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#so it all added up and we figured she honestly wouldn't want to go anyway with all things considered: too late + has beef + 40 min drive
taylovelinus · 5 months
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ugh I had a friend today, who is famous for going scorched earth, decide to go scorched earth with me. shocking i know, but still, hate to see it
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natsgrave · 10 days
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YOU'RE LOSING ME | wanda maximoff
How can you say that you love someone you can't tell is dyin'? Do I throw out everything we built or keep it? And you know what they all say, you don't know what you got until it's gone. i do not give permission for my work to be copied or translated on other sites. plagiarism is a crime!! masterlist
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Y/N's POV
What are you really willing to do for love? For someone so important to you?
Well, for me, I'll do everything and anything for that person. Even though it hurts. So much.
I rolled to my side and smile instantly crept into my face. There she is, my girlfriend looking so peaceful. I admire her sleeping state and curved her figures inside my mind.
"You know, it's rude to stare." She suddenly spoke making me laugh.
"What? Can't I admire my gorgeous girl?" I teasingly asked.
She slowly opened her eyes revealing my favorite green eyes, "Good morning, Y/N." she whispered with a smile.
"Good morning, witchy." I softly said with a little laugh that I tried to hide causing her to throw a pillow at me.
I love morning like this. Just us not caring about the world.
Just like the clock works before we know it, we already have to leave the bed to face reality.
"It's nice to finally see you awake, love birds." Tony said as he took a sipped of his coffee.
"We're not love birds, Stark." Wanda replied with the roll of her eyes.
Ah, yes, we're secret because she said and I quote she's not yet ready to come out. I'd be lying if I said it doesn't hurt me one bit because it does. All I want is to love her, out in the open and not like this.
I felt a hand touches my shoulder causing me to go back to reality, I look infront of me and met Wanda's soft gazes, "Are you okay? I've called you so many times."
"Oh, yeah. Don't worry, I'm good." I breathed out and walked away not giving her any second glance.
I walked towards the kitchen and make myself coffee when Natasha spoke.
"Still keeping it a secret?" I didn't even notice she's here. And yes, she's the only one who knows about our relationship. We didn't tell her for the record, she just walked in on us… making out.
Anyway, I look up at her and gave her a defeated smile, "Isn't it obvious?"
"How long are you going to ignore that pain inside your chest?" she asked and I didn't answer because honestly… I don't know either.
"Y/N, when are you going to choose yourself? When are you going to see what your worth really is?" She continues holding my shoulder forcing me to face her.
"I love her." I whispered.
"And I know that, I can see that. Hell, you wouldn't even ignore and bare all this pain if you don't." Nat said and lift my chin, "You're like a sister to me and I don't say this often but I do love you, Y/N. I care for you and it's really hard seeing my little sister getting hurt whether she does it unintentionally." She softly added.
"Nat, I-" The words I was about to say instantly cut off when I heard Wanda's laugh ringing loud. I look behind us and see her laughing with Vision. The fucking red walking toaster.
"Are you sure the reason why she's keeping you both a secret is because she is not yet ready or…?" She asked trailing her last word knowing that I'll know it instantly.
"It's nothing, don't worry about it." I reassured her but deep down, it was for me.
Days turns into weeks which also turn into months. Months and nothing changed, not even a single thing. Every time I try opening the subject to Wanda, she always find a way to divert it into different subject but today, I wouldn't let it happen. Not anymore.
"Wanda, we need to talk." I sternly said as I enter her room.
"Hi to you too, baby." she replied still sitting on her bed.
"We can't go on like this." I directly said starting the topic.
"Y/N, can we–"
"No, we can't. We're going to talk about this right now. God, we've been together for almost three years, Wanda. Three long fucking years and not even single effort you made to change our status."
"Y/N, you know damn well I'm not yet ready to make us public." She said nearly shouting.
"Three years is not enough for you? I didn't say that you make us public, all I want is for the team to know. Just them. I'm tired being your little secret, I'm tired of you being mine just around this goddamn four walls. I respect what you want and need, Wanda. For three years, I prioritized what you want, this, but you have to understand that I can't do this anymore. I can't live like this anymore. I kept pushing my needs aside because I love you, but I can't do it anymore. I want to love you, freely. I kept choosing you, I kept giving you all my best me's until there's nothing left for me. I can't choose you anymore." I ramble, on the verge of crying but I kept all my emotions under control.
"Y/N, I… I'm sorry." Wanda softly said standing infront of me.
"Are you apologizing because you're now realizing all of this or are you apologizing because you still can't give the only thing I want?" I asked quietly.
"I'm sorry because I hurt you and I keep on hurting you."
"THEN TAKE IT AWAY! MAKE THIS GO AWAY BECAUSE I DON'T WANT THIS! DO SOMETHING!" I shouted as my tears finally left my eyes.
"Y/N…"
"Wanda, I don't know anymore. Do I throw out everything we built or keep it? I'm getting tired. I tried, I keep telling myself to wait until you're ready but every time, this voices inside my head kept telling and asking me, are you even going to get there?" I cried out.
"Are you… Are you tired now, Y/N?" she shakily asked.
I nod and wiped my tears, "I'm so tired, Wanda. I feel so lost, this between us made me doubt myself so much. Am I not worth the risk for you? I'm tired of wondering how can you just pretend everyday like we're nothing." I sobbed and sat on the bed as I rest my face on my hands, "I'm tired of saying that I'm okay, that it doesn't hurt. I'm tired of pretending everyday. I'm tired of waiting for you to fulfill your promises. I'm tired of defending you against Nat especially myself. I believed in you, Wanda. I kept waiting but it seems like in this relationship, it's not us against the world. It's me against you." I said between cries looking at her to see her crying as well.
"Y/N, I know whatever I say right now wouldn't change anything. It won't take the pain that I've caused you but trust me, I love you. I really do. I can understand how hurtful it must have been for you. I know that I failed to treat you with the love and respect that you deserve. I am truly sorry for any pain or suffering that I have caused you. It was never my intention to hurt you, and I can only imagine the amount of pain that I have caused you. I want you to know that I am willing to do whatever it takes to make things right between us. I am willing to work on myself and our relationship to ensure that this does not happen again. I know that sorry is not enough to fix the mess I have made. I promise to do everything I can to show you how much I love and value you as my girlfriend." Wanda sobbingly said as she held my hand.
"There, you're making promises once again. How many time did you promise me that you'll make it up to me? at first you'll make such effort but eventually, you'll stop and forget about it. I don't even know if I can trust anything that's coming out of your mouth right now." I said and walked away from her, "It hurts me to think that we can't share this part of our lives together with those who are important to us. Am I not important to you? Do you not trust me? Or is it just too scary to go against the norm? I can't keep pretending not to be in love with you when we're around others. I want to hold your hand, introduce you to my friends and family, and just be able to love you openly without any fear or shame." I added. "I don't understand." Wanda said. I chuckled, "I know you don't."
"Do you want to end this? Us?" She asked with fears in her eyes.
I stayed quiet for few seconds thinking what I really want before looking back at her meeting her eyes, "Yes." I husked out causing more tears to fall out of her eyes.
"I'm just so tired, Wanda. I'm tired of the stress and the pressure that surrounds us every day. I'm tired of asking 'how long?' I'm tired of feeling like there's never enough time to do everything we want to do. I'm tired of constantly feeling like we're not doing enough, or that we're falling short somehow. Most of all, I'm tired of feeling disconnected from you. It feels like you've been so busy, so caught up in your own life, that you don't take the time to connect with me. I miss those intimate moments where we could just talk about anything and everything, and I feel like we don't have those as often as we should. It has to be done and I don't want to place blame on anyone— not myself, not you, not anyone else." I walked towards her and wiped her tears before pressing our foreheads together, "I'm sorry, I never thought that this day will come. I'm sorry I got tired and couldn't wait anymore. I love you but I can't be with you anymore. My heart won't start anymore." I finished before lingering a long kiss on her head.
"I love you, Y/N. I'm sorry for not showing it enough. I'm sorry I failed us." She sniffles before looking at me and caressed my cheeks, "I love you… in every universe."
I finally understood that true love isn't always about being together; Sometimes, it's about letting go. Because love alone, wasn't enough.
Both ends of rope were held, but they were held by me, and only me.
I love her too much and that's my biggest mistake I'll never regret, and if I'd ever meet her again in another lifetime, I'll beg the god to let me have you this time.
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here's an update for everyone, i'm so sorry for not updating for so long. i hope y'all like this, let me know what you think. enjoy!
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taschamonnii · 7 months
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Enchanted
You x Wanda Maximoff (MCU WandaVision - Elizabeth Olsen) 
Angst/Smut
Summary: Enchanted strap because Wanda wants babies. There is still a plot and big sad energy because I have many issues. You get a back story so that things matter more and hit harder. Yes I am ridiculously adding feelings to some weird smut. 
TW: SMUT, 18+, Enchanted Strap, Impregnating, GP!
Here is the title song: Enchanted By Taylor Swift 
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AN: I don’t want to talk about it. We are all going to hell and I am just dragging you all along with me lol I just have been seeing a lot of GP! With Wanda but most of the time it is Wanda with the GP! & I thought about how much she craves a family and got a weird idea. What can I say? My brain is a strange place. I really hope you all like it I surprised myself and really enjoyed writing it. I may want to write more of it but I just don't know if anyone else wants to see it.
Before you say anything just look at her and tell me you wouldn't do anything she asked!
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Word Count: 2,632 
Imagine This:
You are married to Wanda Maximoff. You both escaped the hero and villain scene after a close call. Wanda refused to lose you like she had lost everyone else she loved. You live in a cabin in the woods that is at the edge of a small town. You live a normal life. Well as normal as you can be with a witch as a wife and your own powers of hypersensitivity and mind reading. You both were part of the Avengers for a while. You were there after she had already lost Pietro. But you witnessed first hand losing Vision. 
You were friends, all the avengers cared for each other that is what made you a team. However, you had a crush on Wanda the instant you saw her but you were always on different missions and Natasha told you her and Vision were a thing so you pushed your crush aside. You didn’t have time for it anyway Natasha was training you on basically everything and she consumed most of your time. Nevertheless, you became close friends with Wanda and Vision because Nat really cared for Wanda.
You may or may not have had a fling with Nat but it was supposed to be strictly physical even though half the time it ended up being cuddling. Things all changed when that ugly purple asshole came to earth and fucked everything. You had arrived with Nat to try and help even though your powers are practically useless in the battle scenarios. You end up trapped with Nat as Thanos surrounds you both by the earth with a stone. You watch helplessly as everyone tries to fight the Barney looking bastard. Until there is no one left except Wanda who is falling apart as she slowly destroys Vision's mind stone and in turn Vision. You can feel her pain even from where you are trapped. Her thoughts are so loud, it is as if her soul is screaming and crying and it shatters your heart. You watch on as she has to fight off Thanos as she continues to destroy the stone. The flash and force of her destroying the stone blinds you for a moment and when you look again she is on the ground and Thanos is touching her head. You have to watch as he turns back the time and throws her aside as he takes Visions stone. Wanda’s soul only screams louder to you. You watch as people start to turn to dust all around you and you grab Natasha’s hand squeezing it for dear life. You watch Wanda fade into dust into nothing and hear her soul's last strangled cry; it sounds like relief. 
Natascha squeezes your hand harder. You look at her and both fight to escape and manage to get free running right to where Wanda just was. Nat gasps and folds in on herself grabbing at her sister's vest. You catch her before she falls to the ground. You know her sister and all the lives just lost weigh heavy on her. Her soul cries and you hold her thankful you still have her. She is your best friend and honestly all you really have. Especially now. 
You work with Nat and the others that remain to figure out a plan to fix this, to bring everyone back. The plan was good. The plan worked but not without great sacrifice. You didn’t get to time travel, you had your own part to play. You hugged Natasha before she left and you wish you had never let her go, not that you could have stopped her. 
Your mission was to retrieve people who come back if it worked. You went and waited in Wakanda. You brought Wanda and the others back and you consoled her the best you could. You understood the grief you’d lost all your family long ago and this whole thing just brought all that pain back to the surface. Wanda’s grief was the most painful thing you’d ever felt. Well except for the pain and grief you both feel when you return and learn Natasha sacrificed herself.
 You both fell to the floor in a pile holding each other like your lives depended on it because well they did. You stayed practically hooked together barely ever letting go of some kind of physical contact. You share Nats bed and fall asleep crying wrapped up in each other. The team builds on the original plan to destroy Thanos for good. You and Wanda are on autopilot. You both have no one left. Sure there is Clint and the others who care about you both but no one else understands. The night before the epic end-all fight you confess your fears even though you know Wanda can hear them and you can hear hers and they are the same. You are afraid you will lose each other. You decide to voice your locked away feelings and kiss her. 
The kiss is everything, it is life altering and she feels it too. It slows down time. It makes you both gasp for air and cling to each other harder. Like finding the last piece of a puzzle everything suddenly fits and makes sense and you can see a future with her something you’ve both never had the chance to dream of let alone have. 
The battle is epic. Wanda almost kills Thanos all on her own. You think she would have if he hadn’t sabotaged his own soldiers to escape her wrath. You’ve never seen her so angry. You were stationed on a ship with others that didn’t have battle powers. Unfortunately the ship wasn’t a safer place and it got hit. Wanda barely got to you in time as it went down. When she did get to you she didn’t let you go. The way her soul spoke to you refusing to lose you. You locked your gaze on hers and had to fight tears getting lost in her tear filled emerald eyes. A silent promise was made between you. Your souls promise to never let go and never leave the other. 
The battle ended soon after. Tony’s self sacrifice overshadowed everyone else especially Natasha’s and it was the extra solidification for you and Wanda to finally leave this life to go live a peaceful one alone. 
That is how you ended up here in this little cozy cabin in the woods on the outskirts of a precious small town you call home. Happily married to Wanda. It’s been a few years and you both have never known peace like this. She is so happy and you are determined to keep her as happy as possible for the rest of your lives. So when she starts to talk about this aching feeling of missing something you try your hardest to understand. 
She wants a family, a real family with you. She wants babies. More specifically, she wants to be pregnant. Even more specifically she wants you to get her pregnant and that you thought was pretty impossible but you have learned not to underestimate her powers. She wants everything her comforting sitcoms have and she is determined to have it all with you. 
And that is how you have found yourself in this situation. 
You are laying on your shared bed naked and flat on your back. She is naked on her knees in-between your legs. Her gaze is focused and intense; her green eyes map out every inch of you. 
She nibbles on her bottom lip, a nervous habit. "I trust you, Wanda." 
She glances up and meets your gaze, you're confident in her and trust her with your life. She moves to lean over you and lowers her lips to yours, capturing them in a searing kiss. A promise shared to be cautious as you both proceed. She leans back and smiles down at you. "I love you, y/n."
"I love you too, Wanda." 
Her gaze falls between your legs and red illuminates the room as she begins to manipulate reality. You hold yourself up on your elbows to watch completely in awe as a penis forms between your legs. You never thought this would be something you'd want. You admit you'd thought about what it would be like to be a man but never pictured you'd ever be like this. 
Her magic fades and she slowly takes it in her soft hands and fuck her hands are softer than ever as she gently touches it. Touches you. You can feel everything. You can't help the soft sigh that leaves your lips and her gaze shoots up to your face. 
"y/n, are you okay, my sweet girl?" 
You nod "MMMM mmm hmm"
"Can you feel it?"
She runs her slender fingers up to the tip and slides her thumb softly over the slit there. 
"Yes fuck Wanda that feels way too good. I don't know if I will be able to handle being inside you like this. It's so sensitive." 
"I'll go slow." 
You can feel it twitch and move on its own in her hands and as her deep raspy voice surrounds you. God you love her! 
She leans down and you watch in awe as she just ghosts her lips against the tip. It feels like when she teases your clit with soft kisses only 100 times stronger! You can't help the whimper that leaves your lips. 
She smirks and you can hear her thoughts. "I can't wait to taste you!"
"Fuck Wanda!"
She softly licks the tip and you throw your head back with a moan. 
It feels so hard it's almost like it's pulsing like when your clit throbs begging for friction. She reads you and wraps her lips around the tip bringing it into her warm mouth. 
"Fuck Wanda I can't! I'm gonna ah!" 
She sucks gently and flicks her tongue and holds the rest of the shaft in her long slender fingers that you usually love inside of you. It's overwhelming, it's too much and you can't stop your hips from gently bucking. Your hands fist the sheets. 
She sucks harder and squeezes you in her hands and that's it you erupt tumbling over the edge. A sort of plus runs up the shaft as you feel yourself cum and it's intense and weird to feel it shoot out the tip. It's short squirts pulsating. She moans and the vibrations have you whimpering. She sucks the tip dry with a pop and licks her lips. "You taste the same. Absolutely delicious!" 
The way she talks and looks at you while she licks her lips has you twitching for more. You want her more than anything else. You run your hands through her hair and tug her up. You kiss her lips nipping softly at her lower lip. "Sit on my face. I need to taste you." 
She whimpers as she kisses you harder. She moves effortlessly to hover over you and you can see how wet she is. You hold her hips and guide her closer. You latch onto her sucking and flicking your tongue. She moans breathlessly and you can feel yourself getting hard again. You can't get enough of her. You suck harder and she pulls your hair as she rocks her hips. Her legs squeeze around your head and you moan into her, sending her over the edge and making her crumple forward. She pulls away far too quickly but you can see it in her gaze as she slides her wet core against your abs. She leaves a trail down your body and you feel yourself twitch hard. 
You groan as she lowers herself. She runs her slick heat against you and you twitch even more, getting harder she slicks your entire member and lifts herself up. Her gaze is locked on it so she can line herself up and your gaze is locked on her. 
She glances up to check in and you nod before you both glance back down to watch her slick wet heat surround you. She goes slowly. She squeezes you tightly as she lowers herself all the way. You both sigh with relief. 
She lifts back up halfway and slowly goes back down and you have to throw your head back as a moan escapes your throat. She's so wet and as she slowly moves she feels hotter. She bottoms out and just gyrates her hips for a bit and you can feel that you fit perfectly inside her fully. “You hit every spot baby. AH! You feel so good!” 
