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#marital rape tw
mx-loar-tev · 5 months
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Okay but imagine, Regina waking up one morning to a baby crying.
She's confused, why is there a baby in her house? She should be alone, Henry had left months ago.
She investigates the noise and finds the child in Henry's old room, now back to the state his nursery was when Henry was an infant.
She then realises the baby IS Henry. Somehow she got back in time.
After taking care of baby Henry, she goes on research mode, pouring over old grimoires all day.
Around midnight, someone rings at the door.
It's Emma. She looks so young, she's only eighteen after all. She looks harried and can't seem to utter a word. Speech seems to have deserted Regina as well. They look at each other like deers stuck in headlights.
"Emma?"
All the tension seems to leave her at once. "Please tell me that means you remember too."
"You means the futur?"
"yeah."
"Yes I remember. Come on, you look like you could use a drink."
"You have no idea. I woke up this morning in a fricking cell. Good thing it was my last day behind bars and that I had the car. Spent all the money I had in gas."
Regina serves her a drink but Emma just fidgets with the glass.
"You want to see Henry?"
Emma looks terrified but nods anyway.
Regina leads her to the nursery where the baby is sound asleep. Emma is transfixed.
"God he's so small. I missed so much of his life."
Regina knows Emma would like to stay here and live the life she missed, just like Regina would like a do-over and have the chance to correct all her mistakes. But she knows they can't stay here, there could be too many consequences. They need to go back.
Emma stays in the house while they search for a way to undo whatever happened. She stays inside, not wanting to risk changing the past by interacting with the denizens of Storybrook. But staying inside means staying with Henry. Each passing day the thought of leaving the past (and the son she gave up once) is more and more painful.
"How are we even supposed to go back to our time without magic? It's not like we could steal the bottle of love or whatever it is that is inside Maleficent without changing the future."
"You managed to break the curse without magic the first time. We just need to figure out how you did that."
In the end they get nowhere. They resolve to ask for help the last person they want to speak too. After all Rumplestillskin from that time is certainly not the friendliest of man.
"I can't help you to go back to the future. You see, the curse that sent you back in time had a purpose. You need to find what it was to be able to go home."
Emma isn't having any of this crap. "Look Gold. I know you and you're hidden agenda. You're always hiding something. So tell us what it is already."
"Oh you're a feisty one aren't you? Just like your mother. Let me tell you, dearie, magic always comes with a price. What the price would be, I can't decide. Those laws can't be broken, only sometimes bent. I don't make them. You're here to find something and until you do, you're stuck here. If you're not willing to play by the rules, maybe you should make yourself comfortable then."
They go back to the mansion on Milffin feeling dejected. Gold's riddle is not helping. How are you supposed to find something when you don't know what to look for or where to start searching?
Two weeks pass and there's nothing new. Emma has decided she'll enjoy every stollen moment with her son. One afternoon, she's lounging on the sofa, thumbing an old spell book absentmindedly while keeping an eye on Henry squirming on his play mat.
Regina comes home from city hall and goes to pick up the baby for a quick cuddle.
Barely a second later, the ceiling lights come crashing down on the ground where Henry was a moment ago.
Both mothers are in shock and Henry is wailing.
Regina comes to her sense first and starts humming and rocking Henry to calm him down.
Emma is not moving, she's just staring to mother and son and to the shattered lights on the floor.
"I remember that," she says faintly.
"What do you mean?"
"I remember that. When I left Storybrook and you gave me these memories... This, this... I remember that. It was real?"
"Of course it was real. Where do you think those memories came from? It takes a really powerful curse to make up whole backstories. I barely had a minute to give you a past with Henry, so I used my own memories."
"So it was real, all of it?"
"Most of it, yes. I just had to tweak it a little. Your mind adjusted it itself mostly on its own."
Emma cries.
Later that day, they're finishing eating dinner.
"You know, it gives me a different perspective, those memories. I dismissed them back then to the point I've barely been remembering them, but now it's coming back. Parenting, it's hard. I know you probably gave me the good stuff, but the hard times are there too. I think I understand how you two ended up at odds to the point he came looking for me."
"I felt like I was doing everything wrong back then. Well, I did do a lot of things wrong."
"I don't think it was all on you. It was the situation too, you know. The adoption. I remember when I was a kid wondering why I've been abandoned. I remember those not-so-fake memories when Henry had found out I almost gave him up and was mad at me, or when he was asking questions about his dad. You just do your best, but sometimes it's impossible to make things perfect, because that's life and life is not perfect. So yeah, I get it. I get you and Henry."
Regina cries.
Two nights later Emma can't sleep. She tosses and turns but can't find sleep. She gets up and leaves the guestroom to go to the bathroom. She stops short when she hears Regina. She shared a room for enough years to recognise the noises someone makes when they're having a nightmare.
She enters Regina's room, trying to decide if she should try to calm her or wake her up instead. The choice is taken from her when Regina jerks awake, panting and crying.
"Hey, it's Emma. It's okay. You're safe. You're in your room."
She keeps reassuring her and reminding her where she is until Regina's breathing has returned to a normal rhythm.
She asks what she needs, if she wants to go back to sleep of if she wants hot chocolate.
That's how they end up in the couch at three am with steaming mugs of hot chocolate warming their hands.
Regina opens to her that night. It's unexpected for both of them but it feels right somehow.
Regina tells of her childhood, growing under the care of a loving father that was still too weak to protect her from an abusive heartless mother that she still couldn't help but love anyway. She tells of her first love, of the grief of losing him in such a terrible way, how she still see the life leaving his face every time she closes her eyes. She tells of being trapped in a loveless marriage with an indifferent man so old he could have been her father, of the horror of her wedding night with a spouse that believed a wife should submit to her husband in the marital bed. She tells of a girl that felt trapped in a never-ending nightmare, that didn't find another coping mechanism other than making other as miserable as she was feeling. She tells about a strange little man whose offer to help was too good to be true and sincere. She tells of how destruction felt like salvation for a girl that had never known anything but the cold pain of abuse and manipulation.
