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dannyphantom-justiceleauge · 3 years

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As much as I believe Vlad to be an iredeemable asshole in cannon, I like the idea of a begrudging mentor Vlad. Like, say in an alternate universe everything starts of the same but he's not got some evil plan to kill Jack and marry Maddie. He's bitter and resents them for turning him into this abomonation, resents them for being happy when he can't, he tries to stay connected, but he just can't stand being near them and fears their reaction to his ghost side. (1/3)

(2/3) He takes advantage of his new powers, he steals and cheats his way to power, living life lavishly, but it doesn't make him happy, none of it fills the emptiness in his heart. He spends most of his life miserable up until one day he invites the Fenton's on a whim, perhaps in some desperate attempt to find happiness again, where he meets Danny. It goes similarly how it went in the show, Vlad discovers he is a halfa like him, see's how his parents treat him... ~ ~ ~ i think part 3 got eaten, bro, but i'm gonna work with what i got.

Vlad sees this kid who's like him who's parents still talk about killing ghosts and destroying them in front of him. not knowing that they're threatening Vlad. that they're threatening their own son. he see's these so called scientist haven't learned anything about ghosts in the years that they've been estranged and that they've managed to make the same mistake twice.

and he see Danny, a moody teenager, going through the traumatic process of dying and gaining hard to control powers on top of being a highschooler and social pariah. he sees this kid in desperate need of guidance and sees his parents who are neglectful and unaware of a fact he learned within a day of knowing Danny. and he says, "if you can't handle the responsibility of having a kid, he's mine now." yoink

except, obviously, he's really, really bad at it. being a mentor, winning Danny over, being a good person. all of it.

initially he just straight up offers to help Danny learn his powers and that works, Danny agrees, because Vlad isn't trying to kill danny's parents or attacking him, or stalking them, so Danny has no reason not to accept the help. Vlad seems okay for all his rich guy eccentricities.

but then the lessons actually start and danny realizes. oh. this guy has no idea how to teach. and oh this guy has the moral compass of a rotary fan. and Danny initially goes with it. in canon danny's can be swayed by petty stuff and money up to a point. he can let a lot of shit go and is even willing to do some soft crime if he thinks it's for the right reasons. and Vlad might beat him up when trying to teach him to fight, but that's part of training, right? and he might be changing a little under Vlad's influence but danny doesn't see that as a bad thing, until Sam and tucker basically call him out and he accidentally hurts one of them. something that Vlad had told him to do.

so danny bails. basically confronts Vlad and tells him he's a shitty mentor and that he's gonna peace out. suck eggs, fruit loop.

but Vlad had thought things were going well. he's gotten attached. he doesn't want to go back to being alone and he and danny are the only two of their species in the world. so typical villain/stalker stuff happens between them for a bit. Vlad tries to win danny over with money, with manipulation, with blackmail. and Danny isn't having it. (he has blackmail on Vlad too). Vlad is growing increasingly desperate and looks and acts a mess. this is a vulnerable Vlad. we're not getting well kept always cocky and put together except when danny embarrasses him Vlad. we're getting a pathetic man trying to cling to the only human(ish) connection he has and slowly falling further into depression and insanity.

and Danny pities him. because Danny had that human connection too. in the early days before he decided he got to see vlad's dorky and cool side. Vlad was generous with his money. vlad only swears in food. he lights up when he watches a packers game and is a total fanboy.

and Danny kinda gets how he became like this. how his isolation and loneliness and fear drove him further and further down the road of corruptness and evil. Danny learns what he would become without his friends and if anything Vlad is better than that. it's almost similar to how he is with val. he understands where she's coming from and sees that she's a good person even if her actions have taken a turn in the wrong direction. he feels the same about Vlad. he thinks maybe he can convince Vlad to be better.

so redemption arc/reverse mentor relationship because danny is gonna be trying to teach Vlad how to stop being a fruit loop and start making some friends his own age. the comedy potential of that is amazing. i have the mental image of Danny convincing vlad to go on a date with Harriet Chin and coaching him from behind her even though he has next to no dating experience either. pure shenanigans.

i also see there being several back and forth instances of kidnapping. Vlad locks Danny in his house because he doesn't want to be alone (Danny eventually escapes and gets mad. Vlad learns never to do that again). Danny kidnaps Vlad to be a chaperone at a school event, mostly to get Vlad to lie for him. another time Vlad kidnaps danny to go to a rich person party because he said he had a kid in a pathetic attempt to make a friend (moral of the episode is lying to make friends doesn't work) so he just has Danny pose as his son that whole episode and they're trying to get along and seem happy, meanwhile snipping at each other in whispers. they think no one is buying that they're related but ironically them arguing at the end of the night is one convinces the person they're family. "me and my daughter would fight all the time, especially at events she didn't want to come to." probably muddies the moral but that's common enough in dp.

just gradually develops into a weird redeemed uncle/mentor dynamic. Vlad really isn't teaching Danny much. he still occasionally has his moments to shine with explaining new powers and showing danny how to commit tax fraud or lie to the police. but he's mostly just this weird guy who's first friend in twenty years is a teenager.

- Hestia

#dpjl #hestiawrites #danny fenton #vlad masters #danny phantom

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reachgirl · 3 years

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On Buddie and them potentially being aware of their feelings

So we definitely see evidence of how Eddie might feel about Buck, how he clearly loves and trusts him. He absolutely relies on Buck a lot as someone who loves Christopher, as that person you go to who cares about your kid as much as you do. And he clearly doesn’t handle not having Buck around very well during the storyline that must not be named.

