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phoenixyfriend · 3 years

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Rex and Anakin Raise a Family: Part Two

Part One

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Anakin takes the news with... not grace, really, but an odd sort of resignation.

"Room to fix things," he mutters to himself, eyes set unseeing on Luke's tiny form.

Twins are often born smaller than single births, Rex remembers hearing somewhere. He hopes that's the only reason these two are so small. Leia feels absolutely minuscule in his arms.

He wishes he could ask Kix.

"Do you want to find Jango?"

Rex lifts his head to find Anakin staring at him with an earnest kind of depression. It's strange, and sad, and not helping with the question. "What?"

"You... you grew up with a lot of family," Anakin mutters, eyes cutting away to the side. "Fett would be a kid right now, yeah? He's... young. And you don't have the family that you used to have, but--"

"I'm not going to go out and find Fett to adopt him," Rex says firmly. "He was a genetic donor and once or twice a teacher. I have no interest in forming any bonds there."

He hesitates, but that was--Anakin was trying. Not succeeding, but trying. "Thank you for asking. It's... maybe if my childhood had been a little different, I'd have wanted that. But I don't, here."

Anakin winces. "Right."

Rex watches his general bounce a newborn, and thinks this is my life now.

There is no GAR to fight for, no brothers to save, no Empire to fight against. They'd thought there would be, but there isn't, not yet. They could find and warn the Jedi, but none of them would know Anakin. Nobody is going to look at Rex and see a clone. He's older than Fett, now.

"We're staying here," Rex decides. Anakin looks up from Luke's little face. "I'll figure out how to get us some Republic Idents. We'll get the twins registered. This planet is safe and out of the way, and we can figure something out for the money. You're a good mechanic, that's honest work, and I'm... I don't know. We've got a ship, so I can maybe do what Fett did and take bounty work. We'll figure something out."

"I can't ask you to stay with me."

"You're not asking," Rex says firmly. "I'm telling you. You don't get to push me away, sir. We're all the other has left, and you're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Okay," Anakin says. "If that's what you want."

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They don't have a whole lot of money personally, but this was Padme's ship. She'd been rich, and prone enough to danger to know the worth of hiding money where she could. They may not have more than a few weapons on here, but they have money.

For now.

Rex knows his general is itching to go to Tatooine, sees the man muttering and twitching about it, needing to do something, and that the something has to do with Tatooine.

"Can it wait?" Rex asks.

Anakin stares at him, uncomprehending.

"Your kids are only a week old," Rex tries to explain. "They need you right now. Is this something that can wait a few months, where I can watch them while you take a week or two to handle what you need to do?"

Anakin takes Leia from Rex, and doesn't bring it up again.

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Rex goes with Anakin, when they visit the nurse. He catches gossip about the two of them, but people don't go out of their way to approach. Mostly, people are just repeating the 'died in childbirth' cover that he gave before, telling each other who the strangers are, and why they shouldn't try to get involved.

The nurse asks only enough questions to get a medical baseline established for the twins. Anakin doesn't volunteer much, and when the Twi'lek woman asks if they'd like her to set up medical files for either of them, Rex has to immediately decline.

He has no idea what his blood is going to turn up. Genetic fuckery and something to deal with the advanced aging, maybe. He's not sure he wants to know, but either way, it's probably not going to be something this small clinic can handle.

"I'll have to set one up if you want to take the lactation aid," she tells Anakin.

"Yeah, okay."

She takes blood. Almost everything is mostly normal, except.

"Your midichlo--"

"I know."

"Are you--"

"Jedi aren't allowed to marry."

She doesn't dig further, just glances at how Anakin's holding Luke, and nods.

"It doesn't seem like there are any complicating factors. I can write up a prescription right now and you should be able to get it filled same-day. There will be a list of instructions and side-effects on flimsi when you pick it up, but I'd like to go over it in person first. Do you want Mr. Torrent to stay here with you as we do that, or to wait in the hall?"

"Up to him."

"I'll stay," Rex promises.

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Three pills a day, one with every meal. Tissue stimulation by massaging the pectoral area, and allowing the twins to suckle even before there's anything to actually drink. Expect soreness and increased appetite, don't drink caffeine or take any form of stimulant while nursing. Here's a list of possible side-effects, the best way to handle the minor ones, and which ones to contact a medical professional about.

All very normal.

Anakin's rarely ever done anything with less than his whole heart, and Rex isn't surprised to know that Anakin is this dedicated a parent as well. He's... he was proud to serve his general, but he thinks there's something just as fulfilling as being by his side here and now. There's something better about helping raise the little ones that would never be found on a battlefield.

"Do you want them to call you Uncle Rex?" Anakin asks during a feeding. "Or... ba'vodu? Or do you want to just..."

"Just what?"

"...we're going to be co-parenting," Anakin says, not meeting his eyes. "And every time I try to suggest you go and find something for yourself, something that doesn't revolve around me, a person you were literally tube-grown for, you say you don't want to leave. So if you're going to be sticking around, really staying for years and years... we could tell them to call you buir. If you want."

"Oh."

Oh.

It's a lot. It's something Rex has maybe fantasized about before, getting to be a parent instead of just a soldier, but he'd also resigned himself to the fact that it wasn't really an option. Even now, he'd just expected to be a friend of the father, maybe an honorary uncle if he was lucky, or--

"Are you sure?" Rex asks, before he can start to hope. "I don't--I don't want to take Padme's place."

"You're not," Anakin says, fierce as anything. "You won't--nobody can ever take her place, but there are people with five parents, or none, and I'm not going to--I don't want to--"

Anakin squeezes his eyes shut and breathes harshly for a few moments. Leia fusses, like she's seconds away from crying, and Rex watches as his general holds the child in his arms closer to his chest, visibly focusing on calming down in a way he rarely, if ever, had during the war.

"It's okay, Papa just got a little upset, it's fine, we're calm, I'm sorry I got sad, honey, I'm sorry you had to feel that," Anakin whispers under his breath as he bounces the baby.

(Raising Force-Sensitive children was never going to be easy anyway.)

"You're sure about this?" Rex asks again.

"You want to be involved in their lives," Anakin mutters. "So... yeah, you should get to be their dad in name, too. And if you use Mando'a, it'll be easier for them to have different names for us."

"People are going to think we're together."

Anakin shrugs. "People think a lot of things."

Rex wants this. He wants to imagine the twins toddling up to him, grins on their faces, calling him buir and meaning it. He wants to have what he saw at the Lawquane's, where a lack of blood connection and a half-sliced age hadn't stopped those children from claiming Cut as their father. He's only thirteen, technically, but he wants to have a family, even if it's as broken as what they've found here.

"I'd be honored, sir," Rex says. "I... thank you. I can't tell you how much this means to me."

"You don't have to," Anakin mutters, refusing to meet his eyes. "I can feel it."

Right.

"They already love you," Anakin continues, as if his goal today is to just smash Rex's decorum to pieces. "Part of that is just baby stuff, I think; they don't exactly know more than us yet, but you're around them all the time and are primary caregiver whenever I'm not... not okay. So they love you, so much, and I just... I'm not going to ignore that when you already love them too. So you should get to be their dad. If you want."

He does want.

"I'd like that," he says, and knows that he hasn't bothered shielding in days, so Anakin knows just how sincere that is.

Anakin hesitates, visibly so, and then stands and crosses the room to join Rex on the couch, each of them holding a twin.

A head rests lightly on Rex's shoulder. He lets it.

"There are rites," Anakin says quietly. "On Tatooine, for the slaves lost to the desert. People that died in search of their freedoms, where there's no body to bury but you still need to mourn."

Rex knows this. He says, "the clones had mourning traditions for the brothers who died in explosions or behind enemy lines, the ones we couldn't retrieve."

Anakin knows this as well. He nods.

They sit together, quietly, as calm as they can be for the too-perceptive children in their arms, and they know they need to mourn properly.

Rex can only hold his jagged edges in place for so long.

#Rexwalker #anakin skywalker #captain rex #star wars #the clone wars #time travel #Skywalker twins #male lactation #but otherwise rated T for teen #grief #depression #parenting #phoenix posts #Rex and Anakin Raise a Family #and yes this IS eventual rexwalker but right now it's just... a whole lot of grief #they'll get there eventually

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sirikenobi12 · 3 years

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Dear Mr. Filoni: About Qui-Gon Jinn

Mr. Filoni, I know you are pretty much the undisputed Padawan of George Lucas, but like many students they can sometimes misunderstand their teachings or interpret things from a certain point of view. While I won’t deny you are a brilliant creator who have brought us some amazing Star Wars content you said something a little while back about Qui-Gon Jinn that I think is rather nearsighted and in my opinion incorrect.

“And with the death of Qui-Gon Jinn, Anakin loses the father figure who truly could have understood him – and maybe prevented what was to come.”

This implies several things, the first is that Anakin never had a father figure in his life. Or, rather that he lost the father figure he truly needed. In many ways this is implying that if someone grows up without a father (or a traditional father figure) then they are missing out or won’t have a stable childhood. What about all the people who are raised by single mothers or grandparents or aunts/uncles or by their older siblings?

Pixar’s Onward is a great example of finding a father figure through an older brother, it highlights that just because Ian never had a chance to meet his father didn’t mean that he lost out on a father figure in his brother Barley.

“I never had a dad, but I always had you.”

Saying that Anakin lost the father figure who truly could have understood him also just spits in the face of a young man who also lost his father figure in that moment and gave up everything to raise Anakin.

Let’s unpack that a little bit. Imagine if you will you’re twenty-five years old, you’ve worked your ENTIRE life for a particular goal which is to be a Jedi Knight, traveling the galaxy doing the most good that you can while discovering who you are on your own. Then maybe down the road when you are ready to settle down and possibly train/raise an apprentice you’ll take one on. Suddenly the only father you’ve ever known pushes you aside for a child he’s just met (without even discussing it with you first) and then uses his last words to push this child on you, making him your responsibility, thus shattering your chance at the freedom of a true Knighthood.

By all rights Obi-Wan could’ve given Anakin’s training over to the Council, the boy was in no way his responsibility. Much like an adult sibling doesn’t have to take on the responsibility of raising their minor siblings if their parents die, they could give the children over to the state and have a chance at a normal young adulthood instead of being thrust into being a parent before they are ready. But, Obi-Wan didn’t do that because he A.) Respected/loved Qui-Gon too much not to fulfill his final wishes, and B.) Knew it would be better for Anakin to take the boy under his wing.

I will say this until I am blue in the face: OBI-WAN WAS A FATHER TO ANAKIN!!

In fact, in Episode 2 Anakin refers to him as a father/father figure multiple times and it is clear their relationship while Anakin was a Padawan was that of a Father/Son. It isn’t until Anakin is knighted and they are peers that you see their relationship shift to that of brothers.

Am I saying that Obi-Wan didn’t make mistakes when raising Anakin? Absolutely not, but would I argue that Anakin was missing out on a father figure because Qui-Gon died? No, I would not.

The second part of that quote claims that Qui-Gon Jinn could’ve been someone who understood Anakin and might’ve been able to prevent what was to come. I 100% believe that would not have happened, while I think Qui-Gon Jinn is a very interesting character there is no indication in either canon or legends that he would’ve been a good influence on Anakin. In fact, quite the opposite. Here are the top ten reasons Qui-Gon would’ve been a terrible father influence for Anakin:

1. Qui-Gon Jinn thinks the rules don’t apply to him: While many fans applaud Qui-Gon (including apparently you, Mr. Filoni) for going against the Jedi Council and being a “Maverick” I would argue that more often than not it was to his or his mission’s detriment. This is not to advocate that the Council was 100% correct or that Jedi shouldn’t question things, but there is a difference between questioning authority figures and flat out being obstinate. This is something Anakin excels at even with being raised by the rule abiding Kenobi, imagine how bad it would’ve been had Jinn raised him.

2. Qui-Gon Jinn was selfish: There are several examples of Qui-Gon using the guise of “the will of the Force” in order to get his way. Are we honestly supposed to believe that somehow this one man was more in tune with the Force than any other Jedi (including 12 powerful Jedi who were on the Council)?? And, if he truly believed in following the will of the Force then why did he constantly bend the rules to make sure the “Force” went his way - an example of this is had he actually believed it was the will of the Force that he free Anakin, he wouldn’t have had to make the chance cube go the way he wanted it to go. He flat out cheated so he could get his way.

3. Qui-Gon was dangerously reckless: Many Jedi are reckless, even Obi-Wan said to Yoda in ESB “so was I if you’ll remember”. But Qui-Gon was reckless in ways that was pretty astounding. For example, EVERYONE told him that his plan to get off of Tatooine was dangerous and frankly stupid. Couldn’t they have just sold the Naboo ship and then purchased a clunker that would get them to Coruscant? Honestly, that would’ve probably hidden them better from the Trade Federation in the long run...but no, he instead decided the best course of action was to put a slave child in mortal danger, thus also placing all of their lives in the hands of a boy who had NEVER won a race before. Now, it ended up working in his favor, but even still those few days spent fixing up Anakin’s pod and then the race itself delayed the Queen from getting to Coruscant which meant more people died on Naboo all because Qui-Gon refused to see any other solutions.

4. Qui-Gon was often a bully: our Maverick had no problems throwing his weight around to get what he wanted. The Council meeting with Anakin is a perfect example, he didn’t get the answer he wanted. So he put his hands on his hips and refused to leave the room until the Council caved to his demands. Another example of this is in Claudia Grey’s Master & Apprentice where he refuses to do his duty as a Jedi and fulfill the mission simply because he had a vision. He doesn’t discuss this with the Council or with Obi-Wan beforehand, he just decides for himself this is how it’s going to be and then throws a hissy-fit when he doesn't get his way. Or how about he is the one who cheated to get his way in winning Anakin and when Watto calls him out he threatens to get the Hutts involved? He just bullies his way to getting what he wanted.

5. Qui-Gon never saw the bigger picture: Master Jinn’s whole thing is to focus on the here and the now, and while that’s great advice (especially for Obi-Wan who often looks too far a head) it also means that Qui-Gon often misses the big picture. An example of this is in the book Master & Apprentice where he wants to free the slaves on Pijal’s moon, but Yoda has to remind him that there is a bigger picture and they can only act if it’s in their mandate. He says this not because the Council doesn’t want to free slaves, but because there are incredibly complex consequences and if they were to just do whatever they wanted/could do as Jedi it would cause all kinds of issues for others and while he could maybe free a handful of slaves now it would cause countless others to suffer in the long run. But, Qui-Gon wouldn’t accept this, because he refused to see the bigger picture - he refused to look at anything except what was right in front of him.

6. Qui-Gon has a history of failing his Apprentices: Now, I know this isn’t Canon at the moment, but by the time we make it to TPM Qui-Gon has already done severe damage to 2 former Padawans, and is in danger of having history repeat itself. Xanatos was his second Apprentice right before Obi-Wan, and this Padawan was extremely powerful and Qui-Gon insisted he be trained, but the boy fell to the darkside because he had been too old to start training and had a healthy attachment to his family (sound familiar?). Qui-Gon was so devastated by his fall that he went back and reputed his first apprentice, Feemor, claiming he was such a failure of a Master that there is no way his first apprentice should’ve been knighted. He basically in his grief pushed aside an apprentice who while on paper wasn’t anything special, but was kind and dutiful and a true Jedi (sound familiar?). He then begrudgingly takes on Obi-Wan (only after 12 year old Obi-Wan offers to kill himself to save others) and then time and time again tries to basically pawn off Obi-Wan onto someone else (even as far into their relationship as the Master & Apprentice book). Then, when it finally looks like the Kenobi/Jinn team have figured out how to work well together Qui-Gon has to literally be reminded that his Obi-Wan even exists because Qui-Gon is so blinded by Anakin’s power!! How in any way does this seem like a better father figure option for the emotionally needy Anakin?

7. Qui-Gon Jinn has a history of Attachments: The specific example I have is again from Legends, but it shows how Qui-Gon allowed attachments to become dangerous. He had a childhood friend who he fell in love with, they decided that they could handle being committed to each other as well as the Order so they “pledged themselves” to one another (my guess is basically this is like a Jedi marriage so to speak). Sounds beautiful right, and it is, but...But his love interest Tahl was injured on a war torn planet where the children are so sick of their parents' civil war that they form a third army and go to war against the adults. Tahl is caught in the middle of this and is gravely injured. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are sent to rescue her, and Obi-Wan is sickened by the sight of children fighting and wants to stay and help, but Qui-Gon is so blinded by his attachment for Tahl that he for the first time EVER actually follows his mandate and tells Obi-Wan that they weren’t sent there to help the children, but to rescue Tahl. Obi-Wan who is only 13 doesn’t understand so instead of taking the time to really explain it, Qui-Gon just LEAVES his young apprentice behind on a war torn planet. Now, I’ll admit that Qui-Gon did give Obi-Wan a choice, to come back to Coruscant or to stay and fight, thus leaving the Jedi Order and Obi-Wan did make the choice to stay. But, it was Qui-Gon’s responsibility as the teacher to fully explain the situation to Obi-Wan and let him know that they could do more good if they were to go back to the Council and the Senate and try to return with supplies and reinforcements. But no, Qui-Gon just yelled at him, disregarded his feelings and told him their mission was to rescue Tahl. He didn’t bother using this as a teaching moment for Obi-Wan because he was so concerned about his attachment. And then later when Tahl actually died, Qui-Gon nearly fell to the dark side and it was Obi-Wan who saved him. And then Qui-Gon went on to decide that because of the pain that had been inflicted by losing Tahl he’d basically give Obi-Wan an ultimatum when it came to the woman he loved (and basically downplayed it as nothing but a crush). Now, say what you want about how Obi-Wan handled Anakin/Padme’s relationship - maybe pretending it wasn’t happening instead of confronting Anakin about it wasn’t a healthy/smart choice, but at least he didn’t downplay it and make it look like Anakin’s feelings weren’t real or valid.

8. Qui-Gon refused to apologize: There are several examples where Qui-Gon refuses to accept any responsibilities and won’t apologize. One such point is in TPM where he basically traded his current Padawan in for a newer/shinier model in front of the entire Council (which if this alone isn’t enough cause to prove the man wasn’t the best father figure…) he then refused to even approach Obi-Wan about it, in fact the twenty five year old Apprentice who had just been tossed aside for a supposed prophecy came and apologized to Qui-Gon!! Another example is back in the Jedi Apprentice books where Qui-Gon leaves Obi-Wan on the war torn planet (as mentioned in #7) it is up to Obi-Wan to make it up to Qui-Gon and prove his worth once again. I’m not certain given Anakin’s tendency to need constant affirmations that this would’ve been a good combination.

9. Qui-Gon was manipulative: Oftentimes we see Qui-Gon manipulating people to get his way (I’m not talking about Jedi Mind Tricks). In TPM he manipulates Watto to win Anakin’s freedom, he even manipulates Obi-Wan into taking on the burden of training Anakin by making it his dying wish. He is not above manipulation if he gets his desired result. We see Anakin does the same thing, so one could argue Qui-Gon would’ve only encouraged this behavior.

10. Qui-Gon cared more about the prophecy than the boy: I’m not saying that Qui-Gon didn’t care about people, or even Anakin, in fact he was a very compassionate character. But, all of his arguments to have Anakin be trained was that he is “the Chosen One” not once does he talk about how the boy needs training simply because it’d be dangerous to leave such raw power alone in the galaxy without training, or that it would be the right thing to do. He doesn’t ever talk about how learning to be a Jedi would actually benefit the boy. Every single time he brings up Anakin needing training is because of the prophecy. Now, as far as it looks in both canon and legends Obi-Wan tried incredibly hard to not bring up the prophecy to Anakin (except on Mustafar), Obi-Wan would bring it up to Mace/Yoda but that was about it. Obi-Wan wasn’t blinded by the prophecy because until ROTS it didn’t really appear that he even believed in it - he believed in Anakin for who he was as a person. Something we just didn’t see with Qui-Gon.

Now, Qui-Gon has a lot of great qualities, I am not denying that, but to say that he would’ve been the father figure Anakin needed is just misguided. If you believe in the idea that there is a will of the Force one could argue that Obi-Wan training Anakin was that will, otherwise Qui-Gon wouldn’t have died.

Also, Mr. Filoni, why is it that Anakin supposedly suffered because he didn’t have a father figure yet you turned around and gave Ahsoka a brother, not a father? Are you suggesting Ahsoka suffered as well because she didn’t have a father figure? Or, was Obi-Wan by this time finally “old” enough to be considered a father figure?

This idea that Qui-Gon Jinn would’ve been the fix it to Anakin’s issues is just silly and once again places the blame of the Jedi’s destruction in the hands of the Council and specifically Obi-Wan, thus not forcing Anakin to be held responsible for any of his actions.

I’m sorry, but it’s not a theory I buy due to a lack of evidence.

#star wars #rant post #obi wan appreciation #qui gon jinn #obi wan kenobi #Anakin Skywalker #jedi council appreciation #dave filoni #the phantom menace #The Clone Wars #stop blaming the jedi #sorry but this has been on my mind a lot #not qui gon bashing i promise #obi wan deserved better

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lazy-sketcher · 3 years

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Today I've rewatched the 3rd Naruto Shippuden movie ("The Will of Fire" or whatever is its name) out of nostalgia and because I consider it a "comfort movie" of mine, despite being a not-so-good one

Anyway, since I'm obsessed with re-reading or rewatching any scene having some good Sannin content in this goddamn series, I got "slightly mad" realising that actually there's more filler content than actual canon one...

Like, in this movie the antagonist is called Hiruko, who also was a childhood friend of the trio. He talks about always having bad health and not being as powerful as the Sannin, even during their childhood days. So he admired them and wanted to be like them, but also felt kind of jealous he could never reach them, physically speaking. And eventually, he went for the "forbidden Jutsu" way, made illegal experiments, actually ruined his body, but almost reached (by the end of the movie) his goal of having the perfect, most powerful body ever.

Now, the fact that this mad lad was introduced in a filler movie gets on my nerves because it could have been cool to have the whole story of Hiruko as canon, for two main reasons:

As I said, the lack of canon Sannin content is absurd, even regarding their relationship with other people (famous and not) during their childhood/teenhood/early adulthood

Hiruko thought a bit too much like Orochimaru and I can see them being best friends because of their interest obsession for forbidden jutsus and "thirst" for more and more power [one thing I've found pretty funny while rewatching the movie was the fact that Hiruko presumably was like... an addition in Team Hiruzen and while he narrates his backstory, at some point there's this scene in which teen Jira-Oro-Tsuna reach his secret lab (where he was conducting an experiment) because, apparently, Hiruzen ordered to kill him and they went there to hunt him down but he escaped, of course, lol AND IT MAKES ME LAUGH SO FUCKING HARD THAT OROCHIMARU WILLINGLY WENT THERE TO HUNT DOWN SOMEONE WHO COULD HAVE BEEN HIS "ILLEGAL EXPERIMENTS" BESTIE WITH A SHOCKED FACE WHEN THEY REACHED THE LAB LIKE-

OROCHI MY BRO WHY ARE YOU SO SHOCKED? YOU'RE DOING GONNA DO THE SAME SHIT IF NOT WORSE💀 anyway, if this shit was canon, canonically Hiruzen would be that sensei who let NOT JUST ONE, BUT TWO ABSOLUTE MAD UNETHICAL SCIENTISTS ESCAPE HIS FREAKING VILLAGE!]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just to end this """"rant"""", we really need Kishimoto to at least write down some new canon content regarding the Sannin past (both as a team and as individuals). Like, really, a novel would be fine! I've kept repeating this for years now but I WANT something that isn't just lil' flashback panels thrown here and there in the manga only for the SP staff to use them as blueprints for... like... two whole half-canon-half-filler episodes (ep. 127-128 I'm looking right at you)

I know we can rely on some good fucking fan content because the Sannin fandom out there is filled with talented people (writers, artists...). I don't consider myself as a good "content creator", but I enjoy to put my love for this team of old, fucked-up shinobi on a piece of paper with my stupid pencil... But the point is, we're all linked by the distress we feel for the lack of *inhales* GODDAMN CANON CONTENT FROM THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR HIMSELF.

Literally sometimes I think Kishimoto just created them out of a fever dream, only to put them aside in the darkest corner of his mind when he noticed he hasn't thought about anything else for their story... even in "Boruto" it looks as if he wants to put them in the plot, somehow, but most of the time he doesn't know HOW and that's sad. Tremendously sad.

#sannin #jiraiya #tsunade #orochimaru #naruto #naruto thoughts #random rant #I'm in need for new sannin content #but I'm mad because the only one that exists is filler #naruto filler #naruto movies #legendary sannin #orochimaru could have got a mad scientist pal like him #but the mad scientist pal is FILLER.#kishimoto gimme a sannin novel for once #idk if anything of this makes sense

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ouyangzizhensdad · 4 years

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On the importance of MianMian: musings on the differences between the novel and CQL (PART 2/2)

If you haven’t already, please read through part one first, otherwise this will probably not be very cohesive or comprehensible. There is also some bonus meta because I keep having thoughts about MianMian.

In part one, I contrasted MianMian’s first appearance in the novel and the web series in order to show how MianMian’s characterisation and position within her society were established quite differently in both works. In this post, I will explore the domino effect of those adaptation choices, as well as consider how the two subsequent appearances of MianMian in the novel got translated into a visual format in CQL. Through this exercise, my goal is not only to illuminate the depth and significance of this minor character in the novel, but also to argue that the way her scenes were adapted in CQL ultimately reduced the impact of the character and excised many of the nuances put into her portrayal despite increasing her presence in the work.

