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escapetoluna · 4 years

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How to learn a language when you don’t know where to start:

General Plan:

Weeks 1 and 2: Purpose:

Learn the fundamentals sentence construction

Learn how to spell and count

Start building a phrase stockpile with basic greetings

The Alphabet

Numbers 1 - 100

Subject Pronouns

Common Greetings

Conjugate the Two Most Important Verbs: to be and to have

Basic Definite and Indefinite Articles

Weeks 3 and 4: Purpose:

Learn essential vocabulary for the day-to-day

Start conjugating regular verbs

Days of the Week and Months of the Year

How to tell the time

How to talk about the weather

Family Vocabulary

Present Tense Conjugations Verbs

Weeks 5 and 6: Purpose:

Warm up with the last of the day-to-day vocabulary

Add more complex types of sentences to your grammar

Colours

House vocabulary

How to ask questions

Present Tense Conjugations Verbs

Forming negatives

Weeks 7 and 8: Purpose:

Learn how to navigate basic situations in a region of your target language country

Finish memorising regular conjugation rules

Food Vocabulary and Ordering at Restaurants

Money and Shopping Phrases

Present Tense Conjugations Verbs

Weeks 9 and 10: Purpose:

Start constructing descriptive and more complex sentences

Adjectives

Reflective verbs

Places vocabulary

Weeks 11 and 12: Purpose:

Add more complex descriptions to your sentences with adverbs

Wrap up vocabulary essentials

Adverbs

Parts of the body and medical vocabulary

Tips for Learning a Foreign Language:

Learning Vocabulary:

What vocabulary should I be learning?

There are hundreds of thousands of words in every language, and the large majority of them won’t be immediately relevant to you when you’re starting out.Typically, the most frequent 3000 words make up 90% of the language that a native speaker uses on any given day. Instead try to learn the most useful words in a language, and then expand outwards from there according to your needs and interests.

Choose the words you want/need to learn.

Relate them to what you already know.

Review them until they’ve reached your long-term memory.

Record them so learning is never lost.

Use them in meaningful human conversation and communication.

How should I record the vocabulary?

Learners need to see and/or hear a new word of phrase 6 to 17 times before they really know a piece of vocabulary.

Keep a careful record of new vocabulary.

Record the vocabulary in a way that is helpful to you and will ensure that you will practice the vocabulary, e.g. flashcards.

Vocabulary should be organised so that words are easier to find, e.g. alphabetically or according to topic.

Ideally when noting vocabulary you should write down not only the meaning, but the grammatical class, and example in a sentence, and where needed information about structure.

How should I practice using the vocabulary?

Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check - Use this method for learning and remembering vocabulary. This method is really good for learning spellings.

Make flashcards. Write the vocabulary on the front with the definition and examples on the back.

Draw mind maps or make visual representations of the new vocabulary groups.

Stick labels or post it notes on corresponding objects, e.g when learning kitchen vocabulary you could label items in your house.

How often should I be practising vocabulary?

A valuable technique is ‘the principle of expanding rehearsal’. This means reviewing vocabulary shortly after first learning them then at increasingly longer intervals.

Ideally, words should be reviewed:

5-10 minutes later

24 hours later

One week later

1-2 months later

6 months later

Knowing a vocabulary item well enough to use it productively means knowing:

Its written and spoken forms (spelling and pronunciation).

Its grammatical category and other grammatical information

Related words and word families, e.g. adjective, adverb, verb, noun.

Common collocations (Words that often come before or after it).

Receptive Skills: Listening and Reading

Reading is probably one of the most effective ways of building vocabulary knowledge.

Listening is also important because it occupies a big chunk of the time we spend communicating.

Tips for reading in a foreign language:

Start basic and small. Children’s books are great practice for beginners. Don’t try to dive into a novel or newspaper too early, since it can be discouraging and time consuming if you have to look up every other word.

Read things you’ve already read in your native language. The fact that you at least know the gist of the story will help you to pick up context clues, learn new vocabulary and grammatical constructions.

Read books with their accompanying audio books. Reading a book while listening to the accompanying audio will improve your “ear training”. It will also help you to learn the pronunciation of words.

Tips for listening in a foreign language:

Watch films in your target language.

Read a book while also listening along to the audio book version.

Listen to the radio in your target language.

Watch videos online in your target language.

Activities to do to show that you’ve understood what you’ve been listening to:

Try drawing a picture of what was said.

Ask yourself some questions about it and try to answer them.

Provide a summary of what was said.

Suggest what might come next in the “story.”

Translate what was said into another language.

“Talk back” to the speaker to engage in imaginary conversation.

Productive Skills: Speaking and Writing

Tips for speaking in a foreign language:

If you can, try to speak the language every day either out loud to yourself or chat to another native speaker whether it is a colleague, a friend, a tutor or a language exchange partner.

Write a list of topics and think about what you could say about each one. First you could write out your thoughts and then read them out loud. Look up the words you don’t know. You could also come up with questions at the end to ask someone else.

A really good way to improve your own speaking is to listen to how native speakers talk and imitate their accent, their rhythm of speech and tone of voice. Watch how their lips move and pay attention to the stressed sounds. You could watch interviews on YouTube or online news websites and pause every so often to copy what you have just heard. You could even sing along to songs sung in the target language.

Walk around the house and describe what you say. Say what you like or dislike about the room or the furniture or the decor. Talk about what you want to change.This gets you to practise every day vocabulary.

Tips for writing in a foreign language:

Practice writing in your target language. Keep it simple to start with. Beginner vocabulary and grammar concepts are generally very descriptive and concrete.

Practice writing by hand. Here are some things you can write out by hand:

Diary entries

Shopping lists

Reminders

What could I write about?

Write about your day, an interesting event, how you're feeling, or what you're thinking.

Make up a conversation between two people.

Write a letter to a friend, yourself, or a celebrity. You don't need to send it; just writing it will be helpful.

Translate a text you've written in your native language into your foreign language.

Write a review or a book you've recently read or a film you've recently watched.

Write Facebook statuses, Tweets or Tumblr posts (whether you post them or not will be up to you).

Write a short story or poem.

Writing is one of the hardest things to do well as a non-native speaker of a language, because there’s no room to hide.

There are lots of ways to improve your writing ability, but they can be essentially boiled down to three key components:

Read a lot

Write a lot

Get your writing corrected

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side-writes-fanfics · 3 years

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Late-night talks || One-shot

Pairing: Ryomen Sukuna x fem!reader

Word count: ≈2000

Genre: it was supposed to be angst but it's really just fluff

Tw: Sukuna is kinda ooc, ngl

Summary: usually, you'd talk to Yuuji during the nights you felt restless but today, it was very much different. One night started a habit that definitely shouldn't have started.

Feel free to leave a or two or more request in my asks!

Masterpost | Asks/Requests

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(Y/N) walked down the long dormitory halls, her insomniac brain refused to allow her to rest after the hard day she’d had. On one hand, it was fantastic, filled with thrill and learning opportunities! On the other, however, the girl had gone through so much intense training and failure that she wanted nothing more than a good night's sleep. And yet, the thoughts in her head flew and a high speed and there was no way in hell that they would stop any time soon. So, as any sane person would do, instead of reading a book or being productive and taking the time to practise some techniques that wouldn’t blow the entire room up, (Y/N) decided to knock on Itadori’s room door and mess his sleep up as well.

Her hands made contact with the wood once. Then quickly twice. Then three times before the door opened to reveal the figure she had been anticipating. Only something seemed a little off. While she wasn’t thinking Itadori would be wearing a shirt as it is the middle of the damn night, the markings on his entire body suggested that it wasn’t Itadori who stood in front of her. Rather, Sukuna had taken over his body for the night and wasn’t planning on leaving the boy alone.

“You really want him to be dead tomorrow, huh?” (Y/N) whispered to the curse, chuckling at the thought of Yuuji not being able to hold his eyes open for long enough to get out of bed, let alone all the “fun” activities Gojo said he had planned for us. Now, you might be wondering why the absolute fuck were you not shaking in your boots at that very moment? I mean, you’re talking to the King of Curses, the man himself. This guy could probably snap you in half with one movement if he wanted to. Well, for one, you had no boots to shake in as you were walking in the stupidest pair of slippers money could buy. Secondly, Sukuna was well aware that if he hurt you, or any of the students of Jujutsu High for that matter, his life would be cut much shorter by the president of the school without any hesitation. Even Gojo couldn’t do anything about it because he cared for you just as much as Itadori. He cared for all of the students the same, no matter how much others thought Yuuji was the only one who got his love. (Y/N), of course, knew this and took advantage of it as much as she could, without pushing the limits and getting herself into danger.

“You’re the one talking, pipsqueak,” Sukuna said, shooting the girl an unamused glare. “Coming in the middle of the night to wake up this brat isn’t much better than what I’m doing.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes, walking past the curse and into Itadori’s room. Sukuna stared at her confused but before he could continue further, (Y/N) cut him off.

“Get in the room and close the door. If Gojo catches me out of my room at this ungodly hour of the night, I’m gonna be dead and if you get caught with me, it isn’t going to be taken lightly by the higher-ups.” The girl made her way over to the bed, making herself comfortable while Sukuna listened to her orders, even though he didn’t want to.

“That sounds like you’re the one who causes all the trouble here and not me.”

(Y/N) smirked, letting out a little chuckle. “And yet, I don’t care about that much.” She propped herself up, now in a sitting position. Sukuna rolled his eyes at her, sitting on the opposite side of the bed.

The two stared at each other in silence. What were you even expecting? Neither of them was used to being in each other’s presence. They barely interacted due to reasons outside of their control. (Y/N) went on missions a lot, barely spending any time in the presence of Itadori. When she did have time to hang out, Sukuna never actually spoke or came out and showed his presence. Sukuna didn’t want to talk because he did enjoy the company and anything he wanted to say at first would have just made her leave. (Y/N) didn’t want to speak up because of her poor social skills. Everything she knew about socialisation, which wasn’t that much, had been thrown out the window by the lack of contact she had with other people. To be frank, even if they sat in silence (Y/N) would have sat there until the moment she was tired. It was better than being alone in her room staring at the ceiling.

“Why’d you even come here in the middle of the night?” Sukuna spoke up, not wanting to leave the room silent. Unlike (Y/N), he hated the silence. He could not take it. When the curse was on his own, whether it be in the form of Itadori or inside of his domain, Sukuna didn’t mind it. He was left alone to his own devices and was able to do as he pleased, but being around another person in complete silence drove him crazy.

“Uh… I couldn’t sleep.” her body positioned herself in a sitting fetal position, resting her head on the top of her knees. “Yuuji lets me come to his room when that happens and we just chat about random things until I feel tired.” Both of them stared at each other, waiting for who was going to speak next. It was hard to keep the conversation going as of now, both of the participants carefully thought about their words as to not upset the other. Still, (Y/N) said something to fill the silence: “What about you? Why are you in control of Yuuji’s body?”

“I felt like it.”

(Y/N) blinked at him, not believing her ears. “That’s… that’s it?” she said in disbelief.

“Are you not satisfied with that answer, pipsqueak?” The man crossed his arms and lifted a brow. The girl crossed her arms as well, pushing her back against the wall behind her. She contemplated once more all the choices she could make at this moment, though, to an outside view, (Y/N) looked as if she was scared to say anything at all. Sukuna’s chuckle broke her out of her contemplative daze. “It’s boring inside of where I am for days upon days upon days. Sometimes I need to feel alive, even if it’s just switching with this brat and walking around his room.”

The girl let out a ‘hm’ sound, nodding to indicate she understood his reasons. Slowly, the two began having normal...ish conversations without the awkward pauses between topic and sentences. They began to slow as if they’ve been long term friends with natural progression. And as all natural progression goes, this became a regular thing. (Y/N) couldn’t sleep more often, Sukuna wanted to walk around the world more often, them talking happened more often. Though, these little meetings in the middle of the night that consisted of senseless trains of thought being put into words stayed secret between just the two of them. Not even Itadori knew that (Y/N) snuck into his room as often as she did. Yuuji knew and welcomed her coming to his room to speak to him when she needed company. There were times where she snuck in and Itadori was in his own body. The girl hated to admit it but she felt sad when she couldn’t speak to the curse inside his body. Indeed, she should have felt ashamed but something just didn’t let her. (Y/N) liked Sukuna’s company. Even with the… talks about not so good things he’s done that were bound to come up at some points in time.

There came a day where (Y/N) realised it. Realised that she, as a jujutsu sorcerer, shouldn’t feel the way she feels about him. He's done so much wrong. Why does it not bother her that much? She stared at the ceiling. Her thoughts haunted her throughout the day, not letting a moment pass without her thinking about it. It was obvious she wasn’t going to sleep tonight. Leaving to go talk to the curse, however, seemed to be a tiny bit paradoxical. Her worries were caused by him. She didn’t want to end the friendship they had built. Then again, was this really for the best? Were the talks really a smart idea? Was continuing to see him and forming an emotional bond going to bring anything but pain and sorrow?

Knock, knock, knock.

‘Who could be knocking on her door at 3 in the bloody morning?’ the girl thought to herself, getting up to answer the door. As soon as she opened it, she mentally slapped herself for being stupid. I mean who else could have it been other than the curse himself.

“I see you’re awake,” he said, “though, you decided not to come and talk to me.” A brow lifted on (Y/N)’s face.

“And you decided to come to me instead, huh?” she smirked at the man, moving to give him space to enter the room. “Have you started caring about me? Have you softened up to little old me?” she poked and teased him, trying to forget what she’d been thinking about moments before. Sukuna entered, only to stop in the middle of the room.

“I need to talk to you about something…” her heart stopped. ‘Shit shit shit and shit.’ her thoughts became quicker and her heart raced as if it were running a marathon she was not ready for. Why would she have said what she said? Was it that she got too comfortable around him. “What you said… about me caring about you…” he paused, trying to find the words to say. (Y/N) looked at him turned away from her, anticipating his next words. “It’s true… I am softer towards you than anyone else. In these past two months you... You’ve made your way to my heart. You make me feel. You make me feel,” he said quietly, fiercely, making (Y/N)’s heart skip a beat or two. He turned towards her, his face more serious than you’d want it to be in this moment. “and I don’t like it. I want it to stop. Now.”

(Y/N) blinked. Absolutely taken aback at his words. “I’m sorry, what?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He confessed that he cared about her. That she made him feel a certain way. And yet somehow he’s rejecting her? Nothing makes sense. She didn’t even confess to him and she feels hurt. “I… don’t-”

“Why do I feel like this?” Sukuna cut her off and stared at her, hoping she would solve the problem with a few simple words.

“I- I don’t know why you feel like you do!” she squeaked out, still unsure what was happening, “I mean I don’t even know how you feel.”

“I don’t know either.” (Y/N) paused, lifting her hand towards his. Her eyes flicked towards his, silently asking permission to hold his hand. He squinted at her. For a man who claims to be a genius and has years and years of life experience, his social skills seemed to be lacking when we’re talking about kindness. The girl kept quiet, putting her hand closer. It gently touched his, sending a clearer message of what it was she wanted. Sukuna let out a slight ‘oh’, before embracing her hand into his. Her heart skipped a beat again. She cursed herself silently, understanding that she was feeling the same way as he was.

“What are we going to do, pipsqueak?” Sukuna asked her, confused out of his mind. It was rare that anyone saw him as bewildered as he was right now.

“We’ll… figure it out I guess…” a smile tugged at (Y/N)’s lips. It was terrifying, there’s a lot in their way and a lot of things they have to set straight, but for now, this seemed to be the most they could do.

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#jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jjk fluff #jjk sukuna #ryomen sukuna #jjk ryomen #sukuna #sukuna ryomen #sukuna x reader #sukuna x fem!reader #x reader #one shot #imagine #drabble #was supposed to be angst but i cannot bring myself to write anything but fluff rn #fanfic #fanfiction

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weasleylangs · 3 years

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in the summer sun - f.w

Pairing: Fred x Fem!Reader but honestly it’s just a whole Weasley family slice of life fic. Summary: The war has ended and the Weasley’s appreciate their family now more than ever. Warnings: Mention of the war, mention of Fred having a near death experience, mention of PTSD, anxiety, nightmares and injuries, opening scene involves an anxiety attack, fuck is said twice by the way. Word Count: 3.1k

A/N: This fic is inspired by this ask I received from Kai @weasleyclaw for the ‘send me a made up title game’! The warnings sound scary, but I promise this is a super fluffy slice-of-life fic with Fred and the reader, just existing after the war! Fred lives, obviously but he still had an accident and in reality, he’d be going through a lot of shit and I didn’t want to ignore that!

I am in no way romanticising mental illness and trauma, I myself struggle with a variety of mental illness and trauma and representation is super important, babey!!!!!! Proper support is important!!!!!!

I still can’t decide if I love or hate this but.... [schedules while I’m asleep]

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Fred sat up quickly. Heavy and ragged breathing coursing through his lungs as he struggled to catch his breath. He couldn’t even remember what he was dreaming of now that he’s awake, only remembering flashes of green and a loud ‘bombarda maxima’ before being shocked awake by his anxiety and fear.

He’s been plagued by nightmares for three months, ever since he was fighting in that seventh floor corridor and the wall came crashing down on him. He knows it’s normal to be haunted by these memories, he almost died, for crying out loud, but he would really like to have one night where he sleeps through it without being jolted awake.

He could feel the pressure in his chest get stronger as he struggled to breathe as he checked the clock on the bedside table. It reads 6:30am and when he looks out the window he realises the sun is already rising and the summer heat is making it into their bedroom. His girlfriend of five years sleeps in the bed next to him, snoring lightly having not been woken up by his oncoming anxiety attack.

Fred struggles to remember the grounding technique she taught him when he had his first attack. She’s his biggest supporter, always there when he needs her, but he wants to get better himself . He doesn't want to rely on her for the rest of his days no matter how often she reminds him it’s okay and that she wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

He’s got his legs swung over the side of the bed, his body closing in on himself when he feels the bed move and arms wrap around his middle, “Breathe, Freddie, and tell me five things you can see,” she whispers gently in his ear.

His eyes darts around the room, searching as he tries his best to breathe, “The tree outside our window, the lamp, that chair,” he struggles to speak as his breathing is laboured, “your book on my bedside table, my slippers…”

“Good job, my love. Now, four things you can touch.”

His hands grab hers, “Your hands,” he says as he turns to face her, “the duvet, my shirt and…” His hand moves, from her hand to cupping her face, “your hair.”

This continues, Fred rattling off three things he can hear, two things he can smell and one thing he can taste before he realises his breathing has slowed down, his hands have stopped shaking and while the pressure in his chest is still there, it’s been alleviated and he knows it’ll disappear in a few moments.

