” he pried answers from the flustered girl.

“Well, I don’t exactly have one” Seul wanted to pull her hand away from Jimin’s grasp but did not want to appear rude. Another thing was that she did not want to cause any rumours, so she just played along until she found the perfect chance to just end this.

She started to break a cold sweat, this staring contest would not be over until she came up with answers, so she shut her eyes together and blurted out the first name that came into her mind “It is Suga” she gawked at her own answers.

Hearing his name being called Yoongi who sat three seats away from Jimin turned his head to Jimin’s direction, he too could not believe what he just saw. Did he really see it right? Ji Seul, their caretaker was there all along at the fansign.

Jimin face felt yet he managed to cover it up with the sweetest smile ever “Oh, guess you are looking forward to your meeting with Hyung” he winked. Seul looked away, finally able to pull her shaking hand away from his strong grip “It is nice meeting you Jimin-ssi” with that Seul quickly moved to the person beside Jimin.

The wise leader had been assessing the whole situation and he was not a fool though. He knew the way how Jimin and Suga exchanged a meaningful look, he knew the two members and the girl in front of him knew each other. Could it be the infamous caretaker lady that those two bragged before?

“Are you alright?” he saw how the girl broke into cold sweat, Seul was fiddling with the hem of her shirt easing the tense that she felt in her muscle.

Seul smiled politely “I am okay.. Thank you for asking” Namjoon’s dimple smile seemed to calm down her racing heart at least. It didn’t last long when Namjoon leaned over the table, dabbing Seul’s forehead with his sleeve.

Squeals after squeals could be heard from every corner making Seul flustered in her stance, what in the world just happened. Her body paralyzed at this small gesture and the proximity killed her inside “Don’t be nervous even this is your first time. You are doing great” Kim Namjoon was a real gentleman.

Seul chewed her lower lips, hiding her now crimson red face from Namjoon “Thank you…Good urm luck in anything you do and eat well I guess” he returned to his seat with a wide grin. Before Seul moved to the next member, Namjoon gave a light pat on her head and whispered in her ears “I remember you, glad to see you again caretaker agashii” he nodded with nose scrunched up revealing his dimple once again.

That is so not healthy. Seul chuckled bitterly and faced another unfamiliar face in front of him, guess she really need to study hard when it came to their names.

“Hello…Urm…?” Seul paused for a moment scrutinizing Jungkook’s face, rummaging through her memories. What was his name again? She cursed in her head.

“Jungkook..Jeon Jungkook.. You really are not a fan, you seem to like Suga hyung more than anything” Jungkook shook his head with a light chuckle. God, even his small laugh alone sounded melodious.

Of course, he is the Jeon Jungkook. Everyone knew he is the Jeon Jungkook, except Seul who’s still struggling with BTS’s members name in her head. She kept on messing the same name all over again except few members that left a great impression on her before like Yoongi, Jimin, Jin and Namjoon. Those are the only members that she accidentally bumped into so far.

“I am sorry Jungkook-ssi. Just a little urm… nervous I guess. The words just could not get out from my mouth” Seul sighed deeply.

“It is okay I am joking. You seem a little tense, calm down a little” he teased. Jungkook’s bunny smile managed to make her laugh a little despite the sticky situation that she faced a moment ago, now she felt a burden being lifted off her shoulder. Jungkook and Seul chattered for few more minutes before they ended with a shy hi-five as the staffs motioned Seul to move quickly not hogging the line.

Seul apologized and moved to the second last member, the eldest in the group, Kim Seokjin. Only god knew how uncomfortable she was conversing with Jungkook earlier, when she could eventually sense Jin’s deep gaze on her. It ripped out her sanity.

The corner of her eyes caught a glance of Yoongi whom sat the end of the table with a poker face, he was ignoring her whilst paying his attention on the fans at the audience seat. His voice alone was a major distraction to her innocent ears.

“So is it true Yoongi is your favourite member?” Jin’s soft voice diverted her attention to him instead. He found herself envied Yoongi, and trying to digest the ridiculousness. Wasn’t she supposed to loathe him instead since the things happened between the two aint pretty.

“Pardon?”

“I said do you like Yoongi?”

“………”

“Should I take that as a yes?”

“……..”

There was another silence between them. She had been repeating this question all over again in her head, what more she could say?

“Well, I wish it could be me instead. Don’t you think Yoongi doesn’t deserve your love” he joked causing the other guy to kick his calf under the table. He grinded his teeth together giving the older guy a warning glare.

“You may become one, in the future” Seul smiled, thanking Jin before shifting herself to Yoongi. Jin was in dazed upon hearing her response, Seul is attractive in his eyes. Biting his tongue down, he wished to see Seul again soon.

If and only she could skip Yoongi, she would gladly do that. Upon his eyes fell on Seul, he slouched forward examining the girl’s face so intensely that cause everyone in the audience fell silence in their seat.

Yoongi was known to be less affectionate with his fans in comparison to other members like the maknae line. But, there were rare occasion whereby he would shake hand casually with his fans. Likewise, with Seul he felt the urge to tease her even more than that.

Breaking his usual cold and cool demeanour, Yoongi cups her cheeks gazing into her eyes deeply “I told you we will meet again Mrs Hwang’s daughter” he murmured lowly careful someone might hear him.

“DID YOU SEE THAT?”

“DID MIN YOONGI JUST-“

“WOW, THAT IS RARE”

The faint voices behind her was just another voice that she had completely filtered from her memory. Other members took the moment to glance over at their side to witness the commotion, they were weirded out by Yoongi sudden change of character. How unusual.

“What are you doing” Seul hissed under her sharp breath. She didn’t fancy this kind of thing especially when Yoongi was the one who initiated the first move.

Yoongi smiled adorably “Being friendly” he chuckled, as his hand moved to the tuck the strand of hair behind her ears. He continued to give her an affectionate look, turning Seul into a real mess. For pete’s sake, she really hated Min Yoongi. Why he even exists?

“Didn’t know that you actually like me?”

“I don’t”

“Liar”

“I am not”

“Prove it”

“Do I need to kiss you and ruin your career then only you trust me”

“Oh, that will only affect you. I will just announce to the world you are my girl, as simple as that”

“YOU WONT DARE!”

“TRY ME”

“FUCK YOU MIN YOONGI”

“Only if you invite me to your bed”

“YOU ARE ANNOYING”

“Thank you”

Their banter was done under the radar, no one could hear them except Kim Seokjin, but he decided not to butt in and let them be. He was still dead curious on the inside, just how close these two are? They seem to have a very friendly relationship in his eyes.

Yoongi leaned dangerously close to her face before releasing her completely “See you around, Mrs Hwang’s daughter” he gave her one final wink. Grumpily, Seul got up descended from the stage with red face. The result of her random banter with Yoongi caused her to be this sensitive.

Just wait, I will poison you in your sleep. Clenching her fist together, Seul refused to look back though he knew Yoongi’s eyes never left her until she disappeared from his vicinity.

Did she leave already? The guy peered up scanning the area to find a glimpse of Seul in the audience. He flinches as he failed to catch Seul face anywhere in the area, then he slumped in his seat.

I will just visit her at the shop. He smiled to himself.

#bts #btsfanfic #bts fanfiction #bts idol au #bts series #yoongi x oc #jin x oc #min yoongi x oc #suga x oc #jungkook x oc #bts x oc #bts romance #bts fluff #yoongi fluff #jungkook romance #btscaretaker

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dogbearinggifts · 5 years

Text

“Dad Sent Me to the Moon” vs. “Because Dad Made Me”

How Luther and Vanya Talk About Trauma, Part One

In this fandom, I’ve heard a lot about Luther and Vanya.

Most of the things I’ve heard about Luther are negative. He constantly whines about his time on the Moon. He won’t shut up about how he had it worse than everyone else. He invalidates his siblings’ trauma. Meanwhile, Vanya is spoken of as if she’s his polar opposite: a kind, timid woman who genuinely did have it worse than everyone else but suffers nobly in silence while quietly ensuring her siblings are okay. I wanted to see if these perceptions were accurate, so I decided to take an empirical approach. During my sixth rewatch, I noted every time Luther mentions the Moon or Vanya mentions her exclusion, as well as how each of them responds to hearing of someone else’s trauma.

I want to stress that I am not out to throw one character under the bus. I’m not out to prove that Vanya is the actual worst and that Luther is the literal best, or that Vanya is amazing and Luther is awful. I’ve just heard a lot about both characters from within the fandom and I want to see how strongly the show itself supports the fandom’s perceptions. I won’t be examining every quote they have, and I won’t be looking at every scene they’re in. A deep study of both characters would certainly be fun, but for now, I’m only interested in how they address their own trauma and how they respond to the trauma of others.

Note: I’ve chosen not to include Vanya’s book as a mention of her trauma. While her book does indeed bring it up and examine it in detail, I wasn’t sure how to quantify it for my own purposes. Do I count it as a single mention, because she only wrote it down once, and thus risk underestimating its impact? Do I count each sale as a separate mention, guesstimate the number based on how many copies sold it takes to reach bestseller status, and therefore grossly inflate her numbers? Because the book is impossible to quantify with any sort of accuracy, I’ve chosen to leave it aside. Rather, I will keep my trauma counts limited to what Luther and Vanya say to friends or family members. This also means I won’t include her voice-over while we see her writing her book, or the moments where she reads excerpts aloud.

I’ve also chosen to write down the exact quote each time Luther or Vanya mentions their respective trauma or respond to someone else’s trauma. I’ll share my analysis, but I also want to give you all the chance to see each quote for yourselves and make your own judgments. You’re welcome to disagree with my conclusions and take or leave them as you see fit. However, because these analyses will become lengthy in places, I plan to do only a few episodes at a time.

Episode 1: We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals

No explicit mentions of trauma from either Luther or Vanya. It’s established that Luther lived on the Moon for a while and that Vanya was raised to believe she had no powers and excluded from the family dynamic as a result, but neither one addresses what they went through.

Episode 2: Run Boy Run

Following the episode opener—a flashback to the day Five time-traveled and accidentally got stuck in the apocalypse—we hear Five share the harrowing details of his time there. Eating cockroaches, subsisting on scavenged food, learning the hard way that Twinkies do in fact expire—it’s pretty awful stuff. After Vanya takes it in stunned silence, we have this exchange:

Five: You think I’m crazy. Vanya: No, it’s just…it’s a lot to take in. Five: Exactly what don’t you understand? Vanya: Why didn’t you just time-travel back? Five: Gee, wish I’d thought of that. Time-travel is a crapshoot. I went into the ice and never acorn-ed. You think I didn’t try everything to get back to my family? Vanya: If you grew old there, you know, in the apocalypse, then how come you still look like a kid? Five: I told you already. I must have got the equations wrong. Vanya: I mean, Dad always used to say that time-travel could mess up your mind. Maybe that’s what’s happening?

This is our first onscreen mention of trauma, and Vanya invalidates it. However, there are some factors to consider:

Five’s story is pretty bizarre. “Yeah, after I ran away from home and time-traveled, I got stuck in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, lived there for 40 years or so, ate cockroaches and bad Twinkies, and then I jumped right back here but because math failed me almost as much as Dad failed at parenting I still look just like I did the day I left. You got any booze?”

There is no evidence to corroborate his story. He looks exactly the way he did when he left, and he has no way to prove he visited the future at all. The most logical conclusion here is that he spent a year at most figuring out how to return and wound up jumping ahead to 17 years after his disappearance.

As we see in the flashback, Five has always been arrogant and headstrong, growing angry when corrected. His anger and impatience toward Vanya’s insinuations that he’s lost his mind are not a reliable indication that he’s telling the truth; if anything, Vanya is well within reason to assume she’s edging too close to a truth he’s not ready to face.

Reginald Hargreeves was a terrible parent. But he was also a very smart man who knew more about his children’s powers than they themselves did. When he said that time-travel could mess up one’s mind, Vanya had every reason to assume he knew what he was talking about.

Reginald often used “YOU CHILDREN MUST ONE DAY SAVE THE WORLD FROM AN IGNOMINIOUS END” to scare his kids into doing the dishes. Not only has Vanya probably had enough of that talk to make her decide the world is going to die a natural death billions of years after hers, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable for her to assume Five’s time-travel-addled mind latched onto those doomsday threats and twisted them into something truly strange.

So, yes, Vanya does invalidate Five’s trauma, suggesting it’s all in his head. But when your choices of explanation are “my brother time-traveled before he was ready and it messed up his mind” or “my brother time-traveled to an apocalypse that’s going to happen in 8 days, lived there for 40 years without ever trying to get back, and now looks like a 13-year-old kid because he got the math wrong,” the former is easier to believe than the latter.

Additionally, we see she genuinely cares for Five. His sudden reappearance, his talk of an impending apocalypse, his story that to her has holes large enough to drive a Volkswagen through—all of that has got to be terrifying. It’s clear she’s not invalidating his trauma out of any sense of malice, but rather concern. If he’s a victim of time-travel messing up his mind, she wants him to get the help he needs (as evidenced by her recommending a therapist later). Her invalidation of his trauma isn’t right, but it’s also a human response that comes from a place of genuine concern and good intentions.

It’s also worth noting that, the very next day, she returns to the Academy to apologize for how she responded to his story. She does recommend a therapist, but only when Five says “Maybe you were right, maybe it was all in my head.”

A few scenes later, we get Vanya’s first mention of her trauma.

Allison: No offense, Vanya, if I wanted advice, it wouldn’t be from you. Vanya: What’s that supposed to mean? Allison: You don’t have a child. You’ve never even been in a relationship. Vanya: That’s not true. Allison: So you know what it’s like to love someone like this? Like, when you’re apart from her, you can’t breathe? Like you would die—and I mean, actually die, to know she’s okay and happy? I mean, you separate yourself from everything and everyone, you always have. Vanya: Because Dad made me. Allison: Did Dad make you write that book about us, too? Pause You’re an adult now, Vanya. You don’t get to blame your problems on anyone but yourself.

The first thing to note about this exchange is that, although it’s Vanya’s first mention of her own trauma, it’s Allison who brings it up first. The second is that when she brings up her trauma, it’s as an explanation for her behavior: I separate myself from everything and everyone because Dad made me.

Vanya is definitely sympathetic here. I’m not going to argue she isn’t. She tries to be nice to her sister, catches her when she’s distressed, and gets reamed out for the attempt. That’s a shitty thing for Allison to do, which she later acknowledges.

However, there’s also their history to consider: Allison is a movie star. As I’m sure we all know by now, image is everything to the rich and famous. I don’t mean that as a jab at their vanity (although vanity is certainly involved, more often than not) but as a fact: They are the product, and their image is part of the advertising. Everything they do in public (and much of what they do in private) is pounced on by the paparazzi and spun into the next big story. And this isn’t always fair to them; a single misspoken word can set off rumors that come back to bite them in the ass.

And Vanya wrote a tell-all book about how Allison treated her as a child.

As we see from the intro sequence in Episode 1, it seems Vanya’s autobiography hasn’t kept Allison off the red carpet. But it would have certainly hurt her public image. While it’s true we don’t know everything Vanya put in her autobiography, we do know Vanya harbors a lot of bitterness and resentment toward her family. We know she sees her siblings as near-strangers who had an easier time of it than she did at best, superpowered copycats of their father at worst. From the reactions we see later on—Diego taping Vanya’s author photo to a punching bag, Ben saying “I can’t believe she said that!” as Klaus shushes him—it’s safe to assume she did not say kind things about her siblings in that book.

If the things Vanya said about Allison matched the things Allison later says about herself—that she used her power to get everything she wanted as a kid, that she grew up spoiled because of it—then that would not have done any favors for her public image. And the paparazzi would have gone apeshit for it. Yes, Allison is an incredibly popular actor, but that doesn’t mean the press wouldn’t have turned on her the second they got a juicy morsel about her past. I imagine her having to field many uncomfortable questions from trashy reporters while out for lunch with friends, having an interview about her upcoming film suddenly turn tense when the interviewer said “Now, Allison, your sister—who none of us even knew existed up to this point—wrote about you in her book, and I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say I want to know more about….” There’s even a chance Vanya’s autobiography contributed to Patrick’s continuing antagonism toward her, since reading a book detailing Allison’s childhood power abuse could have convinced him his wife had always been bad, right from the cradle. (Or it could have fostered suspicion toward his wife and led him to keep a closer eye on her and therefore is the reason why he was close to Claire’s bedroom the night he saw Allison Rumor her, but that’s another theory for another time.)

