#i was really tempted to add but it's from Cursed Love story and I said no AU shit before you finish shit | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kteezy997 · 3 months

Note

ok so this is random.Butvhear me out.So like lee X gn reader and you know we're on the road n' crap.So we pull up to like a gas Station reader goes inside to get food.BUT, we don't have enough money so we flirt with the cashier maybe a bit of name calling, ass slapping IDK¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯So we come out and lee has seen it all and he's really upset and mad and reader is like but we it's not like we're dating U jealous???And then lee confuses and reader says they also like them and Lee is all like I was just scared U were gonna leave.Amd it just ends in fluff.I know it's weird and U obviously don't have to do but like 🙏😊

when people send in requests mapping out the story and let me just add in a little razzle dazzle>>>

I hope it's okay that I made the reader female

You Belong to Me// Lee (Bones and All)

Warnings: cursing, angst, fluff, and everything that is in the request is in the fic so be sure to read that

It’s a long read. Enjoy.

You were in love with him, and he acted like he had no idea. How could he not know? You spent every waking hour together and even slept next to each other. How could he not see the lingering glances you gave, or how you would take any opportunity to touch his arm, or his shoulder? He was so damn beautiful, and so protective of you, but it was more like a friend type of thing. You were certain that was how he thought of you: his friend and travel companion.

You knew he had a past, that maybe he had done some things that he wasn't proud of. You had no idea what things. But you knew that it was enough for Lee to not want to get too close to you. You were growing tired of his closed off demeanor.

"We gotta get gas." he said, turning on his blinker and pulling into the filling station.

Night was falling outside. You didn't know where the hell you were, just somewhere in Kentucky. Everything looked the same, from the landscape to the gas stations that were planted every fifty miles or so.

Lee got out and started to pump gas.

You looked into the little convenience store across the way and saw a young male employee at the register. You grinned to yourself. Now was finally your chance to mess with Lee, to see if you could make him jealous.

You got out of the truck as well, waltzing over to the driver's side where Lee was filling the gas tank. "I'm gonna go inside." you said to him.

"Okay, just don't spend too much money. We gotta make it last." he replied, looking up at you, his red hair shining pink-ish under the lights of the gas station.

You put your hands in your pockets nonchalantly as you walked over to the store.

Once inside, you smiled at the guy behind the counter, he was kinda cute, not as handsome as Lee, but he was decent looking. He nodded at you with a smirk and wasn't shy about checking out your ass as you walked by.

You decided to pick up something useful, so you grabbed some feminine pads and tampons. You knew exactly what to do. As you brought the items up to the counter, you noticed that Lee had a perfect view of you checking out from outside.

"How are you on this fine evening, darlin'?"

The man spoke to you, bringing you out of your Lee trance. "Oh, I'm fine, how are you?"

"Oh, much better since you walked in." he said with a hearty southern laugh as he started to scan your items.

You let out a fake laugh, and batted your eyelashes at him, placing your hands on the counter as he rang you up.

"You and your boyfriend just passing through?" he asked, gruffly.

"Oh yeah," you looked out the window at Lee, he was screwing the lid back on to the gas cap. "But he's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend, ya know?"

"Oh really? Well, maybe I could convince you to spend the night in town? I get off in an hour, and there's a real nice motel down the road.”

What a sleazebag, you thought. But you had to play this off. You knew without even looking that Lee was watching. "Hmm, that is really tempting...how much do I owe you?"

His smirk fell a little when he had to look at the small screen where your transaction was added up, "It's uh $6.50, dear."

"Oh no, I don't have that much." you bit your lip, shifting on your feet innocently.

"Well, that's okay. A pretty girl like you needs a break. It's on the house." he said with a wave of his hand.

You looked over at Lee, leaning against the side of the truck with his arms folded across his chest. Then you looked back at the clerk, "Really? Are you sure? I'd hate to not give you anything for this stuff."

He grinned, leaning toward you with a nasty grin. "Maybe you could just give me a kiss for now, and we'll call it even."

You gulped, glancing to Lee for a second, then nodded at the stranger, "Okay, just a tiny one?"

The clerk nodded.

You leaned over the counter, your ass was now high in the air. You pecked the man on the cheek quickly, but you still got a whiff of his minty chewing tobacco. The smell almost made you sick to your stomach. You'd rather smell the occasional cigarette Lee smoked.

As you got back to your feet, the clerk reached around and smacked you right on the ass. It hurt, and you weren't happy about it, but you knew it was the perfect action to send Lee over the edge. The bell at the top of the store door chimed within seconds. The man behind the counter hadn't even stopped chuckling at what he had done.

Lee was more angry than you had ever seen him. "Y/n, everything okay in here?" He was fuming and he looked so hot, his hands were balled into fists.

"Yeah, fine." you chirped, grabbing your feminine products from the counter. "Thank you, sir, very much." you sang, smiling at the clerk, then turning on your heels to exit the store, bumping into Lee's arm for good measure.

"See you in an hour, sweetheart!" the clerk called after you.

"The fuck you will!" Lee spat immediately to the other man.

You giggled as you let the door close behind you, but Lee was on your trail.

"What the hell was that, y/n?" he barked.

"What ever do you mean?" you teased, hopping into your side of the truck.

Lee quickly got into the driver’s seat, “Don’t give me that shit, why would you let some asshole touch you like that? Who knows what he could have done to you?”

“Why would you care, Lee? It’s not like we’re dating!”

“I care about your safety, y/n, you know that.” he said, starting up the truck and pulling out of the gas station. You were on the road again.

“Well, there’s no harm in flirting if I want to.” you pointed out.

“Sure there is. You can’t trust strangers. You’re smarter than that.”

“Okay, Dad. Damn.” you mocked him with a huff, and crossed your arms, laying your head on the window. You felt defeated in your attempt to get him to like you. You started to think that he really didn’t see you as anything more than just a travel buddy.

“Don’t call me that.” Lee scoffed. “Look, I’m sorry. It just pissed me off that that motherfucker thought he could put his hands on my girl like that.”

Your heart started you beat hard in your chest when you realized what he had said. “Wait…what?” You looked over at him, his hand in his hair at the top of his head. Did he just let that slip? Was he oblivious to what he had said?

“What?” he frowned at you, then kept his eyes on the road.

“Do you know what you just said? You said my girl.”

Lee couldn’t stop the strange little smile that toyed with the corners of his mouth. “Yeah. You’re my girl.” He shrugged. “That’s how I like to think of you. Is that weird?” He put his hand on his cheek, then his fingers laid over his mouth. He looked over at you, waiting for your response.

You felt so warm in your chest, your whole body became tingly with happiness. But you didn’t want to ruin the moment in any way. You didn’t want to push him. You knew Lee, and even though he seemed so abrasive, it was because he was so fragile on the inside. You would let him come to you. “No, it’s not weird. I’m glad to hear that, actually.”

Lee smiled, then turned his attention back to the road. He drove for a while and you sat in a comfortable silence. You desperately wanted to scoot closer to him, to touch him, to feel the warmth of his body, but not just yet.

“So you wouldn’t seriously meet some stranger at a motel, would you?” he asked you.

“Lee, I never thought about that guy for a second.”

A scrunched up look of confusion appeared on his face, “Then why did you flirt with him? Were you that bored?”

“No, I um, I wanted to see what you would do if you saw me acting like that.” you twiddled your thumbs absentmindedly.

“And why did you want that?”

“I don’t know. It feels silly to say it out loud. Maybe it’s stupid, but I wanted to try and make you jealous. Now I don’t know if you think of me that way or if we’re just…companions, but you should know that I-I”

“No.” he said, sharply, interrupting you.

“No?” you felt a lump in your throat.

“Just…let me take you somewhere. I wanna take you somewhere.” his voice trembled a little. Was he nervous? He was never nervous. Lee was always in control, he always knew what to do in every situation.

“Okay.” you cleared your throat, and looked down at your hands. You noticed how badly you were shaking.

Lee continued driving for a few minutes, then turned down a dirt road, off into the woods. “There’s a spot back here that I’ve been to before. It’s great for being alone and star gazing.”

You hummed in response, smiling lightly.

There was a decent sized patch of grass mapped out by many trees, and he parked the truck. “Seems like a good spot to call it a night.” he said, turning off the ignition.

You were upset that it seemed like he was brushing you off. Like whatever feelings you had didn’t matter because he couldn’t handle them.

You were lost in your thoughts, and you hadn’t even noticed that he had gotten out of the truck. Lee tapped on your window, giving you a light scare. “Hey, you coming?” he asked, opening your door.

He took your hand when you stepped out, and you felt a glimmer of hope strike you in the heart. You blushed as he led you to the back of the truck. He dropped your hand for a moment to open up the old, rusty tailgate with its signature creeks and clunks.

To your surprise, Lee spun around and grabbed you by the waist, picking you up and plopping you down on the tailgate. You giggled in response.

He carefully put his hands on the tops of your thighs, slowly parting them so he could nestle his hips between them. He smiled softly, and your heart skipped a beat as he touched your cheek, so delicately, like dipping his toe in the water.

“You belong to me, y/n. And I belong to you. We are part of each other.” his voice was so sweet and velvet, he had the ability to melt you on the inside.

You grinned at him, and wrapped your arms around his neck.

You heard him let out a soft breath as he hugged you. His hands rested on your back. You were both able to relax, and just be. Be together, in the moment without any barriers or hesitation.

“Lee, do I mean more to you than just a friend?” you asked, letting your fingers brush his curls idly.

“Hm.” he hummed, leaning back a tiny bit to look at you. The crinkles near the outside of his eyes creased as he grinned. He leaned in, you felt the warmth of his breath, and then the tender press of his lips on yours. He pulled away slightly, saying, “What do you think?” He then resumed kissing you, and tucked your legs around his waist.

@gatoenlaciudad @thebetawolfgirl @musicandbooksaremyhappyplace @softhecreator @tchalamss @bitchyunknownuser @lixzey @ducktapebar @kpopgirlbtssvt

#timothée chalamet #timmy chalamet #timothee x reader #timothée imagine #timothee chalamet smut #bonesandallfanfiction #bonesandalllee #timothee fanfic #timothée chalamet imagine

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saphirered · 3 years

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Percy and Bad first times? I love these asks thank you!

I do not know why it took me approximately an eternity to write this but I finished it. I hope it will have been worth the wait. 😘

(Percy)

The moment Percy walked into your life you thought he was very much the egotistical rich kid. First impressions weren’t great as he concluded that wether or not you came from money or status, you rebelled against the social norms of high society. You two were polar opposites and anyone who said opposites attract; you were the proof against that claim for the longest time.

At the realisation you wouldn’t be leaving any time soon Percy tried to school you in manners for his sake correcting your behaviour and even words like you were some insolent child. You did not take this well and the argument that followed, unavoidable. Many things were said, some neither of you are proud of and you didn’t speak for days unless it were some snide remarks.

Then it came to a job to interact with high society people and you got to show Percy how wrong he was as you properly addressed the people, held your posture correctly and picked every word eloquently. Taken aback by your complete 180 in behaviour a conversation was in order. You got the pleasure telling Percy his ‘lessons’ had nothing to do with this and unlike some people you’d rather not be a pompous ass with a superiority complex like some people.

This lead Percy to dive into some research trying to find your name and family name, tapping into all resources at his disposal to figure you out telling himself you might be a threat if you were hiding things. He was not prepared to find out what happened with your family and faced you with the fact he found your past. The first one on one you had was Percy quite literally cornering you so you couldn’t avoid him. Admittedly not his proudest moment. You needed to talk so talk you did.

Telling Percy your story and trusting him with it might have been the first time you’ve told anyone since you left your home. In turn to set the record straight he told you what had happened with his own family. You came to the conclusion you’re not so different after all. A mutual understanding and trust formed between the two of you, though your arguments did not end with you disagreed on a matter. Rarely did you give the other the silent treatment and instead came to an agree-to-disagree conclusion if compromise was not an option. In time, they’d cease to be arguments all together and simply turn into conversations.

At this point you might even have considered yourselves friends. You found yourselves spending more time together. Percy was raised the so-mani-eth child extremely unlikely to be the heir of his family but with the tragedy that befell them, only he and his sister remained. You were raised to continue your family’s legacy but had lost everything. When Whitestone was returned to the surviving De Rolo’s you promised to give aide in any way you could.

Vox Machina, taken in a different direction you stayed behind with Cassandra. You took no titles or lands no matter how many times, Cassandra and the council offered them. In his time away from you and his home he came to realise he’d begun missing your company, the conversations and having to be the smart and semi-responsible one of the group. Not only that, you’ve been a rock in the current that’s his chaos and with you away he feels he’s more likely to fall to the temptations placed in front of him. Proof of that; the trip to the city of Dis.

When this realisation hits Percy he’ll take any opportunity to spend more time with you. He doesn’t inject himself into your daily life but any time there’s a reason for him to be present he’ll take it. Him coming clean about the contract and handing it to you for safekeeping trusting you that no matter the circumstance you’ll never give it to him, you absolutely go apeshit on him. How could he be so damn stupid. A deal with a devil? Really?! All the what ifs… It made you realise your anger and disappointment came from a place of affection.

You made Percy promise he’d tell you when he’s thinking of doing something stupid he’ll tell you before doing the thing. Before he leaves for another adventure or comes back from one you’ll go on a walk, have dinner or just relax somewhere. Sometimes you’ll talk, sometimes sit in silence, whatever you feel like in that moment. You’d begun holding hands, hugging or a kiss to the cheek before departure or upon return, tiny displays of affection.

You were informed Percy had died, but as Grog told you, he got better. Reasonably so you freaked out but you were also aware of the risk of the adventurer lifestyle, more accurately the lifestyle of someone with enemies like Percy. That didn’t mean you didn’t feel like your heart just shattered in that moment. You cared for Percy until he recovered. It’s the first time you truly saw Percy weak, not of mind wavering to a pact with an entity or the likes, but mentally done.

Percy first realised he might hold more than affections for you when you promised him that you’d always have one more thing for him to do. No matter how messed up the world looked, there’d always be a place for him with you. He’s not stupid enough to think this doesn’t come out of a deep affection of your own but he can’t be too sure it’s love either. It’s obvious you care for him, and maybe you do love him but are you in love with him? He’s not sure. Is he in love with you? He’s unsure. He knows he cares about you immensely and loves you just as much and that’s enough for him.

Percy is a man of impulse. This comes in especially handy when someone lacks courage to do something. He doesn’t approach you for your first ‘official’ date. It was just like any other outing you’d gone on or time you spent together except for the fact Percy asked you out, letting slip it was a date. If just asking you this was already so difficult he definitely would need a bottle of courage or two admitting his feelings out loud.

You’re clever enough and know how to read people enough that you weren’t oblivious to Percy’s recent changes in behaviour towards you. You were also clever enough to place them and, when courage fails you’re not one to beat around the bush. You called him out and half fearing you’d turn him down, he was proven the opposite when you pulled him in by the ascot and kissed him. Surprising but not unwanted.

Seeing no need in defining your relationship for others, you also didn’t ease the others into this development. Watching you kiss Percy passionately before he was off on another adventure leaving everyone around very surprised. So surprised they missed the mark on Keyleth’s transport via plants. Bombarded with questions about when or how this happened Percy didn’t want to indulge them with answers and instead spent more time with you.

Of course you had shared sleeping spaces before. You weren’t strangers to sharing a bed but you can comfortably say, it became much more comfortable after you first shared your bed together as lovers in the afterglow, waking up like a sweaty mess. Sharing baths after became the norm to freshen up and relax. The perfect excuse to spend more time together and have everyone else gagging after the look you’d share when asked why you missed breakfast… and lunch…

It took a long while before you first found yourselves able to exchange I love you’s but when danger came knocking at your door and you were thrown back into the fight for Tal’Dorei with Vox Machina’s allies it was now or never. Seeing things go south you got the pleasure of teaming up with a brass dragon to kick some undead ass.

“Before we both do something incredibly stupid I want you to know I love you.” Simple and efficient and to the point.

“I am tempted to hold these words for myself until after we’ve saved the world. Call it motivation to stay alive but since you made such an effort already. I love you too, dear.” Asshole. What did you expect. The feeling was mutual.

(Caduceus)

The first time you met Caduceus you’d killed someone in not too far out from Shady Creek. The down side, you killed someone important. They came after you, you protected yourself but then you had a body to deal with. You heard about the cursed place, and decided to just bury it there. You didn’t expect to find a dopey pink haired firbolg to be living at the heart of the place. He was surprisingly helpful in burying the body you brought to the point you were almost sure you’d be buried right next to your victim soon. Luckily for you you were proven wrong.

You couldn’t really return to Shady Creek and it’s not like you had much of a home there so you wandered the forests hunting and gathering for food and warmth at night avoiding the cursed places and dangers as much as you could. You couldn’t and returned to the safety of the Blooming Grove. So you made a deal, you’d stay with the firbolg, help him out at his graveyard, cemetery, whatever it is and he’d give you a place to sleep at night.

You resorted to staying inside the small temple sleeping on the floor but soon enough, Caduceus invited you to just take one of the beds in the house and stick around instead of leave at dawn to find food, removing some weeds, watering some plants, and return at dusk. No more wandering you fell into more domestic tasks solidifying your roommate life with the man. It had been a while since either of you were in (good) company so you appreciated anything that could talk and wasn’t trying to murder you.

In your time spent with Caduceus you heard bits and pieces about his family but what didn’t add up for you were the beds and belongings he didn’t touch or did so with care to keep them clean. When you got the courage to ask Caduceus told you the story of Clay, Stone and Dust and how his family left to save the Grove and perhaps even the Savalirwood as a whole. It felt odd to actually talk to someone about them that’s not him to himself. He appreciated your compassion, telling him that they’d come back home and with the stories he told you hope you’d get to meet them one day.

Caduceus’ expert prepping of meals left you wanting to be able to do the same. Of course he was happy to teach you and with his guidance you cooked your first meal. It wasn’t the best but definitely beat anything you could make on the road by yourself. The spices are to die for. You found yourself falling into the habit of cooking together; a nice way to end the day.

You were having a particularly tough day and ready to just curl up and let the world consume you, there was no hiding from your friendly firbolg roommate. He knew what’s up but gave you a chance to come to him. You didn’t so he came to you. He didn’t say anything, just sat next to you with a cup of tea, set another one in front of you and stayed quiet until you were ready to talk or get back to your business if you didn’t. He wasn’t going to pry in personal matters unless you asked him.

An encounter with a nasty creature you were unable to scare off and away had Caduceus pinned to the ground. With enough courage and some knowledge of physical combat you managed to get the creature off and injure it enough so it fled. Pulling Caduceus to his feet you were engulfed in a hug with a thank you. As is common knowledge Caduceus hugs are the best hugs you found yourself asking for more. Caduceus wasn’t at all opposed to keep this a thing as he’d always enjoyed hugs.

With the two of you growing closer, living together you decided to sit down and talk about what you had and where it was going as neither of you wanted to accidentally lead on the other or set expectations that could not be met. Neither of you were looking for romantic love or romance at all. Some might refer to you as bestest of friends or life partners but that didn’t really seem to fit. You’re just you and Caduceus is him and you liked hugging and spending time together, going through the motions of life and that’s all you needed.

When the Nein came along looking for help, Caduceus offered for you to stay behind, the Blooming Grove was just as much your home as it was his but you went along anyway. You’d never left the forest. Never travelled south either but many adventures found their way to you and you’d be spending them with you with Caduceus through all the ups and downs. The Nein got so used to your dynamic they never questioned it. It was just something that existed and was happening and quite frankly, one of the few normal things about you and the firbolg.

