#it's because leadership doesn't think it should be fixed

[itsclydebitches]

Just finished Good Omens 2 and I'm honestly boggling at the Aziraphale hate because yes, his decision led to the angsty cliffhanger, but it makes SO much sense for his character. Not just in a "Religious brainwashing and sunk-cost fallacy" kinda way but also a "Aziraphale has no reason to believe this isn't the perfect solution" way. That scene among the nebula is crucial because it establishes that Crowley loved being an angel—reveled in his ability to create and allow his creations to grow kinda like plants—and the only problem was that someone else was calling the shots, someone who wouldn't listen to his criticism. Aziraphale has also spent 6,000+ years watching Crowley do good, all the while forced to deny the fact that he's "nice" lest embracing his original nature get him into trouble with hell. Now, Metatron comes along with an offer that fixes everything in one fell swoop. Crowley can be an angel again, be nice without censure, his ideas and criticisms will hold weight because he'll be answering to Aziraphale, and they'll be together.

It strikes me that Aziraphale isn't there when Crowley sees Gabriel's trial, ergo he likewise doesn't see the (non)acknowledgement that there's an institutional problem up in Heaven. There just happen to have been two archangels who called it quits. Same when Gabriel blurts that phrase out to Crowley. Aziraphale has always been more blind to the ways in which Heaven is "toxic" (for very understandable reasons) and this season he's continually sheltered from new evidence of its structural problems. The plot just preaches to the choir: Crowley. He likewise wouldn't see the conflict Gabriel and Beelzebub have caused as evidence of an underlying problem because that's a problem he and Crowley will no longer share. Why would they be worried about Heaven still being unable to accept partnerships between angels and demons when Crowley will no longer be a demon? And that's something he presumably wants based on Aziraphale's memories of him and the ongoing admission that he's lonely.

The way I see it, they got what they thought they wanted at the start of Season 2. Heaven and Hell are keeping an eye on them, but functionally they're left alone. Crowley can spend all the time he wants with Aziraphale and nothing comes of that except that they're both continually named traitors and the higher-ups grumble about it. If Gabriel had never shown up, things should have been perfect based on Crowley's "Let's just run away and have each other's company" standards. Better, even, considering that they get to be together on their beloved Earth, rather than being bored out in Alpha Centauri without any sushi, plants, books, or Bentleys. And yet... Crowley doesn't strike me as particularly happy. Because, you know, based on that kiss he wants to be with Aziraphale, not just literally be with him, but the point of this post is that his "Let's run away and be an 'us'" falls totally flat when he doesn't explain that specific desire to Aziraphale; the desire to change what an 'us' means. From Aziraphale's perspective they're already an 'us.' That was the entire point of "our side" in Season 1 and now they can continue to be 'us' up in Heaven. Plus, Aziraphale likely sees this as a sacrifice on his part. He will give up his bookshop, his Earthly indulgences, take on the responsibilities of leadership (which I don't think he actually wants for a variety of reasons), and spend the rest of eternity in a place where he's felt so small because he thinks that's what Crowley wants. Crowley was happy as an angel. Crowley wanted them to be together without risk of permanent discorporation. They were able to achieve that after not-Armageddon and he still wasn't happy... so surely those two things together will do the trick. Crowley never actually articulates how he wants their relationship to change and the kiss comes much too late, when he's already rejected what Aziraphale must see as a perfect, selfless solution he's secured for them. Even if Crowley wasn't always moving too fast for him, an overture of romance isn't going to go well after that.

Is this crushing and angsty and devastating as a hiatus? Damn straight, my heart it breaking. But it's a good setup. More importantly, it makes perfect sense for their characters, particularly when they're still talking past one another. Aziraphale is someone who has always moved more slowly as a matter of course, as an angel he has remained immersed in the rhetoric of Heaven, his main avenue of breaking free of that (Crowley) has a huge communication problem (to say nothing of his own denial. He only made headway with the help of Nina and Maggie, seconds before Aziraphale shows up), and Metatron (in a no doubt incredibly manipulative manner) has just offered Aziraphale a job that presumably makes him happy AND Crowley happy AND allows him to maintain the moral this-is-how-the-universe-works perspective he's had since he was literally created. Of course he's going to say yes to all that!! And sure, there are problems in Heaven, Aziraphale isn't completely blind, but he can fix them now that he's in charge. How? Well... he'll figure that out later! Kinda like how he's been making plans on the fly this entire season. That seems logical from his perspective, right? It's not like he's gotten a crash-course in the concept of the master's tools never being able to dismantle the master's house...

#Good Omens #Good Omens spoilers #Good Omens 2 #Good Omens 2 spoilers #GO2 #GO2 spoilers #mymetas #this is so rough and I'll probably write better metas later #but I just have FEELINGS RIGHT NOW OKAY

[lenaellsi]

“Crowley is still an angel deep down” “Crowley is more of an angel than any of the archangels” “Crowley was only cast out because he needed to play his part in Armageddon, he's not a real demon” “Aziraphale wants to rebuild Heaven to be more like Crowley because he’s what an angel should be” no. Stop it. This is exactly where Aziraphale went wrong.

Crowley is 100% a demon. He's not actually a bit of an angel, and he's not cosmically better than any of the other demons we see in the series. He's much less vicious than most of them, yeah, but he's also much less vicious than most of the angels, because how “nice” a celestial being is has nothing to do with which side they're technically on. Crowley's kindness comes from him doing his best to help people despite the hurt he's suffered himself, not any sort of inherent residual or earned holiness. He was cast out just like the rest of the demons, and that's an important part of his history that shouldn't be minimized, excused, or, critically, 'corrected.'

Being angelic is not a positive or negative trait in the Good Omens universe. It's a species descriptor. Saying that Crowley is still an angel deep down because he helps people is an in-character thing for Aziraphale to think, certainly--Job and the final fifteen showed that in the worst possible way--but it's not something Crowley would ever react well to, and it's the main source of conflict in the entire "appoint you to be an angel" fiasco.

We know that Aziraphale thinks Crowley's fall was an injustice, but why? Well, because Crowley is actually Good, which means his fall was a mistake, or a test, or a regrettable error in judgment, or…something. Ineffable. Etc. The point is, he’s special, much better than those other demons, and if they can fix him and make him an angel again, everything will be fine! (So once Job's trials are over, everything will be restored to him? Praise be!) Aziraphale has to believe that Crowley's better traits come from traces of the angel he used to know and not the demon he's known for 6,000 years, because that’s how he can rationalize his incorrect view of Heaven as The Source Of Truth And Light And Good with his complicated feelings about Crowley's fall.

But Crowley's fall was not an injustice because he's actually a Good Person who didn't deserve it. Crowley's fall was an injustice because the entire system of dividing people into Good (obedient) and Bad (rebellious) is bullshit. Crowley is not an unfortunate exception to God's benevolence, he is a particularly sympathetic example of God's cruelty.

And really, Crowley doesn't behave at all like an angel, especially when he's at his best. All of the things that he's done that we as the audience consider Good are things that Heaven has directly opposed. (See: saving the goats and children in defiance of God in S2E2, convincing Aziraphale to give money to Elspeth despite Heaven's views on the "virtues of poverty" in S2E3, speaking out against the flood and the crucifixion in S1E3, tempting Aziraphale to enjoy earthly pleasures because he thinks they'll make him happy, stopping Armageddon.)

Heaven as an institution has never been about helping humanity. And that's not an issue of leadership, as Aziraphale seems to think--it's by design. Aziraphale's first official act as an angel toward humanity was to literally throw them to the lions. Giving them the sword wasn't him acting like an angel, it was just him being himself. Heaven doesn't care about humans. It's not supposed to. It's supposed to win the war against Hell, with humans as chess pieces at best and collateral damage at worst.

Yes, it's easier to think that there are forces that are supposed to be fundamentally good. It's easier to think that Aziraphale is going to show those mean archangels and the Metatron what’s coming to them and reform Heaven into what it "should" be, and that God is actually super chill and watching all of this while shipping ineffable husbands and cheering for them the whole way. And of course it's easier to take Crowley, who Aziraphale (and the audience) adores, and say that he deserves to be on the Good team much more than all those angels and demons that we don’t like. But that's not how it works. People are more complicated than that, even celestial beings.

Crowley is a demon, and the tragedy of his character is not that he's secretly a good guy who is being forced to be evil; the tragedy is that he's lived his whole life stuck between two institutional forces that are both equally hostile to the love he feels for the universe and the beings in it. There are no good and bad guys. There are no "right people." Every angel, demon, and human is capable of hurting or helping others based on their choices. That is, in fact, the entire fucking point.

#good omens meta #good omens #good omens season 2 #crowley #long post #i feel like this is obvious. and yet #when crowley is kind he is NOT acting angelic. the same is true of aziraphale. #(to a point. i do think aziraphale performs 'niceness' sometimes because he feels like it's something he Should do as an angel) #(but that's because aziraphale has so many issues i cannot detail them in the tags of this crowley post) #this is my second long meta post in like 3 days. sorry. it’s my first free weekend in a while

[sirenalpha]

I'm seeing so much commentary on people reacting to the live action atla toning down Sokka's misogyny

and I'm over here like this is a total non-issue because in my own rewrite of the show I already did that exact thing, it makes complete sense to do it and they should do it because it's a weaker aspect of the original show

Sokka's early misogyny is utterly cartoonish in comparison to the set up of the rest of the SWT, it doesn't feel realistic for the only teenaged boy in a dying culture surrounded by adult women with a grandmother who left a more out and out misogynist society to act the way he does

how Sokka "resolves" his misogyny is equally cartoonish, I never liked how in The Warriors of Kyoshi literally episode 4 of the show makes a teen girl compromise her own culture with a female only fighting tradition teach a boy who is supremely rude and disrespectful to her and then still be attracted to him afterwards, it's more misogyny to fix misogyny and is very obviously men writing about how to fix misogyny especially as they have Aang make a joke about Sokka wearing a dress after going through how meaningful the fighting costume is and how a lot of Asian clothing with hanfu influences like atla borrows from would have men in what to western eyes would be dresses, Aang has already seen multiple male authority figures in robes, the joke makes no sense

I also wouldn't consider Sokka's misogyny genuinely resolved after this, consider how the show deals with his romantic relationships with both Yue and Suki and how both can be seen as extensions of how Kataang is treated in the show, rewards for the hero, especially with how Sokka interacts aggressively with Hahn instead of respecting Yue's wishes whatever her reasons for them, I think an argument can be made that Yue's death is a fridging for Sokka's storyline rather than or in combination with being a consequence of Aang's failure as an avatar or the culmination of her own storyline where she fulfills her duties as a leader to protect her own people

Beyond his romantic relationships, while Sokka drops a lot of his more misogynistic language with Katara, he doesn't support her when she faces off with the NWT leaders to learn waterbending, and he still leaves the caretaking and food preparation and grocery shopping to her which is more common than him going out to hunt or gather in order to provide for the group while he takes a leadership role like determining their travel schedule and routes, it is not an even division of labor and falls along traditional sex stereotypes

In addition to his typical duties to the group, Sokka also remains invested in the trappings of masculinity after ep4, he's concerned about what's manly and how he compares to Jet for example, there's no investigation or interrogation in his interest in meat and hunting and how they relate to masculinity and his misogyny, in the episode with Piando, his insecurity as a non-bender is resolved by giving him a new male mentor and a new martial skill, sword fighting, which is masculine in both western and Asian cultures rather than assuaging his self esteem issues in any less stereotypically masculine ways, I also think it was done so he could compare more favorably to Zuko, another male character, and even his interest in engineering and mechanics comes with a male mentor and is a traditionally masculine pursuit

the show's poor handling of misogyny also extends beyond Sokka, with the NWT, the show acts as if Pakku is the only reason the tribe is misogynistic and the only consequences to that misogyny is that women can't waterbend and there are arranged marriages, and that both the NWT and Pakku's misogyny is resolved by allowing only Katara to learn to waterbend which she doesn't even earn on her own merits, she gets the opportunity because Pakku likes her grandmother

none of this is realistic, misogyny is not because of one bad apple, Pakku doesn't make Yue's arranged marriage, Chief Arnook does, he picked Hahn for her, and the show acts as if Arnook has no authority to compel Pakku to teach Katara or any ability to persuade him in order to reduce his culpability in the NWT's misogyny as its leader to make him a more respectable character so it's not uncomfortable when Aang and Sokka follow his orders in the battle later on, but women not being able to bend and forced into arranged marriages is still status quo when the gaang leaves, Yue's just dead

I'm not even convinced the show runners understand what's wrong with arranged marriage, the issue is not Yue can't be with Sokka who she likes and at most has a slight crush on cuz she's only known him for like two days, it's that she's being treated as male property, a broodmare, and a vehicle to ensure Hahn receives the throne because her father has no male heir and picked some guy to succeed him instead, like it's not explicit in the show but that is the implication based on the historical reality of princesses in arranged marriages, and the show has her get out of it only through death idc that she ascends to being a spirit, it's still a teen girl that dies

There's also no discussion by the show of the Earth Kingdom's misogyny when it has the exact same shit going on, Toph is the only female earthbender in the show not including avatars, there might have been a female earthbender in the background when Katara broke them out of prison, but I'm not really counting that, the entire army and Dai Li are all made up of men, the EK might even be worse because the show doesn't demonstrate that women and girls even have the capacity to earthbend aside from Toph and avatars and Toph doesn't even learn from a human, she has to learn from animals, the show treats this as commentary on her disability but the show has no compelling reason why it can't also be commentary on her sex, Toph was also originally supposed to be a boy so this could have ended up so much worse there literally would have been no female earthbenders aside from avatars at all, I'm not counting Oma as she might just be a mythological figure not a real person that once lived

The Fire Nation kinda barely avoids the same issue, Azula is the only named female firebender aside from avatars in the show but she has two female sidekicks who despite being non-benders show martial skill and there are clearly female soldiers and guards in the FN military so there are much stronger implications of female firebenders existing and being completely allowed to train their abilities and that Azula isn't exceptional in that respect like Toph is, only for being a prodigy with blue fire

Azula was also originally supposed to have an arranged marriage in s3 and they dropped it in favor of showing that royal and noble girls could casually date in the FN which has wild implications for women's empowerment in the country more so than but especially in combination with the fact women can train and join the military (which is why I say the FN is not fascist it's literally the least misogynistic country aside from Kyoshi and by like a country mile so it's literally not misogynistic enough) not that the show does anything more than minor teen drama with it

again, the vast majority of this misogyny is completely unremarked upon by the show especially after s1 when they leave the NWT, it is clearly a fictional world made by men with no true understanding of misogyny just a vague awareness that misogyny is bad and what the really obvious and outdated examples of it are, this is a narrative inconsistency in the show to have the examples and commentary on misogyny be so cartoonish in the beginning and then disappear after s1

your options to resolve this inconsistency is to either go all in with more realistic misogyny and provide commentary on all of it but this takes effort and will be divisive, or take the easier route and ease off the cartoonish-ness of it and comment less on it to avoid drawing attention to all instances of misogyny in the show

obviously Netflix was gonna do the latter

(not me tho, I'm making it less cartoony and dealing with it in my rewrite)

#atla #live action atla #atla critical #anti bryke #anti kataang #anti sokka #its not really anti him more anti how his character was written and dealt with #long post #meta

[bonefall]

Cat? Gray. Eyes? Blue. Hotel? Trevago.

Design babble stuff below

BLUESTAR

Good god it's been over a year since I last drew her. I can do so much better now

I give her a wolf motif for BB, because in my mind it's about the myth of the lone wolf. Lone wolves aren't normal, they're pack animals. At first, Firestar sees her as this ideal, strong leader who stands independently of everything... but he's wrong!

She's NEVER acted fully alone! She's always been devoted to her family, even as it dwindled. Her ruling style is to protect other Clans, unlike any leader who's come before her. In BB, she even had a mixed-Clan friendgroup called the Forget-Me-Nots.

She helped to depose ShadowClan's tyrant. She sent Firestar to fetch WindClan, even against the wishes of the other two. She even fought Nightstar and Crookedstar when they tried to drive them out again.