She leans over you slowly coming down to kiss your lips. The position has you only half inside her and your body reacts needing to be inside her more. You bend your legs and move your hips sliding all the way in. You both moan into the kiss being able to feel so much pleasure with her whole body on top of you breasts pressed together and lips locked is fucking phenomenal! The angle also allows her to match your hips and soon you both find a rhythm that feels far too good. “I can’t do this for long. Wanda your so tigh-FUCK! You feel so GOOD!”
She hums happily against your neck and bites down sucking hard to leave her mark on your neck and it’s too much to have her all over you to feel her blazing skin and sweet sweat and hard nipples. Her hot breath against your skin, her tongue on your pulse all while being inside her tight soaking wet heat. 
You buck your hips out of rhythm and she sits up putting her hands on your breasts as she looks down at you. She smirks and then you feel her tighten around you. You can’t stop the whimper that leaves your lips as she continues to purposely contract around you. You grab her hips hard. She sighs and moans and squeezes your boobs hard as she constricts you and slightly moves her hips up like she is trying to milk you and it works. You erupt even harder than before. Hot strings of your cum shoot inside her and have her coming hard pulsing and contracting around you even harder. She presses her hips down hard holding onto you making sure you fill her up as much as possible. It is a sight to see. Your hands grip her sides harder and she squeezes your breasts harder. Her own nipples are so hard you want them in your mouth desperately. 
Her gaze finally meets yours after you both catch your breath “fuck that was so good baby I feel so full.” 
She leans down and presses her lips to yours and moves her hands to tug your hair. Her hard nipples graze yours and you are so overwhelmingly sensitive that your body jolts and she bites your bottom lip. You whimper as she releases your lip from between her teeth. “Next time will be even better I want to fuck you so many different ways like this Wanda.”
“Mmm you have no idea baby girl I have so many ideas. I love coming with you!”
She sat up and bit her bottom lip before fidgeting with her fingers. You know she wants to ask something but she is blocking you from hearing her thoughts and she is hesitating. You sit up and suppress a groan at the feel of moving at all while still deep inside her. You  caress her cheek softly with concern written on your face. “What is it, love?”
Her gaze locks on to you and your gaze softens. Her emerald eyes are so full of love.
“Would you let me get you pregnant? We could be pregnant together. We could create our family faster.”
AN: Who wants to see Wanda get the reader pregnant in the same way? Should I continue this or was this a horrible idea? 
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dipplinduo · 2 months
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Have you ever scrapped ideas for Sweet & Sour?
Yep!
My process has luckily been more of "transform an idea that doesn't fit" situation for most things, but I'm happy to talk about some of the things that didn't make the cut. Whipping out the notes page...
Lacey was actually meant to be the spotlighted E4 member that gets close to Juliana, not Drayton (hence the focus on her in Chapter 1 & 2). She was actually my favorite at first, and I envisioned her as being a positive, grounding guide for Juliana, and also somewhat of a middle ground influence for Kieran. But then I wrote my spin on the cafeteria scene, and I was like "oh my god wait, Drayton's character is so enticing and flexible, and he's especially fun to insert as an influence in the Kieran/Juliana dynamic". SOOOOOO I quickly decided to pivot and make him the spotlighted one, and have him do more of this brotherly figurer role who was very cunning and comedic. Before I even realized I got overtaken by the iconicism, and now he's just part of my brand in general. Whoops. The "Drayton Being Iconic" tag existed on this blog before this happened so I honestly should've seen it coming LMAO. I do have very important plans for the rest of the E4 and what role they're playing, though :
Don't laugh at this one - it was also early development LOL. I was going to have a party scene where Drayton convinces Juliana to pretend she got drunk (I know) as part of a roundabout and wild way to find evidence that Kieran had a soft spot for her (I KNOW). Kieran was essentially gonna waltz in (to a social event he otherwise never would make an appearance in) and he'd get all flustered as Juliana latches onto him. He would've decided to sweep her away from the party and take him back to his dorm. I ended up scrapping this entirely because while teens do party and all that...yeah, and also we pretty much got the dynamic moments I wanted to portray much better through the chapters where Juliana got sick.
Kieran/Juliana dynamic was also gonna have a moment where Kieran gets it in his head to start flirting with Juliana because he thinks that she’s flirting to get him to put his guard down. And that's where they both kinda were gonna secretly realize their feelings LOL. In hindsight lowkey fire still, but yeah, kinda just didn't have the space for it. We do have flirty Kieran era though, and that's still based.
This one is kinda known already, but originally the Applins were the only stars of the show (hence the name of the fic). I added Ribombee in early on after enough people wanted it and gave it lore/a connection to Kieran and his mother. Before Ribombee was conceptualized, I had different plans for what happened to Kieran's parents (he would still be an orphan regardless).
Briar was originally going to make a "deal" with Clavell regarding getting Juliana to come to Blueberry early, although it wouldn't be revealed until Juliana discovers this later. I scrapped this in favor of something much better because I didn't like the implications it had on Clavell's character, and honestly, only Blueberry is supposed to have the sketchy admin/systematic stuff going on anyways lol.
Kieran was meant to show more obvious signs of sleep deprivation (e.g. falling suspect to illness more frequently, slowed reactions). This idea is still good and realistic, but yeah, ended up leaning more into other symptomology that went well with the toxic chain curse (e.g. irritability, obsessive fixations, self-criticism, overworking himself, fatigue, etc.)
Ribombee was going to sleep powder both Kieran & Juliana in the cave scene of Ch 5. I decided to make it a bit more organic by having Kieran up and reflecting on everything + having Ribombee appearance in a more mystical way. Plus, I thought it would mean more if Kieran & Juliana opted to cuddle up themselves rather than being knocked out. There was a part of me that was worried the dynamic was progressing too fast this way with this change, but it seemed to have landed well! :)
This doesn't really count as a scrapped idea, but related: I 1000% retconned something with the Drayton POV chapters (if ykyk, LOL). But YEP. It's CANON. And frankly it's a decision I personally love that has implications, but also won't screw up the storytelling for where we're at now, either.
There's actually a lot more, too, but like I said: most of my ideas tend to upgrade. And lolololol OMG this is especially true for some major lore stuff. I just don't want to reveal it because I don't want to give y'all hints on where we're going!! LOL.
And also...there are cuter moments I haven't used in S&S and probably won't be able to because I account for what makes sense with the given dynamic. BUT what I do end up doing is taking those unused ideas and putting them into What-Ifs or other stories. There's one I'm particularly thinking of that I was dying to put in S&S D, but I don't think it would trip up the current Kieran as much as it would've in earlier chapters, lol. SO. It's going in The Dichotomy in Our Hearts instead! xD
This was super fun to write, hope it was enough substance for the question! <3
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venbetta · 5 months
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This is Tumblr, we're all wild animals with zoomies. Please share your thoughts.
You right... you're so right
Time to vomit all of my thoughts then-
I’m gonna have to be so sparring with the pictures due to the 10 image limit *sob* whatever i'll figure it out,,
Also I'm gonna say this- Freddy isn't possessed by Michael Afton in this. I don't mind Glammike, but I love the idea of Freddy just becoming a “deviant” I guess. Robots becoming human. They should totally make a game or something… wink wink.
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I'm gonna just dig into the lyrics and breakdown my thought process for some of the frames… (I'm not doing every lyric, only some that stood out)
So, the meaning of “My Way” is based around self determination, that's the basic gist. I personally interpreted it as individualism, seeing how the lyrics have certain phrases based around it.
I had heard this song at the beginning of this year and immediately thought of Freddy. I also remember hearing the ai cover version at one point… (moving on)
And it was pretty obvious that most people agreed that this was his song.
Let's break it down >:]
And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
I started the scene with Freddy walking on the third floor atrium, and I guess I took “I face the final curtain” literally since he's looking at the main stage lmao
My friend, I'll say it clear
Small side note, it's literally the most miniscule detail, but I felt like he was referring to Bonnie when he said “my friend” … It doesn't help that he's on the same floor as Bonnie Bowl.
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I've lived a life that's full
Freddy reflecting about his “life” performing alongside his friends, I specifically added Chica because she's one of the remaining members of the original trio. :)
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Regrets I've had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption
This verse was the best way to describe Freddy's situation. He had to not only escort this kid around the pizzaplex but he had to make sure Gregory wouldn't get hurt. He didn't want to hurt his friends but he couldn't let them hurt Gregory either. While it's shown that the other glamrocks were shattered, him saying he has regrets, I thought about whether or not he did the shattering himself or it was Gregory.
I mean, canonically, it was all Gregory's doing, Freddy was an accomplice… (sort of), but in the back of my mind, a messed up part of me wanted it to be Freddy's doing. Especially when we get to the confrontation scene. Honestly it can be interpreted both ways. I've read a fic where Freddy killed his friends… very gruesome but badass.
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Anyways have a Freddy ear wiggle... cutest fucking thing ever.
Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all, and I stood tall
And did it my way
Another one of those verses where I went fucking crazy and said “THAT'S HIM.”
So as it's seen in the animatic, Freddy is trying to keep Gregory safe. Gregory was originally going to be in his stomach hatch during this fight scene, but as I mentioned, Freddy wouldn't have wanted him to be in serious danger, so.. I changed it to him carrying Gregory.
“I'm sure you knew when I bit off more than I could chew” refers to Gregory being aware of how much he was in danger, and Freddy deciding to bite the bullet towards confronting his friends. Even if it meant someone was going to get hurt.
“When there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out.” God, I loved drawing Freddy clenching his fists. The hesitancy before just accepting that he has to protect Gregory at all costs. Maybe I took some of the lyrics and made them slightly literal? Idk. Either way, this scene was powerful, especially when he and Monty clashed together.
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“I stood tall” to me shows how Freddy was no longer going to let his soft persona get in the way. This part was just very fun to draw and put together… :3
I've loved, I've laughed and cried
I've had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside
I find it all so amusing
Once again Freddy is thinking about his friends and life, I found this part kind of hard? Originally I wanted him to be surrounded by his friends, and have it fade to just him standing alone, but I didn't like how it was drawn lol. I improvised and had it be a poster instead.
Also there's something heartbreaking about how he examines his plushie. “I find it all so amusing”, I interpreted that as him being melancholic about the situation, looking between the plushie and Gregory by the exit.
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way
Ah yes, Freddy setting the plushie on fire. I like to think he makes up his mind at that moment that none of this was worth it anymore. Once again, that interpretation of him being complacent to his friends being shattered kinda fits into this line a little, “I did all that”, as if he's surprised he had it in him to go that far to protect Gregory.
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I did it my way
…self explanatory. Freddy said, “Yeah nah I'm done. Burn this bitch to the ground.”
I mean, that's basically the fire escape ending if I'm being honest. Mine's just funnier.
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For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way
The final stretch. So this verse is pretty heavy, also I had to pace this correctly… I'm surprised I managed to fit the climax in.
“For what is a man” when I heard that line for the first time… fire no pun intended. It's also kinda ironic(?) Freddy says this, since he's an animatronic… but me personally, I saw it as an epiphany for him. He's acknowledging his own individualism, and that's all he has now. He made the decision to protect Gregory, to fight his friends, and now he's making the choice to burn everything down.
“To say the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels” Good shit. He's not taking orders from anyone anymore, he's gone full deviant now.
And with the confrontation with Vanny, he makes the impulsive decision to take her out, going down with her. “I did it my way” the grand climax of the song, where he throws both of them off the building… lowkey my favorite part. I had fun using the tracking tool on the editing program to make them pan across the screen in slow mo…
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But yeah, Freddy was gonna go down his own way- even if it was unnecessary.
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Yes it was my way
The fall and the brief daze and fear in his eyes…
There's something about the acceptance in his eyes that makes my chest swell.
I'm surprised I haven't cried to this animatic yet.
I'm sure I'm not the only person who doesn't like this ending of SB… it's so weird and confusing. I laughed my ass off watching it due to how whacky it was… also I still believe that Vanessa on the roof was an apparition/ghost. Idk… it makes sense to me.
The fact that I made this ending have more impact makes it more satisfying. I know it was very indulgent but like… that was the point. I know Freddy's characterization in the game is pretty limited, outside of him being a goofball, but he had genuine moments where there was something else there (I'm looking at the true ending scene).
Listen, I headcanon Freddy as someone who's sweet and puts on his best face but has the entire company of FazEnt on his shoulders and all he can do is tolerate it because he was made to entertain. Having him not only have an existential crisis but an epiphany lets Freddy shine a little more.
I say the best part during the animatic process is looking at the lyrics and breaking them down for the story. It helps with pacing :)
I plan to do another fnaf animatic this weekend, so look forward to some wips… if I decide/remember to share
Feel free to ask me anything, I'll try to answer them!
:)
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suckerforcate · 2 years
Text
Yuanfen
Pairing: Lou Miller×Reader, Tammy×Reader (sister)
Word count: 1.338
Summary: You are madly in love with Lou but you know that your sister would disapprove.
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_______________________________________________
"How's it going Miller?" You slowly approached Lou and winked at her. "Very good. But I'd appreciated it if you wouldn't flirt with me." She took her coffee and left you standing there like an Idiot. She's done that a few times lately. Normally she would always flirt back but she somehow stopped that.
"So you like older women, huh?"
You nearly choked on your drink when Debbie said that. You were choughing helplessly, it was actually kind of embarrassing. You wanted to keep it safe that you liked older women, just in general women, and Lou but thanks to your stupid reaction you couldn't deny it anymore. Debbie was cry-laughing besides you. You shot her a death glare and she quickly got you a glass of water and patted you on the back.
You two sat down on the couch and when your breathing was back to normal Debbie gave you a questioning look. You hesitated and she added:"Or maybe one certain older woman?".
You figured by now it didn't matter, the secret was already revealed and served on a plate for Debbie.
"Well, yes I in general like older women. It's just always been like that. They always attracted me more than women my age. I don't know why. And yes I might have a slight crush on Lou."
Debbie started laughing again, "A slight crush? Come on (Y/n) You are crazy for that woman." You raised your eyebrow and then you remembered the way she treated you lately.
"Well, it doesn't matter anymore anyways."
"Why?"
"It's just, I don't know something is wrong with Lou. She's so cold to me lately. She doesn't flirt back anymore. She used to love that, it was our thing. Always flirting." Debbie looked at you understanding but before she could say anything more Tammy came down the stairs.
You tightly hugged Debbie and whispered something in her ear, so that Tammy couldn't hear it: "No word to my sister or I'll kill you!" With that you stood up and left.
You didn't want Tammy to find out, she's your older sister and has always been super protective over you. You loved her, of course. But you were old enough to make your own decision and take the consequences. You didn't need a nanny. Honestly it was quite annoying.
Later that day you were sitting in your room when you heard a knock. "Come in", you were sure it would be Debbie so you were quite surprised that Lou stepped in.
"Hey (Y/n), Debbie told me that we should maybe talk. So what's up?"
"Yeah, come in. You can sit down on the bed if you want." You pointed in that direction and put your phone away.
"So...I'm not quite sure how to say this. But I... Is something wrong? You’ve been so distant lately. That's not like you." You carefully looked up right at her and saw her looking...surprised.
"I didn't think you would notice that actually. I thought you probably didn't care." You raised an eyebrow quizzically.
"Lou, you were rather harsh with me. Of course I noticed. We always used to flirt and you just stopped. I really liked that and you." Your voice got quieter and quieter by the end. So quiet you didn't even think Lou heard you but when you looked up you saw her coming towards you. She kneeled down in front of you and took your hands in hers.
"Oh, Darling. I like you too. But come on, this can't work. Tammy would kill us both if she'd find out and she's probably right. I'm not good for you. You're so young still, you shouldn't be with a criminal. Also I'm way too old. Find someone young and beautiful and normal." She was surprised when you jumped up.
"I don't care, honestly why would I want someone normal? My sis is a criminal, all my best friends are criminals and I'm half one too. And I don't need my sister to protect me. I can take care of myself. Also find someone young and beautiful? Excuse me, you're the most beautiful woman ever. The age never mattered to me. I know that I like you. End of discussion." Lou slightly smiled. She stood up and came to you.
She gently took your face on her hands and pulled it towards her a bit. You closed your eyes and slowly felt her lips touching yours. It felt like heaven and you knew that that's everything you always wanted. Lou didn't need to know that you didn't just like her, but had a massive crush on her since you were like 12. Not yet at least.
Debbie knew directly. She saw you two coming out of your room after you talked and just smiled knowingly. If just Debbie was at home you didn't have to hide.
Originally the plan was to keep it that way but the two of you couldn't keep your hands off of each other. So eventually the others also found out. All of them except Tammy. If Tammy was there you all kept quite. You knew she had to find out some day, but you weren't keen on it.
One day, when everyone was there except for Tammy, who was bringing the kids to their dad, you all talked about how Lou and you got together. You still kept to yourself, that you liked her since you were 12 but you told them that you had liked her for some time.
"For some time? What do you mean by that?" Lou grinned at you and leaned over to kiss you. You still blushed, everytime she kissed you or flirted with you.
"Lou?! What are you doing with my sister?" You broke away from Lou, panic in your eyes. Tammy knew. She saw you. Shit. Suddenly confidence rushed over you. You were old enough, she didn't have to control you like that.
"We are dating." You looked at Tammy but you knew that everyone in the room was holding their breath.
Everyone loved Tammy, she was wonderful. But if it came to you, she could be quite scary. No one ever wanted to mess with her. Not even Debbie.
"No, your not."
"Yes, we are."
"I won't allow that. Couldn't you find someone normal? Not a criminal. Lou how could you?" Tammy approached Lou, you had never seen her this angry.
"How could she what? Love me, show me how beautiful I am every day, make me smile, make me happy? Do you really think I'm not old enough to decide who I date? I know you just want to protect me but you don't have to. I love Lou and I don't care that she's 20 years older or a criminal. You're a criminal. Debbie's a criminal. Hell, even I'm a criminal. If you didn't want me to be one, you shouldn't have let me grow up with them. I don't care if you'll allow it."  Everyone started at you now, not just Tammy.