When the day came you found the Clay family you got to be there for Caduceus as he had for you. Meeting them for the first time they lived up to the stories you’d been told. The Clays were very happy to meet Caduceus’ friends but upon learning about your connection to him they were relieved he hadn’t been all alone for all those years they were gone and had some company. They offered you to come back with them but just like Caduceus, there was still some unfinished business and these people, the Mighty Nein still needed your help.

Then, when everything came to a close, you returned to the Blooming Grove and spent the rest of your days there living content. It had been your home and would continue to be your home. The Clays became your family and for the first time in forever you could see yourself content at home leaving with Caduceus to travel at times but always return to that little spot in the Savalirwood.

#critrole x reader #critical role x reader #mighty nein x reader #mighty nein #caduceus x reader #caduceus clay #critical role #percival x reader #percy x reader #vox machina x reader #vox machina

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ultimatetrashyfanfic · 3 years

Text

Non-despair AU! And ever since I watched that thirty minute anime clip with Nagito’s perspective on things, I’ve really liked the idea of him being buds with Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko. And Nagito openly talks about his past trauma on a plane so… what better way to bond than bonding over trauma? Anyway, I love these three so much. Also Komahina because I love them - Circle

(Also forgot to add this, sorry, but it’s on AO3 too) https://archiveofourown.org/works/33483538

Warning: descriptions of panic attacks, nausea, motion sickness, very mild vomiting (like barely any).

Fuyuhiko always thought Nagito was spouting a whole load of bullshit when he lamented about his talent being useless; he would’ve loved having Ultimate Luck right now.

“Haha! You got the short straw, Fuyuhiko!” Akane crowed. “Tough luck!”

“Wait, no! Can’t we do a best of three?”

“Somebody has to sit with them, man,” Nekomaru said. “You guys are already friends, it’ll be a great bonding experience.”

“I don’t want to bond with them in that situation. Because you all know it’ll be a shit show. That’s why we’re fucking doing this,” Fuyuhiko growled, glaring at each of his classmates in turn. Only two were missing, the pair who’d triggered this whole unfortunate drawing of straws in the first place.

“Why can’t you sit with them, Hajime? Nagito is always hanging off you anyway. And Kazuichi is your friend too,” Fuyuhiko said.

“I’m afraid I can’t, Fuyuhiko.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because I didn’t draw the short straw.”

“Go fuck yourself.” Fuyuhiko stomped away, his classmates’ laughter echoing behind him. This class trip was already more trouble than it was worth and it hadn’t even started. He was almost tempted to skip the plane journey with the rest of them and hop on a different flight to Novoselic, just to show them. It wasn’t like he needed Sonia to pay his way. But she’d been so enthusiastic about taking her friends to see her home country, and Fuyuhiko couldn’t think of any way to tell her without causing offence. He couldn’t really say he just didn’t want to be stuck babysitting Kazuichi and Nagito on a flight.

It wasn’t that Fuyuhiko didn’t like Kazuichi and Nagito. Sure, Kazuichi could be a real pain in the ass sometimes, and Nagito would go all weird and self-deprecating if you didn’t watch out, but Fuyuhiko still considered them close friends. But the flight to Novoselic was long. Kazuichi could get motion sickness on a fucking bicycle, and Nagito hadn’t set foot on a plane since his parents died on one right in front of his eyes. There was no way it could possibly go well. Fuyuhiko pictured hour after hour of Kazuichi puking and complaining and Nagito… well, he wasn’t sure what the hell Nagito would do. He’d never seen Nagito get flustered before. Hell, that was much more terrifying. He had to get out of this.

In the days before the trip, Fuyuhiko kept trying to convince his kinder classmates to take responsibility for at least one of the other men. “It’s gonna be impossible to help them both,” Fuyuhiko said. “It’ll be better for them if you help me.”

“You could sit between them,” Mahiru said. “And I’ve already promised Hiyoko I’ll sit with her. Sorry.”

Asking Twogami was a no-go too. “It’ll be more considerate to the other passengers if they’re both in one area,” he said. “To limit the disturbance if they become distressed.”

“I’m the one who’ll be feeling fucking distressed,” Fuyuhiko snapped.

Peko overheard, and came over at once. “I’ll take your burden, young master.”

“No, not you!” Fuyuhiko hated the whine in his tone - and he hated the smirk on Twogami’s face too. “You don’t have to do it. You sit with Gundham and pet his hamsters or something. I… I want you to be happy,” he mumbled, blushing fiercely.

Damn it. He could be as bad as Kazuichi sometimes.

There was no way to wriggle out of it. The morning of the trip dawned bright and sunny, and Fuyuhiko’s ticket set him directly between Kazuichi and Nagito. Fantastic.

At least check-in and security went by reasonably peacefully, the walk to their gate quiet. Only Akane and Nekomaru seemed to be properly awake this early in the day, and they stuck with each other. Fuyuhiko glanced at his two friends. Kazuichi still seemed half-asleep, curled on one of the uncomfortable chairs by the gate, watching the planes take off and land in the distance through the huge windows. Nagito was much more concerning. He was smiling brightly… but he didn’t look happy at all.

“Hey, Fuyuhiko, want to know how a plane engine works?” Kazuichi asked.

“No,” he said, but he sat down with a sigh as Kazuichi started talking anyway. He tuned out after a second, though Nagito looked like he was listening.

“Seeing you talk about your ultimate talent is so inspiring, Kazuichi,” Nagito said - and smiled. That weird smile again, desperate and strained.

“It’s nothing. I just think planes are interesting. From an engineering point of view. I really wish I didn’t have to fucking ride one,” Kazuichi groaned.

“Aha, I can’t help feeling apprehensive too. The last time I was on a flight, both my parents died.” Nagito spoke emotionlessly, as if reciting a shopping list, but that smile was still fixed on his face. “But it’s okay. That bad luck brought me a lot of good luck later on. You just have to have hope that things will work out.”

Kazuichi stared at him, mouth open. “Um. Okay. Sorry.” He caught Fuyuhiko’s eye and mouthed what the fuck? Fuyuhiko wasn’t sure if Kazuichi was just now hearing the story or if he was confused by Nagito’s weird behaviour. He shrugged helplessly.

There wasn’t much conversation after that. You couldn’t really carry on your casual chit-chat right after somebody brought up their dead parents. Fuyuhiko kept an eye on Nagito. He was bolt upright in his seat, his eyes staring straight ahead, hands clasped so tight in his lap his knuckles bleached white. With his pale hair and ashen face, he looked like all the blood had drained out of him completely.

Their flight number was called far too soon, and Fuyuhiko dragged his motley crew to the right aisle, pondering where to put everyone. Kazuichi should probably be on the end if he’d be passing vomit bags to some poor stewardess. Fuyuhiko needed to be in the middle, so that left Nagito by the window. He’d have to keep the shutter pulled down.

Hajime passed them on the way to his own seat, and stopped short when he saw Nagito’s face. He leaned right over Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko, ignoring their complaints and curses, and took Nagito’s hand. “Are you alright? You look… off.”

“Don’t worry about me, Hajime.”

“Your hands are clammy.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. How disgusting for you,” Nagito said, smiling. Always smiling.

“That’s not what I meant… Look, do you want to sit with me?”

“Can we move it along please?” somebody called irritably down the aisle.

“You’re holding up the line, Hajime. Don’t worry about me,” Nagito repeated. Hajime looked like he was worrying dreadfully, but he was forced to move along. Nagito clasped his hands again and fixed his gaze on the seat in front, smiling smiling smiling. It was freaking Fuyuhiko out. He looked like he was wearing a mask and his eyes were the only real part of him, swirling with turmoil.

“Hey.” Kazuichi nudged Fuyuhiko’s shoulder and whispered in his ear. “Are Hajime and Nagito… you know. A thing?”

“Mate, you told me you’ve seen them leave Hajime’s cabin together in the mornings.”

“They could just be having a sleepover. As bros.”

“I don’t think it’s that, Kazuichi.”

“Are you sure? ‘Cause I don’t want Hajime to get a new best friend,” Kazuichi said.

Fuyuhiko sighed. “I think you’re safe.”

There was a pause. Then another shoulder nudge a second later. “So Hajime and Nagito? Seriously? Am I the only person on my own in this class?” Kazuichi muttered.

Fuyuhiko was spared from responding by the flight attendants starting the safety briefing, demonstrating how to use the oxygen masks and the life jackets in case of emergency. He had to admit, it was pretty eerie to think that you could, however unlikely it may be, crash into the ocean or need extra oxygen to live long enough to get to land. He glanced over at Nagito nervously. His arms were now curled across his chest, hands gripping his elbows. His head was bent, a cloud of puffy hair hiding his face. Maybe that was for the best.

“Can you try not to puke as long as possible?” Fuyuhiko whispered to Kazuichi. “I feel like I might have a situation to deal with.”

“I’m never trying to puke,” Kazuichi said, but he seemed worried too, glancing past Fuyuhiko. “Hey, Nagito, you doing alright?”

“Don’t worry about me, Kazuichi,” Nagito said, eerily calmly.

“That’s not the same thing as saying you’re fine, is it?” Kazuichi whispered to Fuyuhiko.

“He’s clearly not fucking fine,” Fuyuhiko snapped.

“Should I ask Hajime to swap?” Kazuichi asked.

Fuyuhiko nodded, but before Kazuichi could even undo his seatbelt, the plane jerked and started reversing out of the gate. Fuyuhiko heard Nagito draw in his breath sharply - then he was the one fumbling for his seatbelt, standing unsteadily.

“What the fuck are you doing, man?” Fuyuhiko yelled, catching onto the back of Nagito’s coat as he tried to clamber over the seats. “Sit down!”

“I’m afraid I need to get off,” Nagito said, voice still calm despite his frantic movements.

“It’s already moving, for God’s sake! Sit down before a flight attendant sees you!” It wasn’t hard to force Nagito back into his seat - he seemed light enough for a strong gust of wind to knock him over - and Souda hastily got the belt fastened again just as the plane rolled onto the runway.

“Okay. It’s fine. You’re fine,” Fuyuhiko gabbled, trying hard not to shout or swear or scream at all his classmates for making him deal with this. “Just sit still and… I dunno, plug your ears. The takeoff part is the worst.”

There was a cacophony of whirring as the engines roared to life and Fuyuhiko would be very grateful for all that noise in a second, because Nagito started to laugh. Dry, hysterical laughter, his eyes over-bright and manic, lips bared in that grisly parody of a smile.

“Has he lost his fucking mind?” Kazuichi asked, sounding genuinely frightened.

“You must really hate me, Fuyuhiko,” Nagito gasped. “To restrain me here… You must despise me.”

“I’m not restraining you!”

“Then let me off.” He locked eyes with Fuyuhiko and for a second the manic grin faded. “Please…”

The engines roared to a crescendo and the plane shot forward so quickly everyone was pinned to their seats with the force, zooming on and on until they could feel the entire structure lurch into the air. Kazuichi groaned softly, shutting his eyes, but Fuyuhiko was far more focused on Nagito. He had his eyes squeezed shut too, but his hand clamped hard onto Fuyuhiko’s arm. Really fucking hard. Shit, maybe Nagito wasn’t as weak as he looked. Fuyuhiko cursed as his terrified companion started digging his nails into his skin, actually drawing blood. The pain prompted Fuyuhiko to try prying the hand loose a little, but Nagito clamped on harder, carving several new scratches. Fuyuhiko didn’t dare attempt again; he’d get his arm cut to ribbons.

When the plane was flying high and the swirling, disoriented feeling had eased, Fuyuhiko checked on both men. Kazuichi had his head in his hands, but he gave a shaky thumbs up when Fuyuhiko prodded him.

“‘M okay,” he mumbled. “Got through takeoff. Gets better when it’s levelling out.”

“Right, good. Try to stay that way, yeah? I’ve got a lot to handle right now,” Fuyuhiko sighed. Nagito was still shredding his arm up, but he could feel one finger tapping for attention.

“What? What do you need? Please, no bullshit, Nagito. I don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to do,” Fuyuhiko said. He was practically yelling in his panic, and the people across the aisle turned to glare.

It was several seconds before Nagito could gather enough breath to speak. Fuyuhiko saw that awful smile stretch across his face again, like somebody had twisted his frown the wrong way round. “Aha, I’m sorry to trouble you, Fuyuhiko, but I think I might be having a panic attack.”

“What?” Fuyuhiko felt like he was going to have a panic attack too. “Why? What’s going on?”

“I can’t seem to catch my breath. And the cabin has been spinning for several minutes.”

“Jesus Christ! Why didn’t you say anything?” Fuyuhiko hurriedly pushed Nagito’s head down as far as it would go before it bumped the seat in front. “Fucking… think of things you can see or something? Shit, I don’t remember.”

“Five things you can see,” Kazuichi chimed in. “Is he really gonna pass out? Hajime is gonna kill us.”

“I’m gonna fucking kill him for leaving this shit to us! How stupid can you get?”

“Ahh, I’m such a nuisance. If I’d known I’d react in such a shameful way, I’d have been sure to take a seat away from all the Ultimates. Why are you taking care of someone like me?”

“Nagito, shut up, this isn’t your fault,” Fuyuhiko said shortly. “Stop babbling on about ultimates and do the panic attack thing. Listen to Kazuichi, he knows how to do it.”

Nagito did as he was told, working through the grounding techniques with Kazuichi while Fuyuhiko held onto his shoulders feeling helpless. Nagito was shaking so hard it was difficult not to drop him altogether. He didn’t pass out, but even after the grounding Nagito looked far from what you’d consider calm. He was grey-white when Fuyuhiko carefully hauled him back upright.

“Are you okay..?”

The smile came back, though it seemed a lot more tired than manic this time. “Ah… I don’t think so, Fuyuhiko.”

“Well. At least you’re honest. Can you tell me how you’re feeling? Physically, I mean. Clearly I see you’re fucked mentally. And please stop smiling like that, you’re creeping me out,” Fuyuhiko said.

Nagito finally released his grip on Fuyuhiko’s arm, his nails coated with blood. He bent forward slowly, carefully, like he was terrified any sudden movements would send him spiralling again, and let his elbows rest on his knees. “I still feel slightly lightheaded. And nauseous. I’d still like to get off.”

Fuyuhiko examined the long scratches on his arm, sighing and mopping the blood with his sleeve. “Well, you’d have a long drop if you tried to get off now. You should cut your damn fingernails too. I’m going to get Hajime.” He turned to Kazuichi. “Watch him for a minute, okay? I don’t fucking care about drawing the short straw anymore, I can’t handle this.” Fuyuhiko scrambled over Kazuichi’s lap into the aisle, ignoring the flight attendant yelling for him to remain in his seat until the seatbelt signs went off.

“Hey! What did you mean drawing the short straw?” Kazuichi called behind him. Fuyuhiko didn’t look back.

“Hajime!” Fuyuhiko yelled when he was still more than six aisles away from the startled man. “You’re swapping with me!” He lowered his voice when he reached Hajime’s seat, but only marginally. “I can’t handle this. I don’t know how you expected Komeada to react to this shit, but whatever you thought, it’s worse. Way fucking worse. And I can’t help him. So go fucking do it yourself.”

“Well, I was going to swap as soon as the seatbelt signs were off,” Hajime said pointedly.

“I don’t give a shit. Look at my arm! Your fucking boyfriend nearly ripped it off at the elbow.” Fuyuhiko brandished his scratched, bloodied arm, and Hajime looked genuinely shocked.

“Oh my God…” He stood up hastily, clinging to the seats in front as the plane was still slightly off-balance. “I’m sorry, Fuyuhiko. I didn’t expect him to panic so much. He never said anything much about it when I asked.”

“Yeah, well, no offence, Hajime, but you can be as thick as three short planks sometimes. So if he implied anything, I don’t doubt you missed it,” Fuyuhiko snapped, taking Hajime’s empty seat - next to Chiaki, thank goodness. She hadn’t even looked up from her Switch this whole time. Perfect.

“I have taken some offence…” Hajime mumbled, then turned to go back down the aisle, trying hard not to catch the eyes of the other passengers staring like they were all part of a circus act. He was pretty sure the whole class was going to get banned from this airline. Gundham had been in trouble already for taking his hamsters out of their little travelling cage - several times. He was insulted by the insistence of the staff that all pets had to be contained, both by their labelling of his hamsters as mere pets and from their implication that his dark devas could ever be contained.

Hajime followed the sounds of more disgruntled passengers to Nagito’s seat. He was in the middle now, hunched over one of those white sick bags, while Kazuichi awkwardly patted his back. He looked relieved to see Hajime, beckoning frantically. “Come help me! I think he’s gonna spew. Weird that it’s not me for once.”

Hajime sighed, struggling to shuffle past his friends to get to Nagito’s other side, squashed by the window. Nagito didn’t acknowledge him. Hajime could see he had his eyes closed, his face strangely calm and smooth, though his breathing was erratic.

“Hey, Nagito? You hearing me?” Hajime called, tapping the other man’s pale cheek.

“Did I drive Fuyuhiko away?” Nagito said, voice strained. “I’m not surprised. To bother the Ultimates with the problems of an insignificant nobody like me.”

“Dude, shut up,” Kazuichi groaned. “Nobody thinks that. Stop being so weird. Fuyuhiko just doesn’t know how to look after people.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to sit up? I doubt you’ll throw up, you wouldn’t eat anything this morning,” Hajime said.

At that exact moment, almost as if to pointedly prove him wrong, Nagito made a choked retching sound and ducked his head down further, cringing.

“Oookay. Or not. Um. You’re okay,” Hajime muttered, placing a wary hand on Nagito’s hair to keep it out of the way. It was strange hair; soft yet thick at the same time, and it poofed up determinedly no matter how many times Ibuki tried him out with different hairstyles.

The seatbelt signs were now off, so Kazuichi stood up hastily, trying to shield Nagito from the people hurrying up the aisle to the bathrooms. Hajime was grateful, but part of him wished he could switch places with Souda. He didn’t think he’d be having to coach Nagito through something so strangely intimate so soon into their… relationship? They’d never come out and actually said they were boyfriends, not even to each other, but their classmates seemed to think they were a couple.

As Nagito really hadn’t eaten much of anything all day, the actual vomiting didn’t last too long, but the dry heaving continued for several agonising minutes, and the nausea remained indefinitely. But Nagito felt safe to lift him head, his pale cheeks dusted with pink. He smiled shakily at Hajime. “How embarrassing. I caused a scene in front of all these people. You must be lamenting the day you set eyes on me.”

“Stop,” Hajime sighed, taking the soiled bag and handing it to Kazuichi.

“Hajime!” Souda squealed, hastily handing it off to a flight attendant, who offered a bottle of water for Nagito in response. Her smile didn’t slip once. Hajime was impressed by her poker face.

“Drink,” Hajime prompted, forcing the bottle into Nagito’s hands. “I want you to try eating something later too. You’re going to pass out.”

Kazuichi sat down again, glancing at Nagito. “You feeling… okay now? Like as okay as you can?”

Nagito took a long drink of water, eyes blank. Then he smiled again, that strange, forced smile. “I really am pathetic, aren’t I? Causing such a dramatic spectacle over something that happened years ago. I don’t deserve such attention from the Ultim-“

“Stop!” Hajime took Nagito’s face in his hands, forcing him to meet his eyes. Hajime thought he saw something flicker in them, some semblance of an honest emotion. “Nagito, can you please stop trying to act like you don’t have feelings. I know you’re scared. And you know what? It’s okay. It’s completely fucking normal to feel like this right now. I shouldn’t have left you. That was me being dense, and I’m sorry. But you can stop pretending. It’s just me here - and Kazuichi, but he’ll understand too. He’s scared of everything.”