You might say she deserved it. You might say she’d set herself up to fall and that all Vanya did was push that first domino over. You could even say her house of cards needed to topple, since part of her perfect life involved running roughshod over her own daughter’s free will, and possibly even Rumoring her husband into falling in love with her. Those arguments are absolutely fair, but they’re not my point. My point is, Allison’s harsh words to Vanya in this scene don’t come on her out of the blue. There’s a painful history there—painful for the both of them—and Allison harbors a lot of unresolved anger toward her sister for what she wrote in her book. And I don’t think that anger is unfounded, just as I don’t think Vanya’s resentment toward Allison is unwarranted. What Allison does in this scene is shitty, but Vanya has already done something shitty to her, in retaliation for shit she went through as a kid, and on and on the chain of pain goes. Vanya is far from guiltless in their relationship, but that does not make Allison’s lashing out at her okay.

And this is getting pretty long, so I’ll cut things short here. I’m going to list the count for trauma mentions/reactions below—and since I’ve seen this show multiple times over, I know it’s going to change; so don’t take the fact Vanya’s count is higher than Luther’s as an indictment of her. It’s just where we are at the end of Episode 2.

Own Trauma: Vanya 1, Luther 0 Trauma of Others: Vanya 1, Luther 0

Enjoying this series? Read on to Part Two.

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d-noona · 4 years

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BARTERED BRIDE

Chapter 1: Acquisition

Kim Namjoon is a ruthless financier used to buying and selling stocks, shares and priceless artifacts. But now Namjoon has his eye on a very different acquisition - Park Han Byeol. Left destitute by her father's recent death, Han Byeol walks into Namjoon's bank looking to extend her overdraft. As Han Byeol needs money and Namjoon needs a wife, he proposes the perfect deal: he'll rescue her financially if she agrees to marry him. But in this marriage of convenience can Han Byeol ever be anything more than just a bartered bride?

Expecting him to be a middle-aged toad, Han Byeol was surprised when the man who rose from behind the large orderly desk was a tall, dark, middle twenties, very handsome, with dimples on top. Man was he handsome.

“Miss Park, please sit down.” He gestured to the chair on the outer side of the desk and waited until she was settle before resuming his own sit. She knew nothing about him, except that his name was Kim Namjoon and he occupied a large office on the highest floor of a prestigious office block in the City. This area of Seoul was one of the world’s great markets. Judging by his discreetly luxurious surroundings, this man was one of the market’s moguls. To Han Byeol, until very recently, money has been something she spent with careless extravagance on clothes for herself, presents for others and anything else she wanted. Now the supply she had dried up. That was why she was here in the formidable presence of this well-built, 5’11 tall, whose physique didn’t match her mental image of a top-level financier. All she knew about him was that Mr. Lee, her late father’s lawyer, had said that Kim Namjoon wished to see her and might be able to help her and her mother out of their predicament.

Predicament being the understatement of the year, Han Byeol thought wryly, leaning back in the comfortable leather chair and automatically crossing her legs, remembering a moment too late that this was a no-no in the books of advice on how to impress interviewers. The movement caused Mr. Kim to shift the focus of his cold brown gaze from her face to her shapely knees and then to her ankles. Han Byeol accustomed to men admiring her legs furtively or openly according to temperament. Kim Namjoon belonged to the latter group, but whether his frank appraisal was appreciative, critical of indifferent it was impossible to tell. He had the most deadpan expression she had ever come across. It made her nervous.

And Han Byeol wasn’t used to being nervous. She didn’t like it. The appraisal didn’t last long, perhaps not more than three seconds. Leaning forward, his forearms resting on the edge of his desk and his long-fingered hands loosely clasped, he returned his gaze to her face. “You’re in trouble I hear.”

Lacking any regional of social accent, his voice gave no clue to his background. Self-assured and brisk, it was a voice she could imagine giving decisive orders people would jump to obey. Had she met him in surroundings not indicative of his occupation, and had been asked to guess it, she would have assumed that he held a senior rank in one of the special units of crack fighting men called to the world’s trouble spots when drastic action was the only solution. He had an air of contained physical power. A man of action rather than a desk-bound number-cruncher. “Yes,” she agreed, “We are. Since my father’s death, my mother and I have discovered that instead of being comfortably off were extremely hard up – virtually penniless.”

“Not penniless,” he said dryly. “The watch you’re wearing would pay the grocery bills of an average family for several months.” She looked down at her Cartier watch her parents had given her for her eighteenth birthday “I won’t be wearing this much longer, but I don’t mind that. I can cope with the change in our circumstances. It’s my mother I’m worried about. She’s not young. She’s never worked. She –“ He interrupted her. “Nor have you, I understand. The press described you as a playgirl”

“The press put labels on everyone…not always accurate. It’s true I’ve never had a job. There was no point. My father was rich…so we thought. I wasn’t brainy enough to train for one of the professions. I don’t have any special bent. The most useful thing I could do was to help keep other people employed, not take a routine job someone else needed” as Han Byeol attempts to explain her situation. “You do not have to explain your butterfly existence to me Miss Park, but without any work-experience, you’re not going to find it easy to start supporting yourself, particularly not at the level you’re accustomed to.”

“Presumably you didn’t ask me here to tell what I already know,” she replied, with a flash of irritation. There was something about his manner that put her back up. He hadn’t smiled when he greeted her. Beyond standing up when she was shown in by his secretary, he hadn’t done anything to put her at ease. “Why did you send for me?” she asked quirking at eyebrow at the man.

Rising, he picked up a file lying on top of his desk. He walked round to hand it to her. “Have a look through that.” He strolled away to a window looking out on a vista of rooftops. He stood with his hands behind him, the right hand clasping the left wrist. The file held plastic pockets containing illustrations taken from magazines and the glossier kind of catalog. Mostly they showed pieces of sculpture, paintings and other objects d’art. There were also several photographs of horses, an aerial view of an island off Scotland and a picture of a small French Chateau. Half turning from the window, he said “They're all things that caught my eye over the last few years. Some of them are mine now I’m in the fortunate position of being able to indulge my acquisitive impulses…as I expected you did before your father died.”

Shaking her head “Not on this scale,” said Han Byeol. She couldn’t see where the conversation was heading, as she glanced at him, Kim Namjoon returned to his desk, resting one long hard thigh along the edge of its polished surface and folding his arms across his chest. “There’s one picture in there that you’ll recognize. Carry on looking.”

Intrigued, she obeyed, turning the pages more rapidly than before. Suddenly, with in drawn breath of surprise and puzzlement, she stopped. She hadn’t expected to see a photograph of herself. It had been taken at a party of socialites. She was wearing a figure hugging dress of black crushed velvet and showing a lot of sun-tanned cleavage, having recently returned from a winter holiday in the Caribbean. “What am I doing here?” she demanded, baffled. “You, I hope, are going to be my next major acquisition, Ms. Park.” For the first time a hint of amusement showed in the hard steely-brown eyes and flickered at the corners of his wide, chiseled mouth.

Inconsequentially, it struck her that his mouth was at variance with the rest of his features. It was the mouth of a sensualist in the face of a man who otherwise gave the impression of being self-disciplined. But it was the meaning of his extraordinary statement, rather than the contradiction between his mouth and his eyes that preoccupied her at the moment. “What do you mean?” she said warily.

“I need a wife. You need financial support. Do you understand the word fortuitous?” says Namjoon. “Of course I do,” she retorted, her long lashed – brown eyes sparkling with annoyance at the implied aspersion of her intelligence. It was true she had been considered a dunce by most of her teachers and had never done well in examinations, but that was because she hadn’t been interested in the things they wanted her to learn…grammar, math, physics and incredibly tedious bits of history, all of them taught in a way guaranteed to send the normal teenagers – particularly the sort of restless, hyperactive teenager she had been…into well…boredom. She said, “It means happening by chance…especially by a lucky chance. But I can’t see anything lucky about my father dying of massive coronary in his middle fifties, with his business on the rocks and his wife destitute,” she added coolly. Matching her coldness, he said “In my experience, most people make their own luck. Your father’s lifestyle wasn’t conductive to a long healthy life. As a business man, he took too many risks for a man with responsibilities.”

“Did you have dealings with him?” she asked. She knew nothing about her father’s business life. Since her late teens he had spent little time with his family. It was years since he and her mother had shared a bedroom. Han Byeol knew there had been other women. “Not directly. But after seeing that picture, I made a point of finding out more about you. I was on the point of making a contract when your father died and I put the matter on hold. In the light of subsequent events, I’ve adapted my original plan to deal with things more expeditiously. If my information is correct, you have no relationships with men in train at the present time?”

“How did you find that out?” she said baffled. He said coolly, “I had you investigated…a reasonable precaution in the circumstances. Marriage is a very important contract. When people are buying a house, they have searches made by surveyors and lawyers. I had you checked out, very discreetly, by a private detective. You may want to run a similar check on me. For the time being my secretary has prepared a file which will give you most information you need.”

Retrieving the file she was holding, he placed another slimmer folder on the edge of the desk in front of her. “I can’t believe I’m even hearing this, I thought this was a merchant bank…not marriage bureau.” Han Byeol’s eyes were both perplexed and angry. He didn’t look like a crazy person. In his expensive suit and diagonally striped tie, perhaps the emblem of one of those old boys’ networks which still wielded so much influence, he looked eminently sane and sensible. But he must be out of his head to believe he could buy a wife as casually and easily as everything else in the file he was putting away in a drawer. “It’s a bank and I am its chairman,” he said calmly. Han Byeol cocked her head to the side “You wouldn’t be much longer if your shareholders heard what you’re suggesting. They’d think you were out of your mind. You can’t buy a wife.”

“It isn’t the usual method of acquiring one,” he agreed, going back to his chair. “But these are unusual circumstances. I have neither the time nor inclination to follow traditional course. You are in urgent need of someone to straighten out the financial shambles you find yourself in. if you agree to marry me, your mother won’t have to move and you won’t have to worry about her future. I’ll take care of that. Think it over, Han Byeol, when you’ve had time to assess it. I think you’ll agree it’s an eminently sensible plan.” For some reason his use of her first name detonated the anger which had been building inside her. It was rare for Han Byeol to lose control of her temper. But she did now. Jumping up, she said fiercely “I don’t need to think it over. Nor would any sane person. I’m furious you’ve made me come here, thinking I’d hear something useful! This trip to Seoul has been a complete waste of time. I’ve damned good mind to write to you board of directors and tell them they’ve got a nutcase in control.” Without waiting for his reaction, she marched to the big double doors of solid mahogany and yanked one of them open. Glowering at the startled secretary at his desk in the outer sanctum, she slammed in resoundingly behind her and returned to the private lift which brought her up to this rarefied level of the building

#BTS #BANGTAN SONYEONDAN #KIM NAMJOON #RM #BTS LEADER #RMXREADER #KIMNAMJOONXREADER #NAMJOONIE #JOONIE #bts fanfic #btsromanticfanfic #BARTERED BRIDE

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papipopsicle · 5 years

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NOT WARRIORS PART TWO

Pairing: Billy Hargrove X Reader

Genre: fluff

Summary: In which the reader's parents are going through a rough patch, it takes it's toll on her, and they decide it's best for her to stay with family friends on the other side of America. Y/N and Billy aren't the same since they last saw each other, but somehow they are.

Song: Sunnyland by Mayday Parade

Warnings: swearing

Words: 2K

PART ONE

feedback is always appreciated

Three days.

That's how long it took for the plain walls of Billy's bedroom to drive Y/N positively insane. The garden was an overgrown jungle she didn't dare venture into, and being anywhere else in the house meant seeing and then speaking to Neil. For as long as her memories stretched, her best friend's father played the facade of a perfect gentleman in front of neighbours and friends, but she only saw the reptile that lay so close to the surface. The mere thought of him made her skin crawl like a thousand swarming fire ants.

Billy was either at school causing trouble, or out with his new friends causing trouble, only a few minutes each day spare for his best girl. It wasn't intentional, but the fact that Max even played Monopoly with her out of pity was making Y/N's eyes itch to see further than the boundaries of the small property.

"Y/N?" A gravelly voice sounded from the doorway questioningly. It was early and her clothes covered every single surface of the tiny bedroom. She sat on the edge of the bed with a vanity mirror facing the window, a light blue fluffy towel hugged to her body while her damp y/h/c hair fell in ringlets down her covered back. She put down whatever makeup utensil her hand held and turned to see Billy with a look of horror etched into his features.

A small scoff exited her lips and Y/N went back to applying various products to her face, "This house is beginning to give me the skeevies, -"

"Try living here for six months." The boy joked, his expression softening as he closes the door and lay back on the bed, the sudden dip forcing Y/N to correct her lipstick moments later.

"I'm coming to school with you today." She finished adamantly and turns to grin at Billy with wild eyes.

He shakes his head immediately and groans into the grey pillow, "That's a terrible idea."

"A brilliant idea, I'm glad you agree." Y/N's hands clasp together and her grin only widened at his now pouting mouth, "You can properly introduce me to your new friends, plus I want to see how jealous your fan base get when they see how much you love me." She teases and leaves the bed to search through the outfits strategically laid out around the room.

Y/N hears a chuckle from behind her and she knows she's won, her lips settling into a smirk, "How do you expect to be let into the school, Bambi?"

The girl pauses her search to smile at the nickname Billy had chosen for her years ago. Her stomach does a little somersault as she attempts to cool the blush creeping up on her cheeks. It was easy to sweep aside the boy's classic handsomeness after knowing him since birth and always thinking of him as the kid that ate a mud-pie thinking it was an actual pie. But after being apart, after he learnt to channel his constant anger into working out instead of breaking walls, he wasn't that little kid anymore.

Like the flick of a switch Y/N comes back to reality, shaking those thoughts from her head to muster the most innocent smile possible, "I may or may not have phoned up yesterday, possibly explaining my current situation and I might've asked for a visitors pass. Maybe." Before he can let out one syllable though, she silences him with a dainty finger over his lips and her own melodic voice, "Don't try to change my mind, do you know how difficult it is to avoid Susan? I don't think she's believing that the only two things I do are either sleep or shower and nothing else. Please? I know you have appearances to keep up and people here are more misogynistic than in California, but I'm genuinely dying from boredom. A few strange looks and comments are better than sitting here waiting for you to come back only to watch you leave again."

"Fine." A smile pulled at the boy's lips, his annoyed tone dissipating as Y/N let out a gleeful squeal. Billy finally sat up and watched with curious eyes while his best friend attempted to create the perfect outfit, "You want to make an impression?" She perked up and hummed in response at his question, "Wear the green dress and Daniel's jacket."

“Thanks,” The girl grinned up at him, feeling his arms snake around her waist and tug her close. Her back fell into his chest, warm and inviting but nothing like the quick hug goodbye from him she’d become so accustomed to over the years. His grip was tighter, scared that Y/N would fly back to California and never be seen again if he let go too soon. She closed her eyes in content and began running her smooth hands up and down the exposed skin on his wrist. Billy found that moment too perfect though, this wasn’t how they behaved around each other, they never did this.

He quickly moved his hands to jab her sides and his best friend squeaked in surprise, giggling and trying to catch her breath before retaliating by squeezing his knee, “You fucker, you know I hate being tickled.”

He shrugged, not so subtly eyeing her down from her smoothed tanned legs up to her beautifully made up face, “Get dressed and I’ll stop then.”

She gathered the clothes he had chosen and locked the bathroom door behind her, not before flipping him off.

Y/N changed into the outfit the boy had chosen, confused by what impression she was trying to make. Although the dress was tight and rather short and made her show a heck of a lot more skin than all the jean clad girls of Hawkins, it was one of the most conservative dresses in her ownership. The emerald colour complemented her tanned skin, and the ribbed material hugged her torso elegantly, flaring out at the waist to create a whirlwind of swishes whenever she turned.

Her older brother's jacket hugged Y/N's shoulders tightly while she waited for Billy to fix himself up enough to be presentable for his royal subjects. The girl didn't have any textbooks or stationary with her, planning to be the devil in Billy's ear and simply watch chaos ensue for the day.

He appeared after a few minutes of waiting-forced to be quiet as Susan wanted to sleep in- with a tentative dimpled smile on his peachy lips and car keys in hand.