"You love Lou?" You paniced. Did you say that? You had never said it before and you didn't plan on saying it in front of everyone in a fight with your sister.
"No...?" You looked at Lou, seeing her shocked face.
"You love me?" Didn't she know that? You thought it was pretty obvious.
"Of course I do. I did for ages. You're the most incredible person I have ever met. How could I have not fallen in love with you." You had never seen Lou cry before, until now. Well she didn't technically cry, but there were tears in her eyes. You kissed her. Softly. Your sister was still there.
"Ok, ok. I guess it's fine. But Lou," Tammy shot a warning glare at her, "if you'll ever hurt (Y/n) I'll kick your ass. Understood?" Lou nodded and gave you another kiss.
"Oh for gods sake, get a room. I still have to get used to this." Tammy wildly waved her hands at you two
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another-white-void · 21 days
Text
And here it is, the list of my fav Iron Widow moments! Enjoy?
As always feel free to discuss with me or share your favorite moments!!
It's below the cut bcs spoilers
- chapter 5, I figured that I could note my fav moments of this book as well XD
- starting on not the best note, I fucking hate Yang Guang, I hate him so much, I want to rip his guts out,
- chapter 8, the fight was so epic!! I love how MC just kinda forgor about the whole dying thing and went with the flow
- and that she killed that motherfucker! I didn't have to tolerate him for too long >:D
- it's honestly quite funny that Qin Zheng was killed by pox (I hope I'm getting the name of the illness right lol, I'm reading this in Polish translation and have 0 knowledge about any medical terminology in English)
- just a note but it's harder for me to keep up with those notes for Iron Widow than for Qian Qiu. I think it's because 1. its pace is faster 2. its chapters are shorter. so anyway
- chapter 10, Wu Zetian just needs to scream 24/7 and I respect it so much
- chapter 12, idk, Li Shimin is kinda cute
- I also like strategist Zhuge but that may be just because he has a fan
- chapter 13, those qi power statistic are so untrustworthy lol. I wouldn't be so happy to have so much higher qi stats than the average if the margin of error is like 17k
- chapter 14, damn, I miss Yizhi...
- chapter 19, oh my god, Yizhi is back!! T^T
- I absolutely love all the tiny historical details in this story. I'm probably missing a lot but those which I can catch are amazing (and satisfying, good to know that I know something about Chinese history after all that learning)
- chapter 20, OMG YIZHI IS BI?? IS THIS FINALLY SOME GOOD BI REP??
- ZETIAN IS ALSO BI?? AM I IN HEAVEN? WHAT'S GOING ON??
- omg Gao Yizhi grabbing Li Shimin's leash is one of the things I need to draw, damn, it paints such a clear picture in my mind
- chapter 21, Sima Yi is just a hater by nature and I start to enjoy it,
- chapter 23, Yizhi screaming "you can't shoot me I'm rich!!!" I love this boy
- chapter 29, god, Yizhi, Shimin and Zetian are sooo cute
- also "one traumatized Xing Tian", that made me laugh out loud
- "usually adding qi of a third person only strengthened the dissonance (...) no one knows why we succeeded" yeah I wonder why, hmmmmmm
- chapter 30, MY BABYGIRL LI SHIMIN GOT CALLED AN ALPHA MALE I'M DYINGGG
- I kinda like Gao Qiu. I know he's probably bad news but damn, he's fun
- also a Wu Zetian fan nr1, seeing his reaction I'm surprised that he didn't ask for an autograph (I forgot that he's sexist af)
- tho, tbh, I think he's more afraid of what he can't control than purely sexist; interesting guy, I want to dissect him,
- I wonder if anything happened between LSM and GYZ during that party at Gao's, hmm,
- chapter 31, OUR THIRD PARTNER YIZHI, AWWW
- chapter 36, I actually think Sima Yi might be one of my fav characters? come on, the guy came to the wedding just because he wanted to support his little dumdums
- chapter 39, YES FUCK AN LUSHAN
- damn I didn't think they'll actually kill him. oh well. he won't be missed. judging by his character, even his son won't miss him
- Yizhi is the wife in this throuple, isn't he /jk
- OMG THE TRIANGLE IS FINISHED, THAT WAS SO CUTE!! WAAH
- chapter 42, I like how Wu Zetian's reaction to something not going well is just "maybe we should burn ourselves alive actually", relatable queen
- Sima Yi just lost his good guy badge. he better have a damn good excuse for abondoning MCs this easily,
- chapter 44, QIN PIERDOLONY ZHENG, już zawsze będę go tak nazywać 🫡
- chapter 46, is Qin Pierdolony Zheng playing snake with hunduns instead of apples¿?
- I still can't believe that Shimin is actually dead. Like. Dead dead. Super dead. Human marmalade dead. How... why him T^T
- chapter 47, I love how among all this death and destruction the worst problem Qin Pierdolony Zheng has is inflation,
- epilogue, DID SHIMIN BECOME A GOD PLS TELL ME HE BECAME A GOD
- Qin Pierdolony Zheng has a beef with gods, I think he's the most rel character now
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Note
I'm curious as to what you mean by saying Mileven is a geek fantasy, as I haven't heard that before that I can recall. Is there a specific trope you think Mileven is emulating?
It's like Weird Science.
Mike was pegged in season 1 for not only being a nerdy loser, but also being ugly (frog face). Then along comes this strange girl with superpowers who ends up having eyes for Mike and only Mike. He dresses her up to look like his image of a girl. She takes care of his bullies for him. She essentially solves all of his problems. She's an amazing girl, capable of unreal things. We see him brag about her abilities and the fact that she saved the world (twice!). It's very important to him that she be this grand mythical figure who no other girl could possibly match. She makes him feel amazing because, while, in his mind, she could have anyone she wanted, she chose him.
Ultimately, Mike derives value in his life from the fact that El sees value in him. It's a crisis for him when he thinks she doesn't need him anymore because he doesn't think anyone else could ever love him. It's a very pathetic relationship, but it's the sort of fantasy many loser nerds, especially in the 80s when Weird Science came out, had. That's why it worked so well as a concept.
Now, Weird Science had a twist to it. The girl the losers created wasn't actually there to be their fantasy girl. She actually manipulated their lives to the point that they developed the confidence to go out and get real girls, at which point she left them as they no longer needed her. They created her so they wouldn't be losers anymore, and that's just what she did, only not in the way they planned.
Here, though, the Duffers appear to be missing the entire point of the movie by having El need Mike, despite her entire story supposedly being about finding herself, as much as, if not more than, Mike needs her. They're essentially subverting a trope that was, in itself, a subversion. El isn't going to have a "my work here is done" moment in regards to Mike. This magic girl who came into Mike's life and made everything better isn't there to nudge him into being a better person. She's there to be his ideal girlfriend, just as he's there to, essentially, be a trophy boyfriend.
The sad thing is that they've added this extra element to the story. We have Will, someone who has known Mike for most of their lives, who is absolutely gone for Mike. Mike loves El due, in large part, to the fact that he doesn't feel anyone else could ever want him. He's totally unaware of the fact that someone else does, and the real tragedy is that we're meant to believe Mike could never return Will's affections anyway. It's a ridiculously cruel twist that, honestly, didn't need to be added, especially since it's mostly just been used to further prop up the geek fantasy relationship. If they were genuinely invoking what Weird Science did, El would be a vehicle for Mike to recognize and act on Will's very real feelings for him. However, they aren't about to do that to the most popular character on the show.
I don't know if the Duffers have some surprise on the way, but I feel like it's far too late, anyway. They had their chance to address this to set up some good development in the final season, but they didn't. Yeah, there's subtext that hints that Mike has unaddressed feelings for Will, but the time for subtext is over. They missed their chance to do anything meaningful with this, should it really be the plan. It really does look like the geek fantasy is what they've been going for, even if the biggest movie to invoke it completely subverted it.
Maybe I'm wrong. Hell, I'd love to be wrong about this. But you asked me an honest question, and I wanted to give you an honest answer.
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electrasev5nwrites · 9 months
Text
Ninja Daily: Clarity 12
"Have you ever decided what you want to do about your old boss," Obito called out over the irritatingly chipper sound of summer cicadas.
Aiko glared, not even trying to respond. That was too hard with a lungful of fire. She pushed the flames out, pursing her lips like her intention was to go in for a kiss. The small spray that she forced past her teeth came out in a thin, high-arching plume.
(and that heat hurt, if this was a C-class jutsu she didn't know how Obito's teeth hadn't splintered from the heat of higher level jutsu).
He dodged it easily, alighting on the pock-riddled ground with a butterfly's grace.
In comparison, she felt like an eighty year old smoker. She wheezed for a moment, tilting her head back to optimize oxygen consumption. "You tried to trick me into breathing in to speak," Aiko accused hoarsely through a hot, painfully dry mouth.
That would have hurt.
All she got in return was a surprisingly wicked grin, before he telegraphed the motions of a water jutsu. Her chest was still aching from the last chakra she'd filled it with, but she mimicked his motions anyway, letting him teach her another jutsu.
He'd become a much less gentle teacher since her eyes had changed. Admittedly, that appeared to be because he was sharing his formidable repertoire of elemental jutsu. Learning that way was paradoxically effortless but time and labor-intensive. Seeing him perform a jutsu was enough for her to mimic it and reproduce it, but she still had to practice everything he showed her when alone later to truly master it.
With a little too much glee, Obito had taught her the lesson that being able to perform a jutsu was unrelated to being able to control it by allowing her to copy an A-level earth ninjutsu, and then saving her only at the last moment when she nearly killed herself with it.
Maybe that hadn't been kind, but she wouldn't forget or complain again about it being dull to have to learn D- level ninjutsu before he'd teach her anything more impressive. At least she was past the really low level stuff now.
The water jutsu he demonstrated (in a mirror, really, her motions so closely followed his that it was nearly impossible to tell he was leading) turned out to form a slick of two-inch or so water that coated the ground.
'Meant to make it easier to track opponents I can't see?' Aiko theorized. He didn't spoon-feed jutsu to her. Figuring out their use was her job. 'The splash should allow me to find anyone who was too surprised to water walk in time. If I can sense through the water, or force someone to use chakra to stand on top, I can use that chakra expenditure to keep track of their movements.'
"I was serious, you know," he brought up when they finished. Aiko didn't look up, bent over as she was to dab at her face with the hem of her shirt. "I tracked down your civilian coworkers when I realized what had happened. I may have jumped to the conclusion that there was a reason you were down for the count and they were fine."
Aiko looked up sharply at his sheepish tone. "Judging by your phrasing, they weren't responsible."
"No," Obito admitted, breaking eye contact. "I don't know about the woman who employed you all, though. I thought you might like to know, for peace of mind if nothing else." He frowned audibly. "That doesn't mean that they don't still present a danger to you, mind. They saw you activate your bloodline. If you think there's a chance they might talk, we'll have to do something."
She sucked on her lower lip, considering it.
'I had fun with that job when it lasted, but it wouldn't really be worth it to go back to Ando-san and try again. Then again, it would be polite to talk to her instead of just wandering away forever. I wonder if she ever got her cart back?'
After a moment, he reluctantly added, "We could kill them. The decision is in your hands, but I don't see much point in taking care of them forever."
Aiko blinked, honestly taken aback. "No, I don't think that'll be necessary," she waved him off. "I don't think they knew what was going on, certainly not enough to sell information. Besides," she decided, "we could just…" her voice trailed off, as she tapped a finger meaningfully against her temple.
Obito snorted, rolling his eyes. "You mean me," he groused. "You'd probably fry their brains."
She shrugged, unbothered by his lack of faith in her abilities. He was right, after all. Who did she have to practice genjutsu on? No one, that's who. All she knew was stuff that worked by altering and distorting areas near her person. Hypnosis was entirely different.
"We may as well take care of that today," Aiko decided, giving a stretch. "You drop me off with Ando-san, I'll see if she's guilty and give my resignation if she's not, and you pick me up after an hour or so?" Her voice lilted in question.
"Of course," he indulged. "And I'll take your former co-workers home."
"Lovely." She leaned back so far that her back cracked three times, nearly collapsing in a puddle of sore muscles. "It would be kind of rude to just stop by, though," Aiko mused. She frowned slightly. Maybe she should bring a peace offering.
("I heard you were dead," Ando-san said tonelessly, staring at Aiko with an expression she couldn't quite sum up.
Aiko shrugged, not knowing how to feel about that. "That was for a limited time only. May I come in?"
The older woman's mouth moved silently for a moment. Apparently unable to verbalize anything, she stood back and held the door open.)
Team Kakashi had nearly returned to Konoha after the three men tracked away from the spot where Raidō had nearly been killed into a dryer forested area. Not because they were unsuccessful, per se.
"Located traces of both Aiko's scent and that of unknown Uchiha," Tsunade read silently from the scroll she'd been given by a dog in a blue cape. "Gone to reinvestigate clue from previous mission, suspect that woman known as Ando-san had been in contact with Aiko after all."
What? She furrowed her brow, not seeing the connection, until Kakashi's scribbles spelled out the logic- "Oh, I see." Tsunade blew air out of the side of her mouth.
Funny. It had taken Genma to point out something that one of them really should have seen before.
She hadn't released a photo of Aiko with the subtle call for their contacts to keep an eye out for her. It would have been too dangerous, considering the intention had to keep the information that she was missing quiet. The only internationally available photo of Aiko was the one in the bingo book.
'And that picture is old,' Tsunade confirmed for herself when she flipped open her copy to verify Genma's information. How lucky that he'd gone to look after she had attacked Raidō (and wasn't that a can of worms, shit). 'Far too old to be in use now, it should have been replaced. If anyone other than incompetent Iwa had put out the bounty, it would have been. This might even be her graduation picture.'
The girl in that photograph still had baby-fat cheeks, a choppy home haircut, and a truly obnoxious dimpled smile. She was much cuter than the pointy-elbowed teenager that Tsunade had first met years ago.
Kakashi had scribbled down the description the unpleasant civilian in Grass had given him for point of comparison. It did describe Aiko accurately: the Aiko of about age sixteen and up, when her face had thinned out and her big baby eyes seemed to fit her face better. The twins looked more alike now than they had before they'd lost their respective baby fat that disguised the fact that their bone structure wasn't that disparate.
If Ando-san had learned Aiko was missing, she wouldn't have known to describe her that way unless she had either seen Aiko recently or knew far too much about Konoha shinobi.
Assuming the first was true, Kakashi would get information out of her. If the second was true and Ando-san was a spy, she'd be coming back to Konoha in chains.
Tsunade actually smiled, leaning over to scratch the canine messenger behind his floppy ears with much more cheer than she ever treated Jiraiya's summons. The nindog allowed her touch, and after a moment dissolved into a gooey puddle of doggy love. His chin was laying on her knee and he was staring up at her adoringly through shining brown eyes when Sasuke pushed the door open and strode in, wearing a grumpy expression and mission clothes.
The look he gave the dog was truly withering.
"What's Kakashi done now?" Sasuke prodded, amusement tilting the corners of his eyes just slightly when the hound stiffened in offense.
'How petty does he have to be to taunt a dog?' Tsunade wondered. Out loud, she lazily replied, "He's found good news, actually. I'd tell you all about it, but I want your report first."
When Kakashi returned with Yamato and Genma three days later, she was relieved enough to nearly cry. Naruto had been trying her patience. Naruto practically bounced on his former teacher, mouth running a mile a minute. He peered over Kakashi's shoulder, deflating slightly when it became clear that his sister wasn't following.
Tsunade wasn't too cold to deny that she shared a little of Naruto's disappointment.
Gently, Kakashi pushed the blond away and patted his shoulder. He centered between his two teammates, slouched slightly in what wasn't quite his usual attitude.
"Any news?" she prompted.
Hatake glanced at Naruto for a moment, before directing his voice to her. "Genma was right," he admitted, a strange twist in his voice. Irony, perhaps. "Ando-san opened the door and greeted us with, 'I thought you said she was dead'," he mimicked, pitching his voice up slightly. "We'd missed her by about four hours. Apparently, Aiko came by with apology cookies for letting all Ando-san's goods rot and her wagon get stolen."
Naruto let out a surprised laugh, eyes glittering with relief. At least she sounded like she was doing reasonably well, if a bit confused. They'd been so close- next time, they'd work things out. They just needed to talk to her and she'd see.
Tsunade cradled her face in her palm, suddenly feeling a headache. "Should we be sending someone to wait around Ando-san's house?"
Kakashi shook his head regretfully. "The cookies were also an apology for quitting without notice."
And now for something completely different
"It is time to take our next jinchuuriki."
Five shadowy figures flickered in the dim light of a gaping cavern. Suigetsu, the only person who was physically present, rapped his fingers against the handle of his sword in boredom.
He heaved a beleaguered sigh and sneered. 'Dramatic old men.'
This whole thing reeked of theatricality. The heavy uniform cloak on his shoulders matched that of the projected participants. From their perspectives, his face was probably cast in as much shadow.
He'd never even seen his fellow Akatsuki, aside from the asshole that had recruited him. Not much for camaraderie and hugs, these guys. He told himself that was fine. There was no point in bonding with anyone other than a fellow swordsman of the Mist.
Their apparent leader's deep baritone rung out again, distorted through static by the projection jutsu he was using. "We will be hard-pressed to acquire all the jinchuuriki in time once the great nations are at odds. We must be ready to strike and seal the last bijuu in rapid succession. However, there is one jinchuuriki that can be obtained before the critical moment. My partner and I will do so. If all goes well, we will perform the jutsu tonight."
It was hard to believe that the prick had a partner. He didn't seem the type to play nice. Curious, Suigetsu let his eyes wander over the figure standing closest to the leader. They could be standing in the same location or miles apart for all he knew, but their apparition-like projections were perhaps only two feet apart.
Even if they'd been in person, the high collar would have obscured the vast majority of the person's face. As it was, the only physical characteristic Suigetsu could pin down was that the person was short in comparison to the leader. Very few men were that short.