He also looks at Buck like “you’re lucky you’re pretty”, a LOT. And he’s shown to think about Buck’s wellbeing and Buck’s feelings. For a guy who’s not usually great at ~the talking~, he seems to sense that Buck needs to hear him actually *say* things like that he trusts him, out loud. For Buck, someone who’s been told that he’s reckless and impulsive, not diligent, not reliable (and to be fair to Bobby, has been all those things at times, but is desperate to change that view of himself), to be told that he’s trusted - more than anyone else - with someone’s kid? That’s huge. And Eddie knew that he needed to hear that, he also knew that he needed to feel like part of something when Buck was depressed and hanging around at home after the truck bombing. And Eddie was the one who noticed Buck wasn’t around at the station. For Eddie, the fact that they “have each other’s backs” is so important, because, and it’s insane how this is not wishful thinking on the fandom’s part, he actually tells Shannon that she doesn’t have his back. So yeah, absolutely nobody is disputing that Eddie loves Buck.

And I’ve talked about how I believe that Eddie might be bi leaning towards more into men than women (his “not my type” and aunt pepa’s reaction to buck are the foundation for this theory), and his particular combination of upbringing, experience and location really messing with him admitting that to himself (Conservative religious culture, Texas, army, getting married young because of outside expectations). But many of the scenes we get from him could - FROM THE OUTSIDE - very well just show a guy who has a lot of love and respect (and occasionally some fond exasperation) for his best friend. Possibly more, but not in that active, pining way. Not like he’s truly aware of it, yet.

But Buck? He pretty much always looks at Eddie like he’s the best thing that has happened to him, ever, and he can’t believe his luck of getting to be around this man. The smile he constantly gives him, and - in seasons 2 and 3 - only him, is the actual “I want to sleep with you smile” from season 1 Buck. I don’t make the rules.

He constantly finds ways to help him out, reads up on things he knows Eddie is interested in or things that are for some reason something Eddie is dealing with (whether it’s baseball biographies or summer camp brochures), and absolutely always looks to him for approval anytime he does something well or remotely badass. Or even when he makes a joke. It’s almost like 95% of the stuff he does, he does so that Eddie will see.

He sees himself as part of Eddie’s family to the point of not feeling like he’s a guest at their house, he has proven he would actually die for Chris, and he spends much of his free time finding ways of making Chris, the most important person in Eddie’s life, happy. He shares in both the happy and the difficult parts of raising Chris, he gets involved in school problems, and he’s there for Eddie to talk through all the little things that come up when you’re a parent. Often times, with single parents, when the other parent isn’t around, the problem is that there’s nobody else in your life who shares the same love and enthusiasm or worry you have for your child. You could talk about everything relating to them for hours, but even the best meaning friends will at some point reach the limit of how interested they are. Not so with Buck.

But unlike Eddie, Buck is also aware, to a point, of how much he’s focused on Eddie. Where Eddie’s jealousy comes across as more spur-of-the-moment, not something he’s even aware of, Buck seems like.. he’s thought about how he feels about Eddie. Others definitely have. Maddie’s comment about his “man crush” aside, even a random christmas elf (long may she live) comments on it. Hen and Karen immediately agree Buck would invite Eddie, like, Karen knows about this even. Their reaction when Buck is acting irrational over how they might get Eddie out when he’s buried alive and most likely dead already is that reaction of “Oh fuck, this will break this person” that is usually reserved for the significant other or parent. Bobby definitely reacts to Buck in relation to Eddie the way a father would, carefully weighing being amused at how obvious he’s being, and concern over not wanting him to get hurt doing something stupid trying to save Eddie, or by falling for him when it might not be reciprocated. They all know that Buck’s a little (more than) smitten with Eddie. And Buck... of course he’s going to notice how his friends and family react. I think he’s been aware of it for a while and is constantly trying to navigate and balance this.

Of course he hasn’t told his face about balancing anything at all yet, because look at that man’s face any time he looks at Eddie, look at that scene with the medal. He absolutely can’t help it. And sometimes it’s like he wants them to pick up on it - for example, pushing Maddie on the fact that he doesn’t consider himself a guest. And that’s completely understandable, sometimes you want people to pick up on something and maybe even comment on it (because their reaction reaffirms to you that maybe you’re not crazy) while also not wanting attention on that point. People are complicated like that. And Buck may be a himbo, but he’s complicated AF.

We get Buck being really weird about Eddie and Shannon in general - right off the bat. When Shannon shows up at the station and she and Eddie talk, Buck’s in the background and overhears that they’re sleeping together. He clearly struggles with this information, (and Chim possibly notices..) then he get’s real petty about them potentially getting married again (”Maybe you can get a discount”) - and he nopes out of the situation as quickly as he can - because he doesn’t want to risk saying anything snarky.

Then Chim and Buck go christmas tree shopping, and Chim comments on how Buck can’t let Eddie’s situation with Shannon go, and it’s true, he can’t stop himself. But when Eddie asks him for advice in front of the fountain (/metaphorical water penis as I like to call it), he’s suddenly all “I didn’t think it was my business” ... ok, sure, Buck. Then he basically tells Eddie to try and make it work with Shannon. In terms of character development, in a romance, this is the part where person A wants to be with person B but doesn’t think they have a chance, so makes the choice to try and settle for being their friend, which, heartbreakingly, involves pushing them into the arms of someone else.