(although kudos to CQL for casting Ann Wang because I do not get tired of looking at her face: look at that smile 😳)

The Servant’s Daughter Valued Jin Cultivator Standing up to a Room of Powerful Cultivators

In the novel, we meet MianMian for a second time after the Sunshot campaign has ended. Cultivators from the main sects and allied sects (including some who used to be loyal to the Wens!) are discussing at Jinlintai Wei Wuxian’s actions after he protected the Wens and set up residence on Mass Grave Hill. By that time, it appears her position in her sect, and even her sect’s position, has grown. We can speculate as to why (my personal take is that MianMian proved herself during the war and that her sect is one of the sect who pledged loyalty to the Jin and gained influence as a result). What is important is that she goes from someone who is so inconsequential she might have not even have been a disciple yet when we met her to someone who stands next to a sect leader (who we can safely assume in this context to be her sect leader). A lot is hinted about her character and what she experienced since we last saw her through that small and innocuous detail.

Suddenly, a careful voice interjected, “It’s not killing indiscriminately, is it?”

Lan Wangji seemed to have entered a realm of zen that blocked all of his senses. Hearing this, however, he moved, looking over. The one who spoke was a young woman with a fair face, standing beside one of the sect leaders.

I will not repeat here the entirety of her speech, which highlights the hypocrisy and the bad faith of the sects, and particularly the Jin sect’s unwillingness to shoulder any blame for their deplorable treatment of the Wens. Instead, I find important to highlight how the other cultivators present react to MianMian based on her positionality.

First, MianMian’s opinions are undercut by the people present due to the fact that she is a woman. Her motivations for speaking out are reduced to the irrational ramblings of a maiden in love.

“You can stop arguing,” someone sneered suddenly. “We don’t want to hear the comments of someone who has other motives.”

The woman’s face flushed.

“Explain things,” she said, raising her voice. “What do you mean, that I have other motives?”

“There’s no need for me to say anything. You know deep down and we know too. You fell for him back in the cave of the Xuanwu just because he flirted with you? You’re still arguing for him, calling white black no matter how irrational it is. Ha, women will always be women.”

The incident of Wei Wuxian saving a damsel in distress in the cave of the Xuanwu was indeed once a topic of conversation. Thus, many people realized immediately that this young woman was ‘MianMian’.

At once, somebody murmured, “So that’s why. Explains how she’s so desperate as to speak up for Wei Wuxian…”

“Irrational?” she fumed. “Calling white black? I’m just being considerate as it stands. What does it have to do with the fact that I’m a woman? You can’t be rational with me so you’re attacking me with other things?”

Then, when members of her own sect disparage her for speaking up, they suggest that her place in the discussion, in this palace of gilded power and privilege, is ultimately illegitimate or at the very least incredibly easy to render illegitimate.

“Stop wasting your time on her. That this kind of person actually belongs to our sect, that she was even able to find her way into the Golden Pavilion; I feel ashamed standing alongside her.

Many of those who spoke against her were from the same sect.

In this situation, not even her fellow sect members are willing to come to her defense or to give her the benefit of the doubt; she is to be shamed and separated from them, lest her actions reflect badly on their own standing.

MianMian’s choice to leave her sect behind is meaningful because she is not privileged. She does not have anyone powerful in her corner to back her up. She does not have many options; people act like she should be glad to even have made it this far, and we can infer that she only achieved her current position due to her skills and hard work. It is also meaningful because she is making that choice while knowing that she’s giving up on the privileges of the social position that she has worked to achieve. The fact that she is giving up on something big is highlighted by the reactions of many cultivators after her departure, who think she will come crawling back to find once more the security and privilege of the position she left behind.

Saying nothing, MianMian turned around and left. A while later, someone laughed. “If you’re taking it off, then don’t put it on again, if you’re so capable!”

“Who does she think she is… leaving as she pleases? Who cares? What is she trying to prove?”

Soon, some began to agree, “Women will always be women. They quit just after you say a few harsh words. She’ll definitely come back on her own, a couple of days later.”

“There’s no doubt. After all, she finally managed to turn from the daughter of a servant to a disciple, haha…”

Beyond what it means for her characterisation and the themes explored in the novel, this moment is significant because there are clear parallels between how she is treated in that moment and how WWX is talked about for protecting the Wen remnants and, later, for ‘deserting’ the Jiang sect. In fact, just before MianMian speaks out, sect leaders call WWX a “servant” and the “son of a servant” when underlying the ‘nerve’ of his ‘arrogance’ toward the sects with his actions.

One of the sect leaders added, “To be honest, I’ve wanted to say this since a long time ago. Although Wei Wuxian did a few things during the Sunshot Campaign, there are many guest cultivators who did more than him. I’ve never seen anyone as full of themselves as him. Excuse my bluntness, but he’s the son of a servant. How could the son of a servant be so arrogant?”

These passages are also reminiscent of the way WWX is discussed by cultivators celebrating his death in the prologue:

“That’s right, good riddance! If the YunmengJiang sect had not adopted him, educated him—this Wei Ying would have been a mediocre scoundrel all his life, nothing but riffraff…… what else could he be! The former head of the Jiang clan treated him as his own son, but what a son! [...]”

“I can’t believe Jiang Cheng really let this arrogant manservant live for so long. If it were me, when this Wei first defected, I wouldn’t have just stabbed him; I’d have cleaned house straight away. Then he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to commit all those deranged acts later. When it comes to these sorts of people, how can you even take sentiments like ‘same clan’, ‘same sect’, or ‘childhood loyalty’ into consideration?”

Due to the circumstances of their birth, even people who manage to achieve a higher position in society hold a tenuous grasp on the power and respect they have gained: their legitimacy is fraught. And even if they play the game right, the lines of legitimate belonging are always ready to be renegotiated by those in power. Despite the “few things” he did during the Sunshot Campaign that aligned with the interest of the sects, and despite being raised among the gentry in the Jiang sect and being perceived as a gongzi, WWX remains in the imaginary of the cultivators who see themselves as the legitimate holders of power as someone who needs to “remember his place”, someone who should be grateful and loyal as he has been “allowed” to raise in influence and be treated well in society despite being the son of a servant. And so when he stands against the interests of the sects, he’s not just betraying them: he betraying the social order which gives them legitimacy. This is directly tied to MianMian’s treatment in this scene. In the novel, MianMian is not only shamed and dismissed because she speaks out against the sects: it is also, if not primarily, because she did not, in the process, “remember her place”.

The scene as it is presented in the novel thus goes out of its way to set up a clear parallel between WWX and MianMian, not only in regards to their righteousness, but also in regards to how they are perceived and treated for being the children of servants. It also takes pain to underline the unfair treatment of women in that society. Moreover, if we’re only considering MianMian’s characterisation, it says a lot to see her have reached this level of importance in her sect despite her circumstances and then for her to let it all go.

In CQL? You’ve probably guessed it; all of these nuances are evacuated from the text. On top of the fact that MianMian continues to be established as a valued member of the Jin sect, the scene is cut short and a lot of the censure sent her way is excised. There are no mentions of her ‘having made her way’ into the room of powerful people who are allowed have an opinion on the state of the world. No mentions of her low social background and no mocking that she will crawl back to her sect after realising she can’t make it into the world without their influence and support. No dismissal of her based on the fact that she is a woman, or suggestions that she is standing up for the YLLZ only because she is enamoured with him. The scene is turned into a pale shadow of its original.

Instead of these elements, we do get a gasp from JZX (which becomes a dangling plot thread because he does not stand up for her nor does he reach out for her even though she’s supposed to be his good friend, nor do we see him being conflicted about being unable to beyond his gasp) and MianMian telling JGS that she is leaving his sect, which I’ll admit is pretty baller. But it does not even come close to having the significance and thematic implications of the scene as presented in the novel. CQL!MianMian stands up against the organized smear campaign against WWX and the sects’ unwillingness to accept their faults, and is only disregarded for having spoken against them: not because of who she was while she was raising doubts about their evaluation of the right and wrong. And that is significant, because it undercuts the discussions the novel explores through so many other characters about the impacts of being considered inferior by others.

The Travelling Rogue Cultivator who Stayed Home

Finally, in the novel, we meet MianMian once more when her daughter, Xiao MianMian, stumbles upon something she should not have seen while accompanying her parents on a night-hunt. The reason their paths cross is that, just like Wangxian, MianMian feels compelled to pursue night-hunts other cultivators disregard for their lack of glory in order to help the common people. This is her life mission as a travelling rogue cultivator: differently put, she goes where the chaos is. This set-up serves to highlight that MianMian and Wangxian are like-minded and share the same definition of what it means to be ‘Righteous’.

He asked, “Did you come here to night-hunt as well?”

Luo Qingyang nodded, “Yes. I heard spirits are haunting a nameless graveyard on this mountain, disturbing the lives of the people here, so I came to see if there’s any way I could help. Have you two cleaned it up already?”

The night-hunt also serves to reintroduce the theme of deception and rumours, and the ways in which MianMian is a character who is not swayed by public opinions but knows how easily others may be.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji exchanged a glance. “This was a lie too. No lives were lost. We looked it up. Only a few villagers who robbed the graves were bedridden for a while after being scared by the ghosts, and another broke his own leg when running away. Apart from these, there were no casualties. All those lives were made up for dramatic purposes.”

“So this was what happened?” interjected Luo Qingyang’s husband. “That’s absolutely shameless!”

“Oh, these people…” sighed Luo Qingyang. She seemed as if she remembered something, shaking her head, “They’re the same everywhere.”

This is because in the novel MianMian is tied to many themes, and always in a positive manner. Like WWX, she represents the good that is stifled by an unjust social order. She also represents the people who choose to defy and deviate from this social order to pursue a righteous life rather than trying to find vindication and power within that very social order (ie JGY or XY). Like the juniors, MianMian is a character that represents hope for the cultivation world, the potential for small but significant change. Like WWX and LWJ, she represents integrity in the face of the corrupting influences of power and politics, as well as the desire to protect the common people. Like Cangse Sanren, she represents the courage to make her own path in the world, and to marry for love with no considerations for social status or conventions, and the decision to becoming a travelling rogue cultivator.

On top of all these great things this scene accomplish, it is also just incredibly cute. After their talk, their parting is described like such: “Soon, the group had gone down the mountain, and Wei Wuxian could only say goodbye to them with some regret, continuing on another path alongside Lan Wangji.” Honestly, my ‘WWX and LWJ become Xiao MianMian’s shushus’ agenda is alive and well and I will not accept anything else.

In CQL, however, the reunion happens by pure coincidence. The scene is in actuality a mash-up between the reunion we have in the novel and another scene that takes place earlier, in which fugitives WWX and LWJ enter the home of strangers as they are looking for some water (and end up frolicking in hay).

Simply by changing the circumstances and the setting of the reunion, something is lost of the thematic connection between WWX/Wangxian and MianMian, even though viewers still get told that MianMian is someone who night-hunts. Without entering into the specific debate of whether show don’t tell is the only acceptable storytelling strategy, I think it’s fair to say that it is more effective to run into MianMian as she is night hunting based on the same rumours of hauntings as Wangxian instead of seeing her get home, pull a sword willy-nilly after hearing something suspicious in her backyard and finally getting told that she was out night hunting.

Moreover, having to recreate most of the beats of MianMian’s last appearance into this new context seems to have been quite confusing to the CQL production team, and seems to have breed, as a result, a lack of internal coherence to the scene (cut between the end of ep 43 and the beginning of ep 44), regardless of any of its other pitfalls as an adaptation.

In the CQL version, when we meet the family on their way back to their home, Xiao MianMian had been running around and her father chastises her by telling her something along the lines of “Don’t run around, what if you had gotten caught by the YLLZ?”, thereby suggesting that MianMian’s husband believes what is said about WWX. To this, Xiao MianMian replies But Mom Says he’s a Good Guy Though. Obviously, the intent of the writers was to show that MianMian had never bought into the rumours about WWX. However, this exchange makes seemingly no sense if one thinks about it for longer than a second. It suggests that MianMian had never talked about this topic with her husband or that he had never heard her talk about the YLLZ with their daughter. Considering how dangerous the YLLZ is said to be, and that they were night-hunting while he was a fugitive, I don’t see how that would have not come up even if for some unlikely reason she had until then only talked about the YLLZ with her daughter. Of course, one could suggest that MianMian’s husband says this to tease their daughter, fully aware that the YLLZ’s reputation of swallowing children is a tall tale, but the tone is not quite right? And it does not jive with the fact that MianMian is not on board with defaming people: I don’t think she’d be okay with her husband knowingly using the myth of the YLLZ to scare their kid into obedience because it’s convenient to do so? A miss.

To make matters worse, when WWX later asks MianMian is she’s back from night-hunting, Xiao MianMian says that they are back from searching for the YLLZ. First, there is a clear lack of coherence with the previous exchange between Xiao MianMian and her father. And again, it’s hard to get to the meaning of that exchange: is it implying that MianMian was looking for WWX to offer him her help? She certainly doesn’t once she does meet him, so that appears unlikely or at least it’s a plothole/dangling plot thread. But why be looking for him, if she knows he’s not the monster the rumours make him out to be? Clearly, the writers wanted to tell the viewers that MianMian is a rogue cultivator, and figured that having her back from a night-hunt would be enough: but why this line by Xiao MianMian about searching for the YLLZ? Is it just the fancy of a kid, who makes up her own stories while her parents pursue other cases (especially since MianMian says she was looking for puppets)? But then Xiao MianMian does say that ‘we’ were searching for him...

I can’t figure it out. I find it even weirder that, when WWX asks Xiao MianMian whether she is scared of the scary YLLZ (although she’s literally just said moments before that she was not scared of him in her exchange with her father that WWX certainly heard), Xiao MianMian starts replying that she is not scared and MianMian cuts her, apologizing to WWX that he daughter is too young and naive. What is she apologizing for? How is her daughter naive for not being scared of the YLLZ? Or is she apologizing for her daughter suggesting they were searching for the YLLZ? If so, why cut her now and not when she suggested that they were searching for him?

What’s happening in this scene?!

Also, even an attempt to keep lines as close to what they were in the novel ends up backfiring with the new context. In the novel, out night-hunting, MianMian asks “ 什么人” when she sees WWX come out from the direction of a graveyard (she has not seen LWJ yet). Knowing that she might suspect him of being a corpse or a spirit considering that it is night and that he is leaving a graveyard said to be haunted, WWX responds “不管是什么人，总归是人，不是别的东西 “ (No matter who I am, I’m a person after all, and not something else). In CQL, when MianMian hears a sound in her backyard, she asks “ 什么人” and, after LWJ comes out and is recognized by MianMian, WWX still responds (??) with a similar yet slightly different sentence: “ 不管是谁，反正是个人，不是东西 “ (No matter who I am, anyway I am a person, not a thing). This exchange in the context of the scene in CQL baffles me because: why would there be then an expectation that they would not be a person in this situation? Why would he say that after MianMian has seen and recognized LWJ, thus knowing full well that it is a person and not a spirit or a corpse? As well, why change “ 别的东西 “ (something else/different thing) for “ 东西 “ (thing) since MianMian’s question does not imply by itself that she thinks they are not people since she asks "什么人” (literally: what person?), making WWX’s statement that he is “not a thing” completely come out of nowhere? And it’s so much more perplexing than his original statement that he is not “something else” from a human.

I’m spending time on these two lines because I find them to be a sort of microcosm of some of the questionable adaptation choices made in CQL: at times the web series chooses to keep things from the novel even after changing the context in which these elements unfold without understanding how these no longer work within their new context. Yet, at the same time, it feels comfortable making what appear on the surface to be minute changes without thinking through the implications of them, and thus changing the point of these elements through these minute modifications.

Aside from these elements which prevent this moment in CQL to give us a scene that is internally coherent, let’s further interrogate some of the adaptational changes made between the novel and the web series, and their impact on the themes and characterisation.

One change that conflicts with the characterisation and the thematic discussion regards WWX inquiring about MianMian’s husband. Unlike in the novel, where WWX engages him in a little bit of chitchat and then feels forced by conventions to ask to which sect he belongs, CQL makes it seem as if it is an information WWX wants to ask because it’s literally the first thing he says to him, not even after a salutation or a “well met” (I will be magnanimous and believe that that choice to do so was for the sake of brevity and not because the preceding dialogue had not been written in the novel and the CQL writers couldn’t be bothered to come up with something). This, however, makes it look like WWX puts a lot of importance in knowing someone’s allegiance to a sect, which is the exact opposite of how he feels about it.

She pulled the man up, “This is my husband.”

Noticing that they held no malicious intent, the man softened visibly. After some chatter, Wei Wuxian asked out of convenience, “Which sect do you belong to and which kind of cultivation do you practice?”

The man answered frankly, “None of them.”

Luo Qingyang gazed at her husband, smiling, “My husband isn’t of the cultivating world. He used to be a merchant. But, he’s willing to go night-hunting with me…”

It was both rare and admirable that an ordinary person, and a man at that, would be willing to give up his originally stable life and dare travel the world with his wife, unafraid of danger and wander. Wei Wuxian could not help feeling respect for him.

Of course, without WWX’s thought process provided to us in the narration, the implications of MianMian’s husband being originally a merchant are a little bit lost in CQL, even if CQL!MianMian provides that piece of information. Of course, CQL could have chosen to include WWX’s musings, since it does include in this very scene some voice-over thoughts earlier. It is a shame though, that it does not, since MianMian and her husband are clear parallels for WWX’s parents in that regard: his father also left a stable life to travel the world with his wife.

Although, to be fair, CQL!MianMian is no longer a rogue cultivator who travels the world, so it is not like her husband made the decision to travel the world with her. Indeed, by frankensteining the two scenes from the novel, MianMian is by default no longer a rogue cultivator who travels the world: she is a rogue cultivator, sure, in that she does not belong to a sect, but she is a rogue cultivator with a home she clearly needs to inhabit during the day, what with the fact that they raise animals (we see little chicks in the background and there are piles of hay), and who night-hunts close enough to her home to be able to come back home in the morning. Moreover, without the context of meeting MianMian at the same glory-less night-hunt as Wangxian, it is harder to express the idea that MianMian is someone who chooses, like them, to do so for the common good and not for any prestige or rewards. MianMian is no longer another cultivator who goes ‘where the chaos is’ and, in terms of positive female representation, it is truly a shame. After all, the novel frames this as a positive and admirable trait which we see in our two main (male) protagonists: to have a woman follow, independently, the same path as them is meaningful.

Finally, instead of the scene closing with a regretful parting that hints at the sense of kinship between MianMian’s family and Wangxian, we get a truly (imo) patronizing ending. In CQL, their conversation is disrupted by threatening sounds. LWJ then instructs MianMian to stay in her home and protect Xiao MianMian while LWJ and WWX take care of things. So feminism..... such empowerment... To be honest, if CQL meant to change things and put MianMian in scenes where she wasn’t originally, why not have her go with Wangxian? Why not have her be there for the Mass Grave Hill Siege? Why not have her leave her daughter with her husband and let her be a badass? Instead, they conveniently check her out of the action after putting her directly in the middle of it. Instead of having MianMian be away from the sects and doing her own rogue cultivator thing as the events of the novels unfolded in WWX’s second life, explaining her absence, CQL reintroduces her just before an important moment but chooses to send her away once more, to stay home and protect her daughter, probably because they did not want to take the time and energy to figure out how and where she would fit into these scenes in which she had not be written in the novel. This is the kind of adaptational choice that makes me question why people consider CQL a more progressive work of fiction with regards to its treatment of female characters.

Final Musings: sometimes, less is more

Does an increase to the number of appearances of a character shape their impact on the audience? Or, conversely, does it dilute their meaning within and their impact on the text? There is not a simple answer to that question. Certainly, repetition is in itself a literary device, and many readers need salient and blunt reminders to get a message across, the likes of: the important characters are the ones you see the most often. Likewise, having a character feature more often in a work can provide the necessary breathing space to explore more and in more depth their psychology, motivations, past, actions, etc. However, the simple act of increasing the presence of a character does not inherently increase their impact on a work of fiction nor does it increase the nuances and depths of that character.

It is possible to adhere to a cynical or optimistic perspective regarding CQL’s decision to feature MDZS’ female characters more prominently. It is not hard to divine why the decision could have been made solely for the financial incentive of “pandering” to a female audience who dares to want to see themselves on screen. Conversely, one can imagine a production team animated by good intentions, who simply want to give more limelight to these female characters. Whether purely motivated by a profit-based logic or solely well-intentioned, or at a vector of both motives, it is clear that the CQL production did not increase the screen presence of MDZS’s female characters out of a desire to tell a stronger, more effective version of the original story they were working with. And that is why the urge to quantify good representation will always end up failing us in my opinion.

While it can be productive to consider trends, it does not give us a better media landscape or better individual works of fiction; it does not necessarily give us more impactful or better written female characters. This type of analysis urges us to see female characters as female first, without truly attempting to understand their purpose and treatment within the story. While MDZS has fewer female characters, these characters showcase different personalities and occupy different positions within the social world of the novel; they have arcs and thematic resonance and they cannot be simply replaced by a “sexy lamp” without disrupting the plot completely. They are also often given a surprising amount of depth, if readers are willing to pay attention to all that is found in the text and in the subtext.

For such a long novel, MDZS is able to remonstrate a certain amount of restraint wrt its storytelling. The timespan it wants to cover is expansive, its cast of characters not insignificant, and the story it aims to tell is ambitious. It is easy to imagine a meandering version of MDZS where many more characters are present, including many more female characters, or where the existing female characters get an extended presence within the narrative. But would those female characters have been more impactful? Would the story told have been a better one? The way the CQL production team chose to adapt MianMian hints that this is not a done conclusion.

(+ bonus MianMian meta)

#mdzs meta #mdzs #mianmian #luo qingyang #cql vs mdzs #mo dao zu shi #modaozushi #IT'S FINALLY DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!#this is my manifesto

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cartoonfangirl1218 · 3 years

Text

Two to Tango

Note: Wow, it’s been like a year since I’ve written any EoA, and of course, of course, my inspiration was Estoma. I always thought tango as a dance for them and so... I made a fic. Thanks to @halloweennut for her advice in the dance and the ending. The dance was modeled on this one so if any of the description seems awkward, this was what I was trying to describe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_L-v8zQf14. As ever, hope y’all enjoy!

Esteban discreetly wiped his brow as he bowed down to what felt like his hundredth dance partner this night.

It had been thrilling to dance again, away from the cold eyes of the tyrannical sorceress. Feel his muscle memory flip to automatic as he spun around. The music lifts and moves him in a joyous way that he never thought he would have again. He needed to enjoy the night while he could. Before he went back to the “civilized silence,” the gloomy, culture-less Avalor and all the other miseries he brought upon himself there.

But even he had to admit he was exhausted after being on his feet all night yet he didn’t want to stop. King Lars had assured him the tango would play by now, as per Esteban’s request. The tango was one of the most complex dances in Avalor. Intense, passionate, por sabor! It reminded him of his childhood, watching his parents sweep around their ballroom on date night and wondering how two bodies could move that way. It reminded him of his youth- the way the guitar strummed and the music reached a tantalizing hilt as he dipped his voluptuous partner, feeling the heat feed off each other, feeling like a man. He remembered the feeling of being fully in control, his every muscle limber and engaged in the moment. Knowing that no one else could execute the tango like he could. It was like nothing in the world. Not that he would get to fully show off his skill. After all the tango was dependent on how well the partners moved together and since they were going in a circle, each guest taking the partner to their left, who knows what kind of person he’d get. The tricky intricate dance could be dangerous with the wrong partner. Not in the physical sense but to one’s ego, immensely. For an inexperienced partner’s awkward mistakes could make them both look like fools. King Lars rang the bell that signaled a partner change. He bowed to the dashing blonde who he shared the Marswickian waltz with. He rolled back his shoulders as he stood in the outer circle as the ladies tittered, swirling the skirts and moved to their right. And the gods must have thought, like so many times in Esteban's life, that he had too much of a good thing because they saw it fit to strike him with a migraine in the form of Avalor's magister of trade.

It was clear that she hadn't been expecting him to be her partner either by the way Doña's jaw unattractively dropped open and her nose started to scrunch up in disgust. He would almost have been insulted but he knew that he was probably making a similar face as the migraine began to assault him.