And Emma is listening. And she understands. She always had an intuition of what Regina's life must have been like, but hearing it is different. This is the cold reality, and Emma knows she was right when she decided to give Regina a second chance all those years ago, when she fought for her happiness because this woman deserves to experience it at least once in her life. She's also proud of Regina for everything she accomplished since they both met.
Emma tells her all of this.
They wake up on the couch the next morning with crooked neck and stiff limbs.
Emma goes to make coffee while Regina checks on Henry. When she's back with the baby, they starts preparing breakfast, they move around the kitchen with enough ease until they both reach for the fridge at the same time. They're so close, faces almost touching. They can't help but stare at the other while a strange electric feeling passes between them.
Then Henry gurgles and the moment is broken. They are awkward around each other now. They eat in silence barely broken by everyday talks, requests of syrup or jam, asks about which one should wash the dish while the other dry them.
Then Regina has to leave for work and Emma is left alone with Henry and her own toughts.
She's feeling bereft.
What happened earlier means something, she's sure of it. She tries to be honnest with herself, to admit what she might have known for a while but ignored. What she feels for Regina is not strictly platonic. The last few weeks spent living with her in the same house, taking care of baby Henry, only confirms that. She dreads going back to the future not only because of loosing this chance to experience Henry's early childhood, but also because she'll miss this domesticity with Regina. They won't keep playing house in the future, they'll go back to their own separate life. Well, not that separate, they'll still be friend, they'll still orbit around each other, but since Henry is grown up, they have less reasons to see each other.
So Emma will go back to a cold appartement, alone since the break up with Killian. She will mourn the loss of what she thought was her happy ending. She doubts those actually exist. Magic, dragons, fairytale characters, sure, it's normal for her now. But happily ever afters? They're myths, hopeful nonsense.
Unless...
Unless she goes for it. Unless she risks everything and confesses her feelings to Regina. Before this trip through time she wouldn't have thought for a second these feelings might be reciprocated, but after these last few weeks? After whatever it was in the kitchen earlier? Maybe there is hope here.
Emma devises a plan then.
Regina comes home earlier than Emma has planned. The mayor seems eager to be back home. Emma hopes it's a good sign for them, but Regina might have just missed Henry. Baby cuddles are addictive after all, and they both knows the are on borrowed time and soon they'll be back to their time.
"What are you up to?" Regina asked curiously.
Emma has been in the middle of her preparations. She has pushed the coffee table away and spread a thick blanket on the floor with a assortment of throw pillows over it.
She has been in the process of arranging decorations on the coffee table that serves as a sort of buffet table. The plates, glasses, silverware and foods were still waiting in the kitchen.
"Hum, we're having an indoor picnic?"
The surprised smile that graces Regina's face tells Emma that the idea was a good one after all. She was starting to feel anxious about it.
"What have you prepared?"
"Tacos. And there's apple cheesecake from your favorite bakery. Also sparkling wine."
Regina looks at her strangely for a moment. Finally she thanks her, her voice suspiciously hoarse. "Thank you, that seems wondeful."
Regina dismisses Emma's complaints that she is the one making this for her so that the mayor shouldn't helping with the preparations. A few minutes later they are lounging on the blanket, sipping the wine while Henry is napping in his basket a few paces away.
They are mostly silent, both of them sensing the charged atmosphere between them.
Finally, Emma breaks the silence. "Am I imagining things? About you? About us?"
"You mean..."
"Yeah."
Regina sighs. "I thought I had no chance in that department. So I kept it to myself."
"How long? How long have you known?"
"For sure? When you became the dark one. But before that... Before Robin."
Emma gapes. So long? There could have been something between them for this long? Her head spins.
There has been Killian though. Emma feels stupid going for him while Regina was right there all this time.
"Do you, do you want... This?"
"Yes. Do you?"
"God, yes."
Tentatively Emma reaches for Regina, caresses her cheek with a gentle hand. Regina closes her eyes, overcome with anticipation. And finally, finally, their lips meet.
Regina opens her eyes.
She's in her bed. Her lips are tingling.
Was it all a dream?
No, it can't be. It was all too real.
In a frenzy, she gets dressed and in minutes she's driving through town. Halfway through the drive to Emma's place she spots the yellow bug.
Both of them stop in the middle of the lane, get out of the cars and rush toward each other.
When they meet, they are breathless.
"You remember?" they both say at the same time.
"Yes, yes, I remember."
They are laughing with relief now, uncaring of the curious looks of passing people.
Wiping tears, Regina is the one offering they go back to the mansion.
They push the coffee table away, throw an afghan on the floor with a few pillows and resume what has been their first date, even if it's now seven am.
"I miss Henry already," admits Emma.
"I miss him too. Both as a baby and as a grown-up."
"I'm glad I had those few weeks. Even if there's nothing left of it."
"Not quite." Emma looks at her, confused. "Let me show you."
Regina opens the ventilation grating in the corner of the room. She plunges her arm deep, looking for something. She takes out an envelope from the opening and offers it to Emma.
Emma takes it with trembling hands.
Inside are a dozen Polaroids. Pictures of her with baby Henry, taken apparently without her noticing.
Emma can't help the tears falling as she looks at each picture with delight.
"Thank you. Thank you."
Emma surges forwards and kisses Regina as if it was the last thing she would do.
"I can't wait for Henry to visit. He needs to see these pictures."
"He always cringes when he sees himself as a baby," Regina laughs. "He started saying he's like fine wine, getting better with time, when he was only six. I don't think he knew what that means then."
"I remember that too," Emma realises. "It's strange, I had almost forgot all of these memories and now they're back in full details. As if experiencing some of them myself made them real and tangible."
She sniffs and shakes her head.
"Maybe that's what I need to find in the past."
"Or maybe it was the magic of the kiss."
"Maybe it was all of it. Everything that happened back then."
"Maybe. Where do we go from here?"
"Forwards?"
"Forwards sounds good."
And they lived happily ever afters.
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Whumptober 2023 Day 10- "Can't you see that you're lost without me?"
