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sinner-sunflower · 8 days

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P.2 HH Lucifer-centric AU 11/?

STORY 1, PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7, PART 8, PART 9, PART 10, PART 12, PART 13, PART 14, PART 14.5, PART 15

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Lilith: Sign the papers, Lucifer.

Lucifer: Wha- Why?

Lilith: I don't think- This needs to end now. We both knew it won't last for all eternity.

Lucifer: Lily?

Lilith: I'm leaving.

Lucifer: Lilith, please! Talk to me! At least tell me why! How about Charlie! Our daughter, Lily!

Lilith: It’s just better this way. Believe me. You’ll understand someday. And she will too.

Lucifer: Is this because you’re afraid I'll overshadow and control you? That I'll hurt you like Adam did? Because I won’t. Lilith, please. I love you so much. I can step down! You can be the sole ruler of hell is that's what you want. Please.

Lilith: Stop this, Lucifer. Don’t make this harder than it is.

Lucifer: I.....can’t stop you, can't I?

Lilith: No.

Lucifer: I guess you’re the one doing the hurting this time. Is that what you’ve wanted all along?

Lilith doesn’t respond. She leaves.

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Lucifer awakens to the scent of Marigolds and the sound of strangled crying. He's vaguely aware of the weight of his body being cradled by someone, their tears falling onto his still form.

With a lot of effort on his part, he commands his vision to clear and the ringing in his ears to subside. Gradually, his surroundings comes into focus, revealing Charlie to be the one holding him, her face contorted with anguish that should never be present on his little girl's face.

'Who did that? Who made my Charlie cry?'

Her words tumble out in a frantic stream, but Lucifer struggles to respond, his voice caught in his throat. It dawns on him that Charlie isn't aware of his consciousness, her attention absorbed by her own distress.

Squinting against the haze of confusion, he realizes she's speaking to someone else entirely.

Charlie: A-angel hurry, please! I don't know what just happened. You're the number I- and I'm sorry please help me!

Lucifer can't hear what Angel was saying on the other end but they're muffled. Each unintelligible word seems to only worsen his daughter's tears, and oh, how he longs to comfort her.

Helplessness washes over him as he wishes to move, to reach out and wipe away his most precious' tears.

'That's what a good dad should do, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's kinda funny how Charlie is the one craddling me right now. I miss her baby days.'

He must have chuckled because Charlie whips her head down to him.

Charlie: Dad! You're awake! Thank you. You're okay, dad, don't worry. I- Angel, he's awake! I don't know! I just found him, oh god, Angel- I thought he-he-

There's frantic voices on the other line, the residents are all probably huddled in the phone attempting to calm Charlie down. Lucifer didn't get to hear what the overlapping voices were saying when the sanctuary's doors fly open revealing the radio demon.

Suddenly, the sanctuary's doors burst open, revealing Alastor. With a keen eye, he spots Lucifer and Charlie, and wasting no time before teleporting to their side in a blink, concern evident as he checks on them both.

Charlie: A-Al, thank god you're here. I- I

Alastor: My dear, you must calm yourself. Breathe.

Charlie: I can't!

Alastor: Yes you can. Count from a hundred backwards.

Charlie: 100, 99, 98.....80... I ca-can't please-

Charlie freezes as a gentle hand touches her cheek, prompting her to lower her gaze. With deliberate tenderness, he reaches for her hand, guiding it to his chest, positioning it over his heart. A silent reassurance pulses beneath her touch, the steady, calming rhythm of her father's heart.

Lucifer: I'm okay, duckie. Feel it. I'm okay. I'm breathing. I'm alive.

Charlie: D-dad.

Alastor: Match his breathing, dear.

After a minute, Charlie managed to calm down enough to form coherent sentences. She reiterates what she walked in on earlier and Lucifer is horrified. His daughter shouldn't have seen that but he's also berating himself. He knew that he shouldn't have told Keekee that Charlie could come. Stupid. Stupid. STUPID-

A snap of a finger stops the start of another spiral.

Alastor: None of that. We will have a talk about this but first, let us go back to the hotel for now. It must be uncomfortable laying on a frozen floor, no?

The King of Hell wants to say something but he knows there's no arguing with a fretting Alastor. Charlie is already outside on the phone again, most likely talking to whoever was at the hotel or maybe the Sins. He's hoping she doesn't call them right away; they're bigger worrywarts than him.

Charlie: -no no. He's fine now We're going to take him back to the hotel. Yes. Yes. Of course. Maybe in a few hours? Yes, I'll call you after we check him over. Yes. Thank you, Aunt Bel.

He yelps in surprise as the radio demon picks him up and holds him bridal style.

Lucifer: What the hell you doing??

Alastor: Why, carrying you, my love!

Lucifer: I can walk just fine.

Alastor raised an eyebrow at this then promptly dropped him.

Lucifer: Ow! What the fuck?!

Alastor: That does not look like standing. Perhaps it's opposite day today?

Lucifer all but growls but knows he's got him there. With a groan, he relents, deciding that he's going to be complain all the way back if he can help it.

Lucifer: Fine.

Alastor: What was that~?

Lucifer: I said fine! Carry me you tacky piece of shit!

He's pouting but he doesn't care. He's the King of Hell for Father's sake! Why is he letting this man bully him??

Alastor only smiles as he picked him up again. At least someone is enjoying this humiliation.

The way Alastor is holding him is doing something to him and had Alastor always been this handsome??

They meet Charlie outside already with one of their limousines. Thankfully, no reporters are camping anymore around the palace or this will be another big scandal that will most likely damage his image. Not that he cares what people in Hell think of him but whatever they they perceive him as extends to Charlie and he's not going to give them any ammunition on her.

Charlie: You sure you're alright, Dad?

Lucifer: Yes, sweetheart. I just want to be in a bed right now.

Alastor: I could always teleport you there, my dear. Would be faster than this death contraption.

Lucifer: I will throw up on you.

Alastor's eye twitches but doesn't say anything back. They sit in semi-comfortable silence the rest of the ride.

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Alastor: Charlie, why don't you talk to the others and your uncles and aunts about your father's condition? I'll take his majesty up in his room. I'm sure the last thing he needs is to be bombarded with questions at this time.

Charlie: You're right. Thanks, Al.

Charlie squeezed Lucifer's hand in a silent reassurance.

Charlie: I'll follow you later, Dad. Love you.

Oh, how he loves her so.

Lucifer: Okay, duckie.

He almost threw up when Alastor teleported them up to his tower but before he could, the sinner put up a lemon tea up on his face. Muttering a small thanks, the King of Hell took a few sips before deciding to lay down.

Alastor is still not interrogating him but maybe the other can smell his exhaustion. No. The guy did not talk at all. He only moved to sit by his side, leaning back to the headrest. Lucifer takes this as an invitation to hug the other's waist like a bolster and snuggles closer. The Sin of Pride feels his partner's hand combing through his hair and humming an old tune.

He's afraid of seeing Roo again as he tightens his hold on Alastor. The other doesn't even flinch and Lucifer is glad. Alastor usually doesn't like touch so whenever the other allows it, Lucifer savors every second.

Lucifer: I won't blame you, you know?

Alastor: Hmm?

Lucifer: If it's too much. If you wanna leave, you can.

The hand in his hair stops moving but Alastor still said nothing.

Lucifer: I'll remember you though.

Sleep is calling him. He only wishes that he'll dream of nothing this time.

Lucifer: I remember everyone that leaves.

He passes out not hearing Alastor reply, words laced with a genuinity no one else had the privilege to hear.

Alastor: I can assure you, my king, I am not one to give up what I adore that easily.

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I adore that Lilo and Stitch line. It really struck me when I first watched it.

YT also played this Hour of Joy VHS tape and that background tune really gave me inspiration on some future scenes. So, stay tuned.

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mycheese-tasted-like-applepie · 1 year

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Would you please do #299 "It was you... The whole time." and 241 “Please dont go. I love you so much.” with Merlin? Give me the angst, the pain!

Of course!💖😂

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A Slight Hint of Magic

Per Arthur's command, Merlin stays in a small village to help with an infection. That's where he meets you. The problem: magic is heavily forbidden.

#241 “Please don't go, I love you so much.”

#299 "It was you... The whole time."

You lived in a village south of Camelot, just on its borders. Recently, a disease has decided to infect the people in your village, slowly killing and spreading through each individual. Thankfully, your pleas for help were heard by King Arthur, who sent someone to help.

Everyone was skeptical of some servant, but he was trained by a good physician.

You were the only one in the village around Merlin's age, so he hung around you the most. For the weeks he's been there, things started to look more positive. People were still getting sick, but you found yourself smiling more. He was charming in a dorky kind of way, but he was also thoughtful of others. But the longer Merlin stayed, the more you began to notice something.

As other villagers continued to fall ill, you stayed in miraculous health.

"Hey Merlin...is that another one?" Your train of thought was distracted as you noticed another unconscious person with ragged breathing laying on a cot before him.

But the servant jumped a bit at your words.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to frighten you." You apologized quickly as Merlin calmed himself. Once composed, he nodded at your question.

"Yeah. Started having symptoms yesterday. Now this." He gestured to the patient before moving to grab some items from his medicine parcel. Glancing up, he noticed your concerned look.

"Don't worry Y/N. I'm gonna make sure everyone gets better. You have my word." He reassured you with a smile, but that wasn't what was bothering you.

However, before you could ask, someone was calling your name.

"I'll be right back." You told him, and he nodded. However, you couldn't help but catch the hint of fear that flashed in his eyes only for a moment...

"What's wrong? I was kind of in the middle of something." You said, irritated that this younger girl would pull you away from Merlin.

But she looked rather flustered.

"Someone has used magic! There's been talk of it! Magic is at work here!" She told you, fear in her voice. As soon as you heard "magic", you panicked as well.

It was no secret that Camelot had strict rules when it came to magic, and that was that it was forbidden. Usage of the art meant death. Whoever thought they could slip by that rule was being rather foolish. Certainly someone was on their way to tell Arthur, which made you realize, you needed to see if Merlin knew.

But when you rushed back to see him, he was in a rush packing.

"You're leaving?" You asked, slightly hurt that he was about to book it without even saying goodbye to you. It perplexed you, why you cared so much. But you were distracted by his constant movements.

"You don't understand. It's dangerous with me here now." Merlin said while stuffing some things in a bag.

"And we're all in danger without you." You pressed, folding your arms as you tried to reiterate the danger of the disease that was running rampant. Merlin huffed a bit, seemingly frustrated.

"I know, but I have to leave. I need to stop Arthur." He said, which confused you even more.

"What are you talking about? What does the king-" You started to say, but he cut you off.

"I have magic."

It was so silent between the two of you that you could've heard a pin drop. Your heartrate started to increase as you realized he was a sorcerer, a magic practitioner, someone you were told to fear as a child. It nearly made you want to vomit.

"I-I haven't done anything bad...I've used my magic to protect you, Y/N. I-I couldn't let this illness take you..." Merlin stuttered, on the verge of tears as he desperately tried to defend himself from your preconceptions about magic.

But what he just said...it all made sense now.

"It was you... The whole time." You said, realizing that Merlin had cast magic on you to protect you from disease. It was the only reason that you have stayed so healthy.

"Yes." He admitted so softly, so full of vulnerability. It hit you again.

How scared he seemed.

"Magic isn't all evil. I-It can be used for good...but Camelot has no place for it. Someone must have seen me, and has probably gone to tell Arthur. I-I have to intervene before he burns this village to the ground." Merlin said before flinging his bags over his shoulder.

"And I can't come back here...it would be too dangerous. We can't see each other again." He told you sadly. You blinked rapidly to stop any tears from falling. This was so much for you to take in, but all you've been hearing is how much he cared. How much sacrifice he was willing to do in order to ensure the safety of you and your home.

But it also broke your heart because you realized just what he meant to you.

“Please don't go, I love you so much.” You said, tears finally falling as your voice cracked in agony. He was the one and only thing in this village that mattered so much to you. And it would've been fine when he left before, but with the discovery of his magic, you had to cut off all ties with him.

It was for your safety he said.

Merlin couldn't respond to your words. It would hurt him too much because he loved you as well. But isn't that how it goes for Merlin? Everyone he has ever loved has been taken away from him by magic. But now the betrayal was his own fault. His foolishness of using his gift has cost him you.

So, instead of words, he gave you a smile that held more love and warmth than he could ever interpret through words.

Then he went through the door.

That was the last you ever saw of him.

Weeks went by and King Arthur never came to your village, and there was no talk of magic afterwards. The disease slowly went away on its own, and you were left all alone again. It was disheartening to not have someone to talk to anymore, and all you could do was stay inside your home and keep yourself occupied with some menial task.

Then there was a knock on your door.

"Excuse me, could I perhaps trouble you with lodgings for a few days?" Just as you opened the door, an old man with white hair and red robes greeted you. Without much care or thought, you allowed him to stay as you continued to idle with your daily depression.

Never once realizing who those familiar blue eyes belonged to.

#bbc merlin #merlin imagines #merlin #merlin imagine #merlin x reader

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thestobingirlie · 1 year

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Do you ever see those takes that are like "the Byers hate Steve because of what he said about them in season 1"? I always think. Do they even know about it? Because I am pretty sure Jonathan would not tell Will.

If we assume that every character tells every character everything about things that happen and all the characters are allowed emotional responses to that. Then Max hates Jonathan for the picture incident. She are both definitely the type that would think that is super gross and she didn't have a preexisting bond with Jonathan to counteract it. Honestly the picture shit probably spread around the school and so did the cheating rumours so there is a decent chance Robin knows. But we aren't shown Robin or Max hating Jonathan so they probably don't.

So many characters have a right to be mad about shit they don't know about. From Nancy only getting with Steve because Jonathan didn't ask her out. To the Sinclairs finding out the rest of Scoops Troop endangered their daughter (also saved her but we are ignoring positive stuff).

i think it’s kinda funny when people try to say that joyce would hate steve, because he’s a ‘troublemaker’. like, prior to s1 she did not know who that boy was. in canon, all she probably knows about steve is that he used to date nancy, and he’s helped save the kids. i don’t think she’d have particularly strong feelings about him either way.

and yeah, jonathan wouldn’t tell joyce anything about the fight. s1 couldn’t reiterate it enough, jonathan has felt on his own the last few years, and doesn’t open up to his mother or tell her about his life. she talks about how she feels like she’s abandoned him or something when they’re looking at will’s pictures.

but even if he did, it would be in the vaguest terms possible. i’ve seen fics where joyce knows exactly what steve said, and it’s like, jonathan’s not listing it off??

“well, first he called me a queer, then said i was just like my dad, then said you’re crazy!”

please try to understand jonathan’s character a little better, he would not fucking do that.

yeah! 100% all of the characters have done shit that would make other characters hate them, but they’re not all just sitting around gossiping, especially about shit that’s long over and largely forgotten about. (people just loveeee to drag out all of steve’s mistakes though, which is why we only see it for him and very rarely other characters!)

i think robin would probably know about the cheating rumours, and she might’ve heard about the photographs, just because that is the sort of shit that gets spread around. if she does know, she probably spoke to steve about it. maybe she considers jonathan a little gross? (which is why she’s pushing nancy to cheat on him lmao) but steve’s not really fussed about it anymore, so she isn’t.

honestly i think part of the reason we don’t see characters react to shit they logically would, is because the duffers aren’t amazing writers lmao. and the show’s plot based, not character based.