Y/N whispers soft praise in Fred’s ear as she lays him back down in their bed. She’s so proud of the progress he has made in just a short few months. “Do you want to talk about it?”

He shakes his head, while he barely remembers, he knows it’s the same nightmare as usual. Hogwarts, duelling, wall comes crashing down and Fred almost dies. It’s more of a flashback if anything, that he’s constantly reliving the worst day of his life.

“That’s okay, we can just lay here and rest before we go to your mum and dad’s… If you still feel up to going?” Y/N knows when nights like this happen, Fred usually wants to stay in bed and recoup his energy and try again the next day.

“No, no, we have to go,” he says and it’s not because it’s an obligation, he truly does want to. After almost dying, after spending almost a year without knowing if Ron, Harry and Hermione were okay, after Bellatrix Lestrange threatened to kill both Ginny and his own mother and with Percy reconnecting with them all, he appreciates family time like he never did before. They all deserve to have happy, carefree and relaxing days and that’s what today is meant to be for them all.

“If you’re sure, my love,” she whispers, pressing a soft kiss to his neck. Fred probably won't fall back asleep, the sun has risen and while he won’t admit it, he’s too scared to try and sleep again. But he doesn’t mind, he’s perfectly content having Y/N fall back asleep in his arms and sometimes, rarely but sometimes, her soft snores lulls Fred into a light, undisturbed sleep.

It’s lunch time by the time Fred and Y/N apparate to The Burrow. Fred’s still recovering physically from his injuries - having your entire body crushed by rubble does that to you, so he happily side-along apparates with Y/N instead of solo floo’ing places.

When they walk into the house, they’re met with a chorus of hello’s and Molly dragging Fred into a hug and kisses his cheeks repeatedly, and then continues to complain that he has no meat on his bones and that he needs to be eating more while shoving a muffin into his hand.

George is snickering by the table because someone who isn’t himself is finally being on the receiving end of his mothers affection and he has Angelina Johnson awkwardly beside him. When Y/N raises her eyebrows at him, he mouths a ‘I’ll explain later’ before winking and walking Angelina over to her.

“Hey, Angie,” she says, pulling the girl into a hug. While they were never close at school, considering Y/N wasn’t a Gryffindor, they still got along when the time arose, “didn’t know my little Georgie here got himself a bird.”

George groans at the fact Y/N completely ignored him and Angelina blushes as she tries to hide her face behind her hair, but Y/N can see that she’s smiling and not at all bothered by the teasing, “Hey, I’m only teasing, come here!” she says as she pulls the embarrassed girl into a tight embrace. While Y/N drops the subject of Angelina and George finally getting their lives together and dating after years of pining, George knows Y/N is going to corner him later and get the answers out of him.

Hermione and Ginny quickly run down the stairs and grab Y/N, pulling her into a hug as well. Soon enough, the entire family is trying to squeeze inside the living room - including Bill and Fleur who always turn up for the Weasley get together and even Charlie has taken extended leave from his job in Romania to stay and spend the summer with everyone.

Because of the overcrowding, Ron whistles loudly, grabbing everyone’s attention, “Who wants to play a game of quidditch and let mum have some peace and quiet?” Immediately Harry, the twins, Angelina and Charlie are out the door, already fighting about teams and position. Y/N briefly hears Harry whine ‘I want to be on Charlie’s team but he plays seeker’ as their voices fade. Ginny stays back, wanting to catch up with Y/N for a bit and promises to join everyone later.

Fred loves nothing more than spending time with his siblings. Growing up as a twin, he’s had someone constantly by his side, but he loves his huge family more than anything. George and he spend 5 minutes fighting over who gets to be beater until they just decide they’ll just be on different teams before they realise they don’t have enough siblings for a full team anyway, meaning the beaters are out of the equation.

This causes the twins to just start jokingly fighting over who plays chaser before Ron and Harry has to break it up so they can actually play.

Fred adores flying. His hair has been growing out and the wind through it as he flies is one of the best feelings in the world, he thinks. It makes him forget all his worries, his only focus is snatching the quaffle out of George’s slimy grip and getting it past Charlie, who’s playing both keeper and seeker for the other team to make up for the lack of players.

“Oi, Ickle Ronnikins,” he calls out from his broom, wobbling slightly as he yells to get his brother’s attention, “mind paying attention to the match and not your girlfriend? George is getting every shot in, mate,” He’s teasing of course. They can see the girls through the window and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t sneaking glances at Y/N.

Meanwhile, the three girls sit at the kitchen table chatting amongst themselves and Bill and Fleur are outside in the garden when Percy and his girlfriend turn up. There’s tension in the air, there always is when Percy turns up. It’s not that no one wants him there, but given his history of being a ‘right prat’ (Fred’s words), everyone is cautious.

But he goes right up to Molly, pulling her into an embrace and kissing her on the cheek and then turns to his dad and gives him a hug.

“Hey Gin, Y/N, Hermione,” he gives them a curt nod as they say hello back before pulling the girl beside him closer, “this is Audrey, my girlfriend. Do you guys mind hanging with her while I go find the boys?"

The girls, of course, nod. “How long have you and Percy been together for?” Y/N asks as the girl sits and she hopes she isn’t coming off rude. She’s been with Fred for five years and never met Audrey and Hermione’s been in the Weasley’s lives for even longer, so it’s clearly a recent development.

“Around this time last year… With everything going on and Percy not being on speaking terms with everyone, we haven’t really had the chance to meet…” she trails off and Y/N senses the awkward tension rising, so she grabs Audrey’s hand in a reassuring matter.

“Don’t stress about that. You’re here now and you’re family,” while Y/N isn’t officially a Weasley, her and Fred have spoken about their future together on numerous occasions so she doesn’t feel like she’s speaking out of turn offering ‘Weasley Family Status’ to Audrey, “I’m Y/N, Fred’s girlfriend.”

“And I’m Hermione, Ron’s girlfriend,” Hermione adds and before Ginny even speaks, Y/N interrupts her, “You’re obviously a Weasley, Gin,” and the girls all start giggling.

“I’m Ginny, Harry’s girlfriend!” she exclaims proudly when all the girls finally calm down and it only sets them off again.

What the girls don’t notice is that Molly’s watching them, with a smile on her face. She’s always wanted daughters - she loves Ginny and she loves every single one of her sons, but she wishes she had been able to give her a sister. But watching the scene unfold in front of her, how these girls welcome Audrey so easily into their lives, Molly’s eyes well with tears as she realises she has the most wonderful daughter and future daughter-in-laws a woman could ask for.

“How’s Fred doing?” Ginny asks. Of course, everyone’s suffered from the war, but everyone is constantly concerned about Fred.

“Between seeing his psychologist and his physical therapy appointments, he’s doing really good,” she says, looking out the window and she laughs as she sees Fred holding Ron in a headlock, shouting something about how rusty he is at keeper, “there’s days it’s hard, and he has really bad nightmares sometimes, and there's days where they make him not want to leave the house but he had one this morning and was determined to get here today. I’m really proud of him.”

Molly rubs Y/N on the shoulders, almost like a thank you for being there for Fred through it all as she places muffins in front of all the girls and takes her own seat. She takes a moment to scold Arthur for trying to repair the muggle radio playing he’s stolen from work before joining in on the girls’ conversation as they eat.

The sweet moment is interrupted by a voice that is clearly Percy’s shouting and both Y/N and Audrey’s automatic assumption is that the worst has happened. Especially when Y/N hears the familiar voice of her boyfriend shouting incoherently.

All the girls rush out the door, expecting to break up a fight but that isn’t what’s happening. Instead, Fred has Percy on the ground, rolling around in dirt and they’re both laughing . Molly has to excuse herself, tears welling in her eyes at the sight of Percy being accepted by his brother.

“What’s going on here?” Audrey questions. It’s clear she’s still weary, worried that at a moment's notice, Percy’s siblings will turn on him and forget his apology. Fred looks up, winking at Y/N before looking at Audrey and flashes her a cheeky smirk, “Perce said I suck at quidditch.”

Everyone rolls their eyes at this as Y/N grabs Fred’s hand and pulls him up. She lives with him, so one would think that the time spent apart at The Burrow is no big deal, but secretly Y/N has always been super clingy, wanting to always have Fred in her sights, and it's only worsened now they live together.

“Hi Freddie,” she giggles, tucking herself close to his side despite the summer heat blasting down on them, “I miss you.” she whispers.

Fred lets out a cackle of a laugh, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and leading her to the tree they always sit under as he tells Ginny to take his spot on their makeshift quidditch team. Secretly, he was hoping to get away from the game because he needs a break and maybe an attempted nap under the tree.

He settles down first, stretching his legs out as he leans against the trunk and then he pulls Y/N down to sit between them and to rest her back against his chest. This has always been their favourite way to cuddle.

“What’s the go with George and Angie? I knew they were going on dates but...” Fred asks, and Y/N shrugs. “He just said he’d fill me in later so I’m still waiting. But she’s at family day, so it must be getting serious.” Fred hums behind her, resting his chin on top of his head as he watches his family on the makeshift field in front of them fight over quidditch rules. George is trying to teach Percy fake rules and Ginny’s smacking him over the head as he laughs at the confused expression on Percy’s face.

To their right, Arthur’s got the radio working and he’s charmed it to blast 80s muggle music loudly for the entire family to hear. Bill’s dragged Fleur to dance around with him and Arthur’s trying to get Molly to join them. Charlie’s sitting with Audrey and Hermione, probably droning on about dragons as usual and the girls listen intently, gasping when appropriate.

“What are you thinking about?” Y/N asks. Fred is never this quiet, usually speaking every single thought that comes to his mind without any sort of filter. It’s gotten him in trouble a fair few times, from both his mother and Y/N.

“I’m just happy,” he says quietly, tucking his head into her neck, and Y/N doesn’t miss the crack in his voice, “I’m so happy I’m here with everyone.” She shuffles in her spot so she can sit and face Fred and he can’t meet her eyes because his own are welling with tears.

“Don’t hide, my love, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” she coos as she cups his cheeks in her hands. He leans into her touch and smiles as he sniffles.

“I know, it’s just…” He trails off and Y/N knows what he’s going to say. He almost wasn’t here and that thought haunts the both of them more often than they’d like to admit. “I know, but that doesn’t matter, because you’re here , and I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am you are,” she whispers, pressing a kiss to his cheeks.

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,” he says and Y/N’s heart swells. Marriage and lots of ginger babies has always been in their life plan, but hearing Fred say it, so, so vulnerably, almost brings her to tears. “Forever, Freddie, you promised,” she replies and he leans forward and presses a soft kiss on her lips.

He’s always promised. He promised forever when they were 16 and they’d only been together for a year as they danced at the Yule Ball until 12am. At 17, when he admitted he wouldn’t be finish the school year. He promised once again at 18, before he flew out of Hogwarts with George. At 19, straight after George had his ear cursed off and he was sick with fear because the war was real and happening.

At 20, they were fighting in their school and he’d promised, ‘We're surviving this fucking thing and I’m marrying you as soon as I can.’

They pull apart and Y/N is smiling at him, adoration filled in her eyes as Fred feels around in his shorts, clearly trying to grab something. When he pulls it out, Y/N’s eyes catch the small, velvet black box and while she doesn’t want to get her hopes up, her heart is racing.

“I’ve been carrying this everyday, waiting for the perfect time,” he chuckles, shaking his head. You’d think Fred Weasley would have a huge and bizarre proposal, most likely with fireworks and dancing gnomes somehow, but in reality, this is perfect. He’s surrounded by his loved ones, there’s no war and he wants nothing more than to officially make Y/N a Weasley.

“Is that now, Freddie?” she says and he nods, smiling. Y/N thinks he’s never looked happier in his life. He knows what her answer will be so he doesn’t feel the slightest bit nervous.

“I promised you, we're surviving the war and I’m fucking marrying you as soon as I can, so here I am,” he pops the box open and Y/N gasps. It’s nothing extravagant but she doesn’t mind. Small and classy, just like she’d always wanted and she doesn’t even realise she’s crying until Fred’s hand wipes her tears with his free hand, “Will you marry me?”

She barely gives an answer, nodding her head violently as she wraps her arms around his neck and presses her lips to his. Their teeth clash and they both laugh at Fred not being prepared to be jumped before getting a verbal response. Y/N pulls away and puts out her left hand, “Of course I’ll marry you.”

He slides the ring on her finger and it’s a perfect fit. They continue to sit in front of the tree, watching their family but Y/N constantly catches herself looking at the diamond ring sparkling in the sun and she’s decided she’s never been happier as well.

Everything is perfect, because it’s the calm after a very, very long storm and she’s never taking family for granted again.

#fred wealsey fanfiction #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley imagine #fred weasley one shot #fred weasley

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roseworth · 3 years

Text

Everyday Forever

word count: 2075

description: A look into what Eugene and Rapunzel both thought their future would be throughout their lives, and how everything changed when they met.

for New Dream Appreciation Week Day 6- Fitzbabies :) @autumn-ravenclaw @gleamful-lanterns

AO3

Eugene never truly wanted an island.

For years, he had told everyone he wanted an island alone with lots of money and a huge castle. Really, though, he had just wanted to believe that he had a goal he was working towards. If there was no goal, then there was no clear end, which would mean that he would be caught in the loop of stealing and running away forever. Even Flynn Rider knew that wasn’t a good long term plan.

So, he fabricated his own goal. He wasn’t sure what he would do with his island, he just told himself that he wanted it.

At first, his plan was to bring Stalyan and Lance to his island with him. He thought that the three of them could live together and not have to steal to live anymore. They could finally be happy.

Then he left Stalyan at the altar. He felt bad about it, sure, but he ran away without a second thought. He couldn’t marry her.

He was pretty sure he wasn’t capable of loving anyone. By all accounts, he should love Stalyan, right? She was there for him, encouraging him to do the things he was scared to do. Her version of “love” was wanting him to be his best. Sure, she did that by pointing out his problems and telling him to change, but it was out of love. She encouraged him to be the person they both wanted him to be. And love changes people and makes them their best self. So if he didn’t love Stalyan, maybe he couldn’t really love anyone.

So his “island plan” turned into just him and Lance. He didn’t even try to get into a real relationship with anyone else after Stalyan. He didn’t know how to love anyone, so it was much easier to stick to casual relationships. Besides, he didn’t need anyone else. Him and Lance would stay together like they had their whole lives.

Then he left Lance behind. Every man for himself, he thought. Oldest and closest friends were no exception to that rule. Even if he could hear Lance calling his name while he ran away, even if just thinking about Lance would destroy him inside for years.

He was completely alone. He had pushed everyone away, just like he always did. His life stopped seeming as glamorous as he once thought it was. He felt like he was just coasting from job to job, waiting to feel something, anything, again.

His island was the only thing to look forward to. Once he had a lavish life alone, he would be happy again. It would be an ending to the blur of a life he was living.

He knew his thieving had to come to an end eventually. He just didn’t have a preference to whether that “end” was an island, or the business end of a sword.

That was before he met her.

In all honesty, at first he didn’t care for her. He figured she was another girl he could use his “Flynn Rider Technique” on. Smolder, spend the night, then leave. But as it turned out she was frustratingly resistant to his charms, and she roped him into helping her.

That was when his whole view on life changed. He thought he wasn’t capable of really loving anyone, but not only was he madly in love with this girl after only a day of knowing her, he wanted to be loved by her. She never tried to force him to be a different person, but she made him want to be better. He didn’t care about his island, he just wanted to go with her wherever she went.

Of course, the universe was cruel, and once he had decided that he definitely wanted to stay alive for her, he met the end he had been waiting for. But looking back, he would do it again and again if he had to. He didn’t care at all as long as it meant that she could live the life she deserved. He hadn’t done anything worthwhile with his life, and he wanted to make up for that by giving up his life so she could do something worthwhile with hers.

Then he got a miracle he didn’t really deserve. He came back. He got the opportunity to truly be happy with her.

The first time he realized that he loved her was at the campfire. The first time he realized he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her was in the boat surrounded by lanterns.

He had never wanted to call Stalyan his fiance, much less his wife. With her, though, he wanted to call her his wife right away. Not only that, but he wanted to be known as her husband. He wanted to spend every minute with her, and he wanted them to grow old together. She was a beam of light in the darkness of life. Honestly, he was surprised that he held back on proposing for 6 months. It took everything in him to not drop down on one knee in their first week of knowing each other.

After years of not thinking he actually deserved anyone, loving Rapunzel and being loved in return made him happier than he ever thought he could be.

Rapunzel had always hoped she wouldn’t be in the tower forever. For as long as she could remember, she would lean out the window to feel the breeze on her face and imagine what it would be like to be out there.

Mother used to say things like soon but not yet, but deep down Rapunzel knew that she didn’t mean it. She always felt like it was a false hope, and after leaving the tower she realized that her Mother didn’t really mean anything she said.

Back in her tower, she didn’t let anything stop her from dreaming. She dreamed of what it would be like to be outside the tower. She imagined that someday Mother would let her see the floating lights, just to be beyond the tower for one day (and maybe that “one day” would make Mother realize that she really could handle herself in the world).

As she got older, it slowly became clearer that that wasn’t going to happen. She would ask more often, and Mother would brush her off. Whenever she got more anxious to leave, her Mother would bring her new paints, or a new instrument, or would give her a new chore she could do to clean the tower. Anything to keep her distracted from the thought of leaving. Because, like Mother would say, what more could she need if she had everything she could possibly want inside the tower, and isn’t she grateful for what Mother does for her?

The day before her 18th birthday, it was abundantly clear that her Mother was never going to let her leave, so she would have to take matters into her own hands. Luckily, she had someone that was more than happy to take her.

Okay, maybe “more than happy” is a bit of an overstatement. More like he was… gently forced to help her. But he helped nonetheless!

As they grew closer together, her dreams of the future slowly changed. She imagined what it would be like to permanently leave the tower and stay with him. She could see even more of the world with him by her side.

She wasn’t sure if he would want to stay with her, and she knew Mother would never let her leave the tower, even after she showed she could handle herself. She wondered what she would even do if she never went back to her tower, but how could she go back after everything she’s seen?

On the boat waiting to see the lanterns, he practically echoed her own thoughts when he told her she got to find a new dream. Her dream of seeing the lanterns was almost over, she could look forward to something else. As the lanterns painted the sky, thoughts of a future with him overtook her mind. Her new dream could start here and now.

And then that dream crashed and burned when he left her for the crown (or so she thought).

From there, her future was changing by the second. She thought she was back in her tower to stay, then she realized that she was the Lost Princess, then Mother Gothel chained her up and once again she thought she would never leave the tower.