That meant either a child or a small woman. His gut told him it was a woman, especially considering her proximity to the leader. His logic wasn't rock-solid: the leader could be a pedophile. But it seemed less likely.
If he was a pedophile, of course, Suigetsu'd have to kill the disgusting bastard. He would kill leader eventually regardless of what happened, of course, but still.
"Be ready."
With that, the jutsu cut out. Suigetsu irritably pulled his sword over his shoulder and used it to cut through a hanging wall of moss in the decrepit, damp shithole he had to wait around in all day. "Useless fuckface," he grumbled. "Better hurry that slow ass up."
Obito seemed to shrink a bit when the jutsu faded, leaving them staring at the front yard instead of a dark cave. "I think that went well," he said to himself in an undertone, apparently bemused at that.
'This is sort of exciting.'
Aiko finally felt free enough to bite down on the hard candy she'd been nursing while Obito monologued. Sharp chips of green apple flavor fell across her tongue and melted nearly instantly. She may or may not have let out a slightly gratuitous moan of long-delayed pleasure. Oh yeah, that's the stuff.
She could all but feel Obito consider giving her a wearisome look, and decide against it on grounds of pointlessness. When her mood was this good, she just couldn't be stopped.
This was going to be her first time using the ridiculously long jutsu, so he was going to have to excuse a bit of fidgeting and silliness. He'd cautioned her that it was an incredibly trying technique, but that made her feel more excited than anything.
Perhaps she should be worried, but at worst Aiko was feeling butterflies in her tummy. She grinned to herself while pulling off the distinctive outer uniform. She could do this: she could do anything. She didn't know where her talent for ninjutsu had been hiding before her eyes got all sassy on her, but the fact that it had come out was thrilling.
Perversely, she was sort of falling in love with her ugly eyes. They truly were awful to look at and they contributed to her fatigue, but they made her combat repertoire so much better that it was downright unfair. What element she was using didn't even seem to matter: breathing fire wasn't any harder than hiding in the earth.
Besides, the ugly eyes weren't a half-bad chakra exercise. The concentration required to change them was significantly less than it had been when she had first started. Obito was more irritated by that than she was: one than once, he'd implied that she shouldn't mess with them if she didn't have the automatic ability to turn them 'off' and 'on' in the way he did. Worrywart. Aiko chose to believe that she was the one who was better off, because deciding otherwise would be depressing.
"Ready to go?" Obito glanced back at her, apparently preoccupied with checking his equipment for the last time. "Chakra pills, hydration? We're not going to come back before we do the jutsu, and it can take the better part of a day."
'This is not the first time you have asked me that.'
Aiko blew air out through her lips in what was too forceful to be a sigh. "Yes, mom. I have a change of socks too. But you know we have to come back," she reminded wearily. "You don't want me wearing the cloak there, remember?"
Honestly. It was his plan; he could recall it for an hour or two.
He made a sound of vague comprehension, apparently only now realizing that she had shrugged it off and piled the hat on the table.
Their mission wasn't going to be that hard, frankly. She was still itching to get started. Hopefully, they would find their target quickly once Obito took them to the village. Most of the plan was up to him: he was going to hypnotize the jinchuuriki into fleeing the village, whether through stealth or violence didn't matter much. The point was that the blame wouldn't be on them when no one could find it. It'd just be another missing nin, albeit a demonic-powered one.
Sensible? Yes. That was the worst thing about that plan. But Aiko had to acknowledge that it suited their purposes a lot more than challenging the village of Waterfall to a glorious battle for control of their beast.
'Although I would totally kick ass, were that the plan. I can't believe he didn't want me to be a front line fighter. Ninjutsu and taijutsu are so much more enjoyable than throwing things.' Aiko flicked her eyes to purple, and then back to red. Purple-Red-Purple-Red-
"Stop that." Obito reached back and gently swatted at her head, ignoring the indignant sound that she made. "The chakra fluctuations are very distracting. You'll remember to suppress that?"
At that, she couldn't help but roll her eyes. Of course she knew how to go unseen.
And that was exactly what she did, while Obito transported them directly in the village that had apparently been hidden behind a waterfall.
'Some people take the 'hidden village' thing much more seriously than others,' she mused philosophically, carefully leaning into Obito's side to avoid colliding with an adorably tiny child who was appropriately incapable of seeing through his Sharingan genjutsu. 'I don't think any of the others are really hidden. Spectacularly inconvenient and remote, yes, but not hidden per say.'
Props to Taki for committing to the name thing, then. For all the good it did them. As far as she could tell, Taki didn't have a single person capable of realizing that two invisible ninja were in their midst.
That was almost a pity, because she might have liked a fight. The vast majority of her new toys had only been used on Obito in spars.
Aiko swallowed that awful thought and wrapped her hand a little tighter around Obito's bicep, tugging in the direction she thought most promising. 'This isn't a game,' she berated herself. 'If we have to fight here, it won't be a fun spar to test out my abilities. It'd be a massacre. I don't want that, what the fuck am I even thinking?'
There was something frightening and insidious about just how easy it was to forget that other people were real and their pain mattered in the way that hers did.
She couldn't let herself think that way. Rationalizing fighting for her life and killing people who were in her way was a necessity of doing her job. Bringing that violence to civilians and people who weren't her enemies was unacceptable.
'I'm such a child sometimes. A brawl in the middle of Taki wouldn't be fun for these people. It'd be terrifying, even if I didn't kill anyone.'
Mood dampened, she didn't try to work up enthusiasm when they actually managed to locate the jinchuuriki via process of elimination. Taki was small, after all, and there were only so many things that shinobi did in their off-time. Since a jinchuuriki was likely a shunned loner, finding it on the training grounds wasn't surprising.
The thing itself wasn't exactly what Aiko had expected, though. The picture Obito had shared was of a tanned girl with eerie orange eyes and hair that reminded Aiko of her base level eyes. As with all shinobi mugshots, it was neither flattering nor expressive. The thin-lipped girl depicted looked ready to reach out and hurt the viewer.
In person, the jinchuuriki seemed almost disconcertingly normal: cute and perky, and as preoccupied with training as any other shinobi.
For all the good it did. It never stood a chance.
'There's something artistic about watching Obito use genjutsu.' Aiko sucked on her bottom lip and watched the chakra move with purple eyes, transfixed by the illusions he was pulling together. The first three layers slid smoothly around the jinchuuriki, distorting its reality and interfering with inhibitions and thought process. There was a worrisome moment as Obito spun a compulsion into the mix when thin, teal brows came together as if the bijuu was trying to shake it off.
She pursed her lips, impressed when her friend soothed whatever objections were roiling in the target. Obito might have been onto something with his claim that the Sharingan could control bijuu.
Point one to him, then.
From start to finish, the jinchuuriki only stood still for about seven seconds while Obito flipped its worldview and made it realize that a walk outside the village would be quite nice right about now. Smoothly, it bent to slip the large, red cylindrical device on its back and took off at an easy gait, round-cheeked face smooth and untroubled.
It looked disconcertingly adorable. Aiko pressed a hand against her tummy, irritated that the tactic she used against others was kind-of-sort-of working on her. She knew that a pretty face on a petite girl could be disarming. She should have immunity or something.
'Apparently, it doesn't think sneaking is the way to go,' Aiko noted, tilting her head in mild interest as they trailed their target across streets full of people that pushed to get away from the beast. 'And no one looks interested in stopping it. Is just walking out seriously going to work?'
That just seemed too easy. Weren't villages supposed to have tight control and regulations? Perhaps the jinchuuriki was so habitually agreeable that the sudden turnabout had them all stunned and unable to react appropriately. That kind of whispering and pointing couldn't be the normal state of affairs.
There was clearly no love lost between Taki's monster and the slightly chubby man posted at the gates. As the three came closer, Aiko had to classify the expression on his face as 'cruel disdain'.
'That really can't be an intelligent way to react to a powerful village weapon,' she thought doubtfully. 'Either you're frightened, or you're not. There's no circumstance in which taunting the demon makes any amount of sense whatsoever.'
People were surprisingly stupid sometimes about the simplest things. She did enjoy the slight break in his expression the moment he realized that 'Fuu' was still smiling and walking towards him en route to leave the village.
The confused scowl that turned to flat-out befuddlement when the jinchuuriki walked out the village without a word was a memory that Aiko would treasure.
At her side, she suspected that the shaking of Obito's chest meant that he was hiding laughter as well.
'I can't believe they're really going to let their most powerful weapon just walk away,' she marveled silently as they followed past the namesake waterfall and a mile into the countryside without a hint of pursuit. 'Are they really so weak?'
Obito elbowed her after a few minutes, which she took as her signal to go. She shook off Obito's cloaking genjutsu with a concentrated blink of her purple eyes and strode up to the jinchuuriki, trusting that whatever illusion he'd put the beast under would keep her relatively safe.
If it had fought, the plan had been to use chakra chains to subdue it. Since that hadn't happened, it hardly seemed necessary. It would probably be enough just to keep the other shinobi calm. The jinchuuriki smiled docilely at her, apparently accepting Aiko's appearance without a second thought.
(Jinchuuriki were not very bright, were they?)
Then again, Obito had expected that it wouldn't find her to be particularly fearsome. No matter what conditioning was pounded into someone's head, shinobi still found it much easier to be wary of a tall man in a lurid mask than a pretty teenager.
She interlocked her arm with the jinchuuriki's companionably, giving a cutesy smile of her own. Aiko was oddly surprised at just how soft and warm its skin was. She didn't know why she had expected anything different, but it just seemed off. A heartbeat later she was drawn from her contemplations by the sensation of Obito wrapping a firm hand around her shoulder—they were about to Kamui away. "Ready to go, Fuu?" Aiko asked warmly.
For whatever reason, the taller female form all but melted against her at the small kindness. She felt a prick of guilt—it was terribly sad that the creature had been treated so poorly that she was vulnerable to this.
"Aiko," it greeted in a much higher conversational pitch than Aiko's near contralto.
It was an effort not to let her smile falter.
'Obito, you told it my name? Very creepy.'
Effective, but still disconcerting. She could have lived without that. On the other hand, if the jinchuuriki thought they were friends, of course soothing it would be easier. The tactic was an intelligent one.
"Where are we going?" Fuu followed up, turning her head slightly.
Aiko let her gaze wander westward, to the isolated locale in the Wind Country's great empty deserts that had been selected for this operation. "Nowhere special." She nudged the taller kunoichi (and it was disconcerting, just how human it seemed up close). "I think my house for a bit," Aiko shared easily, keeping her tone light. "We're going to go see some of my friends later, but they won't be ready for a while."
That extraction had been much easier and timelier than their worst scenario estimates. Obito would probably flit ahead to take care of last minute arrangements like putting out protective seals and traps to keep them from being disturbed while they worked while the other Akatsuki filtered in.
That was when Obito pulled them through what she privately thought of as a void to a safehouse with that same sick, twisting motion and eerie blankness. Fuu seemed a little motion-sick, but not nearly as disturbed as Aiko had been on her first few trips via Kamui.
Without ever letting the jinchuuriki know he was there, Obito tapped his fingers against Aiko's arm in the Konoha code he'd taught her.
Hour or less. Use caution.
'Of course I'll be careful. It's cute, but it's still dangerous.'
She nodded slightly in confirmation, making the motion look natural. She wouldn't have been able to tell that he'd left if she couldn't see through his genjutsu with the purple eyes of funkiness.
Aiko glanced into the jinchuuriki's trusting orange eyes, wondering how she was supposed to entertain them both for an unspecified period of time. They hadn't spent much time thinking about the mundanities of this outcome. Aiko was torn. On one hand, it felt like she should be locking the other kunoichi up and feeding her gruel or something. On the other hand, watching Fuu lean her cylindrical burden against the wall and blink agreeably up at the ceiling almost made her feel like she had a girl friend over.
'There's no particular reason to be unkind,' Aiko decided, twisting the end of her long braid around her fingers. On the other hand, leading the jinchuuriki to the more private areas of the house like her room or the sitting area seemed too friendly. She compromised by indicating that the other should pull up a seat at the kitchen table. Aiko poured herself a glass of water- and after a moment's thought, did so for her (guest? Prisoner?) companion as well. Manners never hurt.
When she came back to the table, she leaned her elbows on the table and her chin into her palms, sizing up the placidly compliant girl-shaped demon obediently sipping at her beverage.
'I wonder what on earth Obito did to it with that genjutsu.' Aiko tilted her head slightly, trying to catch latent glimpses of intelligence flickering in hypnosis-dulled eyes. 'He convinced her that she knows me and trusts me, for sure. What would it take for something like that to trust a person? From what Obito said, I wouldn't have thought it was capable.'
"Fuu." Aiko let warmth color her tone. The jinchuuriki perked up, pathetically eager at the small hint of affection. "Do you remember how we met?"
"Of course I do. You stopped me from using my bijuu in Mizu, which meant that no one was mad at me for causing an incident." Fuu frowned slightly, and added with a bit of petulance, "I thought you were an awful showoff."
She felt a muscle under her eye twitch. An awful showoff? That seemed pointed.
'Obito, you jackass.'
"I later confirmed that my initial analysis was accurate, but you're not all bad," Fuu blithely continued.
'Why is it that Obito teases me even when constructing elaborate backstory?' Aiko wondered, feeling her pasted-on smile waver. 'Did he come up with this specifically to test if I would be nosy enough to figure out what he did?'
Well, he could suck on that. She wasn't going to let on she'd done what he expected. He'd just laugh at her.
"Actually, by my standards, you might be my best friend." Fuu gave a depreciating laugh, rubbing at the back of her neck in a gesture that looked much more genuine than her otherwise muffled body language. "That's pretty sad, isn't it? You haven't tried to kill me, anyway, and you were nice to me at the hotsprings. And then there was the whole thing with Grandmother Time," she continued, before descending into babble about an imagined adventure that made absolutely no sense – something about traveling with a Kumo nin on the lam from the leader of Ame?
She tuned out most of the fantastical nonsense; mind still arrested by the phrase 'you might be my best friend'.
Heat rose in Aiko's cheeks before she controlled herself. Her throat felt oddly right—and that was ridiculous, none of this was real. She shouldn't feel embarrassed or pleased by that bit of emotional frankness. Everything the jinchuuriki was talking about was artificially constructed.
So she shoved the wiggling sensation of bashful pride down and changed the subject to an inquiry about what it was like to be a jinchuuriki.
What she heard indicated that her deductions had been dead-on: there was no one there who could hope to physically keep Fuu under control. So they had resorted to bullying and attempts to cow her into servile obedience.
(If she ever went back to Taki, Aiko might not use as much restraint as she had today.)
'Why does it matter?' Aiko wondered uncomfortably, hooking her feet around the rungs of her chair and letting the conversation fade into silence. 'It seems a lot like a person, and it has a hell of an imagination if Obito was letting it fill in blanks instead of coming up with that all himself. But it's not. So why does the idea of Taki mistreating it bother me? It's not just the illogical nature of that decision, it's something morally motivated.'
Obito gave her a funny look when he came back and noticed that she and the jinchuuriki were sitting in amiable silence, but didn't venture to comment.
Aiko smiled weakly, tilting her face up in a moue of cuteness that hopefully communicated the phrase, 'I'm not getting attached to her.'
She blinked, a little disturbed at that thought. 'It,' she corrected hastily. 'What am I saying, it's not really a person.'
Even as she thought that, Aiko wondered if she was lying to herself. But she couldn't think of a reason that Obito would have lied to her about that. It didn't seem to serve any purpose. If she was willing to fight and kill people for him, why would he worry about this specific job? If Fuu really was a person, killing her wouldn't be any different from killing other people.
Obito must still have been veiled under genjutsu, because Fuu never reacted to his appearance. Light didn't reflect off of his mask when he tilted his head, which was a little creepy. Aiko shrugged it off and glanced down at his hand quickly signaling through a short message.
Immobilize target. We move out.
She blew air out the side of her mouth and turned back to Fuu as she stood and walked around the table, pushing down the odd feeling in her gut. Getting attached was unacceptable.
Trusting, Fuu glanced up. She didn't even move to stand.
Aiko told herself she didn't care at all, easily reaching an arm around Fuu's shoulder in a parody of a one-armed hug. The teal-haired girl leaned into it, and didn't even react when Aiko's left hand curled up through her hair to pulse chakra into the base of Fuu's skull.
She balanced the jinchuuriki easily enough to a hand on each of its shoulders so that it didn't fall out of the chair, wiggling her eyebrows at Obito.
'See,' she said silently. 'I don't care. No big deal.'
He snorted in amusement. "Here, let me take that so you can put on your uniform."
"I still don't see why I have to hide my face from our coworkers," Aiko groused without any real feeling, gratefully latching onto the change of subject. Reluctantly, she kept her face still as Obito easily took the jinchuuriki out of her grip.
It was probably lucky that the uniform covered almost all of her face and shadowed what was left, because letting Obito take her to the cave rubbed in the reminder that they were about to kill Fuu, even if it was inadvertent. The hideous oversized statue that Obito had summoned to crouch over them all seemed like some demon god, and Fuu the sacrifice when she was laid at its feet.
The contrast was odd. Fuu didn't look like the demon in that scenario. Fuu just looked like a little girl.
'It has to be done.' Aiko pinned her lip between her teeth and calmed her chakra. 'Obito told me that this part was hard, but it's necessary for his plan.'
Whatever the hell that was, anyway. Tsuki no Me made little sense to Aiko, but Obito was passionate about it and he was her friend.
Outwardly serene, she made her way to the high pillars that ringed the cavern. There were far more than they needed, as far as Aiko could tell. She didn't comment and instead left an empty space in between her chosen perch and Obito's.
'It stinks in here.' She swallowed, breathing shallowly through her nose. 'It stinks like mold and death. Has Obito used this location before?'
On some pre-arranged order, another Akatsuki –the one she didn't know- sauntered over to the low central point where Obito had dropped Fuu and pulled the massive sword off his back. Aiko grimaced at the almost sensual way he stroked the blade before he allowed it to drop on Fuu's belly.
