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f0xgl0v3 · 4 months

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Powers in Camp Jupiter

Wow I’ve posted a lot today lol-

Finally! Another long, ‘Camp Jupiter general Hc’ post. I’ve just been thinking a lot on powers the more I’ve been dipping my toes into learning about Rome and its culture and how I want to incorporate that into New Rome and Camp (literally I mention it once so don’t get any hopes up for like in depth Ancient Rome stuff and it just affected my thought process for how the Romans might think similarly to powers as they did other things). Also this is another post going, ‘this is a weird thing in camp that is never explained but doesn’t make sense to me so this is how I’d go about explaining it’ post, enjoy :]

But first things first; I think Camp puts a heavy importance on physical skill, that powers are somewhat frowned upon. That Camp Jupiter would put a higher importance on someone’s capabilities without the powers, and that power usage is something that generally the Camp doesn’t like acknowledging- I’ll go more in depth on what I mean but first I wanna talk about how I got to this conclusion making sense in my mind,

This did make sense in my brain because it fills the little gap where we don’t see a lot of Camp Jupiter power embracing or whatever. We get Hazel being worried over her powers because of the like cursed aspect? Which is a whole other can of worms that I don’t like the plot point on- but whatever. Hazel’s thing feels weird that she wouldn’t explain it, now I am obviously not a Hazel analyzer- but I do have a pretty solid characterization of Camp in my head and I feel that is something that they would 100% want to and need to know. Along with the apparent lack of notable power usage in Camp Jupiter- we don’t see it in the same way that we see over at Half-Blood, now this could be because Camp has like 0 important characters. But I feel like during the war games there would be more people taking advantage of powers, where it’s specifically called out when Percy is doing it because it’s odd in the setting- it stands out (yes it probably was called out for Rick to be like “Look at how cool and powerful Percy is guys!” But whatever-) but that bleeds into the first gorgon chase scene, where it’s notable that again; it’s only Percy using his powers openly, it’s the legionnaires that are looking on in bewilderment, confusion.

Of course there are the 4 main outliers I think of about this power thing; Reyna, Jason, Octavian, and Bryce Lawrence. But I’ll talk about what I think their situations are.

Anyway, I believe this seeming power-aversion in camp Jupiter (was probably not planned and Rick just kind of forgot about Demigods and how probable it would be that they’d display them more often for the general quality of life improvements they’d give-) could be caused by a couple factors,

The abundance of Legacy’s at camp and at New Rome; we aren’t sure how legacies work (because they are all over the place and we never get set power levels on them) but it would make logical sense that powers became more niche or less potent through generations (this obviously has outliers, and its own holes but I’ll justify this take in another post probably just about legacies-) and this would lead to less and less importance on powers- because why would a community see them as important when the majority of them don’t have very potent ones, or very general ones and it’s more simple to just not use them than hone either a very weak skill or a very niche skill.

The importance of Strength in New Rome and Camp Jupiter’s community; based partially on Ancient Romes importance on Masculinity (which I will not be mentioning much because I am just a silly black cat on the internet and I don’t have the knowledge about Romes masculinity thing) and just what we see from the very concept of Camp Jupiter’s go through Lupa’s training and survive or die, Camp Jupiter’s no magic barrier of protection, the military camp. Conquer or Die. It all places a very big importance on one’s personal strength- their strategic mind, physical prowess, ability to work together as a unit in the army. That the powers could possibly be seen almost as a cheat- that why would you use your powers when you have your training, are you weak? Do you not trust in what you’ve been taught? The Societal idea were given for the Romans is strength- and why use your powers if you are physically capable enough. And everyone is physically capable enough to be a Roman, to Conquer or Die.

Okay on a probably lighter note (idk I was reading the upper passage and that sounded pretty intense-) but also the fact that powers just feel like they wouldn’t be a good thing in Camp’s military settings. Camp Jupiter puts its importance on their military and fighting prowess, their form, the discipline. It’s much harder to fight in coordination if everyone is doing anything that isn’t related to other skills. The fact that the Cohorts aren’t godly ancestor-specific adds to that. So it just doesn’t seem reasonable knowing Camps whole thing.

Okay those three all are my ideas on the surrounding factors that make powers less used and more taboo in Camp/New Rome. This could explain why camp doesn’t display their powers. While it gives more reason for the reactions to Percy other than everyone being suprised at how cool and powerful he is or something idk, it gives Hazel more reason to hide her precious riches power thing.

Now the Outliers, people in camp that comfortably and openly use and display their powers (not including Percy, maybe idk- we’ll see)

First Reyna; we know that Reyna openly used her Bellona strength, warrior spirit and bravery sharing powers that also take away pain? Idk how they explain it but we get that in BoO the knowledge that when leading the Romans into battle Reyna would use her powers. I think this can be explained away by 1st off it’s not that noticeable so might be likely that the legion doesn’t even know she did that, secondly it could be considered that they considered her ability a outlier to the notion- it directly helps them win so I guess they don’t mind, sure they’ll be upset about it but they won’t openly object to it.

Secondly Jason and his wild skill set; he’s Jupiter’s son, pretty much Lupa’s adopted kid and Camp’s prince. They’d let him do whatever, he’s Jupite’rs son! I think they’d be super hypocritical and think him and the powers make him stronger and cooler and whatever because he’s Jupiter’s son and canonically we know they put him on a pedestal and thought he pretty much could do no wrong when he was younger so I think it’s reasonable to assume legionnaires would go along with Jason pulling lightning bolts from thin air and just going, “That’s so cool Jason!!! Yeaaah you go man!” And then turning around and ostracizing someone that used like their water-bending because like- why not just use your actual skill, no need to be a show off, y’know Dave from the 3rd cohort could’ve done that just with his Pugio and a bendy straw.

Octavian; it’s his job. I think Augur’s generally get a pass because it’s their job to be all mysterious and otherworldly and do all the cool retelling prophecies and omens. And he needs the powers to do that so of course he gets a pass.

Bryce Lawerence; he’s a freak (nicely, I love him) but he gives 0 crap if people don’t like it. They can just go to the fields of punishment for all he cares. He literally murdered someone and lit a cat on fire. There is no way in Hades that this man cares about some power taboo. If he wants to do it he’ll do it and if anyone wants to say anything they can suck his spear handle.

Overall; Camp Jupiter are Hypocrites when it comes to powers (obviously, I feel like for many reasons they are hypocrites in many other fields-) and this gives better reason that Octavian and Micheal didn’t immediately drag Percy into the 1st cohort. Because like- you know they would’ve and I think that would’ve been more interesting than the 5th cohort underdog story (like, Hazel and Frank could’ve been the main pushers of that plot and I feel that would’ve been cooler-)

But if we want to stay with Percy being put in the 5th (which if anyone wants to know for my re-imagining he is totally put in the 1st because that gives us an opening to actually characterize notable characters a lot more-) this powers thing gives a reason. All the legion knows about this kid is that he’s got a mouth on him, attracts monsters like a neon billboard with a giant arrow on it, and relies on his powers constantly. And in Camp Jupiter where obedience and discipline are cherished, they don’t need to deal with any more monsters their hands are already full, and that everyone like collectively hates their powers from societal norms. It makes more sense that none of the more notable cohorts would want to tarnish their names or reputation by bringing him on board- so of course the 5th is forced to take him.

Okay that’s my rant on how the community of Romans don’t like their powers unless they can serve a purpose of aiding the army, your the child of Jupiter, or it’s your job.

I am sleepy and therefore I bid you all a good night.

#idk how to tag this #pjo hoo toa #camp jupiter #hoo #hoo headcanon #camp jupiter headcanons #hehe :3 #I do feel like the Romans are very hypocritical #okay bye

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lightandfellowship · 1 year

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(Major KHDR spoilers)

User cq-studios was recently talking about the potential of KHML having secret reports, and it got me thinking...in retrospect, secret reports/diary entries/letters would have been the perfect way to fill in the gaps of KHDR's story without expending too much money, time, and resources, things that KHDR was lacking in, seemingly.

Like, imagine:

Reports from Odin documenting his observations of Baldr while Baldr was locked up for a week. It's implied that Odin was studying him trying to determine the nature of his darkness, but we never get to see any of that.

Explanations from Vidar about the finer details of his plan and how it was intended to work. The upperclassmen talk about the "items of world order" and "finding light within the darkness of chaos" but they never really tell us what the heck any of this means, or what they were going to do once they found the seven lights that they needed. Like, we can make educated guesses, sure, but more context would have been nice.

Unsent letters from Baldr to his sister wherein he tries to open up to her about his problems. We could get greater insight into his mind and what his sibling relationship with Hoder was like. (Maybe he talks about past events between them, memories and such.)

Anecdotes and thoughts from the upperclassmen that serve to characterize them more. We could learn more about their personalities, motivations, beliefs, etc. Heck, let the underclassmen get the same treatment, too. I imagine these would sort of act like the Organization diary entires in Days.

Luxu recounting the story of how/when he took Bragi as a vessel, and documenting his observations of Xehanort and Baldr.

Vor going into more depth about her feelings, and describing her journey with Vidar

Diary entries from Xehanort and/or Player talking about their lives on Destiny Islands.

And things like that. Really, there's a lot that can be covered.

#khdr #kingdom hearts dark road #kingdom hearts #rambling about dim path #ch tag: odi #ch tag: vid #ch tag: bal #ch tag: brag #ch tag: vo #ch tag: xeh #Like it wouldn't have been the IDEAL fix but it would have been better than nothing #Admittedly maybe none of this got covered so it could be used as material for a novel/Back Cover but I don't have my hopes up #khdr spoilers

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dimiclaudeblaigan · 11 months

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I read your post about Marianne's characterization and I have to agree, which is saying something since Marianne is one of my top two favorite characters in 3H (the other is Ferdinand). Her writing in the academy phase wasn't too horrible IMO, but it could've been better. At least in the war phase, she does improve. If she had better characterization in the academy phase, she probably would've been an overall better character, maybe even a popular one, but alas. The best we can hope (story-wise anyway) is that during the time skip (if she survives), she realizes that her behavior towards others is wack and tries to do something about it so that by the time the war phase hits, she's grown as a person and doesn't really behave that way anymore.

I dunno, I could just be biased as she's a favorite of mine, but I like to fill in gaps when the writers don't do as well with a character as they should have.

Yeah, I don't think she's a bad character overall and in the second half of the game she was perfectly fine as a character. It's the first half that really hurts her for me. There's a point where it's an understandable character flaw, and then there's a point where it's over the top in almost every interaction and becomes the focal point of her entire character. Unfortunately that focal point is a very negative trait and it makes her situation a lot less sympathetic to me.

Raphael and Bernadetta had similar issues, and it's a shame because the writers can clearly write better than that. Yuri and Hapi, for instance, have more to them than pretty boy assassin and local underground girl who had experiments done to her. Their supports have different topics that they cover to grow them as a character and it's not the same thing in every conversation. Dimitri and Claude were examples of the writing at its peak, so I know they can do better than what we got for a handful of characters.

Marianne gets the worst end of the stick with Bernadetta for being written with the central aspects of their characterizations being all negative. Felix was handled better, but he had similar problems in the first half of the game where half the stuff he said was an eye roll and made me want to smack him. I love Felix and I'm glad they fixed the bullshit around him in Hopes because most of the fandom takes every single thing he's ever said literally ever at complete face value with not a single thought about it.

You should fill in the gaps! It's fun to think about those missing points in canon and reason out why the characters changed as much as they did and what might've happened in that time. For all we know, Marianne could've had a life changing experience with someone or more than one person calling her behavior her, explaining how she's being hurtful to others and not just "protecting" them from her "curse". Maybe someone made her realize all she was doing was trying to make herself feel better at the expense of other people's feelings and it made her change how she interacted with people.

I also think it's a shame that they tried to tackle depression with her and messed up by making her act like that. I wish they'd made her try to interact with people and be more sunny and more willing to be around people, because I feel like depression gets stereotyped as "sad person who wants to be constantly away from the world and looks like they haven't slept in weeks". If they don't also have insomnia, they wouldn't look that ragged, and not every depressed person just doesn't want to interact. Many such people will reach out possibly even more than normal because they want the human interaction.

Marianne is a popular character, but I also definitely don't see the same outpouring of love that many other characters get. I'm not sure if it's because of what we've mentioned, but the fan content in general for her feels less than how she popular she seems to be?

#DCB Ask

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idanit · 3 years

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possibly underappreciated Good Omens fics I enjoyed once upon a time

Indirectly inspired by a video series about fanfiction I watched, I decided to pull together a list of Good Omens fics I have bookmarked as stories I enjoyed, but which have less than 250-300 kudos at the time I’m writing this. No particular order. They’re accompanied by short excerpts from my private fic reading notes (not originally intended to be read by anyone but me, mind), sometimes slightly edited for clarity—and, sometimes, the comments I left on the fics.