And when he returned and promptly got stabbed, she was ready to give up her small glint of hope that she would be able to see the world as long as she knew he would be okay.

Then, with the help of a mirror shard and a magic tear, her future was looking bright again. Not only was she a part of the real world, she had a real family.

That first day in the castle, she told him that she would understand if he didn't want to be a part of her new life. He didn’t sign up for any of this, and it was a very different life than what he was used to. She would understand if he took the reward her parents offered him and left. Much to her relief, he assured her that he wanted to stay if she would have him.

She was glad he would stay with her. He became her rock, and she wanted him there in everything she did. She didn’t want to be away from him, because everything felt right when they were together. The world falls into place when she gets to hold his hand, even if everything around them is going wrong.

She didn’t want a future without Eugene in it, and having him with her was the easiest decision she ever made. And she kept making that simple decision every day.

If someone had told either of them years ago that this was where they would end up, they wouldn’t believe it.

Rapunzel quietly pushed open the door to the nursery and was met with the sight of her husband holding a sleeping child in each arm. Eugene looked up with a smile as she walked in. “Hey, Sunshine,” he greeted softly as she walked over.

“Hi,” she smiled, reaching out to take their son from his hold.

“You know, as much as I love them, I can’t help but be glad there wasn’t a third one coming to surprise us,” Eugene joked. “I’ve only got 2 arms.”

She laughed softly, looking down at the baby she held. Her heart warmed whenever she got to hold one of them in her arms, knowing that it was her child, and she would do all she could to give them the best life they could have.

Being pregnant with twins wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, to say the least. In the end, though, it was beyond worth it. She had 2 bundles of joy that she loved with all her heart. They were the most perfect things she had ever seen. (“That’s just what happens when the two prettiest people in the kingdom have kids together,” Eugene had said earlier. She was inclined to agree.)

Eugene had always wanted to have kids. Back when he was Flynn Rider, he had said he would never want to have a “little nuisance” with him all the time, but in reality he had known since the orphanage that he would want a child to love and take care of.

Now, his entire demeanor would soften whenever he even looked at their kids. He would move heaven and earth for them to be happy, no matter what. His wife and his children mattered to him more than anything else.

Rapunzel felt the same way. Having children that she knew she could do right for was the best feeling, and she was ready to put their happiness above all. Seeing the way her babies’ faces would light up with little smiles that looked just like Eugene’s filled her with all the joy in the world.

She looked down at the little angels she and Eugene held, then lifted her head to meet his eyes. At the same time, they both had the same thought running through their head.

How did I ever think my future could be anything but this?

#whomp whomp whomp #getting into their heads is so hard bc i have to sit here like #'eugene hates himself and its all his fault' like nO ITS NOT IM SORRU #i was planning on posting this this morning but i fell asleep last night before i could edit it then i had to finish class today #so here it is a few hours later than i was hoping for but its cool :)#fanfic #new dream #tangled #New Dream Appreciation Week #my writing

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seoafin · 3 years

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tbh,, i havent read the raws of the interview yet, only the translated ver from fan-translator and b4 i start, i think that this will be just me talking in circle and in no particular order AND a real mess (my brain does weird things after exams) but uhh here we go

gojou collects talented people, and by doing so he finds the people he can most probably relate to, except that he can't, not really, because something in the universe shifted when he was born. and it makes me think of how he's always known it, that he is special, and he's proven it, time and time again— he wants to take in talented ppl and he does, but there rly isn't much he can do for them. for they are talented, more talented than the world can understand,,

but they aren't gojou satoru

gojou took in megumi, bc he knew megumi was strong, and would grow up to be someone even stronger, but gojou can't facilitate or encourage his growth, bc for all they're similar, they are so fundamentally different. ALSO,, while geto was in his life, gojou rly judged everything according to his understanding of geto’s moral compass. gojou wears a human suit and geto is how he learnt to wear it well 🏃

the dragonfly analogy regarding to geto’s response to gojo, who was shown wearing a dragonfly patterned yukata in HI arc,, i’m trying to not think abt the fact that dragonfly symbolized victory in jpn....pain. i quoted from a web here for more explanation : In Japan the dragonfly is known as the "victory insect", or kachimushi, because of its hunting prowess and also because it is known to never retreat. Dragonflies are agile and fast fliers and can even hover, but never fly backwards

and bringing this up again, matricide and patricide are 2 of the 5 worst act to commit in buddhism, and it was said that if u commit one of those act u’re going to spend a real long time in the deepest pit of hell before continuing the samsaric cycle (higher chances to be born as an animal after that probs)— this might be geto’s divine retribution. held no power over his own body and could be considered that he’s the same as those “monkeys” 💀

ALSO the fact that sukuna's interest is "eating" rly drives home his hedonistic philosophy of seeking pleasure for himself. and he’s a cannibal...makes me think if he’ll just chomp on ppl with the mouth on his stomach

randomly, to date i think he hasn't really called himself a human, shaman, or a curse, and has held himself apart from all 3, and we've also the intro of the cursed wombs so i wonder if he’s trying to become, or is, a different entity altogether

so onmyoji got mentioned in the interview and what they practice is called onmyodo and abe no seimei and kano no yasunori were the notable practitioners,, and the kamo in jjk is the same as irl who served the imperial court back then

maybe i was right when i said that the relation between the govt. and jujutsu elders are similar to how the shogunate and imperial court work (ie, the former holds the actual power) but... lets see later,,

and i cant believe that i actually nailed it on the analogy of jujutsu practices by religion,,, so mahayana buddhism, shintoism, and taoism is present in jjk along with their respective jujutsu practices...but between the 3, it shld (?) be taoism > shintoism > mahayana buddhism (which could took a path to pure land buddhism)

it’s weird that the number of curses are supposedly higher in jpn comparable to other countries when taoism was brought from china....tengen sus

so the zenin family tree is sth like :

brothers: [toji's dad] ; naobito ; ougi

so toji, naoya, and maki & mai are cousins of the same generation

[toji's dad] → jinichi (probs) ; toji → megumi

naobito → other brothers, naoya

ougi → maki, mai

but yea i’d call anyone who’s within/close or below my age range as cousins and others above 30 as uncles/ aunts LMFAO,, i dont rly memorize my own family tree 😭😭 especially since most call the other by honorifics instead of names : aunt, uncles etc or attaching said honorifics at the end of a name for an older sibling figure/ older cousins [but like ppl in my country also call the other who are older with sibling honorific even if we’re strangers,,, rly similar to korea’s hyung/oppa—eonnie(unnie)/noona but some uses more genderless honorific] (1)

tw // topic of incest, mentions of abuse

if anyone got the wrong idea when reading this : i am not glorifying/ romanticising incest(uous themes),, i’m looking at this with absolutely no lenses of bias even tho im rly against it

初恋 = literally : first love, or puppy love

恋 = romantic love/ deep longing

i literally don't know how else to put this...🧍and with language barrier...using a western interpretation of the eng word "love" to explain a jpnese term is not quite that simple, unfortunately

that thread omg,, i rly do understand how exactly someone could associated kindness with love bc of my upbringing, it was when i was slightly older that i was just...oh so its not like that orz,,, so the most plausible explanation would be that

but the problem is that,, akutami never specify when exactly she had a crush on them,, and when megumi answered todo’s question she had a “♡” reaction 😶,, uhmmm there’s rly no way to look past this if its this way or be in denial

i’ve seen some of "why wouldn't mai react that way after hearing megumi say he'd like someone who's compassionate when she's surrounded by men like naoya",, well I MEAN,,, that, but also mai probs admires that megumi grew up so well out of the clan, regardless of the fact that he had the foundation (10 shadows) to do so. imo she seems happy for him the way she can't be for maki, bc maki ultimately had to leave her behind

hate to say it but yea,, the 3 clans most likely still practice inbreeding in order to preserve their power and presumably their wealth too 😀

i had an idle thought abt it at first but i filed it deep in the back of my mind asap,, bc i ont wanna jump to conclusion abt this out of all things too early. it’s probably not even in jjk, but all those elite clans in other ani/mangas that produce powerful heirs and whatnot also do the same,,, but this way of (my personal) thinking was influenced when i first got into tsukihime (type-moon),,, i read abt the nanaya family background and found out that they practice that in order to keep their bloodline “pure” (to keep it short : they have an optical power),, and i had this kind of assumption ever since so there’s that

i’m,, convinced the zenins' inbreeding made it more difficult for them to get powerful shamans bc they got 2 jujutsu technique-less children with heavenly restrictions in the same generation: toji & maki

even more convinced that maki might be a bit stronger than toji bc toji could see curses without aid while maki can't so the pay-off must be higher,,, SJJASN IDK ,,, plus naoya sort of implies his older brothers are nothing compared to him, and idk if we should take that as his arrogance or that his older brothers rly are weak/powerless. it would make sense as to why naobito had a lot of sons, ig, as head of clan

i feel so bad that if one of the factors that can caused heavenly restriction is inbreeding,, toji and maki and mai had no say in how they wanted to be born but are scorned for it,, typical asian families projecting their traumas and ideals onto their kids but get mad when they realize that those ideals are ugly...😁😁😁

since the zenin are conservative,, i wonder if they still hold onto old jpnese dining traditions. where in ancient jpn, hierarchical relationships were made readily apparent even within families. a dining table where everybody sat down and ate as equals would be unheard of. rather, each individual is given their own table that indicates their status,,, someone who is not considered “strong” according to the zenin’s views most likely have no place at the table, and probs eat when those who are “strong” finished/ serve them when they are eating

if toji was tossed into a swarm of curses,, i dont think abuse during said time is below them,,,

the zenin clan was already great, but they further amassed power and strength by, what i assume to be, marrying and adopting powerful individuals into the clan 🤔 ,,, i imagine they're like the hiiragi but without doing what they did to shinya (ons reference)

BUT after all that, i like to think that since akutami’s a big horror fan, jjk might be an outlet to explore said topics or even darker ones, so i wouldnt be that surpised abt it. given that there’s more than enough “red flags” before this was dropped : a reference to “tale of hikaru genji” when a grown woman asked for gojou’s number in HI arc (out of all things); granny who transformed into the man’s daughter, sat on his lap and man just touched her waist; mei mei and ui ui ; and...this (incestous theme is in the novel btw)

lets not start with whatever the fuck in kubo’s head in the interview otherwise i’m writing paragraphs with every curse words possible,, those big 3 mangakas are so— UGH,, a planet w out (cis) men like him sounds real good rn 😌 if one of yall out there decide to do it,, pls hmu rly cant do this shit anymore

akutami said i like my men pretty and i like women who will step on my neck and spit in my face (I REMEMBERED TATSUKI FUJIMOTO’S INTERVIEW WHEN HE WAS ASKED ABT MAKIMA AND IT WAS SO 😭😭😭😭) but ykw,, love that for both of them <3

when i said 3 : one piece, bleach, naruto. aside from the blatant depiction/ characterize of women in those 3,, idk if some ppl arent aware yet but oda is friends with two (2) convicted pedos,, man...the major disappointment and disgust when i first find out abt it

anyways this is just my 2 cents (which i think rightfully belong to the trash can) so pls just take this w a lil to no grain of salt - 🐱

YEAH THE ♡ LMFAO I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A “good answer ♡“ heart BUT NOW IM RE-EXAMINING?????

honestly i wouldn’t be surprised if the three clans practiced inbreeding. but ik people are going to be 😡😡😡😡😡 about it when the queen of fucking england is literally married to her (something) cousin. i’m not justifying it but like....love the double standards, just as always with the west 😍

DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT FUCKING PED* LIST THEY SHOULD ALL BE IN JAIL. JAILLLLL. it’s all so gross. that’s why i fucking hate when people look towards manga for positive representation because the chances of that are super slim to zero, especially since the industry is saturated with misogyny and ped******* and a lot of other gross stuff.

i think ppl forget jjk is a horror manga LOL so obviously it’s going to confront darker themes. the question is whether it’s going to be done tastefully or not......

#honestly I don't have high hopes unfortunately 😭#but who knows I might be...pleasantly surprised #idk I don't have high hopes in manga nowadays so hmmm #anyway as always I enjoy ur thoughts <3 ❤️❤️#hope ur doing well!!!#and getting all those genshin impact goodies #🐱 anon #long post

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babywinkz · 3 years

Text

The Four Month Sleep Regression

As a professional sleep consultant, I hear the term “regression” used in regards to just about every imaginable circumstance.

Essentially, if your baby doesn’t sleep well for a couple of nights, parents start dropping the ‘R’ word.

Some people subscribe to the idea that there’s an eight month regression, a 9 month regression, a 1 year regression, as well as teething regressions, growth spurt regressions, and so on.

Others see these as simple hiccups caused by extenuating circumstances.

Is There Such a Thing as Four Month Sleep Regression?

But the four-month regression, everybody agrees on, and for good reason. It’s the real deal, and it’s permanent.

So to understand what’s happening to your baby during this stage, first, you need to know a few things about sleep in general. So here’s the science part, told in plain English.

Many of us just think of sleep as an on-or-off situation.

You’re either asleep or you’re not.

Sleep Cycle in Plain English

But sleep actually has a number of different stages, and they make up the “sleep cycle,” which we go through several times a night.

STAGE 1 – Initial Stage

Stage 1 is that initial stage we’re all familiar with where you can just feel yourself drifting off, but don’t really feel like you’ve fallen asleep.

Anyone who has ever seen their partner nodding off in front of the TV told them to go to bed, and gotten the canned response of, “I wasn’t sleeping!” knows exactly what this looks like.

STAGE 2 – True Sleep

Stage 2, which is considered the first “true sleep” stage. This is where people tend to realize, once woken up, that they actually were sleeping. For anyone taking a “power nap,” this is as deep as you want to go, or else you’re going to wake up groggy.

STAGE 3 – Deep and Regenerative

Stage 3 is deep and regenerative. Also known as “slow wave” sleep, this is where the body starts repairing and rejuvenating the immune system, muscles tissue, energy stores, and sparks growth and development.

STAGE 4 – REM (rapid eye movement

Stage 4 is REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. This is where the brain starts to kick in and consolidates information and memories from the day before. It’s also the stage where we do most of our dreaming.

Once we’ve gone through all of the stages, we either wake up or come close to waking up and then start over again until the alarm goes off.

So what does this have to do with the dreaded regression we were talking about originally?

Well, newborn babies only have 2 stages of sleep; stage 3 and REM, and they spend about half their sleep in each stage.

But at around the third or fourth month, there is a reorganization of sleep, as they embrace the 4-stage method of sleep that they’ll continue to follow for the rest of their lives.

When this change takes place, baby moves from 50% REM sleep to 25% in order to make room for those first two stages.

So although REM sleep is light, it’s not as light as these 2 new stages that they’re getting used to, and with more time spent in lighter sleep, there’s more of a chance that baby’s going to wake up.

Waking Up Is Normal During Sleep

That’s not to say that we want to prevent or avoid baby waking up.

Waking up is absolutely natural, and we continue to wake up three, four, five times a night into adulthood and even more in old age.

As adults, however, we’re able to identify certain comforting truths that baby might not be privy to.

When we wake in the night, we’re able to recognize that,

“Hey, I’m here in my bed, it’s still nighttime, my alarm isn’t going to go off for another three hours, and I’m reasonably certain that there are no monsters lurking under my bed. I can go back to sleep”

And we do. Usually so quickly that, the next morning, we don’t even remember the brief encounter with consciousness.

A four month old baby, of course, lacks these critical thinking skills.

To a four month old baby who fell asleep at her mother’s breast, the reasoning could go much more to the tune of,

“OK, last thing I remember, there was a familiar, beloved face, I was having dinner, and someone was singing me a soothing song about the Teddy Bears’ Picnic. Now I’m alone in this dark room, there’s no food, and there’s probably at least three, possibly four, scary monsters in the immediate vicinity.”

That’s probably an exaggeration, but who knows what goes on in the mind of a four month-old baby?

Understanding Four Month Sleep Regression

Anyways, now that baby’s suddenly realized that Mamma’s not around, and they’re not entirely sure where they’ve gone, the natural response is to do a little freaking out.

That stimulates the fight-or-flight response and, next thing you know, baby’s not going back to sleep without a significant amount of reassurance that everything is OK.

The other major contributor to this 4 month fiasco.

I find, is that up until this point, parents have either been putting their baby to sleep with a pacifier, or by rocking them, or by breastfeeding them, or some similar technique where baby is helped along on the road to falling asleep.

Sleep Associations Don’t Help In the Long Term

Now that baby’s spending more time in light sleep, and therefore has a higher probability of waking up, this suddenly becomes a much bigger issue.

These sleep props or sleep associations can be very sneaky indeed.

Because although they may be helpful in getting your little one to that initial nodding off stage, the lack of them when they wake up means that baby’s not able to get back to sleep again without some outside help.

Cue the fight-or-flight, the crying, and the adrenaline.

When this starts happening every half an hour, parents can find themselves in a nightmarish situation.

So, the good news for anyone experiencing the dreaded Four Month Sleep Regression is that it’s not, in fact, a regression at all.

What is Regression?

A regression is defined as “reversion to an earlier mental or behavioural level,” and that’s actually the opposite of what your baby is experiencing.

This would be much more aptly titled the “Four Month Sleep Progression.”

So, onto the big question.

What can you do to help your little one adjust?

First off, get all of that light out of baby’s room.

I’m not kidding around here. You might think that baby’s room is dark enough, or that baby might not like the dark, and that it’s comforting to have a little bit of light coming through the windows or seeping in from the hallway.

Nope.

1 – Eliminate All Light

Baby’s room should be dark, I mean coal mine on a moonless night kind of dark.

Tape bin bags over the windows if you have to, or cover them with tinfoil. (Just be prepared to explain it to the police when the neighbours accuse you of running a grow-op.)

Newborns and infants are not afraid of the dark.

They are, however, responsive to light. Light tells their brains that it’s time for activity and alertness, and the brain secretes hormones accordingly, so we want to keep that nursery absolutely pitch black during naps and bedtime.

2 – Eliminate All Noise

The other nemesis of daytime sleep, (and nighttime for that matter, although not nearly as often) is noise.

Whether its UPS ringing the doorbell, the dog warning you that the squirrels are back and for sure going to attack the house this time, or something falling on the floor three rooms away.

With baby spending more time in lighter sleep, noises will startle them easily and wake them up, so a white noise machine is a great addition to your nursery.

“Wait, isn’t that a prop,” you’re asking. Well, in a way, it is, but it doesn’t require any winding, resetting, reinserting, or parental presence. It’s just there and it can be on as long as baby’s sleeping, so it’s not a prop we need to avoid.

3 – Create Bedtime Routine

Bedtime routines are also an essential component to getting your baby sleeping well.