She even takes the code SO seriously that she refused to kill Brokentail, extending a mercy that ended up backfiring.

And Firestar learns everything about leadership from her. Grace, diplomacy, fairness... and she was fair to a fault.

Both her and her apprentice would eventually face down Tigerkin, Bluestar during the coup and Firestar even lost a life after defending Hawkfrost for several books.

The only time Bluestar ever became a "lone wolf" was in her cruelty arc, when she was dragging everything she ever stood for down with her.

Her wolf motif shows up in her entire family, to connect them. It's in her nephew Whitestorm, her uncle Goosefeather, her daughter Mistystar, even all the way down into Curlfeather and Frostpaw who are descended from Reedwhisker in BB.

The scar comes from her fighting a badger to rescue Darkstripe and his sister, Cricketclaw, when they wandered off as kittens.

CROWFEATHER

He's a mix of spiky and swirly, as a cross between his dad Deadfoot and his mother Ashfoot.

He's older in BB to change that he was an apprentice on the Great Journey, and also to fix an inconsistency where his dad would be dead when he was conceived.

I think it was a huge missed opportunity that Crowfeather's bond to his mentor, Mudclaw, is barely mentioned in-canon. In BB they were VERY close and Mudclaw was incredibly influential to his personality.

Deadfoot is dead-- Mudclaw was like a father to him.

Crowfeather is torn between the influence of his mother, who was a Forget-Me-Not in her youth, and the hard ideology of his mentor. All the while, the ego boost he got from being selected to go on the Great Journey massively affected him, in a bad way.

He ended up taking Mudclaw's side in the rebellion-- not because he believed that ThunderClan had told a lie (in fact he defends his friend's honor) but because he believed Mudclaw would be a better leader.

But eventually, he found himself surrounded by cats he didn't want anywhere near WindClan. Good intentions or not, Mudclaw was willing to work with cats like Blackclaw and Hawkfrost-- people who want a second TigerClan.

Crowfeather betrayed the rebellion, running to fetch Brambleclaw and ThunderClan reinforcements. In the fight, his nose was scratched in a chevron, the shape of Mudclaw's stripes.

I like the idea that he carries it with him, but always tries to put it off his mind. He mistreats and misuses other people, ignoring the reminder that he is a fallible person that's carved onto his nose.

died of infection. Sad!

All of his kits resemble him in some way. Lionblaze inherited his tail, Hollyleaf has the spikes, Breezepelt has the build, Jayfeather is a miserable git has the ear swirls

He was head of Kitchen Patrol until BB!OotS, but I'm actually planning for him to NOT be deputy in BB. His character growth feels a lot more satisfying in realizing he really doesn't handle power very well, and should stay away from it.

He has old relationships and burned bridges to mend, and staying part of Kitchen Patrol seems like the way he should plan to do that.

I talked about him a lot in Nightcloud's summary and he's going to be coming up in the outline of Nightcloud's Pannage a lot. Much as I love taking potshots at him, he's got a very kind arc laid out.

CINDERPELT

She is the daughter of LIONHEART whY don't you people give her A MANEEEE

let her be THICK

In BB, the Frostfour are actually from two different litters. Cinderpelt and Brackenfur were in the older one.

Frostfur was head of Kitchen Patrol at the time, and very overworked lmao

So Cinder and Bracken both have an "older sibling" energy. Their mom was usually involving them in every little activity to get some help. Brackenfur is over-responsible, and Cinderpelt was always trying to help out other people and prove herself.

Of course, it also lead to her running right into Tigerclaw's trap which was set for Bluestar-- she wanted to be helpful.

The injury didn't heal right and she has chronic pain. She has severe mobility issues in the hip, and usually keeps the leg bound to her body so it doesn't drag or hurt.

She could have still been a warrior if she wanted to, but discovered while healing that she loved working with Yellowfang. I also interpret it this way in canon, to be fair, but TNP decided to remember it completely differently.

After saving Littlecloud's life they became absolute best friends. They worked on a mobility device for Wildfur together.

They style their manes in a similar way, pushing it up into that "spike" on their heads and out of their faces.

ASHFUR

Moonkitti's blonde Ashfur remains iconic, I fear

I draw him like a cheetah so he has the funky cheetah cub hair

I'm a HUGE fan of what the Erins did with the direction of Ashfur's story, with him being an obsessive spurned lover, but that's not really the sort of story I tell in BB!

So I approach his obsession on Squirrelflight as being very... Judge Frollo-esque.

Frollo's ultimate goal isn't to possess Esmerelda. He wants her, but it's a wrench in his plans to commit ethnic cleansing using his religious justifications. Hellfire is about how he finds a way to shift the blame for his own lust onto her, and offers an ultimatum; "She will be mine or she will burn (along with everyone else I plan to slaughter)"

In Frollo's mind, he "forgives" her for what she's "done to him." For what she is. He sees what he's doing as giving her an "escape."

It's not for her benefit. It's for HIS. By giving her this "escape," if she takes it, he gets to think of her as redeeming herself (and thus being worthy of him).

If she does not... then it's no skin off his back. He's Done His Part. Everything was always her fault. He is blameless.

Either way he gets to walk away feeling justified.

All that to say-- that's how I approach BB!Ashfur.

He wants to punish codebreakers. He wants the Clans to suffer for how far they've fallen from where they should be. They've become vulgar, ungrateful, unworthy of StarClan's grace.

He tried to kill The Three because he'd learned of the Fire and Tiger prophecy, and was only trying to protect the Clan. If Squirrelflight had CHOSEN HIM, then none of this would have happened.

He was righting a wrong, you see, and StarClan understood, in his eyes.

When Hollyleaf slaughtered him, violating the Code, it only confirmed he had been right all along.

And again and again and again, he offers Squirrelflight what she needs to redeem herself. He wants her. He wants her to "be better."

When she lets him down... then it's not his fault. She's forced his paw.

SO the blonde hair isn't totally just a fun reference, I also find it fitting because aside from the cheetah motif, he sees himself as angelic.

It's also why I don't portray him as "grubby" like some folks do, BB!Ashfur is much more vain than Canon!Ashfur, caring immensely about his appearance. Thinking about it, he probably won't even let his Bramblefake vessel fall into disrepair, he'd feel more grossed out than usual.

He also gets a very cool boss fight form at the end of BB!TBC which I still need to design lmao.

#better bones au #fennelposting #gray cat blue eyes challenge #warrior cats

[wing-ed-thing]

Iruka x Reader x Kakashi Love Triange Headcanons

Tags/Warnings: No Reader Pronouns

𓆃 Hm... I guess you have a decision between a mentally stable, emotionally intelligent man with no commitment issues who is willing to settle down and give you anything you could humanly ask for... and Kakashi.

𓆃 Okay, perhaps that's not entirely fair, but that's certainly how Kakashi is bound to think.

𓆃 Due to the nature of the shinobi profession, most shinobi start young and retire young compared to other jobs. Even older shinobi take on less field work in favor of other high leadership opportunities.

𓆃 And at some point, a shinobi has to decide what their career path is going to be like, given that they're all so varied. This is likely to be the main point of contention when it comes to your triangle dynamic.

𓆃 Now, Iruka and Kakashi don't really know each other. Sure, Iruka is a prominent teacher at the academy and him and Kakashi have had professional interactions, but they aren't necessarily friends.

𓆃 And honestly, most of the triangle hinges on how they view each other rather than how they view you.

𓆃 Clearly, they view you positively and romantically, but pursuing you in spite of each other is where they almost get wrapped up in themselves in a way that a traditional "love triangle" typically doesn't function.

𓆃 They're both aware of their mutual interest in you. Kakashi is bound to figure this out first since he tends to have a sharper eye for these sorts of things, but Iruka isn't too far behind.

𓆃 You'll have a wonderful friendship with Kakashi and Iruka, which serves as the foundation for your budding relationships and their interactions with each other.

𓆃 The stand-up men they are, all Kakashi and Iruka want is for you to be happy... they just can't agree on what that means.

𓆃 Kakashi sees Iruka as a stable partner who can provide for you and who you won't have to worry about losing. He knows that he's emotionally unavailable and struggles when it comes to commitment. He believes that until his inner problems are 100% fixed, he's not ready for a long-term relationship and is a serial self saboteur.

𓆃 Meanwhile, Iruka doesn't consider himself to be someone with a lot to offer. He's a chūnin who's been in the same position his whole life. Teaching isn't very glamorous, and he considers the dynamic you have with Kakashi to be more exciting for you.

𓆃 He perceives Kakashi as able to offer you a more fulfilling like compared to his "boring routine."

𓆃 Sometimes, they make meaningful eye contact when the three of you are together, and the communication varies each time.

𓆃 Sometimes, it's Kakashi communicating that you've had a really bad day and your level of upset is more in Iruka's skill range. Or maybe you're leaving a party, and Iruka is telling Kakashi that he should probably walk you home.

𓆃 What's a truly juicy dynamic is if you're dating them at the same time. Perhaps you're casually dating because you're already thinking about your future as a shinobi. Or maybe you're a civilian who's anxious about dating shinobi men.

𓆃 But they know. They do know that you're dating the both of them trying to feel out of you want to make anything official if anything else. And they're cool with it for the most part.

𓆃 If you happen to have a, "wait... the two of you know each other?" moment, expect more meaningful eye contact.

Thank you to all who liked, reblogged, followed, and supported. Your support means so much and is greatly appreciated.

Notes: GREAT NOW I WANT TO WRITE THIS WHOLE CASUAL DATING SCENARIO

#iruka umino x reader #Kakashi x reader #Kakashi hatake x reader #iruka umino #iruka #kakashi #Kakashi hatake #naruto #naruto x reader #naruto x y/n #naruto x you #naruto headcanon #reader insert #naruto headcanons #x reader #x you

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

I can't help but think about what if Buggy was raised in White Beard's ship rather than with the Rogers? In my heart of hearts I really do want to believe that Rogers cared and treasured Buggy like he did Shanks but afaik Shanks feels like a favorite; he's given the strawhat, and there's the Wano flashback of the Roger pirates about to face off the Whitebeards, and Shanks is wearing Roger's current captain hat on top of the straw hat while he's munching on some chocolate (😭) and idk, it makes me feel for the little clown

Whitebeard seems like he's a better father figure than Rogers considering his treasure is his family, so I wonder if he would have a better understanding of how Buggy feels, and how to raise a kid who doesn't take to battle as quickly as the other kids (let's say Marco bc he probably is the only other kid in the ship). Would Whitebeard celebrate and praise Buggy for his creative inventions and bombs? Would he encourage Buggy to be the flashiest boy of the Grand line, and to wear his red nose proud bc no matter what, he loves Buggy the way he is anyway? Idk I'm just thinking about what if Buggy wasn't broken and jaded :')

I'm still a Shuggy enjoyer so I want Shanks to be still a part of Buggy's childhood. What if Shanks is interested in Whitebeard's youngest bc he's also a kid too, and he's super eye catching. Shanks probably tries to fight Buggy but he gets overwhelmed by Buggy's bombs or whatever, or because Buggy's too good at dodging and/or running away (Whitebeard probably clues in that Buggy's not battle heavy, but he has immense potential when it comes to escapes and getting out of danger). Shanks just falls in love with this kid who he can't quite grasp and always looks forward to seeing again. Or maybe Shanks also gets adopted as a Whitebeard, but Whitebeard's parenting polishes Shanks and Buggy's strengths in a way where one doesn't feel inferior to the other and they're both happy kids. Lots of maybes...

Case and point, Buggy as a Whitebeard would maybe fix him 😭

buggy as a whitebeard pirate… i do think he ends up mentally healthier for it, but not necessarily because “roger’s a bad dad”—imo he’s not trying to be anyone’s dad, he’s buggy and shanks’ captain, it’s a different relationsh—*a long hook drags me offstage*

ahem. anyway.

potential upsides to being a whitebeard pirate:

if buggy’s in whitebeard’s crew, he is whitebeard’s family. there’s no room for doubt, he joined the crew this morning and has already been called ‘son’ three times.

lots of support, resources, etc. should he eat the chop-chop fruit. this is a crew with a lot of devil fruit experience, they know how to deal with the limitations that arise. if buggy mopes and complains about not being able to search for treasure underwater, i bet somebody comes up with a diving suit or a little submersible boat he can use; if he wants to swim, they find him a fresh water pool; etc.

there’s not just two kids around—he’ll get less focused attention, yeah, but the same is true for everyone. cap’n dad might play favorites, but i think that not being the favorite hurts more when there’s only two options. when there’s five, ten, dozens of other kids fighting for his attention… well, buggy might be bitter about not being the favorite, but he surely knew the odds weren’t in his favor. also, not being codependently reliant on one single peer/friend can do wonders for your mental health.

no childhood trauma over the crew breaking up and the captain dying!

potential downsides to being a whitebeard pirate:

he never gets to leave the nest. whitebeard pirates who want leadership roles can become division commanders; if they want an independent leadership role, i guess they can become captains of whitebeard subordinate crews? but it seems to me that they only leave if they die, retire, or turn traitor. i think buggy would find that stifling. whitebeard: the world’s most powerful helicopter parent?

there’s not just two kids around—if focused attention turns out to be something buggy really needs, that’s a shame, because he’s not gonna get it.

this is not a crew that cares about finding treasure or going on grand adventures. i don’t think buggy is gonna be too happy about whitebeard’s “the real treasure was the family we found along the way” ethos. though maybe he just ignores this, the way ace ignored whitebeard’s lack of interest in the pirate king title.

adulthood trauma over the captain dying and the crew falling apart/being destroyed by a traitor!

#asked and answered #one piece #buggy #whitebeard #i know there’s a number of noncombatants in wb’s crew but i don’t actually think buggy would want to be one of them… #i know we’re used to seeing him run from fights but as a kid buggy was plenty bloodthirsty! #if he didn’t lose the security blanket of having his big strong captain to back his play i think he’d happily keep throwing daggers around #as for shuggy… sorry but i need them to have their very specific shared history for the ship to appeal to me. i’m a buzzkill that way. #kids on rival ships with a rivalry-crush situation is fun but it’s not the same. (that’s shanks/marco to me tbh. unrequited tho 🥲) #even growing up together w/wb isn’t the same bc there’s other kids around in that situation! it’s not as claustrophic. not as codependent. #(also i don’t think shanks flourishes in quite the same way w/wb. he’s roger’s special little boy! the parallels are there for a reason!)

[gingerylangylang1979]

Carmy is a problematic fuck boi who doesn't deserve Sydney at the moment. But look at how Rick and Michonne turned out.

I really actually don't begrudge anyone who questions Carmy's worthiness of Sydney, shipper or not. Like, I get it. I was ready to drop his ass so many times both seasons. But... this is how these stories go. If you have a traumatized leading man, he's going to make you give him side-eye, you're going to think he's not made for love, and as much as I hate it, you are going to see him be a raging dick and disappointment to the woman he loves... until, he isn't. This isn't me excusing good women being with bad men. This is me explaining the trope of a good men, acting bad, who becomes a good man, acting good, because this woman inspires his transformation. Please note, I didn't say fix. She doesn't do the work for him, she is the catalyst for him deciding to change and she will support him and check him along the way and he will be what she needs in time. That's just how this works folks.

When Rick first meets Michonne, he doesn't even think she's real. His wife just died, a woman who left him with a baby fathered by his best friend, who he had to kill before he killed him. He's delusional, distrustful, hopeless. He sees this woman in the distance who is in dire need and despite his trauma, his instinct is to bring her in. Once in camp, he inspects her in the most intimate way, a way that is way over the top. He is already drawn to touch her. Once she is conscious again he is suspicious, he says he wants her gone, he sets up scenarios that should drive her away... yet, whenever she is gone he freaks out. He will welcome her back each time.