Also, his kind of “oversharing” of Eddie’s situation with Ana to the rest of the team is, to me, a pretty clear indicator that the topic makes him uncomfortable and he’s trying a Ross Geller-I’m making Fajitas- “let’s show everyone how very completely normal I feel about this” approach, which.. it doesn’t.. work that well. And when does this ever work, it’s super easy to see through this, and it usually just serves to draw more attention to the fact that you’re uncomfortable with whatever is being discussed.

Buck also takes everything Eddie says to heart. Like, fucking takes it and will not let go of it. Half a season after Eddie tells him that he makes everything about himself, he breaks down telling Maddie he’s worried he’s making the situation with the old firefighter about himself again. During the kitchen scene (or “The actual how-to-guide of what to do when you thought the guy you have a crush on doesn’t reciprocate but then you have a fight and he really doesn’t handle being away from you so well so you kind of might as well see where being a little more openly flirty will get you”), Buck’s clearly thought about Eddie’s words from the grocery store fight, and he’s gonna call Eddie out. And maybe do other stuff.

Looking at what the writers are actually doing, to end the season, there’s the clawing at dirt of it all, Buck falling apart when Eddie’s buried alive. Buck being in almost all of Eddie’s memories when he’s close to dying. And Maddie’s comment about not wanting to set Josh up with Buck, which is innocent enough, but why throw that in on top of all of the above, if not because maybe what we’re actually looking at is that they’re setting up a sexuality crisis for Buck, and him realizing he’s maybe into Eddie, but Eddie not actually reciprocating (yet)? And say Buck is then somehow forcefully pushed to see the truth about how he feels, maybe by, i don’t know, coming across TK and/or Carlos on a call, and one of them asking him how long him and Eddie have been together? We might get Eddie with Ana, and a very long, drawn out process of Buck realizing what’s happening and trying to leave them alone, and Eddie being really confused about why Buck’s being like that. Then we would have two options (well, more, really, but these are two I like): 1) Eddie pushing Buck on that point and demanding an explanation and Buck just coming out with it because fuck it and sorry and please let me see Chris still 2) Buck’s sexuality crisis (or not crisis, if he’s always been pan/bi, which, look, nothing I’ve seen has disproven this theory) leading to him dating a guy and Eddie getting really jealous but not actually being aware of the fact what he feels is jealousy (because he doesn’t realize how he feels about Buck, see this whole essay you just read), and Buck being the one who confronts Eddie about why he’s being such a homophobic asshole about this, and Eddie straight up kissing him because he can’t not anymore.

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collectivefandomstuff · 3 years

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Title: A Hindering Hand Type: Fanfic, crossposted to AO3 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/27270097) Status: Complete. Chapter: 1/1. Fandom: DC/Batman Rating: T Warnings: Language. Beta: No beta we die like Jason Todd and also Damian Pairings: None. Word Count: 4k+ Genre: Humour/Comedy Characters: Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown, Damian Wayne. Summary: When Dick is refused the opportunity to coddle Damian, he decides to lavish his other siblings with his questionably helpful assistance. They are palpably ungrateful.

Excerpt: Damian didn’t answer the first time, so Jason made use of his annoying gene(s) and called him over and over until he picked up. “Todd,” Damian snarled, “I am at school. I realise that you were incapable of finishing your formal education but-” “Your fucking Dick of a brother broke into my apartment and re-decorated my living room.” Jason informed him.

”You have got to be kidding me.”

Jason stared at what used to be his perfectly clean kitchen; now a hollowed out shell of its former self. Cabinet doors were thrown open, his carefully organised supplies haphazardly shuffled around. Every single counter and parts of the floor was covered in flour, cocoa, and something wet and heretofore unidentified. He didn’t even want to look closer at the stove or the sink, both filled with sticky, clearly misused, pots and pans. There was a smell hanging in the air, the same one that had set his inner alarm bells off when he entered the apartment: burnt sugar and something that smelled suspiciously like rotten fruit. Jason took a deep breath to stop himself from just whipping out his guns and shooting at the mess. It would be cathartic, but ultimately unhelpful. Instead, he fished his phone out of his front pocket and thumbed through his contacts.

He got through two rings before the line opened.

“He got you too?” Tim said on the other end. His tone reminded Jason of Bruce, which was usually a clear indication that Tim was fucking done.

“How can he be this useless?” Jason ground out.

“He was raised by Alfred.”