'Ew. That man has problems.'
Problems like his supremely creepy sword, she realized a moment later as it convulsed through the white wrappings and latched onto Fuu with what appeared to be scales. That was just nasty. She stiffened but didn't let herself look away. It would be both immature and disrespectful to distance herself from what was being done today. It was real even if she ignored it.
'It also looks really uncomfortable.' Aiko bit the inside of her cheek, tasting iron-rich blood. Fuu was shuddering visibly, convulsing on the rocks, brutalizing her own body in an attempt to squirm away.
As far as she could tell, whatever he was doing involved draining Fuu's chakra. Aiko reluctantly admitted to herself that decision made a lot of sense. It was twice beneficial: it would allow that Akatsuki member to pour more juice into the jutsu, and it would decrease the amount of time they had to spend draining Fuu of demonic chakra by getting rid of her regular chakra.
The Akatsuki who could only be Zetsu (the only person present with giant plant fronds that prevented him from wearing a hat) arrived last and took point across from Aiko, on Obito's other side. As Fuu was left alone, Aiko gratefully turned her attention to the people she would be working with.
'Small group,' she noted interestedly. 'No wonder Obito was nervous. This'll take longer than he'd like with only five participants.'
Obito raised his arms first. In perfect concert, everyone mirrored his motion. Aiko licked her lips and concentrate, bringing the painfully long hand sequence she had memorized into the forefront of her mind and pushing away the impulse to look down at the small figure below.
Rat-Dog-Dog-Dog-Tiger-Dragon- {...]
The whimpers started below at almost the exact moment that the group hit and held the last handsign. In the sickest, strangest way, they were comforting: Fuu sounded like an animal in pain, and not a person. A jinchuuriki, not a human being.
It went on and on, dragging out the daylight hours into one long monotonous blur of slowly letting energy seep out. Aiko switched her eyes to red in an attempt to preserve as much chakra as possible. Even Fuu seemed to tire: her pale limbs thrashed less, and her voice quieted for minutes at a time when all she could do was gasp raggedly.
What must have been an hour or so of painfully careful boredom was enough for it to become clear that even with her partially occupied reserves, Aiko was the chakra tank of the group. The others were all relatively comparable with the exception of the lithe swordsman that had stolen from Fuu's chakra. Once his stolen energy was sapped, he drastically altered his output in an attempt to keep from being drained.
Aiko was both irritated by his inability to fairly contribute and sympathetic with his desire to avoid chakra exhaustion. That could kill.
There was a noticeable lurch in the upswell of chakra, and a horrible scraping as one eye began to move on the grotesque statue. She would have known that meant the end even if Fuu hadn't begun shrieking with a new vigor, slamming the back of her head on the rocks again and again in mad, stupid pain. In contrast to the darkening Fuu must have been experiencing, the cavern was growing lighter from the pure concentration of energy accumulating.
Fuu's body was actually being pulled off the ground by the sheer stubborn force of the energy being sapped out into the hideous statue.
It was clearly the end. The demon went out in one last hurrah of vivid white light and an inhuman croak torn from Fuu's abused throat.
She fell like a broken doll in the instant that the cavern darkened, supernatural presence gone. Then she was limp, blood spreading out from her head and dripping slowly down into the rocks she laid on.
Aiko sucked her lip in between her teeth, glancing down. She didn't need to check to know that there was no pulse and that the girl would be growing cold. She took a deep breath and buried any regret at having helped kill a lonely thing like Fuu. At least it was over.
"Good work, everyone," Obito rumbled, voice exceptionally low from being silent for so long.
Despite her determination to be professional, she cringed at that juxtaposition of positive reinforcement and her bleak mood.
'He did say that this was hard.'
She turned her face slightly to look at him, despite knowing that she wouldn't be able to see anything but the light hitting his eyes. She swallowed the urge to ask what was going to happen to Fuu's body. Judging by the group silence, Obito was the only person who should be speaking up in these meetings.
In the end, she didn't have to ask. Zetsu made his way down towards the body, slipping into out of the shadowy heights to the wash of soft light below.
Oh, good. She didn't want to have to ask. It would be a bit pathetic to make it so explicitly apparent that she'd gotten somewhat attached in a few hours. But really, Fuu had gotten a poor hand in life. She deserved a nice send-off. Fire would be alright, although really-
Oh god. What- what was he… Aiko gaped, feeling her stomach lurch at the sight of what appeared to be toothy protrusions extending from Zetsu's fronds and digging into Fuu, dragging her whole into the shadows hidden by Zetsu's cloak. Someone chuckled, but she just felt ill.
Inanely enough, the next coherent thought she managed was, 'I don't think I like my coworkers much.'
"That was well done," Obito repeated, letting go of her arm as the kitchen coalesced into visibility around them. The overhead light flickered three times before coming on when he lazily flipped the switch, washing them in clinical brightness. "I think we should-"
"Can it wait?" she interrupted, in a calm voice that did not sound like her own. "I need a shower. I feel disgusting." Aiko didn't wait for a response, shedding the hat and cloak as she left and tossing them on the counter.
Strictly speaking, she didn't need a shower. She hadn't done much in the way of physical expenditure, though the cave had been foul enough that she would have claimed that was the problem if he'd asked. She shed her uniform, kicked it under her bed, and went to stand under the hot water for a while to breathe in steam and think in peace.
'That seemed unnecessary. I don't really mind that we killed Fuu, but the body could have been treated with respect.' A moment later, she frowned. 'I… I didn't like the way that we killed her, though. That was cruel. Is Obito's plan worth doing this to six more jinchuuriki? I know that they've already been twisted, but maybe that doesn't justify what we're doing.'
She remembered the gist of his words at the time—that nine beings had to die in order to buy peace. In the grand scheme of things, that wasn't much bloodshed. Of course, she'd also never seen something killed like that. All Aiko's kills were fast and efficient. But it had taken Fuu the better part of a day to give up and die.
'I don't think she deserved that. Fuu didn't do anything wrong. We hurt her because of something out of her control—something done to her as an infant. I didn't think of what we would be doing in that sense.'
Akatsuki was a lot more cutthroat than she had supposed.
It was ridiculous, of course. But she couldn't help but remember the matter-of-fact way Zetsu had gone about what was obviously a habitual duty and wonder what would happen to her if she ceased to be useful.
No, that was crazy. Obito cared about her. He wouldn't let that happen to her.
Aiko thought she'd dismissed her paranoia, but she found herself making a note to look into a few things. Like excellent seals for keeping her room safe, and whether or not Konoha really had put out a bounty on her that would keep her from going home. Though she had no idea how to find that out, since her entry in the most recent bingo book had been so very out of date…
She'd have plenty of time to start poking around and attempting to fill in blanks, since Obito had been so much busier lately.
'I mean, I have to figure out something.' Aiko swallowed, carefully rubbing about twice as much conditioner as she needed into her long hair. 'I don't really want to do that to another jinchuuriki. At least, not until I understand why we're doing it.'
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popculturebuffet · 1 year
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Sam and Max: Freelance Police: Tonight We Love Review (Comissioned by WeirdKev27)
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Happy almost valentine's day you happy people! And for those who have a partner, it can be a warm time of love, recommetment and buying stuff. For those of us who haven't found someone or dont' like it's corprate nature it's a more frought time though and that's where some old friends come to the rescue.
Yes we're getting double sam and max this month and it won't be the last time as Kev has tenative plans to have me do more reviews of the two non game sam and max series: the original comics and of course the awesome cartoon sam and max freelance police: plopped onto fox kids and promptly treated like wet garbage, Freelance Police is still a treat to this day and having binged about half of it, I can say it captures the spirit of the franchise perfectly while adding it's own touches: the weapons are either bizzarely specific or entirely over the top to get around not being able to use guns, and it's perfectly enjoyable for both kids and adults, while the 11 minute pace of each cartoon helps keep the series manic energy up. In short it's one of the best adaptations of a comic/video game ever put to film and I badly wish we'd get another somewhere, as with a proper budget, time to develop and the freedom that comes with streaming there's no telling what we could get. But what we got was fantastic.
So this isn't my first review of the cartoon as i've covered both the friend for life as part of an april's fool house of mouse review, and likely will again as it's one of my faviorite episodes and has the red green show's Patrick McKenna as Norm, THE FRIIIENNND FORRRR LIFFFEEEE. I honestly wish like the Geek , who i'll get to, he'd been ported to the telltale games. Especailly after enduring the soda poppers.
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Tonight We Love is one of two holiday specials Sam and Max did, the other being said christmas episode. And while the other had some sentiment along with the bloodshed, it's clear the writers didn't like Valentine's Day and knew sam and max, happily married they may be, wouldn't either, so instead our heroes are beach combing to avoid all that lovey dovey shit their not a fan of it. Honestly it's one of the few anti-valentine's day valentine's day episodes i've seen. Sure some specials may have characters against the holiday, but most at least at the core of it reinforce what it means. Sam and Max.. has the duo hate it, never change their mind about it and have the holiday be one big fat obstacle between them and their goal.
So what noble goal sends our heroes hurtling back into the city into the frenzy of lovers, dreamers and me? Why THE PRESIDENT OF COURSE. Well the commisioner anyway. I do love how they do the phone gag here as not only does the comissioner phone in via a shell, but when Max, whose ALREADY HOLDING IT tries to "I got it", Sam picks him up with the metal detector. Kev informed me that Max has a metal plate in his head that comes and goes as the plot needs it.
Anyways our heroes go to the Geek, aka Darla, aka a character I badly wish would come back next time they do something sam and max related. Darla serves the same roll as Bosco from the telltale games, being the team's arms dealer basically. The realtionships are radically diffrent though: Bosco simply sells stuff because that's his job and while he does seem to like the duo, keeps it mostly professional, which is sad as Sam sees him as a father figure. The two also annoy him at times.
In contrast while The Geek can be annoyed by her friends antics and them breaking her stuff, she can also both get in on it and clearly loves the guys. It feels like they split her into Bosco and Sybil for the series to have mor echaracters to interact with, but Darla herself still feels wholly unique. She's also a rare case of exectuive meddling remotely being a good thing: She was originally a fairly sterotypical nerdy boy, but execs wanted a female character, which I think worked out better as with the fo;rmer design the geek likely would've been more of a sterotypical nerd. With this the geek is mor ea modern nerd: snarky, but also plenty willing to goof off. She's also exactly the kind of straight man the two need: someone who will play along and be just as madcap as this world requires her, but who can also be frustrated with the two's stupidity and mayhem without feeling like two seperate people: she primarly gets mad when they break her stuff, which is fair, but is fine making said dangerous stuff for them and loves her surrogate dads.
Anyways this time she's made an artifical heart to the president, which max naturally inserts the obvious joke about. So our heroes stick it on the DeSoto, which is .. just fun to say. Try it.
Naturally this being an 11 minute cartoon not only do they play the timer for all it's worth.. but things quickly go wrong as after sticking it on the atnenna someone STEALS the DeSoto
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So the rest of the episode is a madcap chase.. though not too hard at first as the Geek installed a tracking device that naturally goes "over here boneheads" over and over, which is both hilaroius and makes sense… I mean Max likes to play hide the desoto at least once a week and after that scuba diving fiasco with the mer people, he had to have some contegincey ready. Anyways they find the pompadoured desperado and his girlfriend woh have sotlen it to make out and give chase. If i'm not too descriptive.. ti's that ther'es only so much I can say.
At any rate our heroes loose them but find them at loveland, which is suprisingly not some sort of cult or some sort of christian super group done by ned flanders, but a love themed amusment park and pure hell for our heroes, including Max getting stuck in the tunnel of canodling. They eventually find our desperados and I love their explination "I didn't mean to steal your car it just looked stealable". and I also like how while Sam symptahize siwth them max.. tears them to shreds off screen. You crack me up little buddy.
At any rate our heroes get the heart to the president in time which is for his dog, valentine's day is saved.. and our heroes exit as only they know how.. in a hail of bullets after knocking the president over.
Tonight We Love is a fantastic special and if you haven't tried the Sam and Max Cartoon it's a great place to start that has the general formula, some great gags and a fun twisted take on valentine's day all in a tight 11 minutes. Open your heart and spleen to it this couples day and thanks for reading.
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advluv4life · 1 year
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I watched Exaltation. First off, I'm not going to lie, Andre the ice cream guy? Not a big fan of him. I just find how butt hurt he gets annoying just because not everybody listens to his ice cream. As if everybody has the ability to listen to his ice cream. I'm sorry, it just drives me up the wall.
Anyway, it was cute. It went by so fast- specifically the kiss scene.
Honestly, Marinette blowing up at Alya over Cat Noir was a lot to take in. Though I thought it was so sweet how Alya and Tikki talked and then she was like let's just go up there and tell Marinetta that we love her, because yeah it could turn out bad- but like what's the worst that could happen? (the world being destroyed, but okay, lol)
Overall, it feels like a lot of the other super shippy kiss scenes or episodes where there's been progress, but not a lot of progress...but it is a lot of progress. It's neat ig, they say they don't love that person still (but they do), but now it's like they have to learn how to love healthily which can be a struggle because crushes can make you feel crazy and obsessive and keeping who you are and keeping that relationship with them level is hard to do. They'll figure it out, I have faith in them. They've gotten this far.
I just don't know how they're going to go about having Adrien and Marinette get together and then Ladynoir... Like, I don't know obviously they'd be in a relationship, so they wouldn't really... they can't cheat on each other. So eventually they'll have to reveal who they are if they want to have like a double-sided relationship, but I can see it being Adrienette relationship and Ladynoir not knowing that they're dating behind their masks which is pretty cute.
I'm okay with anything honestly, as long as they're happy. I just want them to be happy. But anyway, the kiss was so cute and so soft and I thought it was just the sweetest thing but Marinette blowing up on Alya- oh my gosh.. & that whole first part when Adrien showing up at the Bakery and being ignored hurt my heart 💔 and I just don't want anymore of that cringe-worthy stuttering. The last thing I want is for them both to turn into a bumbling mess on the floor that was Adrienette for the first four seasons... but I doubt it can be avoided. Unless they avoid each other and I just don't need that, lol
Also not going to lie I used to watch anime subbed online all the time and it was not nearly as hard as it was to watch Miraculous. I don't know how many times I had to try and start that video, but it was ridiculous. And the ads that popped up during the video were awful and whenever I wanted to go back to reread the subtitles it would open another ad so then I would miss part of it... It was a struggle, lol
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teaveetamer · 2 years
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I appreciate you sharing that story about a stalker. I'm sorry you had to experience that. If you wouldn't mind explaining, how did you kick out someone that toxic from your life? You said they were in the same dorm, right? Did you transfer dorm rooms? How did you ensure that he left you alone and was out of your life forever? I'd be afraid that it would continue, so idk what steps are needed to ensure safety and prevent the stalker from continuing their toxic behavior around you. Thanks!
No problem! Honestly this happened years ago at this point and the guy is long out of my life, so I'm not really too bothered by it anymore.
A lot of how I kicked him out of my life/got him to leave me alone was mostly circumstance tbh, and having some really kickass friends, but I'll share anyway. Long story short, no I didn't have to move dorms, and after a few months he gave up on me and moved on to a new target.
(This got pretty long, so I'm adding a cut)
So basically when I told him I didn't want to talk to him anymore I did it face to face, and I had a few of my friends present to "mediate" the conversation (they were all aware of what was going on and 100% on my side because they could all see how creepy he was being). I basically said "lose my number, I'm out."
The way the dorm was laid out, there were two wings on every floor: a guy's wing on one side, a girls wing on the other, and they were separated by the main common room/elevator and stairs area. His room was right next to the main stairs, and mine was on the faaaaaaar end of the hall past all the other girls' dorm rooms. This had a twofold benefit for me: 1) If he wanted to come anywhere near my room, he had to pass about fifty other girls (several of whom were my friends and would tell him to fuck off/warn me he was coming), OR he had to come down the side stairwell (which was right in front of my door, so if he came out that door I could see him through my peephole. And the door was loud so there's no way people wouldn't hear him come out).
I also had a job working the front desk at my dorm, which meant I knew all of the building's RAs, managing staff, and the other people working at the front desk to monitor the building. The Creeper's former roommate was actually one of my co-workers, so that's how I figured out this was a pattern and not just me (and also how I figured out he might have been lying about the trauma story he told me). Apparently last year they had a friend group with a lot of guys and girls in it, and Creeper would basically fixate on a girl until she got a boyfriend, then move on to the next and the next and the next girl every time. Eventually when all but like one or two of the girls had boyfriends he would constantly whine and complain about how the friend group was getting "too incestual" (since the girls would usually date another guy in the friend group) and how "no one was allowed to start dating anymore".
Me and the ex-roommate were never like super close friends or anything, but he was a great ally in keeping creepy dude away from me. He was a major fucking gossip so he actually spread the word around to a lot of my co-workers (with my permission) so they were all aware of this guy's behavior as well, and if we were working together he'd distract creepy guy if he came around.
One of my friends also worked that job with me, so she would try to get shifts at the same time as me/around the same time as me so we could walk down and back together (a lot of the shifts happened in the dead of night when everyone was asleep, since the dorm desk needed to be staffed 24/7), and if she couldn't one of my other friends was usually down to walk me down and back if I was feeling unsafe.
The RAs for my floor were also really great and were keeping an eye out for me once they found out about the situation.
For a while creepy dude decided he and his friends were gonna hang out in the lobby of one of the two buildings (the dorm was actually two dorms attached to each other). For convenience, I'll call one Building A and the other Building B. He and his friends would hang out in the lobby of Building A conveniently always when I was working the night shift in Building A. This was super shady because Building A's lobby was TRASH. I mean there were like three tables and some plastic chairs and maybe a couch, and that was basically it. For over half the year it was actually a construction zone, because they were remodeling the communal kitchen on the first floor (old kitchen didn't have a stove because it didn't meet modern building code standards). By contrast, Building B had actually been recently remodeled and was super nice with lots of comfy couches, tables with actual chairs, vending machines, etc. So yeah he'd come down and "hang out" with his friends, but spend most of the time staring at me or finding excuses to walk by the desk.