My favorite is when he literally has her at gunpoint because he just made up that she is a threat, and he takes her sword, disarms her, but he still welcomes her back. He just doesn't want her to be able to hurt him. Get it? And we know she's important to him, even if he doesn't admit it, because when their enemy demanded her in exchange for the safety of the rest of the camp, he wouldn't do it. I don't even think he knew why. But he couldn't do it. And even before he actually really knew her, he entrusted her with his most precious love, his child. And when she went out on her own mission, he was sad and worried. He was upset when she didn't need his help.

I could go on. But the point is he treated her like shit and then things slowly changed. By the time they became a couple he went off the rails quite a few times, had a love interest, etc. but the whole time, in the background, Michonne was becoming his partner not only in leadership, but in life. If she was ok, he was ok. If she wanted to make a move, he made the move. If he needed a second by his side, it was her no doubt. And Michonne could handle shit on her own, wanted to for a long time, but then through meeting Rick she decided to let someone in and wanted it, knew she wasn't whole without it. So by the time they became a couple, it was earned by both of them. The both had to change. But before that change, Rick was erratic, insane, often irrational, and he was sometimes that way with her, at one point mostly with her. But it changed. Because that is growth, that is character development, that is good storytelling.

So, when I see Carmy still struggling so hard and Syd struggling so hard at his side, because of him, I remember that this is that kind of love story. It's a love story seeded in the midst of chaos, uncertainty, distrust, but also an undeniable pull to each other that is at times inexplicable, questionable, but fated in a way only two broken people can be. They aren't going to have the kind of love story where he is a perfect prince from day one or his progress is linear. And that makes it better because look at what happened with Richonne. They became co-leaders, family, lovers. It's possible. So, I'm going to continue to be patient with Carmy Bear and see where this goes.

#carmy x sydney #richonne

[spider-jaysart]

Hi!! Can I ask Damian (and maybe Dick 🙏?) for the character ask game?

Thank you, take care <3

@zephyrwrites2

Damian

Favorite thing about them: I just love his whole personality loll. He's a crazy, funny little guy that I think is really cool

Least favorite thing about them: Nothing. Only when he gets really mischaracterized by official writers who don't understand him, which happens A LOT

Favorite line: "Father, I imagined you taller."

Brotp: Damian and Jon

Otp: Damijon

Notp: Batcest, any of them that have adults paired up with him, including the canon ones Mar'i x Damian, Cassie x Damian, and Cassandra x Damian

Random headcanon: He can do ballet and it's because it's something Talia taught him while he was growing up in the league and being trained to learn many other things. He's a skilled professional at it now because of this and also bonds with his sister Cass over it and will sometimes even join her in her dancing. He also tries teaching Jon too, which can become fun for them both, and his other friends sometimes as well whenever they get curious or don't actually understand it that much like they think they do. Damian also owns a pair of green ballet slippers, but usually keeps them put away in his closet to keep them safe and clean and only takes them out when he really does want to use them.

Unpopular opinion: Okay sooo, a lot of people believe that Talia's character just gets only more ruined because of Damian's existence or whatever, but I don't believe that at all. Damian may be her son and is big part of her life because of it, but his character itself has nothing to do with hers like that at all when it comes to hateful writers choosing to write her horribly and just as another evil, lunatic villain and whatever else. Some people even say that he stole her story, but he did grow up with her during those 10 years of his, so of course he's gonna have the same life she dealt with and is also gonna have to get through certain issues from it now too because of it. But the point is that if anyone's gonna get blamed for Talia's usual trash characterisation, it should be the writers who hate her, NOT Damian who has many writers of his own who don't even treat him that well or like him that much at all either just like with Talia. Trying to pick on him is never going to fix anything about her. If Talia's ever gonna get anything better that she deserves in comics and other things, it needs to be done by writers who actually have care about her character and don't have anything weird against her that just only causes bad intentions of messing her up and then THAT'S what will finally start doing justice for her. And this not meant as an argument towards anyone or whatever btw, this is just me stating my opinion and beliefs about the whole thing

Song I associate with them: Self love by Metro Boomin & Coi Leray (Mostly because even though Damian may always put on a very confident act and always seems so prideful of himself a lot of the times, he actually has a lot of insecurities underneath all of that and doesn't actually always think so great of himself as a person)

Favorite picture of them: Definitely this very beautiful panel of him ofc💖

I just LOVE the way Gleb Melinkov draws him and gives him his Arab features without holding any of it back as well! He even gives him long lashes (longer than Flatline's even, which I noticed while looking at another panel from this series!), which I really love too!!

Dick

Favorite thing about them: I really always liked his leadership style, especially in the Teen Titans 2003 cartoon, which I grew up with

Least favorite thing about them: Only when he's potrayed as a dumb, clumsy guy in some canon stories just to lift up other characters and put them in a bigger spotlight instead. It makes no sense because he's a professional acrobat and always has been that way since he was a little kid, so how could he ever be so trippy all over the place as if there are invisible banana peels getting in the way everytime?! And he is very smart, especially with all of the important experience he has from his many years of hero work, so he's not dumb either and if he was, he wouldn't have made it so far with this kind of life because of it or ever get much done like he did because he has to overly depend on others knowledge

Favorite line: "Titans Go!"

Brotp: Dick and Starfire, Beast boy, Raven, Cyborg (I know he's friends with many others too, but this is the group I grew up with and am more attached to, so they're my fave to see together)

Otp: Dickkory because they bring the best out in eachother and have so much love for one another too

Notp: DickBabs because I just don't think they really fit that well together at all and most times Barbara just makes Dick feel bad in a lot of ways with how she usually treats him in a romantic relationship, and that's not a healthy thing to deal with at all. And then there's also Batcest and Slade x Dick (which I don't even get at all because Slade is just such a horrible, gross and very toxic guy)

Random headcanon: Years ago, back when he would used to have long hair still, he one time had it tied up in a ponytail and then a villain chopped it off in half while fighting him. Dick was pissed and really kicked their butt for doing that

Unpopular opinion: People always think of Dick as the positive, sunshine guy and then there are the ones who get very mad about it and say that he's actually the angry, tough guy because him being super friendly and happy is just too "ooc". I don't listen to any of that stuff, because I believe that he's actually both. He IS a friendly guy with a warm, charming, humorous attitude that easily attracts others, and is very much an inspiration to many because of his positive, sunshine vibes as a great, hardworking hero, but none of it makes him dumb, weak or gullible, because he IS also the type who can become very serious and gets mad when he needs to be, also doesn't actually take bull from anyone, can be chaotic and crazy, works a LOT, is independent, does have a lot of intelligence and especially experience that should never be forgotten about just because he's nice, and also definitely has the determined mind to take care of things and get them done even though others will sometimes try to tell him what to do, but he doesn't actually listen because he's not the type to easily be controlled that way like a puppy would be and if he believes it's something that needs the attention and it's what should be done and no one else is doing it, then he will do it

Song I associate with them: Annihilate by Metro Bommin, Swae Lee, Lil Wayne & Offset (because it's about being fearless, embracing self strength and individuality, and becoming a much more independent person, and I think that totally fits Dick because he's not the type to fear much and hates being stuck under Batman's shadow and having independence is something that always had an important role in how Dick's life goes)

Favorite picture of them: Well, I just found this pic of him, which was done by Travis Moore

It's very nice and really shows the struggle he goes through as a hero a lot of the times. Also, I really always liked the way he draws Dick, because he doesn't just look like everyone else and isn't sharing same face syndrome with his brothers and Bruce either, it's just a look that's unique to only him and it fits him very well. It's the exact way I always imagine him looking like whenever I envision him in my mind, even the hairstyle that's given to him by this artist too!!!

Thank you for sending this ask, I enjoyed answering it! And you take very good care too!! :)

#damian wayne #dick grayson #spider-jaysart asks

[cinna-bunnie]

here's my scattered, ranty, kind of shitty take on “vote blue no matter who”: i have been painfully aware of how fucked up our country is since Trayvon Martin was killed and the country just came together and said it was fine and deserved even.

We were the same age, he was a month older than me and they justified that boy's death through the media for doing mundane shit any of my friends would've been doing too.

And i have seen year after year, death after death, this country let's people get murdered by police or people who want to play police and they get away with it almost every time.

Most of white America doesn't give a single fuck about this issue because it doesn't affect them, they would prefer if we didn't have to see or talk about it at all because talking about race (or anything outside the “norm” for white people) at all is uncomfortable.

Now as shitty as he was, the silver lining I saw in Trump is that white people were no longer able to escape how evil this country can be. Like hey!! When the state sees YOU as undesirable TOO it really has a way of bringing people together - in resistance, solidarity, support etc. Trump was a trash ass president, but as A Country we were FINALLY having some real, honest open discussions about the way this shit works and what better options could look like - even tried implementing some changes so we're less reliant on cops in some places. Ironically, it's when leadership is at its worst that we choose to move forward collectively.

But then in the run-up to the presidential election all the vote blue no matter who liberals, the back to brunch liberals, all of them hounded anybody with even the slightest skepticism or dislike of our candidates and even now make it impossible to have any critical conversation without coming in like “do u want trump/ron/[whatever republican that applies] to win?? we HAVE to vote it's our ONLY choice the world is going to END”

THIS IS HOW IT IS LITERALLY EVERY ELECTION, IF THE STAKES ARE REGULARLY THIS HIGH SOMETHING IS FUNDAMENTALLY BROKEN HERE.

Vote blue no matter who and back to brunch liberals have fucking brain worms and are the most useless helpless political group. I remember them saying we HAVE to get Joe Biden in then pull him to the left, just this one time bro just this one vote bro I promise. All of the solidarity we've had and all the support we've shown won't instantly vanish the second we're safe we promise we won't leave you behind again just one more vote bro-

maybe go to hell?? maybe we should fucking LOSE and have fear and suffering inflicted on us to make that solidarity an actual, real persistent thing that transcends presidencies. My shitty take is sometimes it IS helpful to have horrific leadership so the privileged class can see how it feels to be ANYONE ELSE for a change. And you would hope they fucking learn something but all the back to brunch liberals are hijacking posts speaking frankly about israel's ongoing genocide and the US's complicity in it, and making the conversation about having to vote for Biden or whatever Democrat anyways.

We don't even have elections coming up right now!! Read the fucking room!! Biden is greenlighting genocide and so are a bunch of other politicians on both sides of the aisle, but back to brunch liberals can't be bothered with ANYTHING. Any sort of valid criticism at all is shut down with "well, choices suck but you HAVE to vote” actually in my heart I think you have to suffer until we get some better fucking choices and you actually help advocate for them, instead of being this useless recurring presence that only shows up to shut down conversation instead of wanting to actually fix anything.

[ussjellyfish]

Here's an ask for you! Was there a specific on-screen moment when you started shipping Michael/Laira?

Oh thank you!!

They have an ARC. They have an on screen arc, and I'm so accustomed to making things up (Beverly Crusher/Kathryn Janeway), or working with a handful of episodes that don't have an arc (Maleficent/Regina Mills).

Long post!

Michael is finally captain, which has been a long time coming, and she loves it, she's good at it. Season 4 is peak Michael.

I have wanted to have a ship for Michael since the show started, because I adore Michael, and nothing really hit me until Laira and Michael started talking to each other.

Episode 1 - wrecking ball era

They don't really like each other at first. Laira is "using a moment that should be about the cadets" and Michael is "a huge swing of the pendulum" who doesn't understand that sometimes she might lose.

Michael hasn't lost for awhile, so Laira has a point. Michael needs to save everyone (this is a really common rock star captain thing).

And fate has handed Michael a whole set of events where she was literally the only person in the galaxy who could fix it. Michael found a way to peacefully end the Klingon war without going as dark as parts of Starfleet wanted too.

Michael and her crew literally saved the future by going ahead in time, preventing control from getting the sphere data. It's a huge sacrifice, and they were willing to make it, and it's also a huge win. Everyone was saved.

They have this really honest, almost brutal conversation, where they both have very valid points and they're polite to each other, but they are in opposite places. Michael wants to bring everyone home. She doesn't want to mitigate life and death. Laira thinks she might need too.

And they're from very different places. Michael's from this incredibly optimistic time, where bad things happened (the Klingon war, losing Captain Georgiou, Control tries to evolve and Starfleet really grasps at straws) but the bad things are brief, and traumatic, but they persevere. They're rebuilding after the war and maybe they can be allies with the Klingons some day: Michael has retained her hope, and for good reason. Things improve, she has solutions. Her skillset is phenomenal.

Laira grew up in a universe with scarcity. She was a cargo pilot, and didn't go to the Science Academy, or the Academy on Earth, or even really see the Federation or Starfleet as what they were in Michael's time. Starfleet has hundreds of ships where Michael came from, Starfleet is a force for hope. Laira's whole life has been in a galaxy where Starfleet is tiny, and can't help, and they try, but the needs are so great, and everyone is so isolated that hope is a harder thing.

They have a whole set of conversations about leadership, and balance, and hope, and Laira pushes Michael to be better in the beginning.

They start out standing together, and end standing on opposite ends of a table. The blocking is fun, their whole conversation is so fun. They're an mildly antagonistic allies to lovers at this point. They believe in the Federation, but have differing approaches to leadership, and don't have a high opinion of each other but the mutual respect is there.

I rewatch this episode when they need banter, or I need to have them argue. I desperately wanted them to talk more after this episode. I loved Laira immediately, but I didn't write fic for them yet.

So I had interest, but I wasn't shipping shipping yet.

Episode 4 is when I did that.

In episode 4, mutual respect era, Laira conspires with Vance to get Michael and Saru to come help her with diplomacy. It's an fun insight into Laira's personality that she asked Vance to pretend to be sick, or told him to, because she wasn't sure if she wanted to ask Michael and Saru directly.

She moves pieces, and Michael's a really powerful piece.

Laira (and T'Rina) perform their political theater (and you find out at the end that they've been friends for a long time, and kind of set it up together, which is also interesting. I like the world building in this ep.

The shipping comes when Michael goes to convince Laira that they shouldn't give up. Michael and Saru come up with a plan, and it's a very Michael plan. It wouldn't work if she wasn't who she is.

Bringing Michael in is Laira's last ditch gamble, and it works. Michael throws herself at the problem and comes up with an elegant solution and proves that she is actually so adept at the thing she doesn't like. (politics).

(the table is BACK and they're at opposite sides again, but they move closer to each other! There's a whole meta I need to write about this table.)

The last scene of this episode is the one that launched my ship. They're achieved the mission. Ni'Var is coming back into the Federation. Saru and T'Rina are flirting so they're both amused by that. They're alone together and there's a fire and Ni'Var conference rooms are romantic, pretty lighting.

Laira walks around Michael, and sits on the conference table. It's one of the first times we see her relax. She sits down, not because the meeting is sitting, but because she wants to. Maybe when it's just Michael she can?

It's this shift in power and an opening and vulnerability because she must have had such a long day, and Michael saved it, and she doesn't have to be the President for Michael.

They open up to each other! Laira complements Michael for being good at politics even though she hates it. Laira admits that Vance wasn't really sick (in a roundabout way, she's coy and flirty about it, so it's not a real admission, which suits her).

Michael looks at her like THAT. Sonequa has the most beautiful face and this looks absolutely destroys me.

Laira tells Michael that she had to protect President T'Rina (who warned her that the negotiations were going to implode).

They have this exchange.

Michael walks over to her. "If you wanted my help, you could have just asked me."

They lean on the table together. Laira bites her lip. "Truth be told, I wasn't sure you were the right person for the job, but I'm glad you were."

"I appreciate that. I know transparency isn't always possible in your position but it is what I need, to best serve you and the Federation. So if you could be more forthcoming in the future, I'd appreciate that as well."

"Understood, Captain."

So much happens here. Michael says what she needs, and she's direct and polite. She has the most impeccable etiquette and always calls Laira 'ma'am'. Here she doesn't. Laira listens, nods, accepts what Michael needs and she's the one who uses her rank as a sign of respect.

Then they shake hands, which Laira initiates and it's beautifully shot with the fire in the background, AND Laira covers Michael's hand with hers before she leaves. The music swells. There are strings and horns!! (it's so fun!).

(Also this was on during touch starved COVID era and holding hands felt like a BIG DEAL).