“So was I. And you.” “Fine. He was spoiled by Bruce.” “uh-huh,” Jason agreed, daring to move into his living room. Thankfully, the carnage hadn’t spread there, though there was an oven pan, placed strategically in the middle of his coffee table. The contains looked like what Jason imagined “dubious food” in Zelda looked like in real life. “I have to stop hanging out with you,” he told Tim. “Why?” “I just made a video game reference in my head.” “Which game?” “Not the point.” “I mean-” Tim began, but before he got any further into arguing why the specific game was “of import” to the discussion -fucking dweeb -Jason cut him off: “I’m going to kill him.” Tim was quiet for a moment. “What did he do exactly?” “Hi Little Wing,” Jason recited from the note that had been stuck underneath his brand new fucking oven pan Dick you bastard that was expensive. “I made you some brownies!” Jason stopped to look closer at the brown sludge that he was pretty sure was stuck to the bottom of his new pan. Martha herself recommended it, Dick goddammit. “I hope they turned out all right! Don’t work too much! D.” There was a pause. “Did they turn out all right?” asked Tim. “No,” Jason gritted his teeth, “No, they did not.” “He’s really on a spree this week.” “Yeah?” Jason muttered absently, poking at the sludge with his gloved finger. It jiggled. Somehow, that made everything so much worse. “Mm,” Tim said, and Jason could hear the tapping of computer keys in the background which meant that he had about 30% of Tim’s attention. “He hit Cass and Steph a few days ago. I guess since Cass is staying there when she’s in town he thought it was two for one. Tried to do their laundry.” “Why haven’t they killed him?” “They’re working on big drug bust. So, no time.” “Well I have time.” Jason groused, already trying to reorganize his plans for the evening. He would need at least three hours to repair the damage Dick had done to his kitchen. “Good,” Tim said, his voice cold, “because so do I.” Jason stopped trying to figure out how many new appliances he would need to buy to focus for a moment. “What did he do to you?” Tim was silent for a long while, then: “He tried to clean my apartment.” Jason shuddered. On one hand, he understood the compulsion. His replacement’s usual idea “clean” was “nothing hazardous is currently growing somewhere”. Still, the only thing worse than Dick trying to clean was Bruce trying to clean. Or cook. Or do laundry. Or vacuum. The Batman he may be, but Jason had never met a more incompetent homemaker in his life. Once, Bruce had tried to dust a little and they had to call the fire department. “And?” He prompted. “He moved everything,” Tim said, deceptively calm, “and threw out at least thirty-four irreplaceable things.” Oh shit. There was a reason why Jason stomped down the urge to clean Tim’s apartment. He once moved an old magazine when the younger boy wasn’t even there and the next day he got received three upset calls and a computer virus for his trouble. “He re-organised my desk. My cases. My clues.” Tim continued to rattle off. “And he didn’t even manage to clean properly. I’m pretty sure he tried to scrub my TV with vinegar.” Jason bit his lip to keep from laughing. Looks like Tim got it worse. “Shut up,” said Tim grouchily. “I didn’t say anything.” “You were laughing at me.” How- Jason’s hand clenched around the phone. “I told you to stop putting cameras in my apartment.” Tim snorted. “So find them and take them down. Think of it as practice,” he said, lilting the word “practice” in the same way Bruce usually did. “You’re such a creeper.” “Says the murderous crime lord.” “At least I’m not a stalker.” “Have you checked your bottom cabinets yet?” Jason stilled at the sudden change of subject. “Why?” “Looks like the re-organising urge lived on.” Oh, he had better fucking not. Jason stepped back into his kitchen and, with the care of someone opening a bomb case, edged open the door to his pots- and pans cabinet. He came face to face with his toaster, nestled between a pasta drainer and three boxes of cereal that he had not owned this morning. It was the sugary shit too. “Son of a-” “I think he put your spatulas in the fridge,” Tim said cheerily. Jason was going to wring his little neck. Right after he had stomped on Dick until the unbridled rage in his chest went away. “This is why I don’t want any contact with this family for-” “You know why he’s doing this right?” Tim queried lightly. Jason frowned. “I don’t keep track of the family gossip, pretender. I have better things to do with my time.” Tim made an offended noise at being called “pretender”. “Fine. Then why don’t you try to make him stop and call me when he’s tried to clean your guns?” Jason rolled his eyes. The dramatics, honestly. Bruce 2.0. “Why is he doing this, Tim?” He asked reluctantly. Tim sniffed. “Damian told Dick that he wasn’t needed at the moment, which was the little brat’s way of trying to get Dick to take some time to de-stress, but obviously Dick took this to mean that Damian has cast him aside and considers him a bad parental figure.” Jason spent a good few seconds rethinking the whole “moving back to Gotham” idea. He could just… leave and never talk to this insane family ever again. It was entirely doable. Just, one little call to Roy and hasta la vista you absolute nutjobs. He sighed. “So we have to talk to the demon child?” He asked tiredly. “Yeah pretty much.” “I still think my first plan was better.” “If you kill Dick, the family will never leave you alone.” That was a surprisingly good point. Dammit. “Can I punch him a little?” “I’d encourage it.” “Hey,” said Jason suspiciously, “just what are you planning to do him exactly?” “Honestly?” Tim replied. “I’m going to send a false tip to the department of Agriculture, fabricate evidence, and make them recall his favourite cereal.” Jesus fucking Christ this family was a pizza bagel of crazy with a sociopath topping.