Harsh Truth, Cold Love
AO3 Link
Word count: 2667
Summary: Alador could never get away from her. He could never really escape her. No matter what he did or how hard he tried. He would always be trapped with her. And she would always teach him just how bad of an idea it was to try and leave.
“Look who’s back, just as I said you’d be.”
Alador just stood by the front door, holes in his coat from the boiling rain. His face was streaked with tears, eyes red and dark as bags hung under them. In one arm he held Amity, so small and young, completely asleep. His other hand was being held tightly by Emira who was also holding onto Edric’s hand.
“Now why don't you come over here, my love?”
Silently, Alador handed Amity to Emira. Emira held her baby sister securely and nodded, going upstairs with her two siblings, leaving her parents in the entryway. When the kids were gone, Alador slowly walked towards his wife, embarrassed. He didn’t dare look Odalia in the eyes, even when he was close enough that she was able to reach out and cup his cheek in her hand. She scowled for a few moments when he flinched away from her touch, but went back to a calm expression quickly when she saw that he wasn’t resisting anything.
“That certainly was quite the show. The kids are unharmed, correct?”
Alador just nodded.
“Use your words, darling.” Odalia said, venom and masked impatience in her voice, “Our children are the future of the company. And it would be such a bad look on our parts if they got hurt. Especially if the reason they possibly got hurt slipped. Now, are they unharmed?”
“Yes. They aren’t hurt. Some damage to the clothing, but no burns.” Alador said, voice strained and raspy.
“There you go. Now was that so hard?” Odalia said, wrapping her arms around Alador’s neck, acting as if they were a perfectly normal couple.
“No. It wasn’t.”
“Now, it’s quite late, isn’t it? Let’s go to bed and we can talk about this little stunt in the morning.”
Odalia took Alador by the hand, her vice grip preventing him from trying to pull away, and led him over to the stairs. He trailed behind as much as he could, but she didn’t mind so long as he did as he was told. His enthusiasm was unimportant, so long as he was obedient it was enough.
“Now you can only believe my shock and horror at waking up to see not only you were gone, but the kids were gone too. And you all had even taken some of your things? Why I was worried you four had been kidnapped by some thieves who also robbed us and I would be getting a call asking for ransom. But no, just one of my friends telling me they saw you and the kids with suitcases going towards the vacation home of Head Witch Darius. Did he even know you were going to show up?”
“No. He didn’t.”
“And do you really think after what happened between the two of you back at Hexside he would help you?”
“No. He wouldn’t.”
“Well then why was his house the first place you thought of? Not your parents? Or any friends?”
“I don’t have any friends and my parents would just call you. His place felt like the safest option.”
“Ah yes, going to a coven head with stolen money and kidnapped children.”
“It’s both of our money and they’re both of our kids.” Alador said, with only the slightest sense of harshness in his voice so he could stay safe while also getting his feelings across.
“Oh honey, I think you’ve inhaled so many abomination fumes you’ve forgotten our contracts. We may share the company, but I own all the stock. As for the children, well, they are both of ours like you said. So wouldn’t you removing them from me without my consent be kidnapping?”
“They’re not the children, they’re our children.” Alador said, avoiding the question he couldn’t really answer.
“Oh please, you can’t be like that. You never even wanted children. I had to do most of the work. So don’t act like I’m the bad guy here when…what was it you said again? When I told you on our wedding night that I wanted kids?”
“That…that I thought the two of us should come first. And that having children right away could be bad for the business.” Alador sighed, the words having been ingrained in his head as he had relived that night so often.
“And what else?”
“That I would agree to have children so long as I wasn’t obligated to do anything more than expected.”
“And look at you now! Running off in the dead of night during a storm with them to your ex after what I can only imagine being some nonsense revelation or perceived slight. Ha! How times do change.”
The two of them reached the master bedroom door. Odalia opened the door and walked inside, but when Alador reached the doorframe, he froze. Odalia looked back at him, angry and confused, pulling on his arm to get him to come inside. But he couldn’t move.
“Alador? Come inside, darling.”
“N-no. I don’t think I will.” Alador said semi-nervously, finally looking his wife in the eyes.
“Honey, get in here now. Let’s go to bed.” Odalia said, teeth gritting together as she wore a forced smile.
“I think we should sleep in separate rooms. Things aren’t going well between us and it would be for the best of both of us if we had our own spaces to sleep.”
Odalia let go of his hand. She took a few steps towards him. He could see her adjusting her wedding ring. He took a few deep breaths and braced for the inevitable. He could stand his ground, just for the night, and deal with whatever consequences came from that.
“I will give you one more chance, Alador. Come. To. Bed.”
“No. I will sleep in one of the guest bedrooms tonight. Or on one of the couches. Or even in my workshop in the basement. Whatever you so choose, just not here.”
Alador took a deep breath in and closed his eyes, trying to not tense up. And when he exhaled, it was over. He opened his eyes and saw the fury in Odalia’s eyes. With a huff, she turned her wedding ring back so that the sharp metal and gemstone were at the top rather than down by her palm as it had been, turned upside down so that a slap wouldn’t carry a sting, but a slice. Alador didn’t even reach up to his cheek to try and wipe away the blood. He just wore a neutral expression and maintained eye contact as Odalia wiped off the metal and stone with her sleeve before dawning a much more sorry and sympathetic expression. She wrapped her arms around him again, pouting as she looked at him.
“Oh I’m so sorry, my love. You know I love you so much. And I don’t want to hurt you. You know that, right?”
“Of course.” Alador sighed with a neutral tone that had a hint of sadness.
He knew what she was doing to him. He knew that she always did that. He knew that none of it was real, that she didn’t love him or their kids. That all of it was just business and that his feelings would never be reciprocated.
And yet…he could never stand that look in her eyes. He always crumbled at that voice, that face, those words. He was lost without her, he could never leave her. No matter what.
Odalia pulled Alador’s head down and she kissed him. And he kissed back. She was full of passion and ambition and drive…but not love. But he didn’t sign up for love when he married her, no matter how much he tried to deny it. It was just a business arrangement, and nothing more. And he had to accept it.
So he did.