Laira takes Michael's request to heart and asks her for help the next time she needs it.

I shipped them, so very much after this. Laira's not in the next two episodes, but she is in episode 7!

Episode 7 - power couple era.

Michael teases Laira about wanting Earth back in the Federation, Laira admits that her mother's family is from Earth and her mother never got to see it. (Vulnerability! ambition! Michael reading her so easily).

Michael stands next to Laira through the negotiations. Laira tells Michael that she has to be neutral but she thinks Michael can steer the negotiation, if she's ready for that.

(transparency!)

Michael gives an fantastic speech for peaceful first contact, and they're successful. (Laira's hands her are really cute).

Then there's "Captain, I need you with me" and I was so gone. They work together so well to accomplish things. Laira sees Michael's incredible abilities. Michael reads what Laira is thinking. They achieve something they both want together.

Episode 8 - not many people have the ability to surprise me, captain.

The episode starts out with Laira livid. She paces, her diction is razor sharp, and she fidgets with her hands. It's the most unsettled we've seen her so far.

Laira not being able to deal with something and Michael trying to help was what set off my 170,000+ word WIP that is over two years old. Something unexpected should happen and Laira should be mad about it was the starting point.

(also the episode bookends with this shot, which is really clever).

I have a whole set of thoughts about episode 10 and the end of the season, but this was how I got started. This look helped. Michael surprises Laira by how competent she is. Michael does looking several steps ahead thing and turns a loss into a win and it's very coy and fun.

Laira wings her hands later in engineering and that obviously meant she needed to go through something with michael and the Discovery crew could help and...

I did the most shipper me thing I could possibly do and started a fic where she got pregnant.

Thank you so much for asking!!! this was so fun to put together. (and took days).

Special mention to the way Laira can make "captain" both a compliment and an insult, depending on her mood. (it's the other half of my Michael saying "ma'am" kink.

#michael burnham #laira rillak #rillham #star trek discovery

[manawari]

Her right-hand man

"Boss! They have arrived!"

"Boss! The Dual Swords are here!"

"Boss—"

Dong-suk slammed his fists against his desk. He bellowed at his subordinates. "I know! Damn it, you don't have to tell me twice!"

He got up from his chair and marched out of his office, along with the four who had come to fetch him upon the news of the Dual Swords arriving in the vicinity. The Dual Swords was a fellow clan, who was known for being brutal and merciless to strike superiority among others, and it was a clan who had been wanting to join hands with him because he possessed weapons that would be useful to them.

When he arrived in the hall, Dong-suk found his steps halting upon witnessing the unexpected difference in the table. Instead of a middle-aged man, it was a woman. Petite, short blonde hair that fell above her shoulders, and wore a stern expression on her face. She had her jaw resting on her palm while she tapped her nails on the wooden surface. A man stood next to her, which was also someone Dong-suk was not familiar of.

"That's the daughter of Destroyer, boss," one of his men whispered.

Ah, Destroyer — the man whose real name was completely sealed and had only gone with his alias. Not even the most competent spy had cracked the mystery. Dong-suk didn't even know that he had a child, which was probably how she had gotten in through his security, and he could not help but he surprised. However, he kept his usual face on as he made his way toward the chair that was awaiting for him.

He looked at the woman across the table, noticing how similar she looked to the old man. She really was his daughter. But looking at the rest of her features, part of him thought how farfetched she seemed in the place of her father, who had most likely passed away since he would never give his position away as long as he was alive.

"Are you done staring? Let's get this over with." She spoke in a blunt tone.

Dong-suk let out a chuckle. "Wait, wait. . . Are you sure you are the boss of your clan? I didn't think Destroyer has a child."

"The name's Cha Hae-in, his successor," the woman introduced herself. She wore a white shirt underneath of her black leather jacket. "You must be Hwang Dong-suk. My father had told me about you, as well as the weapons you sell in a high price. As part of his will, I came here to form a negotiation with you — serve us the best weapons you have whenever we need it."

"What makes you think I will join hands with you? I lead an independent clan!" Dong-suk exclaimed. "Even if you give me money, I will never ally with you."

"You have a debt to pay for my father, so consider accepting my offer as your payment," said Hae-in calmly. She intertwined her hands under her chin. "I suggest you should do it while I'm being nice."

"PUAHAHAHAHA!!" Dong-suk laughed and got up on his chair, pressing his callused hands on the table. "That's it, I'm done acting in front of you. Nice? How cute! Does Destroyer have another child? I might've accepted the proposal if he has a son in your position. Ms. Cha, you are not fit in the throne of leadership, I think you'd be more suited in being a servant."

Hae-in chuckled. "Believe it or not, I'm his only child. Why would I give away the role he had entrusted me to fulfill? Watch your words, Mr. Hwang."

"You should be the one who watches her words. Confidence doesn't suit you, brat."

A man rushed forward, but Hae-in held her arm to block him. She shot him a knowing look. The built, oranged-haired man took a step back and tucked his hands behind him, fixing the Black Lizard's leader with a deadly glare.

"Seems like I came in a wrong time," Cha Hae-in stood up. She smiled at him. "I will visit again tomorrow, so be sure to think about it."

With that, she walked out of the hall. Her subordinates followed her in tow and Dong-suk scrutinized each of them, memorizing each of their faces, then he realized he had only recognized a few of them. Could it be that the new Dual Swords boss had replaced most of them? How pathetic! He thought. Though, he noticed someone was staring at him within the departing crowd, he barely could tell who it was, due to he amount of dark-clad members.

He shook his head.

"They'll just waste their time," muttered Dong-suk. Then, his lips tugged into a smirk. "With that woman leading, looks like the Dual Swords is going to fall from the highest ranks."

"You will finally get the taste of victory, boss!" His nearest subordinate concurred.

He laughed. "Now! Fetch me a drink. Are the ladies available? Tell them I'll be there at the club by eight!"

There was nothing Dong-suk had to worry about.

Cha Hae-in looked rather inexperienced for a leader, and he had a good eye for a person's character, so he wasn't doubting when he hadn't taken her seriously. He was telling the truth. The Destroyer had been a man he knew as lethal and ruthless, but he could not find those two things in the clan's new leader.

He wouldn't be surprised if the clan would crumble.

He wondered if the other clans had known about the news. And if they did, they might probably start plotting. The higher the clan was, the more power they held over the rest of the clans, but Dong-suk just chose to be stubborn. They would gain nothing from him.

. . . At least that was what he thought.

The sky had turned dark by the time Dong-suk had stepped out of his shower, donned in a white nightgown over his soaked body. He scrubbed a clean tower to wait for his hair to dry. He made his way to his wardrobe and scanned through the assortment of clothes, tugging one for a quick inspection then shoving it back, and proceeded to rummage through until he finally chose one, but just before he could pull something out—

He heard an uproar.

*crash!*

*thud!*

*bang!*

"What the hell is that ruckus?" Dong-suk grumbled. He shoved the door shut and stormed out of his room, he walked barefooted across the corridor and reached the stairs where he climbed down to find out what chaos was raging in his humbled home. "OI! What are you fools doing when I'm in the middle of—"

He paused his sentence.

Fighting amongst one another was the last thing his clan could ever do. Unless there was a traitor. But this time, Dong-suk couldn't believe it in his eyes — someone was raging havoc and taking each of his crew down.

A man, donned in a black attire and a black mask to conceal his true face, was firing punches at his men. He moved in a blink of an eye, as fast as a lightning, Dong-suk could barely analyze his movements. He stood in a frozen shock. Some guys had brought out their guns to pull the trigger, but the intruder lunged at them first and tore the weapon out of their hands to smash it against their heads to knock them out.

Dong-suk caught another man pulled out another gun to point it to his back. He let out a grin. However, when the masked intruder turned around, a knife struck his subordinate at the neck — the blade came straight from the man himself as if he knew someone would point a gun behind him.

Just who. . . Is that guy?!

Once all bodies were on the floor, while some seemed to be remaining on the ground in fear, the intruder was the only one left standing. Dong-suk met his eyes. Shivers ran down his spine. His heel bumped against the staircase which he almost tripped, and when he looked up, the masked man began to near him.

Growling, Dong-suk clenched his fist and lurched his punch. But the man raised his arm to block his and punched the clan leader's abdomen with his other hand, sending him to the staircase. Agony cried throughout his body. Dong-suk was about to rise again when a boot pushed him back, the man's size was smaller than him, yet had the weight of bigger than his own — or perhaps that was just how powerful he could be.

He grunted. "What— what do you want?! Who sent you?!"

The man took off his mask and rested his arm on top of his leg that was pressing him down. Dong-suk widened his eyes. The face looked familiar, as if he had just seen him earlier. . . Right!

It was the man who stood next to Cha Hae-in during their meeting.

"Accept the agreement and then I will leave," he said gruffly.

Dong-suk still managed to laugh. "Cha sent you, didn't she? How wonderful! Isn't she that des—"

The muzzle of a gun touched the bottom of his jaw. He swallowed in fear. The gaze above him was dark and cold, almost as if the abyss itself was staring into his soul.

"If I hear her name from your filthy mouth, I'll burst a hole through your damn skull," the man growled and pressed the gun deeper, his finger moving to the trigger. "Do we have a deal? Accept the terms and I will no longer set a foot in this place."

"Y— yes! Yes! I'll accept the terms!" Dong-suk croaked out. "Just leave this place already!"

His lips curled into a grin. "Good."

The man lifted his foot off him. Dong-suk was about to push himself up again when a powerful strike bruised his face, blood dripped on the ground from his nose and his cheek was burning in excruciation.

"That's for insulting my boss." The intruder walked away. One of the men soon rose after being knocked out, but was shot in the shoulder to collapse again.

It seems I have underestimated Destroyer's daughter. . . Dong-suk thought.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Sung Jin-woo returned to the Dual Swords building a few moments later, after taking a quick stop at the convenience store for a canned drink. Everything was in dead silence just like he had left it. The building was also the home of every member of the clan, so in that way, the members wouldn't have to journey all the way for a meeting. He knew everyone in his clan, especially his boss—

She was Cha Hae-in. His friend since childhood and the person he swore to serve for the rest of his life. He was her right-hand man the moment her father had given her his place. It had been a week since Hae-in had took over the clan, she first announced her presence to the clans they were allied with and continued with the unfinished businesses her father had left.

Jin-woo walked out of the elevator and made his way to his door. He peeled his gloves off and touched the handle to open it when he heard someone call his name.

"Jin-woo?"

A smile lit on his features as he turned over his shoulder. "Yes?"

"Have you gone somewhere?"Hae-in asked.

"Yeah, I just took a walk and bought this," he held up his drink. "Want me to go back and buy you one?"

"Oh, thank you, but I'm good." Hae-in smiled.

Jin-woo nodded. "What are you doing up this late?"

"I was heading to see Byung-gyu. He sent me a message that he finally found the White Frost's new location and said he's going to try to call the contact number." Hae-in explained.

"That's great to hear. But, are you sure you aren't overworking yourself?" Jin-woo said to her. "You don't have to do everything at once. I'm always here to take on any task."

Hae-in smiled. "You don't have to worry anything about me, Jin-woo. And yes, I can always call you if I need help." She glanced at his door. "Now go inside and take some rest."

"Alright," nodded Jin-woo and went inside. Instead of closing, he left a small space to let his left eye peer outside, watching his boss walk past his door and proceed with her journey to see Byung-gyu, the head technician of the Dual Swords.

Leadership had brought her to a new light. Hae-in had promised her father that she would never fail him and maintain the clan's glory. As a result, she poured herself into work and taught herself how to become a better leader. So far, she hadn't done a single mistake, and Jin-woo was proud of her for that.

Unfortunately, due to her status and the revelation that she was Destroyer's successor, a lot of bosses did not take her seriously, especially people like Dong-suk. Jin-woo had witnessed harsh words were thrown at Hae-in, they mocked and even laughed at her, and it brought nothing but make his blood boil. He had to fight every urge to wreck their faces until pain was all they cry, but Hae-in, the woman of composure she was, would always stop him by her signal.

Every word, every mockery. . . She took it all and dismissed it, reasoning that she came for business, not to fight. Unlike her father, who hated it when things didn't go on his way, Hae-in took a calmer path and relied on her brains.

And Jin-woo liked her for that.

The next day, they visited the Black Lizard again and initiated the meeting. Surprisingly, the clan's boss had appeared quicker. Jin-woo resisted his grin upon the sight of Dong-suk, whose face was bandaged just like most of the members around, and he saw no glint of arrogance in his eyes, but anxiety.

"Seems like you had a rough night, Mr. Hwang," spoke Hae-in. She cleared her throat. "Anyways, about the—"

"I accept!" Dong-suk exclaimed.

"Come again?"

He grunted. "I accept the negotiation. Call me whenever you need weapons and I shall provide you the best in quality."

"Hm," Hae-in's eyes lit up and leaned back on her seat, crossing her arms over her chest. She grinned. "I do not have time for jokes, Mr. Hwang. You know that I can destroy everything you have if you do not stay true to your words."

"I mean it! I'll even give you anything you want. I swear on my grave that I will not betray you, Ms. Cha." Dong-suk said to her.

Hae-in spared her second-in-command a look. Jin-woo met her eyes, hearing the silent question whether or not they should trust Dong-suk. Remembering what he had done last night, Jin-woo could tell that the Black Lizard boss was not lying, especially when there was a pint of dread under his tone.

"There is nothing wrong in trying, isn't it, Ms. Cha?" Jin-woo said. He looked across the table, flashing Dong-suk with a grin. "If Mr. Hwang turns back on his words, whether he means it sincerely or not, everyone knows what Destroyer does to traitors. I wouldn't mind if his daughter follows his example."

The whole place fell into an ominous silence. Several of the Dual Swords members smirked. A wave of satisfaction flushed in when the opposing clan realized they had been overpowered.

"Very well. So that settles it!" Hae-in stood up. "Oh, I will be leaving my right-hand man, Mr. Sung Jin-woo," she placed her hand on his shoulder, "here and some chosen people of his choice to see the weapons."

"A— as you wish, Ms. Cha," Dong-suk mumbled.

Hae-in smiled at him. She turned to Jin-woo. "Report back once you are done."

"Will do, Ms. Cha," Jin-woo replied, twitching the edge of his mouth to reciprocate her smile. At last. . . Another problem was solved. He was thankful that he was given this task, in that way, he could enjoy seeing Dong-suk's crumbling composure beneath his eyes.

Did Hae-in know the truth behind his nightly walk? No, he didn't think she would need to.

Hae-in wouldn't need to know what he truly did whenever he was taking a walk on his own in some time of the night.

Jin-woo had made a promise to himself that he would protect her in every way he could. He knew she was strong and tough, but as his duty as one of her most trusted people, he must know when to take action to his hands if people had stepped way into the line. Hae-in had too much on her plate, so Jin-woo was not going to allow anything else bother her more.

Once his time was done in the Black Lizard, he and his companions went back to the headquarters. Jin-woo parked his motorcycle into one of the available slots and turned his keys to switch off the engine. He took off his helmet and shook his head before combing his fingers through his messy hair.

"Home at last!" Tae-gyu raised his fists in the air. "Geez, those guys give me the creeps. I don't understand why Sung even chose me to stay!"

"Well, someone has to watch his back," Kanae said as she against her motorcycle, spinning her keys around her finger.

Tae-gyu glared at her. "Says the one who punched one of the guards when we are supposed to inspect the rifles!"

"He's staring at me inappropriately. What can you expect me to do?!"

Jin-woo sighed. "Let's go, you two. I still have something to report to Ms. Cha."

"Ohoho~ why are you always excited to see boss? I've always wondered. It's not like she's going to be mad when she didn't specify a time for us to return." Kanae huffed.

"She gave me a task, so I must get it done," Jin-woo said.

"Huh. No wonder why most of the guys envy you. You are devoted to your role as her second-in-command so much that everyone has pretty much called you 'her favorite'."

"Isn't that how a second-in-command supposed to do?"