It took them a while to track down Robin during patrol, and when they managed to find him they were met with immediate resistance. Which, taking into consideration who they were, wasn’t all that surprising. “Calm down.” Red Hood said placatingly while he jumped out of range from Robin’s swords. “We just wanted to talk to you about N-” He dodged a batarang that was clearly aimed at his throat. Add psychopath topping to that pizza bagel. “Would you knock it off,” Red Robin snarled, spinning out of the way when Robin spun to aim a kick at his stomach. Hood seized the opportunity and darted in to restrain the tiny beast that, let’s be real, was absolute proof that Bruce should not be allowed to procreate. Robin thrashed in his hold for a good three minutes before he finally settled down, glaring murderously at Red. “What do you want?” Robin spat. Even when Hood could feel him literally vibrating with supressed rage, he still kept perfect syntax. No abbreviations here. Little freak. “We need you to call N,” Red said. He looked a little ruffled and more than a little miffed. “I will do no such thing,” Robin sniffed. “Think again,” Hood said in his ear, letting his voice drop into a menacing tone. “Look,” Red Robin said. His hair was sticking up at the back after the struggle and he looked real fed up with this. Hood could relate. “N is running himself ragged trying to prove he’s a good parent or something and you need to make him quit before he injures himself.” Robin stilled. “What would Grayson be doing that would cause him such stress?” “He’s cooking,” Hood drawled. “And cleaning,” Red added. Robin’s whole body tensed. “I will take care of it.” He declared imperiously. Hood looked at Red, who shrugged. Yeah, good enough, I guess.

It was not good enough, he guessed, Jason realised as he took in what used to be his living room, but was now a cut out of a living room no one would ever willingly ”live” in from Garishly Tasteless Designs Magazine. He had his phone up and dialling before his eyes had even swept up the full length of the dirt-yellow curtains. It took a while to get the full effect of them, because he kept getting distracted by the frills and the suspiciously Nightwing-esque pattern. “Yeah?” Tim answered on the other end of the line. His voice said he was knee deep in something and wasn’t really paying attention. Probably his revenge plan, which Jason was seeing in a whole new light right now. “He redecorated.” Jason’s voice was so low it was almost a growl. There was a pause. “It didn’t stop?” Tim sounded much more alert and aware this time. “No it did I just went out and bought this lime green couch myself from Blind, Bath and Beyond,” Jason snapped. He heard Tim groan into the receiver. “But we even talked to Damian,” his replacement whined. Like he had anything to complain about. His living room didn’t have- was that a fucking Billy the Bass? Jason was going to shove his guns so far- “I’m calling the brat,” Jason ground out before hanging up and redialling. Damian didn’t answer the first time, so Jason made use of his annoying gene(s) and called him over and over until he picked up. “Todd,” Damian snarled, “I am at school. I realise that you were incapable of finishing your formal education but-” “Your fucking Dick of a brother broke into my apartment and re-decorated my living room.” Jason informed grimly. “He- you must be mistaken.” “Look, kid, there aren’t a lot of things I know, what with my not completing my formal education and all, but if there is one thing I will never unlearn it’s how to spot Dick Grayson’s fucking taste in fabrics.” “I see.” No, you little shit. You don’t see. Jason was the one who was cursed with seeing this absolute monstrosity of a- was that crystal?! “You said you were handling it,” Jason reminded him, firmly putting his back to the living room. Looking at it was bad for his blood pressure. “I do not understand.” Damian said seriously. “I specifically told Grayson to stop bothering you and go back to Blüdhaven where he could be of use.” Oh. Oh Damian. Jason resisted the urge to smack the phone into his face. Sometimes Damian’s age and social inexperience really shone through. Jason took a deep breath to keep from screaming. “Listen, Damian.” Jason said carefully. “Dick is feeling a little neglected right now, and what he needs, what we asked you to do, was to start hanging out with him again.” “-tt-” Damian was probably rolling his eyes. Jason could have Tim check later, he was sure the little creep had cameras in every building in the city. “That is preposterous!” “No,” Jason said dangerously, “it’s not. So now would you just call him and tell him you need help with your homework or something?” It was truly a testament to Jason’s level of desperation that he was willing to be this nice and patient. “Grayson needs to rest-” “Just FUCKING CALL HIM!!” Ok, so there was a limit to that patience. Oh well, he was only human. Damian, however, apparently thought that this was one indignity too far because the call disconnected. Jason glanced behind him and immediately regretted it. Porcelain figurines. Oh, how he missed the days when he was a big-name villain, and the only thing Dick did was fight him. In the corner, a cuckoo clock struck seven and a tiny robin popped out and chirped at him. Jason’s vision blurred with sickly green for a moment. Yeah, he was staying in a safe house tonight.

It took for days of no progress and Tim having his entire coffee-stash replaced with decaf (“cheap decaf, Jason. Low-level, buy in bulk decaf.”) before they threw in the towel and went to the manor. The estate looked as menacing to him now as it had when Jason first saw it as a little kid from Crime Alley. It probably always would, no matter how many times he was back. If Tim was feeling apprehensive, it didn’t show. He just looked grumpy, like a particularly displeased cat. His replacement rapped his knuckles on the door and stepped back to cross his arms, frowning. He looked very intimidating. Like a squirrel with an anger management problem. The door swung open to reveal Steph, dressed in a t-shirt that Jason was pretty sure wasn’t supposed to be a splotchy pale blue. Her jeans looked new. “He’s not here,” Steph told them in a biting tone. “Who?” Tim asked. “Dick. Though for the record we have to come up with a new name for him because ‘Dick’ is going to be real ironic soon.” And whoa, Steph did know how to look properly intimidating. “What’d he do?” Jason asked her. Stephanie stepped back to let them inside. “There was an incident with a waffle iron,” she said icily. “He tried to cook?” Tim guessed, taking off his shoes. “He tried to laminate.” Steph corrected. Tim grimaced. “Is Damian here?” Steph snorted. “Damian is useless. We need to strike back.” She lowered her voice, her eyes cold. “And strike hard.” Damn, if this continued, Dick wouldn’t even be allowed back into Gotham. Actually, yeah he would. Only Batman could bar people from entering Gotham, apparently. Because Bruce was only one with any rights around here, that fucking- He was getting off subject. Also, not paying attention. “-alking to Dick,” Tim was saying, “trying to talk to him is a good way to make this worse.” “I wasn’t suggesting we talk to him.” Steph said, cracking her knuckles. Tim looked unimpressed, which frankly impressed Jason a little. Stephanie was scary. Not Batman scary but- Hang on. “Hang on,” Jason said, holding his hand up for emphasis, “Batman is the only one who can bar someone from coming to Gotham.” “What the hell is your point, zombie boy?” Steph asked, crossing her arms. “We don’t need to redirect Dickies attention back to Damian. We just need to redirect it. To someone.” Jason grinned at them and it probably only looked about 30% insane. “Someone with the power to stop him.” Understanding dawned on Stephanie and Tim’s faces. “Someone who deserves to have his clothes ruined,” Steph whispered reverently. “Someone who has time to redecorate because he doesn’t have a job,” Tim added gleefully, “someone who flounces into board meetings too late and does nothing.” “Exactly.”