No, actually, Esteban thought to himself, he did feel insulted by how annoyed she looked. After all, she was the one who had been causing trouble all week. No matter the treaty, no matter the discussion. She contradicted each and every word he said. They were supposed to be a united front for Avalor's interests at these foreign meetings to ensure that Avalor, and more importantly Shuriki, would be satisfied and prosperous in the years to come. But instead she argued with him, that his strategies were unachievable. His ideas were too broad or too narrow. Everything he did was wrong or stupid or foolish in some way. He didn't know what it was. Most foreign trips, they'd sweep the other kingdoms aside and meet their goals efficiently. But this week, she seemed intent on refuting everything he said out of spite. He'd been hoping not to see her until the weekend. Their last argument had been particularly harrowing as it went from trade disagreements to more personal insults. He knew what she thought of him. Hell, she condescendingly held her chin up high and rolled her eyes at him as she went on about how little he knew of the real world because he was pompous, pampered, spoiled royal. That she was so much better than him, that she worked so much harder. It was infuriating to be with someone so arrogant and self-important. After two days he wanted to exile her to Nueva Vista to work as... as he didn't know what, but just far from him. But the worst thing was he couldn't do that. She was actually good at her job! This week aside, when they did work together, she had good ideas. Not as well thought out and great as Esteban's but they were effective. She had a silver tongue persuasiveness that sometimes left him speechless. She was dedicated, she knew how to get things done. Esteban was convinced that it was pure antagonism on her part that she thrived in her job. She was accomplished so he couldn't use the excuse of incompetence to put her out of office and out of his life! No, he was stuck with her. And he was stuck with her in this tango too apparently. His temple throb as he saw her lips part. A sure sign that she would add to his pounding headache. So he went for the first strike. “Let’s not talk that way, this will go faster for both of us,” Esteban cut her off, “Besides talking tends to make inexperienced dancers, like you, mess up.” Doña, blessedly, shut her mouth yet her eyes lit up with the competitive fire that was present at all their interactions. Then the music began. The guitars rumbled with feeling. The singer's voice rose from deep in his gut to mourn his lost love in the fires of the revolution. Esteban straightened up and held his arms out more stiff than what was expected for a dance but gods, this irritation always made him tense. She lightly took his hands, looking at him down her nose as if he should be so honored to be partnered with her. He couldn't stop his eye roll which she responded with a sardonic snort. Esteban thought to spare himself the further pain by training his eyes on some distant point. But her face caught his eyes first. Her green orbs weren't steadfastly ignoring him as he was planning to do with her, in fact she was seizing up his form. For a moment, Esteban thought she was watching him because she didn't know the moves. Unsurprising since she grew up during Shuriki's ban on music and dance. A fact amply demonstrated when he did see her dance. A scarecrow had more rhythm than her. However, she didn't have the look of a novice, nervously watching where to put her feet. No, she was watching him. Daring... no. Esteban could see the anticipatory look, she was waiting for him to slip. The nerve of her! He met her eye for eye, to partake in a staring contest that proved he had no need to watch his feet in a tango. He was the dance expert here. He lips curved into that taunting smirk and Esteban smirked as well, knowing for all her arrogance that he was the superior one on the floor tonight.

The tango is primarily a walking dance and so at the first 8 count, they curved and stepped. He stepped forward, keeping his weight on the balls of his feet, right foot passing over his left handily as she did the reverse, gliding across the room into the center of the circle. The spotlight that always suited Esteban best.

He swung her into a back corte, sliding his leg up hers for a gancho then she did the gancho and they repeated the arrastre. He began to move backwards so they could go to the right but she slid her leg up to his hips, forcing him to arch back into a lunge and then began to move backwards herself. Forcing Esteban to follow her to the left of the room.

Just like in a regular workday, Doña was always trying to counter him. Esteban gritted his teeth in an effort to keep his face stoic. He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.

She'd pasada, "You're spoiled, egotistical, pretentious, pompous.." He'd agujas "You're disrespectful, self-centered, high and mighty.." He'd start a giro and she'd change it midway to a colgada. Insults going unspoken between them, but it was as if they were picking up the argument just from this afternoon. "Impossible, insufferable" "Deluded, ungrateful, repressed" Each doing what made the tango so difficult yet entrancing. Taking advantage of one move to add their personal flair, anticipating and following the other's moves in the push and pull that characterized the dance. And their personal rivalry for dominance. And just like their work life, they found each other underestimating the grace the other would pull off when faced with a surprise. The dedication and focus that was turned to this dance instead of their usual inventories. The fierce determination to do it right and not stop till it was done. He gently swung her right arm prompting a twirl so Esteban could get a break from their intense stare down and the feeling that he was going to go cross eyed. He took control and instead of returning to the regular forward facing position that the rest of the couples had taken, he turned her so her back was toward him. He pressed against her back, his cheek against her smooth hair, inhaling the flowery fragrance as they took a turn around the room. Esteban felt his body relax, his arms lost their stiffness and he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

Yes, he was in his element now, and with some satisfaction he knew Doña wasn't. His hand held against hers on her stomach, and he could feel the all too purposeful in-out breathing that one used to hide nerves.

When he spun her around so they faced each other again, he didn't see a hint of uncertainty. Her eyes were narrowed in vexation at what he pulled but she still held her nose in the air like a goddamn queen. Gods, why was he cursed with her in his life? But if she wanted to act like she'd been tango-ing for years, well then he was certainly going to take this dance to the next level. Esteban cracked his neck and when the singer reached his chorus, he slid his hand to the small of her back, being careful that he was properly positioned and had a firm grip on her other hand, he lifted her up. She wobbled a bit at the surprise horizontal lift but he kept his grip on her, slowly turning around in a circle, drawing several gasps from onlookers.

Doña was too stiff and for the barest of moments her eyes widened in fear, probably suspecting that he was going to drop her on her head in revenge for many annoyances.

But he had a reputation on the dance floor to maintain and it wouldn't do if she made him look bad. He mouthed "Drop one leg down and relax." The fear vanished and was replaced with a haughty sniff as she dropped her head down for another turn around the room. He brought her back to the ground for a moment before lifting her up in a classic tango lift, settling her against his hip, arms outstretched. Another turn and she slowly, almost tantalizing if it had been any other person, slid down against his chest back to her feet. Back at first position, back in the stare down that started it all. The music sped up and they went into a triple arrastre, another corte and he spun her so they could take another promenade around the room. This time she was prepared for when he pressed against her back and she surprised him with a gancho between his legs. A gancho that was too sensually close for comfort that he decided it would be safer if they faced forward from then on. He could practically hear her self-satisfied drawl, "Repressed! I'll show you repressed!" Not that he didn't return the favor by pressing his lips against her neck for a moment, just long enough for her to gasp before he twirled her around, smoothing his face as if nothing had happened. The music hit another swell and their third back corte was when Esteban felt the moment he had been wanting. He felt free. His past, his mistakes, his flaws all meant nothing. His mind mumbling depressing days ahead we’re not in sight. He was happy. And he couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face. The facial muscles that had gone unused so long. But it was a relief as well. That he was capable of feeling it again. That he had something to smile about. He wanted the moment to last forever. This was the moment where everything clicked, all his senses came to life, melded together in clear focus. Everything was heightened but he didn't notice his surroundings. He was aware only of the dance, the movement of their bodies, their music and the running heat.

He was also acutely aware of the dryness in his throat, the slight perspiration that formed a sheen across his forehead. He felt the smooth silk of Doña's dress, the way it slid under his palm as his left hand held the small of her back.

It suddenly hit him how close they were to each other. How he could feel the warmth of her body radiating through the slippery fabric. The softness of her hands in his. The firm yet determined grip on his shoulder. The way her curves rested against his chest. A fact that made his chest tighten and a flush rise up his neck, reminding himself not to break their staring contest and look down. There was nothing but air that could get past their proximity. His head was swimming with her jasmine perfume that permeated the air, filling his mind with its heady scent. He inhaled deeply, before swinging her arm, signalling that he was going to spin her into an arch turn again, giving him some space to breathe. She spun back toward him, her dress slit sliding up her long leg, another item he was determined not to notice, as he brought her into a low dip.

Esteban was focused on not looking down at the curves arching under him, staring resolutely on her face, eyes landing on the red of her bow shaped lips curved in a rare unguarded smile.

He hadn't noticed before but she was wearing red. A departure from her usual cool tones but it fitted her. It matched the lipstick that brought out her tan skin that glowed under the ballroom chandeliers, the dark raven locks that were slipping from her bun. The dark eyeshadow dusting her eyes that were closed for a moment before pinning him in her sights when he brought her back to standard position. Esteban, feeling drawn to the body warmth, stepped closer than before so their foreheads touched, giving him something to press against, to literally butt heads as they had been metaphorically doing all week. But it wasn't the same stubbornness that drove their fights. It was something altogether different. There was still tension in the air but it wasn't boiling anger. It felt like an undercurrent in his blood waiting to spring.

Doña was no longer smirking. Her mouth was set in a determined line, no longer concerned with showing him up but totally in the moment that they were sharing. Her glowing emerald eyes never left his as if she couldn't look away. And if Esteban was being honest with himself, he wasn't sure he could look away either.

Esteban didn't think, he just felt, taken away by the muscle memory and music. The connection and touch of their bodies against each other. His chest pounded and a coil grew tighter in his stomach. He was the music, rising and falling with the guitar, his tension ebbing and flowing with the notes. Arising with fire when he met Doña's eyes.

The music began to reach a crescendo and Esteban knew how to finish this masterful performance. It was a move he had done dozens of times with some of the most renowned dancers at Avalor's academy. One for the most advanced, and well, he had a feeling Doña was capable enough. Or at least, her pride wouldn't let her back out now.

He picked her up spinning and spinning, instinctively knowing the music was coming to its peak and setting her down. It was a dizzying move and Esteban could see from the corner of his eye that Doña was going to fall backwards.

And just like he'd done it a thousand times before, he turned and he gripped her arm into his. Locking gazes once more at the final note. The music ceased and there was a dull roar in Esteban’s ears. Not from the crowd clapping and shouting praise at their performance, he didn’t notice that. Esteban's view was consumed with their locked eyes, the only sound he heard was their breathless panting. Her breath tickled his cheeks from exertion, and heat and released tension. He felt exhausted yet light like he was floating on air. The whole effect was disconcerting and he knew he needed to leave now to get his bearings because if he looked any longer at her..... He broke the stare down first to slowly let go, noting how the crook of her arm fitted perfectly in his and forcing himself to shake that irrant thought away. Esteban backed away, surprised by how he suddenly felt weak-kneed, but he straightened, turned his back on her and left the floor. There was no need for talk, they left it all in their dance.

“You make an excellent couple on the dance floor. Eh, I see you don’t save the fierceness just for the bedroom.” King Juan Ramon nudged him. “Wha-what!” Esteban staggered back, nearly falling on the banquet floor after his flawless performance. “I said, I see you don’t save the fierceness just for the boardroom. You know, negotiations for treaties... Have you had too much wine?” King Ramon put a guiding hand on Esteban's shoulder, expertly leading him away from the crowd, and the sommeliers. “Ah yes, that must be it. Too much wine-I mishear things.” Yes, it was the wine Esteban assured himself. The wine was having an effect on his brain even though he knew that made no sense. He wouldn’t have been able to execute such an excellent tango intoxicated. But it was the only explanation he had for when Esteban heard “bedroom,” his mind immediately went to the image of her lips, remembering how she felt in his arms just moments ago and the desire to take her into his arms, feel the silk slide underneath his fingertips and close the imperceptible distance between them.

He had too much wine. It was the only reason he was thinking that way. He needed to rest. The tango took a lot out of him. He would have to remember for the next time to sit out during tangos. Doing it with the wrong person was dangerous. It made him notice too much. Think too much. Yet his thoughts lingered back to the tango that was more memorable than any he had done before.

#estoma #elena of avalor #esteban flores #doña paloma #my fanfic #my fanfiction #two to tango

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touchmycoat · 3 years

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qijiu bingqiu (bingliushen??) fix-it fic planning blabber

so i think i gotta keep it tight on SJ’s POV. Right before his death, he makes a deal with Xin Mo (who’s kind of a lone operator bc LBH too has to fight its power) to create this alternate timeline in exchange for his cultivation. Xin Mo can open up new dimensions no problem, and with SJ’s cultivation, it even manages to rewind the timeline. That’s not enough though—Xin Mo’s goal is only consumption, so it takes the deal but reveals there’s nothing that will actually change. The price SJ paid only opened the door.

But that’s fine, ‘cause SJ saw it coming. He also strikes another deal, this time with Death itself? Some sort of large cosmic force. The only thing he wants changed is Qi-ge’s death, and in exchange...the universe takes him. SJ will not get to exist in that second universe. SJ takes the deal.

And that’s the start of canon. SJ-as-SQQ can no longer exist. Instead, SY-as-SQQ is brought in. In order to stay cohered though, YQY’s memories and personality get a little glitched—he is physically incapable of recognizing all the ways SQQ is now not SJ. That’s why, despite SY-as-SQQ clearly being OOC, YQY never seems to see it.

Canon happens, now we’re in the post-canon world where bingqiu are married and settling down, but SQQ still kicks it with his buddies LQG and YQY every now and then. YQY still firmly believes SQQ is SJ, to SY’s increasing consternation. Is it just delusions and wishful thinking? The more YQY treats him as SJ though, the worse SY feels—he shouldn’t be stealing all this affection that doesn’t belong to him.

It all comes to head when SQQ overhears public opinion on YQY, how he’s perfect in everything but his crazy devotion to SQQ. SY thinks enough is enough. He can’t bring SJ back but he sure can tell YQY that his Xiao Jiu is dead, right? The System warns him he’ll be punished but that’s fine, it’s just not fair, SQQ can take another little mental horror trip down to BinggeLand if it means YQY can have some closure.

Except that’s not what happens. He gets YQY in private and says, “no, you don’t understand, Shen Jiu is dead.” He sees the recognition in YQY’s eyes, but he also sees the moment that recognition gets wiped. The sad smile that had fallen off of YQY’s face returns, eerily happy, as YQY says, “my apologies, Qingqiu-shidi, I must have spaced out just now, what did you say?”

Right before the System kicks him into another punishment phase, SY tries again: “Shen Jiu is dead!” He sees the recognition disappear once again from YQY’s eyes.

Inside the punishment world, Bingge has him again. “I’ve been searching for an answer to why the sniveling pathetic version of me gets you as his Shizun, and I think I figured it out.” For a moment, SY’s horrified by the possibility that Bingge has figured out his transmigrator status—if his punishment figures it out, would he be trapped inside the punishment forever? But instead, Bingge says, “Liu Qingge is still alive, meaning Shizun didn’t kill him in the spirit caves. Did his survival render such a dramatic change?” SQQ”s like “yup, yup that’s definitely it. We’re such good friends, he really changed my outlook on life, so I treated you better, mhm.”

“Shizun’s very clever then to save his own life this way. Xin Mo’s already told me about your little bargain.”

That’s how SY learns that SJ had made a deal. Holy shit, he’d thought it was just random phenomenon this whole time, but the original goods had made it all possible? He didn’t know whether to thank SJ or curse him.

But that can’t be the whole story—Xin Mo opened up a timeline, that doesn’t explain why SY is here. Bingge doesn’t know this part, but it sure feels like SJ made a second deal, paying with his life.

What would motivate the original goods to do all this? Sacrifice his hard-won cultivation and his entire existence in this last-ditch effort?

The memory of YQY’s glitching came to mind.

Holy shit. SY owns the two of them more than he’d ever thought.

After the punishment, SY goes back home. He’s with Binghe, and LBH can tell there’s something troubling him.

“Binghe, there’s something this husband wants to do, and I need your help to do it.”

“Shizun, anything.”

“...But there’s a risk it might hurt you. There’s a risk it might ruin everything. It might be straight-forward, but it also might not be. It’s safer for all of us—but especially you, Binghe—if I just let things be.”

“But it’s not something that Shizun can just let be, is it? Otherwise Shizun wouldn’t have said anything. Binghe is honored to help. Anything to ease Shizun’s mind.”

“...I promised I wouldn’t let you come to harm again, and I meant that. Whatever happens, remember that I am your husband, this is my call, and you must do whatever you need to do to protect yourself, okay? Swear to me, Binghe.”

SQQ begins figuring out how to use Xin Mo to go fetch SJ from the other timeline. He figures that if Bingge could exist in this dimension without destroying the space-time continuum, the same ought to be true for SJ. Only trouble is, he can only go get SJ after SJ’s made the deals, because otherwise it’s a paradox, and he wouldn’t exist.

So SQQ brings home limbless, post-torture!SJ. That’s where the fic starts.

By all accounts, the deals are squared: SJ no longer has cultivation and SJ died in SY’s dimension, so SY successfully exists. SJ and SY can exist in the same space totally fine, and SJ begins healing.

(Currently, the fic is completely from SJ’s POV, and very much about coming to terms with being saved and what the hell is going on in this better world.)

The trouble is, SY doesn’t know what’s going to happen when SJ meets YQY again. SJ very thoroughly declines the offer to go see YQY because part of SJ still believes this whole thing is a trick, and if he goes to see YQY he’ll ruin his end of the bargain and YQY will die again. For SY’s part, he’s afraid of SJ going to see YQY too for similar but opposite reasons—if SJ going to see YQY ruins SJ’s end of the bargain, then wouldn’t that mean SY can no longer exist? Would SY just disappear from this universe?

So we get ragtag group therapy fun times. SJ thinks this is probably all an illusion Xin Mo is tricking him with, so treats everything with scorn but also existential apathy. This actually works to his benefit because he’s not clinging to things as hard, and it’s easier for him to admit, for example, that he was definitely in the wrong for abusing LBH, and yeah he was being a spiteful bitch when he did not need to be.

SY tries to keep LBH away from SJ mostly, because c’mon, he’s not about to make his darling husband face his childhood abuser. He does explain the situation to LBH though, in the same terms that Bingge had (mis)understood it lmfao—that the act of saving LQG’s life had prompted an entire 180 on his personality so he came out of the spirit caves a better man. LBH’s jealous as fuck of course, but damn if that doesn’t explain some things. Given the opportunity to see his old and new Shizun side-by-side, LBH takes it, and really gets a moment to see how horribly he’s been treated by SQQ.

So it actually prompts some therapy between SY and LBH too. LBH used to figure that getting pushed into the Abyss was squared by SQQ sacrificing himself to save him. But ofc it turned out SQQ came back and kept on, in his perspective, trying to get away from him. Trying to leave him behind. SQQ’s tried to treat his abandonment issues by going “okay sorry about that I’ll never leave you behind again” but he’s never really explained it.

SJ’s presence gives Binghe the ability to ask the question again and gives SY an answer: shame and cowardice. They’re able to put SJ’s mistreatment of Binghe right in front of them and SY-as-SQQ gets to explain how much it hurt to look back on that bit of their past, but also how much he feared LBH's retaliation. LBH is a little hurt, but also he remembers how he’d raped SQQ under Xin Mo’s control and, looking at what’s left of SJ now, he sees his own darkest possibilities. He really did destroy the man he loves now in another timeline. That helps him contextualize SY’s fears and why SY chose to push him off the cliff.

LQG crashlands into the middle of this whole party as is his wont. He gets a little fix-it too maybe. SY very staunchly repeats the reason for his personality swap—saving LQG in that cave made him a Better Person™. Meeting the original goods again, LQG is forced to believe it. Or like, it doesn’t really matter to him either way, but now he really does see pre-cave SQQ and post-cave SQQ as two completely different people.

SJ though, has to swallow this really weird pill. He remembers trying to save LQG inside the cave but failing, and then getting blamed for LQG’s death. If he’d succeeded, he and LQG would’ve become...this close?? A life debt between them would’ve changed his outlook on life so much???

Well whatever. Now that he’s put down all his old posturing, he more readily gives his reasons for why LQG gets on his nerves so much: the insufferable confidence (arrogant prick), the skills to back it up (privileged bastard), and a flawless cultivator family with all the money and the training and the pedigree. (Meanwhile SY’s like “oh shit that’s me too hahahahah awkward, good thing he still thinks i’m him so he doesn’t just murder me immediately.)

LQG’s a little weirded out too. SY-as-SQQ is his favorite person in the world, so it’s hard to get angry at SJ-as-SQQ since they’re “the same person.” He’s more willing to talk all this out with SJ and brings up all their old beef on his side too: high-handed snootiness coupled with underhanded dick moves, also the whole sleeping-with-prostitutes thing hurting Cang Qiong’s reputation. Ofc they’re snapping at each other this whole time. “There’s no reason for you to do all that!”

SY intervenes if needed. “Actually there is.” Considering the fact that SJ gets indicted for so many things that actually turn out to be not his fault, SY figures he’ll just get it out there. “Remember Qiu Haitang’s accusations against me? I grew up a slave in that household. I grew up believing it was kill or be killed—it doesn’t make sabotaging others right, but...that’s why the Spirit Caves made such an impression on me. I learned it wasn’t just kill or be killed, I can also save people. It opened my eyes to everything I already had, and everything I should be grateful for.”

This is for both LQG and SJ. And it works, to some degree. SJ knows he managed to claw to the top of privilege, but he still felt horribly insecure there. That’s because, he realizes, he never got the thing that would actually grant him security. It's not power or money or reputation—it’s Qi-ge. Holy hell he misses Qi-ge. In anger and betrayal, he’d pushed YQY continuously out of his life, but when faced with certain death the only regret he actually had was bringing Qi-ge down with him. YQY was meant to have survived, and in this world, he did.

So now, after all that, SJ really, really wants to go see his Qi-ge. It’s nice to have survived (and gotten part of his power back—at the very beginning, SY gives one of SQQ’s eyes to SJ as a bit of his golden core in order to save SJ’s life), but it’s so damn hard to live on in this world knowing YQY is only so far away, still very deeply attached to Xiao Jiu.

They try to Cyrano it at first. SY-as-SQQ goes to YQY with SJ’s voice in his ear, telling SY how to treat YQY as him. YQY is so fucking touched and hopeful, and SY is damn uncomfortable. He goes running back to SJ and says it’s not going to work—it’s not going to work because he’s no longer Qi-ge’s Xiao Jiu. He’s Luo Binghe’s husband, okay? He can’t go back to YQY as SJ.

SJ’s fucking furious at first (what kind of shitty variation of himself saves LQG’s life and then falls out of love with Qi-ge???? bitch?????) but what can he do? LQG tells them YQY’s on his way here and SJ hides for now. They still don’t know what will happen if SJ meets YQY, so SY continues to front as SJ for now.

But during this conversation, something changes. Maybe YQY says something, but SJ realizes he’s actually a little willing to take this chance. If Qi-ge does disappear—easy, he’d just kill himself right after. He’d already experienced Qi-ge’s death twice before, and at least this time, he can follow, knowing he’s at least reconciled with Qi-ge through SY.

And if he disappears on his own, then at least he knows there’s a world in which Qi-ge does not die horribly. That’s enough for him.

That, however, leaves the very last possibility—that SY will disappear. At this point both LQG and LBH have figured this out, and are very, very reluctant to let this be the scenario. They don’t see it as two people, they see it as their version of SQQ vs. YQY’s version of SQQ.

So there’s a little tension, but in the end, SY gets the final choice. As soon as he learns SJ is willing to go see YQY, he chooses that path. He simply owes qijiu too much to deny them the possibility of reconciliation. So despite knowing he might disappear from Binghe and LQG’s life, he makes it happen.

(They should get a very painful goodbye scene.)

SY goes out to explain things. “Zhangmen-shixiong may have noticed my change since my qi deviation and the spirit caves.” “I’m happy Xiao Jiu has a brighter outlook on life.” “Yes, but I think Qi-ge, of all people, might actually prefer how I was before, right?” “If Xiao Jiu’s happy, I’m happy.” “Yes, but Shen Jiu wants you. Is that alright?” “—of course. I want Xiao Jiu too—”

SJ comes out. Everyone holds their breath.

Scene cut.

It’s said that Cang Qiong’s Sect Leader Yue Qingyuan disappeared suddenly one afternoon...

But jk, YQY just ran away with SJ, they’re recuperating in the mountains and everybody’s fine and it’s a happy ending.

#...nice #that's the whole fic planned then #sv fix-it

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Ducktales: The Treasure of the Lost Lamp Movie Reviewcap! (Patreon Stretch Goal)

Hello all you happy people! And we have a special review today for two reasons. The first is that this is my second patreon stretch goal review, having hit the 15 dollar goal back in march thanks to my wonderful friend Emma, the same patreon whose responsible for the Green Eggs and Ham Reviews, who helped me hit the 15 dollar goal. As a result you fine people are getting three movie reviews each based on a Disney Afternoon Movie with Treasure of the Lost Lamp today, a goofy movie at the end of the motnh for a weeklong tribute to my favorite dogmandadguy. Extremley was going to be part of it but the length of this review convinced me otherwise, but I will be doing it this summer so keep an ear out. If you want to help me hit my next stretch goals do yourselve a favor and zip on over to my patreon YOU CAN FIND MY PATREON HERE. My next stretch goal at “OH Look 20 Dollars” would give everyone patreon and not, a monthly review of Darkwing Duck as decided by my patrons, reviews of BOTH season 2 mini series from Ducktales 87, introducing Fenton to the world and blighting it with Bubba before the 2017 series fixed him, and as a brucey bonus added last month a review of Danny Phantom the Ultimate Enemy. And if that wasn’t enough if you help me get to the goal after that at 25 unlocks another trilogy of disney film reviews, this time for the proud family and recess movie and the best kim possible movie, and dcom period, so the drama as well as Bryan Lee O’ Malley’s two stand alone graphic novels, lost at sea and seconds for you Scottaholics in the audience.

The other reason now the shilling’s done. is that the plan WAS to review this back to back with Treasure of The Found Lamp, to the point the orginal review had a whole thing about that, why it was delayed etc... but now that review’s been scrapped all together as something sudden and wonderful happened. After just kinda giving up someone came through with a translation of Della’s first apperance so presumibly i’ll be doing that as part of the build up to mother’s day, and since I still want ot do maternal instincts too, and already had to let the Floyd Gottfredson birthday special slide away as well... it had to go as I want to leave the only open space on the schedule for the lovely person who found the story for me. But this review is still done, i’m very proud of it so join me under the cut won’t you?

Behind The Scenes: Before I get into it i’d just like to note this article from SyFy Wire. It , along with articles I found via wikipedia citations, was an invaluable resource.

The film was an experiment: It was an experiment to see if one of their tv properties could bring in theatrical money, to see if a movie made on a cheaper budget and still rake in decent money, to see if a film could be made being outsourced to several diffrent places, and to see what one of those places, their recently aquiried french stuido, could handle this kind of work.