#steve harrington #joyce byers #jonathan byers #robin buckley #stranger things #asks #anon

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monkeygirl727 · 10 months

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So. No one really cares about reality TV but I've started watching Below Deck and I have opinions and I need to rant. Season 1 of below deck sailing yacht is a shit show by which I mean the head stewardess is an ass and like one of those people who knows their shit and they're going to let you know what you're doing wrong every step but like if they break the rules it's fine. The chef also kind of a dick also sleeping with the head stewardess cuz you know that will never cause drama. The first mate take him or leave him he's cute he's nice enough but the one that I care about the most is the guy named Parker. The entire first half of the season they are ripping into this guy, they're like oh he doesn't know a lot cuz he's new, oh he's still attached to his mom's breast (bro! Tf!!?) oh he's not good at following direction, he doesn't follow the hierarchy and like one of them jokes later on AFTER he resigns because he's like I can't deal with this shit anymore, is like the first rule of yawning is shut the fuck up and then they keep making jokes about him and two of the stewardesses are like visibly uncomfortable cuz they were his friends and like I don't know I see a lot of myself in that. This like trying to fit in in an industry that refuses to accommodate people who are a little different. He's like oh how about we do this and they're like shut up and do as you're told. And like the head stewardess I cannot reiterate enough how much of an absolute bitch this woman is and like I don't like to say that about people but she's constantly like I'm the one in charge so you have to listen and I guess that's a thing in boating. And like she has the audacity to use the master suite with the chef and they're like oh it's fine because we're in charge. The chef literally says hey if she says we can do it we can and it's like if anybody else were to do that they would be fired immediately. That shit infuriates me. Like on the one hand I understand experience and history comes with benefits but like?? Using a guest suite when you are a staff member??

The other person who I have a soft spot for is Madison who is the second stewardess. Because she gets shit from Jenna who is the head stewardess and then when Georgia the third stewardess comes on she doesn't know a ton so she's having to pick up her Slack and then they're like Madison why aren't you doing well and she's like I don't fucking know because I'm trying to do five jobs and yet Jenna doesn't know where the goddamn washing machine is but has the audacity to yell at me about laundry.

Jenna also has the audacity to be like oh Madison had a crush on Parker and like it's distracting her and she's not going to bed in a sufficient amount of time cuz she's staying up to talk to Parker meanwhile she's making out with the chef in the galley on shift and again using the master suite. Like?! I understand that being in a lead position comes with benefits but like don't fucking tell me what to do if you're going to go ahead and break the rules. And like Madison is well aware of like why Jenna does things and she's like oh so you're going to finally train Georgia for the good of everybody else and not because I called you out in front of the other crew for using the master suite and your boyfriend had something to say about it?

I love Georgia because she doesn't really cause any problems she's adorable she's a bit inappropriate and flirty but like honestly she's just trying to figure out how to keep everybody at peace and I support that. Cierra and Paget are dating and they argue a bunch because they're not good at being in the same work roles ie both working as deck hands and like having done the research in Googled afterwards they are not together anymore but like honestly she doesn't really bother me either other than the fact that she was a jerk to Parker. Everybody except for Madison and Georgia were jerks to Parker and for that they are on my shit list.

Glen, the captain. I would die for that man he radiates Grandpa/dad energy, he is like the boat dad and he's great. He is very much unlike Captain Sandy who is on below deck Mediterranean in that he's like you don't have to call me Captain just call me Glenn and like always willing to lend a hand anywhere on the boat if he's not doing Captain things like he helps load provisions he helps move things he's just the kind of person that I want more of. I can't agree with the entire boating industry opinion of "respect the hierarchy or shut the fuck up and get out of the industry". This is all to say that I can't wait for season one to be over so I can move on. I won't even get into the guests because they range from a group of adult men who basically act like Frat Boys the entire time and like one of them picks up Madison and uses her as like a weight lift much to her extreme dismay and she's like please put me down several times and then they're like oh don't tell anyone and then when she's out of your shot they're like what she going to do report us to the Greek police? Essentially the entirety of this show is rich people rented a boat for a few days and some of them are wild and crazy and others are like you but with money and the crew are trying to not kill each other because you know essentially living with six people that you never met until the beginning of this season constantly causes Growing Pains.

#life #reality #what i'm watching #new hobby #yachting #boats #below deck

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empressapprentice · 2 years

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I agree with most thing you say, and I think you address many important points, however, there is one thing that has been annoying me a little recently.

Why do you always accuse people who dislike Nadia of being sexist and racist?

Look, I understand that a lot of the time this is the case, but I'd like to maintain at least a tiny spec of faith in humanity and assume that this isn't the majority.

Using myself as an example, I do have to admit that Nadia was never one of my favourite LIs and yet I will still keep saying that she IS an absolute badass! She's powerful and determined and so so cool!

And yet, she does have character flaws that bother me a little more than the flaws of other characters, such as:

- her initial hatred towards her sisters (I know this changes by the end of her route, but it really did bother me in the moment and created somewhat a distaste to her, I will admit this might be because I am an eldest sibling and she sounded exactly like my younger siblings).

and

- her almost pedantic perfectionism (yes, once again, this changes by the end of the route, but only slightly in my opinion. I still felt like she had a need for major control over every situation, which is understandable considering her position in society, and yet is simply a pet peeve of mine).

I don't believe these things annoy me because she's a woman of colour in a position of power but rather because they are simply character flaws that I dislike no matter which character they belong to.

Just to reiterate the main thing I am trying to get answered here is why are you so persistent about these theories that racists and sexists don't like Nadia? I'm not trying to toot my own horn or be a 'its not all...' type of person. I am simply saying that you really are trying to push this idea across and I'm not entirely sure I can agree. I haven't seen many- if any at all- post putting Nadia down because of her race and gender, or at least I have never interpreted them that way. By no means do I mean to belittle or disregard what you're saying, because I do believe that problems like this should be tackled, but perhaps you are interpreting most of the Nadia hate as something it's not. Or perhaps I am not reading into it enough and try my best to maintain some belief in this community, causing me to miss the blatant racism and sexism.

Hi there, thank you for sending me this question. I appreciate having the opportunity to better explain some of these issues. The first thing I would like to point out is that it's okay to not prefer Nadia compared to the other characters, or even not like her. That's fine. Having preferences is not the issue here. The problem is that Nadia is largely ignored compared to the other love interests. Knowing that Nadia is a woman of color (the only WOC love interest), it's very telling that she is always the one who gets excluded and sidelined. I know that this fandom has issues with racism and sexism. When you spend enough time looking at the patterns of how characters are treated, you see it. Take for example, how many times people whitewash Asra in fanart.

The other thing is that a lot of people dislike Nadia for reasons that link to stereotypes and biases against women of color. People tend to paint her as mean, stern and bossy. I strongly suspect that people who mischaracterize her like that are leaning into stereotypes about women in power and further, women of color in power. Think about how from young ages, girls who take leadership roles are called "bossy" while boys are praised for being assertive. People seem willing to make these sweeping generalizations about the kind of character she is without really backing it up with evidence from her route. It's more subtle than "I dislike Nadia because she's a woman," it's deeper and more insidious. She always seems to fall into the background, too. There's a major lack of interaction with her character and interest in her route.

I recognize that there are times where perhaps I have been too aggressive in calling out racism and sexism without explaining why I feel the situation warrants it. However, to myself and others in this fandom (particularly the people of color who do a lot of work in calling out this behavior, whose example I always strive to follow), it is abundantly clear that these issues exist in all fandoms and it's not surprising that it affects us here in the Arcana fandom too. I recognize that it may be helpful for me to elaborate on these issues more but my goal has always been to help people confront their personal biases when they see my posts. I hope that seeing something like my Nadia character sheet allows people to understand how complex and flawed she is. She's not a one-dimensional girlboss or a passive victim of Lucio. My goal is always that people will look at my page and start to think beyond the stereotypes that surround the fanon discussion of Nadia.

Just for the sake of brevity, I decided to not address the specific issues you have with Nadia. However, please know if there are things you (or anyone else) want to talk about, my inbox and DMs are open. I hoped this helped.

#also just to say this: I have a lot of faith in humanity #i am a healthcare worker and a scientist #if I did not inherently believe people are good I could not sustain myself emotionally doing the work I do #but i at the same time understand that a lot of people are racist or sexist #you can understand how deeply patterns of intolerance and bigotry are integrated into our society #and still have faith in the good of people on top of that. I just want you to know that #because I do come across as jaded a LOT #the arcana #nadia satrinava

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mallowstep · 2 years

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Leopard Anon: I like the idea that Stone, Misty, and the rest (except Leopard) never find out about Tigerstar threatening Mudfur. Especially like the idea of Stone, Misty, Dawn, Feather, and Storm not understanding why Leopard starts getting closer to her father again.

shadepelt 🤝 leopardstar

the rest of the clan doesn't understand why the fuck they're willing to talk to mudfur.

that said. i feel like if leopardstar finds out. she'd tell the others? or at least stonefur? like i dunno i feel like. she'd feel guilty. like she knows they all hate him because of her, in a sense, and that's unwarranted. hhhhhh okay

cw: sexual assault

but yeah just to reiterate. i think whenever. however. leopardstar finds out. she feels really fucking guilty.

how could she think that of mudfur?

never mind that mudfur was playing the role tigerstar assigned him as well as he possibly could because it meant leopardstar wouldn't be killed.

[unrelated i just had an idea. that. like. tigerstar takes stonefur aside at some point. for what i don't know. like as some kind of punishment. or maybe stonefur is threatening to do something. that riverclan won't let him do this.

"won't they?" tigerstar asks. his muzzle is so close to stonefur, he thinks he can see scraps of golden fur on it. or maybe he's imagining things. "do you think your clan so foolish they don't already know?"

and stonefur's ears fold and---

"if you get smart with me again," tigerstar warns, like a mentor to a new apprentice, "i will drag her out into the centre of camp. i will call a clan meeting, drag every one, elder to kit, out of their dens, and we will see what they do."

anyway, back on topic.]

so leopardstar is tearing herself up about that.

how could she not even ask him?

never mind that just looking at him made (makes) her feel sick. never mind that she could go her whole life without hearing his voice again. never mind that his scent triggers flashback. never mind all of that.

he was only ever in that position because she made the wrong choices.

so i think she'd talk to --- maybe her whole circle, or maybe just start w stonefur, and tell them. yeah just stonefur. because she doesn't have to be anything but herself next to him, and because she doesn't have to explain anything to him, and this is hard enough.

and stonefur looks into her eyes, and --- he wants to say, "that's the stupidest thing you've ever said," but she doesn't need that from him ("stupid bitch," tigerstar says. "did you really think i wouldn't realize? did you really think you could outsmart me? you're just a dumb whore."), and then he wants to say, "i think you've finally lost it," but she spent long enough thinking she was crazy, so he doesn't say any of that.

"you don't have to hate him," leopardstar says. "it wasn't his choice, any more than it was yours."

and maybe that's true, but.

"but he hurt you, leopard." stonefur chooses his words carefully. he doesn't want to upset her more. "it doesn't matter why."

#mine #ask #anon #leopard au

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de-cryptid · 3 years

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Behind the curtain.

I’ll cut to the chase and simply state outright who I believe, and am almost certain, is behind the social media presence of Simon Alkenmayer.

Kristina Meister.

Kristina deleted her blog yesterday as of posting so I can’t link directly to it for the posts I am going to discuss and showcase here. I will be providing links that preserve their existence, however, so you don’t have to take me at my word alone.

For context: In Simon's world (which is how I will refer to the unreality that is his existence and supposed life), Kristina was his editor for The Creature's Cookbook and also the foot-in-the-door that is the publishing industry. She pitched the autobiography on his behalf, bringing it to Tapas media.

They maintained a friendship, both outside of the internet and here on tumblr. However, one day a fire was set in Kristina's driveway, leading her to what can reasonably be described as hysteria.

Here is an archived link to her reaction.

TL;dr is that she believes @simonalkenmayerisdead to be the only person in the world who could have possibly made a connection between her and Simon (despite the fact they actively engaged with each other on multiple social medias, that and there are far more people on tumblr that know of Simon than his critics) and threatened a multitude of legal action.

Here, The Fool explains the issue with the accusations levied against him and his followers.

Reading the exchanges between Simon, The Fool, and Kristina is what made it clear to me that Simon is Kristina. A lot of those posts are long gone due to Kristina's blog deletion, and are otherwise far too tedious to hunt down on Simon's blog, but they are quite similar to that which is linked above.

You can probably tell there's a level of irrationality (an understatement honestly) in Kristina's posts regarding the fire and her general demeanour.

As she and Simon have each other's personal contact information, which she herself showed a screenshot of, I think it's strange for Simon to respond publicly in the way he did. She's clearly not in a good mental state to be online, discussing a traumatic event, throwing accusations, cussing at and threatening her dissenters.

He's a long-lived observer of humans, in his world, and instead of recognizing this to be the behaviour of someone who isn't in the right frame of mind to be speaking about their circumstances to a substantial audience of presumably a few ill-intentioned people, he endorses everything she says and encourages her to continue on her rants.

Is it not obvious that this isn't accomplishing anything but potentially harming her more? She's shown the suspect that their tactic succeeded. She revealed her vulnerabilities in regards to her child and marriage. Simon, as a friend and the supposed cause for all this, should know better than to further feed into the anonymous attacks on his associate and instead handle it on a personal level.

But that isn't what happened.

The only way for someone to respond in the manner Simon did is for them to be as equally emotionally involved and irrational as Kristina herself is, which is clear from the notes where Simon's loyal audience reacts in a similarly distressed and irrational voice.

That's human behaviour, not that of a people-eating centuries-old non-mammalian monster who has watched famine ravage civilizations, killed countless individuals, and adapted despite it all.

But moving on, as I'm sure that in and of itself isn't enough for some people.

Let's turn our attention to The Creatures Cookbook itself. It's framed as a diary, meaning it was written in real-time and built upon over years, not as an autobiography. This is suspect for reasons I'll discuss further on.

I'd like to begin with the book's publishing history. It was first in print thanks to Fuse Literary, as can be seen in this post from their website, then moved onto the Tapas app (where it remains to this day).

Simon himself says that his book is "out of print", which is why it's not available as a physical copy outside of second-hand nowadays. This is not exactly true; fuse literary dropped the book. He isn't being represented by them anymore. Tapas, which is more of a pulp app where anyone can publish most anything, is not just the new medium he selected dutifully to act out the experiment more effectively; it was a last resort for a book people simply weren't interested in.

The Fool explains this quite well here.

I'd also like to reiterate something touched upon in that linked post; Simon lied about meeting his publisher, either in 2014 in that incredibly descriptive post about his agent and their experience with Tapas, or to that anonymous asker. Why is this? If the original post was incorrect, or no longer what Simon wanted readers to believe, wouldn't it make more sense to delete it? That or he, likely, forgot what was originally said about his publisher and simply made up a response for the asker. His memory spans centuries, and clearly that experience was a vivid one, given his description, but he couldn't keep consistent on his public social media. I find this suspect for many reasons.

Going back to Fuse Literary, we have articles that directly state Kristina is "writing as" Simon, which he has stated in the past was out of necessity to preserve his identity (which is somewhat contradictory, seeing as he claims that the government is aware of his species and him specifically, and also his aim is to convince people he does in fact exist).

Needless to say, a lot of little things just don't add up. Instead, they point to Kristina using Simon's character and presence as an outlet of sorts. He is an identity she assumes.

Here is another clue I stumbled upon, regarding Kristina's other writing endeavours.

Let's talk Cinderella Boy.