He didn’t put up a fight when she pulled him into their bedroom, only reaching back to close the door behind them. He didn’t say anything as she kissed his neck and unbuttoned his ruined coat. He did what she told him to do and never said a word. He let her do all the work and just laid there, doing everything he could to not cry. And when she was done and had cleaned up, he held her close, wrapping his arms around her and tucking his chin in the crook of her neck as they lay in bed and went to sleep.
The next morning when Alador woke up, Odalia was already awake and ready for the day. She noticed him sitting up in bed as she was just about to open the door.
“I’ve thought about what you said last night. And I suppose you have a bit of a point. I’ll have the abomination servants move your things to the spare room on the other side of the staircase today. You’ll have plenty of distance from me. I know the room isn’t big, but it’s what you deserve and you don’t have that many belongings anyways. I will require you some nights, but for the most part I will allow you to sleep in your own room.”
Alador was shocked, but mostly just filled with joy and gratitude that she actually listened to him and was going to give him that.
“As for the children, I have already spoken with the head of our legal team. I know you ran off because of that little suggestion about the kids being more involved in the company. I’ll have a contract drafted up and we can come to some sort of arrangement.”
Alador actually smiled at that. He got up from the bed and went over to her to thank her, but before he could even lean in to give her a kiss or reach out to hold her, she held up a hand and he stopped.
“I already have my makeup on and it took me ages. You aren’t messing it up. Thank you for the sentiment though, I’m glad you’re so thankful for my generosity.”
Odalia opened the door to leave, but paused as she looked him up and down.
“Now please get dressed. You already traumatized the kids enough last night. Oh, and use some healing patches for that cut on your face. We wouldn’t want there to be a scar, now would we?”
Odalia didn’t wait for a reply, because she already knew what it would be. She just smiled, blew him a kiss, and left to get some food and go to work. Alador just sighed and went to the closet. Sifting through all of Odalia’s things before spotting his own small stacks of clean clothes. As he got dressed, he noticed the small suitcase from last night, the expensive leather ruined from the boiling rain just as his coat was. One of the abomination servants had taken them when they returned, after all, so it made sense that it would have put his back where it belonged.
Moving almost robotically, Alador grabbed the suitcase, dumped out all the stuff inside, mostly just clothes and a few wads of money. He then grabbed his coat from the night before off the floor and put it inside. Then he grabbed the rest of his clothes from the floor and put them inside as well. He finished getting dressed then took the suitcase and left the room. He went to the Edric and Emira’s then Amity’s room, knocking on the door both times to see if they were inside and finding they weren’t, and took their suitcases and clothes from last night, emptied the stuff that they had packed, and put their clothes from last night inside. 
All the suitcases in his arms, each made of very expensive material and now holding equally expensive outfits, Alador went downstairs. He heard the door slam from Odalia leaving and saw Amity, Edric, and Emira all in the dining room with their breakfasts. Edric and Emira were sitting in their booster seats and teasing each other as they ate and Amity sat in her high chair as one of the abomination servants fed her. As he walked past the dining room, trying to not pay attention to the kids, he could feel the twin’s eyes laser focused on him as he carried their suitcases away. He could hear the scrape of chairs as the two of them followed him as he went into the parlor. He set the suitcases onto the ground as he knelt to ignite the fireplace.
“Dada, why are you turning on the fire?” Edric asked innocently.
“And why do you have our bags?” Emira demanded, “Wait…are you destroying our stuff!”
“I have one of my favorite stuffies in there!”
“Ed, Em, don’t worry.” Alador sighed, “I unpacked for you. Well, I dumped out what you put in these. For yourself and your sister.”
“Then what’re you doing?” Edric asked.
“Last night was a bad night, okay? And we’re just going to say it didn’t happen.” Alador said, staring at the fireplace, “So we’re getting rid of any proof that it did. All that's in these suitcases are your clothes from last night, nothing more. I don’t want to…I don’t want you to be reminded of what happened ever again.”
The fire ignited and Alador threw his suitcase atop the flames first, watching as the magical, purple fire consumed the wood and leather, easily eating through all the material. Then, he threw in the twin’s suitcases, and the exact same happened with theirs. As he held Amity’s little bag, he looked at the little paint handprints on the bag. 
What felt like such a long time ago, Amity had been getting her room painted because Odalia decided the color wasn’t smart enough. Amity managed to get her hands covered in paint, which of course led to her getting paint everywhere, including on her expensive, silk bag. Alador managed to convince Odalia to not throw the bag away and it quickly became Amity’s favorite bag. It’s why when Emira was grabbing stuff for Amity while Alador and Edric finished packing their things the night before, she picked that bag to put all of Amity’s stuff in.
And now the bag was not only stained with paint and sentiment, but awful, awful memories.
Alador threw the bag in the fire and just watched as it burned. All the memories, the good and the bad, burning away with it. 
There would be no sign of what happened, no sign at all. He could only hope that Amity was young enough that her developing brain wouldn’t remember it and that the twins would repress it as they grew up. And that he could somehow repress it too.
“Dada, why didn’t we stay with Dari?” Emira asked, hugging Alador’s arm, “We were so close.”
“Well I noticed that one of mommy’s friends saw us and that made me remember that Darius was really busy. He’s a coven head after all. Wouldn’t want to disturb him. Your dad had time to think and realized how silly he was being.”
“What happened to your face?” Edric asked, hugging Alador’s other arm.
“Oh, your dad just fell out of the bed last night. Got a really big scrape.” Alador said with a soft smile, “I’ll be fine, no need to worry. Now, you two go finish your breakfast. It’s a school day.”
“Okay!” The twins said chipperly, rushing back to the dining room, already joking with each other like they had been before as if nothing had happened.
Alador looked back at the fire and extinguished it. He then sighed, got up, and headed to the kitchen to grab something to eat before he went to his workshop.
He could keep up the act. He could pretend everything was fine. What other choice did he have? He had to protect the kids. He had to protect their kids.
He had to protect his kids.
And he could only do that if he stayed exactly where he was.