The film, if succesful would be the first of Disney’s MovieToons line, a series of films based on their shows. As you can tell by the fact only this movie and Goof Troop happened and the Movie Toons label wasn’t applied to that one it very much failed. While the film was warmly recevied by people who liked the show general audiences didn’t turn out for it. As a result the MovieToons label was scrapped, future projects with it were canceled.. but the stellar work put in by the french stuidio lead to it perserviering for several more decades and lead to them working on the Goofy Movie, which we’ll get to later this month but needless to say was a MUCH bigger hit with a much bigger budget.

As for why the film failed... I have two theories. THe first is that parents were stupid back then and didn’t want to pay to see something on the big screen they could see on tv’s. This is a stupid mentality to me as generally a movie of a tv show puts in a ton of extra effort and usually goes bigger and dosen’t go home. It’s a likely theory given most liscened films of the era didn’t do quite well, with all three hasbro films tanking. And look I get Transformers the Movie is cheesy and killed a lot of people’s childhood toys, but damn if it ain’t aweosme.. and also something I need to cover at some point. Thankfully this died out by later in the 90′s with Rugrats getting a hugely succesful if flawed film, a better sequel and a third one that was also a crossover with the wild thornberries.

And even now in 2020 we’re getting the Loud House and Rise of the TMNT movies sometimes this summer, we were SUPPOSED to have gotten the bobs burgers movie this summer but arne’t because Disney is being a dick about it.

And we got a phineas and ferb movie last year. With this trend hopefully thsi means we’ll get a Ducktales 2017 movie at some point since season 4 left a huge sequel hook laying right there to grab for a feature film. One final note: The film was conceptually thought up as a 5 part serial like “Treasure of the Golden Suns”, “Catch as Cash Can”, “SuperDucktales” and “Time is Money, something that DOES show as the movie weirdly has act breaks. In a feature film. Yup.

The Guest Cast:

I won’t go into the full cast since I’ve sung Alan Young and Russi Taylor’s praises PLENTY on this blog before, and I plan to go into Beakly and Launchpad’s actors when they show up in the pilot movie. But i’d be remiss if i didn’t talk about our three guest actors for our three new parts.

First up is Merlock voiced by legend and if I had a hall of fame, hall of famer Christopher Lloyd.. I need to get me one of those. Lloyd is of course known for playing Doc Brown in back to the future but has done countless other films, voicework, and other good stuff. Among his MASSIVE filmography includes The Back to the Future Trilogy (Already mentioned it but it bears repeating), Star Trek III, Who Framed Roger Rabbit as the pants destroyingly terrifying Judge Doom, The Addams Family duology as fester, a role rip torn would ironcially play for the animated series made to captalize on said movie, Hey Arnold! The Movie, The Oogieloves in The Big Ballon Adventure (Look everybody needs money sometimes okay?), and Art of the Deal: The Movie, which was not, thankfully an ego filating nightmare made by trump himself but a film made by funny or die parodying his terrible book and having Llloyd return as Doc Brown. TV Wise he’s known for Taxi, Back to the Future the Animated Series, Cyberchase and he most recently popped up on Big City Greens. How I missed that ep I.. do know as I haven’t watched season 2. Gonna fix that later this month. Lloyd is utterly awesome, a great guy and thankfully still alive at the time of this writing, so I was happy to have him here.

Less familiar to me but still known is Rip Taylor, a comedian known for his flamboyant unique way of speech and his marvelous mustache. He showed up in things occasionally and always seemed like the nicest guy and his passing in late 2019 truly is sad. He does a terrific job here but more on that in a moment.

Finally we have Richard Libertini, a comedian I never really saw in anything besides this who according to IMDB was most famous for his ablility to do a foreign accent. I REALLY hope all of them aren’t as horribly racist as this one. We’ll.. get to that in a sec as it’s time for the plot!

A Treasure Uncovered:

We open our film gorgeously. The animation is great in the film, having some rough edges I chalk up to the film’s hectic production, the studio being new at working at disney properties, and the film not being meant for HD. That being said a few rough spots here and there aside.. the film looks ungodly gorgeous. Like most theatrical films based on a cartoon it takes an already great style and makes it look great. It feels like a more fluid evolution of the cartoons look and it’s a shame we didn’t get more movies in this style for both this show and others, ESPECIALLY Darkwing Duck. Can you imagine a Darkwing Duck movie with this lush animation? Hopefully we’ll get one eventually.

So our heroes are going to somewhere in the Middle East. That’s.. that’s all wikipedia gives me and all the film gives me. As usual Scrooge is after treasure in this case the Treasure of Collie Baba, the greatest thief there ever was based obviously off Ali Baba from 1001 nights and that one Beastie Boys song.

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It’s here we find the WORST thing about the film, the thing that makes this a hard one to watch depsite otherwise being pretty good, and that makes my skin crawl knowing i’m a white man and a BUNCH of white guys, Ducktales series creator who did the voice casting for this character, the writers who wrote him, the direector disney them fucking selves who thought this was okay.

The film has some horrible steroytping. It starts with a bunch of backgorund guys surronding Scrooge, with crooked teeth and steotypical voices. This on it’s own is odious.

It somehow gets worse. Then we meet one of our antagonists. We meet Dijon.

This Fucking Guy

Djon is horribly offensive reminding me of other such luminaries in being ungodly offensive yet somehow getting put to film as Jar Jar Binks (With all respeect to his poor actor Ahmed Best, this is not his fault), Rob Schinder as a Sterotypically asian preist, Skids and Mudflap, Rob Schinder as a sterotypically mexican bandit, The Whitewashed cast of The Last Airbender, and Rob Schinder as a stereotypically asian preist. What i’m saying is Djon is an AWFUL, horribly offensive character.. and that Rob Schinder should be shot up into space, not to watch cheesy movies, he’s not funny enough for that, but instead to be sent to a satlitie that’s liveable, but also filled to the brim with spring loaded boxing gloves. Just tons of boxing gloves that feel like getting punched by a heavewight boxer all hidden... they could hit his legs, his face, his nuts, his face and his nuts, the point is he’s in constnat pain unless he moves carefully.

And lest you think i’m exaggerating for starters this is his design.

It just screams “vaugely but sterotpyically middle eastern” along with cowardly. The fact he’s also a literal rat is just the icing on the cake made of broken glass, shrapnel and broken DVD’s of Transformers; Revenge of the Fallen. They say if you eat a reveng eof the fallen dvd John Tutoro appears at the foot of your bed and watches you while you sleep.. and by they I mean me. It was a bad bet. I got rid of him with some insese and a bribe of five dollars.

Oh but that’s just design.. when he talks it’s MUCH worse. His voice is like if they took Apu from the simpsons and said “This but MORE offensive”, and his perosnality is WORSE. He’s a thief.. and not in the endearing loveable rogue way but he’s a pick pocket and a running “Gag’ is that he’ll often grab eveyrthing within reahc. As the deisgn shows he’s a coward running at every opportunity. Oh and to top it all off he’s the willing servant of the white coded, given all ducks in this series are white coded and voiced bby white actors, big bad. And the actor is naturally VERY white to make this cocktail of offensivness so complete that if Disney ever got rid of this film I GUARANTEE the republcian party would be running in with accusations of cancel culture gone amok and never shutting up about this like they did the muppets. Which for the record THEY DIDN’T CANCEL THEM, YOUR POINT IS ILLEGITMATE, THEY JUST WANTED TO BE SENSTIVE YOU GHOULS.

I do have a reason for bringing up Disney’s content warnings... most damming of all given just how DEEPLY uncomfortbale this character is.. there isn’t one for this movie. I double checked: There isn’t even wanring notes on the website. It’s just.. on there. And given just how ghastly a sterotype Djon is.. that’s not right. Seriously they DID put them on certain episodes of the show, theyk now this sort of thing is wrong and they done wrong.. but for NO reason they haven’t done so for a film released 31 years ago. Around the same time as the series and just offensive as that show at it’s worst if not more so. This is flatly inexcusable.. par for the course for Disney’s incompetence but still horribly furstrating, disgusting and shameful.. which has been the theme of the last three days really. I expect better because when it comes to putting that warning label on this stuff, they usually are better. First the scheduling mixup and now this. You already do a handful of things wrong Disney why add this to the list?!

It’s just draining not only to run into another Disney Fuckup after a weekend of dealing with one of their worst in recent memory, but just to watch Djon. To see this horrible caractrure saunter onto the screen and go on with his harmful schtick, to see that THIS is what Ducktales 87 reduced non white people to more often than not. It’s remarkable just how throughly and awesomely Frank and Matt completely and totally reversed this. Instead of horrible sterotypes in the reboot, we got TONS of loveable people of color, an endearing latino hero, a smart african american buisness woman who takes no shit but is still a consumate professional, and an egyptian HERO with an intresting story and a strong moral code instead of this horrible reminder that racisim in media was such an afterthought not ONE person brought this up during the scyfy wire stuff or in any inteview i’ve seen. No one cared. Djon was POPULAR enough that he got three episode sin the series. THREE FUCKING EPISODES. This film could be GOOD.. but it’s just so bogged down EVERY FUCKING TIME this artists interpreitation of what Tucker Carlson sees when he looks at a middle eastern person I had to pause to compose myself and had to take a break writing this review to avoid tyiping this in all caps and using the phrase YOU RACIST MOTHERFUCKERS every other sentence. And again i’m white, I get this is second hand offensiveness.. I do... but it dosen’t mean I can’t be offended other white people were so callous about other cultures behaviors this happened.

And what makes me feel worse.. is that I just sorta... never thought about white people voicing non white characters. Things like this I noticed sure, I realize now part of the reason I didn’t like this movie the first time I saw it was this alex jones version of a looney tune, but I do feel shame for not noticing or caring long before this. Sure I loved it when a character of color got played by a person of color.. but I didn’t realize just how deep that problem was and how LONG it went on for before the outcry post george floyd and the call to action lead to most shows still going course correcting. It’s why stuff like this extra botehrs me: because THIS was just as okay at the time. No one blinked twice about this and odds are the creators involved still haven’t. And that.. that’s just terrible and it hurts to think about and I still have most of the movie to go.

The Pyramid of Peril:

So we do get a gorgeous unvewling scene of a box Scrooge found out about from Collie Baba’s horde that should lead them to the treasure. This scene reminds me of Indina Jones.. and I bring this up because the poster was specifically made to mimick an indinia jones poster, to the point of getting drew struzan to do it. THe creator of Ducktales objected..l but I do not get WHY. While I”m not sure if he had yet, Speilberg flat out admits the Carl Barks comics were an inspiration for Indina Jones, with the iconic bolder chase coming from a similar scene in one of Barks Stories. Gotta cover that too. So yeah I don’t get not wanting an indina jones style poster when both were inspiried by the same work and it’s just simple logic and it looks so neat. Thank you.

Scrooge finds seemingly just clothes.. and a map. Jeff Dunham’s Most Racist Puppet reports to his master, Merlock. Merlock is a.. meh villian. Christopher Lloyd does try.. but Lock is your standard evil overlord wants to take over the world type. He dosen’t have much depth, or personality and only his style saves him from dragging the film down along with Dana Carvey’s most racist disguise in master of disguise. He does have a deent shape shifting gimick and being played by Christopher Lloyd means he’s acted TREMENDOUSLY. Alan Young was apparently in awe watching him work and that’s wonderful to hear. The guy did his best. Weirdly Merlock would show up in tons of other works, mostly video games.. but even weirder he NEVER showed up in ducktales 2017. Both Djon and Gene would, Djon thankfully renamed we’ll get to all of that tommorow thank god. I need it after this. But Frank has outright said they didn’t use Merlock because there simply wasn’t anything they could do with him they couldn’t dow ith magica. My likely guess is the might of found a way to revamp him EVENTUALLY, it’s not like radical revamps weren’t there thing come on, they just had way more stories with Magica and didnd’t get around to it before the show was canceled. Just make him some sort of evil god or something. it’s what I might do. There’s a lot of angles with him. Though I would’ve still gotten christopher lloyd back. I mean most of the recasting is good but he’s still alive and deserved a better shot at things.

So Merlock sends Djonn to go with scrooge as his guide to find the treasure, as there’s something of imense power within it. And I gotta ask WHY does Merlock need a minon. No really. This isn’t a situation like reboot magica where he’s trapped in another realm. He can shapeshift into any animal. We only see him use falcon, rat, cockroach and bear but theoritically he can become anything and bear alone is still a LOT. Why does he need this sterotype even other sterytopes ar eashamed of? The film dosen’t NEED Djonn. Just let Christopher Lloyd monologue and leave this post 911 propogranda cartoon at home.

So our heroes nad rejected jar jar prototype head into the desert, and seemingly find nothing before finding a small pyramid all while Merlock follows desecretley as a mighty hawk.

Scrooge makes the boys and Djon dig... because they clearly forgot the “work hard” part of his ethos.

Our heroes unveil the pyramid... and while Merlock SAYS he searched the desert and I get it’s hard to see thourgh all of that.. the dude is immortal, had decades to search and had Mickey Rooney there on standby to force him to go comb the desert. I have an artist rendering of that hang on

So our heroes enter the pyramid and it goes.. really how you’d expect: there’s a bunch of traps our brave explorers have to pass, the boys minintpret a juinor woodchuck saying about loosing your marbles to mean using the ones they actually have which geninely comes in handy as they trip the traps and Rob SChinder as a carrot stumbles into one. Also launchpad is wearing a hawaiin shirt and shades. This has no baring on the plot, but it does bring the movie up a notch in my book and I question why the reboot never used this outfit. Then again they also never properly used Donald’s Quack Pack Outfit (Which bad show or not, is objectively awesome), or his Quack Shot Indiana Jones Riff Outfit, so it’s not like there isn’t a presdecnt for not giving a character a cool costume change from a previous medium. I really should do a top 12 missed opportunities list for the 2017 cartoon.. the ideas for stuff are really piling up.

OUr heroes eventually find the treasure which has insidiously clever security the more I think about it: at first I thought it had none, just a pit with some... scorpions? I mean their supposed to be but they look like they crawled out of the same stygian hole in the sky Doofus crawled out of. And if your asking me “wait which Doofus” the answer is both. Both these abominations crawled out of a stygian hole in the sky.

But the treasure is on a platform surrounded by scoprions with the only way out being the trap filled way they came in. Unless someone comes in with a full team and a bunch of lootin sacks, they aren’t getting out with EVERYTHING. They can steal SOME of the treasure but there’s no way to get any signifigant portion... and the team thing itself is an issue, something Collie defintely predicted being a thief himself: while some thieves can work well as a team, hence why we have four oceans movies 3/4 damn good, and for the record 12 is the bad one, 8 is how you do a soft reboot and a female led reboot right, a good chunk of professional crooks will turn on each other or try and swinldle... and tha’ts dangerous in a trap filled temple but hey some criminals ain’t so smart. If they all were Rudy Gulliani wouldn’t have two razzies for preparing to pull his pants down, and have waved his phone around on tv like a dare for future adminstrations to arrest the shit out of him would he?

But Scrooge has his family so they get loading. But not before Webby finds the lamp. Not knowing about it Scrooge has no intrest in it, but Webby does. We also get a really simple but hilarious gag where SCrooge dickers over the idea for a second.. before Webby picks up a Jeweled tiara to possibly take instead. The best gags to me are often the ones that just let the character’s perosnalities take the lead and bounce off each other. It’s why when I reviewed the four lilo and stitch crossovers recently I harped on character interaction as their biggest weakness: it’s what MAKES a good work for me. It’s why my faviorite comics and shows often follow a loveable group of disfunctional misfits. I like a group of big personalities who despite in theory should NOT be able to work making it work anyway. And it’s honeslty what’s made Scrooge last so long: Scrooge on his OWN is awesome.. but iwth the boys, donald, and in the case of this series and the reivival Webby and Launchpad, with people to bounce off of who he contrasts heavily with, from Launchapd’s buffonery to Webby’s inehrent sweetness in both versions, to the boys genuine honesty and sense of adventure.... it makes him truly stand out. He’s a great character on his own, don’t get me wrong.. but it’s the people around him that give him chances to show WHY. A good character on it’s own is fine and dandy.. a good character with other good characters around them is where it gets truly special.

Merlock naturally bursts in and in a VERY Black Heron move needlesly outs what micheal bay sees when he closes his eyes as a bad guy... no really he grabs the guy with his talons as he captures the treasure and reveals he’s a bad guy. I don’t even get why keep Djonn alive. He’s done all Merlock possibly could’ve needed and Merlock is ruthless... this makes no sense and only happens because they need Djonn for later in the plot.

Our heroes barely escape, rafting out on the platform itself in a thrilling sequence.. but it’s the one right after that catches my attention. Scrooge utterly defeated, having searched for this treasure for forty years and unresponsive to everyone else. The anmation, coupled with the incomprable Alan young’s acting makes this the highlight of the film for me. Beneath the armor of wealth and skill.. is only a poor old man who just lost something he’s been chasing after most of his life. Scrooge tries his hardest not to be vunerable and both shows and the original comics all use that so when he truly is devistated like this, and i’ts belivible since this treasure is a personal goal of his and as someone who has had things that they seek out specifically, loosing them always hurts. It hurts to ALMOST reach a goal only to have it crumble out under you

But while this alone is good.. what’s next makes it great. Webby sweetly offers up the lamp. Scrooge turns it down, and her genuine gesture reinvgorates him and reminds us of who he is “I’ll find it if it takes another 40 years”> Scrooge may be bitter, mean and selfish a lot of the time.. but deep down, he’s a good man and one who will not give up, and a momentary setback can only stop him so long as long as he has his family to remind him of who he truly is.. and what’s truly important. It’s genuinely sweet and to me is also a reminder of why 87 Webby is a good character: Shes’ not perfect, her main personality trait is often Girl Sterotype”.. but she’s a genuinely sweet small child with a huge heart. It’s telling that while 17′ Webby is almost completely diffren,t and far better, that heart remains her biggest strength. Sure her reboot self could kill a man nad no one would ever find the body, but it’s her heart and empathy that makes that possible and makes her Webby. That inherent loving nature is what makes Webby webby wether she’s a toddler having a tea party or a tween getting ready to intergoate a guy with a meat tenderizer while saying ‘Cute girl stuff”.

Gene Genie Let’s Himself Go:

It’s a few days later and this is the point where it REALLY becomes obvious this was written as a bunch of episodes. Though to the film’s credit while it does ake this feel like a compliation movie as a result... it dosen’t hamper the film’s quality, condiment from Rush Limbaghs’ hot dog stand does that just fine, but once you notice it it’s impossible to unotice it. Weirdly though it seems chunked up into four episodes rather than the usual five, likely cutting down an episode, though I can’t see where they cut out material frankly if they did and i’ts just as likely they woudl’ve had to make one to fill in the space.

So Scrooge is in a mood, being grumpy with his secretary Mrs. Featherly, quackfaster in all but name, and having to be sent home. So while Duckworth goes to fetch him Webby polishes her treasure at long last readying for a tea party, something the boys roundly reject because their sexist little twits and swo were the writers or executies who assumed all little boys act the same. It’s easily my biggest pet peeve with the series as a whole: anytime this crops up with the boys it turns them into the worst dicks imaginable. It’s telling this, being mean about her wantin ga tea party with her surrogate brothersi s TAME. Normally they’ll say she can’t do things because she’s a girl or mock her hobies outright instead of just be mildly dickish. And while she dosen’t look much younger Webby is VERY CLEARLY, in this series anyway, supposed to be say 5 or 6 to the boys 8-10. 7 at most. SHe’s a small child and while it is realistic for older kids to bully younger ones, it’s not fun to watch. It’s why I get annoyed at all the big sibling bully characters.. some work, but most aren’t fun to watch because there’s nothing funny or intresting about it. It’s the same deal here.

Thankfully that quickly goes away as the lamp moves when Webby rubs it and does so again to prove it did move. Huey finishes it and we’re introduced to Gene, the best part of the film. Gene is a Genie and he takes a second to dart around before messing with the appliances in the kitchen, as he was last around during the time 1001 Nights Came About. Cleverly though, and so we thankfully don’t have 80 dozen fishout of water jokes that have already been done before. As you can probably guess i’m not a huge fan of time travel fish out of water stuff. Now from another dimensoin or planet, i’m on board with with Star Vs, Steven Universe and Sym-Bionic Titan being great examples of this, as is the comic resident alien. (Despite having the wonderous Alan Tuduk the show sounds way more mean spirited and misses the entire point of the comic as given by the author in the credits, i.e. that the alien is supposed to NOT be a threat and just be gently waiting for a ride) The inverse is also good with Amphbia and owl house, taking a human and plopping them into our world. But time travel stuff just usually runs the same beats of “look at the shiny thing” and what not. The only time i’ve sene something SIMILAR work is with thor where their society is SIMILAR to vikings time but still it’s own thing.. it also gave us a classic gag in..

So yeah i’m glad they dropped this and instead had a clever way around it: Gene reads the encylopedia at the mansion. Granted it’s Scrooge so I don’t know how current it is and given this came out in 1990 thus HOW racist it is. It’s not a questoin of IF it was, but how much.

But having caught up the kids confront him with the fact he has to grant wishes. This lamp runs on what I now realize are Aladdin rules: Whoever currently holds the Lamp is the Genie’s master, they only get three wishes, and that dosen’t reset if it changes hands. The only big diffrence from the usual is Gene dosen’t have to TELL them about the wishes like Genie did, and Gene very begrudginly agrees to it. He also seem’s phsyically pained when doing so.

So since all 12 know about him, each of the kids gets a wish though it seems unfair with HDL. Their one person, they shoudln’t get 9 wishes just because their brain is spread out over three bodies.

This film continues the weird simliarties to Aladdin by attaching rules though they instead come up as a result of our heroes talking rather than the Genie just flat out tleling them: both share the “you can’t wish for more wishes” thing, a common rule in these stories and usually only broken nowadays as a clever twist as the rule is SO common place, not having it is a twist. But it is there for a reason: to limit the sheer power of a reality warping wish. The wishes can also only go so far. In a nice line, when Huey, Dewey or Louie suggests wishing for peace one earth, Gene says “No pipe dreams’ He can’t bend people or reality on THAT scale. He can bend reality as we find out, but it’s smaller scales like turning someone’s possesions over ot someone else, warping the bin into a castle, or bringing inanitamte objects to limited life. Still HUGE feats worth of a genie, so Gene’s power isn’t so nerfed it’s unusuable, but it does explain why his evil pervious ownder Merlock, more ont hat in a bit too, didn’t just wish to have eternal dominon over the earth or something. Gene can do just about anything but he can’t change the world on a fundemental level.

And I do LIKE having rules in wished based stories like this, I chalk it up to growing up with Fairly Odd Parents... though they eventually went too far in the oppsoitie direction, pulling rules out of their ass to suit the episode, instead of simply having some very standard, very understandable rules that still pose challenges but don’t outright cheat so the episode can happen.

So Webby does her first wish.. and wishes for a Baby Elephant, something Gene is against as he prefers they keep the wishes small: otherwise he gets found out, and the fight over him begins. So one of the boys wishes him away. Or Webby does. Point is it’s gone though not before Beakly sees it and Scrooge smells something is up. Our heroes try to hide gene, but gene thankfully simply dresses up like a modern kid and thus is able to pass as a friend of there staying for the night.

So with the rules established and what not the kids find a clever solution: they simply go a ways away from the mansion into the woods, far enough from town to avoid any suspcion, and same iwth the mansion and just wish for all kinds of stuff: a giant bunch of ice cream toys, standard kid wish fufillment but it’s nice... in part because the kids treat Gene like one of them. Wihle they STARTED asking him about the wishes, this starts the bonding process. Soon he will be part of the hive mind.. SOON.

Until then though after using another wish to make scrooge not mad at them for coming home late and missing dinner, that night we find out Gene’s backstory.... and it’s an utter tearjerker. As it turns out Merlock wants him back because he’s Gene’s former master and as you’d guess.. it was NOT a happy existnace, used contstnatly to do horrible things with no power to stop himself. Pompeii and Atlantis were both directly Merlock’s fault and it was only Collie Baba stealing the lamp that put an end to his hell. He also answers the two obvious questions botht he audeiince and the boys have: How the hell is Merlock still alive and shoudln’t he be out of wishes then? The first is simple. Unlike pretty much every DBZ Villian whose WANTED to do so, Merlock wished for immortality first chance he got, taking the Zamasu route instead and thus leaving him free.

As for the wishes thing it turns out his amulet, in adition to shapeshifting, also gives him extra wishes becuase fuck it.

But the boys sweetly offer to protect him.

The next day, Apu’s Cousin let’s Merlock know the maps in the mansion and Merlock has him help sneak in with Merlock taking rat form. This backfires as Mrs. Beakley notices the form and chases after him with a broom

Meanwhile Webby has her tea party with Gene after he and the boys played cops and robbers earlier, and he’s bored.. though nicely not because it’s a girly thing, but because the stuffed animals aren’t alive and she naively has him fix that. This leads to

Which sadly is jsut scrooge vs a duck toy but admit it, you want that movie for Disney Plus yesterday. Call Charles Band Disney. CALL CHARLES BAND!

Whelp Scrooge Still Sucks:

Scrooge takes for a turn for the obnoxious in the next part, but i’ts fine by me as it’s part of the plot. Naturally this reinactment of Cult of Chucky has lead to Scrooge finding out about the Genie. To his credit, Scrooge is tactical about his wishes. As said by the Duck himself “I could wish for a diamond, no the world’s biggest dimaond, no ten world’s biggest diamond, no a diamond mind, no the MINING INDUSTRY!”

The sheer power this gives him is TERRIFYING, both because of his status.. and because unlike the kids who all wished for simple kid stuff and used up their wishes quickly, he both gets how much he can do with this and could conquer the world economy if he truly wanted to.