Try to keep the routine to about 4 or 5 steps, and don’t end it with a feed. Otherwise, you risk baby nodding off at the breast or the bottle, and that will create the dreaded “association” that we talked about earlier.

So try to keep the feed near the beginning of the routine and plan the songs, stories, and getting into PJs towards the end.

The whole process should be about 20 – 30 minutes long, and the baby should go into their cot while they’re still awake.

If you’re noticing your baby getting fussy before bedtime, you’ve probably waited too long. Four month old babies should only be going about two hours between snoozes, and bedtime should be between 7 and 8 at night.

We Aren’t Perfect – Baby Growth Plays a Role

Now, there are going to be regressions, actual regressions, later on in your little one’s youth. Travelling, illness, cutting teeth, all of these things can cause your little one to have a few bad nights in a row.

But when it comes to the four month “progression,” I’m happy to report that this is a one-time thing. Once you’re through this, your baby will have officially moved into the sleep cycle that they’ll essentially be following for the rest of their life.

Four glorious stages repeated multiple times a night.

Give Your Little One a Gift

And by taking this opportunity to teach them the skills they need to string those sleep cycles together, independently, prop-free, without any need for nursing, rocking, or pacifiers, you’ll have given them a gift that they’ll enjoy for the rest of their young lives.

Of course, some kids are going to take to this process like a fish to water, and some are going to be a little more resistant.

If yours falls into the former category, count yourself as lucky, take delight in your success, and go ahead and gloat about it on Facebook.

For those of you in the latter camp, I’m happy to help in any way I can.

Just visit my website or give me a call and we can work on a more personalized program for your little one.

The most common thing I hear after working with clients is,

“I can’t believe I waited so long to get some help!”

So if you’re considering hiring a consultant, now is absolutely the time.

I offer a free 15 minute evaluation so I can get to know the specifics about your little one’s situation, so book a call now and we can move forward as soon as you’re ready to get your little one sleeping through the night!

Read next >>>

Helping your baby to sleep – NHS

Is This the Right Time To Sleep Train?

Is Sleep Training Safe

Thank you so much for reading, please comment below if you have any questions.

#babysleep #baby sleep #babysleeping #baby winkz #sleep consultant #sleep training #sleep

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meteor752 · 3 years

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I made a joke post about Legolas and Aragorn adopting a baby Geralt and raising him a few weeks ago, but I can’t get it out of my head, so I’m gonna expand on that AU. First post can be found here

So Legolas and Aragorn are basically just out on a vacation in the eastern part of Middle Earth, just taking a break and chilling around you know, when they stumble upon a child just outside the kingdom of Rivia (Yes I am keeping that)

The child is about three or four years old, with the peculiar outward appearance of big Yellow eyes and almost white hair, and it doesn’t seem to mind being out alone in the middle of the forest.

Both Legolas and Aragorn decide though that they will try to find the child’s parents, and they spend two days in Rivia searching for the parent of the child, or just someone who knows something, but they get no results. Most people are repelled by the child, saying that it’s cursed or the result of witchcraft, and both Aragorn and Legolas take offense by that as they had gotten attached to the child.

On the third day they eventually give up, and after a long discussion they decide to adopt the child, as again, they both got attached real fast.

When the two return to Gondor with the small boy whom they named Geralt, a lot of people get quite surprised, mostly because what and why. Their respective families have the same reaction.

The two realize quickly that Geralt is not a normal child.

First, they have no idea what he is. They first thought human, but when small bursts of magic started to come from him, and when his acute sense of smell was discovered, they scratched that idea.

Second, he refused to part with his wolf medallion. They didn’t know why, it had been inspected by a lot of people, including Gandalf himself, but it didn’t seem to have any type of spell or curse on it that made him so fiercely attached to it. And he couldn’t tell them anything about it because-

-Three, he barely speaks. At first they thought he was mute or deaf or something alike, but that didn’t seem to be the case as he could hear, and he did utter a few words here and there. He just chose not to speak, and mostly made cute little grunts when people spoke to him.

Legolas became a mother hen very quickly, and was very loving towards his strange child, and as a child Geralt didn’t mind it too much. As an adult however, then he just wishes his ada would stop smothering him (He secretly loves it).

Aragorn is a lot less lovey dovey, but still very caring and Geralt loves to be around him. He was very quick with teaching his child both sword techniques and manners, but his major priority was teaching him how to care for a horse.

Geralt was not a shy kid as many people believed, When it came down to it he was more than able to voice his opinion. He just, doesn’t like to talk. And because of that fact, he also grew up to be very poor with words and having a problem formulating himself, which backfired a few times in his life.

The thing is, he doesn’t like when others talk either. He just wants to sit around and brood in silence like the angsty boy he is, but none of his family members allow him to, as they are all very chatty and cheery.

Especially his two uncles Elladan and Elrohir and his aunt Tilda, like whenever either one of them are around he can kiss peace and quiet goodbye for at least a few days. It’s even worse when it’s all three.

Geral’t strange magic became a problem early on, as it was very unpredictable. He could do more simple things like start fires and create a protective shield, but also literally manipulate minds, which was not a pleasant thing, especially as he had a hard time controlling it in his youth.

Gandalf tried his best to teach the boy to control his magic, and he did manage to get a hang of it, but sometimes it could still act out in his adulthood when he felt particularly stressed out or angry.

That wasn’t the only problem that came with Geralt being of unknown origin, as sometimes Aragorn and Legolas didn’t know how to properly raise the boy, and what he really needed.

For example, when Geralt was around seven he fell ill. And with that I mean really ill, many feared that he would not survive.

Both Legolas and Aragorn were devastated and the former spent nearly all his time holding and cuddling his shaking and whimpering baby who was in too much pain for the caring parent to handle, and he started to stop eating just to always be able to be by his son’s side.

Aragorn couldn’t afford to drop all of his duties as king, even though he wanted to, but his mind was very absent during everything he did that did not involve caring for Geralt.

Geralt eventually got better, thankfully, but neither Aragorn nor Legolas would ever forget the fear they had felt for almost five months of their still small and fragile son being so close to death.

Geralt’s magic wasn’t only a bunch of negative stuff, it did also come to some benefits in his youth, especially when it came to worrying his Ada.

At around nine Geralt found out that he could temporarily vanish, aka become invisible, if he focused on it enough, which meant that his parents were forced to place a bell on him just to make out where he was. He took it off quite often and would usually be hanging around his frantic Ada, sipping his juice box and watch the scene unfold,

(And I know that’s not really in the Witcher canon, but I just thought it would be cute and this is my AU so fuck off)

Not too long after Geralt got a half elf cousin by the name of Brand, at at first he was confused by the small thing and why he was supposed to care, but as Brand grew older and learned to sit up and make noise, Geralt hated the small thing and just wished for it’s demise. It did not help that his parents loved the kid and would gladly babysit when the thing’s parents were busy, which meant he was forced to be around it.

When Geralt turned twenty two he left Gondor to find his own path (Much to his Ada’s terror because there’s so many ways for him to get hurt Aragorn how are you so calm about this), only equipped with the bare essentials for a life on the road, including a mare he named Roach, a descendant of Brego.

Geralt was very quick to pick up on his father’s habit of having conversations with his horse, and Roach was quite a good listener.

Geralt found his purpose when a child ran up to him while in a village and asked if he could slay the monster that had killed his sister in exchange for money, as his family had seen his swords.

Geralt complied, partly because he could need the money and partly because it would be nice to help, even though his facial expression remained a grim scowl.

And after killing the thing and nearly dying himself in the process, he figures that he needs to do some research on different types of monsters and how to beat take them down before he starts going about.

He also starts carrying potions with him that he acquires from mages and witches across Middle Earth, just to make it easier to hunt and to heal himself after the fact.

But it is not everyone who appreciates his help unfortunately, as many turn him down just by his strange and uncanny appearance, and by his grim attitude that often scare people off.

It does not help that he introduces himself as Geralt of Rivia instead of Geralt Greenleaf of Gondor, just so people wouldn’t know who he was and treat him differently, but it does result in people having no idea he’s the son of a king and a crown prince so they treat him like shit if they want to.

It does not get better by the events in Blaviken, that Geralt would rather not speak off, especially to his parents.

It is first when he meets a young cheery bard that reminds him of an annoying bird that people start to respect him more, after the bard creates a ballad about him.

(Toss a coin would obviously sound a little different since in this AU the term ‘Witcher’ doesn’t exist and I doubt he would “Thrust every elf far back on the shelf” if he himself is part elf by adoption, but it is till toss a coin)

And both Aragorn and Legolas are just delighted at hearing the song because they are just so happy for their son, if not a little confused on why he is called Geralt of Rivia, but still yay!

(The bardlings love singing it together when they are around each other, as they love their nephew and is also all music loving people)

There’s also the mage that he encounters from time to time (And with encounter I mean they fuck, because well, Geralt is related to both Legolas and Tilda after all), whom the Bard, Jaskier, hates.

And then he gets an invitation to the wedding of Arwen and Éowyn while around both Jaskier and the mage, Yennefer, and they both are just as confused because “Wait you have a family?”

And the minute they find out about Geralt’s large, loud and quite famous and royal family, they are both pestering him about following to the wedding because they want to meet the people who raised Geralt, and he gives in after a lot of nagging and begging.

So when Geralt shows up in Rivendell with a brightly dressed bard and a gothic mage, well let’s just say it’s interesting.

Legolas is delighted that his little Gerry has made some friends while also checking on him that he is alright and Geralt hates in while Yen and Jaskier are having a blast.

Jaskier is really smug about the fact that Geralt is actually related to a bard in a way, with his Ada’s step siblings mother being one, and the three take after her with their own musical talent.

Jaskier and Sigrid gush a lot about different songs together.

And Tilda is just shamelessly flirting with the sexy gothic mage while Geralt regrets every single decision he’s ever made.

And of course Brand is there being an asshole while flirting with Jaskier, and again, Geralt regrets everything.

A betting pool is set up on who they think Geralt will end up with, Jaskier or Yennefer.

Geralt just craves death.

***

I tried to incorporate as much of the Witcher lore as I could, but I also had to take into account how Middle Earth works, which is very hard.

I mean, one is Polish and the other from New Zealand.

I don’t know what Geralt is supposed to be exactly, maybe some sort of Fae or Elf half breed, or maybe he is a mutant like the actual Witcher’s.

Anyways, this was fun, and I really wanna make more of this AU, because I love it. It’s not canon in my Universe though, sadly, because it just wouldn’t work.

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watchmegetobsessed · 4 years

Text

“I shouldn’t have let you go.” (Adam Driver)

by now, yall already know about my obsession with adam driver, so i decided to write a fic about him, what a surprise! it’s been a while since i last wrote anything off my drabble list, so i thought i would do this one for that. also thank you @softboyshawn for motivating me to write it, you always know when to give me a push!!

word count: 3.2K

drabble list masterlist

Walking into the building Adam pushes his shades up to the top of his head, keeping his hair out of his forehead. He intended to get a haircut weeks ago, but he wasn’t sure what’s gonna be needed for this role, so he decided to keep it long just for a little longer. He is welcomed by a nice receptionist who helps him out with where he has to head for the reading and he takes the elevator with a delightful smile on his lips.

He feels thankful to be back in the drill, working is exactly what he needs right now, something to keep him busy and focused on what’s important. Starting a new movie is always exciting and powering for him, meeting new people, challenging himself with new scenes, this is what he loves the most.

As he steps into the small auditorium that was turned into the location for the reading he looks around, searching for familiar faces around the long table that has a labelled seat for every role in the movie. His eyes meet a well-known face and he can’t help but chuckle as he approaches the director, Shawn Levy holding his arms out for a brotherly hug.

“It’s so nice to see you again!” Shawn pats his back.

“You too, man.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be at your audition, but to be honest, I knew you would be the perfect for the role,” Shawn lets him in on this little secret.

The two of them has worked together in 2014 and Shawn didn’t doubt Adam would be the perfect fit for his new movie’s leading role. He told his assistant to reach out to Adam and ask him to audition. It was kind of an informal meet up with the movie’s producer with a short screen test and they were entirely sure Adam is the one to cast for the role of Derek Lahey, the big city guy moving back to his mother following a split from his long-term girlfriend after he finds out she’s been cheating on him for quite a while.

“It’s alright,” Adam smiles as they let go of each other.

“You got the new script, right?” he asks pointing at the table where Adam sees a rack of scripts in the middle.

“Yeah, got it yesterday, I gave it a few reads last night.”

“Amazing. We had to make a few changes last minute, sorry about it. But we had a change in the cast as well.”

“The cast?” Adam furrows his eyebrows as Shawn looks around and his eyes lighten up when he sees someone he was looking for.

“Yeah, you remember Y/N?”

As Adam turns to the side and his eyes meet hers, he can’t even figure what to do or say. It’s been about four years he last saw Y/N, but time has definitely changed her and it’s kind of taking his breath away. The shy, baby-faced girl has turned into a very mature, eye-catching young woman, but there are some things that stayed the same. Like her freckles all over her nose, her dimples when she smiles and those amazingly dark eyes that just pop out thanks to her reddish-blonde hair she refuses to dye for any role.

“Hi, Adam,” Y/N smiles, feeling just as startled by his presence as he is at hers, but snapping out of his awe he finally goes for a friendly hug.

“Y/N, you’re the change in the cast?”

“The girl we originally casted broke her leg, so we needed to make a quick decision in order to start filming in time. Luckily, Y/N was able to take the job!” Shawn taps her arm smiling at her happily and she tugs her hair behind her ears. Adam finds himself staring at her longer than he should be, so he forces himself to look over at his director friend.

“It’s like a mini reunion,” Adam chuckles. All three of them worked on This Is Where I Leave You in 2014, a time Adam definitely hasn’t forgotten about.

“Take your seats, guys, we’ll start soon,” Shawn says before drifting off to another cast member, welcoming everyone.

“I’m sorry if working with me is uncomfortable for you,” Y/N starts when they are alone. “I thought about saying no, but… this is a great opportunity for me.”

“It’s not uncomfortable! I’m very glad to see you. Honestly.”

Their history is a little longer than the other cast members’. Five years ago, when filming started they hit it off pretty quick on set, even though Y/N was just an extra back then, while Adam was one of the main actors. He was freshly wedded at that time, only one year into his marriage and Y/N was… a realization for him. A realization that hit too late, definitely not at the right time. As a 22 year-old ambitious actress at the start of her career, meeting Adam and somehow forming a bond with him was confusing for the both of them. Adam first questioned his marriage and tried to deal with his confusing feelings for this girl who also seemed just too young for him at the time, while Y/N feared she might ruin an entire marriage and became the blame for the divorce of an up-and-coming, popular actor, which could also ruin her career.

Nothing ever happened between them, they refused to let it go too far. Besides stolen glances and touches, deep conversations and shared secrets, they never crossed the line from where they could have never returned. Once filming and the premier was over, they forced to lose touch thinking this is what’s best for everyone. They went their own ways until their paths crossed again in this room, forcing them to face each other again.

“Well, that’s good to hear, because we’ll spend a lot of time together,” she chuckles nervously.

“Yeah, I guess,” he nods smiling down at him.

All through the reading Adam can’t help but sneak glances at Y/N, sitting right across him, whenever he could, slowly listing everything that changed about her and things that stayed just the same. Their eyes meet a couple of times, Y/N blushes whenever it happens, focusing her gaze down at her script.

“Great job! Thank you for everyone, I can’t wait to see this on the screen!” Shawn cheers once the reading is finished and a round of applause follows his words. “See you on set in three days!”

Everyone starts packing and Adam makes sure he finishes quickly so he can walk over to Y/N.

“Hey, wanna grab lunch with me? We could catch up a little.”

He hopes his offer didn’t come out as anxious as he feels, waiting for her answer. She hesitates for a moment, sliding her script into her bag before nodding her head.

“Okay. Why not?”

They are perfectly hidden in their booth in the nearby diner they chose to eat in. Adam is anxiously scanning through the menu even though he knows what he wants, but is just too afraid to look into her eyes.

“So, how have you been?” she breaks the silence putting her menu down and their eyes finally meet again.

“Um… busy, mostly.”

“Congrats on the Star Wars movies. You were great in all of them.”

“You saw them?” He is genuinely surprised, he never thought she would be the kind of girl to watch them.

“Yeah. Wanted to see what the hype is about,” she smirks leaning back in her seat. “Turned out I like watching dudes in uniform, fighting with some more dudes, without uniform.”

Adam laughs shaking his head, happy that her humor hasn’t changed.

“That’s exactly what Star Wars is about.”

“Alright, so what’s up with you outside work?”

Before he could answer their waitress arrives. She takes their order and collecting the menus she disappears leaving them alone again.

“Outside work?” Adam inhales rubbing his hands to his thighs. “Um, not much. I’ve been hitting up the gym daily, I’m learning to cook and…” He pauses for a moment, debating whether if it’s the best time to admit it or not, but he decides it’s something that should be cleared. “You know, I have a lot of time since I got divorced last year.”

Y/N’s eyes go wide as this wasn’t something she expected to hear.

“What? Oh God, I didn’t know… I’m so sorry, Adam.”

“Don’t be, it was for the best,” he sighs with a sad smile. Even though it really was the best choice, it took a toll on both of them, letting go of something that was supposed to last forever.

“How are you holding up?”

“Fine, I’m trying to focus on work, most of the time.”

Y/N nods in agreement.

“Yeah, that’s a great technique. I… I did the same when my boyfriend broke up with me after two years.”

“Oh. I didn’t… I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.”

“Have you been keeping an eye on me?” she smirks, making him realize it sounded like he has been following her ever since they stopped talking.

“I wasn’t—That’s not how I meant it…”

“I know, relax,” she chuckles. “I kept it as low-key as possible. Turns out it was the best choice since the asshole left me for some high school senior,” she grimaces.

“Ouch, that sounds… illegal?”

“Kind of, but that’s not my problem anymore,” she shrugs. “So, I guess we both had our ups and downs lately.”

“Seems like.”

Adam feels like this is the moment when he is supposed to say that he is sorry for the way they parted. Things were getting out of hands and he knew it was time to make a decision. Work on things with his wife or end it and give it a try with Y/N. He made the wrong choice, but regardless of this, he also chose the wrong way to let her know they can’t do it any longer.

“Y/N, listen. I—“

“Don’t,” she shakes her head. “I totally get it. Let’s just… move on. Okay?”

Looking into her eyes he sees how much she doesn’t want to talk about it and forgetting about the past is exactly what he wants to do. So nodding they come to a silent agreement. The past is left behind, they have started a new, empty page.

***

Heading to her trailer Adam runs his fingers through his hair and fixes the shirt that’s already his outfit for the filming. Knocking on the door he waits for her to call out, but instead she opens it for him.