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alicenttully · 2 years
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- Tyrion Lannister, ASOS
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sapphic-agent · 5 months
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Can you please get into how much the fandom demonizes Rei? Like, I’m not disagreeing that she wasn’t the best mother. But people really turn this woman (who is financially, socially, AND emotionally dependent on her husband and Clan!) into some abusive mother who WANTED to burn Shoto’s face! When it’s obvious that she was begging her mother to take her away from the house because she was too stressed out from Endeavor’s influence and Touya’s death!
I don’t know, I just think she’s not a perfect mother, but nobody can be a perfect mother. She clearly did her best with what she had, and who would’ve believed her if she said Endeavor was an abusive husband and father? The police? Other heroes? No! I bet Endeavor would’ve claimed that SHE was the terrible parent and that she was suffering from PPSD (which, she probably was, four kids, two of which were born when Endeavor started getting obsessed with overcoming All Might? She definitely had that) and she would’ve ended up in the hospital no matter what.
Let's talk about it😈
So I was actually skimming through the manga where Shoto mentions this. He says that his mother was pushed and pushed by Endeavor until she just broke. And I love this because Shoto understands that his mom was in a shitty situation and never intended to hurt him. Unlike this shitty fandom, he's aware enough to see who was the abuser and who was the one who made a mistake.
Let's go over Rei's past for a minute. She:
Grew up in an environment that was at the best neglectful and at the worst abusive
Was sold like an object (and yes this is canon, the Himura Clan canonically sells their children it was a forced marriage, not an arranged marriage)
Married Endeavor and had Touya at 18
Already, she was dealt a shitty hand. Endeavor is also four years older than her, so he was 22 while she was only barely an adult. Even outside her being bought by him, there's a huge power imbalance here. Even if he was polite and nice in the beginning, she was at a major disadvantage in their "relationship."
One of my gripes with Horikoshi and the later parts of the manga is the retcon of the Todoroki past. How Shoto tells the story and how it's portrayed later are very different.
In Shoto's version, Endeavor hit Rei for defending him from Endeavor. In the Touya flashback, she tripped. In Shoto's version, Endeavor only saw his children as means to an end. In the Touya flashback, he's portrayed as caring about them. In Shoto's version, there's a menacing and villainous aura surrounding Endeavor. In the Touya flashback he's portrayed normally.
And this is done to make Endeavor look more sympathetic. Which is bad not only because he was an abuser who doesn't deserve sympathy, it also antagonizes Touya and Rei in the process.
(People could argue that Shoto's love for his mother and young age make him an unreliable narrator. But to me this is dismissing the victim. Shoto might have been young, but he recalls enough to tell it in excruciating detail. It was a huge part of his life and writing it off like that does him a disservice)
So there are two instances specifically that people demonize Rei for.
1. Shoto's Burn
Now this is the one that is her responsibility. My thing is though... No one ever said it wasn't? Least of all Rei herself. Once she saw Shoto again, she immediately apologized. During the event itself, she realized what she did and broke down and tried to fix it. She also spent 10 years in asylum paying for what she did (which is more consequence than Endeavor faced btw).
The thing no one seems to acknowledge about this is that this didn't come from nowhere. She didn't do what she did out of cruelty or hatred towards her son. She did it because Endeavor had abused her to the point of insanity. To the point where even seeing them in her kids' faces caused her to have a complete mental breakdown. Which is understandable due to the physical, verbal, financial, and sexual abuse he was putting her through.
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You know, there's an irl story like this. A woman was suffering from severe PPD and other mental issues after having four kids I think it was. Doctors and everyone repeatedly told her husband that she souldn't have more kids. He didn't listen (I'm not sure if SA was involved here but I'm inclined to believe it was) and they continued to have more. Eventually one day she snapped and killed her children.
PPD is seriously dangerous when it's left untreated, even worse when that isn't the only thing going on. Rei was no doubt suffering from the ramifications of that, but on top of everything else Endeavor out her through I can't believe she didn't break earlier.
2. Touya's Situation
It baffles that people find it in themselves to blame Rei but feel sympathy towards Endeavor over Touya.
Because on top of every instance of abuse I mentioned above, Rei was also taking care of four kids completely by herself. That would be hard even without her own and Touya's mental issues.
From the manga panel I provided, she was the only one between her and Endeavor taking Touya's mental well-being seriously. She knew how having more kids would affect him and she was right. She was the one who had to deal with Touya lashing out when Endeavor ignored him (which also contributed to her breaking down and burning Shoto due to Touya emulating Endeavor).
Rei is a character who's been judged so unfairly. Partly because Endeavor fanboys, partly because Dabi/Shoto fangirls, and completely because of the misogyny that runs rampant in this fandom. She deserved so much better.
I have a fic giving Rei the justice she deserves if anyone's interested. It features my OC who happens to be Rei's quirkless younger sister. Give it a read if you want
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torchwood-99 · 9 months
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I wonder if Bridgerton was a period drama, instead of romance, that fans would be more forgiving of Marina, and less so of Penelope.
Fans watching Bridgerton for the hea, to see the romantic love interests ride into the sunset, only see the stakes in regards to what's getting in the way of that fairy tale ending. Everyone else is either a tool or a hurdle.
Marina is in danger. She's at the risk of her and her children being thrown into poverty, or being sold into marriage to a man who will in all probability rape her. In a period drama, where the stakes are survival, the audience may be more likely to go in knowing that there's more than fairy tale endings at risk.
Of course there will still be the racism and sexism that Marina's faced with, but I do think there will be a portion of the audience who will see Marina's situation and Pen's treatment of her for what they are, instead of just a nuisance getting in the way of Polin living happily ever after.
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msfbgraves · 1 month
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((Anyway, Terry is always haunted by the fact that he hurt his relationship with Daniel himself, on purpose,))
THAT’S JUST IT THOUGH! Did he actively seek to hurt Daniel from the start (that night), or after (the cheating). Because if so…that’s so very cruel and brutal, and also…what the hell was he thinking?? That sweet Danny boy would just accept that and forgive him and still run back into his arms all ready to be cuddled or something?? There’s fucking up, and then there’s Terry Silver’s level of Fucking Up. He is very lucky that Daniel has forgiven him for ALL his fuckups—he should get down on his knees and thank the Lord! So sorry you have to put up with this fool Daniel lmao 🤣 I AM glad it haunts Terry though. Hopefully until the day he dies!