The obnoxious part comes in as he treats Gene as not a person, figuring he’s just there and forces him into the lamp despite the kids protests after Gene grants his first wish: Collie Baba’s treasure. It also dosen’t feel like the wishing nor him using the lamp to get the tresure back goes against his hard work ethos: for the former while he is getting all this magically, he’s still having ot use his wits to get the most out of it, and he did earn the lamp itself square. For the latter, he already earned the treasure square too and had it stolen. He’s onlyg etting back what’s by all rights HIS. Granted he plans on giving most of it up for a tax break but still it’s his by right.

However the reason his assholery works is twofold: first it’s Scrooge. While he’s not a TERRIBLE person, in the comcis and this cartoon he isn’t a GOOD person either. He DOES have a good heart and will usually do the right thing, but his first instnct is always to get more money and to be a cantakerous old bastard to eveyrone and everything. While he’s subtly grew out of “I hate eveyrone and everyone hates me” as his guiding principal, it’s still his defualt reaction to most situations. But he first relents by letting Gene attend the party, part of why the Collie Baba thing stung so bad was that he’s told the historical society he’d get the treasure for years only to come back empty handed, if shrunken. But he still manages to have a good time while Asok and Merlock infiltrate.. well I’mRunningOutofINsultingNIcknamesCanYouTell steals the silverware. Yes... that.. that really happens.

Look we’re almost done, i’m almost free of this racist mummies curse. Let’s continue. Gene sees melock and freaks and drags SCrooge with him and while at First Scrooge is cranky...

No but now I want a Donkey Kong Country crossover too dammmit. And to talk about those games. Another thing for the list. But Scrooge is righ tot be a bit surly...

Okay now your just pushing it. As Gene whisked him away without telling him anything other than vauge worries... but then he gets a full idea of why Gene’s so terrified when Merlock shapeshifts into a bear and starts breaking the door down. Eh, could be worse.

Gene shrinks them to escape and Merlock leaves thinking they fled but leaves Skids Minus Mudflap to go look for them. Scrooge sneaks out but bumps into a cart running from the photo you see when you look up stereotype on google. I mean I assume.. let’s try it.

Huh you know I HOPED but I never expected...

So Google Proving My Point plans to give his lamp to the master because of his weird Torgo-Esque obession with helping a man who clearly wants to murder him but takes his sweet time doing so because plot, and Gene figuring this COULDN’T POSSIBLY go as bad as Melock getting him urges the dummy to keep him and make his own wishes.

This goes about as well as you’d expect....

Wiped Out With A Wish:

Scrooge returns home to find Watto has wished to take his poessions, fortune, everything and Scrooge gets thrown in jail for breaking into his own house. We get two great moments back to back. The first is Scrooge lamenting loosing his fortune in jail, and realizing the sheer power and risk of the lamp, especially since he worked hard to earn it, every bit of it.. and Sam Wilson’s 70′s Backstory came in and took it all in an instant.

The second is Scrooge’s family coming for him, including Launchpad , Beakly and Webby obviously and bailing him out. Though Beakly is UNGOLDLY annoying in this scene, sobbing hysterically and adding nothing and it’s not nearly as funny as the film thinks. Turns out Goliath getting buried wrapped in chains threw them out.

Scrooge takes a bit to rebound from all this.. but eventually realizes something: he knows the security of the bin inside and out. He had it put in after all. So it’d be easy enough to break in. So they gotta break in to break out the lamp, undo this nightmare, and END THIS MOVIE. Seriously this review has taken two days as is I do NOT want to miss my invincible review.

So they break into the bin, and it’s a tightly paced Scene, scrooge going in one way while the kids go the other and we even get a nice callback as the marbels come in handy to get past one of the traps. It’s just a good scene. it’s only real flaw is that Launchapd just sorta disappears as does Duckworth despite the fact their in a plane, and the bin later gets turned into a floating castle. Kinda a plot hole to not have Launchpad crash in to save htem just saying.

Scrooge eventually does get to Djonn, whose been ignoring the imminent threat of Merlock while Gene sweats it out... and this backfires horribly as Merlock hitched a ride as a roach (Though there was a hilarious scene of him getting fried constnatly by lasers when Louie went through a laser hallway, as while Louie had the directions, it dind’t take into account passengers on your head.

So Merlock remanifests in full gets the Lamp and unleashes his wrath on Tin Tin in the Congo and turns him into a wild pig.

Not you sweetie. He then forces Gene to turn the castle into a fortress and float it back to his home in parts unknown. It’s a DAMN cool scene with impressive and horrifiing animation as the bin melts and crumbles into thte castle and the kids barely make it up the stares as they shift and disolve. Really top notch stuff.

Scrooge stands up to Merlock... and this naturally goes poorlyw ith Gene begging Merlock not to respond.. and Merlock having him blow scrooge off the top of the forgtess storm eagle style, though scrooge understands. And this is the true reason why scrooge being a dick didn’t bother me so much. Because it helps create a great contrast between him and Merlock. Both thought of Gene as a tool rather than a person.. but Scrooge grew to realize he was wrong and what he was dealing with wasn’t some magical goodies creator.. but a child forced to constantly grant wishes, in sheer agony to do so no less, likely so sick of it because again and again and again people used him as a slave to get what they wanted and to hell with what Gene wanted. He realized he was terrible for making this poor boy into his slave simply because that’s his job. In contrast Merlock could give no shits and is a malevolent monster who glefully uses Gene despite the pain the wishes put him through and his protests. It’s why Gene is the best part.. he’s athroughly likeable, throughly inncoent character with tons of personality and a truly tragic and horrifying backstory and Rip Taylor acts the hell out of every scene with the guy.

Thankfully the marbles come in handy one last time and Huey, Dewey or Louie snipes the lamp away and a struggle for it insues between Scrooge and Merloc mid air. it’s fucking awesome.. and it get sbetter in how scroogewins. He simply gets rid of Merlock’s amulet, taking it then throwing it. Grante dhe COULD’EVE used it for unimited wishes.. but it was too risky to do that and as we’ll see in the ending , Scrooge realized the Lamp was too powerful to keep around for much longer and too much of a tempting target for his rogues.. not that we see them this movie as the crew wanted it to bea ccesaible and thus kept hte cast to the main cast from season 1 and just made new vilians and a new supporting character, but still.

He does use his second wish though to undue the damage Merlock had done and the bin and clan mcduck are returned to duckburg in good condition.

Time for our ending, which is genuinely and wholly touching. With the lamp too dangerous to use Scrooge considers just sending it to the earth’s core, which horrifies the kids as it’d mean Gene would be trapped there forever... if the molten lava iddn’t just outright destory the lamp and probably kill him. But Scrooge.. isn’t the bastard he likes to potray himself as. Instead he makes Gene into a real boy. He gives the poor kid HIS wish, which designrates the lamp and undoes all the spells... so Merlock is PROBABLY dead but he does return for some games so maybe not?

And so we end on two things: Gene happily playing cops and robbers with the boys finally free.. and Birth of A Nation grabbing all the loot he can in his patns and running off. Ha ha ha thank god i’m done with this prick. And no I will not be looking at his ducktales episodes unless I have to.

Final Thoughts:

This movie is OKAY. It has a solid plot, gene is a wonderful chacter, the animatoin is pretty prettay pretty good, and the voice acting as usual is excellent, with Rip Taylor being the standout.

But as my paragraphs of rage shoud’ve made Clear Djonn is just BAD. Easily the worst character i’ve encountered in my year of reviewing and some of the worst writing i’ve ran into. And that writing includes a goblin man voyerstically forcing two teenagers to make out, making jokes about santa renaming himself Clem the sceneafter he tearfully confessed to letting the elves and ms. claus die, accidental transphobia via the u-men, and Bryan Lee O malley thinking we needed more than one volume of Julie Powers being around. This was disgusting, even by 1990 standards and especially by 2021 standards and it drags the film down considerably. Without it the film is okay.. with it the film is just VERY hard to watch any time he pops up. He made getting through the movie a nightmare and while I pause a lot becaue it’s a bad habbit I did so more simply because as I said earlier in the review I could not stand him.

It makes it a hard film to recommend. If you can stomach the racisim, then it might be worth it, but be aware of what your putting up with going in. But if you can’t.. there’s no shame in that, it’s carbombya levels of bad. Which yes was a real fictoinal country. It was so bad Casey Casem quit transformers over it. True story. So yeah, it’s an okay film, on par with the series at it’s best for the most part.. but Djonn just spoils it for me.

If you liked this review, like it, share it around that sort of thing and if you want MORE disney movie reviews, in addiiton to the goofy movie one later this month, if you help me hit my 25 dollar stretch goal on patroen.com/popculturebuffet, i’ll do reviews of the Recess, Proud Family and Kim Possible MOvies (Well so the drama anyway), so help me out would you and i’ll see you at the next rainbow.

#ducktales #ducktales treasure of the lost lamp #ducktales 87 #scrooge mcduck #rip taylor #christopher lloyd #launchpad mcquack #webby vanderquack #huey duck #louie duck #dewey duck #duckworth #bentina beakley #merlock #djon #faris djinn #movies #disney plus #disney

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i-did · 3 years

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what would make renee angry in your opinion?

I had a really hard time answering this one actually. I thought about it for a while and asked a lot of my friends to see if they had any ideas, and here's what I came up with:

1) A professor or TA who is super shitty to her

Just a really shitty teacher.

as she goes through college, she’s bound to run into some assholes, and I don’t think Renee has perfect grades in the past or present. her not knowing academic terminology and feeling out of place in the college setting would make a lot of sense for a lot of the foxes, and Renee is good on putting on a smile, but she still eventually gets that one professor or TA that scoffs at her questions and “doesn’t have time for the likes of her” and the constant complete dismissal digs painfully under her skin and brings out her anger.

2) People who are intensely rude to her despite her best efforts to be as kind as she can be

Renee is patient, but we all have our limit. similar to the one above, but Renee dealing with someone who is just rude all the time and she struggles to keep reminding herself “we all have bad days, I don’t know what they’re going though.” Renee working in a coffee shop and a woman bumping into Renee and spilling her coffee on herself, only to yell at Renee for an hour, ignoring all of Renee’s pleasant customer service smiles. said customer later on becoming a regular and repeating this behavior, cutting off people in parking lots and flipping them off, Renee being kind and trying to give her a free scone only for the woman to tell her she hates scones, Renee offering something else only for the woman to tell her to shut up. that shit wears you down, and Renee still dumping her kindness onto someone every time only for it to backfire or be dismissed would make her have to take a few deep breaths in the back room before deciding, fuck it, she's cut off from active kindness, now only passible neutrality and not being aggressive is enough.

3) someone who refuses her help

her knowing she could really make a difference, but some people just don’t want help, and she feels helpless and angry. she's not angry at the person, but the situation of them not being ready to accept help or even able to accept help makes her so frustrated she would start to grind her teeth in her sleep. She understands how it is, how hard it can be to take the first step to change or giving up pride or whatever the hurtle may be, but that doesn’t make it any easier than her thinking in her head “just let me fucking help you!!! or anyone!!! just let anyone in to help you!!!! fuck!!!” inside her head. she knows not everyone needs help or saving, but some people do, and when they shove her back, unwilling and not ready for it over and over while she’s trying to save them, she gets frustrated that she can’t.... do anything. and just has to wait. but Renee can be patient, and she’s willing to wait.

4) Someone actively trying to wear her down and get under her skin

okay so this isn’t something that happens often, the closest Renee has really come to it is with Andrew when he first was scoping her out. but– if someone was actively trying to aggravate her, laughing at everything she said and making fun of her, pulling at her looser strings and picking at her ticks, watching to see what brought out her reaction, they could eventually do it and get under her skin. i think she wouldn’t let herself blow up at them since thats what they want, but she would silently excuse herself from the situation to take a breather. no one really does this with her, and Andrew only does this to size her up and even still his interrogation isn’t the type of harassment i’m imagining. i mean like old school bullying, not locker shoving, but the middle school girl shit that leaves emotional scars. and them being older, they’re less afraid to show it and be more straight forward mean. people don’t really do this to her tho, its too much effort to get a reaction, and when they do, its never what they would have wanted, like crying, but instead is her smile falling and then finding a way to make them feel like shit. Renee is kind, but she also knows how to play on a similar level as them, not just with fists. i HC Renee as plus size, and fuck it is hard to be different in anyway as a kid. but childhood bullying was the least of her worries and these people dont see how deep her personal self assurance has grown and how she has learned to stand with her head held high and her face serine. her and dan are quite similar in this, but dan is much more active and direct while Renee is passive in her letting it glide over her, dan has even gotten annoyed on Renee’s behalf and then annoyed that Renee was not affected and why she didn’t fight more directly back.

5) People who are overtly cruel and she struggles to sympathize with

okay so, you ever see someone so mean and rude for zero reason to someone else and you’re just like... what the fuck??? Renee doesn’t let others get to her really, but damn.... someone going after someone else in ways that are just so uncalled for and so harshly.... it gets to her. She once watched an episode of catfish where the catfisher laughed at the girl, uncaring that he crossed so many emotional lines and manipulated people without really any care. and she wanted to throw the remote and punch the tv right where the guys face was on the paused screen. nothing like someone just, kicking someone else while their down with no mercy, or making fun of someone behind their back and them not knowing, making fun of the deaf kids voice behind his back and he doesn’t see them doing it, and she’s like, man, Fuck. You. in her head. I don’t think she was like, always a nice person, in fact, i think Renee used to very much so not be the type to sit with the alone kid at lunch but instead ignore him and think “yea he’s weird, kinda ugly” without thinking much of it. But then she decided to change, and she took everything she thought it meant to be a good person, and became that. she started sitting with the alone kid, she started doing charities, she started to smile instead of punch, and she started going to church. and so when she sees cruelness she was once passive in the face of, maybe even active in, she uses kindness. Renee is she good at using taking the high road in such a graceful way it makes others feel bad. like when she tells Nicky calmly “thats not very nice” after he jokes about Seth dying in a car crash on his way from the airport book 1, and Nicky feels like shit. it feels like shit to get called out sometimes, and while its not her goal, she does know it is an effect of it. (i don’t think she’s mad at Nicky in that scene, but she did say something since she is there to protect hers and she redraws that line in that moment, especially without Allison or Seth there yet to say fuck you themselves.)

6) Injustice and systems of oppression

for these i feel she gets more frustrated, overwhelmed, and sometimes resigned. she knows how dark and shitty the world is, but she stays up at night with her hand on her heart as she breathes deep, thinking about how... utterly fucked everything is. its pretty easy for me to HC that Renee is politically far left and has seen the dark side to lack of resources and systemic issues that are just... so overwhelming she doesn’t even know what she does as just one person. world pollution, corruption, class divide, flint water crisis, the homeless crisis, the prison system, functioning segregation in school systems, just... it all. she’s had nights after volunteering where she thinks “i did something, i did.” and she has days where she realizes “...i’m doing nothing, in the end... its all for nothing, there’s just too much.” just a bad day where she sits there, thinking about how much is wrong and wont be fixed and how ‘doomed’ things are, how broken, and she doesn’t feel at a loss, but rather this deep anger that comes from who she was before.

7) herself.

Her being unable to live up to her own standards. she still thinks mean things, she has mean and cruel urges, and when she has them, she remembers that she’s still a bad person trying very hard to be a good one, and she thinks she’s still a bad person at her core. she’s not self loathing with it, but she does think to herself “i’m a hypocrite.” and sits with that thought for a minute. sparring with Andrew has helped her, to balance the two sides of her in a way that feels both self indulgent and honest to her path forward. but sometimes while sitting in that church pew, she thinks of her dead mother, her dead step father, those she turned in without batting an eye, stabbing in the back to save herself, and she thinks “i should feel something.” but she doesn’t, she wasn’t sorry then and she’s not sorry now. and she thinks, “the others call Andrew a monster, and they don’t realize that i’m one too.” and she tries to muster up something deep inside her, but she cant. and it can frustrate her, how after all these actions, all those hours of beach clean up and homeless shelters and building houses in some other country and going around clapping her hands to the songs, but she’s still the person she is deep down. and it gets to her. i think her having a conversation with Neil one day, on what it means to be a real person, is she pretending who she is? is she her thoughts or her actions? which is the real her? and Neil saying, it’s all of it. every facet of the self is still the self, he is Nathaniel and Neil and Abram and every other person he has been and will be. we change but we are also always ourselves, and her actions are just as true as her thoughts.

#renee walker #aftg #all for the game #tfc #the foxhole court #ask #mailob

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rinharu-purple · 3 years

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Lucien: MLQC’s Mastermind

Yes, I said that Lucien is the creepiest LI in my opinion, and I wouldn’t choose him in a million, billion years. BUT, Lucien is by far the one person, who is pulling the strings and is the driving force of the MLQC universe. He is the only person who acquires all the information from all sides and is connected to every important actor in the story. Therefore, Lucien has become the second LI I’ve started to follow more attentively. Mind that the ranking ist 1) Gavin 2) Gavin 3) Gavin 4) Lucien ;)

In my manifesto, why Gavin is MC’s choice, I’ve already mentioned briefly, that Lucien has the strongest EVOL among all the characters but is also the strongest character (it’s not the MC or the Black Queen, let’s not fool ourselves)

The Machiavellian

Before we talk about Lucien’s part in the MLQC universe, we should first look at him as person and observe the elements that make up his personality.

In the game, all our guys have their personal priorities. Gavin and Kiro are on the front line, fighting for peace and prosperity, Victor, well...I don’t think that he cares for anything else besides MC, maybe his position. But with Lucien, his priority is not a person or a concept, but rather a philosophy. Lucien wants to see the next step in human evolution and is determined to take any measures necessary to see it to it’s end. Other guys can not stand oblivious to other things that come up their way in achieving their goals but Lucien only has his eyes on the prize and to him nothing else matters, no one else matters and no ethics matter.

Machiavellianism denotes cunningness and claims, that those dark triads use whatever means necessary to gain power. If we consider the choices Lucien has made throughout the story so far, we can clearly find his manipulative ways in getting other actors to the positions of his conjecture. He lies to MC and hides his personality as Ares, penetrates Black Swan to use their facilities, but also uses LFG’s resources for his R&D projects all the while concealing his true nature.

Another trait of a Machiavellian, is that he is charismatic and friendly, all the while displaying no emotions. I think, there can be two possible reasons as to why Lucien has limited display of emotions. The first possible explanation has something to do with his parents passing and the trauma he suffered afterwards. Among all LIs Lucien is the one with the most loveless childhood and teenage years, the most important years in developing one’s psychological traits and during those years Lucien received alongside with Kiro the most blows. That resulted in him losing the connection to his emotions as a defense mechanism.

Another possibility might be him losing the connection to his emotions as a result of a chemical reaction in his brain due to excessive testing Black Swan objected him to. Lucien’s EVOL was created in a lab and he was the first man-made Evolver. Lucien is called various times a psychopath, because he shows signs of psychopathy such as lack of remorse, empathy or compassion. It is said that that kind of behavior might occur due to a misconnection between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the amygdala. Considering the fact that Lucien’s parents were killed right in front of him and that he was both physically and psychologically abused for the coming years, this might have led him to experience an imbalance in his chemical balance. One might argue, that his altruistic actions in the orphanage are an evidence for his compassion, I think it is yet another disguise for his unethical ways of reaching his goals.

The Orchestrator

In all honesty no one is actively seeking alliances and keeps tabs on other’s actions for their agenda like Lucien does. Maybe Commander Leto but he mostly fails in drawing others to his side, because he is not able to speak in their pendants’ language or resonate with their perspective. Lucien, on the other hand, is gifted with an extraordinary ability to observe his surroundings and companions, making it very easy for him to talk to them in their terms and desires. Lucien doesn’t show much empathy, UNLESS, it contributes to his cause, in that case he can perfectly put himself in other’s shoes and plays them in such a meticulous way, that they join him willingly.

That is how Lucien directs MC successfully in entering the Black Cabin or in understanding the evolution core.

Lucien is not exactly a piece on a chess board, but is a player, who knows all the pieces very well, knows the rules of the game, has observed many games and took notes of how they all has turned out and therefore knows what kind of a game he is going to play. Just watch closely. how he co-operates with Kiro and the Black Queen. He knows that Kiro is using Black Swan for his goals, much like he does, so he uses his hacking abilities to access to information. The Black Queen is the initiator of everything in S1, so he makes sure to stay close to her. He knows that Victor is searching for MC and trying to understand the Evol gene, there he has an investor.

The Cool, Calm and Collected Type

in the MLQC universe, everyone loses their composure at one point or another, because...who wouldn’t? Time and space warps constantly and people are also changing their stances depending on the time-space constellation they find themselves in.

MC loses her cool almost on a daily basis, Gavin was in a constant haywire in the Daybreak era, Victor literally threw people into black holes in CH11 and freaked out as he saw the Black Queen for the first time and Kiro walks around in a bipolar state. So, everybody is pretty unstable due to understandable conditions but we never see Lucien lose his cool and this is one of his best qualities.

Here is the thing about Lucien. This guy is always at least one step ahead of everyone and he achieves this by two simple rules:

1) Acquire all possible information

2) Observe everyone and everything at all times

Why am I saying this? It lies in the basis of anxiety and angst. We humans tend to feel uncomfortable in the face of an uncertain situation, meaning in the wake of the unknown. MC is constantly anxious, because she doesn’t know what is going on, why is everyone after her, why is she blessed with the unconditional affection of 5 equally attractive men? (ehm, but not quite equally ehm *Gavin* hihi, sorry, Gavin-stan gotta Gavin-stan ^_^). Anyway you get the picture. Gavin went haywire in CH22 because he was pushed in a tight spot and therefore had angst. Same goes for Victor in CH11 his mind went blank as he saw history repeating itself and then in CH18 when he saw with his own eyes what could the girl of his dreams might become.

We don’t see Lucien in such deadlock situation though do we, and I think it is mainly because he is always prepared for every possibility and he can calculate them meticulously, because he possesses the largest chunk of information and also keeps tabs on everyone and everything that’s going on. So, when a crisis occurs he doesn’t freak out, sure he gets surprised at times, because the outcome of a a certain situation is the possibility, which he calculated to be no higher than 1% and yet there it is. But since he’s already took this into consideration, he has a plan. Combine this with his knowledge about the persons and organizations involved in the matter, then you have a calm Lucien, who is in control of the situation. Thus, he is calm. You can actually also bind this behavior of Lucien with that of a predator, whose movement are languid, is non-reactive and doesn’t mind turning his back to his opponents, since he doesn’t perceive them as a threat.

If this wasn’t enough, Lucien manages to joggle all of this without exposing himself. Even in the last stage of the play he never gets caught. Unless he willingly exposes himself, as in the case of revealing Ares to MC. MLQC actors can usually see through each other and use their weaknesses to meet their own ends. MC is obviously Gavin, Kiro and Victor’s weakness and their opponents can see this pretty easily. IT’s not quite the same with Lucien though and he doesn’t let himself be blackmailed or threatened by any weakness. He always keeps his cards close to his chest.

Considering the fact that Lucin is the least outstanding LI, this is pretty impressive. So I guess this makes him the embodiment of the phrase “still waters run deep”.

The Renaissance Man

Lucien is a man of science and aesthetics. Explaining phenomenons with associations and loading them with philosophical substance. He doesn’t necessarily perceive things bluntly as they are, but interprets them in a meaningful way. The way he associates MC with a butterfly, how he wants to entrap her in ajar, so she wouldn’t get away, alas taking the only resource of color in his life away. Not only that, but he can also break down the matters at hand to its fragments and can therefore work his way up from there. He is blessed with a strong deduction ability, so he can connect the dots easily, come to a conclusion and act accordingly. No doubt that the other guys have very good deduction abilities, but because Lucien always has a bit of an information more than them, he can find the solutions just a little bit faster in my opinion.

Reading is a necessity for his guy much like eating and drinking, Which is why we see him reframing events in the context of a certain story he’d read at some point in his life. With time, I will add here some of his quotes about certain situations to explain what I mean. Or even better, if you have some, that are evident in you opinion, you could add them in the comments. I really enjoy reading/hearing Lucien’s philosophical, scientific explanations to certain moments in MC’s life. They are always to the point and helpful.

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

So this is my very first analysis on Lucien and I have to admit, I still have so many material to check on him, so if anything is missing please bear with me here :)

I was watching Joe’s Twitch while I wrote this, so there are many spelling, grammar mistakes, which will be corrected gradually.

This post will get better and better, scout promise!

#mlqc #mlqc lucien #mlqc simon #mlqc xumo #mlqc xu mo #mr. love queen's choice #I had to rewrite a large part of this because my PC #broke down #so this post will be edited around a 100 times #Im sorry

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sitcomified · 3 years

Text

fighting dragons with you

summary: amy gets injured on a case and jake pays her a visit. (pre-canon) word count: 3.5k rating: teen?

read below or on AO3

content warning for minor depictions of violence and general discussions of assault

Amy Santiago wrote her life plan when she was sixteen years old, and revisits it each month like clockwork. She figured out from a young age that if she could clearly define a set of rules to follow to a tee, then she would never fall off course. Most nights, the three inch purple binder lives on her bedside table, where after long days of life-threatening work, she can put everything into perspective. Most days, the plan works out great for her. But she’s not invincible. She still scrapes gum off her brand new shoes and wrestles with her too warm pillow.

It’s not that she can’t deal with unpredictable situations. If anything, being almost comically prepared for every possible situation has made the challenge of taking on these changes that much more thrilling. She knows she excels at tasks that demand quick thinking and efficient problem solving. Hell, that’s why she became a cop.