So Kristina is both a freelance editor (as Simon states she was for him) and a writer herself, with several published books. Easily her highest reviewed and most popular is called Cinderella Boy, a story about LGBTQ struggles from the perspective of a high school boy. I went through the reviews a while back and a lot were positive! But I noticed that many of those positive reviews were people who knew Kristina through Simon and already liked his character, his voice, his style.

And Cinderella Boy is very much the same.

I linked the Goodreads page above and recommend you go through reviews yourself to better understand what I mean, but below I will show one of the negative reviews that is... Very telling. (Click and swipe through, it's a long one)

And this wasn't the only person saying these sorts of things, either. Again, I recommend seeing for yourself. Here's another excerpt from a different review:

I want to focus in on the "70 year old philosophers" bit. The other review above said something similar about the overly deep and philosophical dialogue.

Sound familiar?

It appears Kristina's writing style happens to be that old-timey philosophically-bent verbose kind, highly reminiscent of Simon himself.

I found this rather funny. You'd think writing a modern YA would have a skilled writer attempting to make the character interactions more relatable and... Well, realistic.

It appears Kristina only has the one setting, however. And that happens to sound exactly the way Simon talks.

I will be going in-depth with the factual errors in Simon's historical assertions in the future, so I'll hold off on those for now, but a previous post of mine shows a clear miscalculation on the part of Simon's creator googling something and applying it to Simon's world, without realizing it was factually incorrect. You can see that here.

To conclude this very long post, I want to make it clear that I do not hate Kristina nor Simon, I am not posting this to harass either of them. I am only interested in making it clear that Simon is not an all-knowing cryptid and is not a reliable voice. Simon is a human creation and his readers should be aware of that. Seek real, professional help if you are looking for some advice. Do not think that an elaborate roleplay is an appropriate substitute.

#long post #simon alkenmayer #kristina meister

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bonvoyagenoona · 3 years

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i can’t believe you’re actually interested in checking the chicklit out, i was actually half expecting you to politely decline 😆😆 so thank you very much for being interested!!

regarding plot points and characterizations that i’d like to point out:

(warning: SO MUCH SPOILER and incoherent rambling ahead so please don’t judge 😂😂)

1.) the book mainly focuses on the female lead (that we’re going to refer to as Lexi for the rest of this ask since that’s her name in the book)’s characterization and missing life trajectory, not so much the romance.

2.) i mean, the romance is still there, but i do however feel like we’re not given much about the male lead (that we’re going to refer to as the architect for the rest of this ask) aside from the fact that he: has got a dry humor, tells it how it is, doesn’t give a single fuck about anything but Lexi and architecture, is sexy (hence me saying that’s yoongi lmao)—which is fair bc the book is told from Lexi’s POV and it’s first person too, no less, so we only get scenes of him when she interacts with him.

3.) i guess what im trying to say is that i actually don’t mind how the romance is done in this book despite the infidelity (mind you i do NOT condone infidelity but like i said before, the infidelity is justified… somewhat) because i have to admit that the architect is kind of irresistible and there’s this one scene of them in the second half of the book where Lexi finds out just how much she loved him before she lost her memory—but i just wish we got to know more about the architect, and how the romance blooms between him and Lexi before AND after the amnesia. (but miss cheryl, please know that this isn’t me trying to dictate you what to write!! you can do whatever you want with your yoongi AU of this!!)

4.) i have to admit that im a sucker for amnesia AUs hence me having picked this book up in the first place. but what i really like about the book is the main essence of it.

allow me to show it to you in the form of an excerpt taken from the book:

““One day, really early on, when we were still just friends, it all came out. The whole story. How that day changed your life. How you took on your family's debt, booked a cosmetic dentistry appointment the next day, went on a crash diet, decided to change everything about yourself. Then you went on TV, and everything became even more extreme. You rocketed up the career ladder. You met Eric, and he seemed like the answer. He was solid, rich, stable. A million miles away from..." he breaks off into silence.

"My dad," I say eventually.

"I'm no psychologist. But I would guess."

There's silence. I watch a small plane heading higher and higher into the sky, leaving a double trail of white smoke.

"You know, when I woke up, I thought I'd landed the dream life," I say slowly. "I thought I was Cinderella. I was better than Cinderella. I thought I must be the happiest girl in the world..." I break off as Jon shakes his head.

"You were living your whole life under a strain. You went too far too soon; you didn't know how to handle it; you made mistakes." He hesitates. "You alienated your friends—you found that the hardest of all."

"But I don't understand," I say helplessly. "I don't understand why I became a bitch."

"You didn't mean to. Lexi, give yourself a break. You were thrust into this boss position. You had a big department to run, you wanted to impress senior management—not be accused of favoritism... and you floundered. You did some things the wrong way. Then you felt trapped. You'd built up this tough persona. It was part of your success."”

oh, look. you don’t have to read the whole book to find out what it’s all about because i basically just spoiled the whole of it to you 😂😂😂

but yeah. although i DO have to mention that there are elements of this book that we could absolutely have done away with (this book was written by a white woman and published way back in 2008), but overall i quite like the book.

LET ME REITERATE THIS TO YOU ONCE AGAIN, MISS CHERYL: THIS IS NOT ME DICTATING YOU WHAT TO WRITE. THIS IS ME MERELY GIVING YOU THE MOTIVATION BEHIND ME SUGGESTING A YOONGI AU OF THIS BOOK TO YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE, BUT YOU ARE THE WRITER—YOU DECIDE WHAT TO WRITE AND HOW TO WRITE IT. IF ANYTHING—IF YOU DECIDE TO GO COMPLETELY OFF COURSE OF THIS BOOK THAT ITS BASICALLY AN ENTIRELY NEW STORY? BE MY GUEST!!! JUST AS LONG AS THE OC ENDS UP TOGETHER WITH YOONGI AT THE END LOLOLOLOLOL 😂😂😂😂😂

Ahh, thanks so much for the context and info! I'll check it out and see what pulls me in! Just as a heads-up, I don't really have any set timelines at the moment, and I have a few works in progress, so I don't have an estimate on when I might possibly be able to get this to you.

But!

I absolutely love how much you enjoy this story, and I'm so thankful you shared it with me! The way you shared the idea was intriguing, too. I'm so curious about what happened with Lexi. I'm quite excited to start imagining Yoongi in the architect's / Jon's place. I'm also interested in trying something new as a writer!

Though I pull influence from so much of what I read and watch, I do tend to develop and write my own stories. So, the approach I envision myself taking here would be one where I put my own spin on things. Nevertheless, I do love a Yoongi happy ending! (all kinds 😏)

I hope this is OK, but I've tagged your asks with 📚 Chicklit Anon to make sure I don't lose track of our conversation! Let me know if you'd prefer me to structure my communication with you another way, and I'd be happy to oblige 💜

Thanks for sharing, and I'll keep you posted!

#asks #your asks #📚 chicklit anon #thanks again for sharing and excited to dig in!#📚chicklitanon

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inessencedevided · 4 years

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The Untamed, episode 46 - watching notes

Full disclosure: I'm not in a particularly good mood today. Have you seen that "no productivity. Only guild." Meme flying around? That's me today :|

Hopefully this will distract me (though distraction was the problem in the first place 🙈)

I apologise for any typos you'll finde in this post 😅

To recap, the last thing I learned was that apparently, Jiggy married his own sister because Jin Guangshan was a scumbag who raped more women than he could possibly remember

I was told by several people that this episode is their favourite. No pressures or anything :D

The way someone is dragging up Jiggy's secrets has a lot of poetic justice to it. Everyone is outraged and gossiping. Consensus is reached quickly. Kinda makes me feel that that someone (who probably also wrote the letter to jgy) knows exactly how to use the sect world's worst qualities as a weapon

Yao what's-his-name, resident gossip queen, at it again

Don't look at me my memory is as bad as wwx when it comes to names :D

I was about to write who is Lianfang Zum again and then I remembered that it's jiggy's honorary title. See what I mean? ^^

What does it say about me that my heart makes a leap when I simply see wwx leaning close to lwj to whisper to him? 😅 I'll probably die reading the novel, that's what that says

Oh so it was the maid who sent the letter

Come on Wei Wuxian! That was cruel

Yeah Yao what's-his-name, why would you need to know the identity of who ever is behind this? It's not like you've ever been deceived before!

What's... with that bracelet?

I love it how everyone looks positively startled when Lan Wangji says something unprompted :D

Wait ... Zwei Jun is in his hands? Shit, i don't remeber what happened there. Where did Xichen go again? 😬

I'm so confused right now 🙈 I can't watch and read the subtitles and type

Okay, watched the whole conversation again, now I'm following

I reiterate my earlier statement that whoever is pulling the strings here knows exactly what strings to pull to get the clans to act

Great, another mob 🙄

Loooool

NOW you want his help? 😂

Sure, as soon as he can serve YOU with his "evil tricks", that's okay!

You can see how much wwx changed because he does not hold their hypocrisy to their faces. He mostly seemed tired of it

And Jiang Cheng just realised that wwx might indeed not be responsible for Jiang Yanli's death, didn't he? He's almost stunned 🥺

Or is BEAUTIFUL to see Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji move in such unity! 😭

Oh ... those are the graves of his foster parents, right? :(

And Yanli ... oh God I forgot about Yanli 🥺

I'm crying again. Nothing on this show will ever hit as hard to me as the Yunmeng siblings' fate

I couldn't help myself, I legitimately just stroked my laptop screen where Yanli's plate was 🥺

So many conflicting emotions

Thanks to a friendly anon, I know that these three bows together are marriage thing! 😭😭😭

So yeah, they're married now. I dont make the rules :')

Somehow, this feels like them asking wwx's foster family's blessing

And now I'm imagining Shijie smiling back at them gently and I'm crying 🥺

And by God, I love lwj's gentle teasing :')

This whole scene, he's so soft! 😭

And it think that Wei Wuxian probably thought that he'd never get to step into Lotus Pier again. But here, he can finally say his goodbyes to his Shijie properly. He can heal! 🖤

And again, I cannot stress enough how wonderful that is! And how rare and precious in a show like this. So often character's get put through unimaginable trauma, but they either brush it off no problem or the show/movie ends immediately after the main action and you are left to imagine the number it did on the character's psyche. There are so rarely fantasy shows that really dive into the emotional fallout the plot has on their characters and then give them time to heal. Thus show does both and I'm so goddamn overjoyed my it!

Come to think of it, it reminds me of a very good hurt/comfort fic 🤷‍♀️

Jiang Cheng pleae, fir once, try not to be angry immediately when you're hurting :(

He still takes special offence that lwj is there. Makes me wonder if he still feels like wwx chooses lwj over the Jiang sect and is still hurt by it 😔 (note that at the same time, he reminds wwx that he's very much not a member of the Jiang clan anymore. God, the man has not worked through his own feelings ...)

For once, as much as I love it when lwj defends wwx (especially when it's not against any physical harm, but because he doesn't want wwx to be hurt emotionally) I think him interfering with this particular conflict does not help

Okay sorry, but no! lotus pier was not destroyed because wwx saved lwj in that cave. That was just an excuse for the Wen sect. They would have come eventually anyway

Ohhh

So there's my answer

He's still hurt because he feels wwx chooses anyone else over his family, which is to say him

And he probably can't understand because their positions are so different. The (future) sect leader and the son of a (dead) servant and a rogue cultivator who never felt quite like he belonged 😔

It's so goddamn tragic how much between these two was destroyed simply because they have such a different status in society and could never quite understand each other's perspective

And again, wwx just takes it 💔

Until, that is, lwj's honour gets besmirched

Don't fight in front of Shijie 🥺

Jiang Cheng's every action screams that he still loves his brother and that amidst all that pain for his lost family, is also deep betrayal and grieve for the brother he thought he could always count on 🥺💔

Can we appreciate for a second how much this shot tells us? From Jiang Cheng's angry desperation, to Wei Wuxian's quite acceptance of his rage (which must be so confusing to Jiang Cheng and probably hurt him even more. Because fighting is always how these two resolved their issues!) to Lan Wangji who is in full on protective mode (which I find more than heartwarming,but still think probably isn't helpful rn)

He ... what?

I still don't quite understand when exactly wwx's lack of golden core shows. Why does he have a nosebleed here?

What?

Oh!

Wen Ning 😱

I get what he wants to do!

Have we ever seen him this calm and determined before?

Abd they understand 😱😱😱

The look on all of their faces! Shiiiiit

I'm crying again

Oh wangii is crying 🥺

Wen Quing 💔💔💔 I'm crying even harder just looking at her. I've MISSED her 🥺

Lan Zhan your FACE!! 😭

The way he's looking at wwx in his arms, as if he's seeing him fir the first time

And by god, I can only imagine what he must be thinking

He must be reevaluation every single interaction they had since wwx started down the path of demonic cultivation 😭

I'm a bit in awe of Wen Ning here and how much he must have been holding in. That's the steadiest and most confident he's ever been

Oh Jiang cheng 💔

That looks like a man whose entire world has just been shaken to its core

And Lan Wangji is crying so much 🥺

God I hope he doesn't blame himself even more 🥺

Aaaaaaahhhh, so that is why he wouldn't just carry the sword for appearance sake and why he just had a nosebleed!

Jiang Cheng probably needs about a month to process all that :/

And therapy ...

Aaaaaaahhhh! The boat scene! I've seen gifs! 😍😍😍

A penny for Lan Wangji's thoughts ...

Oh I'm so so so so glad that Wen Ning gets to say thank you to the man who raised his ... cousin (?) :')

Oh god we get to see!!!!

Oh little a Yuan 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I wonder now, did Lan Qiren know who the child was that his nephew suddenly brought back to cloud recess?

I'm glad that we all learned from this that keeping secrets from the people we love, especially secrets that concern them personally, will eventually come back to bide us in the ass. Than you for delivering that important lesson, wen Ning!

Which reminds me that I hope they eventually tell wwx that they know 😬

I swear to god, one of these days I will melt from the gentleness in lan Wangji's gaze :')

Shit. He had to be awake? 😳

You can pinpoint the moment Lan Wangji's heart breaks for all the suffering wwx endured and how close he came to loosing him even then 🥺

Waking like that in you lovers arms in the middle of a lotus pond - that's the dream *sighs* (minus the passing out bit)

It's weirdly cute that wwx thinks that it's Jiang Cheng's insults that have lwj so upset 😅

Oh GOOOOD ...

I can't

The moment Yanli's themes started to play and she appeared I started to bawl 😭😭😭

And he's sharing the lotus pods with them ... oh please, lwj, please understand what he's saying. That's his pove language! His sister's food was how he received love and right now he passes it on to you! Please, please understand it! 🥺

Oh lwj, don't 🙈

Awwwwww ....

He's breaking the rules for you!!! Just to make you smile!!! 😭😭

And holy shit look at their expressions 😭

By now you should know that he's willing to break the rules for you :')

And poor third wheel Wen Ning 😂

Now there are glittering butterflies???

Do they have some kind of romantic aesthetic bingo going on in this episode???

Oh okay, messenger butterflies

Please appreciate wwx almost climbing into lan Wangji's lab in excitement :D

Thay scene transition was pretty af!

Hey! Why do they bully wen Ning? 😤

*shakes wwx by the shoulders* DO YOU GET THAT HE LOVES YOU NOW???