(But yeah, love them together in this fic 💜)
I'm reopening a can of worms here but yes, Terry did mean to hurt Daniel, if it started by him wanting to hurt Michael.
Except he couldn't, he lost a confrontation with him, felt he'd lost face, so what's the nearest thing to Michael he has available to him? Daniel. Daniel whose loyalty he doubts. Daniel he can have sex with, always a bonus, because it makes him feel good and strong; but tonight, he's also angry with Michael, very lowkey angry and insecure about Daniel's very strong attachment to his roots - would Daniel even side with him if it came to it? And sure, he's not analysing this consciously when he comes home to him, it's simply a brutal mix of circumstances, but still - you can hurt someone while having sex with them, something which is very difficult to prove to boot so when the opportunity arises he simply does what he wants with Daniel because he wants to prop himself up and hurt the LaRussos and get his anger out at Daniel's 'lack of loyalty' without endangering Daniel's physical health. Because that would show. And because he still loves him but that's not what he chooses to act on. And he's choosing not to stop himself but simply let out all these simmering irrational resentments, because, well, he's the Alpha here, he makes the rules.
And he thinks he can win his omega back after because he deep down doesn't think his mate will be very hurt by this. Hurt enough to satisfy Terry's ego, but nothing he couldn't fix. And all of this errupts in like 20 angry seconds, and Terry's angry, horny ass feels he'll deal with the consequences after he gets his fix of happy and ego boosting chemicals.
And a nice deep sleep.
And it's brutal. It's meant to be really brutal. It's so brutal in fact that even Terry wakes up hungover from this. He was, maybe, lost in the act when it happened - but part of him picked up on what Daniel's puppies could also feel, and that is: "uhoh. I hurt him - much more than I meant to."
But then when Daniel won't let him apologise - won't let himself be kissed and cuddled and wined and dined and bought back, but takes the baby and leaves, only for Terry to have to deal with four distraught pups and a seething mother-in-law - he lets his anger win again. Because he wasn't truly sorry. Daniel was supposed to make him feel better about himself, and he's left him. That is Not Allowed. Danny doesn't get to reject Terry, in any verse.
Only when Terry then physically feels the difference between his darling and some "kitty" does something finally shut up his ego long enough to make him realise what he's done, the idiot.
These two nights have a very, very long shadow because Terry had to learn that he didn't conquer Daniel and a great marriage like this is simply his due. He has a good marriage because Daniel has put his entire soul into building it and he can stop doing that, actually. Also that Terry better pray Daniel loves his mate and his pups enough to keep Terry alive. Even Amanda was like: "I love my brother to death but even I lowkey agree you should have killed him over this." And Terry does learn, but terrible actions like these have more severe consequences than any apology can negate. And it will colour your marriage, it will change how you love each other. Because they love each other through this, but at the cost of Daniel's innocence and Terry's confidence as a mate. Part of Terry used to fear that Daniel wouldn't grow to love him. Now, he'll always have to fear that Daniel will stop. Which makes him an insanely devoted mate, but at the cost of his peace of mind.
Pray all he wants, not even God can fix this completely.
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mpregfrance · 9 months
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so i have finally had it this time. not posting for attention but screaming into the void bc its all i can do. please don't click read more unless you're willing to hear some deeply gnarly/personal stuff. and please don't unfollow just bc you didn't heed my warning. this is a personal blog and there's a real live human woman behind the deranged hetaliaposting.
i now know for sure that i intend on ending my marriage. i can't leave yet, but i need to start planning for it. im done. its not worth it.
our first wedding anniversary is in a few days. i have always had thoughts in the back of my mind about us not lasting, but i didnt think it'd end like this, so soon. im embarrassed frankly.
we have had our share of problems both major and minor. but the final straw is that my husband has more or less assaulted me.
so there are more details below but i've been pretty sex repulsed (by irl sex) for the past... 10 months or so? we are not completely sexless but it's usually coercive, with my husband guilt tripping and pestering me for sex. usually i manage to get out of it, even if i do wake up to him rubbing up against me - that doesn't bother me too much.
but yesterday he was being particularly forceful and threatening me if i didn't start having sex with him again whenever he wanted. so he initiated the act. i kept saying no. no i cant. please stop. i dont want this. im gay. and he said no you're not. and he forced me to give him head while also grabbing my breasts and making me undress. i hate being naked. i nearly vomited. i feel disgusting and violated.
the thing is, that part about me being gay wasn't a joke or an excuse/defense. that was me refusing him. i have told him that i am attracted to women so many times and he doesnt even believe that's possible. like, that bisexuality is real. yeah. that hardly scratches the surface of his terrible beliefs and opinions. but i digress.
i don't know if i'm only sex-repulsed due to him getting me pregnant and the subsequent loss, (ruptured ectopic, almost died) which affected me permanently in a physical way and im undeniably also psychologically but i have yet to process that in its entirity.
i am definitely at least bisexual, if not gay. and possibly asexual/gray-ace or whatever. the only men i really feel attraction towards are fictional/purely ideas. seriously. i'm deeply affected by comphet. growing up i knew i was queer but i was also abused by many men as a teen so i guess i internalized it. somewhere down the road i also became really attracted to the idea of settling down and having a family. (i still am, but my priorities have changed the more i see older moms. im only 24, my friend didn't have her first until 34.)
anyway, regardless of my sexuality or lack thereof, aside from our numerous other problems (incompatible personalities, different ambitions, lack of common interests, him being an abusive controlling manbaby, overbearing MIL, living situation, etc.) i am repulsed by him and i cant be around him anymore. i hate him.
the mistakes i have made for/because of this relationship are of a devastating magnitude. i've burned a lotttt of bridges (not my mom, thank god) but with other family, friends and previous employers.
i'm a dummy. yeah. i'm not going to lie. i have invested almost 3 years and over $10k of hard-earned wages into moving to australia for a man who doesn't respect me. i have no income, no privacy, little irl support, because he's isolated me to the point where i'm not me anymore. the most i can hope for is to get a full time job, and/or write some more original stories and possibly get a book deal or self publish. it'll all go into a divorce fund. it'll likely take over a year before the prospect of leaving is financially viable. but i'm not even sure where to go from there. the economy is a disaster in america too.
i would really appreciate some company, i don't necessarily want to discuss what happened but it'd be nice to have someone to talk to as i navigate this. i love you all my friends and followers and readers <3
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an-absolute-nightmare · 4 months
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tw: rape mention
i never really take the concept of misandry seriously because when has it ever actually occurred, at least in a country like mine. but today i discovered that the bns and the revised definitions of rape completely erase the rape of men, trans people or animals in its definition, leaving these people (and animals) with no legal recourse for sexual assault and like. what in the actual genuine godforsaken fuck.