This list sat in my drafts for a long time and the recent S2 announcement reminded me of it. I’d love it if it inspired you to do something similar! Spread the love.

And mind the tags, please.

△ = general and teen ▲ = mature and explicit

thermodynamic equilibrium ▲ 7K the author has such an ear for dialogue and is unapologetic about what they want to write the characters like. They think of the characters as a mix of TV and book canon, but they feel like a homemade blend to me. (...) It’s very funny.

such dear follies ▲ 6K I can really picture this Aziraphale—Crowley as well, but her especially. She’s rather distinct. (...) Nice writing.

The Words Were With - △ 1.2K post-Blitz vignette, Aziraphale realizes what he feels and wonders if they're human enough for this. I liked it, and I liked the tag "transhumanism, but in reverse?", too—what an interesting idea. I'd say it's a vignette in a dire need of a follow-up, but, well, there's the show. The show is the follow-up. It fits very nicely within the canon and I totally believe it could have happened, like a deleted scene.

Gossip and Good Counsel △ 19K/? I love their companionship and how they're set up to be opposites by the management even though they get on pretty well. It feels very in keeping with the canon, but I feel like the fact that it's an F/F set in this particular time period adds a meaningful layer to the situation. It's women supporting each other in the world of men, working with the personas that are created for them, but, privately, being normal, well-rounded people. (...) and of course your writing is always a pleasure to read. (...) SDHDGDHDHDG Maisie is truly an Aziraphale.

Crowley Went Down to Georgia (he was looking for a soul to steal) △ 6K This was nice. Based on a song I didn’t know. Crowley goes to a funeral in the USA, one of a fiddler he knew and lost a bet to once. (...) The fic has not one but two songs composed for it and embedded inside it and that makes it even better. I really enjoyed the experience.

The Thing With Feathers △ 18K WARLOCK you'rE HORRIBLE AND I LOVE IT I would read an entire novel-length fic just of Crowley fighting his battles with Warlock. Written like this? It would be a blast. (...) The OCs are believably characterized and well-loved by the story. (...) Everyone seems to need a friend in this house. (...) This was so fun, and at the same time, their mission has weight here (...) We wonder about what the future holds even though we know it.

Here Quiet Find △ 11K This fic aimed for my head and the aim was sure precise. It was a story of Crowley sensing Aziraphale's distress and finding him in a self-quarantined English village in the seventeenth century, tired and anxious. It's hurt/comfort, so there was washing and bedsharing and I had to love it, so I did.

outside of time △ 2K Post-Almostgeddon, (...) nicely-written, short, but strung with a soft kind of tension and unspoken words. There's no drama, just "can we really", and "do you really" of sudden freedom. They fall into being inseparable. Book canon, which I like for this story (sitting on a tarmac). I liked the footnotes. There's a mention of Eliot. All in all, very much yes.

She'asani Yisrael △ 2K It’s Crowley going through a two-hour service and drinking blessed wine. He also keeps an eye on a boy he was asked to. It’s 1946. It was pretty good, so far the best Jewish GO fic, I think, from the ones I’ve read.

To Guard The Eastern Gate △ 11K I loved it. You really made Sodom feel lived-in; the description of Keret, Hurriya and Yassib's house and relationship were great. I got attached to both them and the city (...) Aziraphale and Crawley’s interactions were generally very entertaining. I laughed (...) Your rendering of their voices just lands so well (...) But then oh, the entire ending (...) hurt, hurt a lot, and your descriptions are so vivid.

If you’ve been waiting (for falling in love) △ 14K AAAAA a good ending line. The whole paragraph, in fact. I love a good smattering of philosophy in my fics, and this was really nice. I can get behind Thomas Aequinus's and Crowley's view on eternity. It's (...) a pretty simple fic (...) - the courage to express yourself and take a risk is awarded with winning what was at stake by the virtue of reciprocity - but the way it was intertwined with a study of how they would experience a forever was done well.

Holy unnecessary ▲ 2.2K It's well-written. (...) this is my type of sexual humour if I have any. So subtle. Blink and you'll miss it. Lovely.

The Parting Glass △ 17K Through the ages, they're dancing around their relationship until after the Armageddoff. (...) Wow, this was really, really nice. Very simple in its concept and nothing I haven't read before, but very well-executed. (...) AAAAH I LOVED the first chapter. I always like abbeys as settings, that's a given, but the banter, the good writing, the moral ambiguity!

Name The Sky △ 33K This Crowley is different, but very intriguing. Without his sarcastic talk, and much more animalistic. (...) I love how expressive Crowley is. (...) This fic has a very nice balance of drama and levity. I don't love Crowley-before-the-Fall stories very much, but with this execution I can read about it. (...) Okay I've read Crowley offering fruits, and even Aziraphale biting fruits, but the two of them sharing the apple? Outstanding. Ingenious. What a take.

A Flame in Your Heart △ 5K post-Blitz (why are so many dance fics post-Blitz?), they go to the bookshop and have an actually believable conversation. Then they dance the gavotte. It was really nice! Believable writing, emotions, the dancing! (...) Of course it's too early for them, (...) but the author's note? yeah.

Put down the apple, Adam, and come away with me ▲ 32K At this point it's just reading original stories with characters with names and some personality traits that I recognize. (...) I really enjoy this, the careful dance, the opposition between their views. (...) This is well-written, wow. (...) it's not an easy read (...) this story feels very believably 50s, but also reaches out to the present time.

Liebestraum ▲ 10K/? It really is like music. I'm enjoying the writing a lot. (...) oh my actual god. This, this? Wow, uh. This came for my throat. (...) THE MUSICAL COMPOSITION, THE MOTIF RETURNING, THE AUTHOR KNOWS WHERE IT'S AT (...) Excellent. This hits the right beats so precisely, (...) and with feeling, too.

Down Comforter △ 2.4K and they lay down in angeldown, a soft rug ‘neath their heads– alright. Well, Crowley lies under Aziraphale's wing on a Persian rug after the Apocalypse, and they talk (...). It was sweet.

The Corsair of Carcosa △ 5K Crowley wakes up from a nap, visits Aziraphale for some drinking, and they read The King in Yellow that he happens to own. Good writing, so I'm bought. Aziraphale mentions Beardsley, so I'm bought twice over. My god, a discussion of etheral/occult madness? Caused by some wrong/true reading? Yes.

Very Good, Omens! △ 6K It's rather well-written, well-pastiched. People don't do that too often, nowadays - try to write in the style of a particular writer. (...) I love wordplay like this.

Reviving Robin Hood: The Complicated Process of Crème Brûlée △ 30K it's well-written (...), has a rhythm to it, and quiet humour. (...) Finally some nice, good, light writing. The attention to detail! (...) I'm still reading most of it aloud, the rhythm of it compels me to. (...) okay this does sound like Pratchett&Gaiman, the Good Omens itself (...) The fic is meandering, hilarious, sensitive in all the right places, and overall lovely.

my dear acquaintance △ 1K Oh. Oh. Yes, yes! Aziraphale in Russia, Russia I've never been in, but I can feel the snow and the evening of. Very real, and the bar, too. Attention to detail - vodka flavoured with dill, what on earth? Yes. He would totally have a distinct taste in operas and he would totally complain about a subpar one. I'm glad Tchaikovsky's there.

there is a crack in everything △ 1.8K This was good! Ah. Inspired by a comment (...), I went looking for Mr. Harrison and Mr. Cortese fics—really, what a big brain moment someone had and why have I never thought to look for them? This is Crowley getting suddenly anxious and Aziraphale going out of his way, through all his layers of not-thinking and denial, to console him. I also really liked how the Arrangement is a carefully unacknowledged partnership-marriage.

Scales And Gold And Wings And Scars △ 6K No conflict, no plot, one tiny arc like a ripple on the surface of water on a calm sunny day - of Aziraphale discovering Crowley’s scars. It's the South Downs and it's early summer. They bask and swim in a spring. Non-sexual nudity, love in the air like a scent. Nice.

Nineteen Footnotes In Search Of A Story △ 0.4K This is a Good Omens story told only through footnotes. Your mind can fill in the gaps. Fascinating (...). Also, it’s an experiment so apt for this particular fandom.

Hell on Earth △ 6.5K Oh, I loved it! How could I not love it: it's Beelzebub-centric, it's historical, it has classical painting, and even a hilarious scene with a cuneiform phrase, as if I didn't enjoy this story enough already. There are so few Beelzebub fics out there and I find searching for them very difficult (I accept recs if anyone has any), and it's such a shame, so this was really like a gift to the fandom. I absolutely adore the way you portrayed them, small, frightening, powerful, and confident. Also, it was super fun to see how different Crowley seems when we're not in his POV or in a story about him and Aziraphale. (...)

Go Up to Ramoth-Gilead and Triumph △ 24K Daegaer is... pure class. (...) hdhdhdh what pfttt why you so funny (...) I love this Crowley. (...) This got unexpectedly intense. (...) I love the little nods to the fact that Israelites, especially the poorer ones, still believe in other gods. I also really like that they sleep on roofs. It's just the kind of detail that grounds the story and shows that the author is, in fact, a historian.

#good omens #good omens fic rec #fanfiction #fic rec #idanit reads #i also have a multifannish F/F rec list in the works #all my bookmarks are private but i feel the need to share the love

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pappydaddy · 3 years

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tolerate it (p.w.)

A/N: I got tolerate it done! I have been wanting to write this one since I started this collection and I am so happy to have finished it this is one of my favourite songs from Evermore! I also somehow had this take another course while I was writing this and I accidentally connected it to another fic I am writing for this collection (evermore) so I have altered evermore's description to fit it. I just felt this chemistry as I was writing these characters and it just kinda happened. I also thew in a little easter egg relating to ivy in there - I just couldn't help myself because the opportunity was right there.

I want to let it be known that this is not Percy slander, it is just how this fic ended up. Percy is very career driven and he also cares about how he looks and his image and that is shown in this fic.

Anywho, I know there are a lot of people out there waiting on requests and they are coming, just very slowly. I have not had much time to work on writing because of school, but I will get your requests out eventually! However, I hope you lovelies can enjoy this in the meantime💛!

Paring: Percy Weasley x Fem!Reader, a bit of Charlie Weasley x fem!Reader (too much chemistry to deny honestly)

Show/Movie: Harry Potter

Not Requested

Taglist: @sarcasticallywitty15

No Voldemort AU, no corrupt Ministry (other than everyday corruption. NOT PERCY SLANDER, JUST CHARACTERIZATION (EXPLAINED ABOVE)

Warnings: Loneliness, breaking up, sadness, angst.

masterlist | taglist | wips | navigation

*I COULD NOT GET A GIF - I AM SORRY BUT THERE are ABSOLUTELY NO PERCY GIFS AVAILABLE TO ME😭*

The sound of silence swirled in the room with the dust that floated in the golden rays of sunlight. For something so present in her life these days, Y/N was still not used to the painful silence. She sat on the cushioned couch in Percy’s study, a book laid open on her lap, her hands folded, her back straight. She never used to sit like that, she always thought people who did look like they were always trying to hide something. But, then again, she never used to think she’d be sitting in the same room as her fiancé while feeling like she was millions of kilometres away from him. She lifted her eyes slowly, trailing over the beautifully crafted hardwood floor, over the red and gold rug (that matched the decor of the room), they danced along the dark wood of Percy’s desk. They finally stopped when they landed on his flaming red hair as it shined in the afternoon sunlight. Her head lifted as she studied him. Hunched over his papers, he scribbled furiously. “Percy, dear,” She cleared her throat when her voice came out more mousey than she expected. Percy hummed, not lifting his head from his work. “I was thinking we could go to town today, shop around for some more things for your brother’s visit?”

“Why? Charlie will be fine with everything we have in the guest room.” Percy grunted, dipping his quill in the ink-pot. Y/N pursed her lips, setting the book on the cushion beside her.

“Well, maybe we could get different soap for the ensuite? Maybe some relaxing candles, stuff so he can draw himself a bath,” She suggested, folding her hands back in her lap. “I’m sure he will be tired from coming all the way here from Romania. He’s not used to England time anymore.”

“Charlie doesn’t need all that, besides, it’s not like he’ll have time to relax. Once he’s here, we’ve got to get right to work,” He shook his head as he read over the new paper in his hands. “We’ve got lots of work to do,” He paused, his eyes finally looking at her, but only to flick over her seated form. “You would understand if you were still working.” He jabbed.

Y/N nodded, rolling her lips as she let the comment slide off her back, not thinking too much about his quip, just like she did with the others. “Well, we should still get him something nice, welcome him into our house.”