The four kids from three days ago appeared early this morning calling for Max, her rushed 'goodbye' filling the house with excitement before the door slammed shut behind her.

"So," Billy drummed his fingers against the steering wheel while some sort of rock roared in the background, "How's home been without me around?"

The scene felt so familiar, riding shotgun in the blue Camaro, music pounding into her skull while her best friend drove around aimlessly for hours on end. She knew exactly where her answer was headed, and Y/N's stomach dropped thinking back to the months without Billy around. The girl found a dependability within him, he protected her and this car became her safe haven late into the night when she couldn't sleep or think straight because her parents were too busy tearing each other's heads off.

She hoped and prayed that the muscly boy beside her still shared that security.

Y/N began clicking her knuckles and scoffed, realising he couldn't hear the abhorrence radiating from her sharply raised eyebrow, "Shit."

She didn't have a poetic way to explain why life with Billy was better, it just was. He kissed her cuts and bruises better even after falling off her motorbike at sixteen when it was stationary. She could play pranks on him and know he'd forgive her in an hour or so, even when they went too far. He gave her the space she asked for when life got tough and she wanted to get through it alone, and then held her when she broke down realising she couldn't. Life without him wasn't unliveable, but it wasn't right either.

"Kelly and Cameron have broken up and got back together so many times I've lost count, the people that brought your house are absolute arseholes, but they have a cute dog called Obi so I can't complain. Jessie cheated on Steve with Jack, because you know, it's Jessie, Steve punched Jack and now they're together and Steve's pining over Amy. Dean broke his leg trying to jump from the roof of Rosie's pool-house onto the trampoline then into the pool, but he landed really badly. And I just watched from the sidelines pretending to care about their drama." Y/N chuckled to herself at the amount of times Kelly had come crying to her wanting relationship advice.

"Delilah?" Billy assumed by his best friend turning up in Indiana, something must have happened between the two. He didn't want to pry, he teased Y/N endlessly about how happy she seemed with her short, gorgeously tanned girlfriend, but that all switched if she wasn't truly happy.

The air tasted bitter on her tongue at his words, "She didn't want me to leave, said long distance doesn't work when you're already hiding your relationship from nearly the entire world. She dumped me, and I nearly stayed for her. But at my going away surprise party, I walked in on her and Jessie making out in my brother's room. I mean, she didn't cheat as far as I know, but it made it a whole lot easier for me to leave."

"Guess everyone wants a bit of Jessie... slut deserves chlamydia." Billy hummed and the two chuckled at his latter statement. He managed to brighten the sour mood right in time for the camaro to pull into the small high school car park.

The sky had lightened ever so slightly, a break in the endless clouds allowing the smallest rays of sunlight to shine down on the teens from the heavens. Y/N could practically feel the stares of Billy's classmates boring through her skull and smashing her brains with a metaphorical hammer as she stepped out of the car. To them, she was the Californian dream girl. Pretty curly hair that never seemed to frizz and skin so soft once someone touched it, they craved the inexplicable sensation.

Y/N walked on without the boy, feeling his heavy arm drape over her smaller shoulders in a matter of moments. It was a warning to the lingering gazes, she was off limits. Any conversations were soon extinguished in the halls as the two entered, eyes carefully inspecting and scrutinising the stranger on their King's arm.

"I bet she's pregnant and he's the father." One girl whispered to her group of friends.

Then from another group of girls down the hallway, "I wonder if she knows Billy's fucked half of the girls in his year-"

One of the friends snorted, "Whore's probably screwed anyone who offered back home, don't feel sorry for her."

Billy must have heard all the snide comments being thrown about because Y/N felt his grip tighten around her. She paused her steps to the guidance office and the boy mirrored, searching her face in worry to find the same look as the time that she kicked Owen Howarth right where it hurt in the middle of the cafeteria, and called him out for saying she blew him in the locker room when in reality she caught him perving on the girls showers. He couldn't walk properly for two weeks.

The girl, only a couple inches off Billy's own height, took a small step to close the distance between them and whispered, "Follow my lead."

Y/N stepped back quickly but was soon pulled back into his arms, and she felt his breath hot on her ear, "They aren't worth it, Bambi, trust me?"

Billy saw her look around at the stunned students with a wicked gaze, and just when he thought he knew every last detail about her, she shocked him. Y/N's eyes found their way back to his, thoughts stilling as the effervescent kindness behind his touch lingered on her waist. They flickered down to his lips before quickly shutting, and her hands reached up on their own accord to the back of his neck pulling him down to meet her.

She kissed him and the whole world fell away. It was slow and soft, his hand rest below her ear, thumb caressing her cheek as their breath mingled. In an instant they both pulled away, eyes blown wide with invisible smiles grinning from their hearts.

"I'll come find you after class." She hummed blissfully, turning on her heel leaving Billy alone to try and find the guidance office. Y/N kept her head high and hands in the safety of Daniel's jacket pockets, not daring to look at the faces of the boy's classmates or back at him.

Her mind screamed to turn back around, drag Billy out of the school and apologise. That's not how she pictured their first kiss, up until moving to this god forsaken town the thought hadn't even crossed her mind.

What the hell did I just do?

part three?

TAGLIST:

@rockyrocket15 @kcd15 @twogreeneyesandagoldenheart @mhftrs @ghost-brocolli (my new fave unsername btw) @wyattswolfhard @lucifersnipnips @cassiopeia-barrow @4everchrista @delicatelyherdreams @mautand @me-a-hopeless-romantic @buckysjuicyplums @fengarifood @lucyrocks86

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#fanfic #fanfiction #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #billy hargrove #stranger things fanfic #stranger things imagine #billy hargrove fluff #billy hargrove imagine #billy hargrove imagines #billy #hargrove #steve harrington #stranger things fluff

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makeste · 5 years

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BnHA Chapter 199: One Whole Bird

Previously on BnHA: Aizawa’s winning class A team reflected on what they could have done better. Tsuyu and Kirishima were unexpected bummers due to their recent internships still weighing heavily on their minds. Shinsou was also frustrated with his performance, despite everyone telling him how good he did. Aizawa and Vlad told All Might and Midnight that today’s exercise is also a test for Shinsou to see if he should be admitted into the hero course. It’s not clear whether or not Shinsou is aware of this, but we’re all rooting for him! The second round of battles got underway, with Team KendouKuroMangaToadette facing off against MomoYamaTokoKure. Class B’s Kuroiro was revealed to have a quirk that allows him to move freely within anything black. This applies even to quirks like Dark Shadow, and once the match began, he basically dove into DS and rode him back to Team A’s location. Now he’s getting ready to throw down with Tokoyami, who has dramatically thrown his cape aside and is preparing to unleash the new technique he developed during his internship with Hawks.

Today on BnHA: Hawks is back! In flashback form. But he’s back, you guys! So apparently Tokoyami first interned with him after the sports festival, only to learn that Hawks mainly selected him to get the good gossip on the whole USJ attack. This frustrated Toko enough that he redoubled his training efforts, and when he went back to intern at Hawks’s agency for real after getting his provisional license, he impressed the #2 hero by being able to keep up with him. So Hawks took him on a cute lil nighttime flight above the city while A Whole New World from Aladdin played, and then they landed on a tower somewhere and Hawks was all, “hey dude you should learn to fly for reals,” and then the flashback ended. Back in the present, Kuroiro sneaks up behind Aoyama and grabs him and hauls ass. Tokoyami then reveals his new technique: Flying For Reals. He retrieves Aoyama, who fires his laser to break up the shadows around them, making it impossible for Kuro to hide. Things are looking good for Team A, but then a mushroom suddenly sprouts from Momo’s nose, reminding everyone that there are still three other Team B members to take care of, and things are only just getting started.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my mostly-unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’m caught up with the manga now at chapter 222, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

ooh, and we’re opening with what I assume is an internship flashback!

well yeah, Mighty Wings is the type of quirk that allows you to do that. when you can individually control hundreds of little godmode wings that are strong enough to even carry people to safety, you don’t really need much in the way of backup

ah, so it’s confirmed this is Tokoyami’s narration

apparently the U.A. sports festival earlier in the year was the first time Hawks had ever taken place in the whole drafting process

hold up, so did Toko intern with him for both the jr. internship and the real internship? like, he did the weeklong thing following the sports festival, and then went back and interned there for real later? or was it only the first and not the latter?

lol Hawks is flying off to go save some other hapless soul. some out of control drunk dude at a bar in Cantina

I assume Cantina is a specifically a reference to the very famous Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars, even though it’s also a common enough word in its own right

lmao his sidekicks are all “yeah so Hawks is just generally better than us in every conceivable way and we just have to live with it”

these guys crack me up

so during his workplace experience Tokoyami just spent the whole time chasing after Hawks with these guys and handling the cleanup with them. so naturally it wasn’t long before he started having doubts about the whole thing

I was literally just about to say “because you’re both birds” and then Hawks was like “yeah, duh”

Tokoyami is asking if he’s joking, because Tokoyami doesn’t have a sense of humor so he probably genuinely needs to know

Hawks says he’s 20% serious. holy shit. that honest to god is what he said lmao

he says he wanted to talk to someone from class 1-A about the League of Villains, and he figured if he had to do so then he should pick someone he thought could keep up with him and who showed promise. and since Tokoyami finished in the top three he went with him

and of course we know from chapter 186 that he had selected Todoroki as well, but Endeavor got him instead

interesting that both he and Bakugou picked the highest ranking agencies on their list and ended up being disappointed. it seems like the people who had the most fulfilling internships were the ones who went with agencies that hadn’t necessarily made huge names for themselves, but were perhaps a little better at this whole teaching thing than some of the big shots

ah, and then Hawks did agree to take him on for a For Reals Internship later on, though

that means Tokoyami actually reached out to him despite his lackluster previous experience. makes me wonder if Bakugou would actually decide to go back to Jeanist’s agency once he gets his provisional and once the kids are allowed to do internships again

(ETA: so I’m honestly not sure if we’re even going to get back to internships again, at least not for a while, but one theory I’ve seen floating around is that Bakugou will intern with Miruko instead of Jeanist, and I gotta say, I really like the idea of that. for so many reasons. but basically it makes a lot of sense; Jeanist is still laid up, Miruko is a top 5 hero, and her personality aligns with Bakugou’s a whole lot more than Jeanist’s did. all this plus Fuck Yeah Girl Power, so hell yeah I’m all for it.)

-- YOOOOOOOOOOO

he can -- you can fly, dude? since when lmao what the fuck

(ETA: what is he doing here, though?? I thought he was flying but then a couple pages later Hawks is like “you should learn how to fly” and then a few pages after that everyone is shocked by his new “bitch I can fly now” special move. so it seems like that’s something he came up with after this scene. is he just jumping with style here or what)

Hawks likey! kid’s got some potential

now it’s later that night and Hawks is telling Tokoyami he did good

OH MY GOD

THIS IS THE CUTEST AND BEST THING THAT’S EVER HAPPENED. OH MY GOD. YOU GUYS. I CAN’T IT’S TOO FUCKING PRECIOUS OH SWEET JESUS

(ETA: so as you can see I was enchanted by this scene even before I learned about its significance as a beloved fandom meme. anyways so we all agree that this internship was destiny.)

TOKOYAMI IS SO OVERWHELMED. HIS POETIC SOUL IS SOARING LIKE AN EAGLE

OH MY GOD!!

HOW DOES HE REMEMBER THE CORRECT PERCENTAGE BREAKDOWN FROM A JOKE CONVERSATION THEY HAD LIKE SIX MONTHS AGO

SERIOUS QUESTION WHY IS HAWKS THE BEST CHARACTER IN BNHA. ANSWER ME. SOMEONE

AND LOOK AT TOKO’S FACE OMG

AHHHH

it’s so personal, though. like I honestly feel like he’s baring a bit of his soul to this kid, and for someone with a personality like Hawks’s that is huge

he says he’s not especially interested in nurturing the next generation, “but...”

well that’s fine dude. you’re practically still a kid yourself and you’ve got more than enough on your plate

but the fact that he does have so much on his plate makes me wonder what’s going through his head right now. because the whole workplace experience was before he started his undercover mission, but this scene is taking place afterward. and he always plays it cool, but that shit is dangerous, like one-wrong-move-and-you’re-dead-or-worse types of danger. and that’s not even taking into account the bad-for-your-soul parts that come with having to turn a blind eye to certain things for the sake of maintaining your cover for the greater good

so basically, despite what he says, he may just be feeling a bit more sentimental or brooding or whatever than usual, and maybe that’s what brought this on. he never particularly wanted to be a mentor, but hey, might as well give it a shot. life is short

so Toko’s asking what he meant when he said Tokoyami was wasting his potential

and Hawks says that while Tokoyami is doing a lot to cover his weak points, he shouldn’t neglect improving his strong points

one moment please while we process these Hawks feels ladies and gents

aaaaaaand done

my boy just wants to be free. okay. that’s fine. I’m fine it’s all good

nothing to see here, just some solid mentor advice pulling some double duty as a deeper look into Hawks’s psyche at the same time. just Horikoshi things

and we’re back in the present!

that was a much lengthier flashback than I anticipated, and thoroughly enjoyable! very nice!

so Kuro is blending back into the shadows and for some reason everyone is surprised

what else would he do. I mean. if it ain’t broke

so now he’s mocking them from somewhere in the piping, bragging about how they can’t tell where he is

oh shit!

so he’s planning on targeting one of the others? tbh that probably would have worked just as well even without the red herring, since they can’t see him coming

like, this would have worked no matter what though. but I guess it did get Aoyama to lower his guard

LOL MY POOR GLITTER BOY

FIRE YOUR DAMN LASER KID

ooooh

it’s so gross that he refers to it as an umbilical cord and now I’m never not gonna be able to think of it as that

so anyway, I’m guessing that this special move works by having Dark Shadow fly somewhere and then instead of retracting the shadow back to him, he pulls himself toward Dark Shadow

LOL

what, y’all didn’t see those flashbacks with Hawks just a few pages ago. pay attention to other characters’ life stories

ah, here are the mechanics explained to us in a cute little comic

“Dark Shadow can fly so one day I was like, ‘ohh... pick me up so I can fly too. fucking duh’”

also has the bonus advantage of distracting opponents with how shockingly adorable it is

so now he’s plucking Aoyama out of Kuro’s clutches

I bet Aoyama’s pissed that his cape broke in the process though

LISTEN HERE BITCHES, Y’ALL ARE GONNA NEED PLAN B, C, D, ETC. BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN COME CLOSE TO TAKING OUT MY GIRL MOMO HERE. YOU’RE GONNA RUN OUT OF LETTERS OF THE FUCKING ALPHABET YOU AMATEURS

she said, but also I’m still pretty sure they’re gonna lose fffff

since Aoyama and Tokoyami are now perfectly positioned, Momo’s telling Aoyama to use his navel buffet

ah I see, eliminate Kuro’s potential hiding places by blinding him with Aoyama’s splendor

so Dark Shadow is covering himself in Kuro’s cape and Aoyama is letting ‘er rip

this is such an odd and perfect sound effect and I’m really impressed with Horikoshi for coming up with it in English

aha!

GOTCHA MOTHERFUCKER

now Momo’s calling Hagakure to action, and for a moment I was like ‘why’ but then I remembered her special move

but before we get to that, please enjoy this Yaoyorozu Momo “just as planned” panel

yessssss now get ready for --

...

okay what is plan B

...

and the chapter ends. of course

chapter 200 is gonna be some wild times isn’t it. lol

#bnha #boku no hero academia #tokoyami fumikage #hawks #kuroiro shihai #aoyama yuuga #hagakure tooru #yaoyorozu momo #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #tomorrow's chapter features one of my all-time most hated quirks #as well as one of my all-time favorites #manga's quirk is one of the most original and badass things I've ever seen #but oh my god those mushrooms #I'm already cringing just thinking about it #I don't want to have to look at those panels again #sob here's hoping I survive

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iminyourhandskara · 5 years

Text

A Second Schott At Love - Chapter 1.

“Worst weekend ever. Drink at 6?” That’s all Winn had written in his text to Mon-El; the latter only got to read it about an hour later, since he was too busy cuddling his new girlfriend, Kara. Contrarily to what his friend said, this had been Mon-El’s best weekend ever. Valentine’s Day had surely become his favorite festivity: “Sure.” he replied anyway.