Tracking down Nightwing turned out to be the easiest thing they’d had to do so far. He didn’t even try to avoid them. “Hey guys!” N smiled cheerily at them as if he hadn’t spent the last two weeks putting them through some kind of Donna Reed inspired psychological torture. “Nightwing.” Red Robin greeted coldly and, yeah, in costume the replacement could totally pull off intimidating. “Whoa, what’s with the murder faces?” Nightwing said, stepping off the ledge he’d been standing on and walking closer. Hood crossed his arms. “You’ve been busy lately,” he commented and even the helmet couldn’t filter away the unvoiced insult at the end. “I guess?” N replied. “Did you like the brownies?” Hood tried to remember that they weren’t here to beat him senseless. Based on Spoiler’s clenched fists it seemed like he wasn’t the only one struggling with that. “N,” Red Robin said with the calm voice he usually reserved for interrogating suspects, “we appreciate you trying to… help us.” On “help us” Red’s voice broke through the calm and straight into “I’m going to kill you and bury you in store-brand decaf coffee” territory. “But we really are doing fine on our own.” Nightwing pursed his lips. “You are all working so hard-” he started, but Red cut him off. “Yes, and that’s why we appreciate it. But we’re actually worried about someone else, who needs your help a lot more than we do.” Nightwing paused and Hood could almost see the gears in his head whirring. “Who? Damian?” “Not Damian,” Red said, because they all knew it wouldn’t work to say it was Damian, “B.” Nightwing crossed his arms. “You think B needs help?” And here was the fragile part of their plan. Hood cleared his throat. “B,” he said, trying to keep his tone civil, “works himself to the bone and he doesn’t accept help from any of us.” “He has Alfie though,” N argued. “Alfie is busy taking care of Damian, since you’re not helping him as much anymore.” Spoiler rebutted. And damn, blondie, good answer. “We struggle too,” Red said, “but we help each other, right guys?” “Uh-huh,” Spoiler agreed. “Right.” Hood lied, thankful that the helmet veiled his eyeroll. “You guys help each other out,” Nightwing said with obvious disbelief. “You.” “Red is always helping me with cases,” Spoiler said, “and studies and stuff too. And I help him with staying alive and acting like a human.” Red nodded. “And Red and I work together on cases,” Hood said truthfully. “And sometimes Hood makes sure I eat and stuff,” Red added, “and I help him with security.” “They also hang out and play video games and watch nerdy movies,” Spoiler revealed. The little snitch. “Really?” Nightwing said, looking between the three of them. “That’s great!” He shuffled around a little. “So, you guys don’t need me either, huh?” Oh god. Oh dear god it was the voice. The patented Richard Grayson sad-and-feeling-neglected voice. The voice that could inspire shame and guilt in the most hard boiled criminal. At least he was wearing the mask so he couldn’t give them the accompanying puppy eyes. “Well,” Spoiler said and Hood could see her wavering. She didn’t have the years of experience needed to withstand Dick’s manipulation. “But B does!” Tim exclaimed, dragging Spoiler to stand behind him. Good move. “And the little brat too, even though he doesn’t admit it.” Hood added. Nightwing bit his lip. “Look,” Red’s voice was genuine now, “we all really do appreciate it, but B and Dami need your help more. And frankly, the last time I saw B he looked dead on his feet. We’re all good. But he isn’t. He sleeps less than I do.” Maybe that was even true. Huh. Were they doing B a solid here? Wait, no. No they weren’t. It was recommended by Martha, Dick you absolute menace. “Ok, I hear you.” N said solemnly. “I just wanted to help out.” Martha. Think about Martha. “We know,” Red said, patting N on the back. It was really awkward. “Did I tell you B has started eating power bars for dinner?” “Wait, seriously?” Nightwing looked disturbed. “That’s so bad for you.” “Yeah,” Hood said as if he hadn’t watched Red do that at least three dozen times, “he’s really setting a bad example for li’l D, isn’t he?” He thought Red might have done the wave if he could have. Hood certainly wanted to give himself the wave for that stroke of genius. “Okay, I know you guys are manipulating me,” Nightwing told them drily. Shit. “But you have a point.” Oh thank Jesus. N stretched. “Well,” he said, “I’m going to make sure B doesn’t kill himself. And yes, I’ll stop helping you guys.” He shook his head. “You three should really open up more, you know?” They nodded, because at this point they would do anything to make him stop “helping out”. Red cleared his throat. “So, good luck, uhm...” Nightwing grinned. “I’ll stop, but you all have to give me a hug before I leave.” Fuck. N pounced on Red like a jaguar on a gazelle, completely ignoring the scandalised (and very undignified) “meep” Red let out. Hood turned around, ready to make a run for it. “If you leave before a hug I’ll make you dinner next time!” Nightwing called cheerfully, still holding onto Red Robin like he was a life vest. Triple fuck. Hood sighed. The things you do to not have your living room secretly re-decorated.