“I am not!” Kazuichi cried, outraged.

Hajime didn’t break eye contact with Nagito, both breathing heavily. Nagito glared back at first, his face twisting into a scowl, but Hajime didn’t falter.

“Let me in,” Hajime muttered. “I know you, for God’s sake. You’re not gonna scare me off. It’s okay to need help. Please.”

Another silence for several long, tense seconds. Then - finally, amazingly - Nagito made a soft frustrated noise, lunged forwards and wound his arms around Hajime’s neck so tightly that for a second Hajime thought he’d messed up so badly Nagito was trying to throttle him.

“Hey, careful,” Hajime said, but his voice was gentle and he didn’t try to pry Nagito off. Nagito let his forehead rest on Hajime’s shoulder, his hair falling to shield his face completely. Hajime snaked his own arms awkwardly around Nagito’s slender waist. He could feel Nagito shaking, feel the warm puff of his breathing against his shoulder. The shaking never eased, but as time passed the breathing seemed to calm slightly.

Nagito didn’t speak as he clung to Hajime for dear life. Not a single word. But Hajime hadn’t really expected him to. This was already a degree of vulnerability that Nagito was completely unaccustomed to showing anyone, let alone his almost-boyfriend, his classmates and an entire plane full of strangers. It was a good place to start.

Kazuichi watched them slightly bitterly. “It’s alright for some. I wouldn’t mind someone to cuddle up to,” he muttered.

“That’s your other talent. Ultimate Third Wheel,” Hajime quipped.

Their row of seats was reasonably peaceful after that, though Hajime could hear the laughter and yelling from their classmates further back. He hoped the sensible members of the group could stop them causing too much trouble. Hajime couldn’t go tell them to knock it off himself; whenever he moved at all Nagito would tighten his grip.

He sat there, hour after hour, until he had to pry Nagito off him for a bathroom break. It wasn’t easy. Nagito fought him and clung on as much as he could, though Hajime explained he’d be back in five minutes.

“Look, cling onto Kazuichi while I go pee,” Hajime suggested. Kazuichi didn’t look overly enthusiastic about that idea, but he didn’t protest.

Nagito sighed. He slowly drew back his arms, and whispered three breathy little words into Hajime’s shirt before he went, perhaps the most raw, vulnerable words Hajime had ever heard Nagito say: “Please come back.”

“I will. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” he murmured.

Nagito shifted shakily in his seat, turned to Kazuichi and lunged at him too, wrapping his arms around his neck. Kazuichi squealed and whined that he was being strangled, but he didn’t shove Nagito away. Hajime almost felt like they were new parents, passing their newborn between them: “I’ll hold him for a bit, you go to the loo.”

There was a queue for the tiny airplane bathrooms. Hajime stood impatiently, wriggling his cramped shoulders and rocking back on his heels; he was glad Nagito seemed to be trusting him more, but he was pretty stiff after sitting in the same position for hours.

Two women ahead of Hajime in the queue seemed to be having an animated discussion about something, and when Hajime caught the word “school” he started to listen properly.

“I don’t know what sort of school they come from, but they’re a strange bunch,” one lady hissed. “There’s an odd boy in the row ahead of me, one of that lot, who has a collections of rodents, all free from their cage! Running all over the seat trays! Well, that’s not very hygienic, is it? But when I told him as much, he gave me the most incredibly rude answer.”

“Young people have such foul mouths these days,” the other lady agreed.

“No, he wasn’t swearing. It was ever so strange, almost as if he was… well, you’ll think I sound silly. But it was like he was cursing me.”

It was a good job for Hajime that the toilet became available and the lady rushed inside, because he was biting his cheeks to contain his laughter. When he’d used the loo himself and gone back to release Kazuichi from Nagito’s vice grip, he recited the story for both of them.

Kazuichi laughed, poking Nagito gently. “There you are, Nagito. No need to worry. No matter how weird we are, we can always count on Gundham to be weirder.”

Nagito didn’t respond, but Hajime saw a hint of a smile - a real smile - on his lips before he buried his face in Hajime’s neck again.

#super danganronpa two #danganronpa 2 #emeto tw #nagito komaeda #hajime hinata #kazuichi souda #fuyuhiko kuzuryu #panic attacks #past trauma #komahina #fear of flying #non despair au #mod circle #our writing

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captaintrissy · 3 years

Text

Easy Company when they babysit

A/N: I had really fun with this one, keep the request coming!

Dick Winters: Dick would be an amazing babysitter, he’s used to babysitting dozens of grown men and he’s a very patient, compassionate and responsible person. He’d make sure the kids were fed, safe and had done their homework. Dick would be very attentive and aware of everything with the kids, making him pretty much the ideal babysitter.

Lewis Nixon: Lewis is more of the fun uncle than the reliable babysitter. He’d let the kids eat whatever they wanted and stay up late. Not because he doesn’t care but because that’s how he was raised and because of his limited experience with children. He will however make them laugh until they cry with his crazy stories and jokes.

Carwood Lipton: Add Carwood to the list of ideal babysitters. He’ll do fun and educational activities with the kids, never raising his voice or tiring of their antics. After everything he’s seen it’s refreshing for Carwood to be around hopeful and happy children so he benefits from the babysitting as much as they do.

Babe Heffron: Babe would try so hard to be a good babysitter, and for the most part he is, feeding the kids, entertaining them and making them laugh but he’s used to being around poorly behaved military men and will accidentally curse.

Bill Guarnere: Bill wouldn’t even try not to curse, he knows he swears a lot and have a bit of a rough language but he’s just never seen it as much of an issue. Actions are more important to him than words, so while he may raise his voice and grumble at the kids he’ll never actually get angry at them and he makes sure the kids know that. Besides joking around with the children and telling them crazy stories, Bill will make Italian food from scratch, and show the kids how to do it (they’ve never eaten as well as when Bill’s around). Being able to cook is important in Bill’s eyes so that’s why he’ll try to teach the children culinary science.

Joe Liebgott: Like Babe, Joe would let a few (a lot) curse words slip but unlike Babe he wouldn’t try so hard. I don’t mean that he’d let the kids starve or not keep an eye on them, but after dealing with nazis he’s fine with a few kids not liking him. He’d take out his comic books and show them to the kids, reading and discussing their favourite ones.

Joe Toye: Like the other Joe on this list, Toye wouldn’t be too upset if the kids didn’t like him, after surviving a war he can name about a thousand things worse, however he would be greatly upset if something happened to the kids on his watch. In his mind it’s a babysitter’s responsibility to keep the kids safe, clean and fed and Joe takes his responsibilities seriously, if the non-coms of Easy hadn’t a hell of a lot more paratroopers would have ended up dead.

Buck Compton: This man will get the kids outside exercising and playing, probably through baseball. Buck is very passionate about training and being outside so in his mind the best thing he can do while babysitting is getting the kids outside. He will also make sure they eat good, solid food and by the time their parents are home the kids will be out cold.

Ron Speirs: Like Toye, Ron considers the biggest responsibility of a babysitter to be the kids’ safety so he’ll always keep an eye on them and with his attentiveness and perception nothing will get past him. He’s not used to being around children so he’s a little stumped on what to do. Eventually he’ll use the same methods he used as a CO with the children, meaning they’ll do lots of drill practice.

Don Malarkey: Would not, despite how tempted he might be, utter one single curse word. Don is a very caring and sensitive guy and would never want to accidentally scare the kids by cursing or screaming. Don loves the way kids’ minds work so he’ll enjoy hearing their stories, and sharing a few of his own (redacting the gore of course). He also loves their high energy and will absolutely have a four hour water fight in the backyard. As he isn’t above a little mischief Don will help organise a cookie heist, making him the children’s hero.

George Luz: George is practically a kid himself so he’d be the kids’ favourite adult, no matter how loud or hyper they got George would never tire of playing with them and he’d constantly do imitations of other adults, making the children roll over with laughter. While also sneak the kids cookies after dinner.

Bull Randleman: The children would demand constant piggyback rides (I mean, who wouldn’t want a piggyback ride from this giant?), which Bull would happily supply. He’s given injured, grown-ass men piggyback rides so carrying around a few kids is nothing. Bull is a very calm, assertive and attentive person so he’ll neither lose his patience with the kids or have them walk over him. Not to mention that if one of the kids were bullied they would drag Bull with them to school and just the sight of him would make the bullies back down.

Shifty Powers: Shifty loves kids, and he really wants to do a good job taking care of them so he’ll try his hardest to keep the children entertained and their needs met. And he want do it just because he feels he has to, he genuinely enjoys playing with the kids and taking care of them and will be incredibly patient with them. With that said, he might be a bit of a pushover since he really wants the kids to like him, he won’t allow them to do anything dangerous but he will let them have cookies before dinner.

Floyd Talbert: Tab is known as ’Fun uncle Floyd’. He could play with the kids for days with his energy, and he’s so attentive on everything going on around them. He’ll also let the kids eat junk food and stay up late making him the kids’ favourite babysitter (but maybe not the parents’).

Chuck Grant: The last member of the ’ideal babysitter’ list. As a former sergeant Chuck knows how to get people to listen without screaming at them, which he’ll benefit greatly from when babysitting. While he would make sure that the kids are eating well enough and are somewhat caught up on homework he’d also let them indulge in some less healthy behaviour (such as having ice cream before dinner or lagging behind on an assignment).

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cozy-the-overlord · 3 years

Text

Happiness

Summary: A daughter of Thanos, Eija had grown accustomed to the isolated nature of life on the Sanctuary. Only when her father orders her to keep watch over an injured prisoner does she begin to realize how lonely it is.

Written for @lucywrites02′s Lucywrites19 Writing Challenge on prompt #6

Word Count: 4,078

Pairing: Loki (Marvel) x OFC

A/N: Lucy: *puts together a list of really nice, sweet, loving prompts that would make for some wonderful, fluffy fics*

Me: And I took that personally

Honestly, this turned into more of a separate challenge for me to see if I could take a fluffy prompt and write an angst bomb. I can say I’m both pleased and thoroughly ashamed of myself.

Happy Birthday, Lucy! I hope you don’t hate me too much after this one ...

Warnings: Implied/referenced torture (it’s not super graphic, but it’s definitely there), blood/injury, character death

Tags: @lucywrites02 @gaitwae @whatafuckingdumbass @the-emo-asgardian @imnotrevealingmyname

If you want to be tagged, feel free to send an ask/message :)

Read it on Ao3!

“Are you happy, child?”

It wasn’t the type of thing Eija had expected the hulking warrior to ask a street urchin like her, especially not after catching her wrist in his pocket. Really, she should have known better than to try to steal from someone so clearly capable of crushing her skull within his fist, but his golden armor had glistened so temptingly in the sunlight and besides, she had never been caught before …

When he caught her wrist and yanked her in front of him, Eija was sure that this was the end. The penalty for stealing was steep to begin with, but stealing from a noble (and certainly this man must have been a noble) could lose you your head. But he said nothing of punishment. Instead, he curled his purple lips into a smile and asked her that question.

“Are you happy, child?”

No one had ever asked her that before. No one ever really asked her anything—the most Eija ever got were the curses spat at her on the street, on the luckless days when pickpocketing had brought her nothing and she was forced to beg for sustenance. No one cared enough to ask after her.

No, she told the warrior-noble, no, she wasn’t happy. She was hungry and tired and cold, and she didn’t have money to buy food.

The towering creature laughed, caressing the brilliant hilt that hung at his waist. “I thought not. Come,” he said, stepping forward and motioning her to follow. “I have something for you to eat on my ship.”

…

Eija tugged at the laces on her boot. She had tied and untied them three times already, but she could think of nothing else to do in this tiny room, so she went in for the fourth. Besides her, the Jotun sagged against his braces in the metal chair, his labored breathing the only sound to break the stillness. He didn’t look very Jotun. Lord Thanos had explained that it was some kind of enchantment—the AllFather had magicked away his blue skin when he was a baby to make him look more Asgardian. Eija didn’t really understand the reasoning behind such an action, but she didn’t need to. Her job was simply to make sure he survived the night.

It was a frustrating assignment. Eija wasn’t a healer—she had no idea what she was supposed to do if death came knocking for the prisoner. Unfortunately, she wasn’t exactly an assassin either, and so unlike the rest of her adoptive siblings her role on the Sanctuary wasn’t considered to be of critical importance.

So here she was. Babysitting.

The Jotun groaned. It was a soft noise, but it was enough to rip Eija’s attention away from her shoes. He shifted against his restraints, but there was no force behind the movements.

“Hey,” she called. “Are you awake?” She shouldn’t have been talking to the prisoner. Somehow, she knew Lord Thanos wouldn’t like it if he were to find out. Still, the metallic room housed a lonely existence, and Eija was desperate for any kind of distraction.

Although the prisoner didn’t exactly seem to be the ideal conversation partner. He flinched at the sound of her voice, his feeble movement falling still as abruptly as it began. Perhaps she should have gone back to her laces, but Eija was intrigued. She left her stool to stand before the Jotun, peering down at him through his shackles.

“Are you awake?” she asked again. He didn’t respond. His eyes were closed, his head hanging limply against his shoulders, as if he hadn’t just been rustling about. The thought of some grand Jotun (Asgardian?) prince trying to trick her by playing dead was so comical that Eija had to bite back her laugh.

“Hey,” she said instead, trying to add some of that Black Order sharpness to her voice as she tapped his arm. “Knock it off. I know you’re awake.”

He looked up at her then, his movement slow and labored. It almost made her wince, just looking at the way he struggled to open his bloodshot eyes. Lord Thanos had allowed Proxima charge of the Jotun today, and she had clearly made the most of it—his face was so swollen that she never would have recognized the man Corvus had pulled out of the depths of space only a week ago.

“What do you want?” he whispered, voice low and hoarse. He was making a valiant effort to control his breathing, but Eija knew the look of fear when she saw it. She had seen it in the faces of almost everyone who found themselves in the presence of Lord Thanos and his children, although those faces were never focused on her. This must have been the first time she was the cause of such terror.

It was an odd feeling. Eija wasn’t sure she liked it.

She shrugged, dropping the serious tone. “I just wanted to talk to someone. It gets very dull in here.”

The prisoner only stared at her.

No, not the ideal conversation partner at all.

Eija sighed. It seemed she’d be returning to her shoelaces in short time after all.

“Can you tell me your name at least?” she asked. No one had mentioned it yet, and Eija had been afraid to inquire. Lord Thanos hadn’t been particularly happy when he gave her this assignment—his anger had been more directed at Proxima, for nearly killing the prisoner, but Eija didn’t want to give him a reason to turn on her. She wasn’t often the target of the Mad Titan’s fury, but the few times she was were enough of a lesson for a lifetime.

But the Jotun made no response. “Is this a trick?” he asked finally.

“No. I’m just curious.” A strand of black hair had fallen into his eye. Eija was tempted to brush it away, but she held herself back. “I’ll tell you my name, if it makes you feel better,” she offered.

She waited a moment for him to give some kind of answer. He didn’t.

“Eija,” she said. “My name’s Eija.”

He inhaled. “Did he send you to kill me?”

The question caught her off guard, although perhaps it was fair. “What? No, no I’m just— no,” she stuttered. “I don’t … kill people.”

He eyed her, unconvinced. “Why are you here, then?”

“To make sure you don’t die,” she said. “They were worried, you know.” Proxima had been quite proud of herself. Eija had overheard her bragging to some of the others earlier in the day about how she had the little prince calling out for his mother by the end. They had been laughing about it, how quickly he had succumbed to childish instincts, but the thought intrigued Eija.

She had never known her mother. Before Lord Thanos had found her, she had had no one but herself, scrounging up what food she could from what she stole on the street. She never cried for anyone, no matter how frightened she was. She had no one to cry for.

She wondered what it was like.

“Are you truly not going to tell me your name?” she asked. It was a bit disappointing. She had hoped he’d be at least a little more interesting than this.

He swallowed slowly, painfully. Whereas before it seemed he was afraid to take his eyes off of her, now he seemed unable to meet her gaze.

“Loki,” he finally whispered.

“Loki,” Eija repeated. The name made her smile, although she wasn’t quite sure why it would. “It’s nice to meet you, Loki.”

She asked him more questions as the night went on—questions about his home, his family, his childhood memories. At first, he wouldn’t answer any of them. He’d just stare at her blankly as she posed her queries or whip his head away as if he couldn’t stand to be faced with the words.

So, she changed tactics. She told him about growing up on Knowhere, before Thanos found her, about how when she was not yet six years of age the man she had known as her father dumped her on the side of the road and flew away into permanent obscurity, and about how she taught herself how to reach into another’s pocket and pull out exactly what she was looking for by practicing on the other unsuspecting urchins who lived alongside her on the street. It was strange, to relieve those stories before an audience. Because he was an audience, like it or not. He was listening to every word she said, even more so, she suspected, than he wanted to let on.

When she left that morning, after Corvus came to take over for the day, her throat was so dry she could barely speak. It was a nice kind of dry, though. The Black Order never demanded her voice anyways, so it wasn’t a noticeable inconvenience.

It was worth it.

“You again,” Loki muttered when she slipped into the cell the following evening. “Eija.”

“Hey!” she exclaimed. “You remembered my name!”

“You talked a lot.” He blinked sleepily. “You had a nice voice.”

Eija stopped. She wasn’t certain she heard him incorrectly. “What?”

He yawned. “You had a nice voice.”

She felt a flush rising in her cheeks. It was quite possibly the kindest thing anyone had ever said to her, as ridiculous as it seemed. Eija doubted her siblings could even recognize the sound of her voice—if they did, it would have been to scold her for stepping so far out of line, certainly not to pay her a compliment.

“If you’d like,” she said eagerly, pulling the stool across the room so she could sit next to him. “I can tell you more stories?”

It became the part of the day Eija looked forward to most—the moments where she could talk for hours about anything she wanted, without the ever-present fear of her siblings’ mockery or the Mad Titan’s chastening. It felt … safe, in a way that she hadn’t felt safe before. Warm. She always felt so alone on this ship, wasting away whilst awaiting orders. There were points where even her own thoughts seemed to abandon her to the darkness.

But not here. Not with Loki.

He seemed to enjoy it as well. Of course, she held no illusions that he was quite literally a captive audience, but he listened. He remembered the things she said to him. On good days, he’d even ask her questions, add in thoughts and stories of his own.

“You said you don’t kill people,” he asked suddenly, on one such visit. “Did you mean that?”

Eija shifted uncomfortably. This had always been an awkward subject. “Yes,” she said. “I’m not an assassin. I don’t have the training.”

“What do you do here, then?”

She inhaled. “Steal things.”

“Steal things?” he repeated. “What kind of things?”

Eija shrugged. “Anything he wants,” she said. “Weapons, passkeys, precious gems—whatever.” She remembered that day, when Lord Thanos had taken her from the streets to his ship, what he had said as she devoured the soup his servant placed in front of her.

“I have more trained killers than I know what to do with,” he told her. “But perhaps I could use a sneak thief.”

Eija had agreed to everything he said— it wasn’t as if she was in any position to refuse him, and besides, anything had to be better than sleeping in a trash bin. And so, she became the Titan’s personal retriever, sneaking her way across the galaxy and returning with the treasures he coveted in her pockets. Her methods were straight and to the point. She was in and out before anyone even noticed her presence, and, unlike her adopted siblings, there wasn’t a trail of bodies left in her wake.