Tae-gyu clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Look, man, what Kanae is trying to say— before we were recruited, boss chose you, who came out of the blue, to be her number two without a second thought. Are you sure you didn't know her for a long time?"

"I met her father before he stepped down," Jin-woo partially lied. He couldn't bring out the whole story as it was too personal and he worried that the others might view the relationship he had with her differently. "He discovered that I used to work as a mercenary until I decided to take a different path and become part of the Dual Swords."

"Mercenary, eh?" Kanae pushed herself from her vehicle and walked past him. "Seems like the reason behind it is another story to tell. Welp! I'll just wait for it and get my beer ready."

"At least that explains why he's so lethal in a fight," Tae-gyu shrugged as he got off and headed to the door. "Good thing I didn't challenge him for a match, otherwise I'd be in a wheelchair."

Jin-woo chuckled.

There were a lot of things the whole clan didn't know about him. To them, he was just someone outside the clan whom the former boss knew and that his recruitment was one of the things Hae-in must do in favor of her late father. Jin-woo might have gotten along with a lot of people, yet some held a certain grudge against him for stealing the spot they had been desiring to have.

He could say that they were unfortunate. But to Jin-woo, he had planned everything out — to gain Destroyer's utmost respect, he must have a job that was under his interest and that was someone who was capable than an average human. And a mercenary was one of the options. Jin-woo had spent three years in the service before announcing to his superiors about his resignation, knowing well enough that he would be able to take on any task.

Luck might as well played a part, but the Dual Swords had been his main goal.

He asked around to where the boss was, which he received some looks, yet they still answered his question. No matter how disgruntled they were to see his attachment to their leader, they knew better than to face his wrath. Jin-woo nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets as he proceeded his way to where Cha Hae-in was.

She was at the kitchen, preparing a cup of coffee on the counter. She had her back facing him, which willed his urge to sneak up and surprise her, but Jin-woo decided that'd be a task for some time.

He cleared his throat as he walked up to her. "The weapons are all fine. Mr. Hwang had also presented the knives and they had been inspected by Kanae — she said that they are easy to carry and the edges are sharp. Meanwhile, Tae-gyu and I checked the firearms, most of them are in best conditions."

"Great work. The Black Lizard will be a very useful to the Dual Swords in the near future." Hae-in said. She turned around and stirred her teaspoon around her cup. "Did Dong-suk pick up a fight?"

Jin-woo let out a chuckle. Oh, if only she was there to witness how Dong-suk had not dared to take a step close to him. "No. If anything, he looked quite nervous."

"Wow. To think how Dong-suk acted when I first visited, I wonder what made him so afraid." Hae-in shrugged. She took a sip on her coffee and began to walk past him.

Unfortunately, Jin-woo moved aside to block her path. He smirked at her. "Probably because he realized how fearsome the boss can be. Am I right, Hae-in?"

"You just called me by my name," said his boss. "Jin-woo—"

"There's nobody here," Jin-woo spoke in a low voice as he leaned his head down to her height. "Don't worry. I still have our deal."

Hae-in glowered. "You better."

"Promises are promises."

"Whatever you say," she shook her head. "I'll be in the office if you need me."

Jin-woo was about to say something, yet decided to hold himself back, knowing what reaction she would make if he spoke his mind out. Even if they had known each other for a long time, it wouldn't stop the disdain some of the members had toward Jin-woo, and even though he was not affected by it, Hae-in still thought it would be better that way.

Jin-woo could only imagine their faces would be if they found out. . . But if Hae-in didn't wish to reveal her deep connection to him, then he would respect it.

After all, becoming her right-hand man was more important and it meant having more reasons to stay by her side.

Later that day, Jin-woo was at the gym. It was located in the top floor of the headquarters. Sweat tricked on his sun-kissed skin as he fired punches at Yoon-ho, who was blocking his attacks with the boxing pads. Yoon-ho was one of the few people who could reach his level of power. With a large built, muscular arms, and a terrifying gaze, Yoon-ho was a fearsome man who had come from a lineage of powerful people.

And he was exactly the person Jin-woo liked to spar with since others who had challenged him were a bunch of pieces of cake.

Yoon-ho lurched his hand forward, but Jin-woo ducked and launched another punch at the abdomen. Yoon-ho grunted and retaliated. Jin-woo blocked and slung his arm around his opponent's neck, then Yoon-ho threw his weight on the ground to release the firm grip off him.

Jin-woo rolled across the mat and pressed his palm to steady himself. He rushed again and struck his fist. Yoon-ho blocked it with the pad he was wearing, along with the rest of the incessant punches his comrade had fired at him. Such situations would've ended his opponent ending with a bruise, but Yoon-ho was built different, his concentration was sharper than a blade itself. Jin-woo threw his leg toward him this time and managed to hit some area in Yoon-ho's hip.

Yoon-ho flinched.

Jin-woo let out a grin, knowing he finally got an advantage. So, he was about to lunge his fist again when a loud voice boomed in the air.

"Yoon-ho!" Hae-in called across the place. "Are you done?"

Jin-woo paused his supposed attack as the two of them turned to their superior.

"What is it, boss?" Yoon-ho asked.

"There is something I need you do," she held out a few papers to him. "Goto Ryuji of the Razor Fangs is here in the country. Take Jong-in since he's good at persuading people and Kanae too — she can serve as your translator in case neither of you don't understand each other."

"And then we will hand these papers to him?"

She nodded. "Yes. I found them in one of the drawers and as it turned out, our clan and the Razor Fangs have an unofficial alliance. Once Goto Ryuji signs these, we finally have them on our side."

"Will do, Ms. Cha!" Yoon-ho stepped down from the platform and walked past her.

"Be sure to hit the showers first!" Hae-in shouted. "You know how Jong-in doesn't like the way you smell after sparring with someone!"

Yoon-ho raised his thumb above his head as he exited the gym. Now. . . It was Hae-in and Jin-woo in the place. An idea sparked in Jin-woo's mind, he moved over to the edge and crouched on his toes to place his arms on his lap.

"Wanna spar, Ms. Cha?" He asked her with a grin.

Hae-in turned to him, raising an eyebrow. "Aren't you tired from Yoon-ho just now?"

"Yoon-ho is just one guy. Besides, you know that I've fought an entire group by myself." Jin-woo shrugged. When they had come to visit the first clan, someone had attempted to assault Hae-in, which soon ended up Jin-woo fighting the guards. "I can still handle someone like you."

"Is that so?" Something glinted in her eyes. "I may have lost to you in our first spar, but you know how strong I've gotten, right?"

Of course, he knew. While he fought the guards, Hae-in had dealt with the clan's leader and made sure she got off her high-horse rather than commencing an attack out of the blue. Besides that, Hae-in had made the clan boss pay for what she had done by destroying every connection she had with other clans and made them go to the Dual Swords for alliance.

She was quite more dangerous than her own father.

Jin-woo smirked. "I accept the challenge, Hae-in."

So, Hae-in joined him on the platform and took off her jacket to toss it on the edge, leaving her with a dirty green tank top. Her eyes blazed with determination as she faced Jin-woo's competitive grin. She clenched her hands into fists, whereas her opponent waited with his hands on his sides, and finally. . . She dashed forward.

She first swung her leg at him, but Jin-woo blocked it with his hand, along with her incoming punch. He retaliated with the same move this time, only to go past her. But Hae-in used his extended arm to grab it with her own and yanked it downward and rolled over his back to move on the other side and struck his stomach with her foot.

"You did get stronger, huh?" Jin-woo remarked.

"Please. . . Just because you used to be a mercenary doesn't mean you are the strongest." Hae-in huffed.

"Well see about that!"

This time, Jin-woo took the first attack and shot his aim at her. As expected, Hae-in quickly stepped aside. Jin-woo how powerful his attacks could get, he could even break a bone, but no matter how concerned he get at the thought of possibly hurting Hae-in, he had faith in her that she would be unscathed throughout the whole fight.

Hae-in had been taking defense lessons from her mentor since she was young. Her father had made it sure that she would be capable of conquering anything against her path and that included getting her hands dirty from her opponents or enemies.

She was known as 'The Dancer' in the clan due to her flexible movements almost appearing like dance moves. She was swift and had a sharp eye for retaliations. Hae-in was another person whom Jin-woo liked to spar with, her combat strategy rivaled his brute attacks as though she had the whole fight analyzed and sometimes knew two steps ahead for the next attack.

Jin-woo began dodging her attacks and did some occasional blockages with his arm if her aims were heading toward his head or if she was using her legs. Her agility never ceased to amaze him.

Finally, he grabbed her left fist and spun her around until her back was pressed against his chest. Several tendrils of her hair had latched on her cheeks while her chest was heaving above his arm. Jin-woo let his lips curled into a smirk as he leaned down on her ear, fanning his breath over the shell, thus feeling her shiver against him.

"Exhausted already, Ms. Cha?" He said.

At first, Hae-in panted. Jin-woo saw another bead of sweat streaming down on her neck. Something ignited in him. Then, she spoke. "No."

Hae-in crashed her elbow against his torso and freed herself from his grip and slammed her leg against his that was strong enough to jerk his kneecap forward. She whirled around to grab his shoulder to pin him on the ground.

Jin-woo was about to make another move when Hae-in pressed her arm against his neck and placed her leg on the other side of his waist, straddling him while her other leg had found its way between his own. She flashed him a smirk amidst her breaths.

"I win this time, Mr. Sung."

"You rascal."

She chuckled. "If that's the case—"

A yelp burst out of her mouth when strong hands went to her waist and Jin-woo pinned her this time. He placed his hand next to her head. Hae-in stared at him wide-eyed, which he laughed lowly at her reaction.

"You can never let your guard down even if you are close with your opponent," he told her.

Hae-in recovered and sent him a glare. "I just had you!"

"You knew I won't surrended until I say so."

"Jackass," she rolled her eyes.

Jin-woo chuckled. "We can go for another one if you are so determined to win."

Suddenly, a phone began to ring.

Jin-woo pushed himself off her, knowing whose phone it belonged, and Hae-in got up to make her way toward her discarded jacket to pull out her phone from one of the pockets. She answered it and pressed the screen to her ear.

"What is it, Hee-jin?" She asked the caller

There was silence as Hae-in listened to whatever Hee-jin got to say. Then, Jin-woo noticed the change of expression on his boss. With her lips slightly parted, he could already tell that something bad had just happened. Once the call was over, Hae-in was left staring on her phone, deep in thought.

"Did something happen?" Jin-woo walked toward her.

"Jin-woo." Hae-in began. "Do you know who could be a spy in this clan?"

Jin-woo widened his eyes.

A spy? As far as he knew, the clan was composed of people who had passed the trustworthiness level in Destroyer's eyes and also Hae-in's most trusted acquaintances. Everyone knew what would happen if somebody dared to turn their back on the clan. It would be as if death was in their doorstep in every breath.

"I'll see what I can do, Hae-in," said Jin-woo. "You don't have to worry."

"How can I not worry? This is the very first time I've heard that someone is plotting to betray the clan! I— I maintained everything the way it is and, and. . . " Hae-in began to panic.

Jin-woo instinctively pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her frame. He rubbed her arm to ease her senses. "You are doing a great job. I'm sorry that my words made you overthink. But believe me when I say that you are not failing as a leader, and I assure you — we'll get that traitor before anything else happens."

"I can only hope, Jin-woo. . . " Hae-in sighed.

And so, Hae-in had called for a private meeting with her most trusted people: Tae-gyu, Hee-jin, Byung-gyu, and Dong-wook. Jong-in, Yoon-ho, and Kanae had also arrived just in time when the members were being summoned. They accumulated in the office where the walls were thick and nobody could hear even from the door. Jin-woo locked the doorknob and joined the group.

Everyone was shocked, except Hee-jin, when their boss had declared the news.

"I just got Goto to sign the papers and I came home to this? What gives?!" Jong-in gritted his teeth.

"Usually, it's the neighboring clans who does all the spying. In return, they spent a week of suffering." Dong-wook said. "Clearly, it's way worse if that is one of ours, right?"

"Yes," Hae-in grumbled. Her eyebrows furrowed into a glare. "Which is why I called you all here and do an underhand inspection on everyone. And but everyone— that includes dad's. Who knows maybe that person had been plotting way back? We need an immediate action!"

"I can update the security cameras." Byung-gyu suggested.

She nodded. "Thank you, Byung-gyu."

"I'll take a night patrol with Yoon-ho." Tae-gyu said.

"I will prepare the weapons to use once we got that snake."

"Just keep your ears up for any sus conversations, Kanae. Let boss do the decision of punishment."

"I'll talk to some of the members and see if I can get any trace of treachery."

"Oh! I can join in the night patrol. This building is pretty big, and Tae-gyu and Yoon-ho can't watch over all corners at once."

Hae-in nodded and smiled at everyone's suggestions. It made her feel glad that she had people she could trust with anything. "Thank you, everyone. I may still be getting a hand on this position, but thanks to you all, the Dual Swords is maintaining its glory."

"Don't downgrade yourself, Hae-in! You are the one who has been working very hard not to tarnish the clan's name." Hee-jin said to her. "You are such a good boss!"

Hae-in chuckled.

Meanwhile, Jin-woo had a smile on his face. Just moments ago, Hae-in was trying to keep herself together, but now— she was back to her determined self. Even then, Hae-in always had moments where she felt she was not good enough, but in the end, she picked herself up and took her strength back. She was the softest and toughest person he knew.

Everyone had their own part to play. Jin-woo, who was the only one who hadn't spoken a word since the meeting began, had his own plan and besides that, he must also guard Hae-in for any unexpected attacks when he was not around.

Sure, he knew that she could take care of herself, but he could never let his guard down. Especially when the clan was in a situation that a single traitor would bring everything into shambles.

He promised to her father. He promised to her. He promised to himself.

Jin-woo asked Byung-gyu to send him all of everyone's documents and a few minutes later, he received a file with all of the resumes and backgrounds of the members. He sat on his chair and began to analyze the information of each person, even taking note of any detail that was deemed as dubious to him.

This had become his routine. In the day, he would stay by Hae-in's side while she did her own work and discussed meetings with the visiting leaders, she also did her role in finding the spy among her clan as she could not sit still even though Jong-in and the others reassured her not to stress about them. Jin-woo, being the right-hand man he was, would distract her in any way he could such as spending meals with her and chatting various topics that didn't involve the Dual Swords.

One of her favorite topics was his family. Hae-in was an only child whose mother had passed away when she was very young and her father was focusing on his work most of the time. Therefore, she didn't have a lot of memories in terms of family. And unlike her, Jin-woo was raised in a loving family, he had his parents and also a little sister who had graduated from college two years ago.

Speaking of his family, his phone let out a sound in the middle of his lunch with Hae-in. Jin-woo picked it up and saw a message from his mother.

[ Kyung-hye (mom): Jin-woo! I was going to call you just now, but your father said you might be busy. You know that your sister is going to get married this week, right? I hope you'll come home and spend at least three days here. You hadn't been home for a long time and I miss my son already. xx mom. ]

Jin-woo widened his eyes in realization. Jin-ah was going to marry Yoo Jin-ho, who was also Jin-woo's closest friend in college, two days from now. He couldn't believe he had forgotten such an event whereas he was too caught up on capturing the spy. . .

"Is there something wrong, Jin-woo?" Hae-in asked.

Jin-woo looked up from his phone and placed it down. "Nothing. I just got a message from my mom, telling me to come home now that Jin-ah is going to get married this Thursday."

"Jin-ah? That's great news!" Hae-in smiled. "Why didn't you tell me, Jin-woo?"

Jin-woo swallowed. "I might have forgotten it—"

"Some brother you are," she rolled her eyes and brought her spoon to her mouth.

"Can you blame me for being so dedicated to my job?" Jin-woo said. "And besides, I still haven't track down that—"

"Jin-woo." Hae-in cut him off. "Take a few days off."

" . . . " Jin-woo raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

She groaned. "Go to your family and attend your sister's wedding. I'll hand my gift to you so you can give it to her at the event. This is an important day in your sister's life, so don't miss it."