“I can’t go to town, Y/N, I have to get this done. You can go if you think it to be so important.”

“But I thought it would be nice to go together. It is a beautiful Saturday and those aren’t due for another week-“ She tried to explain, but the sound of Percy angrily throwing his quill against the table cut her off, startling her.

“I can’t just run off to town on a whim. Now if you can’t sit in here quietly then you can go read in another room or something, I don’t care what you do as long as I can get some peace and quiet.” He exploded, gesturing his hand aggressively towards the closed door to his study. She silently looked at the door.

“Sorry, I’ll leave you alone.” She whispered, grabbing the book and raising from the vision, remembering the lecture Percy had given her last time she didn’t put her book back before leaving a room. On her way to the door, she gently laid the book on one of the built-in bookshelves, not even looking at it. Instead, she kept her eyes forward, not wanting to look at Percy as he bowed his head back down to scribble on the paper. The door opened with a creak as Y/N slid out into the large and empty hall. Softly, she rested her weight on the door till it shut. Heaving out a sigh, she let her head fall back against the beautifully crafted white door, the identical one beside her jiggling when the other locked into it with a click.

Living with Percy was not what she thought it would be. When she was just a naive schoolgirl, they talked of having a decent house with a cozy feel, the rooms filled with laughter and the warmth of family, nights spent by the crackling fire with hushed voices and tender touches. The memories of the daydreams she had looked like a fairytale, conjured up from the mind of a foolish girl who thought happy endings were real. Now, she was alone in this grand house, the rooms and halls feeling cold with the only sound being the echoes of her footsteps. Heaving a sigh, she pushed herself off the door and made her way to get ready to go to town.

____

The melody of classical music filled the room as it was bathed in the orange and pink hues of the setting sun. Y/N sat in the armchair by the fire, watching the flames licking the stone, the black smoke swirling up into the chimney. Percy sat in the chair across from her, a book open in his hands, his head bowed low. Many nights in the Common Room were spent like these, Percy’s nose in a book as they sat by the warm fire. It looked almost the exact same as those nights to anyone else who had witnessed them, but Y/N could tell the difference. Now, the fire felt just as cold at the space between them, gone were the soft touches, the stroke of Percy’s thumb against Y/N’s hand, the feeling of his side pressed against her side, the comfortable silence. Y/N missed it all, but the thing she missed the most were the glances that left her smiling and blushing while a storm of butterflies raged in her stomach. Now, she just sat watching him read with his head low, noticing every little thing he does and doesn’t do.

“Percy,” Charlie’s gruff voice spoke, speaking over the cracks of the fire and breaking the verbal silence. Percy looked up from his book, his eyes not even glancing at Y/N in their path to look at Charlie entering the sitting room. Y/N softly turned her head to look at Charlie who took a seat on the empty couch. “I just thought of something that we should talk about in tomorrow's meeting.” He informed him.

“Just one second, Charlie,” Percy interrupted him before he could continue, his finger in the air as he turned his eyes to Y/N sitting across from him. She already knew what he was going to say before the words tumbled out of his mouth. “Y/N, would you excuse us, we have to discuss business and you have no need to be here while we do that.” He finally spoke to her for the first time since dinner. She nodded, standing from the chair and smoothing the back of her dress.

“She doesn’t need to go, the house is far too cold for her not to be near a fire and there isn’t one made anywhere else but my room.” Charlie insisted, catching Y/N’s forearm as she went to walk by the couch, heading for the grand archway leading to the dark hall.

“Nonsense, she can make one with her wand in the bedroom,” Percy waved him off. Y/N bit her bottom lip, looking back at Percy. “What are you looking at me for? You know how to start a fire, I know you’re two years younger than me, but they still taught you the same things as they taught me in Hogwarts.”

“I know how to do it, but I can’t. My wand broke when I slipped on ice in town a couple of days ago, I haven’t been able to run to Diagon Alley to get it fixed yet, remember?” She reminded him meekly, not wanting the same reprimanding she had received when she had told him the first time. Percy tutted, rolling his eyes as he remembered, gently closing the book still in his hands and setting it beside his leg, sticking into the gap between the cushion and the armrest of the chair.

“Ah, yes, I remember now. It’s laying on your dresser snapped practically in half. How many times do I have to tell you not to take your wand when it is icy out? How many wands do you need to break before you realize that,” He lectured as if she was a child. “Very well, wait outside the doorway and I’ll come to start a fire for you.” He heaved out a sigh, beckoning her away with a flick of his hand. Nodding, she went to walk away, but Charlie had not let go of her, instead, he tightened his hold, keeping her in place.

She looked down at him, her lips parted slightly in shock as he glared at his younger brother before looking up at her. “You can just go in my room while Percy and I talk then I will come get you and we can go and start a fire for you in your room.” Charlie informed her in such a way that told her she was not going to argue with him. Nodding silently, she pulled her arm free from his now loose grip and exited the room as it fell silent with tense air between the brothers, her heels clicking on the hardwood and the cracks of the fire being the only sound.

They must have waited until they couldn’t hear her heel clicks anymore before starting to talk since she didn’t hear a single sound coming from the room as she walked down the dark hall, the only light coming from the flicking flames of the candles lining the hallway. She sighed, pushing Charlie’s door open and slipping to the room. She didn’t even notice how cold she was until she stepped into the warm room, she relaxed into the warmth, closing the door behind her to trap the heat in. Making her way over to the armchair stationed in front of the roaring fire, she watched the flames just like she had done in the other room, thinking. All she did was sit in silence, try to live alongside Percy without messing up and making him lecture her. She didn’t understand it. She couldn’t understand how this Percy was the same Percy who stayed up late in the Common Room to talk to her about the scars of her past and soothed each and every one of them, laying soft blankets over the barbed wire of her heart so she could escape and finally love.

She jumped slightly when the door creaked open. Startled, she looked up to see Charlie walking into the room, closing the door behind him again. “Sorry to startle you, I didn’t know you were so deep in thought.” Charlie apologized, sitting in the other armchair across from her.

“It is okay, Charlie,” She told him, moving to stand but he held a hand out to signal her to stop. Obeying him immediately as if he was Percy, she settled back in her chair, sitting posed with her hands folded delicately in her lap, nervous as to why he seemed so stern, assuming she was going to have to listen to another lecture. “Are we not going to start a fire in the master bedroom?” She asked quietly when he didn’t answer, only dropping his hand back to his thigh with a slap, shaking his head.

“No, not yet. I want to talk to you first.” He told her.

“Oh-” She trailed off, her eyes casting down to the rug under their feet before back up at him, confused. “About what? If it is about getting Percy to mention something in the meeting for you, he doesn’t let me talk about work with him-”

“It’s not about Percy, not entirely,” He cut her off, leaning towards her with narrowed eyes as he studied her. She gulped, leaning away, unsure of what he was doing. “You’ve changed,” He mused, leaning back in the chair after concluding his study of her, his eyes still burning into her as she shifted. She knew she changed, it was not hard to tell that she has changed. “You used to stand up for yourself, make yourself known. You were never the doting housewife type of person, but yet here you are, being treated like a child by your fiancé. Why?”

She shrugged, dropping her eyes to the floor. “People change. Percy is so mature and wise, he must be right so that means I should listen to him, he knows best.” She whispered, not believing a word she said. Percy was mature and wise, much older than her, but she knew that he was not right about how he treated her.

“I don’t believe that, but it’s late and you should get some sleep,” He stood, prompting her to stand as well, hurriedly as if she would be scolded for not being prompt enough. “I excused myself from the meeting tomorrow and I am taking you to Diagon Alley. So you have to be up, we are spending the day there and eating supper there as well, which gives you a break from the house chores and Percy commenting on how dirty the plates are or how you set the table wrong, or your cooking. Might even swing by and visit Fred and George’s shop, must have lots to talk to you about, those two.” He told her as he walked to the door, her following behind him silently.

“What about Percy, is he still holding the meeting? He must be mad about you cancelling on him.” She asked nervously as he led her through the darkened halls, the candles having been extinguished, the only light coming from the winter moonlight streaming in through the grand windows.

“He got an urgent letter from the Ministry, he had to leave immediately for an emergency, probably be gone tonight and most of tomorrow.” Charlie told her, opening her bedroom that she shared with Percy.

“I hope everything is okay, it must be very important for him to be called away at a time like this.” She commented, shivering as she stepped into the room that seemed to be even colder than the frozen hall.

“Nothing to worry too much about, I am sure it is just a vermin issue and he has to try to contact someone to tend to it. I think he muttered something about Flesh-eating slugs actually,” He didn’t even look at her as he flicked his wand at the fireplace, igniting the wood that laid stacked in it. Something about how he spoke told her that he wasn’t telling the truth and Percy hadn’t been called away, instead, having stormed off to the office. He pocketed his wand, turning to look at her as she stood in the middle of the room, the glow of the fire lightning it. “I will leave you this to sleep on,” He paused, walking to the door while still looking at her. “The sanctuary is looking for a new magizoologist with an extensive knowledge in herbology.”

____

Y/N walked out of Ollivander’s with her new wand encased safely in the box which was in a bag dangling from the crook of her elbow. Charlie walked out behind her, letting the door fall shut after they said bye to Ollivander. “Okay, now that you’ve got your wand, let’s pop into the Twin’s shop.” Charlie suggested, pointing to the brightly pained shop with the giant, animated man. She looked up as she slipped her knotted coin bag back into her pocket, taking in the shop.

“Sure I haven’t seen the shop in a while. I just never have time to come here. Not with all the chores I have to do around the house.” She shrugged, stuffing her gloved hands into the pockets of her travelling cloak.

“What on earth does my brother have you doing that takes up all your time?” Charlie questioned as they started to slowly make their way down the crowded street, taking their time and enjoying the feeling of walking through the snowy alley. Y/N shrugged again, her eyes looking down at the snow-covered cobblestone, the white fluff packed into the cracks of the cobblestone.

“I mostly clean around the house, but I have to do it a certain way, if I do not, I end up having to listen to Percy’s comments about how much he tolerates.” She told him as they neared the front door of the joke shop, Charlie pulling the door open, letting her go in first as he scoffed at her comment, but he didn’t say anything. Y/N ignored Charlie, looking around the busy story, watching as fireworks whizzed around, ducking as one came right at her head.

“Let’s see what Fred and George think of how he’s treating you,” Charlie hummed, gently leading her farther into the shop so that he could close the door, cutting the cold winter wind off. “There’s one of them now.” He pointed to the tall ginger who was talking to a young customer, nabbing a product from the top of the tall shelf. Before she could protest, Charlie was walking around her and approaching the twin with long strides.

Scurrying after him, she caught up just in time for the twin to turn around, the child scampering off elsewhere to browse. “Ah, Charlie, my dear brother. To what do we owe the pleasure of you gracing our shop too,” The twin exclaimed, a feeling of joy and fun surrounding them as they spent more time in the store. “And Y/N, the future Mrs. Percy Weasley. Good to see you, Madam.” He bowed to her extravagantly, making Y/N looked around the shop with reddened cheeks, hoping nobody saw his little show.

“Hi, George,” Y/N greeted, recognizing the voice. Appearance-wise, she had a hard time telling them apart, but as soon as they talked, she was able to pinpoint just which twin was in front of her without fail. George nodded at the greeting, standing right as Fred wandered over to the group leisurely. “Fred.” Y/N greeted him first, his hands in his pockets, making his suit jacket flare out, being a picture of laid-back.

“Good morning, Y/N,” He nodded to her before nodding to his older brother. “Charlie. What can we do for you today?” He posed the same question his twin had, looking between the pair he never thought he would see grace his shop together. Charlie shrugged, looking at the shelf next to him, poking a box.

“Just popped in to take a peek and get your opinions on a topic we were just discussing,” Charlie told them, jamming his hands into his jacket pockets, looking back to his tall brothers. “Percy.”

“And what about our dear brother?” Fred asked, rolling onto the balls of his feet then rocking back onto his heels. Y/N shook her head at Charlie, fairly annoyed with his mission. She knew everything he was saying, they were all thoughts she already held in her head, but how could she leave Percy after all the love that they held for one another. That love had to still be there, it couldn’t just disappear suddenly.

“Has Y/N changed in the past two years?” Charlie blurted out, confusing the two pranksters in front of him, making them share puzzled looks before looking at Charlie again.

“Yeah, but what does that have to do with Percy?” George wondered.

“Look, yes, I have changed, but Percy has to still love me,” She directed the comment to Charlie, leaving Fred and George to look at each other, questioning what was going on. “All that love couldn’t have just disappeared. We love each other and while life is not how I pictured it, I do not see why I have to do anything to change it. If Percy thinks life should be like that, then he must be right.” She expressed.