“But if your role is to steal things,” Loki asked. “Then what are you doing with me?”

Eija didn’t answer right away. Thanos had not ordered her to continue her night watch over the Jotun prisoner. He hadn’t said that she couldn’t, but she was fairly certain that he wouldn’t be pleased to find that she had. What was she doing here?

“I just like to talk to somebody, I guess,” she said. “Besides, somebody has to make sure you make it through the night.”

Although it became exceedingly clear with each passing day that such a task may be outside of her abilities. One night, she could hear his hacking all the way down the hall, rattling the walls as she rushed to his side. She found him sagging limply against his shackles, soaked in blood and sweat and goodness knows what else as he choked on his own breath.

Eija didn’t know what to do—she could only wipe the blood from his face and hold the bottle of water to his lips.

“What does he want from me?” he croaked, once he could finally speak. There were tears running down the creases of his face, although whether that was from emotion or pain Eija couldn’t be sure. “Why is he doing this to me?”

For once, she said nothing. She had no answer for him.

She tried asking Gamora once. It was no secret that the Zehoberei was Lord Thanos’ favorite—if he were to tell anyone his intentions for the prisoner, it would be her.

But the assassin gave her nothing. “He has a use in mind,” she said. “Don’t question him.”

“But,” Eija hesitated. “If that’s the case, why is he hurting him?” She gulped. “If he has a use for him, shouldn’t he be … using him?”

Gamora glared at her. “If he’s not strong enough to survive this, he’s not strong enough to do Thanos’ bidding.” Her tone lowered in warning. “Remember your place.”

Eija did remember her place. She was reminded of it with every passing moment—leashed to her lord’s beck and call, every day walking that delicate tightrope of anticipating his wishes without asserting herself too far in his eyes, living in fear of the day when the bottom finally fell through and he decided to unsheathe the blade at his waist.

Was this his plan for Loki as well? Torture him to death’s edge until it pleased him to make him yet another glorified slave? She thought of Loki, shackled to his chair, heaving and coughing up blood, sentenced to wither away until Thanos found use for him … for what? The mere crime of existence?

And here she was, letting it happen, watching as Thanos sucked the life out of him, simply using him as a receptacle to her own selfish need for attention.

She was just as awful.

But there was nothing she could do about it. Was there?

Unless …

The thought started as a hypothetical. Isn’t that how all treason began? A tiny what-if, buried under one’s daily worries? The hangers of the Sanctuary were hardly well-guarded. There was little reason to guard them, after all—few on this vessel had cause to sneak off of it, and those who did hadn’t the opportunity. And with the current position they had been holding the last few days, only a small way from the Krylor jump point, which could then take you down through one of the major galactical traffic-ways …

Stealing a ship would be almost too easy.

It wouldn’t work, she told herself as she stood amongst her siblings in Thanos’ court. The ship was one thing, the passenger was something else entirely. Loki’s chains were specifically designed by the Mad Titan to stifle the magic of that whom they held. They were the very definition of unbreakable. And the key—Thanos kept it on his person at all times, hooked to his belt alongside his blades. Any scheme was doomed to fail.

But sometimes, opportunities present themselves.

“And where are you going, child?”

Eija jumped out of her skin when she turned the corner and nearly collided with the lord himself. It took her a moment to find her voice.

“To watch over the prisoner, as you ordered, sir.”

He frowned. “That was weeks ago. You’re not still doing that now?”

She bit her tongue, so hard it hurt. “W-with all due respect sir, you never told me to stop.”

“Well, I’m telling you now. Such action is no longer necessary.”

“Yes sir.” She nodded. “Apologies, sir.”

Eija stood there shaking long after he had continued down the hall. Her heart felt as if it might pound its way out of her chest. He had to have noticed. In a moment, he’d come storming back up the corridor, grab her by her neck, and crush her skull against the wall.

But he never did.

It was just Eija, alone in the hallway, clutching the golden key between her trembling fingers.

There was little time. Her theft could only go overlooked for so long. She didn’t have the chance to question herself as she rushed to Loki’s cell—any moment spent in doubt was a moment wasted.

Loki seemed to be unconscious when she first arrived at his side, but he popped up with a start the moment she reached for his chains.

“What—" he gasped, eyes wild. “What’s happening?”

The key clicked in the lock. He heaved a breath, falling forward as the shackles fell open.

“You’re going home.” Eija’s mind was racing at a mile a minute. They couldn’t steal a Q-ship—it was too big; they’d would be noticed immediately … “Can you fly a pod?” she asked.

He gulped. “Possibly?”

“Good enough.” She pulled him to his feet. It was at this moment she became aware of the fact that she had only every seen him seated. Loki was tall. Much, much taller than her, and when he sagged against her it took all of her strength to keep him from tumbling to the metallic floor. For a moment she feared that he was too weak to even stand on his own and nearly panicked, because oh goodness how was she supposed to carry him all the way to the hanger—

But he managed to stabilize himself, gripping her shoulder so tightly that she lost feeling in it, but standing on his own. Slowly, she was able to walk him into the hallway.

The hanger was only a few floors above them, but the elevator ride felt like an eternity.

Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop …

If it stopped before they reached their destination, they were both dead.

Besides her, Loki’s breathing was labored. He hadn’t said anything since she had come to get him.

She squeezed his forearm, hoping he couldn’t feel how she was trembling like a leaf. “You alright?”

He nodded weakly. “I assume you have a plan?”

“The pods are lined on the far wall of the hanger.” She inhaled. “When the door opens, we run like mad and get you on one. And then you take off for the jump point, and don’t stop until you’ve hit traffic.”

Loki turned to her, brow furrowed. “What about you?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Me?”

“Yes. Surely you’ll not stay here?”

Eija gulped. There wasn’t time to think about that now.

The elevator doors clicked open to reveal a thicket of barbed shadows and twisted metal. The hanger was lifeless and barren this time of night, lit only by the glow of the cosmos streaming in through the glass. They made their way in perfect silence, the only sound being the pounding of her heartbeat behind her eardrums. Every dark shape seemed like a waiting figure. Now, it was Eija that clung to him too tightly, terrified that at any moment someone would jump out and rip him from her grasp. By the time they reached their destination, they were both wildly out of breath.

The pods were small, thin one-man transports. Calling them ships was really being too generous. They weren’t really meant for long term travel, but they could work for a few jumps—long enough to get to civilized airspace, which was all he needed. She helped Loki into the compartment, careful to keep him from hitting his head on the low ceiling. This damn ship had caused him enough pain already.

He sighed, leaning against the seat in one short moment of rest before turning back to her. “You still haven’t said what you plan to do.”

Eija hesitated. What could she plan to do? She had nothing waiting for her beyond this ship. As with all of his children, Thanos held a piece of her that he would never relinquish, no matter how far she flew.

“I’ll stay here,” she murmured. “For now, at least. They might pick up on something if too much is out of place.”

“But—"

“Please,” Eija hissed. “You remember what I said, right? Take the Krylor jump, and just keep towards Xandar.” She inhaled so deeply it hurt, trying to bury the aching dread building in her chest. “Stay with the crowds whenever you can—he won’t bother with you if it means he has to go through heavy populations.”

Loki nodded, but she wasn’t certain he was listening. There was a sadness behind his eyes that seemed to pierce her very soul. He squeezed her hand, pressing her knuckles to his lips in the lightest of kisses.

“Thank you, Eija,” he whispered. “May fate be kind to you.”

…

The alarm went off some hours later, when morning dawned upon an empty cell. They came for her only minutes after. Eija hadn’t been certain of what she would do—would she scream when they broke down her door? Cry for help? Fight for her life? But as the Black Order filed into her room with their weapons drawn, Eija felt only an overwhelming calm. It was good that they were here. The longer they spent with her, the more of a chance Loki had of getting away.

She went with her adoptive siblings willingly.

They took her to the same tiny room where this had all begun, shackled her to the same chair she had watched over so diligently. Eija barely registered it.

Surely, Loki was hundreds of star systems away from here now.

Surely he was safe.

When the pain did come, it filled every fiber of her being, burning through her body as if she were nothing but dry kindling. Her vision bled white. Her screams ripped her throat raw.

They asked no questions. She was relieved for that at least, because her every coherent thought shattered to pieces long before it could reach her lips.

She understood now why Loki had cried for his mother. She would have too, had she a mother to cry for. Instead, she just cried.

Eija wasn’t certain how much time had passed before he arrived. It could have been hours, it could have been months, but at some point when she dragged her aching head to look up she found Lord Thanos staring down at her, the stony weight of disappointment heavy on his features.

Gamora stood next to him. She spared a glance at her former sister, softer, sadder, almost sympathetic, before she turned back to her father.

“Sir, the Jotun is out of tracking range. There’s nothing we can do at this point.”

Out of range.

Eija thought of Loki, raven hair streaming in the breeze behind him as he pulled himself out of the craft, safe on some green, luscious, faraway planet that the Black Order could never reach. She smiled, blood dripping from her lips.

Thanos’ expression remained immovable.

“Well, child,” he finally said, looking down at her as he caressed the glinting hilt at his waist. “Look upon this mess. See what you have done. Are you happy now?” He reached out with his other hand, tipping her chin up towards him with a single finger, as if the mere thought of touching her disgusted him. “You look happy.”

Eija felt a laugh tickle her throat. It came out as more of a cough, blood and bile staining her tongue. Still, she could not bring herself to stop smiling.

“I am happy, sir.”

It was true. A beautiful warmth flooded her aching chest. She laughed again, closing her eyes and letting the feeling wash over her.

She was still laughing when the blade severed her throat.

#lucywrites19 #loki marvel #loki fanfic #loki x ofc #happiness #cozy writes

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steve0discusses · 3 years

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Yugioh Season Zero: The Yo-Yo Crimes of Jounouchi Pt 1

It’s been a while since I visited the many times Yugi should have gone to jail, AKA season Zero, and I’m excited to visit it again.

If you just got here, this is Season Zero, which is very different vibe and a different direction plotwise than the other seasons and you can read the season zero recaps from the start in chrono order here: https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yuugi%20muto/chrono

So be warned, this is a 90′s anime, and it will do 90′s anime things, and I expect y’all reading this aren’t like 12.

Like I said in an earlier post, I wrote this out fully when I was going through the symptoms from my second dose--which PS, is worth it--but those symptoms knocked me out for 10 days. I was kind of a space cadet, and yo, I made some mistakes. Including writing this post out in full and then not clicking “save” on this post and then not realizing I had done that until several days later.

So long story short, I don’t remember what I originally wrote here, but lets all assume it was weird, and didn’t make sense and wasn’t funny. We’ll just assume this was for the best that it was deleted forever.

So this episode is about 2 things: Yo-yos and Jounouchi. Both get used as a tool for violence, and both need to get just a little bit cursed by Yugi to scale it the hell back. So, understandably, we start off this episode with Jounouchi, who has eagerly identified with this off brand yo-yo he apparently got out of a dumpster for being just a huge ass defect.

(more Yo-Yo crimes under the cut)

I see you dodging copyright infringement, Yugioh. Eireboy.

Also whenever I read “Eireboy” I do it in my mind in the same pacing and vocal tones that Pegasus uses to say “Kaiba boy.” Something about it’s conjunction to Yugioh, I see anything with “boy” at the end of it, and it’s voiced by a weird guy with one eye.

So I wrote these caps under the influence of my second dose, just assuming y’all understand the life I lived, but I realized writing this episode...traveling bands of yo-yo performers that go to your school and shill yo-yos with yo-yo shows in the hopes that it will get you so obsessed with yo-yos that you will not join a gang and do drugs and have sex may be just an American thing.

So when I saw a yo-yo episode I was like “Tight! Clearly, the yo-yo clowns have come to town!” and I assumed everyone in this class would be draped in yo-yos, because I just assumed that at some point at School you will get MAD OBSESSED with yo-yos for about 2 weeks.

But in this episode, everyone was like “Jounouchi, why are you playing with a random yo-yo?” and it didn’t occur to me until typing this out just now: only Jounouchi is doing this. He did this unprompted, without the encouragement of a bunch of middle aged performers doing tricks to techno music.

So instead, I have to think of Jounouchi as Ralphie in this scenario, and he just got a official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time for Christmas, but he’s gonna shoot his eye out.

Because yo-yos in this episode are basically guns.

...Kind of like a duel deck was also just a gun...

...or the wands in Harry Potter...

...which honestly...I’ve probably said this before but where I’m from, we just use straight up guns in these elaborate analogies because we freakin have to make the point crystal clear. The moment Ralphie finally got his hands on a bb-gun, he very nearly shot his eye out and broke his glasses. And that scene will haunt me until my dying day...

...but fine, we can use yo-yos, I guess it works, although to me, yo-yo’s are just teachers hoping you’ll become such a dork that no gang will accept you (and then in this universe, it does the opposite? So freakin weird).

The beginning of this episode is Jounouchi trying do his best to impress with his skills, but in actuality, getting very close to clubbing Anzu with a yo-yo. And, while Anzu is the strongest person in Yugioh in the later seasons, I feel like Season Zero Anzu is another level. It’s a serious tempt of fate that Jounouchi is doing, so Honda wisely cuts him off from doing any more of that so she won’t end up strangling yet another person in broad daylight in the middle of school.

Remember your yo-yo safety, children.

Straight up, Honda’s version of yo-yo safety is to just Never Use a Yo-Yo and that’s the most gun safety thing ever that they’ve slipped into this Yugioh Episode. I almost expected Yuugi to pull a “well, actually, I use a hunting yo-yo to get enough venison to feed my family.” But youknow, he lives in a city, so while Yugioh is pretty weird and Yuugi has to worry about a lot of things--he doesn’t have to worry about that.

This is actually foreshadowing, which I only realized in hind sight, mostly because I just can’t associate a Yo-yo with crime. Joey knowing how to use a yo-yo was foreshadowing that he was absolutely part of this gang in a past life.

Yeah that one went completely over my head the first time and the second time and it really wasn’t until just now that I finally caught it. Hoo boy, sometimes I wonder why y’all let me analyze this show.

Jounouchi decides to confront the yo-yo bandits and everyone else is like “Silly Jounouchi, he’s not gonna do that. That would be stupid.” And...in S0, they don’t know him well enough yet to know that he really is that much of a well meaning dumbass.

I think a S1-5 Yugi would have been sprinting out the door to keep Joey from killing himself (again), but Season Zero Yuugi had hope that Jounouchi would just naturally tucker out and fall asleep or something.

And he was so wrong.

Anzu’s “New Tricks” line was from the dub itself and man that’s a good line. I love Anzu’s sass in Zero.

So, Honda decides to help them find Jounouchi so all of them together could give Jounouchi an intervention for skipping school. This is the same Honda that once skipped school to babysit a tomagachi and said it was because of “Maternity leave,” but don’t worry about the hypocrisy, because from this episode we learned that Jounouchi needs a very short leash.

So this episode is a great Jounouchi episode to explain stuff that still hasn’t been explained in 5 seasons of Yugioh. In S1-5, we don’t get much about his home life other than his Mom left and his Sister lives far away and is like sickly as hell. We know nothing else. But this is the episode where we finally get to find out why Yuugi and his Grandfather decided to basically adopt him from S1 onward.

Yugioh is tackling some pretty heavy territory, but I respect the show for not trying to magically change Jounouchi’s parents like they did to Dartz. Instead, the crew decide to reach out and try to find their friend who clearly didn’t go home last night (and won’t be going back for a while), by checking every alleyway in Domino.

Fun fact Yuugi drops this episode, Domino is one of the biggest cities on Earth. This makes the Battle City Tournament even more crazy when you realize Kaiba shut down several blocks but, it also makes a tiny bit more sense how we have so many Millennium items in one place. (Yet...it still doesn’t explain Bakura and Joey’s accent.) And, I guess if your city is just extra large, you get an extra large warehouse district, too.

Speaking of, they eventually find Jounouchi at his new (but also old) crime antics mugging some random stranger next to this Game store that I just realized was cropped so it looks like it says “GANG.”

Say hello to our crime clown. He’s sort of like a discount joker, and that beanie is...man it is green.

I forget this green exists sometimes, but Season Zero has it as one of their prime colors. Good ol’ Retro Kaiba green.

I’m a little tempted to swatch Season Zero a bit and figure out their full color scheme--it’s really saturated, which is interesting when you compare it to the later seasons which are a lot more muted since...the 00′s were like that, they greyed a lot of colors out. But I’ll do it later if I do, maybe another post for another day.

Jounouchi and Honda, before they moved to the school with Yuugi in it, used to go to the same school and up until now I just assumed they were close friends. But apparently they were a lot more distant than that. I’m sure they met up several times as Jounouchi destroyed stuff and Honda came along in his volunteer janitor outfit to put the stuff the hell back, and maybe that’s how they got to know eachother better?

But basically, Jounouchi was the freakin worst, and Jounouchi’s best friend was Hirotani--this 45 year old 15 year old with the blue pony and turquoise fade--and Honda has SO MUCH hot goss to say about it.

I really get the gist that Honda may not have liked anyone else at his old school, like at all. Like maybe Honda likes cleaning up trash so much because his school was just trash top to bottom.

As is tradition, Yuugi got his tar beat in by Hirotani. Another concussion to add to his list of issues to tell his future therapist that lives in that puzzle he wears around his neck.

I still expect him to do a double cross, but it seems they wanted to keep it a relatable and more realistic fall-out, where Jounouchi has just bounced on them without even a goodbye. He and his Dad had a bad fight, and Jounouchi was like “well so long to all of this and everyone that has anything to do with it.”

In later seasons, Joey is the one trying to save other people. He’s saving his Sister, he’s saving Mai, he’s saving Yugi, but in this season Jounouchi’s friends had to save Jounouchi from himself a few times now.

I like this depth to his character, I’ll be honest. I can understand why S1-5 don’t touch on it, and I don’t think it’s because they didn’t want to have an abusive Dad storyline, because they did that several times over with Seto Kaiba (man the Dad situation in Yugioh is DIRE.) Instead they probably just felt like Season Zero already did it, so why do it again?

It’s just a shame that it wasn’t talked about in the other seasons. Joey makes a lot more sense to me now because we get to see why Jounouchi is so hard set on saving people. S4 Mai Valentine, who ditched everyone and joined a gang? That’s basically a Joey move, and that was why Joey Wheeler was all over that.

Really would have added a lot to that particular arc if the show...actually talked about Joey’s history at all rather than assume I would have watched something that was never released in the States. Instead...it just looked a lot like he had only romantic motivations, which may not have been what they were going for.

Speaking of romantic, check out this sunset. Like the sun is exploding for some reason--just a wild sunset you only see for a still frame before a commercial break.

As Joey, youknow, takes on an entire rival gang single-handedly.

Hey guys, I lived near a pretty big city most of my life and I have been on a roof...once. Just the one time when I was doing an internship in SF with a painter and we needed to take a reference photo of his painting for a gallery (and it was hella sketch, and we weren’t exactly allowed up there). Who are all these people giving teens Roof Access? It’s so hard to get! Even if you live in an apartment of a tall building, I can count on zero of my fingers the amount of times I was allowed on that roof. But TV shows and movies--they freakin love roof gardens and roof hangouts and roof fights.

Am I missing out?? How did y’all get on the ROOF? I know I’m on S5 of Yugioh now and I have seen a lot of roof stuff, but like...is this normal for everyone else? I know there’s schools that have roof sport--that’s common in the city everywhere--but that’s like...specialized roofs with 30 ft chainlink fencing and really good supports to your body doesn’t fall straight through it when you jump too much. The hell is using their normal ass roof?