Anyway at one point my RA (who by this point knew what was going on) came down to say hi, saw him over there with his friends at like 11 pm on a weekday, and was like "have we had any noise complaints about that yet?"
"No?"
"Well I'm complaining."
And walked over there and told them to disperse 😂
At some point it kind of came out that no one in that friend group particularly liked him either (different reasons, IDK if they ever found out about his creepiness since it was all dudes in that group), so he stopped coming down to hang with them. That was pretty much when he stopped creeping on me, I guess he figured it was more trouble than it was worth to keep trying.
Eventually he moved on to the next girl (who actually was also one of my co-workers. That didn't last long because the second he showed up in her life I warned her about him and she dropped him). And yeah, I'd say by Christmas he'd mostly left me alone and I didn't have any problems for the rest of the year, at which point I moved out and got an apartment off campus.
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dancingwerewolf · 2 months
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My sister has really turned into a vindictive cruel bitch. She deliberately went out of her way to hurt my mom and gleefully used her own kids to do it. That is next level fucked up.
She used her own kids as pawns, disappointed them by taking away a planned yearly tradition my mom and her kids had been looking forward to and used the kids to deliver news of a seemingly unconnected thing they did this weekend as a delayed fuck-you mindfuck that the activity they're cancelling the yearly tradition for in place of (the excuse anyway) is for the activity they already did this weekend but the same thing in a different location (but the tickets for the future same thing event had been sold out for a long time and they don't have tickets for it which they know we know).
So they're lying obviously but the lie is a lie we can see through and are meant to see through BUT sister wasn't even going to tell my mom she canceled the yearly tradition that the family drives several hours to get there for. I honestly think her plan was to have my parents drive there and then say "Oh did I not tell you, we're not actually going there because we went to that other thing instead" as an added bonus of fuck you.
We only found out my sister's plan because my dad texted her about details for the yearly family tradition and she knows better than to fuck with my dad. He may be an asshole but not someone you go out of your way to fuck with.
It's only a matter of time before she takes away the kids from us and says we can't see them just because she knows it would deeply hurt me and my mom.
She has turned so damn cruel.
And what brought on this cruel plan? Mom disagreed with her husband (for something that was his fault and he was repeatly worried about but didn't care).
I'm trying to plan ahead and get them closer to my cousin and her kid so when she does deny us access to the kids then they'll say themselves they want a play date with their cousin so they're at least have one good family member in their life who's decent.
The kids are the sweetest kids in the world and I love them so damn much. It's not fair their parents are so awful. We've always done our best to shield that from them but they're going to be on their own soon probably.
And looking back it's not even the first damn time she's used the kids to hurt us. It was just written off as she can't possibly be that cruel and didn't do it on purpose. No, then was on purpose and this time was very planned out with multiple ways to deliberatly cause maxium hurt.
My mom has taken this pretty hard. Especially because her in-laws are terrible and my dad pushed away all her side of the family so it's always felt like me, my sister and my mom as our own little family and now it's just me and my mom.
The only reason she hasn't taken the kids yet is because she is cheap and pays us very little to watch her kids but it's only a matter of time before she thinks being cruel will trump money.
And she can't be outright cruel because my dad hasn't figured out it's deliberate yet and if he does he'll reconsider his will so my sister has to hide her cruelty behind plausible deniability so she gets some land and money (which wouldn't have been a lot but she knows my grandparents have a lot of money and when they die it'll go to dad and when he dies to me and her). So she's biding her time.
When my last parent dies, I have no doubt I will not be allowed to see the kids because her facade will be allowed to slip completely.
I'm angry of course but I'm also so damn sad. I don't have a sister anymore and my mom has lost a daughter.
I just don't get it. My mom was such a fantastic mom. She always went above for us and I always knew how much she loved me and that she'd do anything for me. I don't understand how my sister could be so cruel to her.
I try to see what went wrong and it seems to be her friend group or lack thereof. She used to hang out with good people and then some not that great parents but not bad people and then it became just her husband and husband's family and husband's family are some real asshole people but husband seemed not as bad as them but turns out he was just quiet about it.
My sister will never put her kids first but puts on a fake customer service act when she's around others to fake being a good parent until no one is looking. It's so obviously deliberate and I've seen it for years but it was harder to spot (or maybe I just didn't want to see it) when she put on a fake customer service mask around us.
She doesn't like us but puts own an act so she can use us and she lays it on suspiciously thick right before a cruel plan is put into effect. I see it now and I see her.
I see her and, while there is rage, more than anything I'm just sad. I'm grieving a person I'm not sure when I saw last.
All those countless things we wrote off as not good at communicating or being forgetful or bad planning for years now was deliberate. It was always deliberate. It was tiny little ways to be mean and we didn't see the—now obvious—malicious intend. This had been going on for years and I didn't want to see and isn't that just another added layer of betrayel?
I have made peace with no longer having a sister but I can't lose the kids. I love my nephew and niece more than I ever thought I could love anyone. I want to be there for every school play and every milestone and truly know them like I do now. I don't want them to ever turn into strangers. That is my greatest fear.
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ducknotinarow · 10 months
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[SF RaphDon]
He knew it was wrong, to hack and find out personal information, but Donatello wanted information on the person he kept getting into spats. Not for nefarious reasons, really, he just wanted to make sure he wasn't wasting his time on some child. What he did find though, when he turned on that camera, was something he didn't expect though-
"SHE'S A MUTANT RAPH!"
Was the first thing Donatello yelled as he, once again, stormed into Raphael's room - having spent all afternoon arguing with the person on Twitter again. He near shoves his phone in Raph's face, showing off the picture he had gotten of the person, well mutant, he was arguing with all the time,
"Why is it whenever we meet another mutant? They're always a jerk," Don huffs, "Thinking she knows everything, refusing to back down when she's clearly wrong," Don still refused to admit he was the same, "With her red lips and beautiful purple eyes and soft looking hair-"
Donatello stops, seeming to realise what he had been complaining about. Shaking his head, Don gives an huff,
"Look, Raph, I don't hate her - just hate that she's acting like this," He tries to save face, "Not that it matters...I only wanted to know what she looked like to make sure I wasn't dealing with some child," He huffs, soon moving to tap his thumbs against the screen, "Anyway, Raph, I wrongfully took your advice - we're meeting tonight, you know, talk everything out."
Raphael had suggested violence, but despite Dons' anger, he didn't want to resort to hurting someone physically,
"Do you and Casey want to come with?" He offers, "You know, in case things go south?"
| Muse Interaction
"SHE'S A MUTANT RAPH!"
Was the very first thing Donatello announced when he busted into Raphael's room once again. Honestly anymore Raph was purely used to Don just make his way into his room choosing Raph as the one to yell and vent about his whole twitter issues with. Not that Raphael fully understood why they decided to come to him he didn't mind either. He just figured someone else would have a better understanding on what the fuck he was talking about the best Raphael knew was that Don just would not let this Twitter person argument drop. Of course, Don wouldn't he knew his twin brother pretty well after all so that was maybe the only part of this on going issue he did follow at least.
"uhh" was all Raph had much of a chance to say before he finds Dons phone being shoved into his face suddenly.
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Raph just blew out his nose to make the grunt he let out sound more annoyed when he did it. Didn't take all to well to having the cell shoved in his face just then like such so he just takes his brothers phone from their own hand adding a slight grunt so the attitude is being read out clear. Not that Don wasn't going to be phased by it at all. He was far too worked up about some Mutant he found? Raph lowering his gaze to the screen now so he could have a better look at the picture. "So this is twitter?" Raph goes to ask hoping he's been following his twins dilemma with the twitter non-sense. Not that anyone has bothered to correct Raph on the whole Twitter thing here either he just assumed that was this mutant name.
Seeing the four pairs of eyes from the image and what seemed to be like antenna on the top of her head. "Uh she is a mutant."
"Why is it whenever we meet another mutant? They're always a jerk,"
Raph was going to point out there was Slash who was their friend but he was bad at first so at the same time he guesses they were once again right so he let the matter drop as he went to hand the phone back to them only for Don to continue on his little rant here.
"Thinking she knows everything, refusing to back down when she's clearly wrong,"
"Tellin' ya Don ya lettin' 'em get to ya, might just be what she want though if ya back she wins."
Raph already been over this he knows they wont admit he was the same way hell he was doing it right now even. Eh they were his brother though so if Don hates them he'll hate them or least egg Don on about it that was the same thing right?
"With her red lips and beautiful purple eyes and soft looking hair-"
"yeah...wait? her what?" Raph was more then ready to dog pile and help Don's frustration fester a bit more because seeing Don angry was fun to him after all. But now he was a bit confused by the wording here? Honestly kind of made him think how he got annoyed by how attractive he found Casey to be but? No that can't be right?
"ya sure you hate her cause kind sounds more 'ike ya might well 'ike her?" Raph was all for messing with his brothers, Don normally second on the list in order but kind of hard todo so when he was starting to pick up on something else going on here. Least he was pretty sure he was.
"Look, Raph, I don't hate her - just hate that she's acting like this,"
"sure" Raph states having a hard time buying something here, considering how Don keeps bursting into his room to complain over Twitter all the damn time.
"Not that it matters...I only wanted to know what she looked like to make sure I wasn't dealing with some child,"
Raph watches Don huff once more as their thumbs get to work on tapping to the screen once again. Curious what he was up to now but following the logic maybe, guess you shouldn't fight a child after all. Maybe at least might depend on the situation after all,
"Anyway, Raph, I wrongfully took your advice - we're meeting tonight, you know, talk everything out."
"Wrongfully? Hey I give da best advice clearly since ya taking it at all see." Raph states very proudly at that smirking because Don taking his advice in any sense or manner just means he was now right after all, "Still think ya should fight her not talk. Who wins by talking? Only real language anyone understands is fist or feet if ya kick I guess?" Raphael goes on to express himself but Don seemed to already have his mind made up. Eh Don was less likely to jump into a fight or expect one compared to Raph anyway.
"Do you and Casey want to come with?"
"Uh why? Ya know Casey ain't the best with a conversation either."
"You know, in case things go south?"
Now Raph's on his feet excited and near about bouncing in place he understood this at least "Oh so you really are plann' a brawl to happen!" Raph asks excitedly now grinning already feeling his blood pumping at the promise of a fight. As he started looking around for his phone so he can text Casey right away. "Fuck yeah we'll have ya back if things get heated Don no problem." Aww now theres all the brotherly support though Don is likely to be aware it more the idea of getting into a fight that has his twin so agreeable now but that can also just be ignored. Giving up on texting and Raph just goes and calls Casey waiting for it to go through.
"Hey Bone head Donnie just challenged someone to a fight!" Not at all what happened really Don said it was so they could talk. "YEah they gonna fight twitter! oh an' he 'ike you an' me ta come along in case needs help." Walking past Don as he sets his phone to be held between his shoulder and the side of his head as he started to walk past Don playfully punching them in the bicep and shoulder as he gave a little jog. It was meant to be encouraging before swing his arm over their shoulder dragging Don along with him as he left his room listening to Casey talk now on their end. "Yeah gotta help my bro out 'ere can't be letting no one make him look 'ike some fuckin' chump either 'ight?" looking to Don now "he's in by the way"
Giving a good firm tug to his twin so they could start getting a move on out of the sewers took a while to work out from. "lead the way bruiser Case will meet up with us."
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robinofgothamcity · 3 years
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scenario: you start seeing Jon which leads to the two of you having to hide it from your family and especially Damian.
pairing: jon kent ( superboy ) x fem! reader
note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / can you tell my kent family hyperfixation hasn't left yet? i swear it's becoming an issue lmaooo but this might actually be the longest fic i've written for this blog.
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you talked with your friends who you had snuck into the gala with. Rachel had begrudgingly agreed to come to meanwhile Cass and Steph were the only other ones who agreed to come on their own accord.
"Damian, your only friend is here," Dick said, earning a kick from his younger brother before getting up and leaving you and Raven alone. you knew it was a rare occasion that she even decided to show up so you didn't want to leave her alone. "we probably won't see my brother for the rest of the night. whenever his friend comes, it's like everyone becomes a background character. for him being my adopted 'twin' brother, I have yet to meet this friend."
Raven laughed as you saw the wine that the couple on the dance left on your table drunkenly. the bottle was little more than half-filled and you gave one quick look to Raven before pouring the wine into both of your glasses and discarding it right away.
"to not having fun for the rest of the night," you giggled as the two of you chugged the wine down in a mere few seconds, "drier than I thought it would be but it beats having to pay for it," Raven muttered as you agreed to sneak another bottle from the bartender so you wouldn't have to pay for it. even with your dad paying for all your necessities, the drinks at his galas were far too expensive for you to even willingly pay for them yourself. the only reason why he even paid for all your expenses was because you agreed to skip out on college to help run some parts of Wayne Enterprises with your brother.
another reason why you couldn't exactly go and pay for it yourself was because Bruce was not one to exactly be chippy at the idea of you getting plastered drunk at one of his public galas. "I got one of two ideas. one: I'll go flirt with the bartender and you can sneak behind him and get the other bottle or two: I can flirt with the bartender for enough time to see if he'll just willingly give it to us," you told Raven as she nodded with option two.
the bartender happened to be in his younger 50s. you recognized him from previous WE events and although he was familiar with your family, you doubted that he would say anything to your dad about you flirting him with. all you had to do was push the top of the dress down a bit and hike up the bottom to get his attention.
"hey Martin," you said, leaning up against the bar table and smiling, "enjoying the night?" you asked as you saw him flinch back in surprise. he nodded, trying to divert his eyes from looking at you in anyway you could have felt to be disrespectful.
"I was thinking, how much does the bottle of Lafite Rothschild go for?" you asked, giving him a pouty face. he gulped nervously, "almost ten grand ma'am," he replied, grabbing it from the wine stand, "even for me? I mean, my dad must've paid for it so does it even go for that much considering I am his child?" he asked.
you could tell that you had caught him in a predicament, "I would assume not, I assume you're twenty one, right?" he murmured, handing you the precious bottle. you smiled (a fake one that anyone could see through) and nodded before giving the old man a light kiss on the cheek, "thanks Martin, I appreciate it," you said, giving him a wave before leaving.
Raven perked up seeing the bottle in your hand, "snagged a ten thousand dollar bottle," you said excitedly as you waved it in your hand. Raven stared at you in shock, "you got a ten thousand dollar bottle in less than five minutes?" she exclaimed.
you giggled before whispering in her ear, "the benefits of being a child of Bruce Wayne is that you can practically get away with anything. especially when you're the daughter." you popped open the bottle as you handed her the wine glass and poured the drink with care. you gave her a slight cheers before taking a small sip and being pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as dry for a wine with a huge amount of alcohol percentage.
as the night progressed, you and Raven got actively more drunk. you hadn't realized how hard the wine had hit you until Raven was drunkenly getting pulled home by Gar as you sat at the table with a little less than the bottle still full. you hadn't seen your dad or brother all night and you figured they must've been pulled into doing Batfamily work at some point and left you alone with Steph or Cass. hell, maybe even Dick if he was still around.
you weren't actively apart of the vigilante work all of your siblings did but you did help them out with the technical parts of it when Tim wasn't available. you didn't really like fighting or risking your life so after you graduated, you interned at Wayne Enterprises under Tim's orders while Damian worked under your dad.
at the age of twenty-one, you still hadn't met most of the league for the exception of Wonder Woman and The Flash. the rest were strangers in your head and much to Damian's luck, he wanted to keep it that way. at least in his case with Jon.
"ow, I am so sorry," you slurred as you managed to hit someone on the shoulder. he chuckled seeing as how you were not attempting to get up, "you okay there ma'am?" the man with a southern accent asked. you giggled as you attempted to get up, "I'm ( your name ) and you are?" you asked.
"Jon Kent, pleasure to meet you," he said, kissing your hand. you blushed as you heard one of your favorite songs come through the speakers, "would you like to dance?" you asked, not even caring that you had met this just a few mere seconds ago. he nodded, figuring that since Damian left him stranded at the gala, he had nothing to lose.
the song 'telepatia' by Kali Uchis played throughout the ballroom. Jon immediately took the reigns as the lead as the lights got dimmer and you danced against Jon sensually. "what got you dragged here?" you asked Jon. "my best friend invited me as his plus one. you?" he whispered in your ear, "I work for the company so I kind of had to attend," you managed to say before turning around and facing him.
you looked at Jon with drunken yet loving eyes, "you're handsome, you know that?" you said with no hesitation in your face. Jon laughed, placing his hand on your cheek, "right back at ya, darlin'," he replied as the song switched to another one of your favorite songs.
side to side by ariana grande started.
you shrugged, feeling as though you had nothing to lose and got up on your toes gave Jon a kiss on his lips. he was slightly taken back but played it off by returning it. the two of you remained kissing through the entirety of the song until Jon felt a familiar tap on his shoulder.
"I gotta go but if you're up for it, I'd love for ya to give me your number," you nodded excitedly as you practically snatched his phone from his hand and typed it in as quickly as possible with your name having a hundred emoji's next to it, "text me in the morning!" you screamed.
Jon laughed before following Damian from behind, "you suck, you know that!" Jon exclaimed, "I meet one girl I actually like and you drag me away!" Damian rolled his eyes, "please, you act like there isn't more girls out there to hit on." this time, it was Jon's turn to roll his eyes, "I got her number so I guess that's a plus."
you woke up the next morning with a pounding headache but to a few messages on your phone. you smiled realizing that it was the boy you had met the night before.
"good morning...or actually good afternoon!"
Jon laughed from his side of the phone.
"good afternoon darlin'. I hope you had a good sleep."
you were texting your way down the stairs, greeting Alfred and Bruce before grabbing a plate of lunch and sitting down on the bar top. "what time you'd make it home?" Bruce asked, sensing the hangover you had. "a bit past midnight. drank a bottle of Lafite with Raven before dancing with a boy you invited," you said honestly.