"What about you?"

"What about me? Jin-woo, I know you're just looking out for me, and I appreciate that." Hae-in let out a smile. "But I can take care of myself and I'll never let my guard down. So go ahead — everything will be fine once you're back."

"But—"

"That's an order."

Jin-woo sighed.

Hae-in was the most stubborn person he knew.

But knowing that Hae-in hadn't seen anyone in his family for such a long time, Jin-woo knew he must go back to his family with the presents, not just for Jin-ah.

After Hae-in had chosen Jong-in to occupy his place, Jin-woo made sure to brief everything to him, only then to receive an eye-roll at his substitute. Everyone knew how serious Jin-woo was toward his job and that he wouldn't abandon it no matter what. But since his family needed him. . . He must be with them.

And besides, he missed them too.

He left the next day and rode on his motorcycle to the small town in Gangwon. Once he arrived, he expected to see his family, but it was his father who had greeted him and Jin-ho came out of nowhere and hugged him tightly. Jin-woo realized he had come home to a bachelor party. He sighed.

It seemed that he wouldn't be reuniting with his mother and sister until he was at the wedding venue.

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It had been three days since Jin-woo had left to be with his family. Not that Hae-in was missing him already, although she was, but she wanted him to spend more time with his parents and sister, along with his newly brother-in-law. The thought of it had rather made her feel quite jealous of him — to have a family to come home to behind the life of being part of a dangerous clan. . .

Jin-woo was indeed the luckiest person she had ever known.

Hae-in shook her head. She shouldn't probably think about him too much. . . Not when the spy was finally found.

It was Kang Tae-shik.

He was one of the youngest members around when her father was still reigning in the clan. He was a sniper just like Tae-gyu and was one of the fastest around, yet also very dangerous. Kang Tae-shik was the kind of person who found joy in inflicting pain around people and even laughed when his victims cried in agony. Hae-in even felt quite uncomfortable around him due to the malice in his eyes and the devilish smile on his face.

So finding out that he would be the snake to bite them, Hae-in should've trusted her instincts and saw beyond the fact that he was one of her father's best members.

Byung-gyu had kept a close eye on him through the tracking device that he installed from the tracker he had Tae-gyu place on him. So when the clock hit nine, he caught the red dot had left the building and called his boss.

They immediately geared up and got on their motorcycles to follow the traitor. Along the way, Hae-in realized Tae-shik was heading to a place that was somewhat familiar to her, so she called a close ally of hers to ask for a favor.

The clan soon arrived in their destination and parked their vehicles on the side. Hae-in took off her helmet and hung it on the handlebar, she removed her phone from the holder and noticed the flickering red dot was still on the move.

"Ms. Cha."

Hae-in looked up and was met by a familiar face. She smiled. "Mr. Woo."

Woo Jin-chul, the boss of the Golden Piercers, lightly smiled back and nodded. He was a close friend of hers in college and the successor of his grandfather to the clan. The Golden Piercers was the first clan who reached out for an alliance when Jin-chul learned that Hae-in was now leading the Dual Swords.

"How has leadership been treating you?" Jin-chul said.

"Great. Sometimes difficult, but I managed."

"Good to know. And oh, I notice that your right-hand man isn't with you."

"Jin-woo? Well, he had some important matters in his family to attend to." Hae-in replied. "He should be gone for a couple of days."

"I see," nodded Jin-chul. "Anyways, as you've said, I had some of my men scatter around to catch that traitor of yours."

"Thank you, Jin-chul. The Dual Swords shall be in your debt." Hae-in thanked him.

"A nice coffee with the boss should suffice," grinned Jin-chul.

"Guys!" Byung-gyu exclaimed. He stared at his device. "I think he stopped moving."

Hae-in checked her phone and spotted Tae-shik was in the northern-east. Her face scrunched into a glare. "Everyone, let's move!"

It was an old construction site. She had a strange feeling about it, so she asked Jin-chul to move his subordinates around the area. Jin-chul obliged and called his right-hand man, Liu Zhigang, to lead their crew in the construction site. They rushed toward the unfinished establishment and was greeted by a bunch of muscular men, cracking their knuckles in the entrance.

Hae-in walked up to them first, fixating the group with a cold gaze. She reached her hand over the baton she hid under her shirt. "Step. Away."

The men spared one another a look, chuckling. One made his way toward her and grinned maliciously. "Well, aren't you such a—"

*WHAM!*

Hae-in slammed his neck with her now outstretched baton and ducked over to hit her elbow against his waist and rushed to his back and shoved him to the ground with her foot. The rest of the group had made their attack, but Kanae was the first one to lunge at them and was followed by the rest.

Hae-in managed to push through them and entered the building. She turned and saw someone had their gun pointed at her and was about to pull the trigger until a bullet burst into their head.

It was Hee-jin. Hae-in flashed her a brief smile and began to hear gunshots resonating through the quiet place. It must be the Golden Piercers doing their job. She looked at her phone and noticed Tae-shik still hadn't moved.

Could he be waiting for someone? Or the person was already there?

Nonetheless, Hae-in knew she must hurry.

"Ms. Cha! Look out!"

She looked up and caught someone throwing a punch at her, so she swerved and grabbed the knife in her boot to stab the attacker on the neck. Blood spilled out and she shoved them out of her way. Hae-in rushed to the stairs where more people came to block her, but she quickly swung her leg at them and dragged her body aside to strike her fist at their bodies.

Just how many people were in this abandoned place? Could there be a clan she didn't know about?

Tae-shik was in the top floor. Hae-in's blood boiled just at the thought of him, which drove her attacks into becoming more harder at the ones who were on her path. She even knocked someone out and used him as a shield against the raging bullets. She dashed toward the gunman and stomped on his leg to snap the gun out of his wrist and used it to hit on his head.

She had gone ahead of the others. But did she think that how many could be in the top floor? No, and she would be still prepared anyway. What mattered to her was to get the traitor in her bare hands and make him beg helplessly for her forgiveness.

Hae-in made to the top floor and two guards were standing on each side of the door, but she shot them through their heads as she strode toward them. She kicked the door to bust it open.

"Kang Tae-shik! Where the hell are you and face me with that damn face of yours!" Hae-in bellowed.

There were people. . . Lots of them.

And the person she was looking for was just right inside of the crowd.

The others were still fighting downstairs, and since Hae-in was fast, it might take some time for them to follow.

Not that she was afraid, the fate of her clan was in her hands. Her father. The people who had created a place in her heart. They were all depending on her.

"Ah, boss! What a surprise? Are you here to see me? How nice!" Tae-shik exclaimed. "Too bad Big Man isn't here yet. Wanna wait for him with us?"

"Shut the hell up!!" Hae-in yelled at him. "My father had taken you in under his roof! How could you betray him like that?!"

"Aw! Daddy's little girl has spoken!" Tae-shik guffawed. "You know, I quite anticipated that you'd find out at some point. So I'mma give you brownie points for being clever!"

She gritted her teeth. "You know I can kill you here in an instant, right?"

"Hmm. . . Be my guest!" Tae-shik spread out his arms. "Kill me." The smirk in his face grew. "If you can handle these guys. Big Man has thugs, murderers, any dangerous people you know."

"Do I give a bullshit?" Hae-in growled. "I won't stop until I get my hands on you, you imbecile."

"Okay!" Tae-shik clasped his hands together. "It was nice knowing you, Cha Hae-in. Hopefully this fight will last long for Big Man to witness."

The men rushed to attack her. Hae-in's adrenaline pumped as she fought them, pouring every ounce of her power into taking them down as possible. She ducked and swerved and hit everywhere she could land her eyes on. She slit her knife through them and pushed through, aiming to reach Tae-shik.

Her mentor told her that she was stronger than she ever thought. Her father may have been one of the deadliest people to exist, but she had her own way of being lethal.

Hae-in had a dream, and that was being with her father and create memories with him that she never received as a child. However, he had passed before they could even continue those memories together. Her dream crumbled. . . But instead of swimming in grief, Hae-in decided to honor him by making him proud.

Bodies soon littered the ground, and even as they managed to get back up, Hae-in brought out her gun and killed them. Her hands quivered, bruised from the battle, and she was trying to hold herself together.

I. . . I still can do this! She reminded herself.

And just in time, her back-up had arrived.

Kanae threw her knives at each of them and Yoon-ho and Dong-wook knocked them senselessly with their fists. Jong-in dodged their attacks before plunging his blade against them. Zhigang also appeared and ruthlessly drew his sword at them, coloring the ground with more red. Now, Kang Tae-shik had his eyes wide in shock — the very first time fear had touched the demon.

"Are you still able?" Jin-chul asked her, holding his pistol.

Hae-in drew the back of her hand under her chin. Tae-shik still stood and watched the chaos in front of him. Her blood fueled and was hungry to make him feel tremendous amount of pain. "Just get me a clear path to the traitor."

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"Are you alright, son?"

Jin-woo looked away from the sea to his father. "Dad."

"You've been like this ever since your sister packed all of her things from the house," said Ill-hwang. He sighed. "Can you believe it? Your little sister is not so little anymore. It feels like it has been yesterday since she learned how to walk. . . "

"You and mom cried."

"Hey! You can't expect your mother and I not to be emotional. When you said your first word, I actually asked my boss for a day off to spend time with you."

Jin-woo chuckled. "I wonder what will it be once you have a grandchild."

"Oho! Don't get me started on that! I was thinking of starting a bet with your mother." Ill-hwang laughed and placed his hands on his hips. "But something tells me that there is another reason why you're out here after eating dinner."

"Sorry. I'm just. . . Worried." Jin-woo sighed.

"About Hae-in?"

He looked at his father.

Ill-hwang let out a smile. "You want to go back, don't you?"

"Something just came up. But, it's been so long since we've eaten together as family." Jin-woo frowned.

"Jin-woo, you're twenty-five years old. You know that you are free to do whatever you want." His father told him. "And besides, I was kind of hoping that you'd bring her here next time. Isn't she the reason why you asked me to let you become a mercenary? It's amazing how Hae-in has this much effect on you."

Jin-woo hummed. "Are you sure you and mom will be okay with me going back even though my days off isn't over?"

"Like I said, you are free to do whatever you want. You love this woman so much." Ill-hwang said. "So, when are you leaving?"

Before Jin-woo could answer his father, he felt his phone vibrate against his pocket. He pulled it out and saw Jong-in's message. His heart suddenly raced. "Now."

So, Jin-woo raced back to his house and immediately began shoving his clothes into his bag. His mother asked him what was going on, he told her that there was an emergency in the Dual Swords. Jin-woo planted a quick kiss on his cheek and hugged his father before rushing to his motorcycle.

Fortunately, it was night, therefore there weren't a lot of vehicles driving in the road. Jin-woo accelerated the speed and drove his vehicle rapidly, almost the same way his heart was.

The spy was found. The Dual Swords had gone out to capture him. A fight occured.

But Jong-in's last sentence was what pushed him into returning to the headquarters as much as possible. Jin-woo couldn't believe it.

When he reached the building, he parked his motorcycle and rushed to the stairs instead of the elevator. Jin-woo raced up the stairs and didn't take a moment to pause and catch his breath. Seeing his boss was his priority. No matter how his shirt had been drenched in sweat due to the endless run, he didn't care.

He shoved the door open and entered the right floor. He dashed past the rooms and turned to the right hallway where Hae-in's quarters was located. Suddenly, Jong-in blocked his way.

"I just sent you that message one hour and a half ago and you're back already?" Jong-in said. "Some speed you got there, Sung."

"I need to see her, Jong-in!" Jin-woo glared.

"Okay, first of all, let's calm down and— hey!"

Jin-woo shoved his backpack to Jong-in and brushed past his subordinate to make his way to the door. The door was not locked. Thank goodness. He twisted the doorknob and headed inside.

In the middle of the dim room, Hae-in sat on her bed next to the lampshade. Her shirt and jacket was discarded next to her, which only left her in a dark sports bra, and she had a bandaid on the corner of her forehead. Jin-woo sighed in relief upon seeing she was still in one piece. A roll of bandage sat on her lap while she was applying some ointment on her bruised knuckles.

Jin-woo walked toward her. He knelt down in front of her and touched her hand. Hae-in looked up and widened her eyes.

"J— Jin-woo! Since when did you come back?" She asked.

"Jong-in texted me," said Jin-woo. "Why didn't you tell me that you found the spy? I could've gone with you and stopped you from getting hurt!"

"I'm fine, Jin-woo."

"Kang Tae-shik almost stabbed you. How can you expect me to sit still and think that you are okay?!" Jin-woo failed to resist to raise his voice. "Hae-in, who knows what might've happened if you didn't have Mr. Woo with you? I—"

"I'm still alive, Jin-woo. And I'm still here, okay?" Hae-in reassured him. She reached out to touch the side of his face. "All's over now. Yoon-ho had Tae-shik in the basement."

Jin-woo was silent. He just stared at her, eyes filled concern for him when he was the one who was all concerned about her. He touched her hand and leaned against it, then he gently pressed his lips on her inner wrist, he flipped her hand to check the knuckles that were stained with red and even had small specks of bloodied dots. He kissed the back of her hand.

"You know, when we were kids, you once hit your head and couldn't stop crying," he said. "I had to kiss your forehead to make you feel better because your mom often did it to soothe you down."

"I wasn't crying."

"But I can tell you are holding back," Jin-woo told her. He rubbed his thumb on her skin. "You don't have to hide anything from me, Hae-in. You may be my 'boss', but we both know we are more than that." He sighed. "How long do we have to hide it from everyone?"

"I'm sorry," Hae-in murmured.

"I understand. I wouldn't be here if I don't." He said. "Not even your father knew anyways." Jin-woo leaned up and gently pushed her bangs to plant a lingering kiss on her forehead. "I'll take care of the rest, just finish healing yourself and get some shut-eye."

She nodded. "Okay."

Jin-woo got up and left the room. He quietly shut the door behind him and noticed Jong-in was still there, holding his bag. Luckily, Hae-in's walls were thick and all their shared conversations could never be heard.

"Which basement did you guys keep that snake?" He asked the red-haired.

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Tae-shik spit out some blood through his mouth after a solid punch struck his stomach. He panted while he sat on a steel chair. Yoon-ho watched him in an excruciating pain. Dong-wook, Tae-gyu, and Kanae stood nearby. As for the rest in the unfinished building, they were taken by Jin-chul and his clan for interrogation and punish them for using a location owned by the Golden Piercers without permission.

"I told you everything about Big Man! Why are you still beating me up?!" Tae-shik seethed.

"Silence!" Yoon-ho roared. "We didn't bring you here to tell us about that lunatic. You are here because you got something to pay."

"Hasn't me becoming a punching bag enough?!"

"You know the rules here," growled Yoon-ho. "Kanae."

Kanae smirked and took her butterfly knife from her pocket, whipping the sharp blade. She was about to step forward when a new voice chimed in.

"You should sit this one out, Tawata."

She stopped and turned over her shoulder. "Sung?"

Jin-woo stepped out of the shadows, hands tucked into his pockets. A deadly look was plastered on his face. His eyes were darker than ever. Everyone knew that look, they had seen it, and it made them feel glad that they were on his good side. It was either he found out that their boss got hurt or someone insulted her when he was around.

Either way, he must've known that Tae-shik had almost took Hae-in's life during their fight.

There was no other reason why Jin-woo was this mad.

Yoon-ho stepped aside. Tae-shik looked up to the second-in-command of the clan, his bloodied mouth managed to crack into a grin. "Oh. It's you. The loyal dog of the—"

Jin-woo grabbed a fistful of his purple hair and smashed Tae-shik's face against his knee. He didn't allow him to recover from the abrupt attack. Blood dripped from the traitor's nose. Jin-woo threw a kick on his stomach, which was enough to drive the chair against the wall and topple on the floor. Dong-wook, Tae-gyu, Kanae, and Yoon-ho watched every inch of his movement. Jin-woo made his way closer to Tae-shik and raised his foot over his hand and—

Tae-shik cried in agony.