As awful as it was to get cuddled by Nightwing, it was all worth it about a week later, when Tim climbed in through his living room window for their bi-weekly movie night. This week: when the great go bad- The Godfather 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions. “I see you got rid of the ruffles,” Tim remarked. “You didn’t see that on your stalker cam?” “I’ve been busy watching Bruce lately.” “Oh?” Jason prompted, putting the pizza boxes on the coffee-table. “He tried to call me five times today,” Tim said. He walked over and got two beers out of the fridge. Jason sniggered. “It’s that bad?” “He’s only got one target now. B is about to break.” “Tell me more, tell me more,” Jason said, making himself comfortable on his new -fucking stylish thank you very much -couch. “Like, did he do something to his car?” “I can’t believe you just made a Grease reference, you absolute nerd,” Tim commented flatly. “Musicals are cool,” Jason told him. Because it was true and he would fight anyone who said otherwise. “Was Olivia Newton John your childhood crush or something?” “Who’s to say it wasn’t Travolta?” Tim gave him a deadpan stare. “Because,” he said drily, “unlike Dick, you actually have taste.” Jason mulled that over. “Touché." He shrugged. "Now tell me about B.” Tim looked up from where he was connecting his computer to the TV and grinned sharply. “You want to experience what the Germans call ‘Schadenfreude’?” “Hell yeah I do.” Tim hit a key on his laptop and the Cave flickered into view on Jason’s TV. At least, he thought it was the cave. “Is that?” “He re-decorated the cave.” Tim laughed. It was not a nice laugh. Jason approved. On the screen, Bruce had just entered through the door to the storage area and was making his way to the computer. Trailing after him with a plate of questionable looking sandwiches was Dick. Jason nabbed a beer from the coffee table and leaned back against the couch. “Oh we are so watching this tonight. Sofia can wait.” “I made a compilation of the past week,” Tim said smugly, picking up the other beer and folding himself into Jason’s new armchair. It was beige and, most importantly, neither pea-green nor suede. On screen Bruce collapsed into his new, avant-garde office chair and put his head in his hands while Dick chatted pleasantly in his ear. “You know,” Tim said thoughtfully while Dick re-arranged Bruce’s files, “sometimes I think he’s being purposefully bad at this.” “Why?” “Oh just,” Tim reached for the pizza and Jason handed him the box, “whenever he starts doing this, we all have to interact with each other to make him stop. Like how you and I only started hanging out to begin with because he kept breaking into our safe houses to make ‘breakfast’. Well, that and that time he gave you a haircut in you sleep.” Jason stilled with his beer halfway to his mouth. “He…” Oh god. “That’s totally what he’s doing isn’t it?” Tim looked at him over his slice of pepperoni. “Yeah, probably.” Jason slammed his bear down on the table. “THAT SNEAKY FUCKING BASTARD!” Jason glared at Tim, the proof of Dick's successful manipulation. He didn't even like the replacement. Why the hell was he hanging out with him? Stupid, meddling big brothers who ruin your life. "It's okay," Tim reached over and patted his hand, "I just confirmed that they're taking his cereal off the shelves this week." And yeah, that made it a little better, actually. "I still don't like you." He told Tim. "I know. Wanna watch Bruce find out that Dick redid his wardrobe?" "Yeah ok," Jason grumbled. Maybe, he admitted to himself only, the replacement wasn't all bad. The screen zoomed in on Bruce's expression as he came face to face with a sequined suit. Yeah, Jason thought, taking another sip of beer, not all bad.

#fanfic #batfamily fanfic #batfam fic #pov:#jason todd #humor #tim drake #dick grayson #damian wayne #Stephanie Brown #special appearance:#Bruce Wayne #rated t #for language #4k+ words #1-5k #oneshot

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dessarious · 4 years

Text

What Makes a Family? Pt1

So it seems like almost everyone is good with me posting whatever randomness pops up, and I did tease a bit with the BioDad!Bruce thing so here’s the beginning of that mess.

AO3 Next

At seventeen Marinette had gotten very good at ignoring things. She ignored Lila and all the garbage the girl spouted. She ignored her classmate's insanity in not paying attention to what the girl said about Marinette, but believing everything else that came out of the liar's mouth. As Ladybug she ignored her partner's advances and all the people who kept telling her to give him a shot. He'd actually got Alya to help him set up a social media campaign in favor of it. So when she looked up to find her entire class looking at her with pity or concern she had no idea what was going on.

"Oh Marinette, I'm so sorry! I completely forgot the DNA test showed that you were adopted." Lila's insincere apology just made her roll her eyes and go back to sketching.