This gang should have their legs swinging halfway into the floor below them, is all I’m saying, if my roof couldn’t handle our solar heating, then a normal ass roof cannot support a gang fight.

But it does look really, really cool.

Anyway, Anzu does some offscreen snooping and finds out where the crime hangs out, and suggests that we step right into crime zone and just yank Jounouchi out of there. Which is something you would only do and say if you were Anzu and cannot fear death.

If it were Jay’s it would be with an ‘s. That’s how you do a plural Jay. But it’s the 90′s, so we put a “z” on the end of everything that should have been an “s” and that’s how you get the...

I mean, thank you, dubbers, for not saying “Jizz” but for reals...that be Jizz.

Please don’t flag me, Tumblr. (which, PS, I think they turned off the flagbot, Tumblr hasn’t flagged me in forever and I’m so thankful. Mods are asleep, we can talk about anime again)

So even though Honda decided that he was fed up with Jounouchi and didn’t want to save his ass, he decided to give it another go but complete with some new sash. He also did this without telling any of the others, who just kinda spectated him for a little while.

Honestly, if they weren’t laughing at him, I wouldn’t have known that this sash was any weirder than any of his other sashes. I don’t know really know what a school uniform should look like. It’s a shame, I feel like this series has a lot of jokes and puns probably soaring right over my head.

A little bit embarrased he was caught being vulnerable, Honda decides to give us a little more context to why he ever decided to give Jounouchi the time of day in the first place.

They had PE class once, and Honda apparently loves the hell out of PE. Jounouchi ran really fast in a straight line that one time, and that is why he’s trustworthy friend material. He just needs to stop joining gangs, and he’ll be solid.

I have no idea if the fandub put that in there or if that was native to the show, but Miho legit stans Honda/Jounouchi and acts as if she’s off to write some fanfiction about it. Honestly if she did, it would make her so much more interesting of a character.

And so, until next time, we shall have to wait and see exactly what Yami Yuugi is going to do with a freakin Yo-yo and I’m sure it’s all sorts of real effed up. Excited to get there, honestly. A shame it had to happen on the part that isn’t dubbed yet, but I’ve done these subbed before, it’ll be fine!

#Season Zero #Yuugi Muto #Jounouchi #Honda #Anzu #yo-yo #Jounouchi joins a gang #Gotta go save Jounouchi's ass I guess #Miho #she was here too I guess #Just a great Jounouchi episode for the Jounouchi stans out there

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2manyfandoms2count · 3 years

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Poisson d'avril

Here, have a half-baked April Fool’s Day fic my brain decided to wake me up for. For context, one of the most popular jokes for April 1st in France is taping paper fish to each other’s backs, the more original the fish the better (my childhood is filled with trying to sneak behind teachers' backs to tape one on them; they were very chill about it, tbh). Poisson d’Avril is also what you say at the end of a joke on that day (think "sike", but festive). More about this great tradition that apparently dates back to at least 1466 here.

Hope you enjoy!

Read on AO3

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Marinette loved April Fool’s Day at Françoise Dupont. The school was always buzzing with little pranks at that time of the year, the blooming spring giving a wonderfully cheerful backdrop to the shenanigans the collégiens were up to.

These were all very light-hearted, if sometimes a little elaborate.

As usual, some students had been found early in the morning in the classrooms, thwarting their attempt to recreate the legendary horizontal fiasco of 20XX, where everything had been set up to look like the rooms had been flipped by 90°. Mr Damoclès had let them go mercifully, thankful that the students hadn’t been tempted to glue everything to the ceiling in an effort to one-up their predecessors. Somehow, he wouldn’t have put it past Kim and Alix to try and coordinate the project, as a last hurrah before heading on to lycée.

There were also seemingly well-meaning classmates offering chouquettes or donuts in the courtyard, which Marinette knew to stay well away from, knowing the former were likely sprinkled with coarse salt, and the latter filled with the likes of mayonnaise instead of jam. She’d been in their shoes a couple of years prior, building her classmates’ trust by bringing them the sweet delicacies every day for a week, and switching on April 1st as a joke.

Heading to class, she heard a lot of laughter, people telling jokes, or trying to see how far they could take a story without it being called out on it (this year, Nino had Kim panicking over a brevet exam part they supposedly had, which was a step down from the previous year, where he’d convinced him that everybody needed to come in dressed up in medieval costumes, and that he’d landed the court jester role; his friend had turned up the next day in a full outfit, complete with bells on his hat and shoes, and upon discovering the deception, had decided to make good use of them and make the joke everybody’s problem).

However much she enjoyed those kinds of pranks, though, Marinette’s favourite remained the classic poisson d’avril: taping paper fish to people’s backs. It was something anyone could take part in, as a predator or a prey, with or without premeditation. You didn’t necessarily need scissors and tape, if you managed to steal some from somebody else’s back.

Marinette liked to take it seriously. Done right, the exercise demanded stealth she’d had even as a little kid, and had honed ever since being chosen to become Ladybug, as well as creativity she had piles of. She’d stayed up the previous night, making plenty of fish varying in size and colour, some tailored to her friends, like the Rena Rouge and Carapace ones that were intended for Alya and Nino respectively. She’d of course also made the rest of the Miraculous team, as well as some other designs based on Kitty section, her classmates, or celebrities.

As always at the end of the day, Rose walked around with a whole school on her back. It wasn’t clear if she was completely oblivious to it, or if she knew what was going on but enjoyed the giddy giggles of the people who managed to add an extra fish in, or take one off.

The only person who’d managed to escape the prank so far was Adrien, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. Kim, Alix and Nino had gone to great lengths to get at least one fish on his back, even recruiting Markov to sneak behind him, but the boy seemed to have a sixth sense.

No sooner did he hear the faintest of ruffles, that his head would jerk up, eyes darting around to figure out where the sound had come from, thwarting any efforts, no matter how elaborate they’d been.

Marinette had been reluctant to target Adrien, despite having a special fish for him, complete with his stripes and an orange-tipped tail, but as the day went by and more people joined the challenge to trick him, she felt the urge to compete rise in her chest and started unwillingly tracking his every movement, trying to find a breach in his focus.

It was a fastidious process, even for someone who enjoyed watching Adrien happily live his life, but it paid off around the end of the day, just after the last bell.

Marinette noticed that Adrien’s shirt looked a little rumpled around the back as they were retrieving books from their lockers, and approached him calmly.

“Adrien?” She announced her presence when she was right behind him, surprised that he hadn’t turned around yet. He almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of her voice.

“Marinette!” He yelped, a hand flying to his heart. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you approach.” He chuckled nervously.

“No, I’m sorry I scared you!” Marinette looked down, apparently sheepish. In truth, she was cursing inwardly at the missed easy opportunity. Adrien had been at ease with her coming closer, which she assumed was because it was the end of the day and he’d started letting his guard down; she could have gone about her business and he would’ve been none the wiser. She shook her head; it didn’t matter, she’d just go on with her original plan. “It’s just that… well, it’s stupid, but the back of your shirt is a little creased, and I know how important your appearance is to your family so… Do you mind if I fix it?”

“Thanks Marinette, that’d be awesome.” He smiled at her in a way that would have made her lose her cool, had it been any other day. But she was on a mission, and there was no way she was letting the opportunity of pranking Adrien when nobody else had managed the feat go by.

“Okay, let me just…” Marinette reached into her purse and took the first piece of paper she felt, before gently taping it to Adrien’s shirt, making sure to smooth the fabric at the same time so he wouldn’t realise what she was doing.

“There, all done!” She smiled when she was satisfied the tape had adhered well enough.

He smiled back at her, but was interrupted in his thanks by Nino and Alya calling for them to hurry up.

“Today was really fun, I’m so glad I got to experience it first hand,” Adrien beamed as the group walked out of the building, Nino and Adrien a little ahead of the girls. “And I’m really proud that I survived it without getting pranked!”

Marinette bit back a laugh, eyes darting to his back.

“I wouldn’t be so confident, Sunshine,” Alya replied, untaping the fish from his back and handing it to him.

“What…” Adrien stopped in his tracks, looking at it, and particularly Marinette’s signature on the back of the piece of paper, in disbelief. He turned around with a look of mock betrayal. “I can’t believe you’d do this to me!” He pouted.

“I couldn’t just let you off the hook,” she shrugged with a small smile, making a mental note to reuse the phrase with Chat Noir when she saw him later. He’d enjoy the pun.

Adrien let out a small chuckle as he turned the fish around, but the sound died as he saw the pattern. The colour drained from his face and he froze as he took in the black and green colour scheme and the fish’s whiskers.

“Adrien? Is everything okay?” Marinette frowned, noticing his change in body language.

“Yeah, um… Can I talk to you for a second?” He looked up at her.

“What a great idea!” Alya pushed Marinette towards Adrien before hooking her arm through Nino’s and starting to go down the stairs. “We’ll see you guys tomorrow!”

Marinette thought she heard her add “Can you believe they might get together over an April Fool’s joke?”, as she waved them off absentmindedly, but her gaze met Adrien’s troubled one and she decided she’d deal with her best friend later.

“What’s up?” She asked, feeling a blush creep up her cheeks; the adrenaline from succeeding her challenge was evidently starting to wear off.

“What’s this?” Adrien asked cautiously, handing her the fish.

Marinette took it cautiously, saw the pattern, and smiled. “It’s a poisson-chat noir,” she said proudly. It was a bit of a shame she’d picked that one for Adrien, but she guessed she couldn’t have kept it for her partner anyway, given that she’d signed it. Still, she thought he would have liked the joke. Especially if it came from Ladybug.

“How did you know?” he murmured, looking at her incredulously. She tilted her head, raising her eyebrows at his cryptidness. He explicited his thoughts. “I saw the fish you gave Alya and Nino, and the one you managed to pin on Chloé; they were all references to their superhero selves. And now you get this one right as well… How did you know?”

It was Marinette’s turn to freeze and feel the colour draining from her cheeks. “I… I didn’t. I picked one randomly when I saw an opening.”

“Oh.” She saw the cogs turning in Adrien’s brain while she felt her own shut down, still processing one important piece of information.

“Adrien… Are you Chat Noir?”

“Um… Poisson d’avril?” He ventured.

“Adrien.” She repeated sternly.

“Okay, fine, you got me.” Adrien huffed, raking a hand through his hair. “Please, don’t tell Ladybug.” He pleaded.

“Too late, I’m afraid.” She dug out her poisson-Ladybug and taped it to herself. She saw Adrien’s eyes grow as wide as his smile before being engulfed in a hug and feeling his lips on her forehead. “Kwami, we really might get together over an April Fool’s joke,” she muttered against his chest. If the heat she felt at the tip of her ears said anything, she probably was as red as Ladybug’s costume, and it probably wouldn’t go unnoticed.

“What was that?” Adrien pulled out a little from their hug to look at her.

“Nothing.” She smiled, and took his hand. “Now come on Chaton, we have some things to discuss, and we should probably go somewhere more private.”

“You know I’d follow you anywhere, my Lady.” He picked their entwined hands and kissed hers.

Really, she thought as they made their way towards her parents’ boulangerie, she loved poissons d’avril.

#i miss the simpler times where we'd get up to this kind of stuff #it's just not the same during a lockdown :')#miraculous ladybug #the miraculous tales of ladybug and cat noir #miraculous fanfiction #miraculous fanfic #adrienette #adrinette #adrien agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #miracuclass #april fool's day #april 1st #elle writes #i'm sorry if you clicked the link #you're allowed to yell at me

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lilibetbombshell · 3 years

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!!!ARC REVIEW!!!

"SUMMER SONS"

BY: LEE MANDELO

RELEASE DAY IS TODAY, 09.28.2021!!!

GO ORDER YOUR COPY NOW!!!

RATING: 5 STARS!!!

You don’t have to be a believer in the paranormal or supernatural to have a healthy fear of the Appalachian Mountains and what deep, dark secrets lie beneath them. You don’t have to be a genius to know that the land itself in and around those mountains holds just as many deep and dark secrets, and many of those are more fresh and filled with blood and pain created not by geological time, but by humans themselves.

I was very tempted, with my ADD, geography degree, and manic energy after reading this fantastic book, to go off on a tangent about just how old the Appalachian Mountains are and about formation and what lies beneath and about how there’s so much we have yet to discover about this ancient mountain range still, but I took a deep breath, took a step back, and marinated on what needed to be said about this book that people needed to hear.

This book is set in and around Vanderbilt University, which is located in Nashville, which is located in Tennessee. So, from the start, we’ve got a private university that was paid for by Andrew Carnegie (a wealthy white man from the north) but presided over by a Methodist Epsicopalian Bishop who believed slavery was human nature, which is located in a confederate state whose eastern side is part of the Appalachians. There’s a lot to unpack there: socially, politically, economically, culturally… and this book dips a toe into a few of these things. It can’t help not to, because it all ties together. But this book is really about what people don’t like to talk about. The topics they try to skirt around. The ugly things: the blood soaked deep in the soil, the evil steeped in generations of people (and then the lack of evil in some people and the need to protect them from it), the pressure to publish or perish, systemic racism in academia, internalized homophobia, regrets, the things people will do to stave off death, and the things people will and won’t do for love.

And, of course, it’s about cool stuff too: the ancient magic in the land, the sacrifices the land requires to maintain it, curses, hauntings, American folklore, revenants, street-racing, bad boys, drugs, drinking, and necromantic magic.

This is, by no means, a fast read. Like the south tends to be, it moves slow. Reading this book is like taking a walk through black tar molasses while breathing that thick, humid air.

Andrew, our main character, is going through the same thing, and that’s why we’re going through it. We must endure what he does, because this is his story, and we move as he moves. He’s struggling. He’s sluggishly trying to move through life ever since his best friend, Eddie, committed suicide only days before Andrew was to join him at Vanderbilt. He’s suffocating on all the things he never got to say, aimless because he doesn’t know how to live without his best friend, and he’s clueless about what to do with the fortune, friends, and research Eddie left to him. He’s completely lost save the one thing he’s absolutely certain of: Eddie didn’t kill himself. So we, the reader, have to sit in the passenger seat as Andrew throws himself helplessly at idea after idea, trying to grasp onto anything at all that will help him prove Eddie didn’t kill himself. Meanwhile, he’s trying to come to terms with feelings he’d long shut in a box and put a lock on, trying to figure out who he can trust and who he can’t, trying to figure out how to let go and have a good time while he can, and trying to keep a grasp on reality even as a curse that had bound he and Eddie together since childhood keeps trying to drag him down into the ground.

This book is astoundingly good. It’s languid, horrific, slick, bloody, sticky, lazy, intense, sultry, cold, mysterious, frightful, and a well-deserved finger pointed at all of us as a reminder that no matter what you build on top of it, physical or otherwise, the land is the land, and the land holds multitudes of humanities sins.

#arc review #arc reviewer #books #book reviews #new release #new releases #new release books #summer sons #lee mandelo #net galley #tordotcom #southern gothic #horror #lgbtq books #appalachian mountains

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officialleehadan · 3 years

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Right of Possession

Hello darlings and happy monday! I hope you're having a good one!

Today's story was brought to you by L! Darling, what fun prompts you always have for me. I hope you love it!

Prompt: Hoshi and Blaec discuss who gets to Treasure Vree.

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“There is a matter to be discussed between us,” Blaec said without preamble. He was in scales for the day, comfortable in the warm sun of Hoshi’s mountain home on Earth. He had been gone long enough that the air on his home-world tasted strange on his tongue, but it was as always, a welcome smell. The humans might not understand, with their fleeting lives, but dragonkind knew that there was nothing so much of home as the wind. “A matter of treasure.”

“I wondered when this would come up,” Hoshi said. Like him, she was in scales, but she was far, far smaller than he. Not that it bothered either of them. Her nature was different from his own, and nothing more. Given, it meant that grooming had to be done cautiously, or with the generous use of magic, but there were worse ways to spend the time. Accustomed to hosting other dragons, Hoshi had a large lake cut into her mountains, fed from a dozen hot-springs. It was so hot that it would have cooked a human in moments, but Blaec found it just the right temperature to relax completely. “I thought I might have to broach the topic myself.”

Damn. If Hoshi was thinking about the same matter he was, she wasn’t planning to let it go easily.

“I saw him first,” Blaec tried, since it was true, and first-claim often settled these issues before they grew out of control. “He spoke to me and begged a boon. Evelene likes him.”

“All fine reasons, I’m sure,” Hoshi said peaceably. She wasn’t fond of heat, and was lounging in a pile of sand that was almost as white as she was, and was kept cool by a little spark of magic. “But he has offered me family-right, and adds to my Hoard willingly whenever we meet. He is mine.”

Blaec grumbled and thought over his options. It wasn’t uncommon for two dragons to desire the same treasure for their respective Hoards. He rarely did, but that was because few dragons were willing to challenge him, and few items were tempting enough to provoke him to lay claim that might be challenged. After all, he was old, every old, and there wasn’t much in two galaxies to catch his eye anymore. At least, nothing that could be Hoarded and hidden away.

It figured that his beloved Great Treasure had taken a shine to the same mortal Hoshi had, and now he had to talk his oldest friend into surrendering her new favorite mortal.

It was not, he thought dismally, very likely. Nobody liked to argue like Hoshi did, and the mountains would give way before she did.

“You never Treasure living beings,” Blaec said, hoping to talk her around anyway. She wasn’t unreasonable.. “What are you even planning to do with him? He isn’t going to come to Earth.”

“I’ve already laid a mark of protection on him, defending him from all things but time,” Hoshi said primly, and rolled in the sand to burnish her scales. “With his permission, I will defend him against time, as well, but I haven’t had a chance to discuss it with him, and immortality is not to be sprung upon a mortal.”

“No, that’s fair,” Blaec muttered. Mortals were so strangeabout their little lives. They did so much in their small amount of time, and fought so hard for every moment. He envied them, sometimes. Dragon lives were rarely quick-moving things, and his own less than many even of them. It wasn’t difficult to grant a mortal immortality. There were plenty of options available, from spells, to curses, to Wishes. He wasn’t exactly sure which of those kept his Great Treasure sheltered from time, but he suspected her father’s family. “Better not to risk him handling it poorly.”

That was a risk, too. Some mortals went mad when they discovered that time could no longer touch them.

“I plan to discuss it with him soon,” Hoshi said agreeably, burnished, and now carefully grooming her claws. They were small, but razor sharp. It was nearly invisible these days, hidden under his great scales, but Blaec still bore the scars of their first encounter, eons ago. “I should not prefer to have this conversation become uncomfortable. If you wanted him, you should have claimed him when you met him.”

“He wasn’t so interesting when I met him.”

“That’s hardly my problem. He is unclaimed, and so I am claiming him.”

“And if I refuse to relinquish my claim?” Blaec asked, half-serious and curious what his old friend would say. “I have first-sight on him, and Evelene wants him. I am not inclined to give him up.”

Hoshi stretched, her claws on full display, and yawned widely, showing all her teeth. When she locked eyes with him, stretched and ready, but still relaxed in the sand, Blaec could have cursed.

“I, Hoshi of the Great Library, do issue Challenge,” she said clearly, smiling wide and deceptively cheerful. “For right of Treasure over Vree of Ha’reet. Will you answer this challenge, Blaec of the Distant Sands?”

“You want the alien badly enough to fight over it?” he asked incredulously. Hoshi never issued challenges, and no one was stupid enough to issue them to her. There was truth to the old saying about knowledge and power. Hoshi had more knowledge than any being alive, and forgot nothing. She was as magically powerful as any being, such that even the gods and the djinn thought carefully before crossing her. “Truly?”