“Tell us, Y/N, what life had you pictured?” Charlie asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he instantly knew this would win the argument for him. Y/N shrugged, thinking, her eyes drifting around the store as she thought back to the visions she fell asleep to. The stories she thought would be a reality, but now know that they were just fairytales of a naive girl.

“I guess I always pictured Percy and I sitting on a couch in front of a warm fire, him reading a book out loud. We would share soft touches as we both relaxed after a long day at work. The house would be warm and lively, heated by our love for each other as we did daily activities together like cooking,” She paused, her eyes dancing along the ceiling as fireworks fizzled out overhead. She watched the once bright colours flicker and sputter before going out, leaving a trail of grey smoke swirling into the air. “He would do great things in the Ministry, building up the Wizarding World and I would be making strides in the Magizoologist field,” She sighed, looking back at the three men. “But I guess, somewhere along the way, now he’s building his career and I am just sitting at home, trying to make sure everything is perfect for him all the time.” She trailed off, hanging her head as she thought it through.

“Personally, I don’t see how your life now can compare to the life you pictured.” George spoke up.

“Of course it is incomparable, but life never goes as planned. What I wanted and what I am supposed to have are two very different things,” She agreed. “Besides, it’s not how the world works, I am just naive and childish, Percy tells me that all the time.” Fred shook his head, pointing between himself and his twin.

“No, no. We are childish, you were never naive and childish. You had dreams and an idea of how you wanted your life.” Fred told her, oddly wise and serious for him. George nodded along, silently agreeing. Huffing, Y/N’s tongue flicked out, swiping along her drying lips. Glancing at Charlie, she saw him looking at her, a look in his eye telling her to believe them. She found herself trusting his eyes, staying locked in his gaze until she came to her senses and darted her eyes back to the ceiling.

“It isn’t too late to have your dream life, Y/N,” Charlie spoke softly. Y/N could feel his eyes on her still, but she ignored it and continued to look at the ceiling where fireworks once were zooming around, darting towards the shelves, fizzing and sparking with beautiful colours. “You just have to talk to Percy if you always pictured him in your life. You can have the life you pictured, what you want and what you are supposed to have are not two different things.” He told her.” She listened to his words. She could do it. She could remove the painful dagger he had jabbed into her dreams and pull it out if she had to.

“I’ll talk to him.” She nodded, looking back over at Charlie who smiled at her, proud that she had finally listened. She found the corners of her lips turning up into a smile as she gazed into his eyes, feeling a weight lifting off her shoulders and chest. Just then, pops and fizzes were heard overhead, making her look up, seeing the bright colours swirling around the ceiling before each of them whizzed off elsewhere in the shop.

“Well, that means it is a new hour-” Fred started, looking up at the new fireworks speeding through the store, dodging one that almost hit him.

“Lunchtime.” George finished, also gazing at the fireworks.

“Well, we best be heading to lunch, we’ve got lots to discuss and do today,” Charlie nodded to his brothers who started a game of rock, paper, scissors to see who would take their lunch first. “I’ll see you at Y/N’s and Percy’s tomorrow night for the family dinner before I leave?” He asked them, earning nods and a frustrated grunt from Fred when George beat him in the first game.

“See you guys.” Y/N waved as they started a new round. Charlie and her turning around to make their way out of the shop, walking back out into the bitter cold. Y/N couldn’t help but let her destined conversation with Percy weigh on her mind.

____

Y/N collected the dirty plates as Percy talked to Bill about Ministry business, the others having migrated to the living room after Y/N had denied help, the only one who insisted passed her stubbornness and actually forced her to let him help was Charlie who took it upon himself to clean and put the dishes back. “Here, dear, let me take those into the kitchen for you.” Molly marched back into the dining room, hands out ready to grab the stack of dishes from Y/N.

“You do not need to help, Molly, you are our guest, I am more than capable.” She insisted politely, adding another plate to the stack. It was one of their fancier sets, not that any of their sets weren’t fancy, but these ones were the more expensive set that they used for family gatherings.

“Nonsense dear, you can’t take all of these dishes without your wand. I’ll clear the table and you can go search for it.” Molly waved her hand at the young woman, forcefully grabbing the stacks of plates from her hands.

“Did you lose your brand new wand already?” Percy asked her, cutting off his conversation once his mother was in the kitchen. Y/N looked to him, shrinking back under his judgemental gaze, folding into herself as if she was a child being scolded.

“I had it in the bedroom while I was getting ready, I left it on the bed to go into the bathroom, but it was gone when I got back,” She explained, but he just huffed, rolling his eyes at her, muttering under his breath, clearly embarrassed she had been so foolish in front of his family. “I honestly think it got wrapped up in the sheets, I am sure I will find it when it is time to go to bed.” She spoke up.

“I am very sorry for her immaturity, Bill,” Percy apologized. “Y/N, could you go wait in the kitchen while I finish up with Bill then I’ll call you back in.” He told her. Nodding, she bowed her head, walking through the doorway leading to the kitchen. Molly and Charlie looked at her, but she simply waited outside of the doorway, trying not to listen to Percy and Bill talking.

“What are you doing,” She jumped when Charlie appeared beside her, his present startling her. “Sorry,” He apologized, drying his hands on one of the dishtowels as the dishes continued to watch themselves in the sink, Molly leaving the room to get more dishes from the table. “But what are you doing?”

“Waiting for Percy to be done, he wants to talk about me losing my wand,” She told him. Charlie groaned, tossing the towel to the counter messily, giving her a look. “I know, I know,” She muttered, knowing what he was thinking. “I need to talk to him, but I am not talking to him right before a huge family dinner nor am I talking to him while you’re here.” She told him, turning around as he walked farther into the kitchen, starting to put the dishes away as they placed themselves into the rack after drying themselves.

“That means you’re going to talk to him tomorrow after I leave, right?” He asked, not noticing Fred and George walking into the kitchen in search of more food, the pair stopping to listen to the conversation.

“Yes, at some point tomorrow I will talk to him. For now, I can survive this treatment for another night, besides, I want to put the conversation off because what if it’s the end of Percy and I? Am I really ready for that possibility? What if there is still love buried under this mess?” She worried, watching as he moved through the kitchen to place the dishes back, having already figured out the layout in the short time he was there. She was amazed at how quick he was to adapt to change.

“I guess then that is the difference between the life you picture and the life you are meant to have, there are things that just do not work out because they are holding you back from your dream. If this conversation is the end of you and Percy then it is the end.” Charlie shrugged, stopping what he was doing as the dishes started to lag behind. She hummed nervously, twisting her fingers as she shifted.

“Y/N, could you come in here for a moment?” Percy called to her. With one last look shared between her and Charlie, she turned, nearly bumping into George in the process, not realizing he was in the room. He smiled down at her, moving out of her way as Fred wandered up to Charlie, patting him on his back.

“You and I aren’t that different, are we Charlie-boy? Both trying to break up engagements.” He spoke, but something told Y/N she was not meant to hear that.

“I’m not trying to break up with engagement, Fred, that’s ridiculous-” She couldn’t hear what else Charlie was saying as she walked into the dining room again, spotting Percy sitting in the same spot, his hands folded on the clean table in front of him, Molly walking into the kitchen, smiling as she passed her, clearly unaware she was going to be lectured by her son.

“Really, Percy, I know where my wand is, I just didn’t have enough time to actually look for it in the sheets.” She told him, taking a seat at the table, a few spots down the head he sat at, his cold eyes on her. She gulped, shifting in her seat as she folded her hands in her lap, angling her body to look at him better.

“You couldn’t have told me you lost your wand? I could have found it and spared us being embarrassed in front of my family,” He questioned, exasperated. “You know, I know I saw this a lot, but I really do tolerate so much from you. Please, for the love of Merlin, next time think about how we appear to others before you tell people that you lost your brand new wand. I mean, how clumsy are you? First, you break one and now you lost one.” He shook his head, standing up, his chair scraping against the hardwood floor.

“I really am sorry, Molly was asking and I couldn’t lie to her,” She insisted, standing up herself. “Where are you going, is this the end of the conversation, I don’t even get to defend myself?” She asked as he walked towards the archway leading to the hall. He paused, looking over his shoulder at her.

“I have to go do damage control so that we are not the laughing stock of the family. Why don’t you go and work on the dishes with Charlie?” He suggested in a way that told her to just listen to him. Not wanting to put him into a worse mood than he already was, she obeyed, making her way back into the kitchen where Charlie worked at putting the dishes away again, the twins had left, obviously taking the hallway back to the sitting room.

“Hey, I know this might not be the time, but I just realized that I might not be able to return for Christmas again this year so I wanted to take this opportunity to say Happy Christmas to you.” Charlie said when he heard her walking in, looking over his shoulder as he placed a glass back into its spot.

“Happy Christmas, Charlie.” She returned the festive greeting solemnly, making Charlie give her a concerned look before deciding not to ask any questions, clearly seeing that she was too wrapped up in her head to listen to him pester her. Instead, he went back to putting the dishes back, glancing at her every few minutes.

____

The house had returned to its normal silence once again, leaving Y/N sitting alone in the sitting room, waiting for Percy to get home from the Ministry. She twisted her fingers together, staring at the flames in the fireplace, heating the room. Looking up as she heard the door to their house opening, she stood, rushing through the sitting room to look out into the hall, seeing Percy shrugging off his cloak and setting his briefcase down. “Percy,” She spoke softly, gaining his attention. He hummed, looking up at her as he untied his shoes. “Could you come in here a moment, I have to talk to you about something.” She asked him rather nervously.

“Of course, just a moment while I change my shoes, I don’t want to track snow into the house,” He told her, grabbing another pair of shoes to slip on. She nodded, ducking back into the sitting room and making her way back over to the sofa, taking her spot back. The thought of this conversation being the end of her relationship with him weighed in her mind, but after spending the day all by herself for the first time in a week, she realized how it already felt that it was over between them for the longest time. She wasn’t able to think too much about it anymore as Percy walked into the room, rubbing his hands together and blowing into them, trying to warm himself up. “What do you need to talk about?” He asked her, standing in front of the fireplace, holding his hands out to it.

“I want my dream life,” She blurted out, not giving herself a chance to chicken out. Gulping, she watched as he glanced over his shoulder at her in confusion. “I want to go back to work and I want to know if you still love me.” She continued, throwing the plan she had rehearsed for this conversation out the window.

“Of course I still love you-”

“Really? Because it seems to me that I am just a burden that you tolerate and I should not just be tolerated, I should be celebrated and shown love, but all you do is make comments and roll your eyes as if I am a child,” She ranted, the words just pouring out, easing the pressure she didn’t know she had weighing down on her chest. “I want to be loved and appreciated, not banished to doorways and shooed out of rooms. I want to be able to live, I want to be relevant in someone else's life, I want to make a name for myself, not just making it into the footnotes of your success story,” She paused, looking lifting her eyes from the floor, looking at him to see him fully turned towards her, his mouth hanging open as he blinked at her. “And I so desperately want to know that there is still love between us because you were who I imagined in my perfect life. Please,” She choked on unshed tears, feeling the tell-tale lump in her throat, blocking the words from leaving her mouth. “Please tell me that this is all in my head and that there is a flame still burning in the depths of this darkness.” She pleaded, a few tears slipping down her cold cheeks.

She was silent, the only noise coming from her were the sniffles as she tried to not let out the sobs and cries she was holding back. He stayed silent as well, his eyes stuck to the floor under his feet, not wanting to meet her eyes. A sob slipped past her lips as she realized what the silence meant, but part of her didn’t want to believe it. “If you don’t tell me it is possible for us to love each other still, then I will have no problem taking this dagger you jabbed through my heart out, leaving the idea of us bleeding out on this coffee table if that meant I could have my dream life,” She was fully prepared now to leave him, to dump the weight of him off her shoulders. “Believe me, Percy Weasley, I can do it if you do not tell me that I somehow got this all wrong,” She gave him another opportunity to speak up, to fight for her, but he remained silent, still not lifting his eyes to meet her. Just then, she knew that she could not deny it anymore and her heart shattered with the force compared to the killing curse, breaking into millions of little, tiny pieces as she realized that there was no more love and he was just tolerating her to save face. “Well, I guess this belongs to you again,” She whispered, pulling the engagement ring off her finger, gently laying it on the clean coffee table, standing up. “I already had my things ready in case this happened so this is goodbye, Percy.” She kept her eyes on him, hoping that he would lift his eyes from the floor finally and tell her to stay, that he did love her still, but he didn’t. He remained just as silent and cold as the house they were in. He gave her no other choice but to walk out of the room and walk out of this life, now free from the dagger in her heart and the weight of him crushing down on her, free from him only tolerating her.