Perfectly on time, Winn arrived to the Alien Bar with a frown, “I’m assuming that the first round is on me.” The mixologist said, “Wanna talk about it?” “Drink first, story later.” “Yes sir.” “Remember when I told you that I had a date? On Valentine’s day?” “Yes.” “Well, it didn’t go well. It was so awkward, she was..” Mon-El raised an eyebrow, “How?” “Kinda rude to the waiter? Aggressive? I mean, she was hot. A really hot Valeronian. But definitely not the type I should go after..” “I’m sorry to hear that, buddy.” “Yeah, me too. I wish I didn’t feel this strong connection to any pretty person I see, you know? James always says that to me, he says I fall too fast and I should take things slow. Maybe it’s time I follow that advice.” “Winn, there’s plenty of dolphins in the sea.” “You mean fish?” “Wait, dolphins aren’t fish?” “One, the saying goes ‘There’s plenty of fish in the sea’ and two, no, dolphins aren’t fish. They’re mammals.” “Are you kidding me?”

“Hey, this should be the part where you console me, it’s not biology class.” “Right..Anyway, you are a truly amazing person, you’ll find love when you least expect it. Trust me.” “That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever told me. If in a year, we’re not dating anyone, we’re getting married.” Mon-El laughed, “Yeah, actually about that…” “Mon-El!” Rhonda called him in the kitchen, “Sorry! I have to go now! I’ll talk to you later.” “Pff, go ahead, live your happy life, while I drink my pain away.” “Lighten up, bro. I know I’m right.” Mon-El patted Winn’s shoulder before leaving.

“Owwh, poor Winn.” Kara played with Mon-El’s hair as he used her as a pillow, telling their friend’s story, “He deserves the best of the best.” “I wish we could help him somehow.” “Yeah, me too.” “Did you..did you tell him about us?” “I was about to, but I got interrupted.” “Oh.. I didn’t talk to Alex yet, but I’m pretty sure she knows..” “Why is that?” He asked with an amused smile.“ Sister code, I can’t say anything.” Kara grinned. “Alright, okay..” He trailed off as he started to kiss her again.

“Crap! It’s 8 AM already? I have to get ready for work!” Kara immediately stood up and rushed to the kitchen, Mon-El didn’t even have the time to realize what was happening, he was happily spooning her and the next second she was super speeding all over the room. “Right. Mondays. Mondays suck.” He mumbled. “I’ll see you later babe, bye!” “Goodbye!” Mon-El answered, still tangled in Kara’s sheets, “She called me 'babe’…” no one could take away that dopey grin from his face.

Kara arrived at CatCo on time, suddenly she heard loud thumping steps and turned around to see a pretty pissed off Eve Tessmacher: it was so unlike her to not have a happy face in the morning. She looked at the files she was carrying and walked into Kara once again; “Oh my goodness, Kara, I’m so sorry!” “Don’t worry, Eve.. take these. Are you okay?” “No, I’m not, but don’t worry, I’ll handle it. Have a nice day!” “Wait, wait! Is this..about Mike?” Kara felt discomfort asking that, but she wanted to help her. “No, no, but you know..It was Valentine’s Day and I kinda had a date, but he turned out to be..a literal douchebag. It’s not a big deal, all the girls go through this at least once. And you, how’s it going with Mike?” She could see in her kind eyes the genuineness of her question, with no hidden jealousy.

“We’re good, we’re not public yet but… we’re good. And I’m so sorry to hear about that date, and you’re right, a lot of people go through this, it’s inevitable, but you’re such a beautiful and sweet girl, I know you’ll find the love you deserve.” Kara caressed Eve’s arm and tried to comfort her friend as much as she could.

James called everyone in the office for the first meeting of the day, Kara was kind of paying attention until a brilliant idea came to her mind and she damned herself for not thinking about it earlier, “Of course!” She accidentally said out loud. “Erm, Kara, I really appreciate your enthusiasm..” James said, knowing for sure that Kara’s exclamation wasn’t about the ecologists her colleague was going to interview for the magazine.

“Mon-El. Mon-El. Mon-El. Mon-El. You have to hear what happened today at work.” “What. What. What. What. What happened?” He put two plates on the tables and sat down to eat lunch with Kara. “Okay, so this morning I arrived at CatCo and Eve arrived all grumpy and sad like I had never seen her.” “I’m-” “No, it’s not your fault. Don’t worry. So I ask her what’s wrong and she said she had a date for Valentine’s day but he was a douchebag.” “I googled this term. Douche means shower in French. Why is ‘Bag of shower’ an insult?” “I…I don’t know, but that’s not the point!” “I feel so sorry for Eve: she’s such a great girl, she deserves to find love..I just wasn’t the right boy.” “Exactly.” He paused. “But we can fix this.” “We can?” “Yep. Who else had a terrible date experience over the weekend, is a wonderful friend and the cutest nerd you’ll ever meet?” “OH MY GOD!” “I KNOW!..Wait, we’re talking about the same person, right?” “Winn!” “Yes! They’ve been in front of our eyes this whole time and we never thought about this perfect match, we’ve been so stupid!”

“We need to set them up.” “Instantly.” Kara and Mon-El spent the rest of their lunch planning this date out but they ignored one little detail. “Wait, Kara.” “Yeah?” “Will they even accept to go to this blind date? I know they trust us enough, but perhaps they want some alone time after their disappointments.” “Oh… Personally, I think they will. Should we call them or should we ask them in person?” “I don’t know, but I’m a really impatient man.” “And I’m a really impatient woman.” They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds. “Okay, let’s call them.”

Kara called Eve first, she put the speaker on so Mon-El could listen: “Hello?” “Hi Eve! It’s me, Kara. Am I interrupting you or something?” “No, no, I was just bingewatching a show on Netflix. Is everything alright?” “Yes! Everything is perfect, I just wanted to ask you something.” “Of course, tell me.” “So, I saw you were really upset this morning and I wanted-” “WE WANTED!” Mon-El corrected with a loud shout, so the other girl could hear. “Yes, me and Mike wanted to make sure you felt better: what do you think about coming to a blind date with this friend of ours?” “Wow, guys, that’s- that’s very sweet of you! I don’t know what to say..” “Just say yes!” Mike exclaimed as a matter of fact, Kara lightly slapped his arm. “We just think that you and this boy would be a really good match, and he’s had a rough Valentine’s day date too.” “When would this date be?” “Any time you like.” “Uhm…okay! Okay, I’m in: it can’t be any worse than the last one, or the one before, right? Sorry Mike, no offense!” “None taken, Eve.” He chuckled and Kara had to stifle her giggle. “Okay, great, I’ll tell you the details soon, goodbye Eve!” “Have a nice day!” “Goodbye Kara, goodbye Mike!”

Kara had to calm herself to not squeal, “One down, now let’s call the other one.” “Hey Winn!” The couple greeted at the same time. “Hey guys, what’s up? I was about to watch Stranger Things..” “Don’t worry, we’ll be quick. Do you wanna go on a blind date with our friend?” “What?!” “We’ve already talked to her and she has agreed to do it.” “Isn’t a bit too soon? I don’t wanna jump on another train to disappointment station.” “One of the reasons we decided to set up this date, is because she’s had bad experiences with dates as well: the last being over the weekend, just like you.” Mon-El tried to convince him to give it a shot. “Plus, she’s a really lovely girl, both inside and out and she went to Yale! I know you would have a lot to geek out on..” “That’s impressive. What’s- what’s her name?” “Eve. Eve Tessmacher.” “You mean James’ assistant?” “Yes, why, you don’t like her?” “No, it’s not that. I’ve been at CatCo a lot of times, yet, I never really got to see her.” “Well, this is the perfect time. What do you say?” “..Okay: but if this doesn’t go well, you two are never allowed to interfere with my love life ever again, got it?” “Yes! Yes. When do you want to meet her?” “Let’s do Friday..but I don’t know where.” “Leave that to me, I’ll let you know on text.” “Okay. Can I go back to Netflix now?” “Of course, enjoy the show!” “Bye!”

“High five!” Mon-El raised his hand, “I’m gonna make a reservation at ‘Il Palazzo’ really quickly.” “Good evening, is it possible to get two tables for two for Friday night? Yes, it’s “Danvers”. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much! Goodbye.” “Kara? Why did you book two tables?” “Because we’re going too. I need to see them with my own eyes.” “So… we’re spying on them?” “It’s not spying, it’s.. observing.” “Oh Rao.”

#schottmacher #schottmacher fanfiction #schottmacher ff #eve x winn #winn x eve #eve tessmacher #winn schott jr #karamel fanfiction #karamel fanfics #karamel ff #karamel #kara danvers #kara zor-el #mon-el #mike matthews #kara x mon-el

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williamgoh951-blog · 4 years

Text

ONLINE CASINO MALAYSIA | THE ULTIMATE LIVE BACCARAT STRATEGY GUIDE | REGAL88.COM

I see the thrilling Martingale strategy being used a lot in casinos, though undoubtably many Roulette players use when betting online too.

If you’ve ever used the Martingale strategy, you’ll know it involves doubling down on your wagers, chasing the excitement of trying to secure a one-unit profit. For example, bet RM10 and win, return is RM20 thus the one unit is RM10. Lose RM10 and double down betting aOf course, many Roulette players continue to double down when losing.

The experience begins when Roulette players notice an opportunity to bet on an even money chance outcome that they hope will end a streak.

Of the three outside 1:1 options, Red/Black, Odd/Even, High/Low, most players tend to bet on the Red or Black options. I think it’s the visual attraction of seeing a streak of one colour that catches their attention as they get ready to implement a popular Roulette strategy, such as the Martingale.

THE MARTINGALE STRATEGY IN ACTION

Roulette players using the Martingale strategy lookout for a streak of at least six Reds or Blacks. However, a sense of urgency tends to begin when a run of ten consecutive same colour outcomes is seen. Players will then bet AGAINST that streak based on the theory, the longer the streak, the more likely the next outcome will be an opposite one that will end the streak. So, when they lose at their first attempt they continue to double down until they win or run out of money.

The more occasions you bet hoping for a streak to be broken using the Martingale strategy the more likely it is that you’ll encounter a streak long enough to wipe out your casino bankroll. If your first bet results in an outcome that ends a streak, then you’ll double your wager. If you lose and continue to double down trying up to six times, you’ll be entering the danger zone where the build-up of risk versus reward in my view just isn’t worth continuing.

Example:

1st bet 1 unit to win 1 (total outlay 1 unit)

2nd bet 2 units to win 1 (total outlay 3 units)

3rd bet 4 units to win 1 (total outlay 7 units)

4th bet 8 units to win 1 (total outlay 15 units)

5th bet 16 units to win 1 (total outlay 31 units)

6th bet 32 units to win 1 (total outlay 63 units)

The problem with most Roulette players who get into the Martingale bubble is they don’t want to stop. The adrenaline kicks in and the prevalent question in the minds of players asks, what if the next outcome happens to be the one that ends the streak? They don’t want to lose out on recovering their increasing outlay and the prize; that small one-unit profit. It’s a mixed emotion of excitement, fear and a drive to stay in the game, betting until the end, whether all is lost or little gained. Though of course a win feels big given that the true reward isn’t the one unit but the recovery of their total outlay.

Certainly, this isn’t my cup of tea of a Roulette system, but it got me wondering whether there’s a way of tweaking the Martingale so that the risk can be minimised and consequently the reward secured sooner? I believe I’ve developed a method that improves on the Martingale approach. I write approach because this really is the key to solving what I see as the Martingale problem.

MARTINGALE STRATEGY PROS AND CONS

Long streaks can lead to Roulette player’s bankrolls being wiped out. Even if they add more funds to top up their dwindling bankrolls the Martingale strategy can prove to be totally brutal and is the casinos best friend. Most players will either run out of money or in rare cases want to place a wagers that surpass the casino’s maximum betting limit.

It’s not uncommon for casinos to recoded streaks of 20x plus of the same colour occurring in a row. In 1943 a casino in America recorded Red occurring 32 times in a row. I once saw 25x Reds occur in a row on live online Roulette and I recall there had been a dealer change during that streak.

On the other hand, if you have deep pockets and can afford to take the chance to secure a one-unit win, over the long term you’re more likely to succeed given that most streaks don’t end up being long ones. However, there are two aspects to this assumption.

The first is that the shorter the streak (under six in a row) the more likely it is that the streak will end. And longer streaks (ten or more in a row) is a strong indication that the streak may prove to be a long one.

TIP #1

It thus follows that you should avoid betting when you see a long streak. Therefore, since shorter streaks are unlikely to form into a long streak you’ll win at more attempts when betting to see streaks end.

TIP #2

If you follow the advice in tip 1, it’s a good idea to have a stop loss just in case the streak does continue. If you make three attempts in a row, from say the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th stage of a streak and stop you’ll only be losing seven units. E.g. bet 1 lose, bet 2 lose, bet 4 lose: total wagered =7

It’s better to lose seven units than to -63 or more units should you continue to double down.

For example:

Let’s say you bet to see a streak end from a run of 3 in a row. You’d be trying three times starting from the 4th outcome. You place 1 unit (whatever amount that maybe for instance RM10), as your first bet for the 4th outcome following the run of 3 wins and if the streak ends, you would’ve gained your one unit win thereby recovering your RM10 plus winning RM10.

If you lose you’d place a RM20 bet prior to the 5th outcome. If you win you’ll be paid RM40 whereby deducting the RM30 that is your total outlay, you’d be winning RM10. If you lose you would try one more time, this time wagering RM40 and a win will pay RM80 of which RM70 was your total outlay thus you’d be winning RM10.

But if you lose RM70 and stop trying you’d only be 7 wins away from recovering your losses which is better than had you gone on trying and lost a lot more.

TABONE'S TWEAK OF THE MARTINGALE STRATEGY

Earlier in this article I wrote that my method involves a different approach to the Martingale strategy. At whatever stage of a streak you begin to bet against it continuing you should be aware that the Martingale strategy in an of itself doesn’t suggest when or where you should bet. The assumption is that a Roulette player bets against a streak by doubling his or her wagers upon each loss. But when it doesn’t work out before you’ve run out of money or exceeded a casino’s maximum bet limit the key to winning remains in the decisions on what you bet on.

When a Roulette player sees a streak of Blacks, my tweak of the Martingale maintains the doubling down element, however if my first bet on Red results in a loss, I’m going to assume that the streak will continue therefore my next bet will be on Black. If my assumption is correct, I win upon my second attempt not to see the streak end but to, if you like hedge my bet just in case I’m wrong and it continues.

In the worst-case scenario where my 2nd bet fails, and the result is Red I’ve only lost three units having doubled down on my first wager. I believe I’m in a stronger position than the Roulette player who continues to bet against the streak by solely backing the other option.

My approach has more power when a possible streak lingers at the point of not knowing the next outcome. For me 3-in-a-row is the point at which streaks will either continue or not.

Either BBBR or BBBB clearly the former pattern ending in a R outcome has gone in the direction that ends the possibility of a streak forming, whereas the latter pattern has clearly favoured the formation of a streak.

If the streak continues as such BBBB assuming I lose upon the 4th Black outcome when betting on Red then my next bet will therefore be Black, and I’d win if the streak of Blacks continues BBB (this 4th outcome I bet Red but the outcome was B indicating the likelihood that the streak might continue) (this 5th outcome I bet Black and won) B.

I’m only going to lose, if and only if, the forming streak ends upon the 5th outcome like so BBBBR. But I’d rather lose twice which involves a single unit and a doubling of my unit (total three units lost) than continuing to double my wagers hoping that a streak ends by only betting on the opposite colour of it.

THE STRUCTURE OF BETS LEADING TO A WIN OR LOSS

Using my tweak of the Martingale strategy sees a Roulette player betting only twice when trying to profit from a streak. This means you only stand to lose three units (1 and the double 2) therefore the risk it controlled.

In using my teak of the Martingale strategy, the possible outcomes are:

A win upon your first opposite bet.

BBB / you bet R if the result is R an opposite you win. If lost move on to the next bet.

A win upon your second same type bet. If you lose you stop betting.

BBB B / assuming you lost your first bet going opposite you now bet ‘same’ as the streak, so B. If you win there will be 5x BBB BB

If you lose both attempts, you’re only losing 3 units and if you win upon your first or second attempts, you’ll be gaining 1 unit. Thus, it’s a 1:1 bet on the first attempt and risking 3 in total (first bet 1 and second bet 2) to win 1 unit upon your second attempt. Bet 2, win 4, less your 3 outlay = 1 winning unit.