Bruce felt himself go stiff at the admittance of you drinking the Lafite bottle but remained silent as Alfred placed Advil and one of your Gatorades next to you. "yeah, whoever must've danced with you last night must've been drunk too because you'd want to dance with you?" Damian said coming down the stairs.
you threw him a fork, Damian dodging it with ease, "I'd shut up if I were you. I'm actually getting coffee with the guy in like an hour," you replied, chugging down the rest of the food before getting up and going to your room, "yeah and I pray for the man who now has to deal with you," Damian screamed loud enough for you to hear.
you pulled on a skirt and tights before slipping on a sweater and fixing your hair and quickly doing your makeup. you grabbed the keys from your bag and took the back entrance to get to your car. one of the benefits of getting paid so much was that you were able to afford cars that were out of price range for a lot of people your age.
the coffee shop you decided to meet Jon at was a few blocks into the heart of central Gotham. you got a table farthest from the crowd as you didn't want any attention on you and your potential boyfriend. you saw Jon approaching at the front of the coffee shop and pulled on your sunglasses so no one outside could see who you were.
"nice to meet you, this time with me not being drunk," you told Jon, giving him a friendly kiss on the cheek, "pleasure is all mine sweetheart," he replied, putting his arm around your shoulder. you got up to the front of cashier and scanned the menu.
"I'd like a venti mocha with oatmilk, what about you?" you asked Jon as he scanned the menu nervously before muttering that he hardly orders coffee. you smiled, "and an order of a grande peppermint hot chocolate," you added on as you took your card out, Jon's eyes widening at the black American Express card.
"wow, Wayne Enterprises must pay you really well," he exasperated, "yeah, I guess you could say that," you said as hesitantly as possible. after the two of you got the coffees, you got back to the table as you took off your sunglasses in a sigh of relief.
"do you really wear sunglasses everywhere you go?" Jon asked. you debated on telling him the actual reason but decided on a vague answer, "eh, it's more for secrecy. I guess if I get another date, I might tell you the real reason," you winked, making Jon blush.
+
through the weeks, you decided to keep the biggest part of your life a semi secret to Jon still. he knew vaguely of a few things but one mistake on your end managed to throw all of that away in more ways than one.
you were walking downtown with Jon, his hand grasping yours as the two of you roamed an area of town that you knew didn't have major significance to WE. you were holding a coffee in one hand as you walked about a few things that happened to you that week to Jon. it wasn't until you walked towards a busy street that your heart fell to your stomach.
a huge billboard, like signs you would see on highways, of you and Damian representing Wayne Enterprises stood in the middle of an intersection. you stared at the ground, your one secret given away as Jon stared down at you, a look of shock in his eyes.
"wait, you work with Damian Wayne?" he asked as he could tell that you did not want to look at him. you sighed, a bit scared, "work partners might be a little too far from what we are," you gulped, finally realizing that you had to admit to your family ties.
Jon looked at you, now more confused than shocked.
what you didn't know was that at the same time that you were about to confess everything to Jon, a paparazzi had taken dozens of photos of you and Jon that were immediately uploaded to various Twitter accounts and gossip magazines.
"Damian Wayne is my adopted brother. Bruce Wayne is my adopted dad. that's why I have a lot more money than any regular Wayne Enterprise worker."
Jon immediately stumbled to the ground, not expecting that answer coming from you. you immediately felt tears hitting your eyes as you figured that maybe Jon didn't want to be with someone so rich and famous. someone's whose family was always in the spotlight.
"DAMIAN WAYNE IS YOUR BROTHER?" Jon screamed, catching you off guard as this was the first time Jon had ever screamed at you. you nodded, trying not to look at him in the eyes, "he's going to kill me. your entire family is going to plot my murder. I'm a dead man. Clark is going to find me in a ditch," Jon started talking to himself.
it was now your turn to look at Jon confused, "wait, what?" you asked, wiping your tears. "YOUR BROTHER IS MY BEST FRIEND. Damian Wayne is Robin and I'm Superboy!" he whispered the last part, "I've been dating my best friends sister this entire time without realizing it!" he screamed.
you finally connected the dots. every time Damian said he was going on patrol with Superboy meant that he was going to hang out with Jon and every time Damian said that Jon turned down a patrol session usually meant that you were going on a date with him. both of you stared at each other, not knowing what to say.
"small world, eh?" you asked, trying to defuse the tension, "guess we better figure out a way to tell them, huh?" Jon replied as you both heard your phone going off with texts and calls. you opened it to see that Dick, Bruce, Tim, and even Jason and Alfred were frantically calling you.
"hello, what happened?" you asked, picking up Dick's call. "GET HOME NOW!" he yelled through the phone as you heard Damian's screeching voice from the other side, "why? what happened?" you asked, staring at Jon now in fear.
"SHE'S DATING JON? I'M GOING TO KILL HIM BEFORE I KILL HER!" you heard Damian scream before something broke, "pictures of you kissing Jon came to the public on Twitter and he saw them," Jason said, half annoyed.
both of your hearts fell to your stomach as you realized it was now or never. everyone knew of your relationship and it wasn't even something both of you tried to do intentionally. you grabbed Jon's hand, yours shaking in fear as you got into the passenger side of his beat up red truck. he could tell you were beyond scared to go home and he now knew it was time. he had to man up before it got worse and you attempted to break up with him.
once you arrived to Wayne Manor, you sat still, not moving an inch. "it'll be okay darlin', I promise it won't be too bad," he murmured as he opened your door. you nodded as you hopped off and started walking towards the door.
you could hear Damian's yells still going on from the other side door as you opened it. you grasped Jon's hand and walked into the living space, Damian's eyes immediately looking at you before charging to Jon with every ounce of strength he had. Jason quickly grabbed you as Jon dodged him and Damian went straight to attack him again. you couldn't bare to look at the sight and felt tears spring to your eyes as you hid your face into Jason's side.
"hey, you okay?" Jason asked. he could see the tears in your eyes which instantly made him a bit upset. "enough," Jason screamed, catching everyone's attention. Jon and Damian saw the hurt look on your face and as soon as Jon realized you were upset at the fight he was having, he kicked Damian off of him and walked towards you.
he grabbed your hand and whispered an apology into your ear as he stroked your cheek lovingly, "I'm sorry dear but I wasn't expecting Damian to do this," Jon said as Damian watched the way Jon was treating you. a part of him knew that Jon would treat you right. Jon wasn't like your typical average boy but the fact that neither of you told him is what set him off and seeing you being so lovingly with Jon set him off again.
Damian ran towards Jon again but this time, you shielded him which made him stop immediately, "Damian, stop, please," you croaked. Bruce saw you trying to neutralize the situation and stood next to Damian, hinting at him to quit it, "I'm sorry we never told you but the reason why we never did was because we had no idea who the other was. I didn't know Jon was your best friend and clearly didn't know that he was Superboy and he had no idea I was even related to you nevertheless your sister. please, if it's anyone's fault, it's mine," you explained.
Dick, Jason, and Tim stared at Jon who grabbed your hand and pulled you to the side, "and I would have never made the move if I knew she was your sister but we fell in love and it was like a soulmate connection. we were meant for each other and I want her to be in my life. she's it for me," Dick sighed mesmerized as Tim and Jason gagged at the cheesy confession.
Damian growled, "if you even think of hurting her, Clark will be down one son and I mean it. that's my sister and no man will ever be good enough for her. you are my best friend and she might be a pain in my ass, she means the world to me. I will not hesitate to dig your grave and bury you alive if I see one tear of sadness coming down her face," Damian stated before hitting Jon on the shoulder purposely before walking away.
you smiled, your heart swelling at Damian's speech. he never once said anything like that about you and in his Damian way of being, you knew this was his way of accepting your relationship with Jon. you smiled at Jon before giving him a huge kiss on the lips, making your dad and all of your brothers gag at the sight.
"okay, save that shit for privacy, no one needs to see that," Jason said as he walked away. Bruce gave you one look before turning to Jon, "your father knows in case you were wondering but feel free to stay for dinner if you'd like," Bruce said before walking away with Tim and Dick walking away with him.
"I love you," you whispered to Jon as he let out a laugh against your lips, "I love you too and I'm all of this was cleared out." you nodded in agreement as you grasped his hand, "wanna come up to my room? I figured we should catch some sleep before Alfred calls everyone for dinner and Damian starts another fight," Jon agreed, giving you a kiss on your head as the two of you walked up the stairs.
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helloalycia · 3 years
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secret relationship // wanda maximoff
summary: you're the daughter of the famous Black Widow, which comes with its own set of hurdles such as revealing to her that you're dating the newest Avenger that she also happens to be mentoring – Wanda Maximoff. What could go wrong?
warning/s: minor (implied) violence and injury
author's note: okay so the request was the reader is Natasha's daughter and is struggling to tell Natasha that she's dating Wanda. All I know is I got excited (as usual) and this happened so yeah, enjoy! Also, Wanda’s age is always a mystery to me since it’s interpreted differently with everyone, so I tried my best to explain the age gap between you and natasha so things made sense.
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"Did you know red onion and red cabbage is called 'red' instead of 'purple' because back in the old days, they didn't have enough words for colours so anything purple was defined as red?"
"The mission, Y/N," my mum, Natasha Romanoff, AKA Black Widow, scolded.
I sighed, my attention still focused on my surroundings and my gun directed ahead. "I know, I know. But did you know that the most common internet password is '123456'?"
"Y/N," Wanda, my girlfriend and teammate said with a laugh. "Stop it."
"Yeah, please, quit it," my mum added with an eye roll.
I smiled at Wanda, admiring how beautiful she looked when she hid her laugh. My mum wasn't aware we were dating, so I settled for sending her a playful wink before looking ahead.
I knew I had to focus on the mission – scouting out this abandoned HYDRA den – but it was boring. And it was obviously empty of any threats, so talking was my only pastime.
"Did you know the inventor of Pringles is buried in a Pringles can?" I said after a moment of silence, making my mum stop walking abruptly.
"Okay, you know what? New plan," she said, looking between Wanda and I. "Everyone split up. Take a look around. Stay alert. Keep in contact. Sound good?"
I quirked a brow. "You trying to get rid of me?"
She narrowed her eyes my way. "Yes."
I frowned, making Wanda crack a smile and nudge me in the shoulder.
"You need to learn to have an off button sometimes," she joked, her Sokovian accent shining through despite the voice lessons my mum was giving her. Honestly, I preferred her Sokovian accent to her American one.
"You love it," I teased, giving her a knowing smile, my mother completely unaware of the double meaning.
"Just do as I said," my mum said, already shooing me away. "Wanda, you know what to do. If you see or hear anything suspicious, use your comms."
"Yes, Miss Romanoff," Wanda said obediently, and I tried so hard to hold in laughter at her seriousness. I mean, it was great that she was respectful of my mother and her mentor, but God it was funny to witness.
"Once again, Wanda, you can just call me Nat," my mum said with a wince, trying to be polite. "Go on."
Wanda nodded and walked off, her gun raised as she'd practiced. I grinned at my mum, noticing the way she massaged her temple with mild agitation before her gaze fell to mine.
"Go. Now." She pointed behind me, and I stifled a laugh.
"Bet you love babysitting duty," I joked.
"It's not babysitting if I'm your mother," she pointed out. "Though sometimes, you make me regret not picking the baby instead of you."
"That baby would have been six years old now," I informed her. "If anything, I spared you the whole diaper thing and the outgrowing clothes thing and the– oh yeah! Not being able to speak thing!"
"At least they wouldn't be annoying me with stupid facts," she retorted, hand on her hip. "Now be a good agent and do your job."
I rolled my eyes playfully, knowing she was kidding. Whenever I annoyed her, she'd bring up the story of how it was between twelve year old me and a six-month old baby at the adoption centre. She was worried I'd view her as an older sister or something, hence her choice of adopting the baby instead. But I never did, as she was always way more mature than any twenty-seven year old I'd met or seen at the time. And maybe, I guess, I was really desperate to have a motherly figure, and she just happened to fit the bill.
"Aye, aye, Miss Romanoff," I saluted, making her raise an eyebrow threateningly. "Okay, geez, I'm going."
I wandered off, exploring the dishevelled HYDRA den with full focus. The brief clearly stated it was an abandoned site, but I stayed on alert anyway in case there were stragglers. As usual, I only got given half the facts because of my clearance level, so I knew we were looking for a hard drive, but I had no idea what was on it.
Being a seventeen year old working in S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't exactly how I saw my life going when I grew up in an orphanage. I honestly never thought I'd get adopted, as rumours spread quite quickly through the orphanage that once you hit double digits, nobody wanted you. So, when the beautiful, red-headed Natasha Romanoff came in, looking for an addition to her family, I felt like the luckiest kid in the world because she chose me of all the kids there.
I definitely didn't expect her to be the Black Widow, nor to teach me everything she knew about espionage, stealth, hand-to-hand combat and much more. She ensured I was multi-lingual like her, preparing me for the many S.H.I.E.L.D. missions I would have to go on. There were times when I absolutely despised her, particularly when she overtrained me or stopped me from seeing my friends. And there were times when I wished she'd never adopted me, hating that I couldn't have a normal teenage experience.
But when it came down to it, I knew I couldn't have asked for a more caring, considerate and compassionate mother. I learnt early on into our relationship that she was unable to have kids of her own, hence her interest in adoption. And honestly speaking? That was probably the worst thing in the world because if anybody deserved a child of their own, it was Natasha Romanoff. I guess, in that sense, I was lucky to have all of her love to myself.
Now that I was older, I came to appreciate how awesome she was, especially when we got to go on missions together and I saw her awesomeness upfront. The only thing was, she was extremely overprotective, so it was difficult to get sent on the dangerous missions. Though, I guess, whenever I did, she was always there to have my back and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
Her overprotectiveness was also a reason why she didn't know about Wanda and I's relationship. Wanda had joined the Avengers a year ago after losing her brother in the battle against Ultron. She was a year older than me, so naturally we were drawn to each other, and before I knew it, our friendship became more. But of course, my mother could never know that. At least not yet.
"Empty here," I mumbled, rounding a corner into an empty room. As I looked through the rubbish on the desk, I continued, "Empty here... and here... and oh, look, here, too. What a surprise!"
"Y/N, I love you, but God help me I will kill you if you don't turn your damn mic off," my mother's voice came through my comms piece in my ear.
For once, I wasn't trying to piss her off, so I smiled sheepishly to myself and replied, "Sorry. Love you."
I could imagine the eye roll she was giving me in response, so continued to look around for the hard drive I saw on the brief. Still, there was nothing here.
My searching was interrupted when I heard a loud crash from a nearby room, like the sound of bricks tumbling against one another. I spun around, eyes widening with concern.
"Y/N? Wanda? What happened?" my mum's voice came through my ear, slightly reassuring me as it wasn't her who was caught up in anything. But then that meant–
"Wanda! What happened?" I replied worriedly, already rushing out of the room and to the source of the sound.
"I'm okay," Wanda's shaky voice came through my ear, which did nothing to ease my concern.
I found the room Wanda was in quite quickly, seeing her sat on the floor as if she'd been pushed. She had a deep cut on her forehead and looked visibly distressed. Running to her side, I kneeled down beside her and cupped her face, studying her head.
"Oh my God, are you okay?" The words tumbled from my mouth so quickly I wasn't sure if it was understandable.
She nodded slowly, accepting my hand and holding it for reassurance. I followed her gaze, seeing a hole in the wall ahead, bricks crumbling and dust beginning to settle. Laying on the floor through the hole and into the next room was a HYDRA soldier, clearly dead from the impact of hitting the bricks.
Wanda's power was magnificent, but hard to control. A year later and she was still learning its limits, but sometimes slip-ups like this happened. I was, admittedly, in awe of her actions.
"I'm sorry, I should have kept him alive like Miss Ro– Nat said," Wanda apologised suddenly, and I looked back at her to see her shaking her head. "He just– he startled me and I didn't know what I was doing until it happened. I thought–"
"Don't apologise," I cut her off, squeezing her hand gently, before looking back to the cut on her forehead. "I'm just glad you're okay. You did good."
Despite my words, I bit my lower lip to contain a frown, worried about her cut.
"Damn."
Wanda and I both turned to the doorway to see my mum, who stopped and took in the sight of the hole in the wall with partial surprise and partial amazement.
"Mum, we need to get her back to the quinjet," I said, pulling her attention away from the wall. She approached me as I said, "She needs medical assistance."
I didn't let go of Wanda's hand as I moved to the side for my mum to take a look. Gently guiding Wanda's chin to the side, she took a closer look at the gash on her forehead, expression showing nothing as usual.
"You'll be okay, honey," she reassured, letting go. Her eyes drifted to our connected hands briefly, but I figured she wouldn't piece anything together, so I didn't let go. She continued, "Let's get out of here. There's no hard drive anyway."
Wanda nodded and my mum and I helped her to stand up, me still not letting go of her hand.
"The hard drive is on him," Wanda spoke suddenly, nodding to the dead HYDRA agent. "I heard his thoughts before I– yeah."
My mum raised her brows with surprise. "Oh. Perfect. Y/N get the drive and let's go."
I pursed my lips, glancing at Wanda with concerned eyes. She gave me a small, reassuring smile, squeezing my hand subtly before letting go.
"Right, yeah," I said, swallowing hard.
I looked back to my mum, who seemed to be studying my expression, so I cleared my throat and left to get the drive. When I retrieved it, I jogged after Wanda and my mum, checking in on her with a small smile, before leading the way to the quinjet.
When we boarded the plane, I hung around Wanda and my mum as she helped the brunette to take a seat in the back. I noticed Wanda's momentary dizziness as she sat down and felt my chest tighten.
"Hey, you okay?" I asked, kneeling before her as my mum got the first aid kit.
Wanda gave me an endearing smile as I swiped at the blood dripping down her forehead.
"I'll be alright," she said, holding my gaze with comforting green eyes before they flickered to behind me.
"Okay, Y/N, stop hanging about and start the plane whilst I stitch Wanda up," my mum said, appearing from behind me and kneeling beside me.