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tlbodine · 3 years

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Reverse-Outlining Revision Method with Plottr

So in my editing guide, I give a step-by-step method for structural editing that I find really useful, and I wanted to do a visual follow-up to kind of show what that process looks like. I’m using Plottr for this, because I was gifted a copy of the software in exchange for them using my horror-writing beat-sheet as one of the templates, but you could just as easily do this with Scrivener, scrap paper, or any other organizational system you like.

Whether you’re a fellow pantser who struggles with story structure (hi!) or you’re an outliner who needs to make sure your draft matches up to your vision (or the second draft has a good structure), this will work for you!

Step One: Write a one-sentence log-line of the story + jot down the major themes

There’s space for this in Plottr. I’m doing Neverest.

Premise: A woman’s search for her missing husband’s body on Mount Everest sends her into the grip of ancient forces that don’t want her to leave.

Themes: Putting your name on something doesn't make it yours; colonialism and the urge to conquer and codify; relationships as a form of control and change vs understanding

You’ll also want to write a one-page overview summary of the story, similar to what you’d put in a query letter. Here’s mine:

One year ago, Sean Miller -- journalist and mountain climbing enthusiast -- reached the summit of Mt. Everest, and was never seen again. Unable to move on without knowing the truth of what happened, his wife Carrie flies to Nepal to meet with Sean’s best friend and former climbing partner, Tom. They assemble a small crew and begin an expedition up the peak in search of Sean’s body and a better understanding of what might have happened in his final days.

Guided by a travel journal left behind from her husband's expedition, Carrie ventures into the frozen, open-air graveyard of the world's tallest peak. But as Sean’s diary and Carrie’s experiences reveal, climbing the mountain is more than a test of endurance; it’s a battle of wills with an ancient and hostile force protecting the mountain — and the dead do not rest easy at the summit.

Doing this helps you to identify the core elements of your story -- the characters, the conflict, and the stakes. You should be able to answer the questions: who is the main character, what do they want, what’s stopping them, what happens if they succeed/fail.

In this case:

The main character is Carrie, the wife of a journalist who disappeared while summiting Mt. Everest (character)

She wants to find his body and get closure about his death/understand how and why he died (what does she want)

But there are supernatural forces at work that led to his death and now have the same in store for her (conflict/stakes)

Step Two: List out every scene in the book

Plottr is an outlining software, so it makes this step really easy (and conveniently color-codes things for me at the same time!). There are multiple views this can take, but this one screenshots well so I used this one for the example.

Basically what you want to do is write down everything that happens, scene by scene. You can color-code them however you want -- in my case, I have three narrative threads, so I made a timeline for each one. Then I just mapped out all the scenes -- across 24 chapters, each dot is a scene, and you can see that some chapters have multiple scenes and also that the primary and secondary plot alternate chapters.

When you look at it this way, you can tell really clearly that the tertiary plot needs some work -- it’s only there for four scenes in the first third of the story. I either need to cut it completely and incorporate any essential information into the other plots, or I need to expand it.

In this particular case, I decided to expand because 1.) my word count is low, and I’d like to fill in more story and 2.) a big theme I want to explore in the story is what it’s like to love someone who’s deeply passionate about something you don’t understand -- so this tertiary plot is a great place to explore that and fill in more characterization that should add some depth to the primary and secondary stories.

I can also see at a glance that I have a variable number of scenes in each chapter. Sometimes that makes sense (the green ones are diary entries, so it’s logical that one chapter = one entry) but sometimes it hints that those chapters could be a little thin and need more content. If I’m looking to add additional conflict, I should do it in those blue chapters that only have one dot as opposed to the ones with multiple dots!

Step Three: Look at the overall shape and adjust for pacing and genre

Plottr has a bunch of templates pre-loaded into it that make this easy, but you can also just google various different story structures and beat sheets such as Save the Cat or the 3 Act Structure etc. But just look at the overall map of story beats and see how they line up with the outline you’ve made:

This is just a small snapshot view, but you get the idea -- when you look at the scenes side-by-side with the beat sheet, you can see some things. For example, it sure would make more sense if the flashback scene where Carrie decides to embark on this journey got its own chapter and lined up better with the “putting the players in action” plot point rather than being smooshed into the first chapter with the introduction to the world! The fact that I’ve got it smashed into that first chapter is probably a sign that my opening scenes/chapter itself is a bit thin and needs to be fleshed out a little more.

Step Four: Figure out what you need to adjust and make the changes accordingly

So after looking at everything mapped out this way, I’ve got a little list of things I need to do:

Come up with more scenes for that red plotline

Rearrange some things a little bit to better fit the structure I want

Figure out some more blue scenes to fill in the gaps caused by rearranging things and smooth over the pacing/amp up the conflict/alleviate some areas where critique partners hae expressed confusion

I also moved around the categories in Plottr (you can drag-and-drop storylines and chapters) to make it a bit easier to see everything all at once. Basically you can edit the story’s outline first, to save you the confusion of manually moving around whole paragraphs/chapters in your actual story document.

Now, I haven’t finished that step yet for this particular project (there’s a lot of brainstorming to do re: filling in those gaps!) BUT I did want to skip ahead to show you the next step (let’s pretend this is a TV cooking show where the finished pie is pulled right out of the oven).

Step Five: Re-Type everything based on your new scene list

This is a really neat thing about Plottr. If you swap from the “Timeline” view to the “Outline” view, you get these editable text windows where you can type whatever you want, and it’ll keep it organized into chapters and scenes.

So, just pull up your original in one window, and the Plottr screen (or other outlining/drafting device) in another. Dual monitors are great for this but we make due. Now, retype the original document into the new document, making changes as you go to fit the new outline and also cleaning up language and so forth as you go. For example, this time around I’ll be changing Carrie’s blue timeline scenes to present-tense instead of past, so I’ll rewrite them in present tense in the new window.

Once all that is said and done, in Plottr you can export the file directly into Scrivener or Word. (If you’re not using Plottr, you’ll have to figure out for your own self how to transfer the final product into a final document -- I trust you can sort through that). From there you’ve got a fresh clean copy of a second draft all ready to go for the final copy-edit/proofread/polish/formatting and then you’re off to the races!

I hope this was helpful for you! I talk more about editing in my Gumroad guide here: https://tlbodine.gumroad.com/l/jkLpr

If you’d like to receive all of my existing + future guides and support me in making more content like this, consider subscribing to my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tlbodine

And you can pick up a copy of Plottr here: https://plottr.com/

This post isn’t sponsored or anything, but I did get a free copy of the software from the developer and I think it’s pretty neat. It’s still in beta so new features keep getting added, and the team that makes it are very nice and responsive to feedback.

#writing advice #writing tips #outlining #editing #how to edit #editing advice #writeblr #writing #share to save a writer

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eremiie · 3 years

Note

tips for planning a multipart fanfic? I’m considering on writing one but I’m not sure how to really plan :/// I only got the general concept as well as the title down but that’s as far as I could get for being an amateur of a writer... orz

i’ll try to help you out!

so i only have one multipart fic (a series) in the works right now, but i’ll tell you what i’ve done :)

planning a series;

determine whether you’re a plotter or a pantser;

a plotter is someone who outlines and plots their whole entire story before they begin it. i am a plotter, i plan out every little thing, and this goes for my series to my oneshots, to sometimes even drabbles LMFAO. a pantser is someone who doesn’t do much planning and kind of just goes with the flow. this is a spectrum— you can be in the middle, you can lean towards plotting, you can lead towards pantsing. i will say take a shot at plotting though because i think it’s really helpful and can really help you lay a basis for your story. there’s a lot of outlining sheets to take from the internet, like “the heros journey”, “the eight c’s”, etc!

know your characters;

for fanfics it’s pretty easier than creating original characters because you already have characters that you’re working with that you just need to characterize to fit the plot. characterizing characters and getting them right can be hard too though. i suggest using wiki websites for these characters to know their personality, research their zodiacs if you think they act like them, research their personality types, etc. since i usually write reader inserts i still characterize my reader but i make it as vague as possible. for example, my reader in my series karma is independent, caring, a tad bit stoic, and much more. knowing your characters doesn’t even stop at the personality though— in my notes for my outline of karma i have things down to how my characters talk! here’s a peek at my notes;

if you can see, the first photo i planned out the characters relation to reader, and in the second photo i planned out how the characters talk. you’re probably like “why does that matter?” but even things like that can really characterize and give way to a character. sasha’s speech style shows that she grew up in the country— because canonically she lived on a farm and i incorporate that into my story. pieck’s speech style (will) shows that she’s clever, and she’s smart and she lets people figure out things on their own. armin’s speech style shows that he’s intelligent and has a lot going on in his brain!! so yeah, know your characters :)

worldbuild;

worldbuilding is as it sounds, build your world, plan out the world you’re gonna create in your story, even if it’s something you’re not gonna mention— knowing your world to the best of your ability helps you know how your characters will move in this world. for example, in my notes i have the plot set in marley, “marley university” if you will, i have the dormmates written down, the couples written down, i have imagery of how the college is set up in my head as well. so worldbuild your story.

character arcs;

so especially for stories with a lot of characters you’ll need to give characters purpose in your stories. don’t just introduce a character in chapter 4 and forget about them. every character introduced needs to come back eventually. the character needs to have some purpose in the story, their relevance needs to be made known. and this character needs to have their own closing for their “arc” as well. for example, in attack on titan isayama closes every single one of the characters arcs by fulfilling what they needed to fulfill, by having them push the plot forth, or come at peace within theirselves or something like that. ymir for example finally got to live for herself and shows hisu how to live for herself. released hisu from the binds of “christa” and helped her discover her true self. this in itself pushed the plot forth because hisu became hisu which is a reiss and took the throne, and so on. that was the closing of ymir’s arc, and that was the blossom for historia’s. so know your characters and build arcs for them that’ll come to a close. write these arcs down in your notes if you need to make it clear for yourself!

plot;

and of course, we’ll dive deep into plotting. so when i plot my story i figure out what the endgame is at first. how is the story gonna end? where is everyone going to end up? if it’s a romance are the 2 characters going to end up together? when you know the end you can work backwards until you get to the beginning. this is optional but also know what you’re trying to tell your reader. do you have a theme in mind?

when i plot i start with big plot points personally, so what are the main events that are going to happen? then i figure out the mini plot points that’ll get us from point A to point B until all the gaps are filled. so once again, for example lets say we’re writing a romance. endgame is that eren and armin end up together.

eren and armin meet in a coffee shop where eren is struggling with his biology class

eren and armin become study buddies

eren and armin realize they like each other after so many study seshs

eren stops studying with armin bc he thinks he’s gonna mess something up

armin gets sad and starts talking to jean about it

eren thinks jean and armin have something going on so he confesses to armin b4 jean does (even tho jean wasn’t)

eren and armin end up together

LMAO so those would be my major plot points, then i’d intertwine these plot points together to create the story as a whole. maybe armin sits down to help eren since he was waiting for his coffee and ended up staying longer than he intended. maybe then armin bumps into eren at school and recognizes him from the coffee shop and asks him how biology is going and eren says terrible so he offers to study with him. (that’d be from point A to B) maybe then they become routine study buddies every wednesday and start pining for each other. and so on, i’ll slowly intertwine all these plot points until i have the story all filled out.

go into detail with it!!! figure out the events in between that will lead to the next event, make it all click :) afterwards you can divide everything into chapters.

i will say though when you’re dividing it into chapters i think what’s gonna make your reader want to turn the page is leaving every chapter on a “cliffhanger” and a cliffhanger doesn’t always mean something big. it just means something left open ended that the reader needs to read more to find out about. for example in karma chapter one, why is eren drunk? who is the unknown number texting his phone? these things need to eventually be answered and the reader has to turn the page to get to the answer to these questions.

try to lace everything in your story together, and make sure that everything mentioned in your story needs to be mentioned. chekhov’s gun; don’t tell us there’s a gun on the wall in chapter 1 if someone’s not gonna fire it in chapter 12. bring everything back and let everything contribute to the story as a whole.

symbolism;

annddd just a little something extra that can really round out a series is symbolism. symbols give this pizazz to your story— but it’s optional of course!! i just think it’s fun to add in. for example, the purple flowers in attack on titan, the tree eren likes to sleep under, attack on titan ending on 139, little things like that are symbolism and can shed more on a story or on a character than you think. be wise with your symbolism and sprinkle it here and there (make sure it makes sense though!!)

#eremie writing tips #writing tips #writing advice

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thattimdrakeguy · 3 years

Note

Started thinking about the idea of swapping Kon and Cassie for the formation of YJ, which leads me to two questions for you: 1) Do you have a 90s Cassie Recommended Reading List? Want to do a little research first. 2) Do you have any ideas yourself? (I’m just curious) Thanks for your time!