“Yes. Do you accept my challenge or do you relinquish your claim?”

Blaec might be big, but he had never been terribly good at magic, and Hoshi knew it. She would wrap him up like a plucked bird, probably without even getting up.

Blast.

Damn it all.

That wasn’t a fight he could win.

“No,” he growled, words a little hotter with flame than he really meant them. “Smoke take you, I relinquish my claim, but you had better be willing to let Evelene visit him or the next person you’ll have this conversation with is her.”

“She’s more reasonable than you. I don’t expect it to be a difficulty” Hoshi said, and settled back into her sand nest to resume her grooming. Blaec didn’t sulk, since there was no point in sulking over a fight he couldn’t have won, but he did rumble at her, just a little annoyed. She ignored him completely. “Let it be known to the Convocation. Vree of Ha’reet is the Treasure of Hoshi of the Great Library.”

#dragon #dragons #draconic #the affairs of dragons #writing #writer #writers #write #writing prompts #writing resources #writblr #writeblr #spilled love #spilled ink #spilled words #spilledink #spilledwords #spilled ideas #Lee Hadan Add to Masterlist

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blackjack-15 · 3 years

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No, the Creature’s name is Fraulein’s Monster — Thoughts on: The Captive Curse (CAP)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN, CRE, ICE, CRY, VEN, HAU, RAN, WAC, TOT, SAW

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraphs above, along with my list of previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: CAP, mentions of SAW, mentions of ASH.

The Intro:

The obvious Frankenstein reference in the title of this meta is the only one I make in the whole meta, I swear. It was a mistake to make the monster look like Frankenstein’s Monster, but I’m not gonna drag you guys or the meta down with that.

We’re professionals here.

This is a game with rather big shoes to fill, to be honest — it’s our first game in Germany, comes right after a very well-received “haunting” game and has shades of being a “haunting” game itself, its (small bit of) marketing played off Grimm’s Tales, and Savannah’s comment about staying in a castle where she discovered that the real monster was human cruelty is directly pointing towards it. CAP and its story could have crumpled under the weight of high expectations like MED, MID, and (in a slightly more controversial opinion) SEA did, but instead it did the opposite: in nearly every way, it improved on the Faerietale Formula that SAW inspired, and added to it.

Rather than a spooky haunted faerietale with a Hidden Villain, we have instead a monster — out in the open, even — as our main villain. The difference between ghosts and monsters isn’t really important in, say, a “Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark” or “Goosebumps” book, but it’s fairly important in a mystery, and even more in a Nancy Drew mystery.

As I’ve said a few dozen times in this series — and if you’re not tired of it yet, you will be soon — ghosts are a Reality in the Nancy Drew universe; they exist, they cause trouble, and they sometimes even help the living (or at least coexist with the living).

Monsters, on the other hand, never really exist — not banshees, not werewolves, not malicious wolves with opposable thumbs and the ability to cook poisoned foods, and certainly not monsters that in no way resemble the main villain from a Universal classic horror flick. Monster in the Nancy Drew universe is a Title, not a type of creature. Whenever there’s a monster on the loose, it’s a sure sign that there’s a bitter individual somewhere looking to hurt someone — usually for a personal grudge.

Which, as it happens, is exactly what happened here.

We’re still firmly in a Faerietale game — the ‘Nancy’ games start with ASH — but I do think it’s important to note here that the girls in this game (the victims of the monster, Renate, Anja) are all shadows of Nancy. The previous victims, sharing the designation of the Girl in the Dress with Nancy, are shadows of what could happen to Nancy if she doesn’t change the fate that’s been designated for her — down to the red hair of the original Girl.

Renate is a type of detective, trying to solve the mystery of the tragedies that strike the castle through the actions of the past. And Anja — well, let’s just say that Anja and Nancy have a lot more between then than the first glance might show.

The two women are foiled, especially with their love lives. Nancy’s dating a good man — despite the obvious, glaring problems in the relationship — and so their argument (and her own selfish behavior) isn’t the end of the world, nor the end of the relationship. They stop, they assess, and — with a little help from Anja — Nancy’s determined to try a little harder, leading us straight into ASH. The big thesis statement of the game is delivered, like last game, by our villain — “There’s nothing like love to bring order to a scattered world”. Anja gives Nancy good advice: communicate, and work for what you want.

Anja, however, was not dating a good man; she encouraged him, much like Ned does with Nancy, to be better, to try harder, to really reach for what he could be — only to be cast aside as soon as all the hard work that she had put in to supporting him led to good results. Her world was not scattered before — but after Markus, there was nothing that could put it back together again.

There’s nothing like love, indeed, but when it’s the wrong kind of person…well, the message that Anja took out of it was that somebody, somewhere, should care about her. And if they weren’t going to…well, a tragedy necessitates the force of Fate, and we know what Renate says about fate:

“Fate has a habit of digging in its claws when tempted.”

The last thing I want to touch on in this introduction — which I realize is a bit heavy on themes, but so is the game — is the importance of Titles within this game. The Bürgermeister, The Castellan, The Monster, The Girl in the Dress — this game operates a lot on character tropes, like any self-respecting faerietale, and the titles go a long way to showing who each character is. Karl feels dwarfed and inadequate next to his title; Anja wanted hers so badly that she was willing to lie; the title of Monster strikes fear into the heart of the vast majority of our cast.

And the Girl? The Girl in the Dress is a symbol of helpless fate, a sacrifice to propel the narrative forward. Remember what Renate tells Nancy? “The monster, he is here for you.”

Tellingly, it’s Nancy’s changing of what exactly it means to be The Girl in the Dress that allows our faerietale to meet with a happy ending, rather than a tragedy (the ending normally brought about by Fate, in Renate’s words). In keeping the title but changing the scope of the title, Nancy figuratively beats the Monster, and saves the memory all the Girls that came before.

The Title:

The Captive Curse is, as far as titles go, a masterclass. Nearly all the titles of the 20+ numbers are fabulous, but CAP’s title is a shining star even among them. Let’s talk about the important word in the title — “Captive”.

There are a lot of things that are “captive” in this game. We have the captives of the monster, to start off with, but there’s a lot more where that came from. The residents of the Castle and the castle’s town are also captive — they’re held captive by fear, as evidenced by the doors that refuse to open even when Nancy begs them to.

Shrugging off the idea of keeping this meta even a little bit spoiler-free, I’d also add that Markus is a sort of captive of Anja — there under false pretenses, drawing a web around him to finish him off — and equally that Anja is a captive of Markus’ — the shadow of her dick ex-boyfriend hanging over her dream job, watching him profit off of being a truly terrible person.

Renate and Nancy get in on the action, too. Renate is a captive of guilt, returning to the castle to try to prevent further deaths, haunted by her sister’s early death. She’s also a storyteller — a profession famed for having a “captive audience”. Lastly, Nancy is forced into the costume rather than her own clothes — a captive of the tale that’s being spun by our major players.

The Faerietale

In SAW’s faerietale, Nancy was the visiting prince, the Knight in Shining Armor to look after and save the kingdom. In CAP’s faerietale, however, her role gets changed around — not the least of which because we discover what an actual Knight in Shining Armor really is, courtesy of Renate:

“A knight in shining armor never did nothing for nobody. He never fought. A knight in dented, scraped armor - now that’s what you want.”

This isn’t the cynical take that some might spin it into — the Nancy Drew universe is not and has never been a Nolan-style grimdark-fest, skeptical of any good deed or honest inclination — but instead a declaration that it’s what people do that makes them heroes, that makes them good, that makes them who they are, not what they are (or what they seem to be).

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that, in a game exploring what good a Knight in Shining Armor might be, that the series’ resident Knight appears within the context of his fight with Nancy.

Ned in the video games series is the closest to a Knight that we really get; he doesn’t make mistakes, he’s always patient and kind and understanding, and helps out the best he can without being actually on the scene. In other words, his armor has no dents, nor scrapes, not so much by his choice (excepting possibly CRY), but by Nancy’s. By constantly leaving him behind, she’s cast in him his role as Knight in Shining Armor — but, as Renate points out, that’s not necessarily a good thing. Ned has the potential to be and do more — as ASH will show us.

And yes, there’s someone in the series that fits the knight in dented, scraped armor, but this is not the time for a Francy meta. If ever there is a time for Francy meta.

The biggest thing that changes from SAW to CAP is that Nancy’s learned from last time, and starts trying to figure out the faerietale she’s in the minute it starts in earnest. When she hears Renate’s tale, she’s sure she’s figured it out — guessing it was about Renate’s sister — but we’re shown that her perception is a little off (as the girl was Renate, not her sister). This shifting up of the roles is crucial thematically to our ending, where Nancy gleefully assumes the role of the Girl in the Dress as the hero of the piece, rather than the victim that the Girl had always been.

What Nancy happens upon here I’ll cheerfully call the Power of the Storyteller. All faerietales shift and change depending on who’s telling the story — look at the thousands of versions of Cinderella had all over the world, all too old to just be a knockoff of their geographical neighbor’s story or (yes, I’ve heard this) based off the Disney property.

With Anja telling the story for the majority of the game, it’s a tale about how sometimes the “monster” (and her version of a monster, specifically) wins — and how sometimes they deserve to win, to perpetuate the faerietale as it always has been; as Renate reminds us, “when death goes to take a ride, he follows the road that serves him best.” In Anja’s mind, there must always be a Monster, and there must always be a Girl in the Dress. With Nancy taking over the story, however, it’s about how the victim doesn’t have to be the victim, and that they have the power to assume their own destiny.

In other words, they’re playing out the central conflict that Renate outlines in her first discussion with Nancy: “If our time together is a comedy, then I was brought here by coincidence. If our time is a tragedy, then it must be fate.”

Coincidence and fate are also, coincidentally (heh) the driving forces in a faerietale — except that fate is also a driving force for romance. And because romance is our Chief Concern in CAP’s story, a lot of the story is about fighting against fate. In the end, it’s a coincidence that Nancy arrives, but Anja tries to spin it into fate by making her the Girl in the Dress. It’s only when Nancy takes charge, not letting fate have its say, that she arrives at the ending and is able to best Anja.

One of the great questions that this faerietale presents is about the Monster is whether or not it ever existed. In a Faerietale, the Monster nearly always exists in some form or another, needing to be drawn out and killed by our hero(es) before the day can be saved.

Indeed, in Anja’s modern-day retelling of the faerietale, the monster doesn’t exist — at least, not in its Monstrous form. In her story, Markus is the monster, and she must put on the guise of a monster in order to defeat him — in other words, if a monster is going to win, it’s going to be her.

To quote Ned’s astute observation, “[Castle Finster] has too many monsters.”

But it’s Savannah’s words that we should look to, as she’s a Storyteller just as much as Renate is. Savannah, heavily implied to be speaking of Castle Finster, says that the monster she found wasn’t a ghost — it was human cruelty that made the castle and its history so terrifying.

So we’re faced with the question: did the monster ever exist, or was it solely bad people, stealing cattle and sheep and young girls away for their own wicked purposes? Was there truly an amorphous being roaming the countryside, or was it just a clever way to shift blame from those who would do evil unto others? Remember what Renate tells us about monsters:

“The worst monsters are self-made. They are people like you and me, but they have taken a terrible turn. They let everything awful, everything sad, take up all the breathing room in their hearts, until all they know is revenge.”

The answer I would give is that, for this faerietale, it doesn’t matter if the Monster is real or not. The concern is not the nature of the monster, it’s the people’s reaction to the idea of a monster, real or imagined, that sets off our faerietale and provides the stakes. The fear is real and palpable, and the ends of our villain, while understandable and perhaps even praiseworthy, require some downright dastardly means.

The Mystery:

We open first on a look back at a young girl in an Era Past being captured by an unseen monster in the woods near a castle…only to have Nancy drive up on the Castle Finster itself in the modern day. Nancy’s been called in by the owner of the castle, Markus, who wants any troubles with the legendary monster cleaned up before he and his Rich Investor Friends arrive.

Rather than a welcoming piece of history, Nancy is greeted with a scared, unwelcoming town, the fear of the monster looming large and cutting deep — and that’s before the Curse itself turns its eyes on Nancy, forcing her to play along as the Girl in the Red Dress, the favored victim of the monster. Those in the castle are kinder than those outside of it, but there’s still the sneaking suspicion that someone is up to no good, using the guise of the monster to wreak a little havoc of their own invention — and time is running out before the monster claims yet another victim…

As far as the mystery goes…I don’t like to use words like “spectacular” because let’s face it, every game has its holes, but honestly CAP’s mystery is pretty spectacular. Attention-catching, a bit sad, a bit horrific, and loaded with faerietale tropes, subversions, and themes — there’s honestly just not much wrong here, especially given the limitations of, well, making a Nancy Drew game in the first place. The writing does a masterful job at hinting at horrors that, given the rating, they can’t say out loud, while still telling a fully cohesive story that even the young players will be able to grab at and understand (if not to quite the same extent)

The Suspects:

The game begins with Lukas Mittelmeier, so perhaps we should too. Lukas is the rather precocious son of the head of security of Castle Finster, as well as being Anja’s nephew. Bright, mischievous, and a huge fan of games and pranks, Lukas makes the castle a little more interesting — as well as making Karl’s life a bit more hellish.

Unlike another youth living in a castle (coughJanecough), Lukas is bright enough to be a competent culprit…he just isn’t malicious enough. Sure, he’ll play dress-up, spook Karl a bit, and stall Nancy outside the gates of the castle, but that’s really as far as he goes. He would have been an especially poor culprit, thematically speaking, and so it’s a good thing that the game never really attempts to lead you there. Even his dressing up as the monster is more meant to lull the player (and Nancy) into letting down their guard so that the real monster is a bit scarier.

Next up is the Bürgermeister and bad-luck-magnet himself, Karl Weschler. Having encountered his doppelganger as a small child, Karl has expected — and received — bad luck for the rest of his life, and lives in fear of being the cause of unhappiness to those around him. He’s also a board game enthusiast, having developed the (incredibly fun, it should be noted) board game Raid! and enlists Nancy to help him polish it while she solves the “huge monster problem” that Markus hired her for.

As a culprit, Karl would have been interesting, but thematically a little off. It would have had to be a situation where enough bad things happened around him at the castle to make him want to shift the blame, dressing up as the monster in order to throw the punishment off of himself and onto a nebulous force. An interesting plot to be sure, but not one that fits the more sinister nature of the game.

Our charming castellan and cunning culprit, Anja Mittelmeier is next on the docket. Incredibly good at her job, polished, polite, and fiendishly dedicated, Anja keeps the castle in good running order, gives Nancy advice, and is a doting aunt — all while secretly sabotaging Markus by acting as the monster.

I have a lot to say about how good a character Anja is — which I’ll cover more in the next section — but she’s also the perfect villain. All the information you need to figure out who she is happens to be presented to Nancy pretty quickly, but none of it is in the proper context to make it obvious. Even her line — “there’s nothing like love to bring order to a scattered world” — is sweet and romantic at the time, and rather chilling and menacing when you have the whole context of exactly what Anja is doing to ‘bring order to a scattered world’.

It seems only fitting that after Anja should come Markus Boehm, the owner of the castle and the ex-boyfriend that Anja is working for revenge against. Markus is snappish, short-tempered, obnoxious about his money, and rather boorish — though he has some of the funniest lines in any Nancy Drew game — and is guilty of a lot, though not of haunting his own castle.

Casting Markus as the villain would have made this game an entirely different faerietale, one that would have necessitated Anja becoming The Girl in the Dress rather than Nancy. It might have been a more stereotypical Nancy Drew story, but it also would have been weaker – after all, a lot of the horror in this faerietale comes from the curse having its eyes firmly on Nancy, rather than on her watching it unfold.

Finally, our most divisive character is probably Renate Stoller, a cake-loving storyteller bound to Castle Finster by a mixture of fate and history. Personally speaking, I’m a total fan of Renate; she has a lot of freedom to liken the situation to stories and to spell out the fact that all stories are ambiguous without being morally relativist or faux-deep.

As a villain, Renate would have been interesting — set to haunt the castle that has haunted her for so long and caused her pain — but it would have removed the Storyteller archetype from the game, causing the player (and Nancy) to doubt everything she’s said, which would have been a shame.

The Favorite:

There’s a lot to love in CAP, both big and small, so I’ll try to tackle this section with some sort of organization, rather than just gushing from point to random point.

My favorite moment in the game is (in a stunning change from 90% of Nancy Drew Games) tied between the beginning and the final confrontation. The old-time film style beginning (a great example of a “cold open” of a type of horror totally distinct from SAW’s brand of horror) through Nancy’s first discussion with Karl is tightly paced and incredibly well done, introducing our main problems, a few characters, and how Nancy is stepping into this faerietale that’s been all but prepared for her. Special shout out to Karl’s “huge monster problem” dialogue, and Lukas’ getting caught at the castle’s gates — just some really great, distinct character writing that we normally don’t get this soon into a game.

The confrontation, which is normally somewhat cheesy, sometimes awful, and nearly always ill-supported (HAU being the best/worst example of this) in a Nancy Drew game, here instead shows off Nancy’s quick thinking and almost triumphant, smug nature when she figures it all out and traps the villain. The games coming up, as I’ve mentioned above, I refer to as “the Nancy games”, as they give us a lot of insight into who Nancy Drew actually is, aside from an amateur/burgeoning professional detective, but SAW and (to a larger extent) CAP really start giving us peeks at Nancy’s character — not as an infallible main character, but as a girl with an actual personality.

My favorite puzzle in the game — and I realize that it barely counts — is quite honestly Raid. Normally, the games that HER comes up with as minigames within their games are lackluster at best and criminally annoying at worst, but Raid (along with the games in ASH which are particularly enjoyable) is fabulous; it gives us more of that faerietale vibe that the game runs on, brings in Germany’s well-deserved reputation of being the King of Board Games, and actually contains a few moments of good characterization for Karl as well.

And I’m a sucker for getting to create your own card for the game. That’s just stupid cool.

One of the things that CAP does particularly well is its characters, so let’s talk a bit about them here.

Renate, a common favorite, mostly lives up to her hype, due to her storyteller’s dialogue, status as a Sage (slightly different from the usual Sage in a Nancy Drew game, due to her backstory), and intense relatability with falling asleep after eating cake.

Lukas is one of the few child characters in the ND games that actually feels like a child, so he gets points there automatically, even without noting how charming he is. Having Nancy talk to him under the table is also gold, even with the sense that she’s just humoring him, and having him dress up as a monster in a fake out that fools nobody (and even better, is not meant from a writing standpoint to fool anyone) feels perfectly in character for a relatively unsupervised rapscallion like Lukas.

Last on the favorite character list is Anja, a character done To Perfection. It breaks my heart sometimes that she’s the villain, but her character also wouldn’t be complete without being the villain — nor would I love her so much. Anja is patient, loving, a great aunt, friendly, gregarious — and a villain. Her line when she’s talking to Nancy about how she was honest and worked hard every day, and no one cared hits me every time. Anja’s a perfect example of a character who is intensely sympathetic and quite relatable without ever having the thought that her scheme involving Nancy was even a little bit okay. She’s a villain that I’d love to have come back, whether as a villain again or as a begrudging helper.

Finally, let’s get down to the miscellany.