Amy clocked into work two minutes late that morning. She stared at her watch, already mentally preparing how she would make it up to her squad (even though a quick glance around the bullpen would let her know that she was still the first officer there for her shift.)

By the time her partner showed up nearly thirty minutes late—an occurrence so routine she’d be surprised if anyone even noticed—Amy was already wrapping up her first report of the day. As she reached across her desk for the folder containing crime scene evidence, her partner finally acknowledged her.

“Nice spiderman band-aid,” Jake greeted her, gesturing to her right hand. She sighed deeply. The band-aid in question is nursing a particularly nasty paper cut from when she tried to intercept one of her partner's paper airplanes (probably made from some actually important file) the previous day. Amy rinsed the cut under the precinct kitchenette’s ice-cold water, swearing she’d be fine for the rest of the day, but her finger still stung when she got home and discovered that her only first aid supplies were from the last time her nephews visited.

“Hello Detective Peralta,” Amy replied, trying to salvage any semblance of workplace professionalism. Honestly, she wasn’t even sure if her partner’s retort warranted a response.

“Aw, is that your pet name for me?” he joked, clearly not wanting to drop their banter, “I’m going to call you sugar...nose.” He extended a finger and lightly tapped her on the nose, to emphasize the point.

Amy flinched in response. “Sugarnose?” she repeated incredulously.

“Yeah I didn’t want it to be too sexual, and then I panicked,” Jake explained. Amy half expected him to follow it up with one of the “title of your sex tape” jokes that he was so prone to making, but thankfully, today she would be spared.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Peralta. At his best, he could be just as sharp a detective as she was. The problem was, that was rarely ever his goal. He showed open disrespect for any authority that would dare get in his way, almost as if it were a game to him. On the field, he spent more time trying to portray himself as an action movie star than trying to catch criminals, and she’d be surprised if he actually followed any of the NYPD’s safety guidelines.

Her day went on as it usually did. Finishing up reports, interviewing witnesses, investigating a crime scene—fortunately on her own. Amy had no idea why Captain McGintley was so adamant about partnering her and Peralta. Their approaches to every aspect of police work seemed fundamentally incompatible. Her captain probably just needed someone responsible to babysit New York’s Least Mature Detective (a title he had bestowed upon himself) in the field. It was a horribly sexist and insulting implication that gave Amy flashbacks to a whole childhood’s worth of classroom seating charts and group projects, where she was put in the exact same position.

That afternoon, just as she was getting into the rhythm of responding to the perpetual flood of emails in her inbox, Peralta tore her away from her work to go on a stakeout for a case they were working on, insisting that the new lead was “actually legit this time.”

When Amy left the precinct she was surprised to see that her partner decided not to “ball out” and instead opted for a sensible SUV for their stake out. “Nice ride, Peralta.”

“Thanks, I borrowed it from some guy Diaz is testifying against,” he said smugly. Amy raised her eyebrows in return. Of course there would be a catch. “Kidding,” he reassured her. “It’s the precinct’s, I’m surprised you don’t like have the license plates memorized by now.”

Amy wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved or insulted by that. She had only been there a couple months, surely that wasn’t an expectation; if it was, it was never conveyed to her in the brief amount of training she received. Regardless, she responded, “very funny, but I’m still driving.”

Jake soured with mock offense, “Seriously, Santiago? You think that my driving is more dangerous than that drug ring you busted last month?”

“I’m a detective. I know that I might die on the force. What I’m absolutely not okay with is dying because some idiot would rather play air guitar than follow basic road safety concepts,” Amy said, crossing her arms. On their last stakeout, they almost lost their perp during his particularly enthusiastic rendition of Lose Yourself.

“Too-shee,” he responded, with a smirk on his lips. He was messing with her. Surely, he wasn’t actually that dumb.

Amy corrected him, “you know it’s pronounced touché.”

“Ok nerd,” he replied, and tossed her the car keys. “But I get to stay on AUX.”

She was a bit taken aback by how quickly he agreed to cooperate with her. “You’ve gotta stay focused,” she added, as she climbed into the car. There was a foul smell that she couldn’t quite place. All the more reason to rush this.

“Of course I am a professional, Santiago,” he said from the passenger seat. He reached into his bag and pulled out a giant pack of Cheetos. “Want one?” he offered. She shook her head in disgust.

“Alright, so the informant, Dragos, said the operation is based out of a pharmacy on Atlantic, I assume that’s where we’re going?” Amy asked, as she started the car.

“Toit, and also holy shit is that his real name?” Jake questioned, eyes wide. “That’s badass.”

Amy frowned. “Did you even read the case file?”

“I skimmed it. Your sentences are all so long!” he complained.

“I’m sorry that I’m thorough and I actually follow procedure. Maybe you should take a cue from me, I mean that’s gotta be why McGintley assigned us to this case,” she said.

Jake laughed at her. “I have the most arrests in the precinct,” he bragged. Amy wanted to bring up that arrests weren’t actually a good indication of community safety, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to articulate the problem to him once more.

“That’s just because you make Boyle do all your paperwork,” she retaliated. “If you did everything you were supposed to, you know that I’d be ahead of you.”

Jake stopped fiddling with the car’s radio, and turned to face Amy. “First of all, Boyle loves paperwork. And for the record, I actually asked the Captain to put us together on this case.”

“Exactly, because you knew I would do all the work,” Amy said, smugly.

“No! It’s ‘cause I knew it was a tough one, and you’re obviously super smart.” Amy blushed a little. She assumed that Jake thought as little of her as she did of him. “Plus, I heard you talking to Diaz about how you weren’t getting any good cases,” he continued. She’s surprised, not at what he noticed, but the fact that he actually cared enough to try and fix her problems. It was true that McGintley was underutilizing her—the other day he had her spend an hour finding an anniversary present for his wife.

“Well, thanks,” Amy responded with an awkward smile. “I didn’t think you cared.”

“‘Course, you’re part of the 99 now. Anything for the squad.” he said. Right, Jake was just doing what any good cop would do for their team. He didn’t actually care about her, at least not enough to not get cheeto crumbs on the seat that she’d have to clean up.

Jake points at the car’s speaker system at the next red light. “Hey, do you know how this works?”

“Do you seriously not know?” she teased. It was a strikingly simple set up.

“Obviously not, or else we’d be listening to my sick beats right now.” Jake said. “My car still uses cassettes exclusively and I fear my mixtapes would cause this lame car to spontaneously combust.”

Amy sighed. “Here, give me your phone,” she told him, and plugged in the audio cable. Immediately music started blaring out of the speakers. She recognizes the opening chords instantly and starts laughing. “Is this what you listen to?” she asked.

Jake started frantically pushing buttons on the dashboard, only making the music louder by accident. “No. I swear I don’t know how this got on here.” Amy grinned. It was so rare that she had the upper hand in embarrassing him and she was already thinking of how to capitalize on it.

“Keep it on,” she said, guiding his hands away from the speaker system before he had the chance to break something. “I like this song.” He leaned back in his seat and helped himself to another handful of Cheetos. Amy returned her focus to navigating the complex puzzle of Brooklyn traffic.

Over the revving motors and honking of angry drivers, she heard him begin to sing along. It wasn’t obnoxiously loud and it didn’t feature impromptu parody lyrics. His voice was surprisingly soft, and she wondered if he was even conscious of his singing. She was perplexed by how he managed to focus on nothing and everything at the same time. How he managed to let loose in the most tense situations. Amy couldn’t even bring herself to have that kind of fun when she specifically scheduled it in her planner.

What the hell, they were still a fifteen minute drive from the pharmacy. She joined in with the chorus. He looked at her with a confused, yet happy, expression, and ramped up his volume, and even incorporated his own dance moves. “Damn, Santiago, didn’t know you had it in you,” he said, after they finished the chorus on a tone-deaf harmony.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Peralta,” she replied, raising her eyebrows with feigned confidence.

Jake chuckled and opened his mouth; she assumed to argue, but instead he just continued the second verse. She didn’t know the rest of the lyrics, and she certainly couldn’t decipher them from the dramatic voices he was adding into it.

“Hey isn’t that our guy,” he interrupted, pointing to a man who was standing by the trash cans on the corner, despite his right of way. Amy paused and took a closer look. Surely enough, their perp, Andrei Volkov, was standing there, waiting for the deal they had been told would occur miles away.

“Oh my god,” Amy said, turning to park their car just out of eyesight.

“Luckily he didn’t seem interested enough in the two adult Taylor Swift fans, to notice we’re a police vehicle.” Jake replied. He leaned towards the trunk window to sneak a better view of their target.

“Do you want to call for backup?” Amy asked. “How many guys are there?”

“Looks like about three, and it seems pretty exposed for back up unless they have access to one of the houses,” Jake said, propping himself back in the seat. “I think we should be good.”

Amy paused for a second. Her instinct was always to air on the side of caution, but Jake had proven himself to be more reasonable than she assumed. “Okay, I trust you,” she said.

“Take my lead,” he instructed, before she could argue, and secured his vest as he left the car. Amy followed him out hesitantly, one hand hovering protectively over her radio. They crossed the street while Volkov’s back was turned. As soon as they made eye contact, Jake whipped out his gun, and cornered him against the lamp post. “NYPD, you’re under arrest.” Amy instinctually dove behind the trash can. Through the grated metal she could see both of Volkov’s men pull their guns at Jake from behind his back. She can’t quite recognize exactly which members of the operation they are. He held one hand on Volkov while he turned to face the others. They kept their guns raised in his direction.

“Here’s the deal, come back to my precinct, and I won’t shoot. I’m all alone out here.” Jake kicks the trashcan Amy is ducked behind. Then twice, to get her attention. And again. The Funky Cold Medina, she realized. Amy felt her heart pounding all the way in her fingers and toes.

“What’s the matter with your leg, pig,” one of the men scoffed. She recognized the voice. Apparently Dragos was more involved in the operation than he led on, and had intentionally given her the wrong address. Amy reached for her gun and jumped up, turning to cover Jake.

“Hey, you’re the lady with the thank you notes,” Dragos said, as he lowered his weapon, “almost made me feel bad for lying to you.”

Amy fixed her eyes in his direction, “yeah well, thanks for nothing.”

“That was a pretty weak comeback, Santiago,” Jake muttered from her side. She shot him a nasty look.

“Your partner’s right,” Volkov added, still struggling against the lamppost.

“Nice try but you’re still arrested,” Jake said, as he reached for his handcuffs and began reciting the Miranda Rights. Amy stared down the other two men in the meantime, instructing them to drop any weapons they’re carrying. They obeyed and placed their guns at her feet. Just as they began to stand up, Dragos punched Amy in the face, his ring leaving a deep gash on her cheek. The metallic taste of blood floods her mouth. Her vision was blurred as tears welled up in her eyes, causing searing pain in the open wound.

Dragos started to bolt but Jake managed to trip him and keep him pinned to the ground. He struggled to handle both perps, however, and Amy watched as the third man ran away. She tried to chase after him, but she was too shocked to make it any farther. “Dragos, you’re coming with me,” Jake said, locking the handcuffs in place. “Amy, I’m calling you an ambulance.”

She was too dishevelled to protest.

That night, Amy’s brother drove her home from the hospital where she received seven stitches. Half her face was still numb from the anesthesia. Still, the second she got her phone back, she sent a text to her partner: “LMK if you need help processing.”

Half an hour later she heard her apartment buzzer go off. She paused her episode of Jeopardy, kicked on her fluffy slippers, and answered it.

“Delivery for Lady Amy Santiago,” Jake said, in a terribly butchered British accent through the phone.

“Come up,” she replied, stifling a laugh. The meds had worn her down enough that she could fully embrace his immature humor.

Three minutes later Jake announced himself with a knock on her door. “Alright, so I got you this. Hope you like shitty diner food because that’s all that’s open right now,” he held up two take out bags. Through the semi-opaque plastic she noticed two liters of the horrible orange soda he spilled on her desk once and still couldn’t get the stain out from.

“Yeah that’s fine,” she said, gesturing for him to come take a seat. She braced herself to be tormented for her decor. Suddenly she realized Jake came all the way to her house for her. He didn’t have to be here. Why was he here? “Thanks, by the way. You didn’t have to do any of this.”

He took a seat on her couch and plopped the bags on her coffee table. She never ate there, it was reserved for drinks, at most, but she didn’t correct him. Especially when he was doing her a favor “I know. I wanted to though. I also finished processing Dragos and Volkov, all by myself,” he said.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Amy asked flatly. She peered into the bag and examined the feast he brought: two cheeseburgers, a plate of chicken tenders, one hamburger, a salad, about three orders of fries, and of course the two orange sodas. For someone who was proudly in debt, he sure spent a lot on this meal.

“Cause it’s my fault you’re like this,” he said. Amy wanted to protest, he made a bad call re-backup, but she could have gotten injured either way. “Also you’re so hopped up on painkillers there’s no way you’ll remember this,” he added, cracking a smile. He really wasn’t capable of a genuine moment.

Amy rolled her eyes at him. “It’s not that much stronger than Advill, and memory loss isn’t a side effect,”

“Hmm,” he frowned, “we’ll see about that tomorrow.”

Amy froze. “I hope you’re not here to try anything,” she said, half joking. Jake was a jerk, but she never thought he would stoop that low. Even still, she couldn’t let her guard down that much.

“Oh, God no, absolutely not. I would never take advantage of you—of anyone—like that. Is that what you thought?” Jake stammered, scooching himself away from her on the couch. He looked as if he had seen a ghost or something, and his messy hair only added to the effect.

“I dunno,” Amy said, “I guess I can’t be too trusting.” She took out a container full of fries and handed him one as a peace offering.

“Right, right, men are a nightmare,” Jake agreed through a mouthful of potato. He even didn’t try to distance himself from “other men”, or go with the “but I’d never do that route”. Her chest was heavy with guilt at the thought of making such an implication.

“No, no, no, it’s fine, really. Sorry for accusing you.” Amy said.

“It’s not fine. And you shouldn’t apologize because that’s a real fear. It’s on me,” he replied. She looked at him with confusion. It was rare for guys to understand that much. “And I’m sorry for being such a dick to you these past few months,” he blurted out.

Amy couldn’t believe that the guy sitting in her apartment was the same one who decided to address her via paper airplane for a week, and only stopped when he ran out of papers on his desk. “Hey I wasn’t much better. I was so obsessed with out-doing you, I never went to you for help—” he shot her an expectant glance,“—also I’m sorry for ratting you out all the time.” He nodded, and helped himself to another fry from her container.

“Why are you so competitive?” he asked through a mouthful of potato. She noticed a bit of ketchup on his chin and reached for a napkin.

“I have seven brothers,” she provided him with the stock answer.

“I know that,” he said, “that doesn’t answer my question.”

She pauses. “My parents were always comparing us, so many siblings meant the bar for anything was set super high, I don’t know, that sort of stuff.”

“But why do you care?” he pushed. She hadn’t ever considered that before. The endless treadmill she shoved herself on was just always there. Even when she knew the goals she set were irrational she would just keep running, because the idea of falling off was so much worse.

“I guess it makes me worried, if I’m not measuring up,” she confessed. “I feel like I did something wrong.”

“You know you’re crazy, right?” he asked, smirking at her.

Amy rifled through the bottom of the takeout bag. “Did they give you any mustard packets?” she asked.

“Nah. But, as your self-appointed guardian angel, I will go to the bodega and get you some,” he said, picking up the jacket he threw on her floral carpet.

“You don’t have to do that, really,” Amy insisted.

He looked back at her as if the very notion were ridiculous. “Amy, you just got injured in the line of duty. If all you want is mustard, you can have all the mustard in the world.”

“Thanks, Jake. You’re a really good friend,” she ventured. She waited for a moment, to see how he would respond, hopefully solidifying their friendship. Maybe she was friendzoning advances she wasn’t even aware of. Maybe he was confused, and he was just doing a nice thing for a coworker.

“You too,” Jake said. However he interpreted all the implications, he didn’t let her know. “When I get back we’re watching Die-Hard!” he added as he rushed out the door. Amy smiled to herself as she heard the lock click into place.

#tropetember #b99 #brooklyn nine nine #b99 fic #brooklyn nine nine fic #jake peralta #amy santiago #tropetember day 1 #peraltiago #peraltiago fic #my fic

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luesilust · 4 years

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What is something embarrassingly vanilla that each of the trash quartet are into? (The truest dirt is in the bland crap you're into when you're a trashy boi, am I right?) ☆

Hahaha what an interesting first ask from a “totally anonymous” anon… ✨ Anyway, I actually really liked this question, but holy hell did it fuck with my brain. I’m used to coming up with all the kinky and/or messed up scenarios and suddenly I’m supposed to do the opposite? My brain is confused. The second problem I encountered was: What is actually vanilla? My brain did not help me on this quest either, as every time I got close to thinking up something clever, my brain goes “SPIT IN THEIR MOUTH!” or something along those lines.

PARISTON

Among the trash quartet Pariston is the one I found the hardest to write this ask for. Mostly because Pariston is an enigma. First of all it’s impossible to know exactly what he does and doesn’t enjoy because everything he does is controlled and calculated. I can see him being into one thing with one partner and something completely different with another. His preferences always switch around.

Sometimes the sex can be very vanilla and tender, usually after he’s been partiularly cruel to you. It’s a way to get you to stay with him despite the abuse.

Pariston’s relation to pleasure is also an interesting aspect. I think that for Pariston sex isn’t the goal that drives his actions, but rather a means to get the reactions he wants from you. This means that if he thinks that a gentle “love making” session is what’s going to make his “game” with you more fun later on, you’re going to get the best vanilla sex in our whole life!

I did, however, think of a few of vanilla things Pariston would absolutely loathe in most circumstances! The number one thing being his partner whispering “I love you” lovingly into his ear, while he’s trying to make you hate him.

ILLUMI

First of all, I think very little will make Illumi embarrassed. That being said there are quite a few things he should be embarrassed about. He’s very motivated to continue the Zoldyck line, so sex would often be more focused on the result than what it feels like there and then. So unless he’s using sex as a way to manipulate or reward you, it would get quite mundane... And isn’t that like the most vanilla thing ever?

Another thing he should be embarrassed for is that he usually doesn’t make you cum very often. He almost never touches your clit, so in the beginning you wonder if he doesn’t know where it is, or that he’s one of those who think women's sexuality is a myth. That however, is not the case, because Illumi probably has extensive training on how to pleasure or sexually torture someone because of his assasin training. The reason for his behaviour is that he usually doesn’t prioritize using his precious time to give you pleasure. It doesn’t make it more likely that you’ll get pregnant, so why waste the time. Orgasms are a reward, not a necessity for his wife.

If you want to break out of the mundane sex, try to gently kiss his neck. It’s a really sensitive area for him that he associates mainly with killing. Gentle touches are new to Illumi, since his skin is used to getting cut, beaten and abused. The first time you dared ttrying to kiss his neck his body froze in the middle of one of your sessions. The kiss had made his body tingle in a very unfamiliar way. As he didn’t stop you, you continued, and following that was the first time you experienced the more gentle side of your husband. His focus was no longer on just being efficient, but rather on experiencing more of that new tingling sensation of your soft lips against his neck. His hips slowed down into a calmer and more sensual pace than the way his dick had thrust into you in an almost methodical way. As a reward he even brought one of his adept hands down to your clit to make you cum at the same time he did.

I don’t think he’d be embarrassed about liking getting his neck kissed, but I think it will puzzle him at first how much he enjoys it. Not only neck kissing, but touching him softly and stroking his back during sex or foreplay will make it more likely that he’ll feel motived to make the sex into less of a chore.

Outside of sex I think he really likes to get his hair brushed and generally taken care of by his wife. Be careful to be gentle though, as he doesn’t like you pulling his hair, and even doing so by accident will lead to some kind of punishment

HISOKA

Hisoka is another one of the trash men that doesn’t get embarrassed by anything. While Illumi can get puzzled by his enjoyment of some things, Hisoka is down right shameless. Nothing, and I repeat nothing, will make this man feel shameful.

Hisoka also has an unique talent of making any vanilla activity into something straight out of a porn movie. The reason being that his entire body is somewhat of an erogenous zone and that he’s, well, Hisoka, so the moaning will be extreme. Gently lick his neck and he’ll be like: *insert Hisoka’s crazy moaning here*

That being said, I can imagine him as being quite adaptive when it comes to his partner’s sexual preferences. If you’re kinky, he’s all for it, but I can see him enjoying vanilla sex as well from time to time, if that’s what you prefer. I feel like he’s more about his partner’s reactions, rather than exactly what is making those reactions happen. It would of course be situation based, as he sometimes would feel the need to be rough when he’s feeling pent up.

The most vanilla thing I can imagine, that even Hisoka can’t make kinky, is cuddling in bed while watching random reality TV. Hisoka actually enjoys cuddling a lot, so spending all day in bed lazily making out and occasionally having sex is something he’d enjoy. The sex would be soft, either missionary or some kind of spooning position combined with lots of kissing and groping. This could only take place after you’ve somehow managed to deplete his energy a bit, because if he’s feeling pent up or have some kind of project on his mind, he will not have time to spend all day in bed with you.

Lastly, he’d also enjoy massages and he will, for sure, always expect a “happy finish”.

CHROLLO

Despite being someone who mostly keeps people at a distance, Chrollo sometimes really enjoys sex where he’s embracing you. His favourite position being spooning you from behind, but sometimes plain old missionary will be his pick.

You were quite surprised the first time it happened. Chrollo has such a domineering personality and he’d usually demand complete obedience from you both in and outside the bedroom. It does however happen that you see a different side of him. It would happen late at night after you’ve both gone to bed. I see Chrollo as being a very lightl sleeper because of his upbringing in Meteor City. Said childhood has led to him having trouble relaxing when trying to fall asleep, so maybe the sex makes it easier for him to calm down. He’d hold your sleepy form close to his chest as he finishes inside you, falling asleep with you in his arms (inconsiderate bastard doesn’t think about the fact that you’ll need to get out of bed and clean yourself up after, unless you want cum seeping out of you all night).

Even if he won’t admit to it, it's really obvious that he really enjoys having his ears kissed and caressed. Chrollo is a very perceptive individual so his ears are very sensitive to any type of foreign touch. It’s probably also nice to give his lobes to get a little break from all the abuse from those ginormous earrings he’s wearing...

Chrollo is a also a man of deception and if he needs to play the role of a loving boyfriend to someone other than you to get what he wants, he’ll have no problem doing so. He’ll kiss his target lovingly and have the softest of vanilla sex. He says to himself that it’s all an act, but sometimes I think he’d find himself really enjoying the closeness and intimacy, since he usually puts himself above you when engaging in sexual acts. He’ll tell himself that he’s only enjoying it because he’s too immersed in the scenario he’s playing out with his target. This man is in denial and he’ll keep his soft moments far, far away from the troupe.

TW: Crack

He also really loves to recite gothic love poems that he wrote himself to you during intercourse. He’d hold his poetry book in one hand while he thrusts slowly in and out of you tenderly. It all ends in a crescendo as he reads out the last line as he cums, a single manly tear running down his cheek. (Sorry, I had to join the Drag Chrollo Gang haha).

#Look at me finishing this ages after I received it #hxh #hunter x hunter #pariston #hisoka #chrollo #illumi #hxh hc #pariston hc #hisoka hc #illumi hc #chrollo hc #pariston headcanon #hisoka headcanon #illumi headcanon #chrollo headcanon #hxh headcanon #hunter x hunter headcanon #Anonymous

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jaehyunhour · 4 years

Text

violent delights, violent ends | lee donghyuck

genre + idol → angst, slow burn(ish), tiniest bit of fluff at the end, high school thru college au, former drama kid haechan (x female reader)

word count → 6.3k

warnings → explicit language, alcohol consumption, college party, caution: scene where reader’s drink gets spiked, vomit

summary → no matter how much you hurt haechan, he’s always going to be in love with you.

"Do you think you could ever love me again?”

“My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep. The more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.”

a/n → i hope you guys enjoy this fic! i’ve been getting a lot of love on my longer pieces and it’s given me a lot of inspiration, i appreciate you guys so much. this one was somewhat requested by one of my besties so i really hope she enjoys it (whenever she gets around to reading this). also, i want to say this in advance: please don’t ask me for a part two on this fic. i love that you guys want more writing, but i would rather write other prompts than to continue a piece that is only meant to be a stand alone piece. happy reading! ♡

Haechan was never a bad boyfriend. He was everything one could ever want in a partner — He was kind, caring, thoughtful, and always put so much effort in your relationship. He loved you, there was no doubt about it, and you loved him back. At least, at first you did. You’re confident in the fact that at some point in time, you were in love with Haechan. What you don’t know is when you fell out of love with Haechan — or if you ever did. All you know is that one day, the feeling of Haechan’s arms wrapped around your waist began to suffocate you: your chest felt tight, tears brimmed in your eyes, your heart starting beating uncontrollably, you felt lightheaded. So you left.

You and Haechan were only sixteen when you started dating. You never had any interest in dating during high school, finding high school relationships meaningless because you were just going to get attached, and end up heartbroken when you have to leave for college, if you even make it that far. Your only goal was to remain sane throughout high school — to make sure you were never met with the underbelly of the high school beast, that you remained committed to your extracurriculars, and to get into a good college. Haechan, while sharing the same goals as you, at least let himself enjoy his time in high school. He attended parties, kissed whoever he wanted, and was not afraid to speak his mind.