You have two chances to win versus both failing ending in a loss.

To break even you’d need to win three times for every -3 lost but let’s not forget you have two chances to achieve a win with your first bet being opposite should the streak end and your second bet being the same type as the streak, should the streak continue.

The next time you consider using the Martingale strategy, betting against a streak of the same colour shouting “Any Red number!” / “Any Black number!” in the hope of recovering your previous wagers, let alone the small profit you hope to gain, remind yourself of my approach to the Martingale strategy.

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pianopadawan · 5 years

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All I Want for Fete Week is You

Chapter 2/13

<Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

Plot Summary:

After dealing with Ren’s antics, avoiding assassinations and planning his own hit list, General Armitage Hux just wants to take a nap after the chaos of planning for Fete Week.

Left alone while his Resistance friends are scattered on their own romantic holiday outings, Commander Poe Dameron just wants someone to enjoy the holidays with alongside BB-8.

On the first day of Fete Week, Kylo Ren ships Hux to Poe in a gift-wrapped escape pod. Reluctant to turn Hux in for interrogation in the spirit of the holiday season, Poe decides to let Hux stay with him for Fete Week while they find a way to ship him back to the First Order, under the condition that Hux participates in the Commander’s favorite winter festivities.

Will they find the magic of the season like all the classic holiday specials? Of course not. But it’s bound to be an eventful, explosive Fete Week for both of them anyway…

Genre: Somewhat Fluff, Somewhat Crack, 100% GingerPilot

Chapter 2: Uncompromised Negotiations (Holiday Holovids and Music Part 1)

Commander Poe Dameron had dealt with a number of unideal situations these past few months, ranging from being trapped in unarmed escape pods pursued by a fleet of Star Destroyers to having nothing to eat but Rey’s specialty “Instant Cheese Bread” for a week before the Resistance found a space station with a convenience store. So, he was used to handling mishaps. Admittedly, having General Hux crash through his bedroom window in a box covered in wrapping paper and ribbons was a little unexpected, but Poe did his best to manage the situation professionally.

He took a sip from his peppermint caf latte and leaned back in bed. He’d let Hux have the armchair. The general looked quite festive despite the fact that he was still unconscious, tied to the chair with a string of New Year Lights BB-8 had retrieved from the Resistance storeroom (which was lacking in fuel and food, but abounding with lights and paper snowflakes).

The droid was circling his decorated prisoner, praising his own good work in binary. Poe wasn’t sure why BB units had a tendency to circle people in a predatory fashion. Whatever the reason, it was pretty cute and probably wasn’t too dangerous.

“Nothing to watch,” Poe muttered, flipping through the channels on the hologram monitor. In a way, he was almost happy that Hux had dropped by, even if his arrival was somewhat unconventional and even if he was the lunatic general who’d destroyed an entire star system. It was the most eventful thing that had happened so far this Fete Week.

Normally, the holidays were a busier time, but this year, everyone seemed to have other plans. Maybe it was because the Resistance had been stuck on the Millennium Falcon for months after the Battle of Crait, and they’d all gotten tired of each other. It certainly seemed as if everyone had taken the opportunity to scatter as soon as they found another abandoned Rebel base on Battu.

Snap and Karé were off for some “alone time” exploring town. Most of the other remaining twenty members of the Resistance had similar vague explanations for their absence. Even Finn and Rose had sought some privacy (and no, Poe had not cried internally after he got the message over “I gave you my jacket, stitched it up for you and lent you my droid on your mission to the Supremacy, and you can’t even stick around to do something fun for the holidays with me for thirty minutes. How could you sub me like this? Do I mean nothing to you?”).

Up until this morning, Poe had assumed he’d still have a small viewing party for the classic holiday holovid cartoons, consisting of himself, Rey, General Organa and BB-8. But then Rey had shipped herself off to spend the holidays lightsaber fighting Kylo Ren and trying to slash the other side of his face (which sounded very joyful indeed), and Organa wasn’t in the mood for watching the Red-Nosed Taun Taun movie again.

So, it seemed that the holiday festivities would be limited to Poe, BB-8 and Hux… depending on how long they could keep the latter tied up.

Tiring of endless commercial breaks, Poe turned the hologram off with a sigh.

“Hey, Buddy, do you think you can find a holovid chip for the ‘Red-Nosed Taun Taun’ along with all those other Fete Week supplies?” he asked the droid. “I know you wanted to watch your favorite again this year…”

“Poe wants to watch same holovid again,” BB-8 corrected. “Again and again and…”

“Okay, we both want to see it,” Poe conceded.

“See WHAT, Rebel Scum?!”

Hux had woken up. Poe had thought that the general would be more amicable after a short nap. True, it had been a nap induced by a taser, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be refreshing. Unfortunately, the incident had only made Hux more agitated and, if that was even possible, louder.

“Good morning, Hugs,” Poe replied, making his way over to the armchair where Hux was tugging against his glowing straitjacket. The redhead shot him a venomous scowl.

“I don’t know what it is you want to see,” Hux growled, “Battle plans, blueprints… I won’t show you anything. Torture me with your infernal droid, tie me up… I won’t…”

“Relax, Hugs,” Poe said. “I don’t torture people, not on holidays… not ever, really. And BB-8’s an astromech droid, not a torture droid.” (At least, he was pretty sure that information was accurate. BB-8’s manual had described the droid as “multipurpose”, and he did come equipped with more needles and blades than a typical astromech droid, but that was beside the point.)

“Then why am I tied to an interrogation chair?” Hux demanded.

“It’s not a torture chair and it’s actually very plush and comfortable if you sit the right way,” Poe tried to explain. “Look, it wasn’t my idea. I know you aren’t armed and all, so I told BB-8 that we could just lock the door and talk things out, but Buddy said we needed to take precautions. Now, don’t get me wrong, but I do kind of see BB’s point… saying how you’re always going on about how you want to wipe out the Rebellion and obliterate our fleet and all that jazz.”

“You’re not exactly convincing me to do otherwise, restraining me in such an… undignified manner.” The lights restraining Hux began to blink in various shades of neon colors as if to illustrate his point. Poe had only just noticed that the lights were synchronized with the holiday radio station, which was playing a techno version of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Life Day”. “But do as you wish, Dameron. The First Order will have sound retribution for whatever humiliation I am to endure here! I will see to it that you and your Rebel friends face the full wrath…”

“Shh!” Poe hushed him. “Okay, okay. Hugs, you’re going to have to quiet down your wrath. I don’t really want to wake up General Organa.”

Hux froze mid-scream.

“Organa?” he said. “Leia Organa?”

“Yeah,” said Poe. “She stayed behind at the base with me while everyone else left for the holidays. It’s still early in the morning though, so I thought I’d let her sleep in. She’s really drained, all this restoring hope to the Rebellion, you know… not to mention the fact that she had to fly through a mile of empty space a few months ago. That’s got to be real tiring.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Hux was visibly shaking, which added an interesting effect to the light display. “Leia Organa… Ren’s mother is here at this base. I…” Hux’s voice was subdued. Poe was surprised that the general was capable of speaking at a volume that wasn’t between noisy and earsplitting. “I suppose you’ll have to turn me in to her.”

Poe hadn’t thought quite that far in advance. He looked to BB-8 for advice. The droid cocked its head expectantly but said nothing.

“I guess, yeah…” Poe replied.

A wave of pure terror swept over Hux’s face. His eyes darted to the floor, murmuring something to himself that sounded like “How low down of you, Ren… you won’t kill me on your own, but you’ll have your mother kill me…”

Suddenly, Poe understood what was terrifying the general. Kylo Ren was certainly capable of frightening things. It wasn’t unreasonable to assume that his relatives had equally chaotic personalities.

“Don’t worry, Hugs,” Poe tried to console the frightened general. “General Organa isn’t creepy like Ren.”

“You just said she flew through space and survived,” Hux said, narrowing his eyes. “They say she’s strangled enormous beasts with her bare hands.”

“Yeah, but…”

“They say she slapped you, demoted you, and blasted you into a wall. Thereafter, you were unconscious, and awoke to find yourself trapped on a defenseless escape pod, an open target to the ventral cannons.”

“And whose fault was that last part?” Poe retorted. “Look, Hugs. It’ll be okay. She’s probably not going to hurt you… she might even let you go…”

Hux did not look at all convinced. Every last bit of color had fled his already pallid complexion. He trembled and seemed to bar his teeth like, well… a threatened Arkanisian Fox Hound.

As a loyal member of the Resistance who had vowed to crush the First Order, Poe really ought to have turned Hux in. But there was something about Hux, immobilized by flashing holiday lights, their red and green glow illuminating his unexpectedly dainty features, the wires wrapped around him in a way that complimented his slim figure, that gave Poe pause.

“Or… maybe I don’t have to turn you in to General Organa,” he said.

BB-8 gave the back of Poe’s ankle a light shock.

“Uh oh,” BB-8 whined, his favorite way of conveying dismay over a situation gone terribly awry. “Uh oh. Uh oh.”

Hux looked shocked by Poe’s proposition. He opened his mouth but was unable to gather his words at first.

“It’s… it’s your decision,” Hux said, practically sticking his nose up in the air to maintain his aloof aura. “Though I would have you know that I am quite young to die, by most standards… and I do have a cat, a little orange Tooka tabby named Millicent who would be without an owner if anything were to happen to me. I’m sure Dopheld Mitaka is taking care of her now, but he’s always transferring ship. He would hardly be able to maintain a long-term, stable home for Millie. I rescued her from the Dominion Star Destroyer, shortly before it was destroyed by a Rebel fleet. Sometimes, it isn’t my own death at the hands of you Rebel scum that I dread, so much as what would happen to my feline darling if…”

“Alright, alright,” Poe cracked. “I won’t turn you in, Hugs… under one condition.”

“Oh, thank you, Dameron, anything…” Hux sputtered before gathering himself again. “Uh… state your terms. I might agree to them if they are reasonable.”

“You’ll spend the entire New Year’s Fete Week with me and participate in all the holiday festivities,” Poe said. “And watch whatever holiday holovids BB-8 requests. Even if we’ve all seen them thirty over times before… Oh. And you won’t try to leak Resistance info or call your First Order cronies or attack anyone when I untie you. Do that, and I’ll let you hide in my room. If you play nicely, I might even consider getting you a ride back to the First Order when the week is over, just to make sure that there’s someone to take care of Millicent.”

Hux gave him a long, scrutinizing look, as if he were waiting for a catch. There was none. He rolled his eyes and said:

“I consent to your asinine terms, Dameron.”

“Desperate Poe,” BB-8 heaved a binary sigh, rolling off to the corner, ashamed of his owner’s weakness to cute pasty generals and sob stories about Tooka Cats.

#gingerpilot #damerux #gingerpilotholiday2018 #poe dameron #general hux #bb-8 #armitage hux #fan fiction #leia organa #all I want for fete week is you

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maiden-of-wolves · 6 years

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Ariel & Fox - Persistence

“Meeting” Scene Part 1 Part 2

This is a really long one. And we learn that Ariel’s not really a brat, ‘just' suffering on the edge of a mental breakdown from the stress. Depression fueled by anxiety is a potent cocktail. TK just brings out the drama in me. xD

This is definitely an AU to my normal AU with Ariel. She does struggle with this normally, but not to this degree. It was an interesting experience to write.

Please, if you’re battling with depression, don’t read this chapter. It will almost certainly be triggering.

Ariel spent that evening curled in bed, finally allowing herself to de-stress in the only way that worked and she could access in this world: crying. It was a pathetic pastime, but it worked. She’d had a hard time reconciling the healer that had helped her so gently and sweetly with the man who’d all but threatened her life for telling the truth. In the end, she found there was nothing to reconcile: the latter was clearly who he was. She had to give him props for being able to act so well and have a brilliant bedside manner. In one way, she wanted to figure him out and he was fascinating, but she simply didn’t want to keep risking her emotional health just to solve a puzzle. She could sleep, eat or drink some lyrium to recover her physical or even mental health… but her emotional self? That was nigh irreparable sometimes.

She forced herself to turn her thoughts to more pressing matters: the impending alliance and the fight that would ensue afterwards. Her warnings had gone virtually ignored, though it seemed like Cullen was taking some of her suggestions in putting up further spiked walls around the perimeter. Perhaps it was just because that they didn’t take much in the way of extra time and resources.

In the following weeks she poured herself back into learning Trade and pushed her curiosities about Fox aside. Venna would sometimes check on her and ask for her advice. Taevel, a young city elf recruit that had taken her under his wing since he was part of the party that found her, came to take her to training sessions every couple days. Other than that, she was left to her own devices. That was a bad idea. She fell into several different projects to keep her mind occupied and only ventured out in between to grab some bread, sneak a flask of lyrium and fill a bucket with water. She slept, but fitfully as she did her best to avoid spirits that sought her out like bugs to a light. It didn’t help that she saw and heard people’s nightmares as she walked. She wanted to help, but she was too exhausted and numb to actually put forth the effort to watch much less figure out a way to soothe them.

Had she had a mirror in her little cabin, she’d have noticed her weight loss, darkened eyes and limp, straightened hair as time went by. Varric invited her to games at the tavern and she alway politely declined with a sweet smile. He even sent Taevel once, clearly hoping to use her fondness for the younger male to coax her out. It received the same response. It was only when she had her latest project ready for testing that she came out, terribly proud of herself. She waltzed up to the watch post that was normally empty as it overlooked the lake and acted as storage. The two story height of that structure was perfect: high enough to possibly catch the updraft but not high enough to seriously hurt her if it didn’t work.

She was adjusting the stiff wings on her harness into place when she heard someone yelling at her.

“—doing?!” was the only thing she could catch as Venna came running up.

“I’m testing my project,” Ariel answered simply, offering her friend a delirious smile. “Just let me try it and I’ll be right down~”

“You’re gonna break something—”

Ariel shrugged, using the movement to help straighten out the wings. “We’ll see.” With that, she ran along the platform and leapt off.

Venna immediately began reaching out with her magic to catch her, but paused when Ariel apparently did catch some kind of updraft and she fluttered upward a good twelve feet. As quickly as that came, another gust knocked her off balance. Her fall would be quick and jerky. Thankfully, a thick bed of air was awaiting her decent and she only made a small oof in response to landing instead of the likely snap that such a harsh landing on the chilly, hard ground would have provided. “You really are insane...” Venna sighed. “Good thing I was here. Look, at least let me know when you’re going to test these things next time.”

“You’ve got better things to do than baby me,” Ariel replied, chuckling as she hopped off the bed of air and inspected her wings. Nothing was broken, which had her beaming. The first test was a partial success!

“It’s not ‘babying’. It’s caring. And we’re supposed to be friends, right?”

“Well, I’d hope,” Ariel replied, her beaming smile slipping into a self-satisfied grin. “I mean, you protected me from Cassandra and Cullen at first and we talk a lot.”

“We used to talk a lot, you mean,” Venna mused.

“Huh?”

Venna just gave a heavy sigh at that. It was little use telling her she was different. Instead, she shifted to the topic she’d intended to find her for. “There was a really good hunt today, so I wanted to make sure you came to eat something. You can’t live off bread and lyrium.”

Ariel quirked a brow and gestured to herself. “I had fat to spare,” she joked with a lopsided grin, shaking her hips to illustrate the looseness of her clothes and for added emphasis patting her stomach.

“So you did,” the Herald sighed again. “But you’re out now and at this rate you’ll need to ask Josie for a new outfit. So please stop. You’re worrying me. And Taevel. Creators, you’re worrying Varric! Though he’d never say it. He just asks about you and says you won’t play Wicked Grace.”

“I won’t play a game where I always lose? Shocking!” Ariel replied, dramatically raising a hand to her mouth and pretending to be terribly surprised.

Venna snorted and shook her head but continued on. “Point is, you need to come out more. Don’t make me drag you to the meal tonight.”

“Sure,” Ariel replied, reinforcing her answer with a quick nod. “Now that I’ve got this sorted for the moment I can take a break.”

“And you need to stop taking lyrium.”

Well that dampened her mood. She almost snapped a part of her wing harness while putting it away from the strain she put on it while distracted. “Don’t we have a fair supply now? I thought you secured some recently.”