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katrantsasoiaf · 1 year
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i mean this as seriously as possible
with the rare exception of child husbands being forced to marry older women (the only confirmed instances that I can recall being maegor at 13 marrying the 23-year-old ceryse hightower, and the 12-year-old viserys II marrying the 19-year-old larra rogare, both marriages were canonically consummated at those ages as well), the woman always gets the worst deal
in literally every other situation, the husband almost always has more power than the wife, it’s insane
men in westeros have the right to demand sex of their wives (“claiming their rights”) whenever they want. which is the definition of marital rape. women are robbed of their right to withdraw consent to their husbands. they’re bodies are the properties of their husbands to be violated when they please
men can forcibly impregnate their wives as much as they please. the burden of pregnancy and childbirth is something women alone can suffer in westeros. it can ruin a woman’s health and endanger her life. but if her husband wants, he can keep forcing child on her one after the other, regardless of her wishes
men have the right to “discipline” their wives. by that, i mean wife-beating is legal in westeros. the only laws surrounding abuse makes it legal to hit your wife six times and the width of the rod you can use to beat her. and so long as you follow those guidelines, you can physically abuse your wife as much as you want
men can have as many affairs and mistresses as they please, but if a woman is unfaithful she can be beaten by her husband in the best case, and at worst could be executed for the crime of adultery. no man in westeros has ever been arrested or executed for adultery
men have legal rights to their children. despite women birthing these children, they have no actual power. men can dictate their upbringing and their future if they so desire. their betrothals, their inheritances, and even matters of life and death. and even if the woman can leave her marriage, the children have to remain in the possession of the man
those are a few examples of the power dynamics that exist between men and women in westeros, that makes marriage inherently unequal and perpetuates the subjugation and abuse of women
there are only two examples of which i would say boys had suffered in their marriages (and even then, maegor grew into an abuser regardless and lost any empathy i have for him). every other marriage is inherently biased to serve men, at the expense of the women involved. and men cannot be victims of these arranged marriages, unless they are actual children
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ilhoonftw · 5 months
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pisses me off how someone talks about famous female abusers and 'if she were a man, she would be locked up by now!' how many male by law abusers walk this earth never to be even prosecuted. even if someone posts dms, there's always pushback how the screenshots are faked, you were the one tempting the guy etc etc. and they still have a career regardless. head in hands
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sapphic-agent · 5 months
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The one time a post from there doesn't make me want to pour bleach into my eyes.
Unfortunately it's overshadowed by people still insisting that Endeavor's redemption is so great (and that "he didn't hold her down and force her" which a) you don't know that for sure and b) it doesn't matter if he did or didn't, it's still rape). Newsflash, you can't be redeemed unless you atone for EVERYTHING you've done. MHA doesn't touch the marital rape aspect of the Todorokis with a 10 foot pole. Probably because Hori either doesn't see it as rape or he just doesn't care to address it. Endeavor hasn't atoned for this at all.
(Just as well because he can't. There's no coming back from sexual assault and that's already on top of the physical, verbal, and financial assault that's already outright confirmed in canon. Endeavor is a horrible person who only changed because his life had no meaning once he got what he wanted)
But if you try telling the asshats in the MHA sub that, they throw a fit. The OP got down voted for saying that this is a reason why Endeavor's arc isn't that good. I think we should start realizing that Endeavor fanboys are becoming as bad as Bakugou stans.
Rei deserves so much better than this series and its shitty fandom
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heartofstanding · 1 year
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I'm reading Anne O'Brien's book on Joanne of Navarre and so far it's profoundly eh. Except for the fact that twice now it's been mentioned that Hal finds a wife with her own mind distasteful and would never take advise from a woman, unlike his father (who not once in this book has taken advice from Joanne). If I roll my eyes any harder I'll do myself an injury
Oof. "Profoundly eh" pretty much sums up Anne O'Brien's writing for me - I bought a copy of The Queen's Choice but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet but I have read six other ones that range from "meh" to "so god-damn awful". And there's ones I won't ever read because I've heard too much about them, one of which is The Forbidden Queen that claims to be rescuing Catherine de Valois from her reputation as a “dumb blonde” while depicting her as illiterate and also depicting Henry V as “a marital rapist with a soul encased in ice” (according to Stephen Cooper, that is).
But yeah, we don’t know a lot about Henry V’s relationships with women, in part because he married late in life and most of his close female relatives had died or be married out of the country by the time he came to the throne but also a large part because women’s influence and roles were almost always invisible in the historical record. Joan Fitzalan proves the hypothesis wrong, as you say in your review. Like, she was clearly trusted by both Henry IV and Henry V to take on important responsibilities and by all accounts, she was a very formidable lady. She very clearly had a mind of her own and Henry V used it.
Or how he gave shelter to Jacqueline of Hainault? Sure, he probably had an ulterior motive but she was also very clearly a woman with her own mind since, y’know, she was fleeing from her husband since he wasn’t fighting hard enough for her birth rights. We don’t know a great deal, if anything, about Henry’s personal relationships with any woman, really, but women like Joan of Navarre, Joan Fitzalan, Jacqueline, Margaret Holland, Duchess of Clarence and Elizabeth of Lancaster (as his aunt and the wife of Sir John Cornwaille, an important figure in the war in France) would have been prominent at his court. Sure they’re all “family” but that’s generally how influence worked in a medieval court. Sure, he did imprison Joan of Navarre on trumped up charges but he did honour her earlier.