I read all of these, but--

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/wonder-woman/4050-3824/object-appearances/4005-10885/

Use this to fill in the gaps, and stop at Wonder Woman #136. Because that'll be all the ones written by her creator. I just went past to see if I could learn more about her school life, but it just wasn't happening.

The one issue that focused on it was absolutely terrible. They got Mark Millar, for only one issue, and he made Cassie the most generic typical teenage girl character ever, obsessed over a boy and changing how she looks to impress him, just for it all to be okay by just being herself.

She didn't act anything like Cassie. They made fun of her physical appearance. Put her in a mini-skirt, and had her and Cissie talk about if they should make Cassie's boobs look bigger.

And while I'm sure real girls are like, that and do that sort of stuff, it's not who Cassie was. Which is the problem--beyond a grown man writing about teenage girl’s boobs.

I greatly question the choice on hiring a 30 something year old man to write a singular issue of Wonder Woman focusing on the life of a teenage girl still in High School with a crush.

After reading it I straight up stopped reading any farther because I thought it was absolutely ridiculous.

---

And as far as the starting members of Young Justice being Bart, Cassie, and Timmy? Hmmm.

I'm going to say going with the characterization going with what their creators intended. Cause I do think Young Justice, characterization wise, was pretty freaking shabby. Which sucks, because it really is super funny.

But I think--hmmm.

I think the dynamics would be more like this.

Cause Tim was intended to be this morally innocent, very naïve little boy, who was pretty oblivious. And I keep saying socially oblivious with him, because that's part of it. But I should specify that he isn't a social mess. He can talk just fine, and can even be a great talker. He's just very obviously oblivious of a lot of stuff people his age and older are aware of.

Cassie's a wild-child who stays out past her curfew to party, thinks fights and battles are extremely cool, and while clever herself like Timmy, she gets ahead of herself often and ends up getting hurt. She's head-strong before anything else and doesn't like having to be protected. But she still does her best and shows that by baby sitting kids, and still being very quick-witted.

Bart is a total airhead, who quite literally doesn't know how the world works. Not in the Timmy way, but in a "I was literally raised in a video game" way. He's ill-tempered, can't relate to anyone, but loves doing Super Hero stuff and playing video games.

So I feel like their whole vibe would be like--sleepover time.

And the first issue of the actual series they're literally having a sleepover and stuff, but I mean, because I don't actually think Tim would be this Batman-esque figure, and try to act like him to be leader. I think it would be that without any sense of responsibility until they try to solve a crime.

Tim was made to be a positive-thinking, grounded person. Not a grump.

But if anyone was going to be trying to keep a lid on things it would still be Tim. He's the most level-headed one of the group so he'd have to be or else they'd all be running face first into walls.

At the same time though, I think, cause of Tim being the youngest looking, the most innocent minded, and well, literally being the youngest kid. He's have more of a little brotherly role despite being the one that keeps the lid on things. Like he'd naturally be the one that gets teased the most in that vein, and probably be protected more--Not cause he can't help himself, but I just think that because the others are both Super Powered, it'd be a reflex, and Young Justice itself originally portrayed Tim as being way more talented than he actually is. His whole thing was not being the best, but trying his best.

I think by default Cassie might have that sort of--older sister power, though. Mainly cause she's a babysitter and she's used to having to deal with brats. Just not ones closer to her own age. Even though Bart is actually the oldest of the three.

Bart's probably just a chill middle child that still gets into trouble a freaking lot, which freaks out baby brother, and makes older sister sigh, while they gotta bail him out.

Cause Tim's more prone to anxiety than Cassie is. Cassie just gets freaking annoyed over worried lol.

Also with Tim and Bart on two totally different sides of the responsibility spectrum, Cassie who's right in the middle sort of has to be the one to keep the oil in the machine or else they'd never get anything done. She's the deciding factor, and it's like flipping a coin if she's going to wanna do what Tim wants or what Bart once.

Timmy just has to deal with it and hopefully him and Cassie will be clever enough to keep them out of too much trouble.

And I feel like there'd be them mostly just playing around as kids and just talking about their interests. Because they can relate to each other a lot more, especially Tim and Cassie interest wise.

So more chaos, more kids being kids, and it being a lot more dorkier.

They'd probably just hang around Cassie's place all the time being partially babysat by Diana I imagine. Because they'd be less of a young Super Hero team, and more of just friends being friends, and they all happen to be Super Heroes.

No real leader role. Cassie and Tim both serving functions of a leader, but ultimately not a straight up leader. Tim's just the most grounded, morally innocent, and intuitive one, while Cassie I think would have the actual role of authority over them all. Her boys just following her around.

Cassie's also the most socially normal one. Bart literally doesn't know a freaking thing. Tim's not good at realizing how others will feel, and will actually break into your house with the most innocent of intentions, but still, that's wrong and creepy.

So she'd be there to reel the boys back from their weirdness. Someone's gotta pull Tim out of the trash cans looking through people’s garbage trying to solve mysteries.

I'm not sure if I explained any of that well, but that's the basics of what's in my head when I try to picture what they'd be like together.

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fonulyn · 2 years

Note

Honestly, when it comes to fan discourse over Leon’s role in RE, I blame 50% of it on the trend of haring popular things, and 50% of it on Capcom’s truly abysmal writing. That company can’t write a consistent characterization even if it hit em in the head.

I agree that 50% of it is the trend of hating everything popular, but I genuinely don't think the writing is as bad that it deserves the other 50%. there are bad moments and incredibly lazy solutions they've taken, and the plots aren't exactly constructed brilliantly in a way that'd blow everyone away.

but even with the sometimes shoddy writing I don't think consistent characterization is their issue. like if I think of Leon (because I've played/seen all the games/movies he's in so he's the easiest example), he's consistently himself in every other installation except for Degeneration where he's basically a cardboard cutout that does some cool parkour :'D even in Degeneration there are some of the basic building blocks of his character, like, he encourages Claire, he throws himself in danger for just about anyone, and he tries to save whoever he can. but sadly they just didn't give him any actual facial expressions and flattened his character incredibly much.

every other installation of the series he's in? he's very much consistently himself. of course there are some changes but he also has aged like 20 years during the events so it makes perfect sense, no one is exactly the same person in their late 30s as they are in their early 20s. he gets more tired, he gets more Done™, but he somehow always finds just one more fuck to give and it's very much consistent thoroughly.

besides Leon in Degeneration, the only other example I can think of when they've been inconsistent with the characterization is Claire in ID, because in my opinion she does not act like herself a lot of the time in it. but other than those two? from what I've seen it's not actually the characterization that's the issue. (bear in mind though that I haven't played/seen RE0, CVX, RE7 and RE8, so I don't know all of the games and there might be something I'm missing)

personally, i think that the bigger issue is them not knowing how to write actual human relationships. most of the instances where the characters act oddly are moments when they're interacting with someone else, first of all. and they have absolutely no consistency when it comes to relationships, no matter if it's a friendly, familial or antagonistic one. like...

let's take Chris. he spends literally years obsessing over finding Jill (understandably so) but then after he's found her there's never even one mention of her again? as if she wasn't one of the most important people in his life for so long?? or Piers? Chris obviously is more than distraught over his fate but then after the credits roll in RE6 there's not even one single mention in a subordinate clause or anything. it's as if those people stop existing to Chris. (and please note that I'm not trying to bash Chris here, but the writing that does this.) Chris is still fairly consistently himself (I have heard things about RE8 but I haven't played it so I don't actually know for sure how he is there) but somehow everyone who ever was important to him vanishes and ...yeah, that is some epically shitty writing right there. and I don't mean they'd need to keep talking about those characters nonstop forever but like even one mention somewhere would be good seeing how much they have affected Chris and his life.

another thing that drives me absolutely bonkers is how they just act as if the characters stop existing the second they aren't on screen, anyway. like there are years and years in between when we have no idea what the hell was going on with the characters. okay that could be because they want to fill in the gaps later but I would not hold my breath. and the lack of backstories?? it's just. c'mon. we don't need a day-by-day description of their early childhoods but getting some definite lore there would be amazing.

but as for the inconsistency, I don't think it's all because of bad writing. I think it's very deliberate a lot of the time. they have a long history of wanting to keep things vague, and I think it shows. they probably want to keep playing in the universe as freely as possible and if they give too much definite information then it ties their hands and they want to avoid that. I don't think it has ever been even the intention to develop super well-rounded and fully fleshed out character stories. it doesn't seem like a priority to them and the fandom is probably putting too much emphasis on it.

and I get it. I want those things too. badly. but I also get why they wouldn't bother giving it to us because, well, it's a lot of effort they don't actually need to be making so why bother. so like. if you go to McDonald's you don't expect to get a five star filet mignon. so if you play/watch RE? you shouldn't expect to get the most mindblowingly thought out plots and character arcs that have every single detail ironed out. it's just not gonna happen and you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

there's a lot a lot a lot to love about their characters, but I think that we should also be realistic in what is ever in the cards for us to get. they're clearly not interested in the kind of depth a part of the fandom wants, and we're a small niche, most people are glad to just get their fun zombie shooting.

so like. my take? 50% the trend of hating on popular things, 10% bad writing, 20% wrong kind of expectations, and 20% fandom willfully either ignoring or misinterpreting things because they want everything to be clear-cut black and white and refuse to acknowledge nuance and the grey area in between. so... obviously just my two cents :'D but that's what I think.

#long post #re answers #anonymous #ask and i shall answer

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class1akids · 3 years

Note

your opinion on Miruko, Ryukyu and the other big pro heroes' possible involvement and their reaction to the Endeavour stuff?

Well, who do we have left in the top 10?

4. Edgeshot - he’s a bit of a mystery to me in terms of characterization. He’s an All Might fanboy and seemed to be also very much an establishment guy. Plus, his arm is really badly screwed. On the other hand, his side of the raid is the more the outwards success with many arrests - so who knows? And he ranked 3rd in popularity behind Best Jeanist and Hawks (who is now tainted with the Twice killing and his father’s identity). Plus he has a strong hero team. If someone wanted to break ranks and make a bid for leadership, he could be it.

5. Mirko - she gives me the impression that she doesn’t really do or care about hero politics. She’ll do whatever she needs to in order to be out there again kicking villain butt. She’s clearly in it for the brawl. Also, Endeavor saved her life - so I think she’ll be supportive / neutral.

6. Crust - dead

7. Kamui Woods - status unknown. He seemed pretty badly burnt by Dabi, so it’s a question if he can be healed. But I think he’ll do whatever Edgeshot decides to do.

8. Wash - we already saw that he’s out there continuing his hero work. I can’t really see him be active in politics.

9. Yoroi Musha - already retired.

10. Ryukyu - we’ve seen her being very shaken after the Overhaul incident and not wanting her rank. I think she did more in this raid, saving lots of people and engaging Shigaraki. In any case, I don’t see her confident enough to go against the Top 3 - though she may very well want out from the ranking politics.

After them, the order is Majestic (11 - dead), Gang Orca (12 - possibly dead), Shishido (13...).

All in all, it feels like there will be an alliance of the heroes who will feel like they need to keep fighting, with much less hierarchy than before. Other heroes will continue to retire either due to injuries or because they feel like this is not what they signed up for.

But we’ll also get some fresh blood - the UA Big 3 (Tamaki, please be ok!!!) and the foreign heroes will come in to help, and I’m sure they will mobilize all hero students with provisional licenses to fill the gaps.

With the HPSC out of the pictures, the heroes will more self-organize.

However, I expect some opposing voices to come, possibly from Trumpet’s political party that will argue for everyone to be able to use their quirks in the current situation.

#c1a asks #bnha manga speculation #bnha speculation #top 10 #hero ranking #edgeshot #mirko #ryukyu

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notebook-13 · 4 years

Text

BNHA History

Alright! I decided to assemble what we’ve been told about how society has changed since the advent of quirks. So here’s a rough timeline + my speculation.

Distant Past

≈200 years ago

The birth of a glowing baby signaled the beginning of superpowers. Considering the tremendous chaos that followed, I think it’s likely that the onset was fairly rapid—the glowing baby was the first of a lot of people all at once born with superpowers (or, it was the first baby born with a noticeable superpower). Crime skyrocketed, the law became meaningless, humanity came apart at the seams.

Why there was such an explosion of crime and chaos hasn’t been directly addressed; presumably it’s because early metas were violently shunned as nonhuman, and because new powers entailed the opportunity to use them.