“Yes, but it’s getting harder to deal with what you’re taking. You don’t need it, so stop taking it. I’ll make sure to tell the Quartermaster and any surface dwarves that handle it to not give you anymore.”

Ariel pursed her lips and stared at Venna. “But it helps me focus.” It was a simple argument, but truthful.

“To a point that you don’t eat more than once a day. And I assume you’re doing something similar with water, but enough to keep you on your feet. Do you even sleep? ”

“Eventually. And?”

“Scouts coming back say they always see light in that window we fixed for you no matter when they come back. Some joke that you’re afraid of the dark.”

Ariel shrugged, completely discounting the idle chit-chat of soldiers and scouts. “I’m being productive.”

“You’re pursuing projects,” Venna corrected her, gesturing to the now folded wings behind Ariel’s back. “Take care of yourself instead. Then we’ll talk getting possibly a quarter of what you’ve been taking.”

No other logical argument came to mind, so Ariel concluded that she’d lost this argument. “Fine,” she sighed.

“You’ll come?”

“Yup.”

“I’m coming to drag you out if you take too long.”

“I know.”

They were friends. Perhaps not always friendly, but still friends. Venna watched Ariel until she could no longer see her among the trees before heading into the walled portion of Haven. She didn’t have to go get her, as the brunette merely dropped off her harness around her desk’s chair before heading back out as promised.

By the time she left she felt full to bursting and she’d mixed it with a fair amount of alcohol. She vaguely remember something about singing and clapping. As she stripped down to her undergarments and settled under multiple layers of furs and then a sheet, she smiled to herself. For the first time in a long time she felt optimistic that she’d have a good night’s sleep and maybe— just maybe— she would be exhausted enough to not have to deal with the Fade.

A few days later, when she was writing notes - in Trade! - a polite knock came on her door. Venna’s insistence had brought Ariel back to a decent state, but without lyrium she was extremely tired. Even the idea of having to move to answer the door made her yawn, but she got up and wandered over anyway. “Who…?” she started, opening the door without even thinking who it could be. “Oh. You.” Probably the last person in this camp she wanted to see, but she wasn’t about to lose her manners.

Fox stood in her doorway and repeated his ostentatious bow from their first encounter. “You look much better, good. I was going to have to have the cats come scratch at your door if you didn’t return to regular meals, since you react so… violently when people do such.”

Ariel snorted, though the noise caught in her throat and turned into an odd, amused growl. “Ah, at least Mr. Sa’alle can learn!” she joked, her lips twisting into a smirk. “And for future reference I only did what I did because you attempted to corner me.” Again her mind wandered to a place she didn’t want it to, realizing that she rather enjoyed watching him. She did her best to push her thoughts fully onto the conversation and not how easily one could get lost searching his eyes. The hidden commentary of him actually paying attention to her despite his hostility during their last conversation was enough to draw her attention. “Though honestly I’m surprised you ever noticed me,” she admitted. “I kept far away from you, since our last encounter was, at the very least, strained. One I’d rather not repeat.”

Fox shrugged, but otherwise didn’t comment.

“In any case, to what do I owe your visit today?” she asked, tilting her head a good 65 degrees in her unconscious and oddly dog-like show of curiosity or confusion. “You’re not here to check up on me, it seems, and I see no kitten bribe this time…”

Fox held out a small, green, sateen pouch with an iron chain hanging out of the top. “From what you’ve told the Herald, thing will come to a head once the Breach is sealed. I thought it best to deliver this before that time.”

For a few long moments she just stared at it. “What...is it…?” she started, carefully reaching out and grasping the chain. Ariel cursed herself for being so trusting, but just pretended it didn’t matter. With just as much hesitation she gently pulled the pouch strings to see what it was hiding. The moment the bag loosened, she pulled it off. Her head tilted the opposite direction as she held the lantern it had revealed in front of her face. She had been expecting something fancy, as that just seemed to match Fox’s personality, but this was a fairly simple construction and without any real flare. The sharp purple glow that flickered at the center was what was most interesting. “Is that...lighting?”

“Yes. A flameless lamp. Judging from my conversation with Solas, touching the glass should not trigger your resistance, but I thought it best not to risk it, hence,” he paused, gesturing to the crude iron around it. “You may be able to brighten or dim it on your own, but Solas was not forthcoming on your outward magical abilities.”

She straightened her neck, eyes widening and nodding as she listened. At his mention of Solas’s lack of information, she offered a nervous laugh. “Yeah, that’s ‘cause I’m still figuring that out,” Ariel admitted, her free hand rubbing at the back of her neck. “But this is really helpful for me. Thank you, Fox!” For once she actually smiled at him, full teeth. It was brief and she immediately moved away to try and figure out how to set it up on her desk.

“It’s mostly for in the field,” Fox said as he watched her. “The glass is nigh unbreakable and I imagine you won’t want to lose it before reaching…” He paused again. “Skyhold, you said the fortress was called?”

“Good to know. I won’t have to have a panic attack when I inevitably drop it,” she joked. His pause made her look over and just set the lantern down on her desk. “Yup,” Ariel replied easily with a nod, still figuring out just where to put it. She stared at the ceiling, wondering if she could just bash in a nail or two and hang the chain from that. “It’s amazing. I can’t wait to explore it.” She paused, chuckling again, though this time the sound was quite mirthless. “Well, that’s assuming I survive long enough to do so.” After a moment, she shook her head. There was no point getting dragged down in that. Again. Beating herself up for not being stronger wasn’t going to make her any better.

“What is going to happen, then? I caught the tail-end of the Templar refusing to evacuate people on a whim, but no details.”

Unlike before, Ariel decided to couch her words as best she could while still telling the truth. “A battle,” she replied. “A big one. But not from anyone that they’d be expecting.” The fact that Fox refused to call Cullen by his name was a little irritating to her, but she let it go. She wasn’t going to soothe over an entire lifetime of pain with blunt facts and he didn’t like her so there was little use in trying to suggest any changes to him. “Even though Cullen protested, I see that he’s OK’d several more spiked walls. So maybe he’s just hedging his bets with the cheapest defences he can think of that would still theoretically be useful.”

“You said there’s no magic where you’re from, so perhaps you simply don’t understand just how little magic it would take to destroy ‘several more spiked walls.’” Fox shook his head. “You should be insulted.”

“How can I be?” she asked in return. “As he said, technically at this point my suggestions are merely a ‘whim’.” She paused only to shrug before continuing. “Venna listens, but she is only a figurehead at the moment. Her advisors are the ones that hold the keys to the kingdom, so to speak, and I am not one of them. Both Venna and I have suggested magical defenses, but neither Cassandra nor Cullen will allow it. For various reasons, that— while they make sense— are bordering on paranoia. Leliana doesn’t fear that kind of magic, but is unwilling to alienate the templars. So, we are stuck. Council-style leadership tends to lead to equitable endings, but sometimes they end up deadlocked like this. No method is without flaws.”

“And that is why councils should not make strategic decisions that endanger hundreds of lives and incompetent, Chantry-sanctioned torturers shouldn’t be given leadership. Nevermind it, could you not make smaller predictions so that they believed in your abilities? Surely there’s something provable.”

Ariel let out a heavy sigh at his description. It wasn’t that she disagreed— frankly, she kind of agreed, but it wasn’t her call and it wasn’t the smartest option; they’d quickly be overwhelmed with opposition if the Inquisition became a massive mage army with clever and powerful mages at the head. No matter how empathetic they may have been. Ariel wasn’t from here and Venna was a dalish elf. The general unknowing public would rather have their teeth kicked in than accept help from a group like that. While she completely understood his hatred, it was surprising that an otherwise smart man like Fox would not see the basic lay of the world around him. Pushing a cart sideways doesn’t make it move. Especially when you’re not strong enough to make it topple. “I have,” she explained. “I told them who Krem was when he came to camp and that they should recruit the Chargers. That their leader would bring valuable information. I also knew and spoke of details of Leliana’s time with the warden that had apparently never been put into print. I told them what they’d find at each meeting place for templars and mages. It’s not enough.”

Fox leaned against the doorframe and lightning magic crackled along his staff’s blade. He kept tugging on his braid. “So either all three are so blindingly, pitifully, insufferably incompetent that there’s no feasible way they survived into adulthood.” He smirked. “Or, the prophecy simply will not let its machinations be avoided.”

Ariel hooted in laughter to herself at the sharp stab at the advisors. It was harsh, far too harsh, but she couldn’t deny it was truthful. “Oooh-ooh,” she paused, sucking in a breath through her teeth. “Ow. Wow… better be glad you’re talkin’ to me and I find that funny. I doubt they’d laugh.” She really didn’t want to think about his latter suggestion, but it made her sigh again. The noise was much quieter than her previous reaction and slowly the gaiety left her features. “I wonder what I’ve already changed, just being here,” she admitted quietly, fiddling mindlessly with the top of the lantern Fox had given her. She appeared to be staring at it but her focus was really on nothing. “But, if everything works as it did… there’s no way they’ll be able to say I’m not telling the truth. I just wish it wouldn’t take the casualties it will. I know a few who are in places you can save during the battle and I intend to make sure everyone makes it who can.”

“If the prophecy is immutable, there’s no sense worrying about it.” Fox shrugged. “Though now I will say I’m rather perturbed you suggested I bring mage children here for protection when you knew it would fall with extreme casualties.”

“There’s an escape tunnel. The casualties will be almost exclusively foot soldiers and support personnel. Children would certainly be the among the first to be protected and led out,” she replied.

“Clearly you’ve never worked with children on any sort of scale,” Fox said, chuckling.

Ariel gave him a deadpan look, her voice terribly sarcastic. “Clearly...”

He pointed at her. “Two score children in an emergency with almost no life experience outside of confined cells in a tower and with unstable, untrained, volatile magic is a recipe for disaster.”

“Right,” was all that she offered. She wanted to point out that it was said in good intent, but she was starting to get the feeling that that didn’t matter to Fox. “Kids also didn’t have magic back home. Just as a small reminder. Not that it matters, since you didn’t take me up on it. And I’m not in charge of anything. Good thing, too, it seems.”

“Then you might do well not to chide others for rejecting your offers, well-intended as they may be. And as a small reminder getting five children to walk in the same direction on a good day with the promise of treats at the end is a trial on the best of days, let alone two score with magic.”

“Okay, alright,” Ariel sighed, just utterly out of emotional energy. At this point, she just wanted him to leave. It was nice of him to bring her the lantern and it was really interesting… but the rest of this was another emotional rollercoaster and she wanted off. The reason why she’d avoided him so intently was staring her in the face. “Is there anything else you’d like to whip my tiny ego with, or is this session done? I’m sure you have better things to do with your time and talents.”

“Where’s this escape tunnel? I’ve not heard of it before, so doubtless it could use improvements before it’s needful,” Fox said, ignoring her self-deprecation.

Nope. Apparently he wasn’t going anywhere. Great. “Chancellor Roderick said it was a path you’d take on the summer pilgrimage and that it’d be overgrown. It’s not explicitly said where. Since Venna’s close to being ready to choose, I was planning to look for it soon. Just in case.”

“Hm, I’ll see if he deigns to tell me. I tick almost as many items on the heretic checklist as Venna.” He laughed. “Maybe I could leverage his desire to be contrary. Do you want to know where it is if I find it?”

The question echoed in her mind, overriding the concern she suddenly felt on behalf of Roderick. She didn’t like the man, but Fox was terribly intimidating when he wanted to be. Do you want to know where it is if I find it? It implied another conversation with Fox. She didn’t want that. But, at the same time, she wanted to know. It’d be useful. At the very least she could direct others to it. “Yeah. Good luck getting Roderick to tell you… but I suppose if anyone here can, it’s you.”

“Thank you. If not him, surely there are still pilgrims around I can…” He trailed off. “I’ve been made to believe that Nightengale is very good at her job, but you’re saying only the Chancellor knows of this path?”

“Supposed to be,” she answered. Ariel barely stopped herself from saying, ‘that’s what the story said’. It was still in the back of her mind, but she didn’t want to get him pissed off again if she could avoid it. “Leliana is really good at her job, but she and her scouts aren’t all seeing. And sometimes they don’t look in the right places because they seem insignificant. There are only so many hours in a day.”

“No, you misunderstand, I think this is another part of the prophecy at work. For whatever reason, it needs him to be the one that reveals it. For all we know, the Fade is blocking off any independent knowledge of it. Fascinating, if inconvenient.”

Okay, that settled it. She was going to find that damn path. It had to be somewhere around the chantry because that was the fallback point. Ariel didn’t care if she’d look strange feeling the walls for a secret passage. She just wanted to beat down this idea that the ‘prophecy’ couldn’t be changed.

“Maybe,” she offered, not wanting Fox to have any idea about her intentions. Seeing how he tended to spot her around anyway, she doubted she could hide it indefinitely… but hopefully long enough that she could find her target and be allowed one moment of satisfaction.

“If he tells me where it is, we have our answer. If not, I’ll call Ivan in. He’s more familiar with that sort of thing.”

Well that’s new, she couldn’t help but think. This clever bastard has good enough friends that he can just call on them for help? Thankfully, all that came out of her mouth was, “Ivan?”

“My retainer. He oversees the staff watching the children, mostly. Terribly practical man. He’d be able to reinforce the passageway, as well.” Fox nodded, seemingly to himself. “I’ll call him in regardless.”

Oh. So it’s not a friend. Just a guy he can order around. That fits. “Should you remove him if he’s helping with the kids, though?” she asked, only partially asking because she was legitimately concerned.

“...There are plenty of staff. Just how slipshod of an operation did you think I was running?”

Her face blanked again, tone just as flat despite the colorful vocabulary she was about toe employ. “I wasn’t trying to insult you. Jesus Christ on a fuckin’ stick. Do you comb everyone’s words for insults or is that honor distinctly mine?”

Fox just stared at her in confusion. “You explicitly asked if he could leave without it being a detriment. That’s not picking apart your words.”

“Then you could have just said ‘there are plenty of staff’. No need for the bullshit dig at my intelligence. Again.” She sighed again, something that just Fox’s presence seemed to illicit even more than normal. There was just no way to fight back with this asshole. He just got to walk all over her and it was entirely infuriating. She wasn’t a damn doormat and she certainly wasn’t stupid!

“It wasn’t any more a ‘dig at your intelligence’ than your questioning of my decision to summon him was an attack on my ability to run things properly. Perhaps it is due to things being so different in your place of origin, but you seem to be taking everything I say in the worst way possible.”

She groaned, wandering over to her desk. Ariel knew she wasn’t good with people, but this was just ridiculous. “I am entirely exhausted and in a world that—while I know a great deal about it—is in so many ways entirely foreign to me,” she started, barrelling on even as she pulled out her chair and sat down. She leaned over the desk, placing her head in her hands and just raised her voice to keep talking even though she was staring at her desk.

“I suddenly found myself able to use magic shortly after arriving, which, as you remember is not part of my world. This fancy new power I’ve never seen in person’s unstable, so I was a threat to those around me but there was no way for me to navigate daily life properly without assistance because of this new magical ‘talent’, not to mention that it’s not ‘normal’ magic so I really have it all cut out for me. That makes me a burden. My worst goddamn nightmare. I’m supposed to be a goddamn fuckin’ adult but now people have to baby me to keep other people safe?!” She ran her hands into her hair, gripping it, shocks ran along her skin and through her hair. For once she was too emotional to even register the pain that came with the unconscious usage.

“Then, on top of that I keep getting sick ‘cause the bullshit here isn’t the same as at home. So I’m even more of a burden. Weak physically and a danger to those around me. So it’s like, why are they even keeping me around? Isn’t it better for everyone to just force me to write everything I know down and kill me? So, since they apparently aren’t going to do that, I do every damn thing I can to help people or improve myself so I’m less of a complete failure at life and never ask for assistance. Because the moment I do, I’m a burden.” No one ever said these things to her, Ariel realizes even as she speaks, but it all comes out anyway, including the tears that she was trying her hardest to keep away until he left.

“Then you and your distracting eyes and pretty hair and soft smile come along and turn all that upside down; forcefully deny me the only way I know how to not be a damn burden. So I get around it, try to stop it, and it’s straight up stolen from me because Venna somehow thought you’d help me. I had to relinquish what little control I had over myself just because everyone else thinks they know what’s good for me,” she coughed, taking in a deep breath both because she needed to and to clear her sinuses from the tears that were still slipping over her cheeks.