“Hey! Got your text, everything alright?” Standing at the bottom of the stairs he is finally shorter than her so he has to look up at her.

“Come in,” she nods and he follows her inside.

She is still in her robe, but her makeup and hair is done, ready to take up on the role of Leah, the next door girl Derek falls for upon coming home.

“I’m a little freaked out,” she admits, fear filling her dark irises as she stares at him, arms hugging herself.

“Hey, relax, it’s fine.” He immediately figures what the problem is, the first day of filming coming at her a little more intense than she thought.

Taking her hands he pulls her to the small couch at the back of the trailer and they sit down next to each other.

“Talk to me, okay? Tell me how you feel.”

“I-I’m… I’m just afraid I will blow this. This is my first big role, like a main role and I’m so afraid I’ll disappoint Shawn,” she sighs in despair.

“You can’t disappoint him, he wouldn’t have casted you if you weren’t good. Believe me.”

“I just don’t want to embarrass myself, forgetting my line or something.” “I’ll do that all the time, don’t worry.”

“Oh please, I bet you already know even my lines!” she rolls her eyes chuckling.

“I definitely don’t. Don’t you remember how much I messed up back then? I think half the gag roll is about me.”

“I loved it when you started laughing at your own line,” she chuckles recalling the memory.

“See? Don’t worry about messing up, I’ll do the same, though I’m sure you’ll be great. Just don’t stress okay?”

She nods taking a few deep breaths. Adam feels a sense of intimacy in how they shared this moment, something he missed so much ever since they stopped talking. They had so many moments before, in between takes, after filming, early before filming, they were seeking all these little sparks since they didn’t have more. They couldn’t have more.

“You’ll be fine?” Adam asks squeezing her hand.

“Yes. Thank you for coming by,” she nods smiling as they stand up and head to the door. “See you in a bit.”

He just nods smiling and leaves so she can get dressed and ready for the start.

Filming together is now a different experience for the both of us. While they had no interaction on the screen before, now they had to bring a whole romance alive and though Y/N has seen Adam work his magic, it’s the first time he see her in real action. And his mind is blown away. Seeing her change into a whole different character amazes him on a different level and in between takes he thinks about how he has never felt like this with another cast member he worked with on a movie. She is just… different.

Once filming is over Adam is in his trailer, taking his time to get ready to leave when there’s a knock on the door.

“Come in!”

Glancing up from his phone he turns to the door and see Y/N sticking her head inside with a warm smile on her lips.

“Hey.”

“Hi, come on in!” he invites her inside and she walks in closing the door behind her. “So, how did you feel on your first day?”

Without even answering the question Y/N strides over to him and hugs him. It takes him by surprise but after a second of hesitation he wraps his arms around her.

“Thanks for being so patient and nice with me all day. And messing your lines up on purpose.”

A deep chuckle shakes his chest as he holds her close.

“It wasn’t on purpose,” he lies, but she just smiles to herself before letting him go.

“Do you have somewhere to be?”

“Not really.”

“Then what do you say, staying a little, celebrating the first day? I have some wine in my trailer.”

“Sounds great,” he smiles.

Twenty minutes later they are sitting on the floor in her trailer, drinking white wine out of plastic cups and laughing about anything and everything.

“I remember that day!” he chuckles holding his cup up.

“Yeah, it’s not hard remembering me spilling three cups of coffees on myself,” she snorts taking a sup from her drink.

“Fuck, I missed having you around,” Adam sighs closing his eyes. If he weren’t four drinks into the evening, he probably wouldn’t have said that, but now it’s already out there.

“You did?” Y/N tilts her head smiling at him, watching him lean his head against the wall behind him.

“I did,” he nods, eyes still closed.

“I missed having you around too. I missed our talks.”

“I’m sorry for the way it ended.”

“Hey, we agreed on not talking about that!”

“I know, but… I really wanted to tell you that,” he sighs looking down at his cup, stirring the wine around before chugging it down and pouring some more from the bottle.

“I don’t blame you. You were married and we were… dancing on a dangerous line.”

Glancing up at her he watches her just sit there, busy with her own drink and he admires this moment, something he has been waiting for years to have again. He regrets making the wrong choice back then, thought he understands his own reasoning behind it. People don’t just give up on a marriage, he couldn’t have known it wasn’t gonna work out. But he also lost so much time with her and that’s his biggest regret.

“I shouldn’t have let you go,” he breathes out.

Lifting her gaze up her eyes meet his as they stare at each other, feeling the change in the conversation, obviously. An absent-minded smile appears on her light pink lips as she tugs her hair behind her ear.

“I always thought that you found me too young, outside all the other circumstances we had.”

“I did think about being an old man compared to you,” he chuckles. “But I feel like it was bridged pretty fast.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes! I mean, it’s not even ten years, the world has seen way worse,” he chuckles making her laugh as well.

“You’re right.”

Putting his drink down to the floor he climbs over to her and sits next to her, resting his back against the couch just like she is doing and they sit there in silence for a couple of moments before Y/N rests her head on his shoulder.

“Adam?” she breaks the silence.

“Yes?”

“I think we are at the line again.”

“Yeah. We are.”

Another short silence while Adam turns to the side a bit, just enough to brush his lips against the crown of her head.

“Are we gonna cross it this time?” Lifting her head she looks at him with doubtful eyes as she puts her drink aside too.

Instead of answering his hands find their way to her waist and somehow he pulls her to his lap, her knees on each of his sides, hands resting on his broad shoulders.

“I don’t know what we are going to do, but I’m gonna cross the line.”

And without hesitation he presses his lips to hers. She doesn’t think twice before returning the kiss since she’s been waiting for this moment from the day she met him. He digs his fingers into her hair at the back of her head while she combs through his messy strands too, kissing like it’s their last moment on Earth. His hands slide under her shirt and soon it lands on the floor somewhere next to them.

As much as she wants to continue this, she still doesn’t want to do it lying on the floor of her trailer, that’s not what they deserve. So pushing away she tries to catch her breath while she admires his swollen lips and messy hair, running her fingers along his cheeks.

“We shouldn’t be doing this here. Not like this.”

“You’re right,” he nods realizing he got a little carried away.

Leaning down she softly kisses him again before sliding off his lap, landing on the floor again.

“We should head home, we have work tomorrow,” she advises as they slowly get up from the floor and gather their stuff, getting ready to leave.

Walking out to the parking lot they stand midway between their cars, staring up at each other, neither of them wanting to leave.

“See you tomorrow?” She bites into her bottom lip and it’s enough to drive him crazy. Pulling her closer he kisses her again.

“Yeah. How about dinner after filming?”

“Sure,” she smiles.

“It’s a date,” he raises his eyebrows as they start backing towards their cars.

“Surely is,” she chuckles. Right as she is about to turn around Adam leaps in her direction and running back to her he kisses her once more before sprinting back to his car.

Giggling to herself she gets into the car and heads home, knowing he would be here in the morning, ready to continue everything from where they left it off.

#adam driver #kylo ren #adam driver imagine #adam driver imagines #adam driver fiction #adam driver au #adam driver fanfiction #kylo ren imagine #kylo ren fanfiction

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guiltysecretpasttime · 4 years

Text

The Airbender’s Wife (Chapter 3)

Note: Here’s the next chapter 😊 I have a rough outline of the rest of the story; all is left to actually put it all into writing. As you may have noticed, the plot more or less happens on the outskirts of what we see on season 1 of LoK with a Linzin AU focus. Let me know what you think 😊

----

The next few training days were not any better.

In between training one-on-one with Tenzin and having sessions with the air acolytes, Korra felt she had not progressed as much as she should have. She was disappointed at herself – she had been able to grasp most of the other bending forms quite easily. Aligned with the worry of her other bending masters, she was adept in comprehending the physical aspect of her training but lacked connection with the spiritual side. Everyone knew that Air was the most spiritual among all the elements. This was also why she was training with Mr. Spiritual himself. There was no hint of disapproval from Tenzin, which made it worse.

The Avatar quickly fell into the routine.

Each morning would begin with meditation with Tenzin. The rest of the day would depend on the Airbending master’s schedule.

Korra would either have a training session or asked to join the Air Acolytes’ classes to learn more about the Air Nomad culture. On days that Tenzin was needed at city hall, Korra would be left to her own devices. On other days, Tenzin was able to work remotely from his home office and so is able to supervise training at the island.

One of the first things that she did back in Republic City was to request to go to the library, which pleased Tenzin a lot.

The teenager decided to brush up on the recent history, taking time to take seriously the reading lists that the White Lotus gave her years ago. She had also gone to the archives to just catch on what the press had been saying about the previous Avatar and his family, and by extension the currently last Airbender and his wife.

Aside from satisfying her curiosity, she felt she owed it as much to learn about her hosts to ensure she does not say anything offensive or taboo. Not that the airbender or the metalbender seemed to care a lot anyway.

Chief Beifong, meanwhile, as her husband mentioned previously, did not have regular hours. Korra cannot recall the last time she had seen the woman at the island aside from night of the Pro-bending match. At most, she would see Tenzin having short calls at night (“Yes dear, I understand.” A pause. “Mhmm, take care, okay? Yes, Korra’s here safe. What? Why would she need to blend in the crowd?” Another pause. “That makes sense, yes, the public knows that Avatar is from the Water Tribe.” A sigh. “Yes, dear. Stay safe.”).

-----

Korra had reached the top step of Republic City Hall, having come from exploring the city after spending an hour at the library. It was almost time for Tenzin’s office hours to be over. She was surprised to see the airbender standing in the foyer already.

“Ah, there you are, Korra.” Tenzin strode towards her. “Let’s go.”

“You’re done for today?” The councilman usually waited until the last minute before packing up. Then again, Korra did observe that Tenzin seemed to be disquieted by something in the past days.

“Yes.” He replied brusquely as he quickly exited the building, robes billowing in his wake.

“Uh – the ferry is that way?” Korra stopped and pointed to the opposite direction which Tenzin was heading towards.

“We’re dropping by somewhere first.”

Korra jogged beside him to keep up until they found themselves entering the police headquarters.

“Ah, Councilman Tenzin, Avatar.” The Deputy Chief greeted them as they entered arrived at the floor of the Chief of Police’s office, hands behind his back. “I wasn’t aware that you had an appointment today.”

“We don’t,” Tenzin responded still in that somber tone. “I’m here as Lin’s husband. Would you know where she is?”

Saikhan cracked a smile, barely perceptible but it was there. “I was wondering when you’d show up.”

Korra fidgeted by the balls of her feet. The last time she was in the presence of the deputy chief was when she was in the interrogation room more than a week ago. She figured that it might be a regular occurrence for Tenzin to drop by, judging by his reaction.

Tenzin released a heavy sigh. “How long has she been in?”

“She’s been here for close to four days,” The metalbender consulted his watch. “Four days entering the fifth day in a few minutes actually.”

“Four days?!” The teenager blurted out in shock. “That’s how many working hours?” She knew she had not seen the police chief recently, but she thought she just did not see the woman’s comings and goings from the island.

“Too many.” The grim airbender crossed his arms. “Didn’t she leave headquarters at all?” Korra remembered that the couple also owned property in the city; she supposed that Lin could have gone home there instead of Air Temple Island.

“She’s been out from time to time on case-related activities,” Saikhan responded with a frown. “But no, Chief spent the rest of the time here.” Chief’s husband tsked quietly at hearing this. “Right now, she’s finishing the last training class of officers and detectives.”

“I didn’t know it was time for the refresher exercises?” Tenzin looked towards the end of one of the corridors, which was connected to the stairwell of the training rooms.

“It’s not. The Chief decided to have mixed group sessions specifically for non-bending forms and techniques.”

“Oh?”

Both Tenzin and Korra were curious; after all, the police department was initially established with the elite metalbenders as the main members.

“With the rising anti-bending sentiment on the streets, the force needs to further assure the public that we are a non-biased organization who is out to serve both benders and non-benders alike.” Saikhan said tightly. “The chief saw it fit to equip all divisions with working knowledge of non-bending: both defensive and offensive. Generally, she instructed benders to use bending as a last resort when encountering non-benders in skirmishes. Maximum tolerance and all that – there’s no point in escalating the tension.”

That makes sense, Korra thought.

“I take it there has been some resistance?” Tenzin tugged at his beard, a mannerism that the Avatar was starting to recognize. He was either agitated or pensive. Korra voted for agitation this time.

“Of course,” Saikhan exhaled. “Good thing this happened now though; if it were a couple of years back, when there were just benders on the force or further back when it was all metalbenders, it would have been chaotic.”

Korra recalled reading that the current Chief Beifong had opened the police academy to non-benders early in her term as chief of police.

The airbender agreed. “It would have been more challenging to placate the public if that were the case.”

“If I may speak candidly, Councilman?” The deputy chief asked. Upon Tenzin’s nod, he continued. “Here’s hoping that the city council pass more…progressive laws for Republic City. There’s only so much that we can do to keep peace and order when enforcing some of your more pedantic laws.”

Any reply Councilman Tenzin might have given was cut-off as footsteps were heard coming from the stairwell. A group of sweaty, disgruntled yet subdued looking officers and detectives came rushing towards the showers, murmurs and shouts littering the air.

At the tail of the group was the Chief of Police in her non-metalbender uniform, wet hair stuck to her forehead and nape, towel on her arm, and a water bottle in hand. Both Tenzin and Saikhan noticed her at the same time and set about to approach her when she was intercepted by another uniformed officer.

“Chief, they’re ready for you in the briefing room.”

Lin nodded and strode purposely the room; Saikhan hurrying after her.

Tenzin was used to this occurrence, Korra figured, as he went inside what she supposed to be the Chief’s office.

The Avatar was surprised at the state of the room.

While the paperwork was arranged neatly on the desk (complete with folders, binders, and impressively cascading tabs), other areas of the room was in disarray – obviously, the owner of the office practically lived there.

The side table had several pots of beverages, (Korra sniffed at it – one was tea, two were coffee, and three were probably coffee at some point. She lifted a pot and tried to swirl it – it looked like toxic sludge, then again she would not put it past Lin to be capable to subsisting on bitter sludge just because she can), one empty cup, multiple bowls of partially eaten food (normal pantry food consisting of bread, noodles, some stir-fry and rice), and a metal tray (“Lin being Lin,” Tenzin dipped his head, smiling at his wife’s stubbornness. “She prefers to clean up herself, didn’t want the staff waiting on her.”).

The couch in the room was a little bit better; a folded blanket was placed on top of two pillows at the end (“She didn’t even bother to rest at the sleeping quarters.”).

Tenzin snuck a couple of packets of biscuits (which the teenager puzzled where he got them from) into the Chief’s desk drawers then he began clearing the side table.

As Korra helped him out, she realized that the airbending master has been worried about his wife not being home all this time.

She stopped to peek through the blinds that faced the rest of the floor.

She saw the police chief patiently listening to one of the officers gesturing towards a diagram on the board where several photos and a map were posted. Lin wiped the sweat off her face and took a long drink of water, eyes not wavering from the officer speaking in front. If that look of determination was anything to come by, the Avatar did not think that whatever the Chief was working on that week was not easily solved.

---

“Go home, Chief.” Saikhan attempted to get the folder from Lin’s hands after the briefing for the stake-out ended.

“No, the stake-out –.”

“Can be handled by myself and the rest of the team.” At the Chief of Police’s skeptical face, the Deputy Chief opened his hands imploringly. “Chief, we’ve worked together for a lot of years now. I know our protocols by heart.” He eyed her massaging a part of her left shoulder. “And, how many has it been? Eight?”

Anyone who has worked with Lin Beifong knew her philosophy of leaving all the confrontation on the mats. Having personal issues and altercations with fellow policemen on field or while on the beat may pose security concerns. It could also be a matter of the operation’s success or failure. She had then allowed sparring (regulated sparring, that is) at headquarters to get them to let off their steam.

With her recent focus on the integration of non-bending techniques, there have been a couple of people on the force (both detectives and uniformed officers) who were a tad too miffed (and that’s putting it lightly) at this development. At the start of each training session, she opened the floor to anyone who wanted to challenge her. To prove her point, she did not use earth or metalbending while her opponent can use either.

The last time Saikhan checked, there had been less than ten challengers so far.

“Fifteen is the final count.”

“Fifteen!” He was stunned. “So, seven more in the last session?”

Lin shrugged, testing her sore shoulder. “I saved the most difficult group for last.” She has managed to win each of the fifteen matches (Lin idly wondered if that was how her mother felt when she won her Earth Rumble championships back in the day).

“Well, either way, you need to rest up, Chief – you’ll be no good to us if you’re not in tiptop shape.” He half-jested, knowing fully well that his boss can still take anyone down even at her current state. The man received a punch to his forearm in retaliation. “Don’t worry about it, all that is left is the waiting game and paperwork. We can manage.” He waved towards the office, grinning. “And, if anything, I also do not want to be at the receiving end of the last airbender’s tirade should I not be able to convince you to get some rest. Your husband and the Avatar are waiting in your office.”

Saikhan did have a point and she did trust that the man was highly capable in her absence. He also knew very well that when Tenzin drops by as Lin’s husband, Chief Beifong has overstayed at work.

Lin thrusted two files under her arm to him. “Fine but call me as soon as you hear anything.” The man had the audacity to salute her as he shooed her away (“Get some rest, Chief!”).

The past days have been hectic.

The triads were taking advantage of the pockets of gatherings supporting the non-bending movement. Legally, there was not anything the police can do about it. The citizens do have the right of freedom of assembly. There has been no incident that would equate to any law-breaking; all the force can do is wait and observe.

Patrolling schedules were revamped to ensure mix of benders and non-benders per location. Both sensitivity training and non-bending techniques training were quickly delivered to the force. It was short-notice and the timing was tight but Lin believed that it would be better to be prepared than to be caught off guard.

The triads were not making it any better as they were, more often than not, composed of benders preying on establishments owned by non-benders. She had allotted more metalbenders as plainclothesmen in the vicinity to allay their fears. It did stave off crime.

For now, she thought pessimistically. The city never did seem to rest; by extension, neither did she.

Just today, she had given a go signal for stakeout made up of the mostly junior detectives and officers. There was a severe lack of progress in the intelligence reports provided by the seasoned officers. She figured that if this junior team produces more results, the other team would be challenged to step up and shape up.

Tenure was not enough to secure promotions in the force, after all. Spirits know she knew that very well.

She tilted her water bottle back, finishing the rest of her drink. An empty stomach and a sore body never did not make for a happy chief of police.

Another day at headquarters, another day to remind herself why she had to keep going.

As Lin approached her office, she could sense Tenzin pacing inside.