It all began your junior year. He was no stranger to you, he had been involved in drama since he was young, and you were too. You grew up together, but never talked outside of the shows you were in. At the fresh age of sixteen, you auditioned for your school’s production of Romeo and Juliet, and landed the role of Juliet. Haechan never showed his face during auditions, having missed them because he was busy helping his childhood friend, Johnny, clean his home after a wild house party, but when you arrived to the drama room to pick up your script, he was there picking up his script for Romeo.

It was all playful at first. He invited you over to his home because his parents were never there, did homework with you, and ran through the script so you were prepared for rehearsals.

“Y/N?” Haechan said, tearing your gaze away from the script in front of you. You were sat next to him on his couch, head resting on his shoulder as you read through your lines. To you, you were just being friendly. You were touchy with everyone you knew, regardless if you had feelings for them or not. But to Haechan, the feeling of your head on his shoulder made his heart race and his palms sweat.

“Are you okay?” You asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He had sweat beading at his hairline and his cheeks were flushed pink as he struggled to maintain eye contact with you.

“Can we practice the kissing scene?”

“Kiss scene,” you corrected him. “There’s only one kiss.”

“Kiss scene. Can we practice the kiss scene?”

“Why? I don’t think we need to practice anything. It’s just a kiss,” you said.

“Sorry.” Haechan said, slumping back onto the couch.

You sighed. “Close your eyes, Haechannie.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

Haechan wiped the sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt before closing his eyes. You placed a hand on his thigh, and he jumped slightly. You leaned in, and Haechan let out a tiny whine. He could feel your hot breath fanning over his lips, and he felt he was two seconds away from passing out. And then, you pressed your lips to his. He didn’t even react, and you pulled away after a few moments. When you pulled back, Haechan looked at you with wide eyes. The hand that was on his thigh came up to his face, pushing his hair out of his face and you smiled.

“Next time you want to kiss me, just do it.” You paused for a moment. “I’m going to go home, I’ll see you tomorrow.” You stood up quickly, shoving your things into your backpack and running out of Haechan’s house before he could say anything else. After that, Haechan was attached to you at the hip. He tried to spend every waking moment at school with you, invited you over to his home even when you weren’t practicing for the play, and slipped love letters into your locker weekly. Despite your firm views on high school relationships, there was something about his persistency that made your heart flutter.

On the opening night of Romeo and Juliet, you walked into the female dressing room and everyone was hovering over something in the middle of the room, talking amongst themselves and never realizing you walked in. You cleared your throat and everyone turned around and screamed.

“Oh, fuck! Happy birthday, Y/N!” One of the other girls said, while everyone else cheers.

“Aww, thanks, guys, you know you didn’t have to. My birthday still isn’t for another week,” you responded, setting your things down near the door.

“Yeah, but you know we would’ve forgotten in the midst of all the shows, so we just wanted to make sure we did something special!”

One of the other girls clears her throat, “Um, Y/N, there’s something here for you.”

Everyone moved over, revealing a bouquet of roses sitting on the coffee table in the middle of the room.

“Guys, you shouldn’t have!”

“We didn’t, really.”

You walked to the table, and picking the note out of the bouquet to read it.

“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” See you out there, love. — Haechan

You felt your cheeks heat and the girls let out a chorus of “oooh”s at your blush. “How much time do we have before we start hair and makeup?”

“Ten minutes.”

“I’ll be back,” you said, slipping the note into your pocket and heading towards the boys dressing room. Once there, you leaned against the door frame as you looked at Haechan sitting in front of the mirror, eyes closed and lips moving as he quietly repeated his lines to himself. He looked nervous.

“Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” You said, causing Haechan to jump slightly and look at you. You pulled a chair up to sit next to him and he smiled at you.

“What brings you around here?”

“I just came to check in on you… and to thank you for the flowers.”

“Oh! That was nothing, just a birthday present, and an opening day present.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything,” you responded, pushing the hair out of Haechan’s face. “You should style your hair and push it back more often, you look good.”

“You don’t have to get me anything, it’s okay.”

“Close your eyes,” you whispered. He did it without hesitation, and you pressed another kiss to his lips. This time, Haechan kissed back with as much force as he could, his hands flying to your cheeks and holding you there. He pulled back for a second, but before he could speak, you pecked his lips and pulled yourself apart from him. “Good luck out there, love.”

You left Haechan stunned in the boys dressing room, and returned back to the girls dressing room to get ready for the show. The performance went perfectly — you and Haechan had natural chemistry that shone through the Romeo and Juliet facade. As soon as the show ended, curtains closed, Haechan pulled you into one of the supply closets.

“Haechan, it smells in here,” you whined.

“Be my girlfriend,” he blurted out.

“What?”

“S-sorry, will you be my girlfriend?”

“I-… Haechan, I don’t know. High school relationships are pointless. I don’t want to get into anything and then end up hurting you in the end.”

“You won’t hurt me. I like you a lot, and you like me too, I know you do. You just don’t want to admit it. But you drive me crazy, Y/N. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, and if I don’t get to be the only boy to kiss you, I think I’ll actually lose it.”

“These violent delights have violent ends,” you said in response.

“Please,” Haechan whispered.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes. I will be your girlfriend,” you said.

Haechan lets out a sigh of relief before bringing you close to him and pressing a series of kisses all over your face. “Thank you, thank you, I love you.”

“Haechan!” You whined, hitting him lightly on the chest. “You can’t say that, you don’t know if you love me. You’ve never been in love before, you don’t know what love is.”

“I don’t want to know what love is if it isn’t with you.”

“That was cheesy.”

“Did it make you feel something, though?”

“I think I feel more when you’re reciting Shakespeare to me.”

“Oh, sweet Juliet, thy beauty hath made me effeminate, and —”

“— I was kidding. I like when you’re cheesy. Can we please leave this supply closet? It smells.”

You wished Haechan had listened to you that day in the supply closet, and understood that these violent delights really do have violent ends. That nothing good could come out of a high school relationship, that one of you — or the both of you — would end up hurt. But he was too eager, and he didn’t listen.

The first 6 months were perfect. It was everything you could have hoped for, and Haechan was so sweet. He made sure that you were taken care of at all times, that you never felt sad, cold, or hungry. He was absolutely obsessed with you. And you, him. You made sure to give Haechan all the love that your body could give, all the attention he deserves, and all the kisses you could physically stand.

But after a while, Haechan’s attention was too much. You loved that he was so devoted to you, but you had other responsibilities. You had to study for exams, you had to begin your college applications, study for college entrance exams, and continue to do drama. Haechan was nothing short of overwhelming, and when he mentioned something about wanting to marry you in passing during dinner, you finally broke.

“I can’t do that, Haechan,” you said suddenly.

“Well yeah, obviously we’re still young bu— did you just call me Haechan?” He asked, tilting his head in confusion. “You only call me Haechan when you’re upset. Did I do something wrong?”

“I - … I’m sorry, Haechan. I can’t do this.”

“But—”

“— This isn’t what I want anymore. I- … I don’t think this is ever what I wanted.”

“Are you… are you—” Haechan began, bottom lip trembling and tears brimming in his eyes like he was a baby. He couldn’t bring himself to say the words, afraid of what you would say, but you nodded your head, and he began to cry freely.

“I told you in the beginning, Haechan. Dating in high school is pointless. I told you I was going to end up hurting you, fuck.”

“Y/N—”

“— I’m sorry,” you said, standing up suddenly, bumping into the kitchen table and causing your fork to fall on the floor with a loud clink. You grabbed your bag from the seat next to you, and were about slip his sweater off, but he stopped you.

“Just keep it. You’ll be cold,” Haechan said, gaze falling to the table in front of him. You nodded and left. And just as quickly as you had become Haechan’s girlfriend, you were out of his life. The first month after your breakup was difficult for both of you — difficult for you because you had to grow accustom to daily life without Haechan, and difficult for him because he was still in love with you. But neither of you showed it. At school, you were calm and collected; Haechan was loud and rude. After you broke up, rumors went around that Haechan was hooking up with half of the girl’s volleyball team. But you didn’t care — you broke up with him, why would you care about who he’s with now? All you wanted was to graduate and get into a good college.

And you did: you graduated with one of the highest GPAs in your senior class, and got into your dream college. But the only problem was: so did Haechan. Despite being heartbroken by the way you broke up with him as if he meant nothing to you, he continued to do well in school and completed all his college applications. You were your senior class’s valedictorian — but so was Haechan. You were going to be attending Yonsei University the next year — but so was Haechan. No matter how hard you tried to avoid him, you and Haechan were meant to be in each other’s lives.

Picture this: it’s 4 years later, and you are a junior in college. Since your high school graduation, you and Haechan butted heads at all given moments. Any time you had a class together, you argued as if there was no one else in the room. Any time you ran into each other at house parties, you tried to outdrink each other and it always ended with both of you passed out in the living room of whoever’s house you were in. It was a never-ending battle, constant push and pull between you and Haechan. And today is no different.

You sit in the middle of the cafeteria, shoveling your lunch into mouth as you cram for the exam you have in an hour. You look over your notes repeatedly, closing your eyes for a second as you feel an oncoming headache. When you open your eyes again, you see Haechan sitting across from you with his head in his hands, smiling at you.

You let out a groan. “What do you want?”

“Can I sit next to you during the exam?”

“Are you kidding me, Haechan? Study for once in your fucking life. You know, in high school—”

“— Don’t do that. I’m not the same person I was in high school.”

“I know. In high school, you were actually nice and cared about other’s feelings. And now…” You take a second to look at Haechan up and down before letting out a laugh. “Now, you’re just a self-obsessed asshole who uses people to get what they want, and can’t remember the name of half the girls he gets in his bed.”

“Why would I try to remember their names when they’ll never be you, baby?”

“Gross. Don’t call me that, Haechan. You’re a piece of shit.”

“You wanna kiss me so bad,” Haechan says with a laugh.

You scoff. “Been there, done that, and never going to do it again.”

Haechan pretends to be hurt, clutching his chest with one of his hands and leaning back a bit. “Ow, owwwww. You hurt me, baby. So what do you say? You let me sit next to you during the exam, and then later tonight you sit on my di—”

You splash water in Haechan’s face before getting up. You watch as the water drips down his face and smile. “Get your shit together, Haechan.” You leave without saying another word.

During the exam, Haechan sits next to you despite your obvious annoyance. You can feel him staring over your shoulder at your exam, and just to spite him, you get half of the answers wrong. You’ll just beg your professor to let you retake the exam in two weeks, but for now, you’re going to fuck with Haechan. Once you finish your exam, you turn it in with a whispered “sorry” to your professor and leave the classroom. Haechan is hot on your heels, turning his exam in seconds after you and running out to you in the hallway.

“Y/N! Wait up!” Haechan calls. He reaches his hand out and grabs your wrist, and you turn around to look at him.

“Dude, let me go. What do you want?” You try to shake Haechan off but his grip on your wrist tightens.

“What are you doing tonight?”

You glare at him instead of responding. Honestly, you didn’t have anything to do. You were probably going to sit in your apartment, order take out, and watch TV all night. He looks into your eyes, and your gaze softens.

“Johnny is throwing a party tonight, will you come?” Haechan asks.

“Johnny? You’re still friends with him?” You scoff. “Why would I want to go to a party Johnny is throwing? Don’t you remember what happened last time I went to a party Johnny threw?”

Haechan thinks back to the first, and only, time that you attended a party thrown by Johnny. It was Johnny’s 21st birthday, and his parents left for the weekend, allowing him to throw a one-of-a-kind signature Johnny Suh rager. You and Haechan were only sixteen, had only been dating for a few weeks, and he took you to get to know his friends. Within a few hours of being there, you had drank entirely too much and were passed out on top of Haechan on Johnny’s couch. Haechan wasn’t even drunk — he was scared that he wouldn’t be able to take care of you if he had drank, and there were tons of boys at the party who were much older than you, and much stronger than him.

You slept peacefully on top of Haechan — your head resting on his chest, arms on either side of him, as you drooled right onto Haechan’s shirt. His fingers ran through your hair and he laughed at the way you slept through the loud music and Johnny’s rowdy frat boy friends.

“Haechan-ah, come play a game of beer pong! I can’t play without my partner,” Jaehyun, one of Johnny’s friends, said as he walked into the living room.

“You’re going to have to play without me,” Haechan said, placing a kiss on the top of your head. “She drank too much and now she’s knocked out cold.” Jaehyun walked out of the living room without a second thought, and you rustled on top of Haechan.

“Shhh, baby, go back to sleep,” Haechan said, as quietly as he can over the loud music.

“Mmm, baby, I don’t feel so good,” you said, sitting up and letting out a hiccup.

“Let’s get you to the bathroom, baby, c’mon. I don’t want you to throw up on the couch.”

You nodded, but unfortunately did not make it to the bathroom. Instead, you threw up half on the couch and half on Haechan’s lap. Haechan just stared at you with wide eyes as you groaned, and dropped your head into your lap. “Fuck, I’m sorry, Haechannie, oh my god,” you whined.

Haechan let out a laugh at your doubled over figure and patted your head.

“Don’t laugh at me,” you said.

“God, I’m so in love with you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Even when you’re drunk and vomiting you feel the need to remind me that I don’t know what love is. I think I do, though. Let’s go upstairs, I’m going to clean all of this and then take you home,” Haechan responded.

That night, Haechan learned what love is. You threw up in his lap, and he wasn’t disgusted. He didn’t feel the need to leave you there, or embarrass you for what happened. If that wasn’t love, then what is? Haechan liked to take care of you. His young sixteen year old heart wanted to take care of you for the rest of his life. Truth be told, he never thought he would lose you. But now here you are, standing in front of him in the middle of the hallway outside of your lecture hall, and he feels like he’s looking at a stranger.

“Yeah, I remember what happened,” Haechan says. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“It was awful, Haechan! I threw up on you. I’m not going to another one of Johnny’s parties just to end up throwing up on someone. Sorry,” you respond, slipping your hand out of Haechan’s grip and walking away.

Haechan wasn’t too upset over your rejection — he knew that you would show up anyway. You were that kind of person, even if you disliked someone, if your presence was wanted, you would be there. You walk into Johnny’s parents’ home at around 9 p.m., looking around to see if there was anyone you know. As expected, the only people you knew in the room was Haechan, Johnny, and a few of Johnny’s former frat boy friends. Despite not knowing anyone there, you still refused to hang out with Haechan.

He locked eyes with you the minute you walked into the living room, and you made a b-line to the kitchen before he could speak to you. You poured a few shots, immediately taking them and hissing at the sting in your throat. It’d been a while since you had drank any alcohol, and you were determined to not throw up on anyone tonight. You can feel Haechan’s eyes on you as you walk through the party, walking back into the living room and standing in the corner watching people dance. The music isn’t too bad, but there’s no one to dance with. Haechan’s gaze is stern and uncomfortable as he watches another man approach you.

“Do you wanna dance?” The boy asks loudly, competing with the music. You recognize him as one of Johnny’s old friends, but you can’t quite place his name. He’s not entirely ugly, which is good enough for you. You give him a nod, a “sure” just as loud as his question, and walk into the middle of the living room with him to dance. He places his hands on your waist, and you place your hands on his shoulder as you dance together. From the corner of your eye, you can see Haechan watching carefully as you dance pressed closely to this boy.

“So, what’s your—” The boy starts, but you quickly cut him off.

“No talking, just dancing,” you say, pressing a finger to his lips. You feel him smile against your lips and you smile in return, pulling your finger back. A few minutes after this interaction, he speaks again.

“Do you want a drink?”

You nod. “Sure! Just get me whatever. I’m going to go to the bathroom, okay?”

You make your way into the bathroom and sigh as you walk in. The last time you were in this house was the night you threw up on Haechan. You’d avoided coming back to this house at all costs, not wanting to be reminded of the time you spent with Haechan, but you felt the need to come after he asked you. He seemed sad when talking to you in the hallway, which is something you hadn’t seen since you broke up with him, and your guilt brought you all the way to this godforsaken party.

Downstairs, the boy you’d been dancing with makes his way to the drink table in the kitchen. Haechan tries to keep an eye on him as he pours you a drink, but it’s difficult as he’s being forced into playing a game of beer pong with Jaehyun, Johnny, and Johnny’s girlfriend.

“Haechan, you should’ve had your girlfriend play with us,” Johnny says, tearing Haechan’s gaze away from the drink table.

“Huh?” Haechan responds.

“I think he’s talking about Y/N,” Jaehyun says, giving Haechan a pat on the head.

“Dude, she hasn’t been my girlfriend for four years,” Haechan says with a scowl on his face, throwing one of the ping-pong balls at Johnny’s face. It bounces off his cheek and lands in one of the cups. Johnny quickly empties the cup before discarding it on the floor.

“My bad, I thought you guys were still together because you talk about how in love you are with her,” Johnny responds.

“I mean, I still am, but you don’t have to remind me we’re not together like that.” Haechan looks away from Johnny, back to the drink table, but he doesn’t see the boy you were dancing with anymore. He groans before returning back to the game in front of him.

Back in the living room, you sit on the couch as you wait for the boy to return. He comes back, sitting next to you and slipping an arm over your shoulders and handing you the plastic cup.

“I didn’t know what you wanted, so I mixed some vodka and soda if that’s alright with you? I can go get something different if you want.”

“This is good!” You say, sniffing the cup and holding back a gag. “God, this smells awful. I love it.” You quickly knock back the drink, setting the plastic cup on the table next to the couch. The boy begins talking your ear off, telling you about his studies and school life, and you try to listen as best as you can. You don’t know if it’s the alcohol, or the lack of interest in his story, but you find it difficult to continue listening to his stories. Your vision becomes blurry, you lose feeling in your hands and feet, and then next thing you know — you’re completely knocked out.

Haechan is watching carefully, and he feels his stomach drop when he sees you slump onto the boy. He knows something isn’t right, and he’s about to walk into the living room to check on you when Jaehyun pulls him back.

“We have to play another round,” Jaehyun says, slurring his words and holding Haechan close. Haechan is afraid to look away from you, but Jaehyun keeps pestering him.

“Jaehyun, I really have something I have to go do—” Haechan says, immediately cut off by more of Jaehyun’s drunk blabbering. Haechan’s hands are sweating, and he can practically feel the blood coursing through his veins. Haechan tries to shift away from Jaehyun, but even when he’s drunk he’s much stronger than him, and Jaehyun pulls him back towards the table. Haechan, frustrated, pushes Jaehyun off him and slams him into the wall behind him.

“Dude, I told you, I have something I have to fucking do,” Haechan spits. Johnny’s eyes go wide at Haechan’s sudden outburst, and Johnny’s girlfriend checks to make sure Jaehyun is okay. Jaehyun looks pissed, to say the least, but Haechan walks away before he can hit back. You’re nowhere to be seen in the living room, and Haechan curses underneath his breath.

He sees Jeno, a boy that you were briefly involved with last year, and he approaches him. “Can you do me a favor, Jeno? I saw Y/N with some guy earlier, and I think he might’ve put something in her drink, can you go look for her upstairs? I’m going to go check outside for her.”

“You got it. I’ll call you if she comes up,” Jeno says, peeling himself away from the girl who was with him and heading up the stairs of Johnny’s parent’s home. Haechan runs outside, nervous as ever.

“C’mon, God, do me a favor and please don’t let Y/N die tonight, please,” Haechan pleads, walking out into the street and seeing the boy you had been talking to walking with you thrown over his shoulder. He runs down the street towards you two, grabbing onto the back of the guy’s shirt and stopping him from going any forward.

He turns around, confused, and raises an eyebrow at Haechan.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Haechan asks, gripping tightly on his shirt.

“I’m going home, dude, mind your own business.”

“Yeah, with my girlfriend. Put her down, dude.”

“Your girlfriend? I think you’re mistaken, this is my best friend. She felt sick, so I’m taking her home.”

“Dude, you’re not going anywhere. Put her down.”

Haechan reaches into his pocket with his other hand, pulling his phone out and quickly dialing Jeno’s number. Jeno picks up after the first ring and Haechan says: “Jeno, can you come meet me down the street from Johnny’s house? Now. Bring Johnny, too. Thanks.” He stuffs his phone back into his pocket. “C’mon, let her go. She’s not even awake.”

“She’s just feeling sick, that’s all,” the boy says.

Haechan reaches out with his other hand, pulling tightly on your hair and your head just flops over. “She didn’t even react, and she hates getting her hair pulled. I would know, I’ve been in love with her for the last four years.”

In that moment, Jeno rushes down the street with Johnny right behind him.

“Mind your own fucking business, dude, let it go.” The boy spits back. Haechan scoffs and raises his fist to punch him in the face, but Johnny beats him to it. The guy falls back, with you still in his arms, and Haechan lurches forward to pick you up and separate you from the boy. He drags you onto the front lawn of Johnny’s neighbor’s home, while Johnny takes care of the guy.

“Y/N?” Haechan asks, worry etched on his face as he pushes the hair out of your face. You don’t react, don’t even make a noise, and Haechan fears you’re not even breathing anymore. But as he presses his hand to your heart, and feels your faint heartbeat, he lets out a sigh of relief. “Jeno, call an ambulance. Now.” Jeno calls and Haechan sighs. “Y/N, I’m sorry for sticking my fingers in your mouth, but you need to get this out of your system.”

Haechan sits on the grass, sitting you in his lap, holding your head with one hand and shoving two fingers into your mouth. You gag slightly at first, and Haechan pushes his fingers deeper. You gag again, before doubling over and throwing up on the grass. Haechan holds your hair back as you empty the contents of your stomach, body shaking and tears in your eyes. You cough repeatedly, fingers digging into the dirt. You can hear sirens in the distance, and you fall onto your back on the grass.

Hours later — or maybe days? — you are blinded by a bright white light. Oh my god, am I dying? you think.

“Oh my god, you’re alive,” you hear from a familiar voice. You squint, turning to the side and seeing Haechan next to your bed with his hand in yours. You look down, and see yourself draped in a hospital gown, and an IV carefully placed in your arm. You pull your hand away from Haechan’s and place it in your lap.

“What happened? How long have I been asleep?” you ask quietly.

“Hmm, like 12 hours maybe? You were talking to some guy at Johnny’s party, and he slipped something in your drink and tried to take you from the party. Don’t worry, though, I got him good,” Haechan responds.

“No you didn’t,” Johnny says from the door, startling you. He walks in, handing a bag of take-out to Haechan who places it on the table next to your bed. “Haechan froze. But I actually did get him good.”

“Duuuude,” Haechan groans. “You couldn’t at least let me look sorta cool?”

“Sorry, buddy,” Johnny responds, ruffling the hair atop Haechan’s had. Haechan smooths the hair back down and sighs. “Please eat something, Y/N. You need to recover quickly. You too, Haechan.” Johnny flicks Haechan on the forehead, letting out a giggle, before leaving the room.

There’s an uncomfortable silence in the room when Johnny leaves and you are the one to break it. “Did I really get my drink spiked?”

Haechan nods, opening the bag of food and beginning to take things out. You feel tears brimming in your eyes, and you start sniffling. He looks away from the food and towards you for a moment. “Are you okay?”

As soon as the Haechan asks the question, you burst into tears. You place your head in your hands as you sob, and Haechan stands frozen. In all the time he’s known you — when he was your boyfriend, and even when he wasn’t — Haechan has never seen you crying so violently.

“H-Haechan, can I ask you something?” You say, between choked sobs. He nods again. “Why are you the way you are?”

“The way I am?”

“Y-you’re so self-absorbed, you act like you’re better than everyone else, and you use people, and I don’t f-fucking g-get it,” you say, trying to breathe through the crying and ranting. “You used to be s-so sweet in high school, but now… now… you’re so different.” You take a deep breath. “You’re not the Haechan I fell in love with.”

Haechan lets out a sigh. “I’m like this because of you.”

“Don’t blame me for you becoming such an a—”

“— Why not? You are to blame. You broke up with me out of nowhere, with no explanation, and pretended we never dated afterwards. I didn’t exist to you. That sticks with you.”

“You’re still hung up on high school?” You ask in disbelief. You wipe the tears from your eyes.

“Hung up? Hung up? You really think I’m just hung up on high school? Y/N — I loved you. I really did. I mean, I do, but — you really thought I wasn’t capable of understanding what love is at sixteen, but I knew it damn well. I was so absolutely in love with you, ready to give up everything for you,” Haechan says. The tears begin falling down your face again. “You broke my heart and didn’t even give me a fucking explanation, and that ruined me. You could’ve at least told me you didn’t love me anymore, or that I fucking sucked, or something. But the fact that you didn’t say anything was so much worse. I haven’t been able to love anyone since.”

You nod as you listen to Haechan’s words and the tears fall freely down your face. Haechan gets up to leave the room, but you reach out for his hand and stop him. Your head hangs low, and your grip on his hand is loose, he could slip out so easily, but he stops. “I’m sorry, Haechannie, I’m so sorry. Please don’t go… I-I didn’t realize I hurt you so bad, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Haechan whispers, back still turned towards you. You move closer to the edge of the bed, wrapping your arms around his waist and placing your forehead on his back. You tremble as you cry, tears and snot wetting the back of Haechan’s shirt, and he places his hands on yours.

“It’s not okay, Haechan, I ruined you and made you someone you aren’t. That’s awful, I’m so so sorry.”

“Stop crying,” Haechan says, sternly. You hold your breath for a second in the hopes that it’ll stop the tears, but you let out another choked sob and grip onto Haechan tighter.

“Please don’t leave, I’m sorry.”

“Baby, stop crying.”

“D-don’t call me that,” you say, sniffling. “I don’t deserve it.” Haechan peels your hands off him, sitting on the bed next to you and pulling you into his arms. You bury your face in the crook of his neck and hold tightly onto his shirt.