Huh, this episode was a roller coaster. you guys did NOT exaggerate! I loved it to pieces. I'm floored once more by all the actor's performances. Wen Ning revealed a lot about his character, Jiang Cheng broke my heart, Lan Wangji made it melt and Shijie is still able to make me bawl in an instant. But ... I'm not left with a bitter feeling. Sure, jiang Cheng and wei Wuxian havebt reconciled, but the truth is the first step to even have that possibility. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are both healing and whatever happens in the last 4 (4!!!😭) episodes, I'm not dreading it that much right now. I feel like we're climbing upwards :)

@sweetlittlevampire @fandom-glazed @elenirlachlagos @allhailthedramallama @luckymoony @kyrrahbird @i-love-him-on-purpose thank you guys for staying with me for this crazy ride 💙🖤💙

Also one last thing: please don't tell me what happens differently in the novel in any given scene. I am still reading it (about half way through rn) and I'd like to still be surprised by stuff like first kisses and love confessions 💙🖤

I should have put something like this at the end before, but I always forgot. That's on me 😅 so don't feel bad, if you've shared something before :)

#the untamed #sophie watches the untamed #wei wuxian #wwx #lan wangji #lwj #jiang wanyin #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #wen ning #a yuan #the untamed liveblog

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buddha-in-disguise · 4 years

Text

This is how it's done

Episode 5.15 at last.

While the emphasis has been on Nia's story in this episode, the synopsis made it clear Alex, Kelly and J'onn had a secondary storyline running as well. So again we were eager to watch knowing they were finally getting more than a token few minutes together.

Did it deliver?

Oh hell yes.

You just have to look on Twitter to see the praise being heaped on it by fans.

But first let's get the elephant in the room out of the way. William.

The opening sequence as Kara is fighting with Nia, and Nia has to be the one reminding Kara she has a date? Already covered by me and others, but to reiterate: that does not give a vibe of someone excited to be going on a first date. You can't even use the excuse of her mind was on the fight, because so was Nia's.

As to Kara at her apartment with Alex prior to the date?

Those words, "Cancel it for me."

Lets say (for arguments sake) it is nerves again speaking. Maybe it is, but that she is even having those thoughts? That she completely forgot about the 1st date, and needed reminding? If Kara can't get invested in the date, how are the audience expected to become invested?

As for the date itself. Kara arrives.... having been told by Alex to wear the blue top because .... well reasons .... and she is wearing the purple? So, not wanting to go with the best look then?

I didn't mind the date per se, although I did wonder if Kara was simply trying to not show pool skills, because I can't believe for a second, with Alex as a sister, and the control Kara now has on her powers (worry over lack of control would be the only other reason for her hesitation that I can think of), Kara hasn't been pulled into playing many times.

Did I get a date vibe? No. I felt more bonding yes (like why has it taken until now to even vaguely have that much), but date? Nope. Still not feeling it. If any of the above was a one off instance, you could shrug it off. But all of them? Sorry but as I say, if Kara isn't that invested in a first date, then we can't be expected to be as invested. However, that isn't to say that William annoyed me. In truth having him more on the sidelines was a relief as it finally allowed others to get some much needed screen time.

The Nia storyline.

This is obviously one extremely close to me, as my husband is transgender, and we have other family who are also transgender.

Nicole's input was definitely felt. Some of the lines she spoke were ones we have said ourselves almost word for word.

This is a topic that is one I've been extremely vocal about, and one in particular I have spoken about (in the William and Kara at CatCo scene) is the figures for transgender people killed in the last year alone in the USA, but more importantly that this number is likely not a true representation as many who die are misgendered after death.

It was so important to show just how bad for the transgender community it is. And no, it wouldn't necessarily be a fact Kara would know. Even those in the LGBTQ community aren't always aware of these figures. As for William being the one stating the figures back to Kara, again in the context I had no qualms about it. In fact having a CIS straight man write the piece and be a supportive ally is an important message in it's own right. I was worried that wouldn't come across, but I felt it did.

If ever there was a line that spoke volumes in this weeks Supergirl episode it was this:

"They want us to be invisible because of their own fears, they want to erase us so...... we need to shine even brighter." - Nia Nal

And shine Nicole Maines (and Roxy Wood, because the additional line about being a Black transgender woman - take my heart, stomp over it, then expect me to function), did. Both deserve so much praise on the way they delivered their performances.

I genuinely cried at some of this weeks episode, because the experiences have been ones we have faced as a transgender household. Being white does afford us a privilege that Black transgender people (especially the women) don't have. But as I say, it has been something I've been vocal about for a long time.

Lastly Kara and Nia on the balcony. Holy mother of god (or goddess), tears. Again. Nicole and Melissa once again were so good it felt like a punch to the gut. Kara wiping that tear off Nia's cheek. Big ugly sobbing from me. Gah! Just ....

Now Alex and Kelly. While I'm still craving a nice intimate atmosphere at home with them, having had so little of Dansen (and Kelly) it was a relief that for once Kelly wasn't given diminished screentime. Not only that, she was instrumental in helping Alex navigate through the VR world.

Alex having that PTSD flashback to being in the tank. Whoa, finally acknowledging it affected her and obviously still does. I loved how Kelly is so good at helping Alex maintain her equilibrium. You could tell it wasn't just because of her training or profession, but as a girlfriend who knows and understands how to communicate to Alex in that moment of stress, much like Alex was able to realise Malefic was manifesting as Kelly in the earlier part of the season, simply because she knew her girlfriend well enough.

Watching Alex train to get used to the Martian weapon, felt very reminiscent of S1 where Alex was training Kara early on. It was good to see her off balance for once in her training, as she has always shown a confidence in her ability until now. For those who complain she brought up wanting to be back at the DEO, as someone who has heavy military presence in our family (for at least 4 generations on my maternal side), I can safely say, going from military (and remember the DEO is recognised and spoken about in canon as being a military operation), and suddenly and unexpectedly thrown back into civilian life is one heck of an adjustment. It's an adjustment for most even when they know it's coming. To be so abrupt, so unexpected? Alex is going to want that structure back, and have that support around her. It is absolutely not unrealistic for her to feel this way or to talk about it. I would've been more surprised if she hadn't.

"And this is my gun."

Alex giving no crap. The whole rescue sequence was a joy to watch.

If I had a complaint, as I mentioned, I would've loved just a moment of real quiet intimacy between Kelly and Alex. We've barely seen anything of that sort. I hope we get something next episode (which also looks amazing from the trailer).

I could go through the episode and pick up so many times on how good it was. It was so much, I know I will have forgotten something I wanted to say. But I'm exhausted (almost no sleep will do that to you, damn being in the UK and these stupid o'clock viewing times), and it was so much to unpack.

Brainy, was barely in the episode but damn, so lovely (& heartbreaking) to see him give the information to the NCPD to help against transphobic attacks.

Onto a side plot, but finally we have more about Leviathan.

Leviathan have those bodies suspended.

What if William dies in 5.19 and becomes one of those suspended bodies for 5.20 or was supposed to, as Nicole mentioned on her Instagram story they still had scenes to film, and a couple were pretty amazing? With Staz back, would it have involved him, possibly as a sleeper agent? I've touted this idea before. While I would prefer that a MOC isn't cast into being a bad guy again, or killed off, I would more than happily see him simply go back to London and The Times. But I guess we wait to see what happens there.

But if, like Russell in 5a, he becomes an unwitting agent of Leviathan & a bad guy, cue fight scene, possibly in a VR setting? Maybe? Who knows.

Last but by no means least - they killed off Jeremiah. Since we're not entirely sure if Cadmus operated in the same way on Earth Prime as they did on Earth 38, we don't yet know the circumstances behind his death.

Will we get more explanation about it? Honestly I'm not overly bothered unless it helps serve a current storyline. Merely because episode numbers are running out, and it does at least bring us closure on his character one way or another. Something a lot of us have questioned for so long now.

As for complaints, the only ones expressing any real disappointment have been fans who have either regularly attacked other fans (especially those of in the SC or Dansen fandoms), or the outright transphobic users (I won't call them fans), who as the episode makes clear, are everywhere. The transphobes come out in force everytime with Nicole, so it isn't a surprise to see them again. As Nia says, it what transgender people face on a daily basis.

Plus with no Lena in the episode, it helps show that fans didn't need a Lena/Kara centric episode for this to garner such positive reactions, particularly from the LGBTQ fans. In some ways, as many have been saying (yes even SC fans), this Lena drama has long since gone by its sell by date and not having Lena once more stuck in her laboratory wasn't missed. And god, I say this as a huge Lena fan. I still want her on screen of course, but we need progression on what is happening with her. Both Lex and Lena have felt stale of late, and while I know it changes as we get into the last few episodes, I can truly say neither was missed this time. And before anyone jumps in, no this isn't bashing SC (I still ship both Dansen and SC, as well as Brainia), or saying SC shouldn't happen, or Lena is evil, or not needed. I don't think that at all. I merely am getting tired of a merry-go-round on Lena in her laboratory that we've had of late, & the only interaction has been with Lex. Time to break her out of that cell!

I don’t know what they were putting in the water in Vancouver when they did the Batwoman and Supergirl episodes this week, but they both had me simultaneously laughing & crying! It looked ugly for a minute there.

Both were outstanding episodes.

As much as I've had my criticism over some of this season, when Supergirl get it right like they did here, they soar! This was one of my top episodes for the entire series.

And despite all the news in the world right now, Supergirl trended on Twitter again.

Gif courtesy of @ Daily_danvers on Twitter.

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have-some-gotdamn-faith · 5 years

Note

Oh friend... do I have a request for you. Fem!reader x Pining!Micah. He finds her having a complete breakdown (crying, like the kinda crying you'd only do in the shower cause no one's going to interrupt you and the water is so loud... [guess who's still in her depressive state =D]) but anyway angst, fluff, nsft, sft whatever you'd like. Please and thank you. If you don't wanna, as always it's totally okay and I understand.

I’m sorry to hear you’re still in the dumps, but I’m more than happy to try and help! Order up :D

Additionally, I’m making this my celebratory post for 242 of y’all! I thought it only fitting, considering you were one my first friends in this cowboy hell fandom

Word Count: 1,893 (but it seems WAY longer)

An Unwitting Shoulder (fem!Reader)

Clemen’s Point was a good place to be reflective; water lapped at the shore lazily and, on days where one could manage to get away from camp, there was almost a lulling quality to it.

A cigarette landed on the water with a soft ‘plonk’, and Micah watched it bob for a while with a frown. He hated the silence; it made one think, about things what needn’t be thought about. Thoughts, that led to something even more dangerous:

Hope.

Glancing up, the early morning sky had begun to sink from a dusty blue to hazy and grey—the clouds rolling in were heavy with the promise of a downpour, and soon. The soles of his boots crunched against the harder sediment in the wet earth and, unbidden, you came into his thoughts again.

It was fortunate you were away on duties; he was thankful for the wide brim of his hat, ducking his head down to shield himself from the first trickles of raindrops and any wandering eyes that might fall on an uncharacteristically wistful half-smile. Casting a surreptitious glance into your tent, he saw the small gathering of flower’s he’d left—no name, nothing to identify the origin—resting on your pillow, and Micah’s chest tightened happily.

You’d kept them.

The rain began to come down proper, now, blanketing the camp in a gentle, whispering lullaby. Come to think on it, the errands you’d been sent on shouldn’t have taken quite so long as they were. Before he had a chance to continue that line of thought, hooves thundered through the mud as your companions—Arthur and Charles—returned. Your absence was glaring, and defensive concern spurred him towards the hitching posts.

“You’re back late,” he spat, offering his hand to take as though he were actually being helpful in the burden of spoils. On that regard, he was unanswered—instead, Micah was met with a scoff from both men.

“You keepin’ track like some hen?” Arthur quipped. “We’re back, s’what matters.”

The blond man retracted his offered ‘assistance’, the corners of his lips turning down.

“You’re comin’ back a little light, ain’t’cha?” Micah tossed back, looking over them both with smug disapproval. “I seem to remember three of you leavin’.”

At this both Arthur and Charles looked between each other, sharing a look he couldn’t quite decipher.

“Wasn’t our decision,” Charles hummed, shrugging.

“What’chu mean by that?”

Charles shouldered a hefty haversack, ignoring him in favour of wiping hard at the soaking stains melting down his shirt and making off towards the camp’s communal funds. Arthur followed and, huffing at being so quickly dismissed, Micah brought up the rear.

“I don’t like repeatin’ myself, dar—”

“Then don’t—do us all a favour and shut your mouth.” Charles hadn’t stopped moving, but he shot back a look that threatened any further snide commentary to be met with physical rebuttal.

Arthur barked a laugh, catching the brief moment of baffled surprise on Micah’s face before it snapped to his customary scowl.

“What’chu so adamant for, anyhow?” It was Arthur’s turn to be inquisitive. “You think we’d just leave her without a reason, or makin’ sure she’s okay?”

“I think Dutch’ll wanna know why yer leavin’ our womenfolk all around the countryside—” Micah gestured vaguely, swinging his arm wide behind him. “—when there’s work to be done!”

“I ain’t leave nobody,” he reiterated. “And if you’re so worried, be useful for once an’ do it’cherself.”

It was all Arthur offered, throwing a hand towards him that bordered on shooing, as he turned back to catch up with Charles. Micah’s fingers twitched, itching so badly to go to his pistol. Why he was so fired up over you was hardly a question, but he had to remind himself that he weren’t yet your beau—no one knew how much of a weak spot you’d become to him, and no one would for as long as he had say.

To keep suspicions low he had to let the issue drop, and instead circled wide towards their charismatic leader’s tent. Knowing Dutch’s pet, he’d report dutifully and prompt—sure enough you’d been left in the Saint’s Hotel, and Arthur was already slated to ride back out to check on you first thing tomorrow morning.

How fortunate, then, that someone was already making his way to saddle up Baylock.

Before heading out, Micah grabbed a fresh shirt—his union suit was mildly damp, but not unbearable—and ignored any passing inquiries to his destination. Valentine was a quick ride, made infinitely more tolerable by the rainstorm’s passing, and within a few hours the train station bobbed into view. The high noon sun had warmed the dew to an almost strangling degree and, before hitching his horse to the post, Micah tugged a couple buttons free before stepping inside the wooden building.

Asking for a ‘miss Kilgore’, he was directed up to the last room on the right. He’d barely cleared the landing when your choked sobs made it to his ears, and Micah approached his destination gingerly to keep from giving himself away.

The noises you made were strangled, and skipped any time you fought to take in a breath. Your sorrow was wet, deep-bellied and, unthinking, he pressed the flat of his hand against the door. Micah was absolutely, entirely certain he’d never heard anything so harshly guttural from you—he lost track of how long he spent, listening.

A rapid succession of sniffles and coughing brought him back to reality and why he was there at all, and suddenly his throat was gripped by an invisible hand.

Comfort wasn’t his strong suit, unless it erred on the physical side, and he was very much aware that he had no actual plan, here. He pursed and unpursed his lips, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, before placing his hat on his chest and running uncertain fingers through to smooth his hair.

Knuckles rapped against the door, and the hiccuped attempts at muffling the crying inside only twisted his throat harder.

“A-Arthur?”

“No, but it ain’t any less a friendlier a face.”

The doorknob clicked, and you cracked the door open ever so. Bloodshot eyes met his blue ones, and he couldn’t help but reach up towards you. You watched him, studied him with an occasional hitched breath, and under your gaze he faltered—instead, the pads of his fingers fell on the door gingerly, and a hard exhale left his nostrils.

“I, ah, just wanted to check on you,” he murmured slowly, forcing the words out. “You…didn’t come back with the boys, and, ah…”

His mouth was dry, and Micah snapped his lips shut in the hope he could restore some moisture so he wouldn’t look like a damn fool—

Your hand came up to cover his, thumb running gently back and forth across his knuckles, and he found himself mesmerized. Saying nothing, you gestured to invite him in before stepping further back; he followed your lead, walking inside before closing the door behind him with nary a sound.