Well, there’s my number one reason.

The metalbender shook her head to clear maudlin thoughts (wouldn’t want to get distracted while on the job, wouldn’t we?) before turning the doorknob.

“Tenzin, Korra – to what do I owe this pleasure of a visit?” She entered the room, shutting the door behind her, correctly assuming that her husband was about to berate her.

“Visit?” Lin could hear the strain in Tenzin’s voice. “This isn’t a visit, Lin. It’s almost a week since you last went home. You’ve practically camped in your office.” The airbender’s robes flowed as he waved indicating the room. “This can’t be healthy, Lin.”

A blast of air escaped as he huffed, causing several paperwork to flutter from her desk.

“Don’t worry, I was just riling you.” Lin could vaguely see the Avatar cautiously watching the exchange from the couch, inching towards the desk to pick up the fallen sheets of paper. “I’m leaving headquarters with you.” She placed a hand on his arm, gripping it and trying to reassure him. “I’ve arranged it all with Saikhan. I’ll just have a quick shower.”

---

The next hour found the three of them in an alcove of a popular (albeit expensive) restaurant in the city. Tenzin selected this one as he was sure that they would be granted privacy (that and he knew that the service was quick). Soon their table was silent except for the clatter of utensils and bowls as they dug into their ordered food.

“Are you part Fire Nation?” Korra tilted her head, her face scrunching in disbelief at the amount of spicy on Lin’s plate. She had been unable to resist asking as she watched the metalbender scoop more chili garlic.

“Wouldn’t we all like to know,” Lin mumbled through a mouthful of said spicy noodles, not looking up from her plate.

Tenzin shot a warning look at the Avatar, silently communicating that she does not push the woman. Her heritage was a prohibited topic.

Lin’s nickname before she made chief was Captain Crankypants (though if he were a betting man - which he isn’t, mind you– he would bet that her detectives and officers still called her that away from her earshot). He knew her long enough to know the trick to this was to let her eat first. She was the very embodiment of hangry. It was for this particular reason that he always made sure to have some biscuits on his person. His robes, after all, were voluminous enough to hide a pack or two.

Korra had her mouth form an “O” in curiosity. Lin glared at her to stop her from probing further.

Tenzin thanked the spirits that the usually impulsive Avatar held her tongue.

He could see that other patrons of the restaurant were starting to notice their presence as dinner time approached. It was not like they were particularly inconspicuous – he with his Air Nomad robes, Lin in her particularly striking green attire and of course, Korra’s Water Tribe outfit. He realized that this was what Lin had called about a few days ago – for Korra’s protection, for her to ideally wear something less distinguishable that would mark her as the Avatar.

He tossed a side glance at his wife, knowing that she would probably have noticed the same attention that they were drawing but at the same time wishing that she would not chew him out just yet.

Instead, he discreetly pushed the fried salt and pepper squid to her.

Airbender through and through… redirect, diffuse the situation…

Lin stabbed two pieces of squid and that was that.

Tenzin knew Lin’s moods. He could feel the tension on her shoulders, coiled and ready to pounce at a single trigger. She was too amped-up to be coped in Air Temple Island. He would probably lose her to the earthbending training grounds if he insisted that they go home.

“Where do you want to go after dinner, Lin?”

The woman just continued to chew her food for a couple of moments; Tenzin started to doubt if she heard him.

“What day is it today?” Lin finally asked, chin resting on her hand.

Korra answered for him.

The earthbender turned to him. “There’s a pro-bending match today at the arena.”

Tenzin could feel the heat behind his ears as the Avatar also turned her attention to him. “You want to go to the arena?”

“Yes, why not?” Lin leaned to the back of her seat, where Tenzin’s arm waited, and crossed her arms. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen a live match.”

On any other day, he would have tried to dissuade his wife from supporting a spectacle.

However, it wasn’t any other day. He has not seen his wife out of work for almost a week and he was not about start an argument during her first night out in a while.

“Pro-bending match it is.” He said resignedly as he tightened his grip on her shoulder, feeling at least a small amount of tension leave her posture.

I’d count that as a win, he thought, kissing the top of Lin’s head.

---

“Where is Korra? I would think she would be back by now.”

“She’ll be fine. There’s probably a long line at the loo.”

“But still – ouch - did you just punch me?”

“Tenzin, she’s the Avatar. She knows three elements; she can defend herself.”

Grumbling. Grumbling.

“Fine. Move – remove your arm around me, I need to stand up and concentrate– yes. That’s it.” Stomp. “She’s at the players’ platform.”

“She’s WHERE?”

Her hand clung to his robes, keeping Tenzin at his seat. It was all she can do to prevent him from storming down to where she detected Korra was through seismic sense.

“Tenzin,” She hissed as they both sat back down. “People are starting to look at us. Keep it down.”

Lin had selected these particular set of seats so as to not draw any attention to them (well, as minimal attention they could get with a tall bald tattooed airbender clothed in the colors of the sun as they could get). She truly did enjoy pro-bending and she knew her husband was just humoring her tonight. Nonetheless, she was quite contented to sit through his griping throughout the match (“What kind of move was that? That waterbender had the worst form I’ve ever seen.”).

A loud cheer erupted from the crowd as the bell rang, proclaiming the Golden Temple Tigerdillos as the winner of the first round.

As the match went on, the earthbender felt her husband become more receptive to the sport as he started to lean forward in his seat (“That waterbender of the red team is an idiot. Why are they keeping him?”). She laughed at his indignant face (“Where did they even find him; why don’t they kick him out??” “Tenzin, it doesn’t work that way.”); she found his reddening head endearing as he worked himself up on a sport he said was a mockery.

She gave his hand a squeeze.

The airbender looked down at her, seeing a smile on her tired face, the smile reflected by the crinkling at the corners of her eyes.

He returned her smile and he tugged her closer to him.

Maybe, just for now at least, Lin can pretend that they were just an ordinary couple on an evening out rather than the chief of police and the last airbender.

----

“Here they are – the Fire Ferrets.”

“Thanks, Toza.”

“Any time, Chief Beifong. Councilman Tenzin.” The burly man lumbered off, muttering a congratulations to the bending brothers.

“Chief, Tenzin!” Korra burst forth, placing herself ahead of the two Fire Ferrets in attendance. “I’m so sorry, I got distracted and I -.”

Tenzin turned to his wife, who had her hands on her hips defensively. “I told you this was a distraction, Lin!”

“What are you talking about? We’re all off duty tonight, aren’t we?” The Chief of Police responded sardonically, gesturing to her overcoat, reminding the airbender that her armor was on the sky bison’s saddle (“I’m calling Oogi tonight – leave your armor there Lin, I’m sure you’ve seen enough of your armor this week.”).

She tuned out the teenaged Avatar’s exuberant storytelling and continued to scan the room with interest.

Even as a follower of pro-bending who occasionally watched matches in the arena, Lin has never been to the player holding room. She noted the brothers – the earthbender, with wide eyes, was pulling at his brother’s sleeve, clearly trying to draw his attention to Lin. She caught the eye of the firebender, recognition dawning on both of them at the same time.

She felt the agitation come in waves from the firebender as indicated by his increased heartbeat. The Chief of Police glanced at Tenzin and Korra, both engrossed in their discussion, then approached the pro-benders.

“So, this is where you both ended up.”

“Yes, Chief Beifong.” The earthbender squeaked out, shifting his eyes between his brother and the policewoman.

The firebender, the older brother, if Lin’s memory served her correctly, inclined his head in as he added. “We’ve been trying to make ends meet – within the law, this time.”

“Good to hear, kid.” She could not resist the slight upturn of her lip. Juvenile delinquents who manage to turn around their lives were quite close to her heart (not that she’d admit it though it was fairly obvious to Suyin for obvious reasons). “You’ve been making quite a stir this season, good job.” It was the most that she could give as a compliment.

“You-you-you’re following pro-bending?” The green-eyed earthbender stammered. “You’ve followed the Fire Ferrets?” He was practically bouncing with excitement. “Mako, Mako! Chief Beifong knows who the Fire Ferrets are!” He stage-whispered to the firebender, Mako.

Mako rolled his eyes while he took off the arm guards. “Well technically, she did know us even before we became the Fire Ferrets.” He moved to clean his helmet.

Isn’t he just a ray of sunshine, Lin thought. He just might grow on me.

“Okay, fine!” A gust of wind got their attention as the airbending master had apparently bowed out to the Avatar and allowed her to spend some time training with the pro-benders in her spare time.

Lin decided that she did not give the kid enough credit. There might be the makings of the diplomat (or politician?) within her just yet if she was able to wrangle this agreement with the airbending master.

“Oof!” A blue blur hit her at the chest.

“Thank you- thank you -thank you -thank you!” Korra held the metalbender in a tight embrace.

Over the Avatar’s head, Lin threw a Tenzin a look, asking for help. The man had the gall to grin widely at her, signaling her to return the hug.

“I didn’t do anything, kid.” Lin gasped out as she awkwardly patted the teenager’s shoulder.

“Is she allowed to do that?” The younger Fire Ferret brother whispered loudly, hand partially covering his mouth, other hand pointing at the waterbender.

Mako looked disinterested while Tenzin shrugged, grin still plastered on his face.

The metalbender narrowed her eyes at him, thinking of ways to retaliate later at home.

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

Note: Hmm. So there. Tossed in some thoughts based on headcanons for me like Lin actually liking pro-bending, because, well, she was raised (or minimally raised) by an Earth Rumble champion. And of course, I did not take Tarrlok’s comment about the Chief of Police’s track record sarcastically so I wanted to include bits on how she would have worked on the Equalist issue in the background (because she probably wasn't just a glorified body guard? 🤷🏽 Idk haha). Lemme know as well if you have specific HCs that you have in mind; quite curious too. :)

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My related posts:

Prologue (Contentment) | 1 | 2 | x | 4

#linzin #linzin fanfic #lin beifong #tenzin #legend of korra #cross-posted on ao3 #toccatina's fanfics #toccatina wip #toccatina airbender

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musedysfunctixn-m · 3 years

Text

Kanna Kuwajima - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba OC

“This is the Land of the Rising Sun, I will not allow your existence to desecrate this beautiful nation. Let me guide your soul to the after life.”

Aged 21 years old ( different ages can be played upon request )

Member of the Demon Slayer Corps

The current Thunder Hashira/Pillar

Kanna is a woman who stands at 167 cm ( 5′6″ ), she is characterized by her rather athletic build, though has plenty of distinct feminine features that are very striking. She is able to use a sword with a straight edged blade since she has enough physical prowess to decapitate a demon little to no problems. Despite a lot, Kanna is very agile, which can give her an advantage in any sort of conflict with ease. She has an hourglass body figure, though it’s rare visible, usually covered by her haori and uniform, she is the kind the that wears a skirt rather than the standard uniform pants. Her hair is black, often compared to the dark stormy sky during a thunderstorm at night, it progressively gets lighter and descends into a light yellow at the tips. It’s usually held in pigtails and pinned with two lightning pins. Her eyes are an orchid purple, making them very striking, though her hair seems to be her most notable feature when it comes to everything. To end this all off, she has a creamy peach skin complexion.

It’s not hard to see that she is a Thunder Breath Technique user, having mastered all of the forms that there are, much like Zenitsu and Kaigaku she was trained by Jigoro Kuwajima aka Gramps, who happens to be her biological grandfather. With her advanced sword skills, Kanna relies heavily on her instincts when it comes to anything combat related, as a result, fights are more than usually always in her favor since she can anticipate a whole lot. Fighting and combat are incredibly difficult because of this since she’s often described as being extremely unpredictable.

Kanna has the most wonderful people skills and truly cares about the happiness and well-being of others. People see her as a giver. Her primary way to evaluate people and situations is externally and this means that she considers everything based on how well it fits into her values systems. This makes her incredibly patient, understanding and kind. Because she has an outward focus on other people, she sees possibilities where others see obstacles. Kanna tends to have a natural ability to love, nurture, and care for others as well as bring out the best in them. She thoroughly enjoys seeing other people happy and having a good time. Kanna is extremely unselfish, but some may think she uses natural people skills to manipulate others. Kanna gets her nickname “The Protagonist” (and “mentor” or “teacher��) because she supports others. She genuinely cares about bringing out the best in others, and will use her skills to do so. People with her personality type will feel challenged by spending time alone. Being extraverted, this can seem like a punishment rather than the opportunity for rest and reflection that it really is. She finds herself filling her life with non-stop activity and more relationships than she can reasonably handle to avoid this discomfort. It’s essential that she consider her own needs to avoid burnout and being taken advantage of by others. Compared to other extraverted personality types, Kanna has more difficulty expressing her opinions and letting people get to know her at an intimate level. When she does express her beliefs, it’s not likely that they will be too personal. The main reason for this is that Kanna doesn’t want to alienate anyone. However, she then runs the risk of feeling lonely even when constantly surrounded by others because it’s hard for her to reveal her true self.

At a young age, Kanna’s home life wasn’t easy by any means, often being quite rowdy and causing trouble for her parents. As a child, she was incredibly outgoing and very much acted like a tomboy, being far from refined like her parents wanted her to be. She was often subjected to having her social interaction limited because of the way that she ended up acting around other children, even though she was nothing but friendly. Time and time again, she got told that no one would want her or accept her for the way that she ended up acting. Eventually a breaking point was reached and it all came crashing down when her father and mother openly ridiculed her out in public. Kanna was only 7 when this all happened. Not long after, she ran away to live with her grandfather that her family no longer associated with. A friendly traveler was able to help her get their safely without getting harmed or anything.

From that time forward, she trained with her grandfather, the retired Thunder Hashira. There were no problems teaching her from such a young age especially with her strong fighting spirit. She learned very quickly and had little struggle when it came to the various Thunder Breathing forms, being a very promising Demon Slayer in the making. Much like everyone else, at age 15 she went to Final Selection upon approval from her grandfather that she was very much ready to move forward. Before the Final Selection process happened, she briefly met both Giyuu and Sabito who were also there. She did happen to be quite chatty with them. Of course, she didn’t hear of the tragedy until much later on. After about a year of advancing her skills and mastering them, Kanna filled the vacant Thunder Hashira position. Through the years, she had the opportunity to go back and visit her grandfather, meeting both Kaigaku and Zenitsu. It was very much intended for Kanna to take Kaigaku on as her Tsuguko, but this didn’t happen due to constant clashes in he and Kanna’s personalities. Zenitsu becoming her next consideration, though she very much waited on him to get a better hold on himself so that she could.

She is seen to have good relations with all the other Hashira and she always tries her hardest to stay in the good graces of all of them since they are her allies. Despite having two biological siblings that Kanna has never met, she has plenty of self proclaimed ones. Primarily Shinobu and Mitsuri, very much acting like the elder sister to the other two female Hashira. Of course, Zenitsu being the other one, mostly since she promised her grandfather that she would keep an eye on him and look after her. So, it’s not uncommon for her to periodically check up on him, even if she comes off as somewhat overbearing and he doesn’t want to have her around, she still puts forth the effort to try, even if it ends up being a major pain. When it came to the whole situation with Tanjiro and Nezuko, she remained heavily unbiased and didn’t really offer a proper opinion, though she very much understands the situation and fully supports Tanjiro having his sister around.

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!!!

Just like all the other Hashira, Kanna very much struggled with the death of Kyojuro and it was hard for her to cope since it was so sudden. If anything, she just struggled to come to terms with the fact that one of the strongest Hashira had ended up dying. It was just hard for her to wrap her brain around. However, when the time came, she readily accepted Yūna into their Hashira ranks, mostly because she was sure that her predecessor would’ve wanted her to fit in rather than be some sort of outcast. Once again, Kanna willingly added the other girl to her list of self proclaimed siblings. She and Yūna becoming a duo. Prior to the Red Light District Arc, she did offer Zenitsu a lot of encouragement when it came to the mission he would be participating in. Also including how important and crucial he was to the mission that he was about to go on. She was there to bid him farewell and good luck before he left with Tengen.

When it came to the final training before the final battle, Kanna worked with Yūna to make a stealth training exercise, just so that everyone wasn’t so spread thin. Admittedly, she and Yūna made the exercise very difficult, since it was stealth and it was meant to be hard since it would be such a huge asset. Nothing can compare to the amount of strenuous training that she undertook just to make sure that she was prepared. Though, more than anything it was used to cope with the unexpected passing of her grandfather, who had committed seppuku. Such a thing was incomprehensible to her, especially since he had the person who practically raised her after she had up and left her parents. In the end, it kind of broke her will to fight anymore with the fear that she would lose a lot more because of the final battle that lie ahead. Yūna was the one who helped her pull it all together, since she knew as well as anyone that they would probably need all the strength they had to achieve victory.

During the final battle, Kanna was constantly drifting between different fights to help the best that she possibly could. Mostly being caught up in the fight that was happening between Zenitsu and Kaigaku then attending to Zenitsu’s wounds the best that she possibly could before she moved onto the next fight. It was extremely exhausting, but she did all that she possibly could to help with what was going on. Along the way, she did sustain a fairly life threatening injury, but kept fighting despite how bad that it was. Of course, she fought alongside the few remaining Hashira as everything came to a close. She nearly succumbed to her injury and spent a long while just recovering from it, though it allowed for a lot of self reflection on her part and she was frequented by Yūna and Zenitsu throughout her recovery process. With the three others, she attended the last Hashira meeting before seeking to live a peaceful life at her grandfather’s estate that he left to her.

#( ─┄°♕ ooc; shut up del )#( ─┄°♕ tw; death mention )#( ─┄°♕ kanna kuwajima )#( ─┄°♕ yūna hosotaki )#( ─┄°♕ demon slayer: kimetsu no yaiba )#( i just )#( i just love kanna man )#( she's so strong and amazing )

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mc-lukanette · 5 years

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Lukanette Prompts (Set #1)

Because I have too many, plz take them.

“Tour of Romance”

(takes a bit of creative freedom)

- Marinette and Adrien had been dating for a few years, but broke up when Adrien discovered what he wanted to do in life, which didn’t mesh well with Marinette’s role as a traveling fashion designer.

- Luka (with Kitty Section) are on tour and wherever they go coincidentally keeps lining up with wherever Marinette goes. In the process, Luka and Marinette slowly renew a bond that they’d starved a long time ago.

- Jagged and the rest of Kitty Section start to catch wind of what’s going on and begin engineering the tours wherever they can to try and sync with where Marinette goes, with Penny even getting in contact with the people connected to Marinette.

- Neither Luka nor Marinette have any idea this is happening and are both oblivious and only lowkey suspicious as everyone behind this scheme keep asking them about how things are going while trying to be “subtle” about it (note: no one, especially not Jagged, are good at being subtle about it).