“Y/N, it’s okay. Let’s just pretend it never happened, okay? We can start over. I’ll be better, too.”

You shake your head ‘no’ as best as you can. “I don’t deserve another chance, you should just leave me here.”

“You’re right, you don’t deserve one. But I don’t care about all that. I want you to have one.”

“Do you still love me?” you ask quietly. If Haechan hadn’t been sitting so close to you, he would’ve missed it.

“So much that it hurts. Wanna hear something funny?” Haechan lets out a laugh. “At the party, Johnny thought you were still my girlfriend because I’m always talking about you. He just assumed that we’d been dating the last four years, I guess he missed the 6 month period where I was absolutely heartbroken over you.”

You giggle. “That is funny, I suppose.”

“Can I ask you something, Y/N?”

“I feel like you’re going to ask me even if I say no.”

“You know me so well… Do you think you could ever love me again?”

“My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep. The more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite,” you recite.

“Really? You’re going to quote Romeo and Juliet to me?”

“How could I not? I had the perfect Romeo, I’m going to have these lines engraved in my brain forever,” you say, pressing a kiss to his neck. “I’m sorry for hurting you.”

“It’s okay, I get it.”

“Stop saying that it’s okay. It’s not,” you say, pulling yourself away from Haechan to look at him in the eyes. Your makeup is everywhere, hair a mess, but Haechan still thinks you are so beautiful. Your hand reaches out to pat his head and he smiles slightly. “You can’t keep saying ‘it’s okay’ because it’s not okay, Haechan. When someone apologizes to you, you have to say ‘I accept your apology.’ If you tell them it’s okay, then they’re going to think it’s okay to hurt you, and they’ll just do it again.”

“Well, then, I accept your apology.”

“That’s better,” you say with a smile.

“So we’re going to be in each other’s lives again? Just like that?” Haechan asks.

“Unfortunately, I think our souls are intertwined forever. You’re stuck with me for life.”

96 notes · View notes

butwhatifidothis · 3 years

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Damn, does the writers waste Claude's potential. How about his support with Ingrid? Someone who has the crest his advisor shares the last name with, and part of a family that broke off from the Alliance to the Kingdom. The same Kingdom that the nobles wanted independence from? Or, how about gauging her xenophobia, since his main goal is to bridge both of his heritages, and maybe use the other foreign nations as stepping stones as ridding prejudices? No, just inferior Sylvain/Ingrid? Damn it all.

...Alrighty there anon you had me checkin’ my drafts to make sure I didn’t accidentally post the thing I’m workin’ on rn because it’s all about Claude’s wasted potential lmao had me sweatin’.

Got long so under the cut

But yeah, Claude’s supports with Ingrid are some of my least favorite in the game because of the big flashing opportunity IntSys had to make Ingrid’s hatred for Duscurians something more than a “ahh let’s just have one support deal with this, I’m sure only Dedue would have any problem with this”. Dimitri is also fine with his childhood friend hating another close friend of his just because of their race, I guess. I get it, you don’t want a repeat of FEA/Fates where a character has That One Trait that keeps getting brought up in nearly every support convo, but like... this is kinda big?? Ingrid has supports with two of the biggest opponents of discriminatory thought, one of them directly related to the people she hates, and it’s just... never brought up by either of them.

The only reason I give the Dimitri/Ingrid supports a pass somewhat is because what we get is still interesting, but my god her supports with Claude are just... bland. Uninteresting. The same basic “You act too much like [x] you should be [y]/Nooo wait you were better as [x] you’re fine the way you are” shtick with barely any twist or originality whatsoever.

To spoil some of that post I’m doing, I was thinking that this is actually a perfect opportunity to see some hints of Almyra’s culture? Hear me out: Claude says that cringey “You should smile more” line (after re-working it to be less... so demeaning - Claude is rarely so blatantly rude so it’s always felt strange to see that here, it’s like the writers forgot they weren’t writing Sylvain sometimes in this support) and Ingrid reacts the same way as she does, but instead of Ingrid continuing on from that, have Claude... be confused. Have that saying be cringey and demeaning to Fodlani people, but not Almyrans. Have him say something like “Whoa, did I say something wrong?” and genuinely mean it. Have Ingrid be mad and go along the lines of “Oh, you know what you said, don’t even try to play stupid!” but Claude’s just like... what.

Because look, the guy’s only been in Fodlan for a year! And it seems like most of that time was spent in some form of politics - we never hear otherwise and we know how actually busy Claude is working on his dream. Some things about casual Fodlan culture are sure to fall through the cracks when he’s actually living in it and not just being told how Fodlan is like, which is something I desperately wished 3H explored more. Think of it like a “you shouldn’t shake hands with a firm grip” sort of cultural difference. So from this point in the supports we can hear from Claude some things about Almyra as a response to some of the things Ingrid accuses him of: A noble doesn’t yawn in public? Well, maybe her nobles don’t, but that’s not to say that’s the same everywhere (wink wink nudge nudge), something along those lines. We can also see Ingrid’s reaction to these differing culture ideals: Confusion over how different it is? Curiosity over want knighthood entails for other cultures? A positive or negative reaction? I wanna see that!

Hell, we already kinda have that - Claude meditating in the morning is a legitimate practice of Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion originating in what is now Iran (to give a basic description, to say the least), which Almyra is partly based off of, for example. This isn’t the first time something related to Zoroastrianism is brought up with Claude, as seen with Annette’s supports (the fire ritual he describes closely mirrors the Chaharshanbe Suri, a practice of Zoroastrianism that celebrates the spirits of the dead - again, to oversimplify it), so it’s likely this is something Claude genuinely does and is genuinely part of Almyran culture.

Give us more shit like that! Or focus on her hatred of Duscurians and how Claude reacts to seeing that kind of hate up close! Or give us more Judith/ Kingdom and Alliance lore! That’s three topics this support could have chosen to focus on that are infinitely more interesting from a character and lore point than the played-out trope we’re given - but on the other hand, like, even that had potential to go somewhere! Claude and Ingrid pointing out the other’s flaws and genuinely trying to fix that part of themselves but failing despite their earnest efforts could have been something! There’s a reason people like that trope! But they both just give up and the support cops out with the “you’re perfect the way you were :)” when no they weren’t! They pointed out legit flaws! Claude does come across as empty and dishonest even when he’s trying not to and that lowers people’s view of him! Ingrid does come across as self-righteous even when she doesn’t mean to and that pushes people away from her! Those are not quirky lil’ personality traits, they actively harm their relationships with others! But nope, Claude and Ingrid have to have the “cute” relationship of bumbling husband and nagging wife but oh neve you worry they have kids so it’s totally a loving relationship (which is what their ending depicts them as - fun fact, this is the only ending Claude has that mentions him having kids!), so they couldn’t dare, oh I dunno, help each other develop past their flaws or anything. Ingrid couldn’t help Claude come across as more earnest (because if there’s one thing Ingrid is it’s that she’s extremely honest) and Claude couldn’t help Ingrid relax some, no they had to reenact a dynamic you’d see on fucking George Lopez

Just... yeah. Wish something better was done with them.

#ask #anon #will always be peeved at this support #so many things they could have gone with and they made these two an annoying sitcom couple #what a waste

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holdin-out-for-a-hero · 4 years

Text

Creep- FFVII Biggs X Reader Ch.12/?

Summary: You get on the wrong side of one of Corneo’s men and now you have a target on your back

A/N: I’m so sorry this chapter took so long! Ever since the pandemic I’ve lost all concept of time and it still doesn’t register with me that chapter 11 was posted over a month ago. I can no longer promise that you’ll get weekly updates, but that is my goal. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter! its the longest one so far. Any and all feedback is appreciated and it helps me become a better writer!

You, Biggs, Jessie, Tifa, and Wedge were sitting down at the table in Avalanche's hideout, listening intently as Barrett spoke. That is, everybody but Tifa.

She had just lost her childhood friend, and though she tried really hard to act like nothing was wrong, to carry on for everyone else's sake, she wasn't very convincing. Her stare was blank and every once in a while she'd tear up, looking anywhere but people's eyes as she fought them down. The group tried to comfort her, but she kept insisting she was fine.

This was the meeting you had been waiting for, the meeting where you'd figure out what to do about the men looking for both you and Barrett. You had already volunteered to go check out the Corneo mansion and finish the business with your little stalker, but so far that's been pushed aside or discouraged. You understood their hesitancy, but you also couldn't spend another day with the fear of a stalker hanging over your head. You couldn't stand to live like this anymore, and if you met him up at the mansion, you'd be much more prepared than if he found you. There would also be the element of surprise on your side.

"I asked some of guys in the watch about this Corneo character. Apparently he's the crimelord who runs Wall Market. I'm sure you've all heard the rumors about him," Barrett took slow, paced steps as he spoke.

"See? Another reason you shouldn't let Y/N go in there!" Biggs added. Barrett stopped in his tracks, staring the man down. So far, Biggs has interrupted the meeting a number of times to share his distaste for your involvement in any plans.

"Will you let me finish?" He barked. Biggs slid back into his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

"So why is he interested in you?" You asked, ending the tense silence.

"I'm not sure of anything, but I think we all know why he's interested. Depending on his intentions and his loyalties, this Corneo guy might become a real problem for us."

"You think he might be working for Shinra?" Jessie spoke up.

"Can't be sure without proof."

"You think they're all in on it? All his goons?" You asked, "Maybe that's why one of 'em picked me on the train. Maybe he knew I was part of it. Maybe that's why he's... well, stalking me."

"No. He picked on you on the train because you were a pretty girl sitting right across from him. He's stalking you cause you almost knocked his lights out. You probably embarrassed him." Biggs said.

"Hold on, I embarrassed him? He embarrassed me!"

"He cowered in his seat while Biggs dragged you away. I'm sure it embarrassed him." Jessie said

"Probably hurt his pride or something. He seems like the kind of guy who wouldn't let the little things go, so if he thinks you slighted him on the train, he's gonna fight dirty by bringing his little crew to terrorize you," Biggs leaned further back into his chair.

"The nerve of that guy..." you seethed, "he knows he's not scary alone so he gets a group of men to come intimidate me."

"Or who knows, some of the other people on the train could've let him have it once you left the car. Maybe that's why he's upset." Wedge added.

"Really? Cause they didn't seem to stand up for me when I needed it," your voice trailed off, leading to a momentary pause in the conversation.

"Now tell me, what exactly did this guy say to you on the train?" Barrett asked, you fidgeted in your seat as the memories you tried to repress were starting to creep back in.

"Nothing I want to repeat."

"You've got to give me the details," Barrett said, urgent but not demanding.

"Well, I was sweaty because of the mission and he... commented about that. Then he said something about taking me to guy in Wall Market. I'm guessing he meant Corneo. He called me property and then we started arguing. Biggs tried to take me out of the car, then he made a comment about my ass and that's when I swung at him."

Barrett had finally sat down at the table and was listening intently. His usual hard-ass demeanor had vanished, and instead he appeared sensitive to your problem. You appreciated it, as well as the fact that he never yelled at you for getting into this mess. It still didn't make sense, though. He always yelled when people did something stupid. So why were you an exception?

"And what about yesterday?" He asked.

"Well, he and his little gang surrounded me, Jessie, Biggs, and they started harassing us. He told me I was lucky cause he was busy looking for you. Apparently Corneo put him up to it. He said I should watch out for now on, 'cause that's what a bitch gets" you paused, "Jessie asked what we could do to get them to stop, he said only I could make it stop. He told me to meet him at the Corneo mansion, said something about a truce. I don't know what he's planning but I've got to do something. I don't think he even expects me to come. I think this is the only chance to get an upper hand on him."

"I don't think that's a good idea, y/n," Wedge spoke up.

"What other options do we have? Sit and wait around to see what business Corneo has with Barrett and see what that creep wants to do with me? We can kill two birds with one stone if I can get in there."

"No, Y/N, that's a bad idea," Biggs warned.

"What if we sent someone else in there?" Wedge suggested.

"For Barrett, that might work. But I've got to face that dirtbag myself, he won't speak to anyone else."

"And what do you think you're gonna do once you get in there, huh? Kill a man in front of his boss? Or just give 'em a little warning? How do you expect this little plan of yours to work out?" Barrett's sensitive disposition dropped.

"I.... I don't know"

"See, you don't even have a plan! Now there's no way I'm letting you go in there alone!"

"... I'll go with her," Tifa spoke up. She had been silent most of the meeting, her mind far away from this place. Her sudden inclusion in the conversation surprised all of you.

"What?" Biggs did a double take.

"Are you sure you're up for it?" You whispered to her, and she nodded yes. Barrett simply watched the woman, hand holding his chin in thought.

"And I think I have a plan, too." She added. The room was silent for a moment. Biggs couldn't shake his shocked expression; Jessie and Wedge glanced at each other, they knew his surprise would soon turn aggressive. Barrett looked between you and Tifa, eyebrows furrowed.

"You're not seriously thinking about this, are you?" Biggs stood up from his chair.

"And what if I am?" Barrett said, giving Biggs a long and intimidating look.

"... With me and Y/N's skills combined, we won't have anything to worry about." Tifa said.

"They could take on a damn army..." Jessie muttered.

"No, no, absolutely not! There's no way I'm letting either of you go in there!" Biggs butted in again, he could be such a stubborn pain when he wanted to.

"We're not asking for your permission!" You said to him.

"Shut the hell up!" Barrett yelled, causing everyone to silence, "I'll think it over. In the meantime, meeting's over."

Everyone got up to leave, but before Biggs could exit with the rest of the team, Barrett grabbed onto his shoulder.

"We gotta have a talk."

Biggs sighed, arms crossed against his chest as the he waited for everyone else to go back up to the bar. Then, once they were all gone, he turned back to Barrett.

"It seems you've forgotten who's boss around here..." Barrett began, voice a low growl, "and your little playground crush on Y/N is really starting to get on my nerves."

"Crush? So because I'm worried for her safety it means I have a crush on her?" Biggs fired back. He was pissed, he's been pissed since the day on the train. And now it was beginning to bubble over.

"Don't you dare insinuate I'm not thinking 'bout her safety, cause I sure as hell am."

"Then why are you thinking about sending her into Corneo's? Huh? You think she's gonna be safe there?"

"Never said I was. I wouldn't send her or Tifa into any situation I didn't think they could handle."

"But you're thinking about it."

"That's right, I am thinking about it," Barrett snapped, "You need to get it into that thick skull of yours that I am the one who makes decisions around here. What I say goes."

Biggs' cocky attitude fell away when he realized he crossed a line. Barrett wasn't playing. This wasn't just a heated discussion, this was serious. And when it came to handling Barrett, there was only one way to go about this: stand down.

"Y/N is not yours to control or protect. She's capable of handling herself," he stated firmly, voice a low growl. Somehow me managed to make it scarier than his yelling, "Now whatever decision I make, you better keep your mouth shut about it. Do I make myself clear?"

Biggs was caught off guard by the intensity of Barrett's stare, but he regained his composure and shook his head.

"Yes sir," he said. Barrett kept the man's gaze a second longer before grunting and nodding; a wordless dismissal.

Biggs turned and walked away, knowing full well that his boss's eyes were following him. He took a step onto the elevator platform, facing away from Barrett.

"Tell Tifa and Y/N to come down here next." Barrett said, same tone as before.

Biggs shut his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and biting his tongue.

"Yes sir."

——————————————————————

You, Tifa, and Biggs approached the small chocobo stable in sector 6. It was on the very edge of wall market, the creep's stomping ground. If you and Biggs were caught out here, you'd be screwed, so you tried your best to lay low. You had borrowed some of Jessie's clothes and styled your hair differently to try and disguise yourself, Biggs did something similar.

Just ahead of you was a bearded man tending to a chocobo. He wore a cowboy hat and leather vest; the typical uniform of a Chocobo carriage driver, but he wasn't just an ordinary worker. He ran the entire business. Chocobo Sam, you remembered. He had made a real name for himself in the slums, being an entrepreneur and all... but that wasn't it. He was also known for his ties to Corneo, Tifa had told you, and apparently he was one of the few who could grant you access to the Don.

He looked up from his brushing, eyes intense as he scrutinized you and Tifa. Your breath caught in your throat. Not another creep...

"Need somethin'?" He asked, eyebrows furrowed at Biggs, staring at him as though he were the leader of your group. Oh, how far from the truth that was.

"Yeah, you're Sam, right?" You asked, voice a hushed whisper. Even though there weren't many people around, you weren't taking your chances. He seemed to get the hint, stepping closer to you and crossing his arms.

"And what if I am? What your business here?" He drawled, voice a soft growl.

"We heard you could help us see Don Corneo," Tifa said. He looked the both of you up and down, taking a little too long to do so. Biggs cleared his throat and the man stopped.

"I can't help you," he said to Biggs, "But you two are a different story. I could get one of you girls into an audition tonight."

"Just one of us?" Tifa asked.

"Audition?" Biggs also asked, but was ignored.

"Now that I think about it... I don't think the other two have anyone in mind. I think I could get you both in. You girls are right up his alley."

"What? The hell is this audition for?" Biggs asked again, this time too loud to be ignored.

"Well..." Sam started, his voice hushed, "its an audition to be Corneo's bride for the night."

Biggs face went slack as he stared at the man.

"So this is a sex ring."

"Keep your voice down, man!" Sam whispered, giving Biggs a look before scanning the surrounding area for any onlookers.

"Uh uh. No fucking way," Biggs said, grabbing both you and tifa's arms, pulling you away from the stable, "No way I'm letting either of you in there!"

"C'mon, you know we can handle this!" You yanked your arm out of his grasp

"Not with how you've been freezing up lately! Remember yesterday?"

"We were surrounded! We weren't prepared last time. This time will be different. We have an actual plan, a solid one," You said.

"Did you two know this was a sex ring?" He asked, arms crossed over his chest.

"... It was part of the plan," Tifa admitted. Biggs let out an angry sigh, running a hand through his hair.

"I knew you'd react like this..." you muttered.

Tifa looked between the two, and sensing the tension, she took Biggs by the arm, leading him a few yards away.

"Do you trust me?" She asked, trying to initiate eye contact with him but he wouldn't look away from you. She sighed, even when he was pissed at you, he was still fiercely protective. Oh, he had it bad, "Biggs, Do you trust me?"

He finally looked back at her, noticing the serious look in her eyes.

"I do," he said, quickly glancing back to you and everyone in the vicinity.

"I will make sure she stays safe. I promise. But you've got to trust her, too. Can you do that?"

He hesitated to answer, and for a moment, Tifa thought that his lack of response was his response.

"I guess I don't have a say in this, do I?"

"Barret already approved of the mission..."

Tifa waited a moment for a response but never got one. She shook her head; Biggs rarely ever got this upset, but whenever he did he was unbearable.

She walked over to where you were still standing, gently grabbing your hand and leading you to Sam. She didn't have to look back to know Biggs was staring her down.

Sam turned towards the both of you again, and then he glanced behind you for a moment before meeting your gaze.

"We're in," Tifa said. He studied her expression a moment, and then yours.

"You sure you want in on this? I can't promise you'll be leaving that mansion anytime soon."

You looked over at Tifa to see her response, you didn't want to force her into something like this.

She looked turned to you and nodded.

"I'll send a carriage tonight at 9. Dress your best." —————————————- Tifa sorted through her closet for something nice enough to wear to a formal audition. You already had a dress picked out. Jessie let you borrow her only nice gown for the occasion; it was laying on tifa's bed as you stared at it. The dress was beautiful, but you mind wandered from the gown's delicate details to something you couldn't get out of your head...

You and Biggs hadn't spoken since the encounter with Sam, and though you were still a little angry, the thought of him being angry at you really pulled on your heartstrings. He's been your rock the past two days, always there with you and for you, holding you tight when you were scared... No, stop. That was the crush talking. No matter how hard you tried to be mad at him, that stupid crush wouldn't let you.

You hated to think you'd have to go through another pervert to end all of your pervert problems, but you couldn't live your life like this anymore. You didn't want to live in fear of those dirtbags and what would happen if they decided to visit you again. You shivered at the thought. Part of you wanted to stay away from him so badly, to avoid all of your problems and stick to hiding with Biggs. Deep down, though, you knew your problem wouldn't go away unless you did something about it.

That's what Biggs didn't get. Every waking moment you were on edge. You felt like you were going crazy, you couldn't even sleep anymore. You didn't have it in you to play the waiting game. And though your plan was risky, (probably more risky than you'd like to admit) you had come to terms with the fact that there was no safe or correct choice in this situation. You'd have to face him someday, so why not on your own terms.

"How about this one?" Tifa asked, pulling out a dark blue mini dress from her closet, holding it out for you to look at. Your eyes widened; It was a very sexy dress.

"If you wear that, he's definitely gonna pick you," you replied, looking back down at your dress. Yours was still alluring, just not to the level of Tifa's. Or maybe Tifa was just sexier than you. That was probably it.

"I don't know about that, I think you definitely have a chance too," she said, eyeing you from behind. You laughed.

"I'm serious, Y/N!" She said, "You're turning heads everywhere you go!"

"Yeah, and getting the wrong kind of attention," you admitted. And though it was a joke, your smile faded as you faced its bitter implications.

You picked up the dress from the bed, feeling it's material between you fingers, and then took it off the hanger. Uzipping the back, you stepped both legs into the gown and then pulled it up to your chest. You zipped the dress up half-way before realizing that you couldn't finish the job alone.

"Hey Tifa, can you help me out?" You asked. She stood in front of the mirror, trying to tie her dress up in the back.

"Yeah, give me a minute," she said, concentrating on the two ties that fastened behind the neck.

There was a knock on the door. You held your dress at the front to keep it from falling down as you headed over to the door. Looking through the peephole, you were both relieved and a little upset to see Biggs standing there.

"Who is it?" Tifa asked.

"It's Biggs." You said, "Should I open it?"

"Yeah, let him in."

You reluctantly opened the door, ushering him in with your one available hand before anyone could see you. As soon as he entered the room, the air went tense.

"Can you help me zip this up?" You turned around, showing him your bare back. Perhaps this wasn't the best way to alleviate some of the tension, but it was all you could think of.

He stared at your bare back for a moment, his mind still hadn't caught up to the present.

"Biggs?" You asked, "Never used a zipper before?"

"Sorry," he said, before stepping closer to you.

His hands pushed your hair over one shoulder so none of it would get caught. Cold air hit your exposed neck, and then his breath. It was only then that you realized how close he was. A finger gently brushed across your back, moving the remaining hairs away from the zipper. You fought back a shiver. And just a second later, he had zipped you up, finally stepping away.

You turned back around hesitantly, before holding your arms out away from your body. "What do you think?"

Biggs looked you up and down, staring a little too long.

"Well?" You asked again.

"...Beautiful," he slipped, " I-I mean, you look beautiful. The dress is beautiful."

"Thanks." There was a thick silence that permeated the room as you looked down at you dress, shifting your weight from one foot to the other. Biggs glanced around the room, but you caught his eyes wandering back to you every once in a while.

"Hey, can I get some help over here too?" Tifa asked.

"Of course," Biggs said, turning his gaze to her.

"No, I've got it!" You butted in, running over to Tifa and tying her dress up for her. She raised an eyebrow at you through the mirror, and you glared at her.

You walked back over to Biggs, who stood awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. He looked up at you as you approached.

"So what's brought you here?" You asked, moving to sit on Tifa's bed as you took your makeup bag in your hands. He sat down on the bed a foot away from you. "You're not trying to make me reconsider, are you?"

He didn't answer.

"We've been through this already," you searched through the clutch for your compact mirror. The door open and shut again, you looked up for a second, noticing Tifa had left the room.

"I just don't see how this is a good idea. He's bound to be at Corneo's place, how do you suppose this is gonna fix it?"

"Look, I've got to do something. I can't live like this anymore."

"What if you make it worse?"

"Then I'll have to leave Midgar."

The both of you grew quite at the thought. You didn't want to leave Midgar. Ever. But if you didn't deal with this guy, you'd probably have to. And if you were to mess up on this mission, you'd have to leave. The odds weren't looking good for you.

"But I'll still have to leave if we don't face this head-on. So do you understand why I have to do it?"

He stared down at his lap and thought for a moment.

"Yes, I do," He turned to look up at you, "Promise me you'll be back."

You searched his eyes, his expression, all too tense. He looked worried, was it really all about you? Could he care that much? It made you feel guilty that you could have ever put this weight on him.

"I promise," you replied, your voice barely a whisper. His eyes hadn't left yours, and it was then that you realized how close your faces were, just a few inches apart. His jaw was still tight, you noticed, and you lifted up a hand to touch his face. You smoothed our his cheek with your thumb, "you need to stop clenching your jaw, you're gonna hurt yourself," you whispered again. There was a pause, and though it was only a few seconds, it felt so much longer.

"I have something to tell you..." he began, his eyes leaving your own for a moment, almost as if he were ashamed, or maybe embarrassed?

"What is it?" You whispered, locking eyes with him again. You had unknowingly scooted a little closer to him, and he to you. Your hand hadn't yet left his face, no, you held onto his face, drinking in his features as if it would be the last time. He moved closer...

The door opened and you two jumped, quickly scooting away from each other. A shocked Wedge stood at the doorway.

"Umm, hey guys, uh..." he trailed off, his cheeks going red as he looked anywhere but your eyes. Your cheeks were burning, too, "the carriage is here. Do you know where Tifa is?"

#final fantasy #biggs x reader #biggs #ff7 biggs #FFVII Biggs #FFVII #ffviir #FF7R #final fantasy vii #tifa lockhart #ffvii wedge #jessie rasberry #Barrett Wallace

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