You had nothing but a chemise and your skirt on—modesty was the furthest thing from your mind, right now, and Micah wasn’t one to object. He hung his hat on the rack nearby before approaching closer; to test the waters, both hands rested on your bare upper arms.

His touch was rough and calloused, but warm, and you heard him take in a breath when you leaned backwards into his embrace. Leaning down, he very nearly pressed his lips against your shoulder, but his proximity ignited a fresh wave of tears—it was alarming, and Micah stiffened as you buried your face in your hands.

When you turned to push yourself into his chest, it took him a few moments before realizing he ought to wrap himself around you. Any time he tightened his arms, you only cried harder, and it was difficult to decide what it was you truly wanted.

“Come on, sugar pie,” he murmured. It was surprisingly tender, to his disgust, but the gravelly rumble of his low voice pushed you further in, so perhaps it wasn’t so bad. “What’s got you all riled up?”

You shook your head, and your shoulders shook harder.

“Did them boys do somethin’ to you?” It was unlikely, he knew, but having a physical target gave Micah enough resolve to lock his arms securely around you. “You can tell me.”

You shook your head again, confirming what he knew to be logically true. A shame, really—he would have loved any excuse to stroll back into camp with the distinct pursuit of decking Arthur or Charles into the dirt. He might still, if he inflated the fact you were bawling your heart out in his arms. The idea drew a wicked grin across his face.

You choked out something indiscernible, and he pressed his lips into your hair. Micah was deeply grateful you were too wrapped up in your sorrow to see him marinating in such cheshire glee.

“Don’t matter now, I’m here. I gotcha.”

Newly inspired with an ulterior motive, and the chance to be the one to soothe the hot tears spilling down your cheeks, he hummed sweet things to you as one of his hands pushed a heavy, soothing trail up and down your back. Truly, what a unique position he found himself in.

It distracted him from the thought he continuously kept shoving backwards—again, those thoughts. He didn’t dare let it take a foothold that being here, alone, with you threatened to encourage something else.

Happiness.

Contentedness.

The thought alone snapped cold in his gullet, and Micah pushed his attention even harder on you. Cradling you close to his own body and setting his feet apart, he began to sway softly at the hip to ease your nerves. It seemed to be working—your sobs had softened back to hiccups and gurgles, and he whispered sweet encouragement. Fingers combed slowly, awkwardly, through your locks, and he breathed you in when you dug your hands into the breast of his shirt.

“My girl, you gonna be alright,” he whispered. “I ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

He kept digging himself deeper and deeper into this rabbit hole of tenderness, but the reactions Micah got out of you made the lurching vulnerability in his throat easier to bear.

“How’s about I get you some more flowers. Would you like that?”

Bleary-eyed you looked up to him, and he did his absolute damnedest to school his expression into what he hoped could be interpreted as a soft smile. He bore himself against every instinct beat into him, claiming ownership of the flowers waiting for you at camp—he locked his legs into place, hoping to stop the trembling that had taken hold in the joints.

Micah pressed a light kiss to your forehead when you said nothing, unwilling to linger on your skin for his sake more than your own. When you nodded, though, he kissed you again.

“Wash your face, doll—let’s get you some fresh air.”

For now, he could show you that he was a stable foundation, that he was reliable. He needed to buy some time to calm the fluttering in his belly, anyhow, as you pressed a kiss to his cheek before he left you to tidy up.

#madnessismylover #micah bell #micah bell x reader #an unwitting shoulder #micah drabble #red dead imagine #red dead redemption 2 #red dead fandom #red dead writing #WOW THIS GOT.......REALLY LONG #AND REALLY FLUFFY

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otome--fantasy · 5 years

Text

Of Demons and Dragons

Ikemen Sengoku Imagine: Being able to turn into a dragon.

Ch.6

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of dark themes, mentions of alcohol consumption

You hadn't ment to fall asleep while you groomed your scales, you weren't even aware you had dozed off till an absolutely blood curdling scream and the sound of something wooden clattering to the floor woke you up. With a suprised grunt, your eyes shot open and you attempted to stand, causing you to bump your head and the points of your antlers hard against the cieling. You wriggled and writhed in a panic, desperately trying to move around as you had forgotten where you were.

"Princess?!?!"

Your head snapped to the open door to see a terrified Kinu, shaking with her hands covering her mouth, and the tray of food she had been carrying splayed out on the flooring. Your own eyes widened in suprise, but you quickly snapped out of it when she moved to run away. Without thinking, you lunged for her, catching her with your teeth by the back of her obi and pulling her into the med bay before using your nose to shut the door - all while she screeched in fear for her life.

"Kinu!" You called her name to try and get her attention, but she couldn't hear you over all her screaming. With a huff, you carried her to the center of the room. She was struggling and beginning to sob and hyperventilate as she tried to free herself from your grasp.

"Kinu!" She gasped and paused in her frightened fit at the sound of your voice.

"P-princess?!" She looked around the room, unsure of where your voice had originated from.

"I'm right here, Kinu."

She visibly froze and looked behind her to see you, "Oh goodness...!" The poor girl looked like she was on the verge of tears, "The beast ate you princess?!"

You sighed through your nose and rolled your eyes before gently putting her down on the floor and released her, "No Kinu," you corrected, "It is me."

She swallowed a thick lump in her throat, "Huh...?" And looked up up at you with her jaw dropped and eyes wide, "P-princess?"

"Yes, Kinu," you tilted your head slightly to the side, right ear twitching as you gazed at your maid. You briefly wondered how many times you would have to reiterate this.

"Wha-wha-what happened to you?" Her voice was shaky as she trembled, causing her to stutter.

"Nothing," you blinked, "I am the same as I've always been."

"But-but you're a...uh-"

"Dragon," you finished for her.

"Yes," her breathing was still erratic, but she was beginning to calm down. She collapsed into a sitting position on the floor as she watched you shift back to normal. She scrambled on all fours to hand you your robe once you had finished and she realized you were naked, "I came to collect you for your bath, Milady..."

She seemed afraid of you, but you couldn't really blame her. "Thank you," you gave her a small smile, taking the robe and sliding it on before securing it. Kinu simply nodded and staggered back to her feet, before silently motioning for you to follow. You trailed after her to the bath house where everything was laid out - towels on the racks, bath nice and hot, and some scrubbing rags by the tub.

"Well, miss," Kinu kept it formal, too on edge to be as open as she had previously been with you, "I'll leave you to it."

"Actually, Kinu," You called to her before she could exit the room, "I could use your assistance."

She turned back to see you sliding off your robe and climbing the steps to enter the bath. She gulped and silently made her way back to you while you settled into the tub. A small sob bubbled from within her throat. What were you going to do with her? Did she know too much? Were you going to drown her in the tub for finding out your secret? You could simply say that she slipped and fell into the tub while she was preparing it and no one would question a thing. Tears welled up in her eyes and slowly trickled down her face, "Miss?"

"You have a body scrub I can use, yes? And a brush?"

She nodded, walking over to the shelf on the back wall and pulled down a wooden box before placing it on one of the steps and opening it. She pulled out a brush, a bowl, and a few jars - opening them before pouring a bit of the contents into the mixing bowl. First she poured some pure white sand into the bowl, followed by ground salt. You watched her with curious eyes as she added a few herbs, oils, and other plants, "I thought salt was valuable?"

Maybe you had your history wrong, but you thought salt used to be very rare back in the old days. It was even sometimes treated as a commodity by some countries. "In places without easy access to the sea, yes. Besides, this is a special stash we keep for important guests."

Made sense.

After she mixed the ingredients thoroughly, you saw her peal what looked like an aloe vera leaf and add it to create a lotion-like substance. She then picked up the bowl and walked around the bath to the side you were leaning against and set it down on the top step, before taking a seat herself. She was obviously nervous, and was using the home made bath scrub as a fidgeting tool - constantly stirring it even after it had been consistently mixed.

"You have questions," you broke the silence and heard a sharp intake of air from her.

"T-the others, Milady," it took her a moment to gather her thoughts, and fight back the sobs that racked her body enough to form a coherent question, "d-do they know?"

"No, they are unaware," you sighed, making the silent decision not to tell her about Mitsuhide. She was shaken up enough as it was, you don't need to give the girl even an inkling that you may have threatened him.

"O-oh," she sighed. So you were in hiding? "W-what exactly are you, Milday?" There was still a bit of shakiness to her voice.

"A dragon."

"Are there more of you?" She gently began to brush your hair in an effort to give her hands something to do other than shake. She was careful when removing all the knots that had accumulated over the semi-long period of neglect. You took this moment to ponder where your ancestors would be in this current time period.

"Yes," she paused along with you before the both of you continued, "I think at around this time my kind was- are divided. Some of us live among the people, but most of us live in more remote places away from civilization."

Kinu stopped her motions once again, but this time she leaned over the edge of the tub so she could look at you, "Why?"

"I suspect because of the hunters."

Her brows furrowed in concern, people hunted dragons? Were there some hunting you? Well that explained why you hid yourself, and though it wasn't the full reason - had she voiced it she wouldn't be entirely wrong, "Hunters?"

"Yes there were-" you corrected yourself, "are many of them these days. Most of us think living with humans isn't worth the possibility of being killed, so we live secluded in very hidden locations."

"Oh," she seemed to sadden at this, before placing the washcloth into the bowl, and began to wash your shoulders, working her way to your neck before scrubbing back out towards your arms. She thought about your explanation, as well as the way you had been treating everyone since your arrival. She thought your confidence among the warlords was something to be admired - especially in the eyes of she and the more timid maids, and you had been fairly kind to her and the other servants thus far, "Well I think that truly is a great loss to the world that you should all stay hidden."

You chuckled at her naive view, but you couldn't blaim her, ignorance was bliss in this case but also dangerous. You were the only one of your kind she'd probably ever met (knowingly), "Most of us avoid people like the plague."

She tilted her head, not understanding the phrase, though whether is was due to lack of schooling or because Japan had yet to hear of the plague was beyond you, "But those of us who do live among you all," you sneared as you recalled the history of your people, "Nasty."

Oh yes, there was no end to the list of abhorrent things your kind did to the humans back in the old days. Sure there were some who just wanted to live peaceful lives along side strangers who looked like them, but others... human trafficking and cannibalism (can it be called that?) to name a few.

"What do you mean, miss?" Surely it couldn't be any worse than some of the things people already did to each other, and on some levels she was right, but still, "You don't want to know."

Kinu took that as her cue to shut her mouth before she continued scrubbing, but she stopped when you turned around to face her, "Would you head back to my room and prepare everything for me?" You looked at her with soft eyes and a kind smile. This was probably a lot for her to take in, and you wanted to give her a moment to sort herself out.

"Well sure, Milady. Was there a particular kimono you had in mind," she smiled feeling a bit more at ease now that the two of you had time to talk.

"No, I trust your judgment," besides, she probably knew better than you what would be more appropriate for an occasion such as this. Her smile widened, and she nodded before heading off to go prepare everything for you, and once you heard the door shut you let out a sigh. Today had not been the best, but hopefully from here on out things would get better.

You finished up your bath - scrubbing off all the unseen dirt and grime that must have accumulated from your many days without self care, before drying off, grabbing a new robe, and sliding it on to head back to your room. You must have been in there for at least an hour and a half, because when you returned there were two mugs of water on your dresser along with another full of elixer.

Kinu looked up from smoothing out the kimono that had been laid out for you and followed your gaze, "Ah yes, Lord Ieyasu said he wanted you to drink at least one glass of water and your next dose of elixer before you went to the feast."

You gave Kinu a tight smile accompanied by a small humourless laugh, "Yes, of course," that was the first thing you did after closing the door behind you - hoping that the preparations for tonight would take long enough that both drinks wouldn't spoil your dinner too much. At first you weren't going to drink the second glass of water, but the medicine seemed to be getting worse everytime you drank it, so the extra glass was useful for getting rid of the disgusting aftertaste.

You now stood in front of a mirror that had been brought to your room to dress you and eyed the choice of design on your kimono rather curiously. There was an embroidery of a large dragon that stretched from below your waist line to the bottom of the kimono, the main color matched that of your scales, the stitched dragon matched your secondary colors, and the floral designs that served as a background for the dragon added a variety of color. Your hair was in a nice bun with loose curls and decorative accessories of flowers here and there. You almost didn't recognize your reflection staring right back at you, and you remained silent till the other maids left.

"You look beautiful, Princess," Kinu smiled, the imagery of the designs of your Kimono ironically flying over her head - even just after your conversation, though you wondered if she had done this intentionally.

"Kinu, did you pick this for me?" You turned and gave her a gentle smile, wanting her to know that, if she had, she wasn't in trouble, but if she hadn't-

"No, Mitsuhide arrived while I was looking for a suitable kimono, and said that you had requested to wear this specific one." She smiled at you through the mirror, oh so happy and blissfully unaware of what had transpired between you and the kitsune, "I assumed you thought of something you really wanted to wear and had changed your mind."

Fuck you, Mitsuhide.

"Oh yes," you laughed humorlessly, "How could I have forgotten," the smile didn't fade from your expression, though it didn't quite reach your eyes.

"Is something wrong, Princess?" Kinu, having been a servant for many years, recognized even the most subtle change in mood.

"No," you reassured her by turning to place a hand on her shoulder, "It's beautiful."

She placed a hand atop yours and returned your smile, "No, Milady, you're beautiful."

After a moment your turned back to look in the mirror and sighed. Kinu made a last minute check of your attire before she was sure you looked perfect. She smoothed out any wrinkles or creases that had gone unnoticed, and straightened out your obi. The outfit wasn't ceremony fancy, or 'trophy princess' flashy, but it was very obvious a lot of time and effort had gone into it and you appreciated every detail.

Once Kinu was sure everything was in its place, she escorted you to the mess hall where you undoubtedly turned heads. You caught the attention of the warlords who had been conversing with each other, and a few of the vassals gawked at you. You were not quite sure where your place was in all this, till Nobunaga waved you over to an empty seat between he and Masamune.

"I'll leave you to it, Milady," Kinu smiled before she turned to leave, but you stopped her by grabbing her arm, "You aren't going to eat with us?"

She shook her head, "The servants normally eat separately from the vassals and in private."

Your brows furrowed and you glanced at Nobunaga before looking back towards her. You had words, but she placed her hand on the one you had used to grab her and held it, "It's okay, Milday. It's this way so there are people to serve and bring the food out to the others," she giggled, "And there are no servants for servants, so we all just eat in the kitchen or in our rooms."

You grit your teeth for a split second, she had a point, "If you say so," before nodding to Kinu and turning to make your way to Nobunaga. You walked to the right of the mess hall and around all the tables. There were six of them in total, five were arranged columnar so one end was towards the mess hall entrance and the other towards the back of the room, with equal spacing between them; the sixth one was set up horizontally centered towards the back, each end pointing towards the left and right sides of the room respectfully.

The table at the back is where all the warlords were seated, with the exception of Mitsunari who sat between Hideyoshi (to his left) and Ieyasu (to his right at the farthest end). As you approached the table, you caught eyes with Mitsuhide who sat at the end on the side you approached from, and glared at him. He sent you an amused smile in return that made you bite back the urge to swipe at him the way you did three months ago.

"Why Princess," the kitsune's grin widened slightly.

Don't react.

"You look absolutely ravishing in that kimono."

You sent him a quiet hiss when you walked past, before taking your seat between the Demon Commander himself and the One Eyed Dragon, "Mitsuhide is right, lass. That kimono suits you very well."