The dialogue in CAP is pitch-perfect, from the distinct way of talking that each suspect has, to Markus’ insults, to the one-off phone call with the pamphlet company. The game in part is so fun because the dialogue is so fun, walking the line between faerietale-style narration (Anja, Renate) and almost Buffy-speak modernity (Karl, Lukas, Markus).

The last thing I want to touch on it — yes, you knew it was coming — the fight between Ned and Nancy. Yes, I’m a Francy shipper, and I do love that Frank is the one Nancy turns to for help with the fight, but that’s not what this part is about.

First off, I love that problems that would /necessarily/ come up in a relationship like Ned and Nancy’s are brought up here; Nancy’s constant jet-setting, while a common side effect of the job she does, is also something that would cause tension — especially considering that Nancy doesn’t really tell him when she sets off for another state/country at a moment’s notice.

A thing that has become Increasingly obvious over the entire series is that Nancy is, let’s face it, not gonna win any awards for Girlfriend of the Year, and in fact might win the opposite award. Ned is constantly giving her attention, validation, helping out when she calls him, and is understanding when she cancels; for her to not give the same amount of care to him (in different ways, as everyone needs different things, of course) becomes more and more glaring as time goes on.

My firm stance on being a bit anti-Nedcy comes from the belief that Ned deserves to get as much out of a relationship as he puts in, and Nancy, as the person she is and even as the best person that she can be, just can’t provide that. Their needs as people are just too different for a relationship to be fair for either person – and, as this game demonstrates, though Ned has the shorter end of the stick, it’s not fair for either one of them.

The Un-Favorite:

There’s not a lot that goes into this section, to be perfectly honest.

The forest is probably my least favorite section of the game — the part that I consider before starting a new game over — but besides tweaking it slightly to help navigation not be quite so frustrating (see below), even the forest is a pretty good puzzle.

The bag puzzle — especially if you, like me, forget every time that you can rotate the objects in Renate’s purse — is the only other annoyance in the game, and ranks as my least favorite puzzle over the forest simply for the fact that you can use a walkthrough to navigate the forest, while you can’t use a walkthrough to do the bag puzzle for you.

Other than that, CAP is just a wholly solid game — no least favorite dialogue, no awkward moment, no point where I turn down my brightness to make it seem like This Isn’t Happening.

The Fix:

So how would I fix The Captive Curse?

Honestly, the first and only change I would make is to fix the forest just slightly. I get that it’s a puzzle, but it’s not quite visually distinct enough to make it feasible for a lot of players to learn how to navigate. To fix this, I wouldn’t take out the forest, I would just make each piece of it a little more visually distinct, with more markers so that players couldn’t lose their place as easily.

There’s nothing other than that worth fixing. Even my dislike of the bag puzzle isn’t strong enough to suggest scrapping it, and it’s a type of puzzle that many people like and are quite good at — not to mention the fact that it’s not at all gamebreaking in its difficulty.

The Captive Curse is often sort of a “top middle” or just “middle” ranking for a lot of players due to the fact that it’s not quite as showy as a lot of “favorite” games, and thus can get lost in the fandom shuffle. But looking at it as both pieces and as a whole proves that this game is one of the most solid in the series sporting a great mystery, fantastic characters, and more than a little faerietale wisdom to carry to the next story.

#nancy drew #nancy drew games #clue crew #CAP #the captive curse #nancy drew meta #my meta #video games #long post

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sakuric · 3 years

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metanoia; a choice to be made.

masterlist | next

wc; 991

summary; with the topic of their wedding being talked about within the walls of the castle, y/n finds themself falling deeper and deeper involved with a non-royalty. the king and queen already started planning a wedding on their birthday. it boiled y/n's blood to think of forcing someone to fall in love. (this was a bad summary of the chapter uhh)

pairing; tsukishima kei x reader

the castle halls echoed with much sound from the maids and other residents blabbering. the reason why was still unknown, to y/n atleast. they quickly strutted down the long castle halls to the main hall where the queen and king were discussing an important matter. their child hadn't found love yet.

ah yes, the all-well-known tale of the curse of love, where if an individual does not marry until the age of eighteen, they're cursed until the end of their days with the 'witch queen of heartbreak.' y/n had heard that story a while ago, back when their age was just a number, and not a matter of love or curse.

"mother, father," y/n bowed. "why is there a fuss being made in the halls?" y/n's voice as stern as ever, their posture as straight as can be. the whole town would be lying if they said they hadn't fallen in love with the young royalty. y/n's mailbox has been flooded with love letters, and some have even sent dove's to y/n's bedroom window as a sign of their never-ending love.

y/n denied those offers of course. in the town they live in, there wasn't a particular someone who caught their eye, other than the young, blonde knight who stood at their bedroom door. his face was always serious, and his deep, golden eyes put y/n in a trance every time they locked.

"well," the queen started, "your birthday is in two weeks, everyone is wondering whether you have found a partner or not. you know what happens if you don't marry until eighteen." the mother's voice was pierced with the strongest of rushes. both her and the king wanted their only child to marry happily. and since their child is nearly eighteen, the worry was even higher.

"well, your highness, i have already given my insight about this marriage... fuss." y/n's placed their arms on their hips. "i do not wish to marry."

"that means we'll have to find a partner for you."

y/n hadn't thought about that. the parents, specifically royal parents, choose their childrens partner if they cannot choose themselves. which was totally unfair to y/n. you can't force someone to fall in love. it all comes on it's own. y/n's blood was boiling and in no time they were stomping down the hall back to their bedroom. the queen and king scoffed, disappointed at their child's behaviour.

"did anyone come to see me?" y/n asked the blonde guard. "no." he mumbled. it wasn't allowed for the knights/guards to hold any conversation with the royalty, other than the necessary topics. y/n sighed, eyeing the blonde guard up and down, and seeing his posture not twitch a bit.

"don't you get hungry?"

"no."

"you must be really skinny..."

"no."

"here," y/n quickly ran into their room to grab something. they came back with a biscuit and a small cup of tea. "have this."

the guard's gaze looked down at y/n and then at what they were holding. the offer was really tempting, and considering it was the royal child of the kind and queen, it was really flattering. but as the duty of guards, you mustn't take anything from the royals.

"your highness, i do not wish to be rude, but i deny your offer. i apologise." the guard spoke in monotone, restoring his vision back towards the wall infront of him.

"ugh," the royal spoke, as they took a bite of the biscuit. "you're no fun, mr.guard."

with that, the young royal stepped into their room, leaving the guard blushing.

the evening chased the sun away as y/n contemplated about their life. was it already planned since the day they were born? apparently the royal family had a meeting at the moment, to which y/n was late.

"that was very disrespectful, especially for a royal like you," the queen mumbled to y/n, behind a napkin. y/n just rolled their eyes and asked;

"so? why are we holding a meeting? did anything urgent happen?"

"we are discussing your wedding."

"my what?"

"your wedding." the king spoke before fixing his cloak. y/n's eyes scanned the room, looking for an escape. the guard was there too, as the king ordered him to always follow y/n, in case they decided to do something insane.

"how many times do i have to tell you," y/n sighed, massaging their temples. "i am not getting married."

"well you have to!" the queen couldn't keep her posture anymore as she raised her voice. "i don't want to hear any denial from you. you're getting married in two weeks and we already chose who it'll be."

y/n furiously stood up, throwing their napkin on the table before stomping away. the guard didn't know what to do so he followed y/n. they ended up in the royal garden.

"your highness, may i assist with anything?"

"no, you can go back to my room and guard the door or whatever..." y/n sighed, resting their chin on the palm of their posed up hand. the guard didn't do as told, which was unusual, but he knew that y/n wasn't in the right mindset to be alone. the guard sat down beside y/n.

"i said go."

"no."

"back with the one word answers," y/n laughed. "what's your name?"

"tsukishima kei."

"mm," y/n hummed, asserting their gaze back at the garden.

a while after, they spoke;

"well, tsukishima. we should get going. it'd be a shame if someone saw you, a guard, talking to royalty."

those words weren't meant to come out as mean as they did, but the guard showed no emotion even if it hurt him deeply. the forbidden love wasn't meant to bloom, not for them at-least.

the guard assisted y/n back to their room.

"goodnight, tsukishima."

"goodnight, your highness."

taglist; @yeonayona @seijohlogy @elixhirs @mel-goes-unknown

(decided to add people who rb to the taglist too)

#tsukishima kei x reader #tsukishima kei #metanoia.tk #tsukishima au #tsukishima x reader #tsukishima x gn!reader

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o-wyrmlight · 2 years

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2,8,9 and 20 for the Fic writing asks

2. Who is the easiest character for you to write?

Currently, the easiest character for me to write is Dark Cacao. Something about an emotionally constipated dad trying his best in spite of having a rough upbringing is just... *chefs kiss* Delectable to me at the moment. Madeleine's fun, too, though! He's neat.

8. What is a scene that you are most proud of?

This one's going to get long, so I'm going to add in a Read More.

From The Doors Are Closed:

Even in the half-light, the moon smiles down on him like it did before, like it did many times before. If it weren’t for the fact that it’s the moon and the moon is not a giant eye in the sky, and it isn’t a cookie or any living creature in this world or any other, he might be tempted to say it’s mocking him.

The moon smiles down upon him, half-full and poetically, tragically in parallel, and he wishes he were truly frozen and bitter-cold.

The moon’s cold warmth comes down to him in a silvery light, the gentle wind of his icy kingdom prickling at his face. It feels like it’s reaching out to press a hand against his cheek, a peculiarly warm and gentle sensation crossing over his cheek and making his body seize with some unexplored and unexplainable emotion.

It’s a shadow, trailing a claw down his cheek. That is all.

It hits the back of his hand with a wet shock.

Dark Cacao blinks, once, twice, tearing his gaze away from the moon and lifting his hand up to examine it. Something wet has struck his hand, warm just moments before, but already cooling. Confused, he lifts his gaze up towards the top of the window, leaning out just a little to see if something fell from above, and--

The claw turns along with the slope of his face, prickling and following the fall of gravity.

...No.

He leans back from the window, lifting his hand and pressing his fingers against the prickling sensation, warm but swiftly growing cold. It feels wet--he feels it smudge against his fingertips, the side of his hand, feels it on both sides as the world begins to blur and he chokes.

He’s crying.

Dark Cacao is crying.

A horribly bitter laugh morphs into a strangled sob, muffled by the clenching of his jaw and the palm of his hand. He closes his throat and swallows, his other hand fumbling to close the opening of the window before drawing the curtains, leaving him to turn abruptly on his feet and stumble half-blind back to his bed. His shoulders are rising and falling, his chest shaking with a desperate attempt to breathe, and his chest burns with the cursed reminder of just whose fault this is.

9. Is there one character you refuse to write? Why?

I'm not sure if there's a character that I necessarily refuse to write? It's more like... sometimes my writing urges just don't tend to mesh very well with certain characters for one reason or another. I'm not good at writing fluff, so cutesy characters would probably be rather strange to me, I guess. Fluff is just a bit awkward for me to write. Why write fluff when you can write angst? /hj

20. What story that you've written makes you happiest to re-read?

I do tend to re-read my stories, though it's largely due to, you know... them being my stories. That said, re-reading them over and over again sort of gets tiring, like listening to the same song over and over until you get sort of sick of it.

If I had to pick one that makes me the happiest to re-read, though...? ...That's a tough call. In terms of 'happiest', The Enigma of Conditional Immortality is definitely the happiest. You gotta love two old, gay married men hamming it up. The Doors Are Closed was incredibly fun for me to write, and I'm still proud that multiple people have said it actually made them cry. I really like the tail end of When The Whales Fall, though, after Madeleine and Dark Choco split ways.

There's just... so many. I just... I like my work. My work makes me happy. :)

#many thanks for the asks!!! sorry it took so long to get to them--i was at work orz #answered

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wallyaxiom · 3 years

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𝚆𝙰𝙻𝚃𝙼𝙴𝙼𝙴: 𝙵𝙰𝚅𝙾𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙴 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚂𝙾𝙼𝙴𝙾𝙽𝙴 𝙴𝙻𝚂𝙴 𝙿𝙻𝙰𝚈𝚂

hey besties it’s me coming to do the waltmeme thing. I couldn’t just pick one character to call my favorite. it also felt unfair to do that as well when there’s so many amazing characters here. so grab a snack, put on your favorite tangled song in my honor and buckle up as i go through the list of my fave characters here at walt each person plays. present gen only. sorry to my next gen faves. maybe one day i’ll write a list for you. or not. i’ll keep you on your toes.

𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕣𝕒 𝕛𝕒𝕘𝕖𝕣

cassandra is a character i love so much. tangled is a movie that means everything to me. kiara is the person who understands my tangled feels. the way you play cassandra...like how you said i have a grasp on reagan, you have such a perfect grasp on who cassandra is as a character. her voice is so clear. you understand who the character is and have transformed her into something more than what was given in the bio i wrote and also in the show that’s used for inspo. she’s a spectacular character and i love her so much. it’s an honor to be one half of elssandra but also cassunzel. she’s such an amazing character. you should be so proud of what you’ve brought to life, kiara.

𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕞𝕔𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕖𝕟

listen i told you every day how much i love monty. i literally scream it to you in your living room sometimes. i’ve seen every iteration of monty but i think this one is my favorite. i didn’t even know lightning’s real name was montgomery that was all you. so much of yourself is in monty. it reminds me of myself with wally and i think that’s the biggest reason why i love monty is because he’s bits and pieces of you and i love you very much. as much as i love cocky era lightning i love dad lightning even more. i wish i had a dad like him i’m not gonna lie but we’re not gonna unpack that on the man lmfao. i’m glad i’m more enveloped in his story now because he’s such a good character dude. like such a good written and played character. he’s second in my heart to sulley but is inching closer to number one by the day.

𝕗𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕠 𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕝𝕚

fran !!! my bestie !!! my fave !!! i would die for them !!! like bee, i love talking to you about fran and all the tomfoolery they get into. you’ve played them for so long and each time you transform them into something better than the last. they age like a fine wine. in the past almost two years i’ve been able to be part of their story more & i’m so happy for that opportunity. you’ve put so much love, care and devotion into fran. you’ve added so much to their story. like they’re so fleshed out, how does your beautiful brain come up with all this backstory ??? lemme know i need some of those brain cells. they’re amazing. you’re amazing. i want fran to buy me and island and make me pasta but i’ll just them do that for caspian the favorite child.

𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕓𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕨

hands down i had to put orion my future father in law. i’ve had the honor of watching you develop orion into something incredible over these past six years. ( holy cow !!! six ??? insane. ily ). he was a big bad, misunderstood boy and you’ve humanized orion. you’ve brought life into him and created such a beautifully crafted character. he has a heart now. perhaps a tiny one but it’s there. the backstory you’ve created for him and the future he has - all stunning and wonderful. i love this man. he deserves so much after the shit he’s been through. i’ve had the privilege of being in his orbit for a bit when i played logan. I still get to watch him and enjoy the light chaos he brings. i’m ready for the new era of casino owner orion and what trouble he’ll bring now.

𝕤𝕙𝕒𝕘𝕘𝕪 𝕣𝕠𝕘𝕖𝕣𝕤

the boy !!! the legend !!! i love shaggy so much. first of all, the future you planned for him. how dare you ?? do you like to see me cry ?? is that it ??? i’m glad he hit his happy arc now because WOW. pain. shaggy is just a nice guy, man. he’s so nice to everyone he meets. i want to be friends with shaggy and scoob. i love mystery inc. i can’t imagine anyone else playing shaggy but you. to me, you are him. he’s the heart of the group. it’s not mystery inc without him. therefore, you’re the heart also. it’s not the same without you.

𝕤𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕖 𝕥𝕖𝕒𝕘𝕦𝕖

i could easily write an essay about how i love all your characters and how you play them all so well but i had to give this spot to sadie. the teagues are my og loves. every time i see sadie the part of my brain where logan resides lights up. she’s such a good character. she’s a little devil and it’s exactly what we need. we need someone to stir up the pot and throw eggs at kids. sadie is a product of her environment. she’s so tough and had to be so young. no one her age should have to grow up so fast the way she did. i would like to wrap sadie in a blanket give her some coco with bat marshmallows and tell her to take a break. hug her. maybe give her some therapy to. i love her. you’ve brought her to life in such an amazing way. i hope her brothers join her soon so we can have that sibling goodness.

𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕒 𝕠𝕞𝕚𝕥𝕒

i was tempted to put ian here because ian lightfoot is joel and we already know how much i love al and wendy but i decided to show the og love so i put nala. from the get go you knew who nala was going to be and where you wanted to go with her. you always bring so much to your characters. you develop them in ways that amazes me each time. go bestie go you’re so talented. i love how devoted she. how fierce she is but also the vulnerability you bring to her. she was thrown into a world at a young age fighting a war she wasn’t meant to and THAT’S a lot on someone. and we see that. i love the way you play her and i’m so happy you decided to take her up. sorry you have to deal with simba tho. pour one out.

𝕘𝕖𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕩𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕙

everyone and their grandmother knows the oliver and co cast means everything to me. i’m so glad that you decided to join them ! you’re a wonderful addition. i love miss george. she’s fabulous in every sense of the word. sharpay evans is shaking in her lil boots. i just love divas. i love them. i am one. she’s perfect. and we know that’s not easy for her. i know your beautiful mind works wonders so i know there’s a lot of growing that georgette will be going through in the future and i’m excited for it. prayer circle for a jenny and oliver.

𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕓𝕚𝕟𝕩

when you auditioned for thackery you already had an idea of where you wanted to take him and how you wanted to add to his character while staying true to the bio. that is the kind of stuff i like to see. this man has seen some shit and also has been through some shit. i do hope one day his soul can be at ease. he needs a long cat nap. you care a lot for thackery and it’s lovely to see. he may be a hamilton hoe but we have to respect the drip & love him for it anyways.

𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕪 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕣

timmy boy deserves a hug. a hug and a nice space movie to take the edge off. you always put so much of your heart and yourself into your characters. you care so much for them and that’s evident in buzz. he’s goofy, he’s cool and he’s just so wonderful. i’m excited to see where buzz will go from here and how he’ll develop over time. i’m hoping some happiness. maybe some resolution with woodrow just to spice things up. that metal arm is still cool too.

𝕕𝕒𝕡𝕙𝕟𝕖 𝕓𝕝𝕒𝕜𝕖

hey bestie !!! wow !!! daphne ??? gives me so much pain. I am so glad to be going on this angst journey of mystery inc and fred/daph with you. your love for her and the gang makes my heart so happy. i will happily spend hours talking about them and sending tiktoks to each other that remind us of them. you went beyond the assignment. you were just born to play daphne. you write her so well and understand her past the bio, past the inspirations of the live actions and mystery inc. you get her. you see her. she’s in good hands. i’m ready for all the pain she’s about to cause me.

𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕡𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕖

i love penelope. i really do. i am penelope’s number one stan. it was discussed before but it’s so easy to play miss piggy as unlikeable since she is such a brash character but you bring so much light and love to penny. it’s hard not to be in love with her and want her to succeed in everything she does. she’s the miss piggy we all grew up with but she’s also special because you’ve added your own personal touches to her. she’s an amazing character. i would punch anyone who’s wronged penelope. i’m excited for the layers to start peeling back and we see more of penny - especially her badass ways. i just love the way you play her and i love penelope hainline okay. i lovoe divas as stated above what can i say.