“Then I make the fatal mistake of having feelings and thinking you give any single shit because you cared about my health— because, you know, I kinda trust Venna and her assessment of people— when in fact you just wanted to pry the ‘prophecy’ shit from me and fuck off. And intimidate the fuck out of me in the process, of course. You’d seen what an overload of magic does to me, then put on a lightshow right next to me while clearly pissed the fuck off about how I talked. Not that it stopped me, because, clearly, I’m stupid as a goddamn rock. Magic wasn’t a thing, and I haven’t been in battle yet. It’s terrifying when it’s not coming from me. I felt that lightning in my bones. Every hair stood on end. I tried not to think about another overload from a powerful and pissed off mage, one that could kill me this time and probably think nothing of it. I still think about it even though I did my damndest to throw myself into anything else so that I wouldn’t have time to think about it. Or you.” She paused only to take another deep breath to try and clear her airways before dragging her hands out of her hair. They slammed onto the desk with a sense of desperate frustration, crackling loudly with sparks that almost reached the ceiling. Thankfully the wooden desk and papers didn’t seem keen on catching fire for the moment.

“And NOW you show up here with a cute and interesting gift and for a moment I feel like maybe it’ll be okay. Then I get myself dragged into arguing with you about stupid shit that I admit was stupid but keep somehow stepping in every. Single. Goddamn. Pothole. Possible. It’s like my words are a shovel and I say even one,” she emphasized her word by putting up a finger for a moment before putting it down. “And I just fuck up. Entirely. I can’t handle my magic, so I’m nothing but a danger; I get sick from anything and everything so I’m nothing but a burden; I can’t fight so I have to be taught, taking away resources from actual fighters— so I’m nothing but a burden yet again. Now I can’t even talk?! What does that even mean? Do I need my mouth sewn shut like those Saarebas? It brings me back full circle! Like, why the fuck don’t I just write down every little detail I can think of to the stupid fuckin’ ‘prophecy’ now that I can actually kind of write Trade? Then I could just ‘disappear’ and everyone’d be better off! Including me!”

She seemed to go quiet for a moment, taking several deep breaths, her face running through a plethora of expressions. It settled, strangely, on a tiny smile and a thousand-yard stare. “There’s plenty of wild animals around here,” she spoke up again. “None the wiser ‘cause they’d eat everything,” she continued, actually letting out a mirthless chuckle at the idea. She shuffled her papers around, trying to find one that was relatively empty before pulling it to the front and grasping for her pen. “Or maybe I could just wander into a patch of rogue mages. The overload’d kill me, I’m sure. Or those twitchy rogue templars, after seeing a little fireworks display to confirm my magic. I’m sure they’d know where to stab.”

She wrote out the Trade for ‘The Prophecy’ and underlined it at the top of the page. The thought of this is all that matters echoed heavily in her mind. Externally, nothing changed aside from her tapping the page a few times before actually beginning to write in her very rudimentary chicken-scratch about what will happen to Haven. “Or maybe I should talk Cassandra into getting a Rite done on me.” While normally the idea of the Rite of Tranquility horrified and terrified her, in this moment it wasn’t either. She’d still ‘live’; enough to talk and give them the information they needed whenever they needed it. It was the smartest option. The best one. “It’d be nice to not have to deal with the Fade. Or emotions.” She muttered several things under her breath as she kept working, completely ignoring her puffy, tear-stained face and slight trouble breathing. The only partially encouraging sign was the fact that her magic was no longer flaring up. She had a path now. Multiple choices in how the ending went, just like the game. Except, this time, the choice really was hers.

A cat meowed loudly and headbutted Ariel’s leg. Absentmindedly, she reached down and petted the cat. “I can’t play now.” She wrote fairly quickly for someone that normally felt very uneasy about her ability to write Trade. Haven will be attacked. By an army bearing no flag.

“I don’t expect you’re up to much of anything,” Fox said gently. He’d move further in from the door, but had left his staff there. He was standing out of arm’s reach and was hunched a bit so as to not seem so tall.

“I can write,” she answered, no real inflection or emotion behind the words. It was just a statement of fact. “And that’s all I need to be able to do now.” Varric knows who leads this army. A creature, once a man, but now a darkspawn. A man who walked into the Golden City and found it empty.

“I shudder to think what kind of horrible place you came from that you think so little of your worth. People have value, prophecy or not.” Fox sighed. “And you can keep writing, but I assure you Venna will burn whatever it is, if only to keep you from doing something drastic.”

She laughed at that, a terribly hollow sound from her normal happy bray of a laugh. Still, she didn’t look up. “You assume that Venna will know a damn thing. It’s the smart choice. I give everything I have to offer, everything important, and I stop being a drain on resources.” She continued writing. Hawke killed him, but he doesn’t stay dead. Any blighted creature nearby is his new host and he is reborn. This includes Wardens.

“I was given this house so I wouldn’t be as much of a danger. Drain. Could be used in so many better ways. A longer term clinic, a schoolhouse for the few kids that are here… so many ways. Yet, here I am, taking up space because I’m dangerous.” Another paragraph. He’ll come with a dragon that looks like an Archdemon. While this is his greatest tool, it is also his weakness. Since it is also a part of him, if you kill the dragon, then kill the Blighted Magister Corypheus and have no tainted people or creatures nearby… he will die.

“I can tell her everything you’ve said here, which will, to your mind, increase the burden you’re putting on her, or you can stop for a moment and speak with me properly.”

Ariel swore he’d be able to hear the gears grind to a halt in her head. She certainly felt them. How dare he? She had a plan. A good plan for once in her goddamn life! And he just watlzes in and ruins it. She hadn’t said all this, nor felt most of this until he showed up and started messing with her. And now he was going to put her in a position of being the worst kind of burden there was: emotional.

She did what she always did when she was trying to school her emotions: take a deep breath and let it out slowly. The cat rubbed up against her leg again and shockingly she rolled her eyes. She knew it was Fox, but there had never been a time that she’d turned down a cat’s affection with anything less than an apology. She shook her head, leaning over to wrap her hand around the cat’s middle and quickly shifted it up into her lap. Ariel made sure it was at least somewhat situated before pushing with her feet against the desk to drag the chair back. Looking at Fox was the hardest part. She immediately took notice of what he’d done, gaze flickering to the staff by the door and back to him. A laugh welled up in her throat at the fact that he was even hunched over a bit, but thankfully she swallowed it down. For more grounding, she indulged the cat that was headbutting her arm for attention. “So? I’m stopped. For a moment.”

“How many refugees has the Inquisition taken in?”

“I have no idea,” Ariel answered flatly. “I’ve never helped with admissions.”

“But there are some. Do you consider them worthless burdens? Do you think Thedas would be better off if they died or disappeared?”

Ariel finally saw the connection he was trying to draw. “No,” she answered slowly. “But I’m not just some desperate field hand looking for shelter from demon-spewing rifts. I’m a mage. And an unstable one at that. It’d be like taking in a dracoling. I’ve burnt down two buildings while I was sleeping already. Guess you didn’t hear about that yet. Or maybe you didn’t ask if anyone knew me. Though Venna probably wouldn’t have told you either.”

“Do you think I should throw out the children that start fires, then? Simply because their magic is uncontrollable from fear and worse?” Fox quirked an eyebrow.

“You really think I’m a monster, don’t you?” she asked, words spilling out of her mouth before she could think on it. “That’s inhumane. They’re kids! Who would do that?” She looked away from him, mumbling onwards, “I mean, I guess some magic-fearing parents might, but that’s still awful!”

“What about the teenagers? At what age do they stop being children? When should I tell my people to kick out the ones that haven’t the control? Did your story tell you about the Harrowings in the South? Should I institute those?” He examined his sleeve and brushed off some dirt.

“Yes, they told me about the Harrowings. They shouldn’t be done on anyone that’s just brought in. Regardless of age. Even those that are prepared are often too terrified to do well. And that’s not right. It’s throwing bait fish into the water with sharks and expecting the bait fish to escape.” She sighed and shook her head. “But I’m not in charge of your kids, so these questions are just a theoretical exercise.”

“So you agree that throwing them out, forcing them to learn at some set pace, threatening them with Tranquility if they don’t perform certain standards is ridiculous at best? That’s my impression.”

“Yeah,” she muttered in reply. She knew what he was doing: he was attempting to systematically dismantle her own feelings and the manipulation was quickly pushing her back into fury. First he denies her the way to remove the burden of sickness because he knows better, now he throws away a sacrifice of a willing participant because, no doubt, he thinks he knows better? She seethed internally, but for the moment it remained hidden. “But do you think it’s alright to allow someone who is terrified of their power and finds the removal of emotions as a boon rather than a deterrent request the Rite themselves?” If he was going to speak in hypotheticals, so could she. It would certainly be an interesting answer, considering he was a mage. From Tevinter, where that Rite is probably akin to a terrifying ghost story told to mage children to scare them into behaving.

“Absolutely not,” Fox said when vehemence, “because that is not what the Rite does. Divine Justinia discovered that. That’s the entire reason the South is tearing itself apart. Tranquility does not remove emotions, it makes the Tranquil unable to act on them. They are forced to bottle them up, just as you have since you arrived here. The Tranquil Pharamond went mad when the Rite was reversed.”

Ariel had known that most went mad when the Rite was reversed, but she hadn’t been aware of the idea that it didn’t at least dull emotions. “That would be like… a spinal injury. Unable to communicate, but still very much aware.” Her brows knitted, eyes closing a moment later. “I haven’t kept them bottled up the entire time,” she finally spoke up again. “My mind just…” A heavy sigh escaped her lips and she shook her head. “I’m beyond useless when I just let myself feel what it’d want me to. Anxiousness over a failure two days past that blows up into stress and tears because I can’t fix it. Depression follows the tears. Mania— the spurts I go through where I can focus… is the only way I get anything done. If I take a break, I’m almost immediately back to anxiousness, stage one. I can reason with myself until I’m blue in the face in that state, but it doesn’t stop the stress.” Speaking of which, she paused, to wipe at her face before more tears fell. “I had ways of coping at home, ways of releasing stress properly. And meds. Don’t have those here. I’m telling you, Fox, it would be much better for everyone if I just wrote everything down and disappeared. I’ll probably eventually work myself to an early death if I don’t get caught up in a fight I can’t win when Haven’s attacked.I might as well make sure that I write everything down before then. Just in case.”

Fox spent several minutes thinking before he finally said, “So you’re aware, academically, of the depression and that it can be treated?”

“Yes,” she replied, her voice little more than an exasperated sigh. “But we don’t have the meds necessary here to treat it properly and I have no idea what kinds of natural remedies could be made in its stead.”

“Believe me, the Circles of Minrathous and Asariel alone would fall if there was nothing to be done for depression. Nevermind the Magisterium at large. I apologize for not realizing sooner this was a problem. I have been busy, as you can imagine.”

“No,” Ariel snapped, though her voice was choked. She wiped at her face again and sniffed, trying to allow her anger through the stress. “You’re not going to take on my goddamn mental problems. You’ve got far more important things to be doing than babysitting a grown woman who should be able to take care of herself. Shifting the massive burden onto you is still a damn burden! Just… stop…”

“Ignore that for a moment. Academically, tell me, this kind of hopelessness you have, this desire to be Tranquil and thoughts of worthlessness, do you acknowledge that it is part of the condition? You said knowing doesn’t make you feel better; I don’t expect it to, just tell me again, that you know these things are symptoms.”

“Of course it is!” she replied with a breathless and mirthless laugh. “And I do my best to make sure no one else feels like this. ‘Cause it feels like absolute shit.”

“Yes, so if these feelings are merely a symptom of the larger problem, do you think it’s responsible to act on them in this fashion?”

“‘This fashion’?” she echoed. “I’m afraid you’ve lost me.”

“You feel hopeless because of the depression and instead of treating that depression, you are acting on the hopelessness. I suggest at least trying some of the tinctures for it before resigning yourself to death.”

“Who knows if they’ll even work,” she mused. “Considering that magic doesn’t. And the illnesses are different. I’d try ‘em, if that’s actually a thing. But who knows.” She let out another breathless and mirthless laugh, a tiny smirk pulling at her lips. “They might kill me. That’d be nice.”

“I think your disinterest in trying is likely another symptom.” He sighed and rubbed his temples. “It will take some time for the tinctures to arrive from Asariel. My mentor will mix them himself, but time. Will you at least stop planning for death until then?”

“It was a joke,” Ariel assured him, her laugh actually accompanied by a toothed smile. “One in poor taste, maybe,” she admitted. She was relieved, were she honest with herself. Her smile barely faded as she looked down at the cat that had been obediently sitting on her lap this whole time despite her outbursts. In the back of her mind she was fairly certain it was due to Fox’s charm over it, but she was grateful regardless. “I…” she started again after a few long strokes at the cat’s fur. She looked up at Fox, worried again but hopeful. “Are you certain this isn’t a burden, Fox? You have a lot to do. I don’t want to make things more difficult for you.”

“Ordering a tincture is no trouble. I’ve a letter I was sending already, though I’ve made a note that Haven might not be the return destination. Even if you lost your memories today, Venna would lose her mind if something happened to you. Perhaps when you’re more settled we can be friends.”

She had no idea why just the mention of a maybe friendship made her happy. Unconsciously she rocked side to side for a moment as she let the information sink in. “Well, I don’t think she’d lose her mind,” she finally said, laughing softly as she looked down again and moved her hand to pet around the cat’s chin. “But she’d probably be sad, I guess. I make her laugh sometimes and don’t treat her like the Herald.” She swallowed, feeling a bit silly for what she wanted to say, but decided to say it anyway. Nothing could be more ridiculous than what she’d already done, after all. Looking up at Fox again, she offered a rather timid assurance. “I’ll work hard to make sure I can be a good friend.”

Fox nodded and stood at his full height. “Good. I’ll check on you later, too, but I need to send that message to Ivan, as well.”

Ariel smothered a laugh in the back of her throat. “Honestly,” she began with a small exhale. “I’ll probably be asleep. I was running on fumes. On emotion, even. I can’t run on nothing. Maybe things will leave me alone in the Fade if I just lay down there, too.”

“We can only hope.” He nodded to the cat. “He’ll stay with you tonight. Longer, if he likes you. I’ll let you know about the passage.”

She looked down at the furball in her lap, smile flashing across her lips again. “Well, maybe I can bribe him with food when I can drag myself back out of bed. I’d love a furry friend.” A sheen appeared in her eyes again and she frantically wiped at them before looking up at Fox again. “Thank you. And, I’m really sorry. For everything.”

“You’re welcome, but don’t apologize for needing help. It’s what makes us people.”

“Is that it?” she asked, a faint smile on her lips but a rather confused expression her face. “That’s the puzzle piece to make humanity. Needing help? Hm.” It was certainly something to think about. She was raised to be fiercely independent, partially because help would be given if you asked but held over your head later. A reminder of how you failed.

Fox smiled, but it was wane and didn’t reach his eyes. “As much as I’ve been able to see.” He cleared his throat and his expression shifted back to soft kindness. He stepped towards the door. “Regardless, I’ll leave you to your rest.”

The wish had been in the back of her mind since he’d insisted their were methods for treatment but she’d pushed it away. As the opportunity faded, she found herself scrambling. She gently picked up the cat in her lap and set him down just as gingerly. He meowed at her, then yawned, as if upset that she’d moved him from his resting place. “Fox? Can I… uhm…” She felt weird asking about this, honestly, and the embarrassment was clear on her face. But, she reasoned, it would have been weirder to just do it. “Hug you?”

Fox held up his hand to stay her movement for a moment, then patted himself down. There was a quiet sizzle as he deactivated the active spells on his robes. “Of course, though given your reaction to magic, it would be best to ask first. As you saw.”

At first she just tilted her head again, confused by his reaction, but as she watched and felt her hair briefly flutter at the back of her neck from the released magic it made some sense. For the moment she was distracted from her actual request and blinked several times as she tried to process exactly what she’d seen. “Ye-yeah… do all Tevinter robes do that?”

Fox opened his mouth immediately, but then closed it. “I’m not sure. Better to be safe than sorry, though. We’re very casual with magic use, unlike here in the South.”