I nodded, glancing between the needle, thread and disinfectant in her hands and Wanda's head. Reluctantly, I got up and left them both to it as I started up the plane and got us in the air. Once we were in the clear, I flicked on autopilot before heading back to Wanda and my mum to see how things were going.
"We'll have someone look at it properly when we get back to the tower," my mum was saying to Wanda, who was now stitched up and wearing a small bandage, "but it'll hold up for now." With a playful smile, she added, "You're not dying on me just yet."
Wanda cracked a smile and whilst I appreciated how lovely it was to see their closeness in a way I never usually saw, I was still troubled by her injury. Logically, I knew she'd be okay, but it never felt good to see her injured.
"Plane is on autopilot," I announced, making my presence known. My eyes never left Wanda's bandage as I asked, "Everything okay here?"
"You need to calm down," my mum joked, making me look her way. "It's not that serious. Just some stitches."
I smiled awkwardly, but I knew it was much more than that.
"Yeah, relax, it's not a big deal," Wanda added playfully.
Her eyes met mine and I knew she was communicating the same thing through her gaze, holding a seriousness that wasn't able to be shared verbally because of my mum's presence. I tilted my head, giving her a knowing look; she knew I was aware of how big a deal it was. All I wanted to do was give her a hug and kiss and not leave her side until she felt better. And she knew that.
"I'm gonna go fly the plane," my mum said suddenly, and I almost forgot she was standing there until she spoke up. "We'll get back to base quicker..."
I glanced at her, mildly confused at her sudden change of expression. She headed to the front of the quinjet, leaving Wanda and I alone.
"Seriously though, you should relax," Wanda said, sounding like she did when it was just her and I and nobody else. She had an amused smile on her lips as she watched me worry. "I'm fine. All stitched up."
I licked my lips, sulking, as I dragged myself over to the seat beside her. She laced our fingers together, pressing a kiss to the top of my hand before facing me with an easygoing smile.
"I'm fine," she repeated gently, lovingly, sweetly.
I offered her a small smile, before leaning forward to press a kiss to her bandage. "I know. Just don't worry me like that. Especially in front of my mum. I can't take it."
"It's cute," she noted, amusement returning. "It means a lot to know someone cares."
My shoulders relaxed. "I care too much. So, please don't test that."
She laughed and I felt my heart flutter in my chest, never getting used to the sound.
"I promise not to," she said, looking up at me through her lashes.
I leaned my head on her shoulder and kept ahold of her hand, staying with her until we arrived back at base. My mum flew us the whole way back, only coming to get us once we landed. I knew I should have left Wanda's side as to not raise suspicion with my mum, but I couldn't find it in myself to do so. I just hoped she would interpret it as two concerned friends rather than her daughter having a secret girlfriend.
"You should head to the medical wing to get checked out properly," my mum said once we were back at the tower, looking to Wanda.
"Yeah," I agreed a little too eagerly. "I'll go with you."
My mum gave me a curious look. "I mean, that's not necessary."
Wanda must have sensed my eagerness, as she said, "I'd appreciate the company, actually. I don't mind."
She shot me a subtle smile, eyes bright with reassurance.
"I'm happy to accompany you, Wanda," my mum offered, and I felt my mouth go dry.
"It's okay, mum," I said suddenly, making her look to me with pursed lips. "You can go debrief and I'll make sure Wanda is cool with everything."
Glancing between us, my mum finally nodded. "I see. I guess I'll see you both later then." She paused, looking between us once more, before adding, "You did good today. Both of you."
I looked down to my shoes as Wanda shot her a grateful smile. She walked away, leaving us be, and I immediately intertwined my fingers with Wanda's as the two of us headed to the medical wing.
"You may as well write desperate on your forehead," she teased with a beautiful smile.
"So funny," I said sarcastically, though a smile of my own was present. "Let's just get you checked out."
"If it means you'll stop pouting, then sure."
"Real jokester you are. Hilarious, honestly."
Her laughter surrounded me like a warm hug and I could have listened to it forever.
Since our mission together, I noticed the distance my mum was putting between her and I, and I had no idea why. I thought I was overthinking it and seeing things that weren't there, so I didn't follow up with it until one evening.
It was a rare occurrence for all of the Avengers to be at the tower at once, so when they were, we'd all have a 'family' dinner for some normalcy. Only, this time, I noticed how strange my mum was acting whenever I spoke to her. She'd either act super dismissive or give one word answers to my questions – once again, I wasn't sure if I was seeing things.
After dinner, everyone went their separate ways and Wanda and I stayed in the living-area to watch some TV. Though it was playing, the volume was lowered and neither of us were watching it. We were just talking about random stuff and enjoying each other's company.
"Okay, how about this one?" I said to Wanda, turning so I was facing her, a grin on my lips. "What did the clock do when it was hungry?"
As with all of my other attempts at making Wanda laugh, she stared at me with an amused smile and a quirked brow.
"Say it...," I encouraged, motioning for her to speak with my hand.
She sighed. "Okay, what did the clock do when it was hungry?" Mumbling, she added, "Even though clocks don't eat..."
I slapped her leg playfully. "Sshhh, you'll ruin the joke. And the answer is, they go back four seconds!"
Wanda didn't laugh, but she seemed entertained as she hid a smile. "Seriously?"
"Because of the number 'four' and the word 'for'," I explained. "C'mon, that's a good one!"
"D'you think you're funny?" she asked, eyeing me playfully. "Because you're not."
I shrugged, playing it off like I wasn't fussed. "I mean, I don't know about that... how about now?"
Before she could question me, I moved forward and began to tickle her sides, watching as she squirmed with laughter.
"Stop it!" she shouted, but her smile was as wide as ever as she was unable to stifle her laughter. "P-please! Y/N!"
"But you said I wasn't funny!" I retorted with a grin, practically straddling her as she attempted to push me off her. "I'm just checking if you still think that!"
Wanda was crying now, tears escaping the corners of her eyes as she continued to laugh. "I'm s-sorry! Y/N, stop!"
Before I could think how to respond, the doors to the living-area opened and in walked Steve Rogers AKA Captain America, a confused expression on his face as he saw me sat on Wanda.
"Hey, ladies," he greeted, raising an eyebrow. "You both good?"
I pulled my hands away from Wanda and breathed out, still smiling as I glanced down at her. She blew a strand of hair from her eyes and glared at me playfully.
"Yeah, just talking," I answered Steve, before being thrown off Wanda and to the floor with a thud.
"Just Y/N harassing me as usual," Wanda corrected, and I sat up to see her sitting up, too, fixing her hair.
Steve chuckled as he headed to the fridge in the connected kitchen. Wanda helped me back onto the couch, nudging me in the side as a response to the tickle fest, before leaning on me and stretching her legs across the couch.
"So, hey, what's up with you and your mum?" Steve asked as I continued to annoy Wanda by flicking her face.
"What do you mean?" I asked, not looking up as I grinned down at Wanda, watching as her eyes glowed red threateningly.
"Don't make me hurt you," she said teasingly, lifting a hand and summoning her powers, red wisps of energy becoming present.
I stopped flicking her and intertwined her hand in mine, watching as her eyes faded to its usual colour.
"She just seemed distant at dinner," Steve continued.
I looked up and saw he was leaning against the counter with a water bottle in his hand. Wanda continued to stretch, practically on top of me, probably to annoy me as I had been doing with her. I moved her hands out of my face as I nodded to Steve.
"So, you saw it too? She was being off, right?" I asked him, glad I wasn't just imagining things.
He nodded, gulping his water, before saying casually, "Definitely. What did you do? Finally tell her about you and Wanda?"
It took me a second to realise what he'd said, but when I did, my eyes widened and I spluttered out a terrible response. "What– what about Wanda and I?"
I glanced at Wanda as she began to sit up properly. She looked more confused than panicked.
"You know, that you're together," Steve said like it was obvious.
I cleared my throat. "What? Why would you think that?"
Steve smiled with confusion. "Wait, so you're not? But I thought–" He paused, pulling a face. "No, you are! Everybody thinks you are!"
I shrugged it off, though inside I was panicking. "I mean, even if that was the case, why do you think my mum knows?"
Steve nodded knowingly. "She's been off with you all night. And then I caught up with her after dinner and she wasn't in a very talkative mood. Just mumbled something like 'new girl, her age, pretty, nice, should have seen it coming'. I assumed she was talking about Wanda."
Heat crept up my neck with embarrassment and when I looked to Wanda, I saw her cheeks dusting a red colour, similar to the energy she could summon. She looked as flustered as I felt.
"Has your mum been okay with you before today?" Steve asked, trying to be helpful.
I chewed on my lower lip and shook my head. "Not since we got back from our last mission..."
Steve scrunched his face with sympathy. "Oof. You should probably talk to her then. You know how much she hates secrets."
I groaned internally. "Thanks for the reminder."
He saluted playfully, his stupid smile on his stupid face, before leaving Wanda and I alone again.
"Well, looks like she knows," I said to Wanda, sinking into the couch with hopes it would swallow me forever.
"She might not," Wanda tried to make me feel better, resting a hand on my leg. "It could be something else."
I gave her a knowing look. "She has to know. It's the only thing that makes sense. You heard Steve."
Wanda sighed, sinking into the couch beside me. "Yeah..." She glanced at me and I looked at her as she said, "I did tell you to tell her."
I forced a smile. "Gee, Wanda, that was helpful. Thanks."
Wanda rolled her eyes before leaning her head on my shoulder. "Sorry..."
I rested my hand on hers. "It's okay, sorry. I just– she's gonna be really mad that I kept this from her."
"Yeah, why did you do that again?" Wanda asked questioningly.
I massaged the tension between my eyebrows. "Because she's too overprotective. It gets too much to handle sometimes... Take my last boyfriend for example. He was some tool that cheated on me and, oh boy, my mum wanted to kill him. I had to physically restrain her from doing so."
"I don't blame her," Wanda quipped, a hint of bitterness in her voice.
I smiled a little, squeezing her hand. "I know... she ended up slashing his tyres and egging his car without telling me. But instead of egging the outside, she broke into it and egged the inside. A thoughtful take on a classic, I must admit."
Wanda laughed, her whole body shaking with pure amusement as she listened to the story. I couldn't help but smile myself, remembering it like it was yesterday. Definitely a fun time.
"I appreciated it, don't get me wrong," I added, smile fading. "I just didn't want that to happen again. I wanted to enjoy our relationship without anyone spying on us, y'know? But now she's gonna be super angry."
Wanda let go of my hand and rolled on top of me, leaning down on my chest so she could look me in the eyes. I wrapped my arms loosely around her to keep her steady.
"She only wants the best for you," Wanda told me gently. "You have to tell her you're sorry. Explain why you did what you did, but hear her out, too. She's your mum. Caring too much isn't a bad thing."
I groaned, knowing she was right. She smiled reassuringly, patting my chest.
"You get the caring too much thing from her by the way," she added, before leaning forward and pressing a haste kiss to my lips. "It's okay though because I love it."
I smiled, never really seeing it like that. Raising my hand, I brushed my thumb over the small bandage on her head; her injury was still healing, but she didn't let it bother her. Very Wanda-like.
"Thanks," I mumbled, meeting her gaze. "You always say the right thing."
"Which is why I'm going to tell you to get up and go to your mum," she ordered playfully, pushing herself off me and holding out her hand.
I let her pull me up before straightening up and taking a deep breath. Wanda was right. I just needed to be open and explain my piece. It would be fine.
So, it wasn't fine.
When I entered my mum's living quarters, she wasn't the happiest to see me. In fact, she actively turned her body to face her TV when I came through the door.
"Hey," I started with a small smile, fighting the nerves in my stomach. "Can we, er, can we talk?"
She grabbed the cushion on the couch next to her, hugging it to her chest. Her eyes didn't leave the TV, but the space next to her was free, so I took that as an opportunity to close the door and sit beside her.
The news was playing on the TV – headlines, I think – and they were talking about a new elected congressman in New York.
"Seriously? The news? Even in your free time?" I asked playfully, hoping it would lighten the mood.
She didn't even glance my way as she muttered, "I like to know what's happening in the world."
Losing my smile, I straightened up and cleared my throat. "Right, right..."
It went quiet as the TV played in the background and my mum said absolutely nothing. I grabbed the other cushion on the couch and hugged it to my chest, similar to her. It was a nervous habit that I picked up from, well, from her.
"You said you wanted to talk?" she reminded me. "So, talk."
Having the Black Widow as your mother wasn't something anyone could get used to. She could be the most caring, loving, protective person in the world, but she could also appear quiet, intimidating and ruthless like the trained assassin she was. Not the greatest combination when trying to open up to her.
"I think I know what you're thinking," I started, pinching my hand to distract from my growing anxiety.
Without hesitation, she bent forward to grab the TV remote and turned it off before turning to me with sad eyes.
"That's where you're wrong," she said calmly, and it was way worse than her yelling. I would have preferred her yelling to be honest. The disappointment in her voice was much worse. "You always assume you know what I'm thinking. What I'm going to say or do."
I avoided her eyes guiltily. "Mum, look, I know that I should have told you the truth. And I know how angry you are, but–"
"I'm not angry, Y/N!" she shouted, finally, standing up off the couch and creating space between us.
I winced. "You sound angry."
She put her hands on her hips, looking down to her feet and taking a breath. Her voice at normal volume, she said, "I'm upset. You– you didn't trust me enough to tell me the truth. Instead, I had to put it together when you acted how you did with Wanda after that mission and..." She paused, sighing. "Forget it."
"No, keep going," I pleaded, the guilt piercing through me sharply. "You're right."
She swallowed hard, glancing at me with glassy eyes. "I wouldn't have done anything. I know I have in the past, but this is Wanda we're talking about. I've been her mentor for a year. I care about her and– and– she's good. And she's good for you."
Okay, I definitely misread this whole thing because now my mum was upset, on the verge of tears, and I was the arsehole responsible for it.
"I'm so sorry," I said, standing up and moving forward to hold her arms. "I should have trusted you. I mean, it wasn't even about trust. I was just scared you'd react badly. But it wrong of me to assume that."
She frowned, looking down to her shoes. "I know I can be tough sometimes, but it's only because I care."
I thought back to Wanda's words and gave her a small smile. "I know. I get it from you."
"I am happy for you, you know," she said, glancing at me petulantly.
My expression softened. "Thank you. That means a lot coming from you."
Without another word, she pulled me in for a motherly hug, making me close my eyes and relax in her arms. I still felt horrible for making her feel like I couldn't trust her when it was anything but that.
"I'm sorry," I repeated quietly into her shoulder.
"I forgive you," she said, before pulling away and giving me a small smile. "Now tell me. You're happy?"
The thought of being with Wanda gave me butterflies and I couldn't help but smile in response. With a nod, I said, "I am."
She nodded, squeezing my shoulders gently before fully letting go. "Good. I'm glad you've got her... I know you can take care of yourself, but she's strong, too. She can look out for you when I'm not around anymore."
I shoved her in the shoulder. "Don't joke about that. She isn't replacing you and you're not going anywhere, you hear me?"
She laughed, nodding. "Not yet anyway. But sure, okay."
I relaxed and gave her a nervous smile. "So, you wanna meet Wanda? Like, as my girlfriend and not your student?"
She rolled her eyes playfully. "If I must."
I smiled widely, grabbing her hand and leading her to the door. "She loves you a lot, y'know. She wanted me to tell you about us as soon as we got together. She hated lying to you."
"Yeah because she knows that lying is wrong," she teased me, making me groan loudly. With a chuckle, she added, "I love her, too. She's definitely something."
"Hell yeah she is," I said in agreement, grinning to my mum as I dragged her to the living-area where I last left Wanda.
On the way, we passed Steve in the hall, who took notice of the smiles on our faces and nodded knowingly.
"Glad to see you worked it out," he said supportively.
"Thanks for the heads up," I told him gratefully as we passed him.
When we reached the living-area, I saw Wanda sat on the couch watching TV. When she saw who entered, she straightened up instantly, moving to stand and unsure what else to say or do. It was cute, the respect she had for my mum.
"Did you– I– She told you?" she stumbled over her words, starting to speak to me but eventually looking to my mum.
My mum glanced at me before meeting Wanda's nervous eyes. "She did."
Wanda licked her lips anxiously. "And you're okay with it...? Angry...? Wanna kill me...?"
I watched my mum, nodding encouragingly to her. She sighed before giving Wanda a small smile.
"No killing will be necessary," she reassured my girlfriend. "Unless, of course, you break my daughter's heart. Then in which case, I may have to find you when you're sleeping."
"Mum!" I complained, face falling into my hands with embarrassment.
"I'm just being truthful," my mum said with seriousness, before looking to Wanda expectantly.
Wanda surprisingly took it well, probably used to my mum's personality after training with her for a year. "I understand completely, Nat and I'll hold you to that. I have no intention of breaking Y/N's heart."
A rare, genuine smile appeared on my mother's lips. "I know you don't. Just–" She paused, glancing at me. "Keep her safe, yeah? She's a bit stupid sometimes."
Wanda laughed as my mum smiled with amusement, like it was an inside joke.
"Right here, you know," I reminded them with a wave of my hand.
They only rolled their eyes.
"I will," Wanda promised my mum. "Thank you for being okay with this."
My mum nodded, giving us both a final smile and once over, before saying, "I'll leave you to it. Goodnight."
Wanda and I bid our goodnights, watching her leave before a giant sigh of relief escaped our lips.
"You feel better?" Wanda asked me, grabbing my hand and tugging me to the couch.
She let me fall on her chest easily, snuggling up to her as she wrapped an arm around me and held me close. I inhaled her perfume, a familiar and comforting scent, as my head rested in the crook of her neck.
"I feel better," I answered, closing my eyes and letting her intertwine our fingers.
"I believe this is the part where you say I was right," she prompted, a hint of amusement in her words.
"Don't make me hurt you," I mumbled, making her laugh quietly beneath me.
"You're lucky I love you," she said, kissing the top of my head. "I guess opposites do attract. You're the stupid one and I'm the clever one."
"Wanda?"
"Yeah?"
"Fuck off."
She laughed again, and even though it was at me, I couldn't help the content smile from spreading on my lips.
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