Jin-woo made sure a crack was heard from the hand he had stomped on. His expression remained impassive, but his eyes spoke every emotion within him. If he hadn't left, Jin-woo might've taken Tae-shik out without letting his boss get hurt. . . His lover.

He was done.

Jin-woo was done with people insulting Hae-in instead of acknowledging her. He was done witnessing her absorb all the brutal words. He had enough of people trying to drag her down just because her father was gone and she was his successor.

"If you are that determined to be involved with her, then prove it."

"This life has never been easy, Sung. Now you know why I must stay out of my daughter's life ever since her mother got murdered."

"Go through hell with her. The moment she takes my place, clans will use that to their advantage."

"You know how I hate seeing my daughter meddle with incapable people, young man."

Was he worthy now? It seemed like he did.

Jin-woo swore to himself and he would live by those words for the rest of his life.

An action against her was an action against him.

Jin-woo made Tae-shik suffer in tremendous pain that was greater than the pain his subordinates had delivered. He stopped once Tae-shik no longer moved an inch and looked lifeless. Jin-woo got up and began to leave, feeling satisfied even though he wanted to feed the body to the wolves.

"Is he dead?" Tae-gyu asked.

"Probably. But if he still has a pulse, leave him somewhere to rot." Jin-woo said.

And that was how the problem was eliminated.

Despite needing to heal more, Hae-in argued with him and continued her tasks, but only under the condition that she would give half of them to him. Jin-woo took her place as the clan's representative when Goto Ryuji came to visit and Hae-in dealt with the arrested attackers locked in the Golden Piercers' headquarters. She gathered new information on who the people were working for and commenced a meeting about it with her clan.

Everyone in the building knew what happened to Kang Tae-shik. And that news set as a reminder for the members if they ever thought of stabbing the Dual Swords in the back.

Everything returned to what it was supposed to be.

Jin-woo, on the other hand, had some unfinished business to attend to and a proposal Hae-in could never refuse.

He shut the door behind him and found Hae-in, who was taking off the bandages around her hands. She stretched her hands to inspect it and the wounds were now gone as though they had never existed. A smile curled up on his lips and made his way toward her.

"Hey."

Hae-in looked at him. She smiled. "Hey yourself."

Jin-woo wrapped his arms protectively around her. He brushed his lips briefly on her shoulder before resting his chin on it. Hae-in placed her hands on his arms and leaned against him.

"Is there something you want to tell me, Jin-woo?" She asked.

"Yes. But it's not about clan matters."

Hae-in sighed. "Jin-woo. . . "

"I know. And I still don't mind keeping our relationship as a secret from everyone." Jin-woo said. "If anything, I find it funny that others think you are easy to get when you're already belonged to me for a long time."

Even when he was working as a mercenary, they were still together in spite of the lack of communication. They waited for each other.

"Oh, how much of a surprise it will be if they know that the boss of the Dual Swords is involved with her right-hand man," chuckled Hae-in.

"Do you want to?"

"No. The building will be a mess if that happens."

Jin-woo chuckled and inched his nose to her neck. "How about we go on a date without anyone noticing us? We haven't done that since you took over the clan."

"I thought that being by my side is enough for you?" Hae-in teased.

"No," he pressed his lips on the skin. "I want you to focus on me only."

Hae-in rolled her eyes. "Greedy idiot."

"Want me to show you how greedy I am?"

"Someone could knock from the door."

"I locked it and who cares if someone knocked," Jin-woo grinned. "Unless you can keep yourself quiet. You know how these walls only hold conversations."

Hae-in flushed, yet managed to flash him a glare. "Jin—"

He crashed their lips together hungrily. Jin-woo held the back of her head as he snuck his tongue through her teeth. Hae-in whimpered against him. She turned around to face him properly so their chests were pressed against each other.

Jin-woo felt like breaking some rules today.

Hae-in told him to keep his hands to himself for three months and if he succeeded, she would let him do whatever he wanted. Jin-woo decided to agree with her, but he knew that even if he broke his deal with her, Hae-in would never be mad at him — it was not easy for her to keep resisting him anyway.

Especially now.

Hae-in was as starving as he was.

She ripped his shirt that sent its buttons flying. Jin-woo widened his eyes. He was about to say something when she dragged him down with her.

"You know someone will ask if they see me like this."

"Hmm. . . And whose fault was it?" Hae-in smirked beneath him. "All I ask for is three months."

"How nice to hear that coming from you," Jin-woo growled. He leaned down and fanned his hot breath on her ear. Hae-in shivered. "I hope you'll wear turtlenecks tomorrow."

It was too late for Hae-in to complain now.

#bamf hae-in and bamf jin-woo lezgooo #last fic before school starts aaaaaaaaaa #could've been nice to write these two fighting side-by-side but that's another story for some other time #solo leveling #sung jin woo #cha hae in #jinhae #sl fics by rei

[honeysider]

https://www.tumblr.com/honeysider/739803375060811776/youre-pathetic-in-every-respect?source=share I'm actually interested in what you think the answer is. I'm not saying this to antagonize or bait you, I really want to know. As someone who has seen third parties fail and fail again when trying to breach into bipartisan leadership (don't get me wrong, I don't like either party) it's hard to see how leaving things to the masses (who will most likely vote for Trump) or up to a third party that probably won't win; I'm quite literally at a loss of what to do.

Here's how I see things, personally. You can't fix things in one or even two elections, and you certainly can't fix things by voting for the same party over and over again. This might get rambly.

Like, I wont even get into the viability of elections as a means of engineering political change because I'm assuming you dgaf about that (not a dig, most people consider all the other political stuff like on-the-ground work to be too much for them). I'll explain it in a way that made sense to me when I decided to not waste my time voting in presidential elections.

I do not believe in The Democratic Party or Biden's specific policies as vehicles to advance either my self interest or the interests of others in the country. The lesser of two evils argument doesn't even cut it anymore. Biden is enforcing Trump's old immigration policies even going so far as to continue building the goddamn wall. He doesn't support universal healthcare. He crumbles against any kind of pressure that isn't only rhetoric, basically threw up his hands and gave up when student loan forgiveness was attacked by the courts, and supports the genocide against Palestinians financially. He is mostly indistinguishable from a Republican, save for the theocratic aspects.

Why would I vote for someone I don't believe in?I might go vote for Cornel West because simply put I believe in more of his policies than Biden's, if I vote at all.

And that's the main thing that bothers me about the vote blue no matter who philosophy. You're never supposed to vote for who you believe in. In the primaries you are expected to unite around the Most Likely Candidate To Win The Election, not the candidate who you agree with. I remember when people screamed at Bernie voters because they were voting for the democratic socialist, not any of the mainstream moderate front runners and he started winning states. Pundits and analysts and party activists had a meltdown until the Democrats managed to wrangle everything around Biden.

So point 1, I will only vote for people I believe in. If the Republicans win as a result of enough people doing the same thing, the Democrats should have pushed a better candidate.

And that leads to point 2, Blue No Matter Who doesn't perpetuate a regrettable-but-tolerable lesser of two evils situation. It enables democrats to be as evil as their opponents, just no further than their opponents. The Democratic Party Platform used to include Universal Healthcare, and now it's literally been erased from the platform. Democrats have had three terms between Bush and now and we have only now pulled out of Afghanistan, and we still have troops in Iraq? What? Guantanamo Bay is still active? "Enhanced interrogation" is still being used? The Patriot act is renewed every time it comes up without a yell or a peep? Power is being increasingly centralized in the executive branch? All the big controversies from my childhood are still mostly unsolved today due mostly to Democratic inaction and ineptitude with a dash of Republican malevolence.

My only tool is abstaining from the process. The only thing Democrats believe in are election victories. If you just give them votes no matter who they run they won't care about seriously pursuing real beneficial policy. Let them lose elections until they get the picture.

And look. I know its hard and its scary to imagine Trump in the white house again. But Biden's doing like 99% of his policy anyways, so really all you're voting for now is a facade of political professionalism, not for what you actually believe.

So don't vote, withhold it until Democrats get a clue and get more involved or at least more knowledgeable about state and local politics.

If you want to hear about the Revolution and stuff there are better people to talk to than me tho lol

#sorry i typed this on mobile

[mbti-notes]

Anon wrote: Hello, Thank you for all the insightful posts . I am an INTP and the Issue I am having now Is I am born in a third world country in a small town not economically thriving . A non democratic country that doesn't teach you anything of substance , the elite kids go to the west and we the poor people have to study in rote memorization and passing the exam and before we know it the aha moment of how weak we are hit harder .

I dropped out from university in order to medicate myself from tuberculosis , and then I get cured , and the corona virus lock-down happened and then my father died and my aunt died . All have effected me deeply . The money I have saved for future interviews was wasted . And Now I am definitely in a Si loop , stuck and sometimes my mind and daydreaming sends me to dark places , wishing death upon myself , wanting to just end it , imagining myself being angry and hitting someone and hitting his face with my feet . I truly have become unhealthy and destructive . Feeling guilty , imagining how I could have done it better .

I constantly feel worthless and think how useless I am and how I wish I was never born because I am not going to be amounted to anything ever . The home situation is unhealthy , I have always been belittled , made feel worthless , insinuated to feel bad about myself . I remember since I was a kid , never felt loved or cared for , just been reminded how odd , slow , in my head , and not going to be as much as good as whom ever they compare me with .

I have an unhealthy ESFJ mother who can't be reasoned with . Explosive , hot temper , not logical or cares about clear communication . Her and my sister are truly insecure . I will Explain a scenario , we are in a bad economical situations , my brother triggered her , she started lashing out on everyone , cursing and insulting how useless we are without hearing or having a communication . I left to my room till they stop , because I can't handle this anger and drama where we can fix them if we think through things but she doesn't want to think or communicate . She confuses communication with complaining because for her communication is only a vehicle to use to release her hostile feelings and passive aggressiveness .

When I come back , she said why did I run to my room . I said I can't handle screams and this chaotic production of words . She said , you should and they started her and my sister : ISFJ , speaking at the same time , like literally at the same time . I asked them one by one , she said No why not listen to us both at the same time . Like what a hell is this . Here you notice and many patterns I have that they don't care about fixing the problem , they don't care about reasonably indulging members of the family to a conclusion , they want to release the tension . My mother specifically wants to release her hostile emotions , she wants us to feel belittled , useless , tell us how she is the only one who thinks about this issue and how useless we are and she thinks this is parenting , she thinks this is leadership.

Now I know since my father died who was an ISFJ , He was our only economical support and he was dutiful and doing his best to get me into a position where I can take the family but even he had issues with her , she swallowed him through her drama , passive aggressiveness , and her hostile attitude , belittling him too and comparing his lack of privilege to others who had far more advantage as if he had a choice in the cards he was given . Since this economical shortage only enraged her and made something to complain about and our household was not of kindness and mercy , I subtracted my needs since way back but my brother still takes from her money and she gives him and she comes back to complain and ruins the household .

The reason I brought my father is I feel bad for not doing anything for him and what a shame that he had no one to help him . He really deserved better and needed more care and love and I always felt unable to do anything when he had cancer . He apologized for me as if he felt bad for not doing enough for me . My friend . I really think and have evidence that my mother and family are unhealthy . I live in illiterate religious area , how do you think Fe and Si expression would be ? -- They don't care about reason , just any high status man who has money or is religious or looks religious matter and his opinion is far better and I , could speak for years and no one would care .

I think she is unsafe and unhappy and her hypergamic instinct produces this passive aggressive tests because she thinks by belittling us , we are going to somehow be motivated to provide and replace my father . She doesn't understand how the Ukraine|Russian war affected us , how our government changed policies to hire more females , she doesn't understand that I can't just get a job , it's all difficult in this competitive environment and I just have lost 3 years where tuberculosis , Corona virus lock-down , death of my father and the shock and depression this made me feel and let alone her training me to feel worthless isn't going to make me more optimistic individual because I can't even film myself speaking in a content creation out of fear and being self conscious of my voice nor dreaming of being able to be loved and desired by any female in romantic relationships to get out of this toxic voice in my head that hammers me and find some refuge in lovely partner .

I know I am unhealthy too - -- I read your study guides and my functions are all unhealthy and I could release the anger and hit someone or could not be able to contain myself and verbally defend myself if I get triggered . I am still studying to find a way to improve and optimally express all my functions but please with the contexts I have provided . How can you help me find answers to this following questions :

How can I remove this worthlessness and feeling I am useless from my mind and how I perceive myself ?

How can I trust that I would be able to get a job in this country and town ? I have limited skills like English and my native language because of time that was wasted ? [ I am planning to use the 4 Hour work week principle that prioritizes Te and Ni for effectiveness , working on skills to learn , 20/80 Analysis , low information diet , delegation and automation , and creating a product to sell to liberate myself from traditional 9 to 5 ] - I don't work in 9 to 5 Jobs . I Don't have any job now .

How can I deal with this toxic mother and her hostile attitude and her inability to be satisfied ? .

How I can heal the wounds that this mother infected me with since I speak to myself a lot and I get lost in my thoughts and she notices and doesn't try to understand , she tries to insult and belittles and laughs at me as if i am some crazy dude . It's the only place I feel safe and I have no friends and my mother doesn't talk to me except to release her tension , so I opt to my head and this had negative affects because my thoughts swallow me and I become self absorbed and any one notices I am speaking to myself and lost it . I do that because I am unhealthy , broke , unemployed , no job , and no healthy environment to drive me and give me help .

Do You think since I am unhealthy , I would waste time reading and consuming information about the study guide as some unhealthy coping mechanism and I should better opt to just exercise a few Ne Activities to drive myself out of my self and subjective narrative and my family and explore few experiments rather than read every detail and wait till I finish to exercise my functions ? Like see how Ne world is good and come back to reflect .

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1. "Feelings" of worthlessness or uselessness are simply judgments (about yourself). In order for judgments to be sound, one must arrive at the conclusions properly, through logic and reason. This is the basis of having good critical thinking skills.

For instance, you say you "fell behind" in career goals due to physical illness. Was the illness intentionally caused by you or was it under your control? If not, should you hold yourself responsible for the consequences of being ill? Are you going to call every physically ill person in the world worthless/useless because, through no fault of their own, they have diminished capacity to achieve their goals? If so, I see no difference between you and your mother when it comes to the way you harshly and unfairly judge people.

Are you exercising good critical thinking when you make a judgment or draw a conclusion? If not, you need to improve upon it, in order for Ti to regain control over your cognition. You must have a reliable process of scrutinizing and validating your belief system, otherwise, on what basis are you going to make good decisions for yourself? When Ti is absent, Fe grip will keep haunting you.

2. Trusting the world comes with Ne development. It means venturing out into the world. It means trying and experimenting and seeing what happens. It means going to wherever the opportunities are. It means thinking of ways to make the best use of what you have. It means turning the negative into a net positive.

In other words, Ne is an extraverted function that requires initiative, ingenuity, and action. Ne is not about your predictions of the future; it's about making things happen. You can always find something good to express gratitude for. You can always find a silver lining in a negative situation. You can always visualize potential for change and improvement. But the key is to have an attitude of openness that keeps your eyes and ears attuned to opportunity. Are you nurturing Ne openness in yourself, or are you quick to reject ideas because they are "imperfect"? Whether things are perfect or imperfect is missing the point. The point is that things can be changed as long as you're willing to put in the work to change them.

3. The answer is boundaries. I've already written about the difficulty of drawing healthy boundaries in family relationships, especially parent-child relationships, consult past posts. Because there is so much history and, in some cases, so much bad blood between family members, it's easy to get stuck in negative patterns of behavior, and very difficult to change them even when you want to. Old habits are hard to break.

I always say that an essential aspect of growing up is learning how to view your parents as human beings rather than treating them as mere symbols of your personal ego drama. Was your father a "saint"? Is your mother a "villain"? These are symbols that reveal the flaws and biases of your perception. In the end, your parents are simply people. Every person is multifaceted. If you only ever see one aspect of someone, your eyes need adjustment.