She nodded, mentally noting that she’d need to ask Dorian if his had that kind of thing on them too. She really didn’t want to feel overloaded if she could avoid it. It was weird, but she had to actually gather courage to move. When she did, though, she made sure that her furry friend wasn’t by her feet or in her way before all but jumping into him and wrapping her arms above his waist. She was actually glad for the height difference because it was easy for her to bury her face in his chest. The immediate scent of metal that greeted her nose made her wonder if she’d bitten her lip in the movement but a quick swipe of her tongue proved otherwise. A faint undertone of freshly baked bread was soothing and she barely kept herself from pulling out a very weird ‘you smell nice’.

Fox patted her back gently. “Get some rest, Ariel. The attack is soon and there’s much to do.”

Well that wasn’t helpful. Ariel heard the thought echo loudly in her head. While the reminder may possibly have been necessary, the timing was horrendous. “Right,” she muttered, pulling away entirely without so much as another glance at Fox. Any gaiety that she’d come to the interaction with was gone. Her mind immediately began running through scenarios. Going through what she’d have to do to make sure the key support characters would survive. Running over possibilities regarding possible changes since she was here. She already knew she’d have to go with Venna— Ariel was 99.9% certain that the voice she always heard calling for her in the Fade was Corypheus. His intervention, or perhaps that of another Evanuris beyond Solas, were the only possibilities she’d ever come up with while turning the situation over and over in her head. She wandered back to the bed, sitting down. She could still easily see Fox and the door. “Thanks again,” she offered. It was the only thing she could think to say. He’d already told her not to apologize.

Fox continued leaving, but stopped at the door. He didn’t turn to look at her. “I’m neither stupid nor oblivious. I won’t push now, but if you don’t take care of yourself, I will go to Venna.”

“I never said or implied you were either of those,” Ariel growled. For a brief moment she’d felt like they’d actually made some progress, but here they were again. “But go ahead, keep accusing me. It makes me want to disappear even more.” She barely bit back a comment about making a pact with a demon for invisibility so that they couldn’t find her until it was too late. That would indeed be stupid. Any pact with a demon went poorly, from what she knew, and she wasn’t willing to test if it could be otherwise.

“I can’t spend all evening holding your hand and convincing you these aren’t accusations. I can only imagine no one’s shown any concern towards you that’s not been rooted in cruelty that that’s the only thing you can hear, but that can’t be fixed at once and I can’t be expected to know exactly how to phrase things.”

Honestly, she wasn’t sure how else he could have meant what he said, but there was no argument to be made and even if there was, she was too tired to make it. “No, I suppose you can’t. And I certainly don’t want you sitting here babying me. I just need to learn to shut up. Or, at least, think about the larger context first.” She shook her head, disappointed and exasperated with herself. “Thanks, Fox. And sorry. Again. I’ll just curl up with my temporary furry friend. Thank you for bringing him.”

“He will stay as long as he’s needed. Rest. Rest and remember that you agreed not to do anything permanent until you’ve tried the tinctures. People are worried for you.”

“I know,” was all she offered in reply, but to what statement she didn’t specify. The cat was staring up at her from the floor and she managed a small smile for him. She didn’t bother removing her clothes as she moved the furs and sheet, knowing that she’d taken off her boots when she first came back and that is the only thing she cared about in terms of messing up her bed. Slipping under them was more comforting than she’d thought. The weight keeping her still and the warmth she naturally radiated was trapped in an intense heat that just barely stayed below the level that would have her sweating.

#OC: Ariel Grace #AU to my AU #co-writing #tk-duveraun #Fox #writing #mention:#suicidal thoughts #tranquility #depression #severe depression

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frostbite883-archive · 6 years

Text

Well, either of your ideas that you had written was already written before (albeit differently) by someone else a while back basically (out of the fact that I made questions similar to the ones I gave you which resulted in tumblr bloggers giving me different answers to them).

gingerly-writing: to this ask I filled out for them. I’m pretty fucking pissed off, and I’ve had my fury checked out by uninvolved parties to make sure it was righteous. It’s righteous.

Me: Not entirely so.

gingerly-writing: First off, feel free not to send people rude-ass messages after they’ve put time and effort into coming up with a response to you?

Me: The top comment there (the “Well, either of your ideas” comment) wasn’t really the rude comment I typed out. The other one was (which I’m sorry for) which you didn’t copy paste in your third post so other bloggers can see it as that public evidence is vital for context.

gingerly-writing: Also, I thought you were going to use my idea and have me to thank you or something for it when I came up with something like my asks I gave you and something to the equivalent of your “heroes and villains school” stuff before I replied to your ask box sometime ago. Basically, wanting me to give you undeserved credit for my very own idea. I certainly didn’t know you were going to make comments like this either.

So, I actually have a hero and villain school in my own original superhero works, and I did come up with a solution to this one. If you’re writing your own original stuff, please change this up, but if you’re writing fic I don’t mind if you nick it wholesale (as long as you tag me in it! I’d love to read it).

Y’know, for me, this was just background information, but now I kind of want to write a whole book focusing on it.

gingerly-writing: It took me a good 45 minutes to get tumblr to accept my answer to your damn ask, so you’ve just made that a waste of my time.

Me: Maybe. But, from below, you were not bettering the situation.

gingerly-writing: Also, feel free to simply not respond rudely to people’s posts, at all, ever, especially if you were the one who sent the ask in the first place. I didn’t need to know how shit my ideas are, thanks.

Me: Yeah...not really sure where you’re going with this. Are you saying your ideas were horrible because they were based on my idea and how I spread more around on tumblr? Or do you think I’m saying your ideas were horrible because you think I’m somehow saying, implying or thinking that?

Either why, that comment of yours was not helpful for anyone. Yourself included.

gingerly-writing: Also, as a more general PSA, feel free not to send identical asks to multiple bloggers.

Me: Not happening. As I can sent any ask at any time by my own free will. As is my right.

gingerly-writing: Seeing someone else answer the same ask really disincentivizes me to answer it, even if it’s in my queue: I worry about stepping on the other responder’s feet,

Me: Well, to be fair, I can understand the sentiment there. Still, what you say next will lower that sentiment.

and also, it’s motherfuckin rude, you absolute assclown.

Me: Childish name calling. So...how is it you’re any better with what you had said. What would you benefit from doing that other then venting out your anger. ...Which ironically enough I didn’t even do here and wouldn’t now just so I won’t sink to your level of rudeness.

gingerly-writing: And if you do send multiple asks and get similar responses, maybe it’s simply because it’s a good fucking idea. If you get different answers, maybe it’s because we’re all different fucking people with awesome different ideas that I’m not sure you deserve.

Me: You know what, I’ll be upfront, and say that I should have not jumped the gun and assumed the worse and could’ve worded my comments better (or just replied privately about the whole matter), you, on the other hand, didn’t do much of anything to resolve the situation as best as you should’ve. In the end, you basically became me. But a little worse.

gingerly-writing

: feel free to block me on the way out

Me: Already did. I’m hoping you don’t treat other bloggers the way you had treated me. Especially if they were nicely bringing up stuff to your attention among other things. And especially, even, in the ‘ginning once they asked you something.

gingerly-writing: #I try to be nice on this site #but I have my limits #and now I'm in rage mode #the asks and the answers #rude #ungrateful

Me: As if you were better with your own fair share of rudeness that might be on the level of hackedmotionsensors’.

hackedmotionsensors: THIS PERSON IS SO WEIRD!! All they ever do is send these bizarre questions about the DCEU being in MCU!

Me: Actually, that's not ALL I do. I asked other questions too. And my qs aren't as weird as any one else's either, hacked. Best to not go by assumptions and call people weird for what they say or do. Be it in front of their faces or behind their backs. Also, don't like me or my qs? Then either block me or just blacklist my name.

See ya...never, I guess.

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Here’s some context on what I was talking about on this post:

TumblrFrostbite: How would you want schools for villains' kids (for Marvel villains' kids, for DC villains' kids, etc) to be ran? And who would you want to run those schools?

gingerly-writing: This is one of those things that I’ve put way too much thought into after you sent this, because I love stuff like this. The question is, are the villains running this school for their kids, or is this something the heroes are putting on to try and rehabilitate the kids while their parents are in prison? I’ll assume the former, but the latter is also super interesting to me.

Disclaimer: this will have a strong DC bent because I have little to no interest in most Marvel villains, whereas I could yack on about DC villains for month. In fact, I might just stick to DC in its entirety because other than Loki (who would be the worst teacher ever, he would encourage so much shenanigans) most of the Marvel villains I know are Nazis or space monsters. Second disclaimer: I’ve watched a lot more animated DC movies and read a lot more fic than I ever have comics, soooooo these depictions might not be comic book accurate. Fanboys, please don’t come for me…but I also don’t really care that much tbh. I like the incarnations that I like. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Actual answer under the cut because this got hella long. Hope you like it!

Sponsor: Lex Luthor. Funds the school, shows up to speech day to give speeches and hand out prizes, gives the brightest and most stable kids scholarships to work at Lex Corp in the holidays. Absolutely 100% has his own ends, no one knows what they are. Chucks buckets of money at every problem. Likes to bring the school up at fancy soirees in front of Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen just to piss them off.

Headmaster: Deathstroke (or rather, Slade from Teen Titans). Has no idea how he wound up with this job, complains about the pay 24/7 even though it’s in the range of millions of dollars a term paid in untraceable cash from 50 different countries. Basically ends up like Gordon Ramsey: threatens to assassinate the teachers and parents all the time, has actually taken out some abusive parents, but is weirdly, gruffly nice to the younger kids. Teachers self-defence to all the non-powered kids and weapons to anyone who’s interested and has the discipline for it. Grudgingly tolerates old man jokes.

Deputy Headmistress: Talia al Ghul. Absolutely terrifies all the older kids, mothers the younger ones. In charge of who graduates and who doesn’t; will only let kids graduate if their villainy won’t critically endanger their own life. Sometimes shows up in the backs of random classes and lurks there for ‘assessments’; shows up in more than 50% of Deathstroke’s classes to harass him about his technique. Keeps a photo of Damien on her desk, refuses to acknowledge it’s there if someone asks about it.

Biology: Poison Ivy. Excellent teacher, surprises both herself and her students at how brilliant she is. Everyone wants to take biology with her even if they have no villainous interest in the subject. Litters her lectures with feminist rants, eco-warrior tirades and talks about LGBT+ rights, will gently but forcefully correct anyone who disagrees with her. Runs a vegetable outside the school and encourages the kids to get closer to nature. Just enough passing knowledge of memes to make her older students roll about with laughter: ‘Batman’s homophobic because he inconveniences me and I’m gay’. PDAs with her girlfriend in the corridors.

Women and gender studies: Harley Quinn Ivy’s girlfriend, part time teacher. Wanted to take up the psychology post, but after she seriously suggested sharing it with Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow) no one wanted to let her anywhere near it. Knows every meme. Gives great relationship advice, will kill anyone’s abusive boyfriend with no questions asked. Brings her hyenas to school in a ridiculously massive handbag. Has her own locker.

Thievery, sneaking around, Gotham safety: Catwoman. Definitely brings in her cats to act as therapy/comfort animals for the kids. Unofficial therapist; absolutely mothers anyone from Gotham, no exceptions. Brings the kids super expensive (stolen) jewellery to wear on prom night and for big dances, charges in secrets about their parents.

Business and Economics, with a side in mind control: Maxwell Lord (in the more business-orientated editions). Keeps to himself, is one of those teachers who doesn’t actually seem to like kids. Always wears a freshly pressed suit. Bit of an asshole. Selina tripped him down the stairs once.

Magic: supposedly taught by Felix Faust, but Klarion enrolled as a student just to show up in his lectures and argue. Every. Single. Point. Magic classes have turned into a magical war several times. They can only get along when someone else turns up claiming magic isn’t real. Faust has a lecture prepared for the non-believers, Klarion has a fireball. Circe often shows up in these classes, ‘borrows’ all the female students for private lessons and turns all the boys into pigs. Pig-Klarion does not appreciate this.

Physics and advanced thermodynamics: Killer Frost. Gets on really well with the Gotham City Sirens; they have cocktail parties in the staff lounge every second Thursday. Is paid by other villains kidnapping Firestorm so she can feed. Absolutely has favourite students and students she hates with a passion; has been known to freeze some students to their chairs in lieu of detention.

Other random villains that show up from time to time: - Flash’s Rogues Gallery. Created the infamous ‘Rogues week’ at the end of the year where every single one of them shows up and helps the students wreak absolute chaos across the school. Can never be stopped from showing up and starting this. Captain Cold comes grudgingly, sits in Slade’s office and has a drink with him; the rest of the Rogues join in with the chaos a bit too enthusiastically. Best week for the seniors. The younger rogues would totally be students and help to smuggle the older ones in for Rogues week.

- Black Manta: shows up sometimes, teaches a few lectures, leaves. Always on super random topics, often tangentially related to his latest evil scheme. The students have a betting pool that reawakens after each visit on how his talk will relate to his next scheme. Literally no one understands why he shows up. Doesn’t get paid, doesn’t seem to enjoy it. ?????? Has great on-land fashion sense though. A lot of the older students have lowkey crushes on him

- Cheetah takes advanced genetics and many other complex of aspects of science. Only shows up to teach special classes for the seniors. High fives Ivy in the corridors.

- Deadshot. Sometimes shows up and interrupts Deathstroke’s guns lessons (poor guy can never teach a lesson in peace), always gets chased out of the school. Gets teary eyed over the young female students kicking ass. Doesn’t seem to do anything useful but somehow gets paid a salary. Sleeps in the gym when he’s on the run from Amanda Wakker/Batman.

- Hugo Strange keeps showing up in disguises and trying to get the psychology job. Last time it was just a fake moustache. What is he even hoping to achieve.

- Merlyn shows up when he’s bored to host archery competitions on the front lawn. Mostly does this when Oliver Queen is in town. Keeps saying he’s going to pick a protégé out of the best archers and never does because the Arrow Clan kids annoy him so much he’s wound up thinking he hates kids. Actually loves kids, pretends to be snooty and above them though. 100% has to prove he’s still the best archer at every competition, even the one for 12 year olds.

TumblrFrostbite: If the super villain academy children, by the time they hit twenty, had to do some VERY impressive villainous in order to graduate, what type of villainous stuff would you have the rookies villains do to not only graduate, but also to be considered as full fledged villains?

gingerly-writing: So, I actually have a hero and villain school in my own original superhero works, and I did come up with a solution to this one. If you’re writing your own original stuff, please change this up, but if you’re writing fic I don’t mind if you nick it wholesale (as long as you tag me in it! I’d love to read it).

My thought was: all villains are going to be different, with different strengths and gifts. Sending them all to, I don’t know, infiltrate an island or fight Black Canary (which no one would win, let’s be honest) doesn’t seem fair on those it doesn’t suit. I was really struggling to come up with something that could work for everyone that didn’t force them to work in a team, because, well…villainous teams never work so well. Too many egos and whatnot.

My solution was: have the kids pick their own challenges. Make it their end of final year project. They submit a fully researched plan, all the way from the developmental stages to the final polished article. Plans like ‘killing Batman’ or ‘blowing up the planet’ are swiftly vetoed, but as long as they’re convincing enough the plan can get as elaborate and dangerous as they like. Half the marks come from the plan itself, and half for execution. Sometimes, my particularly vindictive kiddos make their plan to screw over their nemesis’ plan; I particularly enjoy when their plans are both to screw over each others’ plans. That gets entertaining.

They’re assigned a teacher whose knowledge base best fits with the plan the kid wants to execute, and they submit and resubmit and re-resubmit it to improve and refine their scheme until it’s as perfect as it’s going to get. Then, with no further outside help, they have to execute it.

This method lets you titivate the grand finale to best suit your plot needs. Your character has a serious nemesis? Pitch them against each other. Parental grudge? Make their aim to foil their parent’s plans. Hero that they hate? Plan to ruin their day. Plus, you can shove in bureaucratic nightmares and whatever other problems you can dream up (sabotage, indecision, dreams too grand to execute) into the planning stages.

I’m not sure you could do anything in a school situation to make the outside world consider them ‘real villains’: that would take time, money, and a body count, all things a school probably can’t afford to have on their books, villainous or not. But a huge, large-scale, dramatic graduating plan probably wouldn’t hurt any young villain’s rep!

Y’know, for me, this was just background information, but now I kind of want to write a whole book focusing on it. xx

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