You shot Masamune a sweet smile and shrugged your shoulders slightly, "Thank you, Masamune. I had no idea it was in my closet." You didn't even bother acknowledging Mitsuhide as you had made the silent decision to ignore him for the night.

"Yes," Nobunaga cut in to your conversation, getting your attention when he moved a stray curl behind your ear, "Your outfit choice for the night is very fitting." He brushed his fingers along the decorative faux flowers in your hair, an action that was oddly soothing, "Delicate like a flower," he moved one of the tassels from your obi's ties out of your lap, better exposing the dragon embroidery underneath it, "But fierce like a dragon."

His words, his actions, his smug ass smile was all very breathtaking and sent a nice tingle up your spine. "Thank you," you unintentionally purred, "Though to be honest, I really can't take any credit. The maids picked out everything, and did all the work." You picked up your tea mug, "All I did was stand there and look pretty."

"You're having tea?" Masamune shot you a look before picking up a spare saucer of saké, "Tonight is a night for celebration."

"I don't think my doctor would condone that," you looked to the blue-clad warlord and chuckled.

"He wouldn't," Ieyasu spoke up from the other end of the table and shot the two of you a glare.

"Sorry," you laughed bringing the tea to your lips, "Warden says no," before taking a sip and placing the mug down. Masamune clicked his tongue and shook his head, placing the saucer down before picking up his own cup of tea. You raised a brow at him, and he shrugged, "Solidarity."

"Masamune can't drink," Hideyoshi clarified. Ah, he can't handle liquor. The revelation made you giggle, and Masamune sent a glare towards Hideyoshi.

"You should try some of the Sashimi and Dumplings, Milady!" Mitsunari leaned over the table to look past Hideyoshi and Nobunaga, and towsrds you.

"No she shouldn't," Ieyasu interjected, "She is still recovering. No raw foods," he said with finality.

"Damn Salmonella," you grumbled. To be honest it was fine by you, you were hungry but due to Ieyasu's warning you didn't want to eat anything heavy, and meat in general was as heavy as food could get. "What?" Masamune looked at you with a confused face, and you sighed - remembering that a lot of food born illnesses didn't have names yet.

Oh that probably means that any time someone got sick from food poisoning, they blamed it on someone trying to kill them.

"Nothing," you couldn't hold back the chuckle that bubbled from your own personal thoughts.

Nobunaga reached for something that was infront of him, but closer to the other edge of the table and silently winced in pain. The quiet sound caught your attention and you watched him for a moment, not sure if you heard him right. He tried again, only for the same sound to escape him. Were you missing something? When did he get injured? You took the tray of sushi he had been reaching for and placed it next to his, earning a quiet thanks from him.

You briefly glanced around the room, to make sure your eyes weren't deceiving you, and surprisingly the subtle spectacle had not gotten the attention of any vassals around the room. Nobunaga seemed to be favoring his right arm and you narrowed your eyes at him.

"Are you okay?" You tried to keep the conversation quiet, but it was difficult with so many different conversations going on around the room.

"What?" He turned to look at you to better understand your question.

"I said, are you okay?" You spoke up a bit, hoping no one outside the warlords table had heard you.

"It's nothing," he stated simply, before brushing off your concerns for the rest of the feast. You watched him like a hawk while the others enjoyed eating and drinking, though you suspected the other warlords were doing it in moderation and you wondered why for a moment. The vassals however didn't hold back, they got loud halfway through the celebration, but their drunken banter put a smile on your face.

The group seemed really tightknit, more like a very large band of brothers than a garrison of soldiers under the command of different leaders. The night wound down when there was almost no food left on the tables for the vassals, and they left in groups of three or more to either head off to bed or find somewhere else to indulge themselves. Within an hour of the food depleting to nothing, the hall was empty save for Ieyasu, Mitsunari, Hideyoshi, Nobunaga, yourself, Masamune, and Mitsuhide.

Should you leave? You wanted to, but you felt awkward being the only one at the table to leave, before Mitsunari spoke up, "We should head to the council room before it gets too terribly late."

That caught your attention, and you perked up a bit, "You all are going to have a council meeting right now?"

"Not just us, you too."

Shut up Mitsuhide.

"But why?" You huffed, "I'm no one important."

"Nonsense," Mitsunari looked over towards you with a gentle smile, "You're the Oda Princess."

"Not a real one though," Ieyasu snarked.

"One of the topics we are going to cover tonight involves you," Nobunaga finally answered your question. Your brows furrowed, "Me?" You repeated, "How?"

Nobunaga chuckled before moving to stand, "Come to find out."

Ugh.

The other warlords followed his lead, and with a begrudging sigh, you trailed after them. You contemplated ditching them and just returning to your room for the night - being around so many lively people drained your energy. However, before you could linger too much on the idea, you entered a hall that looked familiar. Dang, here already.

When you entered, the warlords took their places at their assigned seats, while you followed Nobunaga up the dais, only to pick up your pillow and walk over to the spot next to Ieyasu, before plopping it and yourself down.

Nobunaga leaned back slightly and let out a sigh. You glanced around the room, before turning to look at the raven haired man, and leaned in his direction, "Are you really okay? You seemed stiff the entire feast."

"No," at least he was finally being honest, and you weren't going to have to jump through too many hoops to get an answer like you would most men. Your brows furrowed at this, "What's wrong?"

Before you could get an answer out of him, Hideyoshi cleared his throat and Nobunaga waved off your question. "I'll begin," Hideyoshi watched you till he was sure you wouldn't interrupt and then continued, "I have a report on the villains who attacked Lord Nobunaga at Honno-ji."

You perked up a bit, it had been a while since you heard of the incident. "Mitsunari," the brunette turned to his vassal, "The night of the attack, you sent several men to follow their tracks."

"Yes," he nodded in confirmation, "I had hoped to search for their whereabouts. However," Mitsunari paused for a moment to clear his throat, "Last night several bodies were delivered to the castle."

Your eyes widened, having a feeling you knew what he was going to say next.

"It was the men I had sent out."

You glanced around the room to gauge the others reactions. Most if not all of them remained calm and expressionless, though you couldn't say you were suprised. This type of thing was probably normal to them. People didn't exactly have a long life expectancy in this time period. You looked at Nobunaga through the corner of your eye as he held a disturbingly pleased smile in his face.

Asshole.

"They must have gotten close," he chuckled, "Apparently their leader doesn't want me learning his identity."

"We may be out of leads," Hideyoshi sounded resolute, and you could hear the anger growing in his voice, "but we won't give up the search. Those assassins won't be allowed to roam free."

"Hideyoshi, I want you and Mitsunari to come to my room afterwards to discuss this more." You looked at the Oda leader with a raised brow, though your eyes narrowed in suspicion - he was up to something.

"Yes, my lord," they both replied in sync.

"If I may, I have a report as well," Mitsuhide began to speak with a smile on his face, "The scouts we sent out to reconnotier the eastern front came back to us with rather curious rumors."

You raised a brow, partially because you had never heard that word used before in the place of recon or reconnaissance, and partly because you were actually interested in what the snake had to say. "It means to gather information, Princess," you shot a glare in Ieyasu's direction - half tempted to make his tea erupt again, but sadly he didn't have one.

"I know what it means," you snapped back at him, "You should be paying attention to the report and not whether or not I have a grasp on military jargon."

"They say the Dragon of Echigo is alive," Mitsuhide continued on as if he hadn't been interrupted, "And he is sheltering the Tiger of Kai back to life from his supposed death due to illness."

"Interesting," Nobunaga raised a hand to rub his chin in thought.

Dragon of Echigo? Your brows furrowed at the irony. How cute- a soft sigh interrupted your thoughts, and you looked at Ieyasu with an annoyed expression.

"The Dragon of Echigo is Kenshin Uesagi, Lord of Kasugayama Castle in Echigo. The Tiger of Kai is Shingen Takeda. They're brave generals who vied with Nobunaga for power. Both of them supposedly died some time back."

"Thanks, Wikipedia-" you snarked, but Ieyasu wouldn't stop till he had delivered an insult, "And incase you're wondering, your cluelessness was written all over your face. Try being quiet will you?"

"You should really get checked out, Ieyasu, it isn't healthy to be hearing voices that aren't there." And while your at it get your eyes checked too.

"Mitsuhide," your and Ieyasu's quiet squabble did nothing to interrupt Nobunaga and Mitsuhide's conversation, "Can you verify this?"

"Not yet. So far it's just been nothing but rumors. But I will bring you proof." You saw nothing wrong with this idea. If he went chasing rumors, he wouldn't be in Azuchi to pester you. Please go away, Mitsuhide.

"Hold on, Mitsuhide."

Ugh.

"Yes?" Mitsuhide turned his attention to Hideyoshi.

"Why are you leaving our lord's side to go chasing rumors?"

You had almost forgotten that Hideyoshi suspected Mitsuhide... Almost.

"It's simple. If they turn out to be true we need to know as soon as possible to plan our next move." Hideyoshi got quiet after Mitsuhide's reply, but that didn't mean that the brunette was backing down. Your gaze shifted between the two as the silently glared at eachother from across the room.

"Can you promise you're not planning anything?"

The whole argument made you want to groan outloud, but you refrained from doing so. You knew for a fact, the last thing Mitsuhide wanted to do was betray Lord Nobunaga - he just liked to play Devil's advocate.

"Anything?" A sly smile crept onto Mitsuhide's face, "Could you be more specific, Hideyoshi? I'm a little slow on the uptake, you see."

You wanted to slap that smile off his face and tell him to quit his shit, but you also wondered why he was trying so hard to look like he was up to something. You kept your gaze on the kitsune, examining him for answers.

"You know what I'm talking about. I need to know you are not planning to betray our Lord to his enemies."

"Would you trust me if I told you I wasn't?" Mitsuhide chuckled, "What's to prevent me from lying or changing my mind, Hideyoshi?"

"Mitsuhide," Hideyoshi spoke through gritted teeth, "why does a man of your talents insist on such-"

"Enough, both of you," at the proverbial snap of his fingers, Nobunaga's command caused the both of them to cease their arguing. Once the room was silent, Nobunaga spoke once again, "Mitsuhide, I give you permission to scout Echigo. Ascertain whether the tiger and dragon are alive or dead, and what's going on a Kasugayama Castle."

"I understand, my lord," Mitsuhide bowed slightly with a nod of his head. You glanced at Nobunaga for a split second before gazing over at Hideyoshi. He seemed like he had a lot more say on the matter, but kept his opinions to himself after that.

You remembered the first day you met everyone. Hideyoshi and Mitsuhide had an argument almost exactly like this that time as well. Hideyoshi wanted to hear Mitsuhide say that he wasn't plotting behind their backs, but like today, Mitsuhide was insistent on antagonizing him. You once again wondered why Mitsuhide didn't just tell the truth, he was loyal to Nobunaga. Fiercely so- so loyal infact he had come after you knowing full well you had inhuman capabilities. There had to be some sort of angle to this.

"My plan was to begin an invasion of the western territories," with that out of the way, Nobunaga continued the council with a smile, "but I may have found bigger prey. Any activity from Echigo can't be overlooked. Make swift preparations for war. Masamune, Ieyasu. Gather the troops."

Both the one eyed warrior and the blond looked to their leader and nodded, "Yes, my lord."

"The rumors better be true," Masamune held a playful smile on his face, "I've been waiting for some action."

"Princess," Nobunaga's voice brought your attention to him, "It's your turn."

"Hm?" You raised a questioning brow to him, and wontered if you should make a smart ass comment but before you could, he answered your silent question. "I have orders for you."

"No," your turned up your nose at him, an action that only made his smirk widen, "I haven't given them yet."

"Don't care," you turned your head away from him, emphasizing the fact that you weren't having any of it.

"I enjoy your spirit but listen to what I have to say first." You still didn't turn to look at him, and after a moment he continued, "I hadn't mentioned this before, but I suffered an injury in the previous battle."

That got your attention. You turned to look at him and narrowed your eyes skeptically.

"When you put down that revolt?" Ieyasu's voice cut through your silence, and brought your gaze to him before you looked back at Nobunaga. Why was he barely making all this known now? It's been three months, you felt like this is something that should have been delt with long before?

Unless-

"Yes. A glancing blow from one of the arrows, but it has yet to heal."

You couldn't even say if it was true or not, you had been absent for a majority of the battle due to having to deal with a small skirmish of your own. "However," the raven haired warlord continued, "I must be in perfect condition for the next battle. And so I will be going on retreat to the springs."

Your glare only hardened as you watched him, silently searching for more answers, because you knew there was something he wasn't telling you.

"My dearest Lucky Charm will be coming with me."

"What?" Just like that you snapped out of your thoughts, "Why?"

"Isn't that nice," Mitsuhide chuckled from the other side of the room, "Congratulations on being chosen for such an important mission."

"I'm counting on you to not fall for our Lord too quickly, lass," Masamune jested at you in a friendly manner, a smug smirk etched on to his features.

"No one has answered my question yet???" You looked at the others confused.

"Princess," Hideyoshi tried to reassure you, you think, "remember to serve Lord Nobunaga as I would," or give you tips, you guess.

"But why???" You raised a brow at the brunettes comment. Bad choice of words, Hideyoshi, but then again he doesn't know the two of you nearly screwed.

"You sustained serious injuries as well, did you not?" Nobunaga was talking to you as if the answer should be obvious.

"Well yes but-" he didn't let you finish, "Then the hot springs will benefit you as well." He nodded, as if the action could physically bring a close to the conversation.

"Is it just going to be you and me?" You sighed, knowing there was nothing you could do to change his mind, so you may as well get as many details as you can.

"Yes, if word of this injury got out, there could be another revolt. For secrecy, I will take no guards and go with you alone."

Oh even you knew that was bull. Nobunaga was many things, but stupid was not one of them. He had to know going alone would be dangerous. Sure, he had you, but none were aware of what you were - save for Mitsuhide.

Unless of course-

"We leave in the morning. See that you're prepared, Princess."

He's trying to make himself look like an easy target. But what would he have to gain from this?

You gaped at him slightly when it occured to you.

He suspects a mole amongst his ranks and he's trying to draw them out by making himself look like an easy target.

Nobunaga was giving you a teasing smile.

If nothing happens, then he knows his inner circle is safe and the traitor is lower in the chain of command.

You looked around the room, examining the men you had though you'd come to know. They had all seemed fairly loyal in your eyes. It was obvious from the way Ieyasu used to birate you about your interactions with Nobunaga that he respects him very much. Hideyoshi practically worshiped the ground Nobunaga walked on. Mitsunari's loyalty to the Lord in question was second only to Hideyoshi, so it was a given that by association it wasn't him either. Masamune was always so eager to fight for Nobunaga and for some reason their relationship struck you as brotherly, and Mitsuhide had proven to you earlier that day how loyal he truly was to his lord.

Who could he possibly think it is?

"Close your mouth or you'll catch flies," Ieyasu snipped. You snapped you mouth shut and shot him a glare.

"You should probably start packing," Hideyoshi called your attention away from the blond and your face scrunched up slightly in distaste, "I guess, since you're leaving me with no other choice."

Nobunaga nodded at your words, as you stood up to head to your room. Like hell you were packing, more like staying up and thinking of a way to get the heck out of here.

"Kinu will be bringing you your last dose of medicine for the day," Ieyasu called after you., and you loudly groaned before closing the doors to the council room behind you.

When you arrived to your quarters, Kinu was already there with your medicine and a glass of water, as well as a few extra maids to assist you in removing your complicated garb. You allowed them to change you into your night attire first since the smell of the medicine assured you that this glass was even more concentrated before the last. Obviously the idea of shaking liquid medicine before giving it so it was equally distributed in each glass was still a foreign concept, and you could only assume the medicine was getting more potent because whatever was still in it that was solid had settled to the bottom and you may be nearly finished with the first batch.