Under these conditions, All for One rose to prominence. He used his meta power to win slavish loyalty, granting powers to those who desired them and removing them from metas who rejected them. His manipulation of his devotees was so great that he didn’t need to give them orders: they anticipated his will and acted on it. He didn’t tolerate dissent and crushed those who defied him. (ch193)

AfO’s period of de facto rule is not included in history books (he persists as a myth), so it’s unlikely that he occupied an official, publicly recognized position. But his rule apparently stretches from approximately the advent of quirks till the battle of Kamino Ward. (ch59)

However, AfO’s younger brother opposed him. AfO punished him by forcing on him a “useless” power-stocking ability. This power fused with the brother’s latent ability to transfer his ability, and the brother was able to pass it on. Over the next two centuries, the OfA holders continued to pass it on, largely to whoever happened to be nearby when they were dying instead of to selected proteges. (ch59, 257)

Relatively soon after the advent of superpowers, the police foreswore using them as weapons in order to keep the trust of the public. Vigilantes emerged to fulfill this role, attempting to mete out justice, and at some point the government authorized certain people (heroes) to use their powers offensively to enforce the law. Heroes were heavily criticized at first, but they eventually developed public support thanks to their strict adherence to the law (according to police chief Tsuragamae). (ch56)

According to the bnha spinoff Vigilantes, the government classified vigilantes into heroes or villains based on public opinion of them. (ch13)

MLA Era

How long ago was the Meta Liberation Army active?

Ch232: Redestro weakly implies that Destro was born before the beginning of heroes as a profession. This early date would also coincide with writing legislation to authorize heroes to use their powers to apprehend any other meta who used their ability.

Ch238: the MLA was in hiding for generations, plural.

Ch223: Redestro states the MLA has trained for “many generations”

So…somewhere between seventy years ago and more than a hundred years ago?

Regardless of the exact dates, Destro was born into a borderline period when there was intense prejudice against metas and official effort to coexist peacefully. When his mother defended him by claiming his power was a mere “quirk,” she was killed by a mob.

Sometime later, when the government drafted legislation to (supposedly?) promote peaceful coexistence, they recalled her idea of “quirk” and tried to use it as part of their reform. Destro, now an adult, opposed this and their reform, asserting that this was not the world his mother envisioned when she’d said “quirk.” (ch232)

He rallied metas to his cause, to bar any restriction of meta ability use, and the MLA fought the government for several years before defeat. It dissolved, many of its members in jail, including Destro himself. He penned his autobiography and then killed himself. (ch218)

Post-MLA, Pre-Symbol of Peace

Unknown number of years ago

Villain: “Seems like no one’s willing to break the law nowadays. All this whining about not selling out their friends. It’s a real pain. […] Man, I miss the days before All Might came along… I was young, and this country was a way more impulsive place.” (ch57)

Yagi: “I believed that this country needed a symbol so I started dashing headlong towards that goal. A shining light…hope. A wake-up call for everyone. As I ran, I swore I’d become that sort of man. People always had these worried looks. All the heroes in the world couldn’t slow the rising crime rates. Much more than now…they were truly scared.” (ch165)

This was an apparently cutthroat, impulsive period where efforts to curb chaos continued but found limited success. Crime was on the rise, something Yagi attributed to the idea that there wasn’t anyone (a “pillar”) for people to rely on. (ch93)

≈70 years ago

When Ujiko proposed his “paranormal singularity theory,” he was roundly rejected and mocked. Due to his own struggles with housing multiple quirks, AfO recognized how prescient Ujiko’s warning was, and he reached out to recruit Ujiko. (ch270)

(Note: Ujiko’s use of “paranormal” could mean he proposed his theory before “quirk” became the standard term, meaning “quirk” could be a rather recent change of language.)

≈35 years ago

AfO killed Nana. All Might was eighteen; he subsequently went to America to complete his training.

Symbol of Peace Era

≈30 years ago – Battle of Kamino Ward

Deku: “Ever since he appeared on the hero scene, his strength has won him undisputed popularity. Every year that he’s been active has seen a marked decrease in the appearance rate of villains. His existence alone is a deterrent to villainy.” (ch2)

Gran Torino: “[Stain’s] ideals and opinions…they’re gonna get out there. On the net. In papers and magazines. On TV. This age we live in, for better or worse, is one of suppression. But mark my words—people are gonna be influenced by this.” (ch57)

Shigaraki: “It’s not crazy to imagine that someone could commit an atrocity at any given moment. So why do they smile and mingle like this? Because the laws and rules are built on their individual morality, they’re convinced that ‘No one would ever do that.’” (ch69)

Shigaraki: “The reason these fools can smile and live their lives is cuz All Might’s always got that grin on his face. Smiling wide, as if to say there’s no one he can’t save!!” (ch69)

Deku: “All Might. Was there ever a time you really couldn’t save someone…?” Yagi: “…? … Sure. Plenty of times. Right now, somewhere out in the world, someone could be hurting or dying. It sucks, but I’m only human. I can’t save people who are out of my reach… That’s why I stand tall and smile. I’m the Symbol of Justice. The citizens…heroes…villains…I need to light the way for all of them.” (ch70)

Kid: “Nowadays people expect different things from heroes than they used to. It’s all about the entertainment factor and approval ratings.” (ch144)

Shigaraki: “You heroes pretend to be society’s guardians. For generations, you pretended not to see those you couldn’t protect and swept their pain under the rug. It’s tainted everything you’ve built. That means your system’s all rotten from the inside with maggots crawling out. It all builds up, little by little, over time. You’ve got the common trash, all too dependent on being protected. And the brave guardians who created the trash that need coddling. […] I don’t care if you don’t understand. That’s what makes us heroes and villains.” (ch281)

After about two centuries of chaos, Japan achieved stability after All Might established himself as the Symbol of Peace. All Might was specifically noted to have demolished most organized crime, so that villain teams were relatively rare (ch83, 115, 125). As Shigaraki put it, now people could go about their lives confident of their safety because All Might convinced them that everything will be alright, a hero will take care of them. This was true to the extent that people would flock to the sites of hero/villain battles to take photos and videos.

Whereas, as Twice put it, if you were on the wrong side of the law, then All Might’s catchphrase “I’m here” was a curse, something to fear and loathe. Gran Torino characterized this era as an age of suppression, as in, the symptoms were suppressed, producing superficial stability, but the underlying conditions hadn’t changed.

During this period, the industry of heroism shifted to over-emphasize heroism as public entertainment, rewarding attention-grabbing stunts and PR skills over humbler virtues.

This shift inspired Stain the Hero Killer to enact a purge of unworthy heroes in order to revive true heroism. He deeply impressed society, and, despite his murders, he became a popular figure. His ideals provoked some people to question whether society’s heroes were “true heroes,” while others disregarded his ideals and simply found him cool.

During this era, 80% of the population had a quirk. Whether that statistic was stable or if it was an effect of demographics (ie, most quirkless people are elderly and almost all kids have quirks) hasn’t been specified.

This era could be separated into All Might’s Bronze, Silver, and Golden Ages, each with a different costume.

≈30 years ago

All Might debuted in Japan, and he kicked off an unprecedented era of stability.

5 years ago

All Might fought and “killed” AfO.

Age of Endeavor

Battle of Kamino Ward – Present (ch283)

HPSC: “All Might had it all…power with enough charm to win the people over. The gulf between him and the perennial runner-up was always huge… I doubt we’re gonna find someone that charismatic again anytime soon.” Mera: While we’re waiting for the next All Might, hero squads with a focus on team unity are gonna have to fill the gap. This order from up high is meant to make some headway on that front… (ch111)

Miyagi (newscaster): “If we’re being honest, I think All Might just got too big for our own good. So big that we lost sight of things. […] As for us, we shouldn’t just passively protect the status quo. Isn’t it our duty to bring back a culture of excitement around heroes?” (ch115)

Kid: “We know what’s up. Mom and dad and the TV all ask the same thing. ‘Are the heroes doing okay?’ …We know. We’re better than them!” (ch165)

Hawks: “That guy earlier, screaming ‘Long live metahuman liberation’…this [rumors of nomu sightings] is kinda like that. They republished some old-school criminal’s autobiography, and it’s flying off the shelves. I’m thinking that’s influencing people. That stuff tends to sell best when society’s feeling unstable, right?” (ch186)

Gentle: “What counts as a spectacle is a question for the current generation. We shall go to the source [UA]—the source that enchants our society.” (ch171)

Newscaster (surveying the stampede of fleeing civilians during Endeavor’s nomu battle): “This is society without a Symbol of Peace!!” Can’tcha See-kun: “Stop saying that crap already!! Open your eyes before spouting off on TV! Especially at a time like this! Look! Those flames’re still rising up! You see ’em, right?! Endeavor’s alive and fighting!! So don’t give up just cuz the other guy’s gone! There’s still a dude out there risking it all for us!! Can’tcha see?!” (ch189)

Kuraishisu (newscaster): “In the past, a situation like this [the destruction of Deika City], where heroes were forced to make a difficult call, would have earned those same heroes criticism, but I suspect we may be witnessing a critical turning point in this era. A large-scale shift in opinion from criticism to passionate support.” Uraraka: “Feels like everything’s different ever since the ‘Can’tcha See kid’ did his thing.” Ashido: “It’s all cuz Endeavor kicked butt!” Mt. Lady: “Y’think the future’s bright? Not so fast!! It might seem like the winds of good fortune are blowing our way, but if you stop and think about the flip side of all this…it’s actually coming from a sense of urgency—it’s a response to danger! These cheers for the conquering heroes are really prayers—a plea that we emerge victorious! They’ve had enough of the showbiz side of heroism and want us to prove our worth for real now!” (ch241)

Mineta: “Not too long ago, she didn’t give a crap about anything except being on camera…” Aizawa: “Mt. Lady’s not the only one who has changed. Every hero out there is being pulled up by the number one’s rising ride.” (ch241)

After All Might retired, uncertainty gripped Japan as people wondered what would happen now. A strong consensus agreed that Endeavor wasn’t suited to fill All Might’s boots, something reflected in how the crime rate went up 3% in the month after Kamino, and reflected in how people suddenly became interested in reading the MLA ideology of rejecting heroes and protecting themselves.

During Endeavor’s battle against the nomu, the press attributed the public’s frantic stampede—ignoring heroes trying to guide evacuation—to the public’s lack of trust in Endeavor (and heroes generally) now that All Might was gone. Public trust improved after the nomu battle, especially thanks to Can’tcha See-kun.

Within a month after the battle, expectations shifted. People had enough of showbiz heroism and wanted the heroes to walk the talk and protect the public against villains, to the extent that comfortable armchair criticism was replaced a passionate support driven by fear of villains.

Miscellaneous Questions

When did “hero” become a recognized profession?

When did the hero ranking system begin?

When did the celebrity culture around heroes develop?

When did “quirk” come into common use?

How old is Yagi? How long ago did he debut in Japan and begin the era of peace?

How old is AfO? How long after the advent of quirks did he come to power?

When did AfO recruit Machia?

When were the nomu invented?

When did humanity pass the point of quirk singularity? (ch193)

#bnha #reference #worldbuilding #bnha meta #bnha manga spoilers

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shy-violet-soul · 3 years

Text

Puppy Love

Summary: When Uncle Dean takes his first solo niece-sitting gig, what could possibly go wrong? Characters: Dean Winchester, Castile, Sam Winchester x reader, & OC Erica from a story written by @kittenofdoomage titled “Rainbows in the Sun” Word Count: 2,600 Warnings: none! Tooth rotting fluff

A/N: I had the privilege and delight of reading @kittenofdoomage Supernatural series, “Rainbows in the Storm”, on Patreon. If you’re not a patron of hers, you are missing out! I quickly fell in love with this amazing story - her characterization and nail-biting cliffhangers kept me hooked the whole way through. But one little sentence in the Epilogue had me laughing, and my imagination ran away with me. This is for you, @kittenofdoomage !

Image found on https://wallpapersafari.com/w/kn7fwH

Dean Winchester didn’t brag about his assets often. But he had zero problem with his pride at the oft given praises his mouth had earned from the ladies. His lips had brought delight to many a babe. The current babe in his arms was no different.

The fact that she was four months old, and his niece, didn’t detract from his pride one iota.

Crossing his eyes, Dean happily blew raspberries continuously as he leaned down before smacking noisy kisses under her chin. Erica’s baby giggles burst forth as she waved her hands, and Dean had to do it again.

“Thhhhbbbffft,” he wagged his face side to side as he leaned down, letting his nose rub against her tiny chest tickingly before diving back under one round cheek and smacking more kisses. Dimples winked up at Uncle Dee, Erica’s still-baby-blue eyes gazing up at him with delight, and he fell a little more in love yet again.