Put yourself in your mother's shoes. Your mother also lives in the bleak sociopolitical environment you live in, with few economic opportunities. She has also experienced disappointments and heartbreaks. She has also had her hopes and dreams dashed. You share a lot more in common with her than you believe. To be clear, this is not meant to be an excuse for her negative behavior but, rather, a call for you to exercise empathy.

When you get a deeper understanding of why people behave as they do, you will be less inclined to blame and more inclined to maintain healthy relationship boundaries. The key to dealing with toxic people is to maintain proper emotional distance from them, rather than getting entangled with them and constantly embroiled in their dramas. To have healthy relationships in general, you must i) know the difference between "my business" and "not my business", and ii) stop involving yourself in things that aren't your business.

Her issues and problems are hers, so don't take them on as yours. It's not your responsibility to satisfy her demands. It's not your responsibility to live up to her expectations of you. Your only responsibility, in moral terms, is simply to be a good person. This raises an important question of whether you understand what it means to be "good". Do you have your own ideas about it or do you default to what your family taught you, since your judgments about yourself closely echo your mother's judgments about you?

Do you know what intergenerational trauma is? It's when families transmit the negative effects of unresolved hurt, pain, suffering, abuse, and trauma from one generation to the next. You are now consumed by pain and anger, not unlike your mom, so are you going to unwittingly transmit it to everyone you come into contact with? Or are you going to be the one to stop the cycle of trauma by taking responsibility for your pain and suffering? By seeking help, you're proving that you care enough to change the situation. I understand that your options are limited for healing your pain and trauma, so I will focus mainly on what you can do on your own.

4. With regard to Anger: If you don't want to end up like your mother, hurting everyone around her, then you have to confront the pain, you have to soothe the anger properly, and you have to challenge yourself to do things differently. This is achieved through Ne. Envision your better self and be it. Envision a better life and live it. Envision more possibilities and bring good ideas to life. By training your mind to be focused on always building something better, there is little space remaining for things like anger and blame.

I completely agree that your family environment is incredibly toxic. However, I cannot agree with blame. Blame is a mental trap. It is an immature and illusory way to feel strong and powerful. It only leaves you worse off physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. For all the sound and fury that blame entails, at the end of the day, you remain in pain because you've trapped yourself in perpetual victimhood. Without adequate health and well-being, will you have the mental energy you require for improving yourself and your life?

You can't have it both ways; you can't feed the negative aspects of your psyche and still hope to get back in touch with the positive aspects of yourself. Is the anger worth sacrificing your health and well-being for? Are you attached to the anger because you like the self-righteousness or because you want revenge? If so, you are choosing the negative over the positive, and you must take full responsibility for that choice. If you don't like it, choose differently.

With regard to Despair: When you feel angry, it means that something is broken and requires fixing. In this case, the relationship is broken and your boundaries have been violated. Like any reasonable person, you hope it can be fixed and the love salvaged. However, when confronted with the impossibility of fixing the relationship, despair follows.

Many people get held back and held down by despair because it can feel like a safer emotion than hope. Why? Despair is predictable in that you can maintain the status quo of known pain, whereas hope opens you up to new and accumulative hurt and disappointment through trying and failing again and again. As soon as sinking into despair seems like the better option to you, you are stuck deep in Si loop.

A person with good emotional intelligence doesn't succumb to emotions, rather, they take time to understand them and use them wisely. By putting despair in the right perspective, it can become an incredibly powerful emotion. Despair indicates you've suffered great loss and feel hopeless. However, in order to feel the loss, you must've placed great value on something to begin with. From this perspective, despair can open your eyes to what is most precious and valuable in your life. For example, despair over family conflict reveals how much you value your family, and despair about your career reveals how much you value your future self. When you know what you value most, it's easier to make good decisions for your well-being.

Despair is meant to teach you how to let go of the things you've lost. Oftentimes, people suffer because they are too attached to the things that bring them pain. Being unable to give up the attachment, they must bear the pain as a consequence. Logically, if you don't want the pain of despair, you must let go of the attachments that bring you despair.

Some people might misinterpret "letting go" as license to "detach" from the world and live on a metaphorical island, abandoning all the things they don't like. Quite the contrary. These people have failed the first test of emotional intelligence because they believe that their emotions are caused by external factors, so they try to cut out those factors.

The fact is that your feelings and emotions belong to you. They are generated by you, therefore, it is up to you to either answer them or change them. Your feelings are closely tied to your beliefs about the world, the way you think about things, and the way you judge things. When I say that you need to "let go", it means you have to change the way you think, give up old ideas, so that your beliefs better line up with your new reality. When you let go of mental attachments that distort your view of reality, you become much more capable of participating in reality. You will no longer feel bound and trapped by your own imagined expectations of how the world "should" be.

Career Example: Have you heard the saying "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry"? No matter how well you plan things, unexpected accidents or misfortunes still happen. While it's good to have plans and look forward to achieving goals, it's not good to be so single-minded that you are incapable of adapting to change. When plans go awry, you are encountering a crossroads and have to make a decision about which way to go. Do you try to keep going with the same plan? Do you tweak and adjust the plan to better suit the change of circumstances? Do you abandon the old plan and come up with a new one? These are all possible strategies.

Family example: Do you understand that a toxic relationship dynamic requires two people to keep it going? Both you and your mother are attached to ideal images of how the other "should" be. By imposing these images upon each other, you are both failing to respect each other, you are both violating the boundary that should exist between you as separate and independent individuals, and you are both hurting each other with harsh judgments and criticisms. While you might keep your judgments and criticisms to yourself more than she does, their very existence represents something negative within you that wants to lash out and be violent. She most likely inherited that violence from her family growing up and she has now transmitted it to you, which means it is now yours to deal with. All of us have inherited some negative things from family. It's part of your personal journey of growth to become aware of them and change them.

To a certain extent, you "allow" your mother to hurt you because you love her. If she were anyone else, you probably would've abandoned them long ago for such nasty behavior, or you wouldn't even be bothered by their criticism. Your mother's behavior brings you pain because you want her approval and love. However, if you were to drop your attachment to what you believe she "should" be (e.g. a loving, nurturing, motherly saint), you may suddenly find yourself capable of seeing the reality of what she is. When you take time to see and understand people more objectively (i.e. practice empathy), you won't take their behavior so personally. The reality is that her behavior isn't directed at you. Her behavior is an expression of her own pain and suffering, directed at her own failures and dashed hopes. But you take it personally because she's failing to meet your expectations of her, and then you fashion her into a villain. Think more reasonably: If you believe you ought to have the freedom to be you, you also have to grant others the freedom to be who they are.

The takeaway point is that the way through despair is to let go of the attachments that bring you pain. It could be attachment to an idealized image of how people/you "should" be, an ideal concept of "meaning", or an ideal path that you have set for your life. Ideals are mere mental constructs, so they can be changed at will. You defined them, so you can "undefine" them and redefine them. Attachments that lead you to deny reality are like a black hole in your mind, sucking up all your mental energy. By letting them go, your mind becomes truly free for something new. But you have to be brave enough to leave the known behind and venture into the unknown with fresh eyes, open mind, and different choices -> Ne.

5. I don't consider it my place to tell people how to live their life. You need to learn how to exercise your best judgment, which means ensuring that your process of making decisions is fair, impartial, objective and well-informed. In terms of your mental health, it's a good idea for you to get out of the home as much as possible, away from your mother's abuse. Try to find safer spaces to explore your ideas and possibilities. Try to engage in activities, interests, or hobbies that bring you some relief, even joy. Try to make friends with people who can bring you comfort or help you out of your situation.

#intp #auxiliary ne #si loop #fe grip #parent child relationship #family #boundaries #blame #anger #despair #adaptability #hope #emotional intelligence #ask

[mr-entj]

Mr entj, i am an enfp 3w2 and have an entj boss. What do entjs look for in the people they lead and manage? How do entjs define capability and competency? I would like to maximize my chances of success. Ps: as a 3w2 i am more disciplined and organized than enfp stereotypes and am often mistaken for an enfj. Thanks in advance!!!!

Related to the following asks:

What do you think is required from a person to succeed ?

Do you have any experience with hiring or selecting people to be on your team? 

ENTJ: Leadership

can you talk about managing people + dealing with politics, especially in the workplace?

I define capability as the menu of skills a person has to drive outcomes. I define competence as a person's ability to correctly, consistently, and reliably apply those menu of skills to actually deliver said outcomes. You can have one but not the other. There are people who are capable but incompetent (poor application of skills, unreliable as shit) and there are competent people who have poor capabilities (consistent, but with a limited ranged of skills). In your career, MBTI aside, try to maximize both.

For the people I hire, I evaluate them on 3 dimensions:

Cognitive ability - your ability to solve complex problems

Execution skills - your ability to deliver outcomes

Emotional intelligence - your ability to play nice with other people

Thoughts on how to work with an ENTJ leader (applicable to INTJs):

Always keep the end goal in mind. Understand the outcomes the ENTJ is trying to drive and use that as a north star, don't just 'do the thing and get it done quickly'. Forget the details for a second, instead ask: What is the end state we're trying to achieve? Where are we trying to go? What do we need to do to get there? All actions should drive towards those outcomes. ENTJs are less concerned about the small details which gives you flexibility in the process (the 'how') as long as the outcomes (the 'what') are achieved. This also makes it easy to ruthlessly prioritize if you're overwhelmed. If it doesn't contribute to the end goal, then cut it. If it contributes to the end goal, then do it and measure the impact.

Exercise radical ownership. If the outcomes aren't achieved, you need to understand and explain why. It's okay to screw up because we all screw up. It's not okay to screw up, try to hide the fact you've screwed up, try to make excuses for screwing up, and then learn nothing from your mistakes (basically, don't be an ENTP). The best way to show an ENTJ that you've learned from your mistakes is pretty simple: bring solutions with every problem surfaced. It shows the ENTJ you've 1) identified the problem 2) accepted accountability and 3) taken actions to fix it. No need for exaggerated apologies, dramatics, and theatrics. Learn, fix, keep calm and carry on.

Be proactive. Related to the above. If you're going to ask a question, make sure you've already attempted to research the answer. If you're going to surface a problem, make sure you've thought through some solutions. If you have a fresh new idea, make sure you've drafted a rough draft of a plan. ENTJ leaders dislike handholding or coddling people because it distracts them from the actual things they should be focused on. Time is valuable.

Communicate clearly and fearlessly. Too much work? Not enough work? Want to try something new? Need time off? Unsure if you're performing well or poorly? Want a raise? Want a promotion? Say something. TJs (ENTJ, ESTJ, ISTJ, INTJ) are vocal if they have something to say so they have the tendency to assume other MBTI types will do the same. If you don't say anything, they may assume everything is fine when it's in fact not fine (basically, don't be an FJ). Don't be scared: advocate for yourself, speak up, and work together to build a path forward.

Push your potential. In the spirit of the above bullet point, be ambitious with your personal and professional goals. Ambition is respected, not feared. Self-improvement is welcomed, not discouraged. Articulate the skills and experience you want to build, take risks, and grow outside your comfort zone.

#mbti #myers briggs #enfp #entj #estj #intj #istj #career #work #careers #faq #mbtiq

[bonefall]

Just curious, but why did you decide to change Onestar pardoning the Dark Forest trainees to punishing them? Was it just to service A Vision Of Shadow's conflict, or were there other factors involved?

It frustrates me that in canon, there's no lasting repercussions for what happened in Po3 and OotS, almost as if the series just wanted to wash its hands of it.

Breezepelt is established to be an upcoming problem, and that goes away. All of the leaders shrug and move on. Bramblestar and Squirrelflight are happily together with bio babies after he treated her like garbage for 6.5 books.

We only really got any conclusions to these problems in SEs, where they feel rushed exactly because they were capping them in hindsight.

So you could say this change is "to serve the conflict of AVoS" but that wording feels dismissive to me. I feel like I'm fixing a problem. Arcs SHOULD feed into each other, no? Isn't the strength of WC the way that we get to follow the cats through the generations? See current events become history, and watch how small things cascade into big things?

And Onestar...

We're trying to set up that Onestar is becoming a harder and harsher person as he's consumed by the pressure of leadership, and his trauma from his near-murder in the WindClan Civil War. We are about to watch him become a MAJOR antagonist of AVoS, slamming an embargo down on ShadowClan until they deal with The Kin.

So how does letting *another* set of attempted traitors get off scot free really serve that? It doesn't make sense to me in-canon either. He refused to punish Breezepelt's mother when she was part of a violent insurrection and look at how THAT turned out!!

I think the end of OotS is the perfect time for him to go scorched earth, and show that he's beginning to consider leniency as a weakness. He also punishes Crowfeather earlier at the end of Po3 when Hollyleaf reveals the secret, in response to BB!Crowfeather being more loud and dramatic than his canon counterpart, cold and detatched.

Canon Crowfeather: "Everyone is stupid except me. I can't stand all of this. I deserve more respect even though I refuse to give it to anyone else."

BB!Crowfeather: "MY HEART SMOULDERS LIKE A PEAT FIRE, FOR YOU! LEAFPOOL, I'VE BEEN AS HOLLOW AS A DALE SINCE YOU LEFT ME" (nightcloud is literally right there. Leafpool is trying really hard to calm him down because he's making a scene and she really doesn't want MORE attention drawn to the romantic fling she had years ago and massively regrets)

But anyway, that's off on a tangent lmao. Bottom line is; it is to serve AVoS, but that's my goal with BB. To strengthen the narrative.

#better bones au #BB!Onestar

[lyci]

SO I don't post a lot (in general) of media analysis and speculation but I do love The Owl House and Star Trek. Cosmic Frontier, the book series that Gus and Hunter base their Halloween costumes from is very much a HUGE Star Trek reference (+ other space operas).

I think Gus is using the story to convey to Hunter that he knows he is a Grimwalker but that's not what I wanna talk about here.

Chief Engineer O'Bailey is DEFINITELY a direct reference (name and some costume details) to Chief Engineer Miles O'Brien. It should be worth noting that:

O'Brien wears a similar gold uniform to both the in-universe character, and the colour yellow/gold is very associated with Hunter.

The yellow uniform was actually initially a leadership uniform in the Original Series but was changed in the sequel series, TNG, to engineering and security roles. Might be a reach here but it does reminds me how Hunter went from a leadership/commanding role to one where his concerns are protecting his new friends and family (security) and enjoying creating and fixing things (Which is pretty much what engineering role characters Star Trek are constantly doing).

The writers on the Star Trek spin-off DS9 (which O'Brien moves to from TNG) LOVE to make O'Brien suffer. Like every season has O'Brien suffering. It's an in-joke for the writers. Remind you of anyone?

MILES O'BRIEN'S WIFE IS A BOTANIST. PLANTS!

I'm pretty certain someone has already made the Borg connection with the character/costume too. The eye visor is very reminiscent of Hugh in particular. Basically the Borg are reoccurring antagonists that as a collective assimilate any humanoid species they come into contact with. Assimilation is basically being controlled by a giant hive-mind (direct parallel to the Coven system and what not) and strips away any individuality, culture or freedoms.

Hugh (pictured above, although at this point in the narrative, not named that), a Borg, is found injured but unconscious from a scout ship crash (kinda like in Hunting Palismen) by the Enterprise crew. The Borg are very much an established dangerous antagonist in this point of the series.

Initially they consider leaving him to die because the Borg are the Big Bad but the ship's doctor insists he gets medical attention. Hugh is just a kid (iirc he's like ~15-17, a similar age to Hunter). Over the course of his introduction episode Hugh, learns that humanity doesn't want to be assimilated. Assimilation would effectively kill his new found friends (La Forge in particular).

There's some very obvious narrative beats that match what happens in both Hunting Palismen and Any Sport In A Storm. There's also the loneliness that Hugh feels and expresses not knowing his purpose or being connected to the rest of the Borg. When Hugh is reunited with other Borg at the end of the episode, he expresses that he doesn't want to lose his newfound individuality and friends.

Anyway I really like the narrative connections here! Good stuff!

#the owl house #toh spoilers #hunting palismen #any sport in a storm #thanks to them #toh #long post #huntlow