You almost wanted to spit out the last sip. It had an unpleasant gritty texture to it and it felt like it left a thin film over the roof of your mouth and your tongue. Kinu quickly handed you your glass of water, and you eagerly chugged it before handing it back to her and politely asking for more.

You straightened out your night robe and turned to Kinu after she poured more water in your mug. The other maids bowed you, taking your used clothing before leaving the room and closing the door behind them. "How was the feast, Milady?" She smiled and handed you the ceramic cup.

"Good," was all you could really say. Of course you had tasted better food, but what could you expect from a world that had yet to obtain the variety of spices and cooking techniques of modern day life. "It wasn't what I was expecting," you chuckled, before taking a sip of your water "Lots of drinking and marry banter from the vassals. Don't know why I expected it to be stiff and stuffy."

Kinu covered her giggle with her hands, "Of course not, Princess. Banquets like this are often to help the lord's and their vassals unwind, it also helps boost morale if it's in celebration of something, such as your getting better."

"Yes well," you moved to sift though your closet, not entirely sure if you should really pack, "It was great up until the end."

Kinu tilted her head in a confused manor, and you glanced back at her when she remained silent, before turning back to your closet and explaining what you meant, "Lord Nobunaga wants me to go to the hot springs with him tomorrow-"

You were cut of my the maids failed attempt at muffling her excited squeals. And you turned to look at her, a smile creeping on to your face at her infectious joy, "Oh, Princess! That's wonderful!"

Your brows furrowed and you snickered, "How?"

"Well, Milady," she hastily walked over to you with an extra hop in her step, and made an effort to speak a bit more quietly, though it failed miserably, "I'm sure you're aware of the Lords fondness of you."

Fondness?

You scoffed and turned to look at Kinu, "He's only doing it because-" you paused, your smile dropping from your face as did not want to tell her your suspicions on why he is really doing all this, and you also didn't want to tell her he was 'injured' in fear of spoiling his little experiment. She looked at you expectantly, "Because...?"

You cleared your throat, "He thinks the hot spring will do me some good, and he thinks I would enjoy getting out of the castle for once."

Your little white lie only made her squeal again and you rolled your eyes, smile once again returning to your face as you pulled out a simple kimono off the rack. The material felt light and the had a little more give than most, it would be perfect for traveling, maybe. Your weren't sure. It was hard to say since you didn't know how exactly you would be traveling. You assumed by horse, and you've never ridden on a horse in a kimono for extended periods of time.

"That would be good for the trip there, Princess," oh yay, you made a good guess, "Would it be alright if I pack your things for you?" She stuttered slightly, afraid you would take her request the wrong way, "N-not that I don't think you know how to dress, it's just-"

"Kinu." She snapped her mouth shut, "I would appreciate it."

Just like that her excitement returned, "Oh! Thank you, Milady!" She hopped to your closet, taking your place when you moved out of the way. With a relaxed smile you made your way to your futon, slowly laying down onto the mat while Kinu flitted through your closet for everything she thought would be nice for you to take. She would pull out a kimono, talk out the pros and cons outloud before putting it back and picking out another. You talked with her while you could, asking questions and agreeing with some of her opinions, till all you could respond to her with was, "Mhmm..."

As your responses became quieter and quieter, she turned around to look at you and smiled at the image of you curled up beneath your blanket - the only thing visible was your head from your cheek bones up. She continued sorting through your closet till she was finished and then took her leave.

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crimsonrae · 4 years

Text

Across the Road, At the Brothel

Chapter Two

Summary: Jaskier fell in love any day that the sun rose in the East. It was a trifling, pleasurable experience for him. Even when he was jumping out a window to avoid cuckolded husbands. So what happens when his trifles start to become more significant? Jaskier/OC. Some Yennefer/Geralt

A/N: Jaskier is just too adorable not to write about. This is a relationship development story with an OC. There will be smut in later chapters and plenty of angst.

Rating: Mature

Or Dove...It was the low murmur of voices and the rather ominous thunking of feet on floorboards that woke Jaskier. For a dull moment, he thought Geralt had returned from... wherever the fuck he had flitted off to. To be honest, he hadn't paid much attention. After three weeks without a bed, a bath, or a decent meal for that matter – despite what Geralt thought he was not a culinary wizard – Jaskier had been far more focused on enjoying the simple pleasures of which he had been deprived and those pleasures did not include traipsing back out into the wild to find some Gods forsaken creature that could, quite possibly, rend him limb from bloody limb.

Opening blurry eyes, he cast about the room for the hulking form of his friend and frowned when he saw no one. It took longer than he would like to admit before he realized that the noise he was hearing was coming from outside his room. Sitting up, his head pulsed with a faint pain and he groaned, quietly remembering the amount of wine he had imbued the night before. He had to hand it to the Toussaint province when they set out to make wine. They made bloody good wine.

A soft yawn unfurled from his lips and he squinted almost peevishly at the light shining in through the window. It had to be a little before midday, his late-night had ensured that he had most certainly missed breakfast. Biting back another yawn, Jaskier slowly went about his usual morning ablutions. He had to admit it was rather nice not to have a pair of golden eyes silently observing his usual rituals, also a little lonely, but that was not something he wanted to dwell on too closely. He and Geralt had basically been living in each other's pockets lately, time apart was more than needed. And yet...

Jaskier sighed quietly as he finished dressing and headed for the door. He supposed that it was time for him to resurface to reality and sniff out whatever it was that had his companion traipsing through wine country. Hopefully, it was a search for a good bottle of Bordeaux, though unlikely. It didn't take long for him to find the inn empty of its keeper as he made his way outside, his stomach rumbling. The first point of order was to track down some food before he went in search of information. It was still a tad early for a midday meal, but he was sure he could find something at the local markets to nibble on.

...Well, market was a strong term he supposed as he looked about.

While Glynedol was not exactly a one-road town, it came rather close. It seemed the road that he and Geralt had come in on was the main road through the town. It had the inn, the tavern, and the brothel all within a few metres of each other. It looked like there was an apothecary not too far down, as well as a cobbler and smithy a little further from that. His stomach twisted with a faint nauseous hunger and Jaskier had to wonder why he hadn't seen any stalls set up for traders. It was harvest season, after all. Usually, vendors would be selling their wares at any small spit such as this little town. Frowning, he glanced about and realized that there weren't many people about either. He could understand most working the fields of their farms for the last bits of produce before autumn, but surely it was getting late enough and certainly warm enough in the day for more to be taking a break and heading into the local watering hole for a respite. It was all a bit... odd.

"Nigel, you can't keep doing this. Not with winter on the way."

Jaskier perked up as a familiar voice caught his attention. The barmaid. Lyrra. She might be willing to guide him about. His eyes quickly scanned the sides of the road but saw neither hide nor hair of her.

A low rumble seemed to answer her back and Jaskier found himself detouring down a side alley by the brothel. He turned a corner and found his lovely maiden knelt down before a slovenly mess of a man. With her back to him, he silently took in her form. Gone was the headscarf she had wrapped around her head the night prior and he could see luscious chestnut hair tethered in a loose braid. The loose frock and apron she wore as she had worked were replaced by a more form-fitting dress. It was simple in style, but he found he far preferred it to her other ensemble.

"What would Mae say if she saw you now?" Lyrra murmured softly as she tried to coax the man slumped against the wall to stand.

The man's hazy green eyes landed on Jaskier and the bard could tell that the man was drunker than a skunk. Still, he had enough wherewithal to nod at him, "Who's 'e?"

"Wh-?" Lyrra started to ask as she turned, obviously expecting no one as her soft grey eyes widen at the sight of Jaskier. She frowned slightly at him before plastering on a soft smile for the drunkard, "He's a bard. One that has a future as a thief with the way he sneaks about."

"I don't know if I'm offended or flattered by that comment." Jaskier muttered thoughtfully as he stepped up next to her, "Do I not get an introduction, as well?"

A flash of exasperation crossed her features and he hid a smile as she gestured down to her friend, "Jaskier, this is Nigel. Nigel, Jaskier. We'll be on our way now."

Jaskier smirked at her none too subtle hint to go away and glanced at Nigel. He wrinkled his nose and hummed, "Hmmm, will you though?"

Lyrra frowned and looked to see that Nigel had passed out during her introduction. A sigh of weariness escaped her as she knelt again to shake her friend awake with little luck. Jaskier raised a brow at her efforts, "Oh, leave him here, Lyrra. He can sleep it off in the alley just as easily a bed."

"He's been out here all night." She mumbled, her disapproving tone matching the glare she threw over her shoulder at him.

He shrugged, "And somehow he's been left alone... well, till you came along that is. Besides, he'll probably regret the state he is in now more if he were to wake up in a filthy alley than if he were to wake in a warm bed. Less likely for a repeat performance this way."

"That's rather unlikely." Lyrra uttered quietly as she patted the man's cheek, "Come on, Nigel. Just a few minutes and you can sleep again, dove."

"Always been my experience." Jaskier stated blandly as he continued to watch.

"And has it been your experience to drink yourself dumb to ease the pain of your wife's passing?" Lyrra questioned echoing his tone as she stood to face him, "Somehow, I think grief wins over discomfort."

"Ahh." Jaskier's amusement at the situation dropped as a tendril of remorse curled in his gut. Pity flared to life in his heart for the stranger as he resisted the urge to squirm under Lyrra's indifferent gaze. He sighed, "All right."

Jaskier quickly took up Lyrra's previous position before the grieving widower. His hand reached out and quickly found the hollow above the man's collar bone before pressing in and curling his finger over the bone with a decent amount of force. Nigel spasmed and jerked awake from the attack on his pressure point, green eyes wide in betrayed bafflement. Jaskier found he couldn't blame him for that look. Geralt had used that particular move on him enough that he was familiar with the sensation that had shot through Nigel's body. It wasn't exactly painful, but it was definitely not pleasurable. Quickly before Nigel had a chance to gather his bearings to slip back off again, Jaskier tugged his arm up and over his shoulders forcing the drunk to stand.

"Don't you dare throw up on me." The bard threatened with a wince as he finally caught wind of the noxious fumes of alcohol coming off the other man's body. Gods, if he hadn't fucking smelled last night, he surely did now. All this on an empty stomach too. He raised an expectant brow as Lyrra gawked at him, "Where to?"

She started slightly and waved a hand down the alley, "This way."

Jaskier grunted softly, channeling his inner Geralt as he half dragged Nigel down the alley. To his surprise, it really wasn't terribly far before they stopped again. He had been prepared to go a few blocks at least. Not less than fifteen metres or so. He was sure his brows were touching his hairline as he realized what door they were stopped in front of, "He's drunker than a fish in an ocean and you want to leave him in a brothel? I don't know if this man will love you or hate you for that."

A light flush suddenly coated her cheeks as she looked away embarrassed but still, she knocked at the wooden door. A second later the entry was thrown open and a stern older woman peered out. Jaskier tried not to cringe under her heavy stare, even as he quirked a small grin at her. It was a wonder this place got any business if men had to go through that battleaxe of a woman. Yet the moment she laid eyes on Lyrra she softened before peering more intently at the form now dangling into Jaskier's side.

"Again?"

Lyrra nodded quietly and the older woman sighed, "Come on, then."

She stepped aside and began to cluck like an old mother hen. Jaskier listened passively as she pestered Lyrra about being too kindhearted and reiterated a variant of what he had suggested earlier. Leave Nigel to whatever bed he made, essentially. As the drunk began to weigh more heavily on his shoulders, Jaskier was silently inclined to agree. In his periphery, he could see women in various states of undress as they moved down a hall lined with doors. Most ignored the small group, while a few waved at Lyrra and offered a sympathetic smile. He was sure it was the first time in his life he had ever been so soundly ignored by a group of whores. He itched with the desire to check his pockets and make sure his coin hadn't been lifted without his notice.

" 'Ere we are. Jus lay 'im on the bed, luv." The matron said stoutly with a nod forward.

Jaskier basically dropped the man once he was close enough and breathed a quiet sigh of relief at the sudden lack of weight.

"We got 'im now petal. Don't ya worry none."

Jaskier turned in time to catch Lyrra's grateful smile and the subtle palming of a few coins before he fell under the matron's stern glare. A ribald comment was poised on the tip of his tongue when he suddenly felt delicate fingers tugging him away and back outside. He eyed the woman before him with renewed curiosity, "Well, that was an adventure. You're welcome by the way."

Lyrra paused and gazed at him uncertainly for a moment before she offered him a rueful smile, "Thank you for helping."

Jaskier smiled faintly, "Yes, well who am I to deny a damsel in distress?"

He swore she rolled her eyes though her smile never diminished. She caught him by surprise though as she tilted her head curiously at him, "You seem to be coming to my rescue quite a bit it seems."

"Oh?" Jaskier questioned in confusion. His mind raced as he tried to place what other time he had come to her aid.

"Hillard told me you chased out the man who propositioned me last night." She reminded him quietly.

It was his turn to blush, as he felt an unfamiliar heat creep into his cheeks, "Oh er um... Your barkeep saw that, did he?"

Lyrra nodded, "He said you gave him a good laugh."

Well, that was something at least, Jaskier thought woefully, though silently relieved that his childish antics hadn't brought him scorn from either the lady or the barkeep.

"Though I do have to ask. Are you following me?"

Jaskier blinked and smirked, "Why? Do you want me to go? You wound me so, lovely Lyrra. Your attentions are rather hard-won. Especially, after lugging a man down an alley for you."

His eyes twinkled mischievously as she blushed and lightly scowled at him. It was fun to get a reaction from her. She shook her head in exasperation or amusement he wasn't sure which, perhaps both as she replied, "That wasn't what I meant and you know it. The tavern was one thing. I work at the Rose and Pine and you happened to be performing there. But now...?"

In truth, he hadn't been looking for her. He hadn't given her much thought beyond a trifling disappointment at a potential tryst thwarted and an interesting conversation lost. Though the conversation part had been regained it seemed. Yet, he could give her a more playful charming answer, "This morning more like for some of us. When I heard your voice dance across the air, I couldn't help but follow its lead. Much like following a siren's call."

"... You use such pretty words." She surprised him again when he caught the disappointment seeping in her grey orbs like storm clouds. She fixed that polite smile he had received before... the one he had noticed she gave to overly-friendly, but strange customers. It was like seeing a physical manifestation of Geralt's silent glare that said he was now merely tolerating whoever was before him. Usually, it was Jaskier.

"Huh. I – I don't think I've ever heard someone say that like it was an insult before." He murmured with a furrowed brow, feeling like he was losing his grip on...on something.

Lyrra shrugged indifferently, "So what were you really doing this morning then?"

Jaskier stared as he realized that it wasn't that he was losing his grip, but that she could see through his bullshit. Bollocks, "I was looking for some food. An apple or something to nibble on. Rather surprised there weren't merchants anywhere on the street, actually."

As if realizing it herself, she glanced about the street they were drifting down. A frown tugged at her lips, "It has been strange lately."

Her voice was barely louder than a whispered, but Jaskier still caught her words. Maybe this was why Geralt had been so twitchy. Maybe he had sensed something was off with Glynedol – now Jaskier wished he had paid a little more attention to his friend's brief explanations, "Strange how?"

Lyrra shook her head, "Just quiet. Fewer people. Usually, the town is bustling with activity this time of year...it's hard to explain. Your singing brought in more people to the tavern than I had seen in a while."