“You’re adorable,” came his matter of fact observation. Erica grinned her agreement. “Good genes, darlin’. You got your mama’s nose, and I’m pretty sure your killer Winchester smile from your uncle, not your daddy.” With the ease of long practice, Dean swiped the burp cloth from his shoulder and dabbed at the drool on her tiny chin. “Do me a favor and smile a lot. Like me, not like Mr. Grumpy Pants Daddy.”

Delicate eyebrows knitted together as Erica cooed seriously. Dean nodded proudly. “That’s my girl. Now, your mama said not to worry about your bath. I think it’s because she doesn’t think I can handle it. You and I both know that’s crap, right?” Erica chewed intently on her fists in answer. “Right. So gimme one more giggle and then it’s ‘Rubber Ducky, You’re the One’. Here we go!”

One more time, Dean raspberried down, down to Erica’s sweet smiling face. Just as he started growling under her chin, her squeal changed into something weird. Several things crammed into Dean’s brain in about a millisecond.

One - Erica sounded like she yipped. Like, puppy yipped. But that couldn’t be. He was wrong.

Two - her soft, slightly drool-slimy chin was suddenly different soft. Like fluffy furry soft. Which also couldn't be. He had to be wrong.

Three - the chubby little fists she loved to chew on suddenly swiped claws against his face. Like, claws. Puppy claws. Which also so very much please couldn’t be.

Please, oh please, Dean wanted to be wrong.

Post millisecond, Dean yanked himself upright and felt his stomach drop straight to Rowena’s throne room.

A chubby, fluffy wolf pup - adorable, yes, but a freakin’ wolf pup - lay wriggling in his lap, snout wreathed in puppy smiles as it waved its paws up at him.

Dumbfounded, Dean sat frozen for a moment. He slowly stood up, holding the pup at arms length before gently setting it on the couch. Then, he frantically searched under the throw pillows at each end, under your blanket tossed over the back, even under the couch itself for his suddenly missing niece. No human baby surfaced.

His frantic gaze fell on the wolf pup. It lounged right where he’d laid it, studying him curiously. Erica’s cute lady-bug onesie and leggings stretched and gapped in equal measures around fluffy legs and paws, and the red barrette he’d painstakingly affixed into his human niece’s hair earlier sat holding a hank of creamy-brown fur straight up between its ears.

“Oh, crap”

At his whisper, the wolf pup smiled happily and launched itself at him. His reflexes kicked in and his arms scooped the little bundle against his chest, falling backwards to the floor. The pup wiggled its way up his chest and slopped a lick against his chin before gazing into his eyes lovingly.

Gazed with Erica’s still-baby-blue eyes.

“Son of a bitch!” Tucking pup-Erica under one arm, Dean dove for his cell phone. “Cas!” Pup-Erica playful clawed and nipped at his phone as he frantically tried to call Sam. No answer, straight to voicemail. Same thing for your phone. This was bad.

“CAS!”

“Hello, Dean.”

The hunter didn’t even hesitate, just thrust the pup at the angel.

“Fix this!” he bellowed, pup-Erica wiggling happily in his grasp at the sight of her other uncle. Castiel tilted his head as he stared at the pup.

“Hello, Erica. Are you enjoying your first shift?” She yipped as Castiel took her in his arms, slopping kiss after kiss on his face. “I’m happy to see you, too.”

Dean had braced his hands on his legs as he leaned down, head between his knees as he wheezed in air. Cas stared at him quizzically.

“Dean, are you alright?”

He raised a hand, wordlessly asking for a moment. “I think I’m having a heart attack. Or a stroke. Maybe an explosive ulcer,” he croaked out.

Nonplussed, Cas pressed two fingers against Dean’s forehead. “I detect none of these events occurring, Dean. Although your blood pressure is highly elevated, and you appear to be generating a migraine. I can’t heal that until your heart rate slows down. You should try to relax.”

Dean’s hands fisted onto Cas’s trench coat collars, pulling himself up to standing to glare maniacally into his friend’s placid gaze.

“My niece is a dog, Cas! I’m not going to relax! I’m going to be murdered when they get back! Sam’s gonna...” His grip loosened as his thoughts zoomed to your reaction. “She’s going to chew me to kibble.” Horror trembled in his whisper as he dragged his hands over his face.

Sad, tiny whining begged for attention as a tentative paw patted at his arm. Still dazed beyond comprehension, Dean blinked down at the blue eyes staring woefully up at him. By sheer habit, Dean tucked the little one into his arms, warmth filling his chest when she snuggled into his shoulder - just like human-Erica did. The high-pitched whine echoed from her chest into a full-fledged howl that Dean would later recall as ridiculously cute. But now, his niece was sad and needed her uncle.

“It’s alright, ladybug, it’s alright. Look, Uncle Dee’s ok. Uncle Cas and me are gonna take care of you, don’t you worry.” Instinctively, Dean moved to pat her back before switching gears to gently scritching her ears. “Cas, can you talk to her?”

“While I can speak to lycans in their wolf form, as a juvenile, she still has not learned words. She’s upset right now, but calming. However, she has forgotten in the urgency of the moment that she’s hungry.”

Dean’s eyes closed as this new challenge presented itself. When Erica whined again, cuddling closer, he snapped to attention.

“Alright. We’ve got a highly experienced hunter and an angel. We got this. We can take care of one baby wolfed-out lycan.”

Two destroyed bottle nipples and a spilled canister of powdered formula later, Dean wasn’t sure they had this at all. Cas currently sat at the kitchen table with Erica, dipping his fingers into a bowl of formula and letting her lick and suck to her heart’s content. However, the going was slow, so Dean was improvising plan B. He’d dug up one of his softest old tshirts and some of your hair ties. In moments, he had fashioned a teat that he hoped to kingdom come would work.

“Alight, Cas, give her here.” Frustrated and hungry, Erica growled as she tried to climb into the formula bowl, her nose and face liberally coated with the white liquid. Working in tandem, Cas started soaking the cloth teat in the formula while Dean wrapped his flannel shirt around the wriggling pup, using the sleeves to swaddle her still. Then, he cradled her in his elbow and mentally crossed his fingers. Erica nosed the soaked fabric curiously before giving a tentative lick, then a bit of a chomp. Two seconds later, she was sucking with gusto, tiny grunts of approval rumbling from her. When Dean pulled it away to resoak it, the pup was not impressed; demanding, squeaky barks let her uncles know to hurry it up! Both men chuckled as the feeding went on until Erica stopped sucking and just chewed.

“Good job, ladybug,” Dean praised as he unwound the flannel from about her. “Look at that fat little belly!” With a gentle touch, he tickled the soft pink skin, laughing again when she squirmed, panting happily. Dean handed her off to Cas while he snagged the bowl, carefully stepping over the drifts of powdered formula. “Gotta say, Cas, didn’t know you were so experienced with wolf baby care.”

“I once cared for a baby elephant who had been separated from his mother in the sub-Saharan plains. It’s pretty much the same thing.”

Water running as he washed the bowl, Dean sent a scoff over his shoulder at the angel.

“No, Cas. It really isn’t.” A pause as Dean fully turned to look at his friend. “Where is she?”

“Who?”

Dean’s eyes rolled so hard, they saw it from space. “The Duchess of Cambridge. Erica, you dumb ass!”

The angel looked down and glanced around him, his arms glaringly empty. “She’s not here.”

Dean’s left eyelid started twitching. Wasn’t that a symptom of a stroke? “I can see that. Why are you not holding her?”

“She wanted down.”

A faint cracking sound in his skull only faintly registered with Dean; probably a molar, but that was an issue for later. “She wanted down? That’s all you got? She wanted down?!” That migraine from earlier suddenly flared to life, and Dean nearly broke a bone in his scramble into the library.

“ERICA!!! Come to Uncle Dee, honey!” A cheerful yip and rhythmic claw clicking caught his ear, and Dean turned his head so quickly he gave himself a crick. Luck was on their side - Erica’s human baby clothes had hobbled wolf pup Erica, and her limping, lopping progress in their direction was pure cuteness. Dean hit his knees and swept her into his arms. “Ladybug, you can’t do that to your uncle! He’s an old man!” He pressed kiss after kiss to her wet nose, gratefully accepting her boisterous and slightly drooly puppy kisses. Even the one that went in his eyeball.

Sending Cas a glare of pure exasperation, he began wrestling the baby clothes off the wiggly bundle of fluff.

“Alright. We’ve survived two crises, I think the worst is behind us.”

All seriousness and brevity, Cas nodded as he straightened, scooping a small, leather-bound copy of A Hystori of Caledonian Monsters from the floor. The aged tome bore a surprising amount of chewing and puppy drool from the short amount of time of his niece’s unsupervised freedom.

“Agreed.”

- - - 2 hours later - - -

Sam grinned down at you dopily as you both trudged down the long hall from the garage. The long-overdue date hadn’t been what he’d originally planned. But when the waxing moon and wildflower-scented breeze had hit them both, candlelight and overpriced pasta didn’t seem near as appealing as sizzling sexy times in the back seat, burgers and fries and milkshakes from the drive through, and shifting to frolic in the tall, windswept grass of an open field.

The quiet of the bunker wasn’t terribly unsurprising; Uncle Dee was a veritable decibel defender when it came to his niece’s nap time. No baby girl of mine is growing up used to only four hours and calling that rest! he had scorned. The fact that the newborn was only sleeping four hours at a time anyway, and wasn’t his actual daughter, was resolutely ignored.

What was surprising was the carnage that greeted them. Library chairs laid on their sides in some type of corral. Erica’s baby toys rested in varying stages of repose or destruction. Burp clothes, towels, and receiving blankets were scattered, some whole, some slightly torn. An open bottle of baby shampoo slowly glugged its contents onto the table. Someone had attempted to hide some damaged lore books behind a lamp. And pillows - so many pillows - were everywhere, their feathery guts flung to every corner of the room.

Instantly on alert, Sam waved you to stay back as he drew his gun and began easing forward. Senses honed by years of battle didn’t pick up on any immediate threat, but the proof before him clearly spoke otherwise. When your hands fisted into his shirt, fingers trembling in sudden fear, he reached back to touch your back reassuringly.

“Dean?” he shouted questioningly. His voice echoed against the cavernous ceiling, but still no foe came at them. With a tentative touch, he nudged a tired pillow over, finding another damaged lore book beneath it. Sam gingerly grabbed it, lifting it up to squint at the mangled leather and paper.

“Are those…” you started haltingly, peering over his shoulder.

“They look like...tiny teeth marks.” You stared at Sam wordlessly before you both sprinted for the bedrooms. The nursery door banged against the wall loudly, and the occupants of the room flinched but didn’t stir beyond that.

One side of the crib was hanging haphazardly from its left-side screws, a blanket strangled in the slats. A stuffed tiger toy that you secretly hated lay with its head missing and cotton stuffing innards hanging out. No less than 11 diapers scattered across the floor with the tapes missing. Sleeper legs and flannel blankets dangled from open dresser drawers. Clouds of baby powder, liberally dusted into higgledee piggledee piles, still hazed the light glowing from the lamp near the upholstered rocking recliner in the corner. In the middle of the madness lay the hapless heroes.

They had somehow managed to winch Dean’s fancy memory foam mattress into the room, one corner of it caught and peeling up against the toy chest. Cas lay on one side, his trench coat hanging off one arm and his tie out from under his collar and wrinkled beyond belief. Dean looked no better; his grey tshirt showed dark swathes of damp that smelled like baby shampoo. His hair stood up in weird handfuls, as if he’d been gripping it in his fists in desperation. Shoeless, he only wore one sock. A handful of raggedy baby wipes poked out of his back pocket.

And between them both, tenderly snuggled into a nest of nearly every blanket in the bunker lay a precious creamy-brown wolf pup, sleeping contentedly without a care in the world.

Sam knew his jaw had hit the floor, and figured you were in the same boat.

“Is that...her?”

You took a couple of careful steps forward into the wreckage. Closing your eyes, you let your stronger lycan senses take over. The soft, sugary scent of honeysuckle comforted your mama heart as you smiled in disbelief.

“Yep, that’s her.”

“You mean she had her first shift and we missed it?!”

Chuckling softly, you picked your way through the baby item minefield. Only a Winchester would be more upset about missing a baby’s first shift than the absolute destruction of their home.

“It looks like.”

“What do we do? Does she know how to shift back?”

You pursed your lips thoughtfully, stilling them Erica twitched and squeaked in her sleep. “I don’t know. I’ll call my mom, maybe she can help us.”

Warm, long fingers curled around your hips to tug you back against him. You could sense his delight at the picture before them. Whatever had happened, his brother and friend had adapted and overcome. His daughter was so loved.

“I guess we should wake them up.”

You grinned as you dug out your phone. “Not until I get a picture.”

#dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #sam winchester x reader #sam winchester x you #loved this series!#supernatural #supernatural fanfiction

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