Bonus: Eventually, Marinette and Luka also start to try engineering things so that they can meet up more, leading to a moment where one of them tries to confess what’s going on (not wanting the other to think it’s “fate” when it’s not), only for the other to chuckle and go, “um, actually--” and confess to the same thing.

“Damsel in Finesse” AU

- Luka fights crime as the hero Viperion, thanks to the snake miraculous that was passed down through his family. At the same time, Marinette (trained by her mother in self-defense and having inherited immense physical strength from her father) fights crime in disguise as the hero Ladybug, using no miraculous at all and a mask+cloak she custom-made. Paris is a big place, so the two take a while to meet.

- Viperion and Ladybug end up meeting when they show up to stop the same crime. They knew of each other and are surprised when they actually end up working well as a team.

- Since they don’t know each other outside of the mask and aren’t sure if it’s a good idea to reveal that yet, they end up meeting in various places to talk. Sometimes, if they know they’re not talking about anything too personal, they choose public places just to mess with the people around them who are like UM?? HEROES??? JUST CASUALLY HANGING OUT??? (heroes gotta eat too, guys, smh)

- It doesn’t take long before the crushes begin. They act incredibly professional during interviews but they’re actually massive dorks who are extremely protective of each other. They fret over each other if there’s even a hint of the other getting/being hurt.

- One day, Luka catches sight of Marinette (having never met her before) seeming to be lured by someone into a dark alley. He follows, ready to intervene, only to then see Marinette easily throw the person over her shoulder, knocking them unconscious. Luka stares for a moment, blushing pink and very impressed, before just being like yep, that’s my partner alright.

Post-dating Edition (one-shot): Marinette acting as a damsel in distress to lure in bad people. Viperion then makes a dramatic entrance and proceeds to take them down with Marinette’s assistance. Luka and Marinette later joke with each other over it because they're the best worst actors ever. Luka teases Marinette about her over-dramatic "Oh no! I've fallen and I think I hurt my leg! I can't move!" technique, while Marinette teases back about how extra Luka’s entrance as Viperion was.

“Miraculous Lovebugs” AU

- An alternate universe in which the magical ladybugs from Ladybug’s “Miraculous Ladybug” treat people/things based on how Marinette feels about them, similar to how Chloe’s Adrien picture in “Dark Cupid” got ruined and didn’t get repaired.

- During “Captain Hardrock”, when the magical ladybugs are putting everyone back onto the Liberty, Luka gets special treatment and is carried there like a princess bridal-style due to Marinette’s budding crush on him.

- Luka is incredibly confused like, “uh--so did anyone else get carried away like that or--”

- Marinette, sweating profusely: UM--m-mAYBE YOU SLIPPED SO THEY CARRIED YOU THAT WAY???

- Everyone follows Marinette’s logic except Luka who has no idea what to think.

- Marinette screams at Tikki over why the magical ladybugs have to listen to her dumb feelings. Bonus if Luka keeps being treated like this by the magical ladybugs and it even starts escalating as Marinette’s crush on Luka intensifies.

- Ladybug has to carry Luka bridal-style once and he can’t help feeling like it’s familiar.

- Extra bonus if the magical ladybugs start doing things that aren’t even related to fixing what an akuma did. They’ll just casually fly into Luka's room and tune his guitar, straighten his jacket, or clean up for him. Luka has so many questions.

“All Kids Aside”

- Marinette and Adrien married and had three children, but ended up divorcing. Whether they’re on friendly terms or not is up to the prompt’s taker.

- Luka had just gotten off tour for a while and Juleka practically pounced at the idea of getting Luka to reconnect with Marinette now that Adrien’s out of the picture. Juleka had always seen Marinette as “dumb” for getting with Adrien instead of Luka and is now like she divorced Adrien so maybe she’ll finally see the light.

- Luka still very much has a thing for Marinette but isn’t expecting anything romantic out of spending time with her (lol shows what he knows). He’s just happy to see her again.

- Marinette’s kids like Luka a lot and Luka is really good with them, though Marinette forbids Luka from bringing his guitar to her house because she’s so worried about one of the kids accidentally breaking it. Luka may or may not sneak in late one night with his guitar after the kids have gone to bed so he can play for Marinette.

- Marinette’s youngest child, too young to know any better, calls Luka their father once. Marinette is horrified at first, then curious as she notices that Luka doesn’t seem put off by the idea.

“Freed Feelings”

- A new akuma shows up that forces people to not stop talking until all of their feelings come out. Ladybug realizes that she needs Viperion for the job, afraid that the akuma might hit her and make her out her identity as Marinette.

- The problem?

- Luka got hit by the akuma earlier and he cannot stop talking about how much he loves Marinette. He even tries to clamp his hands over his mouth to stop himself but he physically can’t stop rambling.

- Ladybug has never seen Luka so embarrassed before but she’s red too from hearing all the stuff he’s saying, so honestly, she can’t judge.

- Luka/Viperion either has to get creative with saying “Second Chance” (relating the phrase back to Marinette in some way) or just manages to shout it out in the midst of his Marinette ramblings.

- Both Luka and Marinette need a breather after Miraculous Ladybug washes over Paris. Marinette wants to go de-transform and check on Luka but also acknowledges that he probably needs a moment like she does.

Bonus: Luka Knows™ and he goes home post-battle so he can just collapse onto his bed, screaming internally because Marinette heard everything he said about her.

#((Might do more sets if people request them.))#type: prompt set #Flower Arrangement Shipping #Pro LukaMari #Lukanette

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thecrownnet · 4 years

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Josh O’Connor may best be known for this breakthrough role in 2017’s God’s Own Country but the Southampton-born actor has been cultivating a catalog of great film and television performances for years. From The Riot Club and The Program in film and Doctor Who, Peaky Blinders, Ripper Street and The Durrells on TV, O’Connor has built a resume that made him the perfect choice to play the most challenging role of his career, Prince Charles in season three of Netflix’s The Crown. O’Connor play the Prince of Wales at a turning point in the would be king’s life, from the early years of his relationship with Camilla Bowles (the Diana years will show up in season four) to the daunting task of figuring out how to lead the commonwealth when the time comes.

I caught up with two-time BIFA winning actor to talk about God’s Own Country, his role in The Crown, what he likes and doesn’t like about biopics and playing real people and Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There.

I wanted to start by talking with you about God’s Own Country, which quickly became a cornerstone of queer cinema, and I think took off in a way most people weren’t expecting. Can you tell me a little bit the impact working on that film had for you?

It was a kind of monumental moment for me and I think a big moment for queer cinema and insofar as it was kind of a gay love story that we hadn’t seen before, you know, in terms of one that ended with hope and one that told a kind of positive story. It was something maybe we’d seen before, but, it’s rare and people were obviously hungry for that. And so it touched many people and I feel like it’s rare that your project gets to have that effect on people. So it was a kind of, it was a huge moment for me. In terms of kind of career wise also just as a creative, as an actor, I think it was a moment of realization about technique and how I want to work. It built a process, which I still use the basis of now. And so yeah, it was really impactful for me.

I love that. Earlier this year you had Emma., how was it stepping into Mr. Elton’s shoes?

(laughs) It was very different than anything I’ve done before. I’ve never done comedy before. Autumn de Wilde, who is an exceptionally talented director, came in and it was very clear she wanted a kind of Peter Cook-esque Mr Elton and we’ve talked about him having a sort of darker side, which we touch on in the film. I think it was real, I loved it, it was kind of getting to stretch my muscles, my comedic muscles I suppose. And yeah, it was a real treat and it’s a lovely, beautiful ensemble film.

Diving into The Crown, had you watched the first two seasons of the show to help inform you of the style or approach to the series?

Yes, I had. I’d seen the first two and I’m very good friends with Vanessa Kirby who played Margaret so, I initially watched it as a kind of support for my friends, but then absolutely, obviously got hooked and I think the first two series’ are exceptional. Claire Foy is kind of spellbinding, Matt Smith I think is extraordinary as Philip, and often sort of, it’s underplayed how brilliant he was. I absolutely loved it and then be a part of this group of actors who I totally adore and look up to, you know, the likes of Tobias Menzies, to go from Matthew is extraordinary, and Olivia Colman and Helena Bonham Carter, you know, these are all people that I aspire to so it’s been a real treat.

What were the main sources and figuring out who Prince Charles is on a personal level?

Well, I think there were a few things to kind of brought out the personal, but initially when I started with Charles, I spent so much time watching footage of him, or hearing recordings of him from the period. After a while I got to the point where I was like, actually, I don’t know that this has helped. It certainly isn’t helping me get any closer to the character and certainly isn’t getting close to who Charles really is behind closed doors. And so I sort of threw all that out the window. The thing that got me there more than anything was something that Peter Morgan had written, which is I think episode eight of series three. Charles described his life as being like he as being like a character in Dangling Man. He says, the character is a working class blue collar guy from Chicago and he’s waiting to be drafted to go to war and he actually wants to be drafted because it’ll give his life meaning, even though it means that they’ll go to a certain death.

And the idea that Charles, Prince Charles is this young boy who’s actually waiting for his own mother to die in order for his life to take meaning, I just thought that was a kind of, it locked into a sort of tragic narrative of this young boy that is so rare and an extraordinary. So that was the kind of, that was the crux of it.

When you’re playing somebody that is so well known, how do you strike the balance between impression and interpretation and what do you think you brought to Prince Charles?

Yeah, that’s such a good question. It’s a question I don’t know the answer to, yet. The best way to, for me, in my personal view of it as an audience member, is that I never enjoy seeing in any kind of biopic or whenever I see an actor playing a real person, I find it very difficult to watch and actor to do something really exactly like the person.

I don’t know why. I think it becomes too much like an impression. And what I always loved is that there was a great film called I’m Not There, which is about Bob Dylan. And so it was like eight or nine actors playing Dylan at different stages in his life and not just different stages but playing different aspects of his personality. So Cate Blanchett, plays the kind of more recognizable Dylan, which is the sort of public eye Dylan, you had Heath Ledger playing the kind of rock and roll Dylan, you had a young actor [Marcus Carl Franklin] playing the Woody Guthrie influenced Bob Dylan. So you had all these different actors, all totally different and most of them looked nothing like and resembled him in no way. And I remember that was the most powerful representation of Dylan I’ve seen or of anyone I’ve seen and I thought when I’m playing Prince Charles there’s no point in me spending all this time trying to get his voice and trying to look like him and walk like him.

Those things will happen naturally. And I think, you know, it’s good to have little aspects and little notes that people feel safe and comfortable in the knowledge secure that you are playing Prince Charles. But as soon as you can get rid of those, the earlier you can get rid of those, the the more interesting and the more adaptive that character is, the more influential that character can be. And as I say, it’s more interesting seeing Josh play Prince Charles than it is seeing just seeing Prince Charles.

I love that example of I’m Not There. It’s a brilliant movie and it is such a great way to bring an audience into a character without feeling like you’re just watching video footage.

Exactly. Because there’s documentary. We also undersell the brilliant art form that is documentary, which I absolutely adore it. There’s nothing better than watching old footage of Charles. I love it. But it’s not the same. I want to see an actor play and Claire Foy is a great example. I should stop rambling but Claire Foy is a great example of an actress who plays the queen so stupendously everyone in the world sat up right when they watched Claire and Matt Smith in series one and two. And it wasn’t because there was, ‘Oh my God,’ she looked and speaks exactly like the queen at that age. Most of us don’t know what the queen looked like at that age and it sounded like at that age because there wasn’t very much TV. So actually all we’re looking at is an incredible performance of the character. And I think I remember watching Claire and Matt and thinking ‘let’s focus on that.’ Let’s not try and play Prince Charles, let’s try and play the character.

Again, that’s a perfect example that makes perfect sense. There’s a turning point in the series when Charles, as the Prince of Wales, has to learn to speak Welsh. Did you know any Welsh or was this something new for you as well?

I mean, I certainly knew no Welsh. I’d never spoken a word of Welsh in my life a lot. I’d heard the language. One of the most kind of influential or most magical moments from when I was in grammar school was I heard an old recording of Dylan Thomas reading Under Milk Wood and was a beautiful radio play that he wrote and it was and poetical and beautiful and Dylan speaks it in this kind of like raucous Welsh voice. It’s like, mind blowing, and it was a kind of really special moment. So that combined with the fact that I love Wales the country, I felt very great affinity for the Welsh language. But as I said, I had no idea. So it’s very much, it was very much kind of like Charles’ feelings about having to learn it. There were muffs the same as mine and we went through a long process of learning everything. And yeah, I mean it’s great. I still know the speech now, but I don’t know what it means.

Which brings us right to that monumental episode where you have to give the speech for his investiture. Tell me about that sequence, which I think is just extraordinary in this series.

It’s a beautifully written episode. It has so much significance because it’s about Charles stepping up and becoming an adult. To me it was the thing that convinced me to take the role in the first place. I suddenly realized this as a young man who is, in my in recent history, is kind of known as a bit of a wally [British slang for ineffectual or foolish]. He goes around and talks about the environment, which of course we all know he was right. In the 80s and 90s he was considered a bit of a buffoon. And then there’s the Diana years and the thing that got me and took and basically convinced me to take the role was I suddenly realized he’s a lost boy and the investiture episode is him taking that lost boy and going, ‘No, I’m going to own this and I’m going to become a man.’

Jumping off that a bit, what do you think was the most misunderstood thing about Charles from this period of his life?

I think sort of the misunderstood thing of most of the Royal families, is that they had some perfect childhood. I mean, in terms of financially, they probably had a pretty great childhood, but I think terms of relationships to parents, relationships to siblings, they’re just like anyone else. I mean, they’re difficult. They have their ups and their downs. He was a lost boy but a lost boy with the knowledge that he was going to have to at some point lead, be the king, the reign of England, of the Commonwealth of this huge empire and we now know, it’s taken an entire lifetime and he still isn’t the King.

I think that’s the biggest thing that hopefully people have taken. There’s been a great response within people calling out and saying they feel great sorrow for Charles now. So hopefully that’s what they’ll take.

In looking forward to the future of your career, do you have a dream role in mind that you’d like to play?

I don’t know actually. It’s one of these questions that so hard because I’m always surprised when I say something quick and then a script will come through with a totally original role and there’s nothing better than a new script and a role that you’ve never thought of. It grabs me. But I suppose there are plenty of performances I’ve always kind of aspired to like Daniel Day-Lewis has played and those kind of fully formed characters or Tom Hanks. Those are the kinds of roles that you dream of. In terms of theater it’s easy because everyone wants to play Richard II or Hamlet. I’ve always wanted to play Richard II, so one day hopefully I’ll be able to do that. But beyond that, certainly the dream is to keep getting to play new characters and work with great directors.

All seasons of The Crown, including S3 where Josh O’Connor appears, are streaming exclusively on Netflix.

#josh o’connor #prince charles #the crown #god's own country #emma #the crown netflix

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dead-decomposer · 4 years

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More Atla because I’m thinking about Zuko and his family(yes I realize I spelt his name wrong in my Azula post)

Zuko and Iroh have tea together every day, and take turns deciding what tea they have and where they have their tea

Iroh usually chooses Ginseng and Zuko usually chooses Jasmine, sometime

Aang and Katara will stop by and join them for tea, when they do they get to pick and often pick green tea or chamomile, when they go usually Iroh and Zuko send them off with a case of tea

Aang doesn’t drink tea very often but he does appreciate it a lot, Katara on the other hand drinks tea quite often

Sokka travels between the kingdoms a lot, having become determined to learn every kind of fighting style he can, but obviously he spends time with his friends and family when he sees them(which is pretty often)

Zuko usually asks Sokka if he can come to meetings with him, since Sokka is much better at handing people and is better at strategizing, Zuko wouldn’t admit it for a long time but he also just enjoys Sokka being there and feels safer with his friend around

Suki and Toph usually travel with Sokka, Suki makes sure they don’t do anything crazy(but also becaus she loves them) and Toph makes sure they get up to trouble every now and again

Suki adores and admires Toph for her strength and independence but also lover her as a little sister, so does Sokka

The first time the three of them run into trouble Suki is a bit protective of Toph since she has never seen her in battle much but Toph actually ends but protecting Suki

Toph and Suki tell Sokka all the time how proud of him they are, both because they are incredible proud of him but also to help with his RSD

Sokka and Suki also tell Toph how proud of her they are because she deserves to hear it

First time they meet Tophs dad properly he acts all “polite” and “I’m a changed man” because they’re friends with the avatar who saved all their butts and doesn’t want them to bring up how he sent mercenaries after them, but as soon as Toph makes it clear she is staying with her friends and not coming home he becomes much more condescending and rude to them

Toph immediately defends her friends, opening up about how terrible a father he was and how her friends are a million times better than he ever was and ever could be

Tophs mom also left her dad, she did a long while before this since she cared a lot about Toph and is still protective and anxious for her but since Toph ran away and she heard all about the things she had done she realized that her daughter didn’t need to be protected but needed to be loved

Her mother now lives in a smaller village a ways away from Tophs home city and works at a garden, she is overjoyed when Toph comes to visit her and always “shows” her all the plants and flowers(her mom is the other person Toph won’t make passive aggresive comments abt being blind to), her mom tells her what the flowers look like and let’s Toph feel them to get a sense of they shape and smells them, and Toph shows her mother her earth bending to which her mother is still nervous about but is supportive and proud of her daughter for being such an accomplished daughter

Tophs mom still babies her but in more of the usual “loves they child so fucking much” way which Toph pretends not to like but appreciates it

Her mom also loves the Sokka and Suki, often thanking Sokka for taking care of her daughter

One day Toph gives her mom a pendant that she made with part of the metiorite metal, it’s simple but it’s of a mother and daughter hugging

Eventually when Toph feels like settling down she moves in with her mom and helps her in her garden, since she’s able to sense roots in the dirt she gets really good at identifying weeds and certain plants and how well they are growing, also able to tell where there are insect nests in the dirt that might threaten the plants

Tophs powers also makes replanting things a breeze

In their travels, Suki learns a few new fighting techniques but prefers to stick to her kiyoshi warrior techniques

Sokka sticks to his swordsmanship and boomerang but basically can use whatever is avalable to fight

When he introduces Suki to the White Lotus she’s honored to meet them but quickly realizes why Sokka gets along with them so well

When Sokka and Suki visit the fire nation they of course stay at the palace and spend time with Zuko and Iroh but they also often go on Double Dates with Mai and Ty Lee(not at first of course)

The for of them met properly through Zuko but often talk about the whole boiling rock thing and laugh a bit about stuff

One time they asked Zuko to come with them but he doesn’t realize he’s supposed to bring a date so he comes alone, which ends up turning the whole thing into just a friends hang out