"Huh." Jaskier huffed, suddenly at a loss for those pretty words she mentioned earlier. He had no idea of what to make of her information or what it could possibly have to do with Geralt's latest venture.

She seemed to sense this as she touched his elbow and nodded behind her, "Come on, let's get you some food."

"Oh yes, that – that is a golden plan right there, that is." He uttered delightedly before his stomach reaffirmed its starved state with a loud gurgle. She snickered softly and his lips quirked as a sinful comment fell from his lips, "Help me sate my body's hunger, lovely Lyrra."

There was no doubt that she rolled her eyes this time as she led the way back to the tavern.

»»————-　　————-««

"Where is your companion?" Lyrra asked lowly as she placed a small bowl of stew before him.

Once they had entered the Rose and Pine, she had disappeared into the back, only to reappear as she had the previous night. Jaskier had felt mild disappointment at the sight of her work frock and headscarf. While practical, he would rather see her lovely hair falling loose from her braid and skimming the small strip of flesh above the neckline of her other gown than this sack of a monstrosity. He said none of this as he munched slowly on his stew.

After a thoughtful moment and under the pressure of her expectant gaze, he shrugged, "Not terribly sure actually. I was more enamored with finding water for a bath when he departed. I saw Roach stabled at the back of the inn still... He couldn't have gone far."

"Roach?"

"His horse." Jaskier clarified with a hint of envy as he thought of his other defacto traveling companion. Should Geralt ever feel the need to ditch him, Roach's disappearance would be his clue, "Geralt loves that beast more than himself. He wouldn't leave her alone for long."

A soft smile crossed Lyrra's lips at this profession. Quietly, she slid into the seat across from him. It was funny, when he wasn't actively pursuing her attention, she seemed not to mind giving it to him, "What's that look then?"

Lyrra blinked and looked at him questionably, "What look?"

"That smile for Geralt's bestial obsession." Jaskier said with a small grin. Had the Witcher been nearby he would have been smacked upside the head for that little comment.

Lyrra shrugged, "Whether a beast of burden or a furry companion, I think it's rather telling of a person on how they treat their pets. Your Geralt seems to be a decent sort at the very least."

Jaskier snorted in amusement, though he couldn't disagree. For as gruff and sinister and outright bloody rude his friend could be, he was more honest and decent than most, "Yes, he is at the very least decent."

She cast him an indecipherable look and he merely smiled back. Finishing his stew, he took the time to really study her. It had been something of game, the previous night to court her attention. She had flitted about the tavern like she was dancing on wind. Her service was so smooth that he hadn't even noticed her until the incident with the leering scruff. Her handling of it had been just as graceful and if he hadn't been standing behind her at the time, he never would have noticed the man's untoward forwardness.

He wasn't sure what had possessed him to comment on it to her, but then she had turned to him. Her grey orbs had shown like stars shining through stormy skies and he had been captivated. She was pretty. Her beauty understated, but nonetheless present as his interest in her continued to climb. It had also helped that Jaskier had caught the interest in her gaze as well. He knew attraction when he saw it. He had been put off when she hadn't acted on hers, however. As fun as it had been to pull blushes to her unblemished cheeks, he hadn't expected to be so thoroughly stonewalled. Admittedly, her reluctance to have anything to do with him was still rather entertaining.

He wondered distantly if there was a word for finding such abhorrence to his person attractive. He was sure it said something about him at any rate, but that too was not something he wanted to dwell on. Instead, he turned his focus back on Lyrra, "So... barmaid, then?... Um, how did you find yourself in that profession?"

He nearly grimaced at how bumbling that had come out. She stared at him silently for a moment, amusement crinkling at the corner of her eyes before saying so dryly, "Well, queen seemed to be taken and I wasn't much for whoring. You?"

"Same." He uttered amusedly, preening when she smiled in quiet laughter.

She shook her head at him and moved to stand, "I need to start getting ready for the dinner hour. Thank you for your help today, sir bard."

"Jaskier, Lyrra." He corrected, longing to hear her recite his name in a more intimate setting.

She smirked, a faint blush appearing as she threw over her shoulder, "Or dove, right?"

Well, well. He grinned in delight at her parting shot and vowed to get her to spend her spare time with him as the night wore on.

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#the witcher #jaskier #jaskier fanfiction #jaskier x oc #witcher fanfiction #Geralt #yennefer #fanfiction #fanfic #henry cavill #joey batey

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migleefulmoments · 4 years

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Oh my God. So now people in Hollywood are threatening Darren and Chris's families if they don't comply? Tinhats are saying they wouldn't be surprised if someone died in a freak accident to put Darren and Chris in line. How long before they bring up Chris's mom and start getting suspicious?

Anonymous said: Damn it’s real dramatic over in CCLand today. Abby’s “anons” are talking about how someone must have threatened to kill Darren or Chris’s family if Darren didn’t get married. And then we have Abby saying that no matter what happens she won’t abandon them. Yeah, she is definitely setting the stage for claiming someone threatened to kill Chris if Darren didn’t have a baby with Mia. She knows a baby is coming eventually and she can’t let go of her CCThrone.

It’s da Mafia, my friends!

They are so full of themselves-and so dramatic- it’s terrifying.

I keep saying that Abby is writing a Telenovela and damn does she love the drama. She’s also desperate to keep her storyline going and there just isn’t a logical reason WHY Darren would be in the closet and married to Mia at this point unless you go for “big threats”. Abby has suggested this vague“threat” theory before but nobody else picked it up so we never had such scary-hilarious promises of allegiance to Criss and Colfer. This is exactly the kind of pithy, over-the-top emotional digging into a cause that social media was made for- the kind in which you have no actual impact but you blog the hell out it like you matter.

One of the biggest issues with the CrissColfer storyline is why should we be sympathetic to ccDarren and/or ccChris? They are both successful, famous, wealthy, powerful men. Abby’s never-ending criticisms of ccDarren are becoming a problem. While she always blames it on “his team”, most people don’t find it so obviously his team’s fault as evidenced by her Nonnies who then get a lecture on HOW it IS his team’s fault. Of course, nobody is controlled by their employees and ccDarren and ccChris aren’t victims or children.

Abby delights when she can claim that ccDarren is treating Mia abhorrently because it fulfills her hatred of Mia but nobody else feels so delighted. For instance, she claimed he was trying to pull her in the water during a New Year’s Eve embrace.

I’m guessing, and we are missing the moment inbetween d goes to dip her so she things she’s getting her kiss but in fact tries to throw her in the water.(X)

The sane among us are disgusted by a claim that he would try to drown his wife. The same goes for ccChris when he publically bullies and shames Mia on social media and his books. Abby’s love of hating Mia often overshadows her need to keep ccChris and ccDarren as victims.

The basis of CrissColfer is that both men want to be famous and work in Hollywood for the big money and they can’t tell their truth without fear of losing everything. After ten years, both men are no longer the “inexperienced, naive, innocent young men who made bad choices when fame was flashed in their faces” and Abby needs a new spin in order to keep her followers emotionally invested. Throw in a storyline where both men are just trying to stay afloat after their families were threatened and WHOA man, you have two very compelling characters with sympathy through the roof.

Anonymous asked: Let's not forget that with the wedding being the lesser of two evils, one of the threats could have gone far beyond you or C would never be working in this industry again, like you said, the people in power will do anything to hide their sins and there really is no limit, who knows a threat on his (or C's or other family) live could have been made. It sure as hell wouldn't be the first time someone dies in a freak accident because they have dirt on someone (Chris already lost his mom in a freak accident. I can’t imagine he would ruin his entire life over the fear of losing someone else when he understands that life is precious and you can’t control what happens to family members. Or the other argument is why would he allow someone to control his life when the easy solution is to go off to NYC and become an author. Leave Hollywood behind for the man he loves and living an authentic life. It doesn’t seem like that hard of a tradeoff to me)

ajw720 answered: Nonnie. I’m really starting to question. And m has her family and SS on her side. That’s a lot of power and ruthlessness. (I'm always fascinated by the power that Abby imagines Mia’s family has. If Chris and Darren are powerless then why is the head of Vera Wang’s company so powerful? Mia’s dad owned a small chain of small music venues. He’s likely loaded but not in the BIG powerful world of movers and shakers. As for Sunshine Sachs- they are very powerful and healthy but there is little incentive for them to risk it all by getting involved in little unknown Darren’s love life by closeting him).

I’ve decided. No matter what they throw at us, while i may not be able to watch as closely, I’m not abandoning them unless there comes a point I think it’s willing. I don’t see that happening. What is happening is not about straight. (What “they throw at us”? This isn’t about you, Abby. Nothing about CC is about you. You’re just a lonely, unstable fan sitting in her living room all alone obsessing about Mia and fabricating outrageous stories about a family you don’t know and a man who doesn’t care about you. I’m curious, what would convince you that he’s willing? You already said you wouldn’t believe him if he told you he loved Mia. You’re destinated to come out the loser because you refuse to see or accept reality.)

It’s about hiding sins. If it were just straight as I have repeatedly said it would be done better and with someone that actually makes d look good. (So she’s twisting the story to be about hiding sins. I’m not sure how forcing the farce to continue is a good strategy to ensure you don’ get caught. It seems like a cut and run strategy is better- preferably with big payoffs. Lots of us DO think Darren does look good. It’s only the people obsessed that he’s gay who don’t like him).

I just hope they have finally aligned with the right people to help them (How would this work? Either Ryan and Sunshine are terrified of their role coming out, all-powerful and threatening his family to keep it quiet OR there are people to align with who can help but not both because people who threaten others' lives for their own interests aren’t going to show up at the negotiation table willing to work out and deal).

flowersintheattic254. @ajw720 I’ll state publicly that I’m with you on that. I’m not going away unless I see it’s willing. Right now it doesn’t seem to be and frankly the more I learn about Holly/wood and how people are manipulated and abused the more I think it isn’t a choice or a very unwilling one. (Why would Darren and Chris stay there if it is that bad? If Hollywood is one big cesspool then reasonable people would get the hell out of dodge, do something because living in that environment will turn you into that kind of person. Also, I just have to add that the Catholic Church has an abysmal record on sex abuse of women and children so if anyplace is manipulative and abusive, it’s Abby’s church)

leka-1998 Totally agreed.

I feel like every day I get more repulsed by what the people in that awful industry are capable of.

notes-from-nowhere If it is possible, the more I know, the more I feel compelled to stand up against this habits and fight back. (How exactly will you do that? I’m fascinated and can’t wait to hear)

Nothing will change overnight. Not D’s life, not the ones of the others in his same situation but we can do something. And as much as we could, I’m sure, we will. (No shit sherlock, you’re 10 years inand no end in sight)

I will accept defeat the day D will show me, without a doubt, that this is what he wants for his life and not matter if right or wrong, I will respect his choice. To date, I don’t think we are even close to that. Time will tell. (Again, what can Darren do to prove to you? He married the woman he’s dated for 8 years, he opened a business with her, he gushed about the wedding, and he travels with her everywhere. When he tells you how he feels about her you all instantly dismiss his words as being contracted or “Mia wrote them”. You refuse to SEE what is so plain in front of you. I cannot imagine what he could do that would convince you.)

In the meantime I will keep doing what I do now. (which is lie, twist facts, post Glee photos as CrissColfer, make stupid comparisons, and blow some up Abby’s ass).

Anonymous asked: I agree about HW and who knows what kind of nefarious shit goes on. The problem I have is his parents not intervening in this . I get there is probably blackmail at this point but surely his parents can see this can’t go on. I’m afraid it’s affecting his family at this point and I would think his dad would take the reigns at some point and say enough. This is the only thing that tells me it’s short term and there is an escape date. I don’t see his parents accepting something permanent.

Do they have a choice though nonnie? That’s the question. How are they more powerful then the heavy weights he’s up against? What has been threatened? I have an idea of where I think this is going but I don’t know and I’m firm there’s 2 distinct paths, one is freedom. The other is too horrifying for words. And I think by the end of the year we will know. (She is sure they will be divorcing after the anniversary and Hollywood airs.)

Because no doubt this has gravely hurt d and his spirit. And between c and his parents, i’d think they are doing everything to help him win. All parties on his side have to be petrified. Because even if there’s a positive plan in place, what’s to stop it from changing? Because I reiterate. D was going to come out tied to ACS and it went nightmarishly wrong. And he’s well being and safety are at stake for as long as she is tied to him. (She reiterates God Damnit! She KNOWS she was right!!!!!!! WTAF? No, he wasn’t going to come out. He’s told you he’s straight and there is no reason to suspect he’s lying. I love the comments about his safety as long as Mia is around or his image as long as his team is around-He’s fucking thriving. When is the shit going to hit the fan? He won the top four awards, has his own show on a new platform, has a big Broadway show coming, has a Ryan Murphy Netflix show that he helped co-create, Elsie is amazing, StarKid had a very successful year, his wedding is all over the “top celeb weddings” lists, he was busy AF this year and he just bought a $3 million house. It’s been a decade-when will this bad stuff start? ).

Anonymous asked: I do fear D is in this for the long haul unfortunately. It has slowed down for her a bit post-nuptials but unless this show with RM is serving as an out, I don’t see how D will ever get out of this. We also need to remember she knows too much too at this point. It’s not that easy to get someone with the amount of info she has to just go away. If she’s intent on riding coattails, there may be little D can do to get rid of her. I hope I’m wrong. I want to see him win. But it doesn’t look good. (What does ccMia know that she can use against him? That would mean he’s done something wrong but according to cc lexicon, it’s all done against him, he’s the victim. If anything he would have dirt on her to use)

I can’t believe how naive I was to think it was as simple as d&c saying no. I doubt that was ever an option and they learned that, after months of fighting post encagement, in the cruelest manner. Honestly I’m feeling almost more heartbroken today then on feb 16 because I’m finally seeing the horrifying reality of HW.Nonnie. Despite the fact that I don’t trust him, I’m praying that RM saw that it serves his agenda and reputation to help d as it would rehabilitate his character much more than to continue to hurt him, because at this point I think he’s the only person that has the power to get him out. Now we wait and see. (I don’t see how Ryan Murphy can serve as both Mafia boss and his savior but I understand that he’s the only one that could possibly play that role right now. There are no other gay Yoda’s in Darren’s life with enough cloud to be the “savior” so by process of elimination, Ryan is the one). . ’t see how Ryan Murphy can serve as both Mafia boss and his savior but I understand that he’s the only one that could possibly play that role right now. There are no other gay Yoda’s in Darren’s life with enough cloud to be the “savior” so by process of elimination, Ryan is the one).

I can’t believe how naive I was to think it was as simple as d&c saying no. I doubt that was ever an option and they learned that, after months of fighting post encagement, in the cruelest manner. Honestly I’m feeling almost more heartbroken today then on feb 16 because I’m finally seeing the horrifying reality of HW. (So basically, the original cc storyline isn’t holding up anymore after the end dates passed for coming out- Glee ended, the 8-year contract expired, Hedwig ended, ACS started, filmed and ended, Awards season came to a finish and now you’re hoping the anniversary is the lucky date. But you need to explain why Darren and Chris have so much power and still are not together so you’re going for something bigger and more sinister. The problem is that while Hollywood has a seedy underbelly, you can’t take one person’s story and extrapolates it to everyone. Judy Garland may have been drugged but they didn’t know the effect of drugs back then like we do know and the military gives the pilots “go” and “no go” pills to help them perform to this day under close medical supervision)

#crisscolfer #darren criss #Chris colfer #crisscolfer lol #debunking cc lies #debunking cc nonsense #Hollywood #sins of Hollywood

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