𝕒𝕦𝕣𝕠𝕣𝕒 𝕔𝕒𝕡𝕦𝕝𝕖𝕥

ANNIE !!!! WOW AURORA ??? genuinely she is the love of my life. I love her so, so much. she’s so sweet and wonderful and deserve to be tucked in ??? read a bed time story ??? and not be cursed ??? why’d i do that. she deserves the world and so do you. in the short amount of time you’ve had her you’ve added so much depth to her story. which is not always easy the first few months you have a character but you’ve put in a lot of love into aurora already. you understood the assignment and & went beyond. i’m so excited to see where she goes on her journey and what will happen when he hopefully get a maleficent one day. also is it an aurora shoutout without me saying philip loves her ??? bc he does.

#waltmeme #me: already has two mascots why not throw in a third ???#take a shot everytime i say wonderful amazing andexcited

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ethelphantom · 4 years

Text

car windows with pretty girls

I don’t even ship Dickinette how did this happen?

Actually, no, don’t answer that. It’s because I found a prompt that I thought fit Dickinette. That’s how. (It’s not like I dislike the ship, it’s just not my cup of tea. If I disliked it, I would not have written this thing ever regardless of how fitting the prompt may have been. Also, Mari and Dick get a happy ending even if some people don’t so you don’t need to worry about me killing off either of them. You’re safe from that this once.)

Ao3

This is Maribat and Dickinette -- Don’t like; Don’t read.

_______

It was boring being hyperactive and then needing to wait in the car with no estimations of how long he would need to be there.

So, clearly, the obvious thing to do — if he had to stay in the damned car anyway — was to people-watch.

Now, people-watching was definitely more Timmers’ or Jay’s thing, both scarily accurate with their knowledge and understanding of people, albeit they’d learnt to do so for very different reasons. Tim’s parents had insisted that you needed to know how to read people to find their weaknesses to be able to keep them below you. Even if that wasn’t what Tim used his skills for, it was the reason behind it. Jason, for his part, had learnt because otherwise your odds of surviving in the Crime Alley were extremely, alarmingly low. He too had kept it up.

It was fun, mostly. Dick wasn’t the greatest detective in the family — that would be Tim or Bruce —, or the one who could read others as easily and fast as Jason read books — that would be Tim and Jason —, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know how to do all of that well anyway.

So, obviously, when a bunch of young adults near him got into an argument and one girl spilled all of her drink on another, he noticed immediately how said girl was definitely lying about whatever she was saying. She kept covering her mouth, trying to groom herself even though there was nothing amiss in her appearance, and it seemed that they took a little too long to answer to the other girl a lot of the time. If it was apologising, well, Dick was tempted to go take care of the situation and then take the drenched girl to clean up.

Unfortunately, they all left and while his eyes kept following the group, he also lost sight of the victim. Damnit. He wouldn’t be able to help her in any way now.

Not that knowing where she was would have helped much anymore soon as someone blocked his sight by standing in front of the window. Dick sighed and settled back down on his seat, contemplating taking out his phone and just trying to call someone because he needed stimulation. Why was he left alone here waiting again?

It took him another ten seconds before he realised that the person in front of the window was trying to check their appearance and was at the moment trying to get their hair in order. Dick watched them for a bit before recognising them — if only for the absolutely lovely, soaked, light blue denim dress and the black fitted leather coat she was wearing — because this was the girl who got a drink thrown on her.

Now that he had a better look at her, he decided she was not only beautiful, but also gorgeous. Her black hair was a little below her shoulders, and god, she had the most beautiful blue eyes — and that was saying something, because basically all of his siblings had blue eyes, he had blue eyes, and heavens knew he thought his were the best.

She didn’t even seem to realise he was there. Oh well, if she wasn’t going to take long anymore, he supposed it didn’t matter if he looked at her a bit longer, but if this was going to continue more, Dick would feel like a creep and have to tell her to find another place because he didn’t want to violate her privacy more than was absolutely necessary.

But then. Then he saw the tear streaks on her face and he decided that he needed to do something. Even if only to comfort the girl.

He rolled the window down and laughed a little as the girl looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Hello miss, I couldn’t help but notice you checking how you looked like without realising I was here, and I thought I’d tell you that you no matter how you see yourself from the car window — I doubt it’s that good of a mirror, honestly —, you’re really pretty.” That raised blush on the girl’s cheeks and it looked like she was about to apologise, so Dick continued speaking. He didn’t want her to apologise because it’s not like she did anything wrong. “Can I help you with anything? I noticed the confrontation earlier and it didn’t look too good.”

The girl sighed before snapping her gaze back to Dick, eyes wide. “Are you actually offering to listen to me?” Huh. She had a strong French accent, but her English was otherwise wonderful. Dick wondered how many languages she spoke. Then he paid attention to her words again and…

Why was that such a surprise?

It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise.

Had anyone offered to listen to her in years?

“Yeah. You want to go to that coffee shop on the other side of the street or just stand there? I would offer for you to come into the car but I feel like that’s really creepy and uncomfortable so we’re not doing that. Your pick. Coffee shop or the street? Both are safe and public places.”

The girl straightened her hat and bit her lip. “Coffee would be nice, but I don’t think I have any money with me anymore.”

“Anymore?”

“A long story.”

“I have time to listen. And as to what comes to the money, I’ll pay. Not expecting you to pay anything back.”

“Alright. Coffee shop it is.”

Dick opened the car door and stepped out, only now realising how short the girl was compared to him. God. He offered a hand to her, bowing slightly with a grin on his face, and finally he got her to chuckle. A hint of genuine happiness. That was good. One step forwards and all that.

“Shall we go, M’Lady?”

The girl stiffened.

Actually, no, it was more like she froze. She looked scared and uncomfortable all of a sudden, and Dick silently cursed himself.

“I’m sorry, did I say something wrong? No, scratch that, which of my actions made you uncomfortable? I need to know so I can stop doing it.”

“The’M’Lady part,” she whispered, biting her lip. “Just, this guy used to harass me and call me that.”

Shit.

“I’m so sorry, miss. I won’t do it again. Is there any other nickname you would be comfortable with — I tend to use a lot of nicknames for people —, or would you be more comfortable if I stuck with your name once you gave it to me?”

“Marinette. My name’s Marinette. As long as the nickname doesn’t sound like a pet name, I think I’ll be fine.”

“So, is Mari okay? Or Teacup? You’re so small that Teacup sounds right, but of course I won’t use that if it’s not okay with you.”

“Teacup… I think Teacup is fine.”

And then there was that stupid, wonderful, adorable smile that was now on her face again and Dick definitely loved it. He was pretty sure that if he got a chance to keep spending time with Marinette, he would probably start liking her more than was appropriate but that was not what he wanted to focus on now. Right now, it was making sure she got happier.

“Do you need a towel? I think we have some in the car, I could fetch you one,” he said, smiling at Mari.

“It… I think that could be nice, but you don’t need to do it. I don’t want to be a bother.”

“I insist. You aren’t bothering me at all, I’d love to be able to help.”

“Thank you.” Then she stopped and looked like she needed to add something to it. Surely, a few seconds later she continued, “For just about everything.”

Dick just laughed and winked before he went to get the towel from the backseats. Then he gave the towel to Mari, keeping the smile on his face to try to reassure her everything would be fine, and that she wasn’t a bother.

While she was drying herself, Dick pulled out his phone and texted Babs that everything was fine, he hadn’t been kidnapped or anything, but that there had been this girl that needed some company and he was taking her to the coffee shop nearby. Soon enough, he got a message back saying that she was taking over the car and would drive herself back, that she wasn’t going to wait for his slow ass to come back. Then, a few seconds later, he received another message from her, telling him to not scare this one away if she was of age and to make sure that if she was smart and didn’t want Dick, she wanted to be introduced to her.

Dick laughed. Yeah, no, this one wouldn’t become hers, not if he could help it.

“Who was that?” Marinette asked as she handed the towel back to him. “Sorry, that wasn’t polite to ask.”

“Don’t worry about it, Teacup,” he grinned. She smiled, hopefully at the nickname. That was great. Dick accepted the towel and threw it back into the car. Babs wouldn’t be happy about it but she just had to deal. “It was my friend, the one I was with here. Told her she can go back on her own, though she’ll probably call one of my brothers to drive her,” he told her, closing the car and then checking if it locked. It did. Babs would survive, she should have the keys as well, and even if she didn’t, she could very well hack the car open with her phone.

She’d done it before, too.

“I’m sorry I interrupted your… date?”

“Nah, I’m not dating her. She wanted to go somewhere and just left me in the car, it’s fine. Besides, it was me that offered to take you to the coffee shop, wasn’t it?” Mari nodded. “Then it’s not your fault and you don’t need to apologise.”

Dick made sure she was ready to go before turning to the coffee shop and walking there with Mari. He tried to cheer her up by telling dumb stories of his family (like especially the time when Jason stole Tim’s room, rather literally. They’d found everything from the roof three days later. In turn, Tim had tampered with Jason’s sprinklers in his apartment, so they were extra sensitive, and the second he started smoking inside the apartment, they went off and there was water everywhere), and sometimes he even made her laugh. Once they got inside, she was a little more comfortable with him and with a little prompting and helping questions, she started telling him what had happened with the others.

Apparently, one of them was a pathological liar, and she had said something about sleeping with the CEO of the Wayne Enterprises, in a rather slandering way, and Mari had called her out on it. When Dick asked her how she’d guessed it was a lie (to which Mari had shot back how he knew it was a lie either and Dick had been forced to tell he knew the CEO, though he didn’t mention they were family just in case), and she told him it was less about knowing it was a lie and more calculating the likeliness of it being true. One, it was unlikely because the CEO was way younger than any of them, and two, as the person had been lying about nearly everything for years, so the most probable situation was that she was lying again.

“Usually I just leave her alone with her lies because none of them believe me and she managed to ruin my life once already. I don’t need her to do it again,” Mari huffed, sipping at her second coffee. Dick wasn’t completely sure how she managed to drink coffee like that, it was stronger than Tim’s when he went to a coffee shop, yet she drank it without a blink like she was drinking water.

“Ruined your life? As in…?”

“She got into one of my favourite fashion designer’s good graces, managed to convince him to completely blacklist me from any and all possible fashion companies and because of that even the one fashion designer that still liked me — Audrey Bourgeois — couldn’t hire me either. It would have been bad marketing. She also succeeded in her threat of taking away all my friends, and now all of them enjoy spreading false rumours about me behind my back so I can hardly get any new friends. I do get my living by selling my designs behind a name no one can link me to, but it’s not something I enjoy. What you saw wasn’t that big even. I’ve had worse happen to me because of them.”

“Then why did you defend the CEO everyone would lie about behind his back and to the newspapers and gossip magazines anyway? You don’t even know him, right?”

“No, but he’s so young, not even an adult yet. He doesn’t deserve it. It’s not like I could just watch it happen and do nothing! It’s not his fault Lila is a pathological liar with no consideration of how it affects others. This is the same girl that convinced our classmates Jagged Stone had written a song about her when she was still 14, which is bad because her parents hadn’t consented to it and Jagged is a middle-aged man.”

Mari sighed and set her cup aside before burying her face in her hands. “I’m just so tired of all this because I can hardly do anything about the situation and I hate it.”

Dick watched her silently. It was clear she was strong, stronger than most people he knew (and he knew a lot of people, most of them superheroes or vigilantes), and Dick respected it. She deserved a break. He knew he could do something about it because this Lila had lied about his little brother and the Wayne family definitely had all the resources it needed to bring the young woman down, but that wouldn’t help Mari. The blacklisting thing would stay for a long time, and that he couldn’t change. Not if he didn’t get someone even more powerful vouching for her anyway… Unless.

“Do you mind if I make a call? I’ll be right back. Feel free to order a third cup of coffee, I’m still paying. The barista with the red hair knows me, so he should be fine with it. Just tell him that Dick is paying and he can call Dick for all he wants if he doesn’t believe you, but that Dick’s coming back soon anyway. If he still doesn’t believe you, remind him that he’s literally one of the fastest people on earth and could probably catch you in two seconds flat,” he laughed, but for some reason the smirk that grew on her face at that made him a little suspicious.

She didn’t say anything about it though. “Oh, that’s fine, I’ll survive. I wasn’t thinking about running away anyway,” she said smiling, the smirk all but gone now, and if Dick hadn’t been absolutely certain he had seen it, he would’ve been doubting his eyes because how could this sweet girl smirk like… that. It reminded him of Jason’s smirk, or maybe the Red Hood’s smirk. It was rather disturbing.

But, Dick just shook it off and dialed Tim. It took a few rings before Tim answered, groaning out a frustrated “Yes? I’m in a meeting right now, dick.” Dick wasn’t sure whether to be shocked or impressed Tim had clearly used his name as an insult just now. God, he needed to stop hanging out with Jason.

“Well Timmers, I was wondering, do you have any fashion related projects at WE? Or any you could start? I have a… friend... who might need a job. She’s a fashion designer and apparently a pathological liar — who, by the way, lied about you and this friend of mine defended you — managed to get her blacklisted in the fashion world. It would be nice to keep her around. She showed me some of her sketches and finished clothing and I was allowed to take pictures of some she’s already finished and is selling so it wouldn’t matter as much to her if I had a picture of them.”

Tim sighed. “You could have just said you have a crush and need a job for said crush. Send the pictures over and I’ll decide then.”

“Way ahead of you, I did so like three seconds ago. Check your email, Timbo.”

“Cut it out. I’ll check them out and decide then if I—”

Tim went silent all of a sudden. After ten seconds, Dick decided he should check up on him. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes, I am but— Did you happen to ask for who she is? Like, her designer name?”

“No��? I can though. Wait a second. Mari! What’s your designer name?”

Mari looked at him with wide eyes and two empty cups of coffee more in front of her. “Uh, L’ange, why?”

“Just wondering. Go order another coffee if you need one. Or, well, you know what, order as many as you want as long as Wally isn’t going to have my head for letting you drink too much caffeine.”

Marinette laughed and got up to get herself more coffee, smiling victoriously at Wally standing behind the counter who sighed, shot an unimpressed look at Dick and started chatting with Mari. It was amazing how Dick could see Wally fasten his pace while they talked but Mari just kept up like it was the most normal thing ever.

“Alright, she says it’s L’ange. Why?”

“It matters because I recognised the designs and clothes easily. They’re my favourite designer’s and I needed to know if you’d found them! And if your girl there indeed is L’ange like she says, you just met my favourite designer and I’m so, so jealous. I want to meet her. If she is who she says she is, I am going to create a fashion project with her if we don’t already have one.”

Dick laughed at Tim’s serious tone. “Alright Timmy, I’ll tell her the news. Have fun at the meeting, don’t let Lucius rip you a new one. Also, stop spending so much time with Jason. It’s good you’re getting better along but your use of language is getting worse.”

“Haha, funny, dick.” And Tim hung up.

How annoying. Why did he love his little brothers again?

“Teacup, put the coffee away, I’ve got a job offer that could help with your dream of becoming a professional designer who could use her own name for you. You want to hear it or are you going to try and talk Wally into hiring you here? Because you do know you won’t be able to drink as much coffee while working, right?”

That got him a (rather friendly, playful and non-homicidal) glare from Mari before she stuck her tongue out at him. Dick snorted and took out his credit card to pay Wally. Judging by the amount of empty coffee cups at their table and at the counter, Mari had drank more than enough. It was a little worrying and surprising that she wasn’t vibrating with energy or climbing the curtains. No, she looked more like a completely normal, not over-energised human being.

God, how much did she drink caffeine on the daily?

“Sure. Shoot.”

“My brother is a CEO and after seeing your designs, he recognised you. You’re apparently his favourite designer, and he’s completely ready to either find a fashion project for you to work on — using your own designs, of course — or to create one from the scratch with you if there isn’t one in existence already. Knowing him, he’d definitely fully credit you for all you do, although the most likely case is he’s going to market it as a collaboration between the company and you. He wishes to meet you,” he explained and watched Mari’s face go from a frown to surprise to a bright smile with a hint of suspicion.

“Really? Though first, who is this brother..?”

“So. You know how I said I just know Timothy Drake-Wayne?”

“...Yes?”

“He’s my adoptive little brother.”

“Alright… I can meet up with him then. It would be nice to be able to really get my name out there.”

“Great! WE is so big that it’s likely we would be able to mostly erase the blacklisting while at it, and if you’re working with us, we could also discredit the liar so it could make your life easier. Obviously, we would need proof of her words, but—”

“There’s an entire blog full of them. There should be enough proof, and I don’t think I’d be surprised if she’d used your family before if you’re indeed of the Wayne family.”

“Well, that I can certainly prove by taking you to meet Timmy. Bye Wally, have fun working!”

Wally snorted and quickly waved before getting back to work. “I will, but I think you should be the one to remember not to have too much fun at work. We still up for the weekend?”

“Obviously.”

oOoOo

Three hours and twenty-seven minutes later, one Marinette Dupain-Cheng was hired by Timothy Drake-Wayne while Dick Grayson grinned outside Tim’s office at Marinette’s thumbs up.

Seventy-nine days later the collaboration of WE, Timothy Drake-Wayne, L’Ange and Marinette Dupain-Cheng had been created, presented, accepted and started, which was then celebrated by one Dick Grayson bringing a bottle of rose wine for himself and Marinette, and apple juice (that was then thrown at Dick) for Tim to celebrate the beginning of a beautiful partnership.

Six months and fourteen days after that, around the time they started advertising the collaboration for the first time, the issue with one Lila Rossi got significantly worse and they were forced to take legal action right then and there. The Ladyblog was found full of lies, of a lot of people the Wayne family knew, but of them and even more of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Three months and seventeen days later Marinette Dupain-Cheng stood in front of the court, testifying against Delilah Rossi, who was then found guilty for defamation of character of countless of people, of which some of them had led to life-ruining consequences. Delilah Rossi did not stand a chance. This also led to a thorough investigation of one Gabriel Agreste who was found guilty for terrorism, which also resulted in Delilah Rossi found guilty for assisting a terrorist. The known teen model Adrien Agreste who turned out to be the previous superhero Chat Noir was also accused of assisting a known terrorist. All three were sentenced, Delilah Rossi and Gabriel Agreste to a lifetime in prison, Adrien Agreste to three years in prison for being a minor accomplice as well as the continuous sexual harassment of Ladybug, who, after further investigation, revealed herself as the designer Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

A year, a month and three days later, L’Ange de la Gotham was released to the public. It became a massive success. Wayne Enterprises expected to do more collaborations with Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the chief designer and founder of MDC, previously known as L’Ange. One Dick Grayson was photographed proposing to the young designer, who then proceeded to scream yes and throw herself at her new fiancé.

Seven months and twenty-one days later MDC changes name to MDCG. A group of young French adults are arrested for trespassing on Dick Grayson and Marinette Dupain-Cheng-Grayson’s private property. These young adults are found to be Mrs. Dupain-Cheng-Grayson’s ex-classmates. They do not press charges for more than trespassing.

Two weeks later the Daily Planet has a new first page article written by newcomer Conner Kent: Marinette Dupain-Cheng-Grayson, a victim of defamation of character by terrorist Delilah Rossi finally opens up about getting attacked by her ex-classmates for years: “It hurt, but I could no longer care less. Justice and karma have been served to them, cold.” The article becomes a hit and the biggest success of the year, winning over even articles of alien attacks, superman, new superheroes and Alya Césaire's downfall.

Through all the years the youngest of the Flying Graysons holds the hand of the upcoming and successful Chinese-French designer MDCG, and neither plan to let go.

Because the other brings them strength.

____

All MariBat tags: @kris-pines04 @thethirdwheelfriend @daminett4life

Taglists open

#dick grayson #maribat #dickinette #marinette dupain cheng #dick x marinette #ml x dc #ml #dc #fanfic #fanfiction #ethel's writing

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