(Also, I feel that we could look at Katherine Swynford as someone who he was in contact with most of his life? She was part of Mary de Bohun’s household when Henry was young and then Duchess of Lancaster when Henry was residing with John of Gaunt. The Brut also claims that Katherine sent him 12 men of “good disposicyoun” to populate his household - the story is clearly not accurate it’s related to the story that he banished his household when he became king and Katherine had been dead for 10 years at that stage but it’s possible it actually reflects an earlier moment, perhaps in 1402/03 when he was beginning to become independent? Katherine was also an woman with her own mind!)
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joanna-lannister · 9 months
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I wish people (and its literally people who hate Cersei mind you) would stop using her to attack Alicent when Cersei was also a rape victim who suffered at the hands of men. Both Alicent and Cersei are trapped in a cage of patriarchy, with no one trying to help them, surrounded by people who stood by all these years passively observing while their husbands was hurting them. And a father who sacrificed them to further his ambitions.
AGREE SO HARD WITH YOU NONNIE! It's really hard to watch what is happening in the fandom tbh at the moment when they are BOTH victims and are trapped in this cage.
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torchwood-99 · 9 months
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Hi, I was going through some Polin posts on reddit and I found some of the worst takes and felt like sharing them with you bc I needed to rant lol.
"She took advantage of him for 2 reasons. 1. Because of his genuine friendship with Penelope, he was closer to her inner circle and 2. It was clear that he was impressionable, eager to be loved, and easily manipulated which is exactly what she needed. Marina did not love him in the slightest and she says as much later as she immediately belittles him even when he still believes himself to be in love with her. She didn't WANT an old, convenient, easily foolable man: she felt she was deserved a cute idiot she could trick."
Honestly Polin fans are truly the worst. It really just comes down to "how dare Marina get temporally between my favorite fictional couple for 5 mins"
Oh the horror. Marina didn't want to be married to a lech that obviously intended to have his "husbandly rights." You know what she did deserve? A husband who would mistreat or ill use her and force her children to grow up in an abusive household. Yes, she chose a nice man around her age who she liked and hoped she could build a happy family with.
The Polin fandom is intensely sexist and racist. Their attitude comes down to "if Marina didn't want to be forced into marriage with an old man who would treat her awfully, she should have kept her legs shut." Their point of view matches the very worst of the era, attitudes so vile and unforgiving that writers who actually lived back then, in the thick of that misogyny, condemned and criticised.
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msfbgraves · 1 month
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Terry has proved that he’s capable of cheating and of rape towards Daniel. Would Terry ever harm Daniel physically/be capable of domestic violence if he got angry or upset enough…maybe not even at Daniel, but to take out his anger on him like he did with Michael.
Last question: if Daniel knew years before what Terry would one day do to him, would he still want to marry him?
Terry is not a batterer. I think that he got hit, a lot, in "the life", maybe his Daddy threw his weight around sometimes (they had a good marriage, his parents, but Daddy may have thought an Alpha boy should be able to handle some physical punishment, and indeed all the mobsters he started working his way up for could be rough). One of the first things he tells his pups is "we don't hit people we love". Going by how Thomas Ian Griffith uses sex to intimidate when he plays villains more than outright manhandling, I felt it more likely he'd cross a line during sex than by attacking Daniel. Especially since Daniel has quite a lot of self-defense training, but would of course much sooner let his guard down making love. (I think that fight scene in Cobra Kai between them is out of character for him, and more fanservice).
Really if he were the slapping type you would have seen him do it by now in the story.
Also, and this is not meant to be a sympathy thing for Terry, he had a bad time doing it. Fuck you, Terry, of course, but even he didn't like how it made him feel. And Daniel has always known - if he does that again I will kill him. Maybe not during, but very soon after. Were this a normal marriage, it would have ended there.
But it's not, is it?
Had everyone known this for certain, there wouldn't have been a marriage, I can promise you. But now there were five pups involved. That changes things.
Daniel never wanted this marriage, but had you told him in year 2 of being mated he wouldn't have believed you.
Still, I know the trope of a mobster who would hurt anyone BUT you is really hot but I don't buy it. Sonny Corleone was a philanderer. Michael killed his brother, his brother in law and at least once assaulted Kay. Terry Silver we've all seen and even Terry McCain half forced his girlfriend back into a relationship with him by showing up, all 6'6 of volatile strength, and simply moving himself back in.
This marital rape, for me, is Terry Silver's version of what the whole Godfather 3 is about, a mobster crossing their own line. Rare enough as it is.
He won't do that again.
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orgasming-caterpillar · 10 months
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it's normal for desis to hate their parents because of their fuck ups and whatnot + abuse, but ngl it's just sad you wrote that post. pathetic at best. hope you work your trauma out.
...girl he tried to rape me, constantly shamed me for my transgenderism, threatened me with death if I didnt do mbbs and then marry the guy he wanted me to... And that's not even counting the times he tried to physically attack me and/or the number of times he physically/emotionally/sexually abused my mother. He burned her fucking job certificates so we would have to be dependant on him. He constantly commits marital rape. Do you want to hear more? He once tried to kill a prostitute when she threatened to tell my mother about herself at finding out he was married. Do you really think it's "sad" and "pathetic" that i want him to suffer his last moments in rage and agony, the way we've spent our entire lives because of him? I'm going to take my best friend (the one he accused me of trying to run away with because of my call recordings with her) and kiss her payal in front of him. I hope she gently brings my head up and calls me a good boy before kissing me while he's on the hospital with liver failure. I hope he sees my fucking smile. And I'm "pathetic"? You're sitting in a random person's -a person that you don't even know- inbox shaming them for trying to take a bit of revenge for the abuse they've been through when you don't even know what they've been through. There's one pathetic person among the two of us and darling it's not me. I'll be making out with a cute girl in the hospital my abuser died in. Go fuck yourself in the mouth with a taser.
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