During this hang out Suki sees how much Sokka and Zuko enjoy each other company and how well they get along, she asks Ty Lee and Mai about Zuko n they say that he definitely has a thing for Sokka, whether he knows it or not

Suki is a little worried at first but not jealous or mad, and eventually comes to terms with the possibility that Sokka and Zuko might end up together, but until then she’s gonna love Sokka for the ridiculous and caring man he is

Eventually Suki catches Sokka admiring Zuko and talks to him about it, at first Sokka doesn’t understand what the HECK she’s talking about but as she asks him a few things he realizes “oh shit I am in love with Zuko”, Suki tells him it’s okay and gives him a kiss on the cheek, they decide to stay friends and still hang out constantly

After than it’s time for Suki, Mai and Ty Lee to plot out how they’re gonna get the two together, they both kind of know that the girls are planning something but not that the other knows or even that the other likes them

The girls try and fail MANY times over to get the two to admit to each other but it’s not until Iroh bluntly says “wow you two get along really well you would make a great couple” that they finally date

Turns out Iroh has been on team Zukka since day one(of course he still supported Sokka and Suki being together and gave her advise during and after their relationship but he’s a wise old man who knows gay love when he sees it)

Onto Aang and Katara centred headcanons(there won’t be many because the whole show is kind of about them)

Aang is really good at keeping his emotions in check, especially his anger, whereas Katara isn’t, he teaches her a lot of what the monks taught him of how to control her anger and not let it get the better of her

Coincidentally Katara also helps Aang learn to express his frustrations in a healthy way so that he doesn’t constantly feel like he has to be happy all the time

At one point Zuko mentioned to them how they didn’t listen to Sokka or take him very seriously in passing and since then the two of them have been working on listening to him

Zuko also further helps Katara come to terms with her mother’s death and she is the first person to help him start his search for his mother

He doesn’t notice at first of course but eventually he does and he is very touched

Katara is actually really bad at doing her own hair and usually Sokka or Gran Gran had to do it for her, but Aang is amazing at braiding and styling hair(saying that it’s a lot like air or fire bending)

Aang does her hair every morning, he does it well enough that reasonably it would last a bit longer than a day but Katara purposefully messes it up or undoes it so he has to do it again the following morning

She never learns to do it better herself because she loves when Aang does her hair

As kids they live at the water tribe but as they get older Aang decides he wants to try and rebuild the air temples

The entire Gaang helps him with this, and they do their best to maintain the traditional style and architecture of the air temples, restoring and preserving what they can

Tophs mom comes to help with gardening as a thank you and an apology to Aang about how her husband and her acted, he accepts her apology and they get along really well

Zuko and Katara surprise Aang by cleaning up the statue of Monk Giatsu(forgive me if I spelt it wrong) and turned his statue into a proper memorial to him and the lost air nomads, they keep it simple of course since they know Aang wouldn’t want anything extreme

The settlers from the other air temples are welcome to stay on the condition that they respect Aangs traditions, Toph and Sokka force convince them to clean up and restore the parts of the temple they had changed and disrespected

Working with Aang they continue their work with flying machines and whatnot but now in a much more respectful manner to the people who used to live there.

Thanks to the air ballons the air temples that would have been inaccessible to non-airbenders, people from any nation and with any bending ability are able to visit the temples, Aang wants the temples to be open to people however doesn’t want anyone else to be moving in until everything is complete and that he feels that it would be a respectable amount of time since the air benders last lived there

Zuko also advises him that it would be wise to wait until they are sure that peace has been reached and that they won’t have to worry about anyone desecrating the air temples

After the war Zuko has a lot of propaganda to get rid of and history books to reevaluate and educational material to rewrite,

Aang helps with the educational material since he actually spent some time attending fire nation school, the classes and teachings are still strict as to their culture however any propoganda is removed, and more creative extracurriculars are added

Toph and other earth benders(gladly) help to destroy old fire nation statues or any other harmful remenants of the war, Toph uses this as an opportunity to erect statues of herself but Zuko doesn’t mind too much, he considers her to be a much better role model than his father

And of course Zuko gets help from scholars from every kingdom in rewriting history books to make sure that they are right and that no tragedy is overlooked and no horrible actions excused or forgotten

Zuko loves and adores his people and makes sure that they know it at every opportunity, and since he is still young he appoints several advisors and trustees to help him run his kingdom so that he is still able to be a child(and so he can still work in his uncles tea shop) but is careful to make sure that important decisions still fall to him so that his council and people still know he’s in charge

Anyways I’m in love with this show n there will probably be more posts like this eventually, i started researching it a few days ago n I’m only on like episode 7 but that doesn’t matter because I’ve watched it a lot thanks to a friend of mine who watched it non stop in highschool :3

#atla #aang atla #katara atla #sokka atla #zuko atla #iroh atla #atla hc #atla headcanons

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britishassistant · 4 years

Text

But I Like One Piece (6)

It has to come to a head at some point.

She knows something bad’s going to happen when the teacher tells them they’re going be fighting one another in pairs in the center of a taped-off square. Winners either force their opponents out of the square or put them in a position where a killing blow could be struck.

Their classmates stand around the edge to watch and cheer.

Chopper’s Rumble Balls. This couldn’t scream “blood sport” any harder if they were in a cage arena and betting on the matches.

Though she thinks she does spot some money changing hands...

First up is Shikamaru vs Chouji. Shikamaru promptly declares it a drag and flings himself out of the square at Chouji’s first blow. Chouji looks worried right up until Shika rolls onto his side for a nap. Then he just looks exasperated.

Then Chouji’s set against Hinata. They’re both too hesitant to really hit each other, but eventually Hinata manages to get him to step out of the square through speed and disorientation.

Hinata versus Kiba. Kiba versus Ino. Ino versus Fuuka. Ino versus Shino. Shino versus Sasuke. Sasuke versus Sakura. Sasuke versus Mori, Ami, Yosuke, an endless number of civilian kids he effortlessly beats in one or two blows, using moves that don’t look like the Academy kata they’ve learned.

Sasuke versus Naruto.

She shoots him a thumbs up and a grin as he goes into the ring. He beams back, returning the gesture before focusing.

The pair of them make the silly-looking “Seal of Confrontation”.

Naruto takes up the opening position for Strong Fist style.

Sasuke, with his hands in his pockets, snorts dismissively.

“Begin!” The teacher yells.

Uchiha fakes a punch like the one that dropped Mori, before going for the sweeping kick that knocked Ami and Junko on their backs.

Naruto doesn’t balk at the feint and neatly hops over the sweep (Gai-sensei’s training makes you good at dodging), jabbing a quick palm strike into Uchiha’s chest.

Sasuke stumbles. He’s frowning.

So’s the teacher.

This isn’t the way they expected this to go.

She grins, fiercely proud. Good.

Uchiha’s style is fast. The teacher is right that it’s technically flawless, leg perfectly straight with every kick, stance perfectly solid for every punch. He’s clearly been trained in this from a young age.

But he’s skinnier than he used to be, and his lunchboxes are pathetic. It’s simple, easy-prep foods, under or overcooked rice and ragged tomato slices, which aren’t bad, but shouldn’t be the only foods he’s eating if he wants to have strength and energy.

Naruto’s still got some kinks in his form he’s got to work on with Gai-sensei, overbalancing here, not defending there. But he can take his opponent’s blows, and his own land with all the force of a freight train, mixing up Strong Fist, Academy style, and what looks like street brawling.

Naruto’s also been eating well-balanced diet for as long as he’s known her, which may not count for much in the long term, but it’s counting here.

Because, as much of a prodigy as Sasuke is, it’s slowly becoming apparent that he’s on even ground in this fight, and may even be losing.

“Come on, Naruto!” She yells, as he manages to kick Uchiha’s ankle out from under him and—

FWEEEEEEET!!

Kiba and Akamaru yelp as the teacher keeps blowing a whistle until he’s red in the face, yanking Naruto away from his opponent by his collar.

“I said we would be sparring WITH ACADEMY KATAS, Uzumaki!” He roars. “If you can’t keep to SIMPLE INSTRUCTION, you’ll be spending the rest of the MONTH in DETENTION, do you hear me?!”

Naruto’s looking stunned and frightened, like he’s not sure what he did to merit this reaction. “B-but—”

The teacher drops Naruto with a dismissive, “Disqualified. Match default to Uchiha Sasuke.”

“But that’s not fair!” She howls. Chouji’s holding her hand tight, probably so she doesn’t do something stupid like try to break this hypocritical farce of an educator’s kneecaps.

Kiba points at Uchiha. “He’s been using non-academy techniques since his match with Bug-boy! How come you haven’t pulled him, huh?”

The teacher sniffs. “Sasuke is advanced in taijutsu and can be trusted not to seriously damage his opponents. Uzumaki is too violent and out of control to be trusted—only once he masters the Academy Three will he have the discipline to avoid reckless stunts like this. And if you’re done shrieking, Ketsugi, get your behind in the ring.”

Her ears burn hot. She wants to hurt somebody. She wants to hurt them badly, for even being witness to Naruto’s ill-treatment. It’s not a nice feeling, hot and roiling in her belly like bile.

Don’t act out aggression violently. That’ll just give the masks ammunition and they’ll hurt you. Remember what Okaa-sama said. If calming down is impossible, escape the situation.

“Sorry.” She can’t stop herself from snapping. “I’m not disciplined enough to avoid breaking your sheltered little prodigy.”

She stomps over to Naruto and helps him up. His palm is trembling in hers as she leads him away, ignoring the Uchiha’s insulted look and the teacher’s yells.

They’ve both had enough of the academy for today.

Bread is excellent for venting anger.

She’s probably overworking the dough, but better that than doing something she’ll regret later. Like kicking the stupid teacher as hard as she can between his stupid legs.

Naruto’s despondently fiddling with Habu-san’s leaves.

“I wouldn’t have hurt him.” He murmurs. “I’ve done it with you an’ Lee an’ you two haven’t been hurt, right?”

“No, we weren’t. But you would’ve beat him. Pass me a bit?” She washes the rosemary off, muttering darkly as she pats them dry. “He didn’t want you to win and make his little teacher’s pet look bad.”

Naruto’s brow furrows as she folds the rosemary into the dough, placing it in a bowl and covering it with plastic wrap and leaving it aside for the first prove, setting the timer for an hour.

“You’re really mad, aren’t you? You’re not even doing the singy thing.”

She stops in the midst of washing her hands. “Singy thing?”

Naruto shrugs. “Yeah, when you cook normally, you do this thing. Like you’re singin’ but there’s no words an’ the sounds are all weird. Like this.”

Then, in quiet, heavily accented English he croons, «An’all the roads we have to walk are WINDing, an’all the lights that lead us there’re BLINDing, THERE are many THINGS that I Would LIKE to SAY to YOU—»

She covers his mouth with a wet hand, because if she has to hear Naruto sing any more of that song she’s gonna either crack up or melt into a little puddle of shame on the floor. “Yes, I get the idea, thank you Naruto.”

Then she shrieks because he’s licked her hand and seizes his shirt so he can’t escape as she wipes off the saliva off on his cheek, before he grabs her other arm and rubs his face on it.

They end up wrestling until the timer shrills that it’s time to take the bread out and knead it again.

She has to rewash and dry her hands before she can touch the dough.

“D’you wanna talk to Gai-sensei about it? He could always go and kick the teacher’s a—butt until he lets you use Strong Fist.”

He shrugs, gaping at how the dough has doubled in size. “I’unno. Maybe I’ll ask him to drill me on the Three?

She blinks, eyebrows raised.

Naruto shoots her a cheeky grin. “He did say I could do whatever I wanted once I mastered it.”

She snorts gleefully. “Do it. See if you can beat everybody using just that.”

There’s a comfortable silence as she kneads, then stretches the dough to see if it has the proper consistency, before folding in more rosemary and putting it back in the bowl for the second prove.

“He felt really light. When I was fighting him.” Naruto says slowly. “I think he could...y’know...”

He wraps his hand around his wrist, where his thumb and pointer finger can no longer touch.

She hums. “You think I should feed him.”

Naruto nods rapidly, giving her his damn puppy-eyes again.

Technically, Uchiha’s got food in abundance. She sees it when they run by the worn down compound on Gai-sensei’s laps in the morning, bags of rice and fruit and vegetable baskets and freezers waiting outside the complex for its sole occupant to collect them.

The problem is that he obviously has no idea what to do with all of it.

And despite said lack of expertise, he still refuses all of his fangirls’ offers of lunchboxes made with their feelings and lives off of rice and tomatoes. It’s probably a pride thing. Sanji would—

Wait. Pride.

She removes the dough from the second prove, scores its top and sprinkles some salt over it, covering the baking tray with foil and sliding it into the hot oven. “I have an idea to feed him.”

Naruto cheers, leaning forward eagerly.

“We’re going to have to eat the ‘fire curry’ tomorrow.”

Naruto slumps down, exuding betrayal from every pore.

She makes four servings of chicken tikka masala.

Three for their plan, and one for Lee.

She’s not going to make one of his favorite foods and then not have a portion ready for him. That’d just be cruel.

He’s horrified when Naruto recounts what happened in the spar, puffing up in indignation when he hears of the stolen victory and baseless favor bestowed on his opponent.

She’s never seen Gai-sensei look so stony-faced as when he hears what the teacher said about Naruto being violent and lacking discipline.

He does his usual tears of joy when Naruto asks about drilling in the Academy Three, yelling for all and sundry to hear about, “the BLOSSOMING of your YOUTHFUL WILL OF FIRE!!”

But they’re close enough to see it’s more playacting than his usual dramatics, his expression subtly determined and scheming as he makes them run through Academy kata.

Otou-sama makes them both promise to come to him or Gai-sensei if the teacher tries anything like this again, drumming his fingers on the hilt of the bokken he always carries.

This is despite the on-again off-again debate he’s been having with Okaa-sama since last night over whether Hokage-sama and the Village Council will take it poorly if he attempts to intercede on Naruto’s behalf.

At least they both agree to trust Gai-sensei to act for them if they can’t intervene, even if they both end up blushing that deep beetroot shade and staring off into the distance at the mention of him.

The teacher glares at them when they walk into class.

She glares right back, and it’s only because Naruto’s holding her hand that she doesn’t immediately flip him off again.

Surprisingly the teacher doesn't make any mentions of punishments for their skiving yesterday, though he looks like he wants to.

The Uchiha is also glaring at them, but in a slightly more considering fashion.

They need to play this carefully—too little, and he may not even approach them, and Hinata might end up with a competitor for her stalking. Too much and he’ll wise up to what they’re doing, which will probably make him deliberately avoid them because he feels slighted.

So she leans over to Naruto and whispers, “His hair looks like a duck’s butt.”

Naruto snorts a little too loudly, glancing over and away not-quite-quickly enough not to be obvious, snickering as he takes his seat for class.

She mentally fist pumps as the Uchiha catches the looks and laughter but not the words that caused them, bristling like a wet cat.

Ino sends her a calculating look, and she smiles innocently back before focusing on the lesson.

At lunchtime, Naruto waits until after they’ve carefully reheated the curry and are on their way back to the classroom to begin complaining loudly about how it’s too spicy, and she and Lee are secretly robots for being able to eat it.

She falls into the swing of the argument, projecting her voice so anybody could easily hear her say that this isn’t even the spiciest curry she can make (it isn’t), and that Naruto doesn’t really have anything to complain about with the huge serving of sour cream she brought along for him, dulling it down for his delicate tastebuds.

They’ve no sooner re-entered the classroom than the Uchiha stands, striding over to them.

“Fight me.” He says to Naruto.

Naruto blinks, the picture of bemused innocence. “Now? But it’s lunch.”

She rolls her eyes dismissively. “Leave it Naruto. He’s just a sore loser who’ll run to the teacher when you win again. Let’s eat.”

He steps in front of her, blocking her path. “I am not.” He grits out, brows furrowed. “I could’ve won yesterday, if not for the interference.”

Oooh, someone’s bitter.

She pretends she’s Sanji looking down on Zoro, channels that disdain into every aspect of her posture. “What? You and your basic white rice lunches? Please.”

“Yeah, everyone knew I was gonna win yesterday.” Naruto boasts, cocky façade not quite hiding the slyness in his eyes. “You’re just lucky Mizuki-sensei likes you too much to let you lose.”

“I bet he couldn’t even stomach my curry.” She says, faux-conspiratorially.

Naruto shoots her an affronted look. “Only robots can eat your curry.” He says. “Even I can’t handle it.”

“Sasuke-kun could do it!” Ino improvises, flouncing over uninvited. “He can do anything better than you can, Naruto, isn’t that right Sasuke-kun?” She flutters her eyelashes at him.

She holds her breath. This wasn’t part of the plan. If this tips him off...

Uchiha Sasuke eyes Ino, then turns away from her with a dismissive huff. “Whatever. I bet it isn’t even that spicy.”

“Care to prove it?” She challenges sweetly.

“Gladly.” He growls back, ignorant of the discreet thumbs up Naruto flashes Ino.

Turns out Uchiha actually can handle spice a little more than Naruto can.

That’s not saying much to be honest.

His face has turned a healthy pink as he eats, despite the face that she gave him the portion with rice.

He’s refused all of Naruto’s offers to share the sour cream so far, intent on finishing it as is.

He’s also picky, pushing the red peppers and onions to one side as he eats.

Maybe she should feel bad for pointing that out and telling him it sounds like he’s trying to say he can’t do it when he grudgingly admits that he doesn’t like them, but she’s on a mission here.

He’s not going to get his vitamins by leaving anything behind on his plate.

Plus this way when they plot their next avenue of attack, she can tailor the meals a little more so he doesn’t fuss as much.

Eventually he finishes his meal.

He then seizes Sakura’s juice box and chugs it without so much as a by your leave. Not that the girl seems to mind, given how she promptly swoons and collapses into Hinata’s lap.

Ino pouts, despite sitting in the coveted next-to-Sasuke-kun spot.

“There.” He says, panting like he’s run a marathon. “I did it. Fight me.”

“Okay.” She replies. “But if I win, I get to look in your kitchen.”

He squints, a look of offense crossing his face that’s so comical she has to fight not to laugh. “Not you. Naruto.”

“Okay.” Naruto says. “But it’s gotta be on Monday after school—it’s Ichiraku’s night tonight and ‘m seein’ Jiji this weekend. Also if I win, Mayu gets to look at stuff in your kitchen.”

Uchiha Sasuke shoots him a look of profound betrayal. “...Fine.” He eventually concedes. “When I win, Ketsugi’s not allowed to force me to eat her cooking again.”

The poor boy, she muses to herself, as she and Naruto shake on it with him.

He could’ve stood a chance if he hadn’t stipulated that.

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