"You didn't forget but it doesn't matter anyway. Whatever jab you're hoping to land isn't going to hit but feel free to keep going." Lila teared up and half the class ran to comfort her while the others seemed frozen in their seats. No one really knew what to do in this situation, and it had been happening more often as Marinette decided she just didn't care anymore.

"That was uncalled for! You should apologize." Alya's stern tone just got another eye roll.

"That was a bit harsh dude." Poor Nino. Always caught in the middle with no real understanding what exactly he was in the middle of. Out of her peripheral Marinette could see Adrien giving her a disappointed look. Something else she'd gotten good at ignoring.

Finding out he was Chat Noir hadn't been nearly as devastating as she would have thought. It actually made everything make a lot more sense. She didn't have much respect for him, but she did feel sorry for him. That more than anything was why she hadn't taken his Miraculous back. If she found Plagg's true holder all bets were off, but for now she left things the way they were.

"Marinette, just because your birth parents didn't want you is no reason to take out your frustration on me." Oh Kwami, she was still going. It was kind of pathetic that she thought those words would hurt. Marinette put on a condescending smile.

"That's rather presumptuous. For all you know my birth parents could have died, or given me up to give me a chance at a better life. But for the sake of speeding this along let's assume you're right. There are plenty of parents out there that don't want their kids. Many keep them simply because they feel obligated or think it will look bad. They ignore or even abuse them because they're a reminder of the things they had to give up." The entire room had gone silent as she spoke and more than one person flinched. It wasn't her intention to make people feel bad about their own situations but maybe recognizing it would allow them to get help. "On the other hand my real parents, the people who raised me, not only want me, they chose me. They love me unconditionally and have always been there for me. I'd say I'm actually really lucky, wouldn't you? "

Just about everyone was shifting uncomfortably and avoiding eye contact. Lila was glaring at her and Marinette just gave her a bright smile before returning to her sketching. Sure the revelation that she wasn't biologically related to her parents had been surprising, but they'd talked it over and she understood why they didn't tell her. She'd been only a few months old when they found her on their doorstep with a note from her birth mother, and they'd wanted so desperately to have a child. That note was now carefully hidden in Marinette's room.

In class, the rest of her day went rather well. In between was another story.

"Girl I know Lila rubs you the wrong way but you can't just go after her like that. I know you saw the look Adrien gave you. Do you want to ruin your chances with him just so you can snark at Lila? It's not worth it and if you'd just get to know her I'm sure you'd be friends." Same stupid argument for over three years. She had Alya's lecture memorized at this point. Of course hers wasn't the only one.

"Mari, you know that going after Lila is just going to get her Akumatized. Not to mention what will happen to me if she complains to my father. Do you want him to ban me from seeing you? Or pull me out of school?" Same damn guilt trip for three years too. Yes, Adrien was in a crappy position but she was done with him acting like it was her fault or her responsibility.

By the time she made it home she was ready to just be done with the day. As she trudged to her room the list of things she still needed to do ran through her head making her even more annoyed. When she opened the hatch to her room and saw Luka and Kagami sitting shoulder to shoulder on her chaise and holding hands she decided to be the drama queen Kagami liked to accuse her of being and face planted across both their laps.

"Rough day?" The only response she could manage to Luka's amused voice was an incomprehensible whine. She felt more than heard the pair of them laughing at her.

“If you two aren’t nicer to me I’m revoking your snack privileges.” Her mumbled complaint just produced more muted laughter.

“Your dad will give us the entire bakery no matter what you say.” So what if Kagami was right? She could probably get her mom after them but her dad would still just find a way to sneak them food. She felt Kagami begin running fingers through her hair while Luka rubbed soothing circles on her back and she melted into them. Okay, maybe no snacks was a bit harsh.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Luka’s question caused her to groan. Same crap different day so there wasn’t really anything to talk about.

“No. I just want to stay here and pretend nothing outside this room exists for a while.” Luka started humming something that sounded like a lullaby as he continued to rub her back. Kagami started using both hands and gently used her nails to massage Marinette’s scalp. She loved them both so much even if she still couldn’t seem to pinpoint the moment they’d gone from three friends hanging out to three people in a relationship. Of course maybe that was why they worked so well together in the first place.

Marinette was moments from giving in to the pull of sleep when all of their phones went off. This time all three of them groaned.

“How bad is it?” Marinette felt Luka reach for his phone before he gave a sigh.

“It’s Lila again. We’d better head out before she comes here looking for you.” Great, not only did she have to deal with an Akumatized Lila she’d also have to deal with Adrien’s smug ‘I told you so’ in the morning. Maybe her parents would let her skip so she could finish some of her commissions. It was worth a try at least. She got up reluctantly and was met with worried looks from her partners and all the Kwami.

“I’m fine, just drained, I promise.” That didn’t seem to put any of them at ease. “Let’s go. The sooner we get there the sooner we can come back and make fun of whatever outfit and powers Hawkmoth gave her this time.” That at least got an eye roll out of Kagami and a gentle smile from Luka before all three transformed and headed off to save Paris, again.

AO3 Next

Ko-Fi

#maribat #bio dad bruce wayne #marinette dupen chang #lukagaminette #self indulgent drivel #mari needs sleep #mari needs a hug

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a-simple-imagine · 3 years

Text

Day 12 - Adolescence Syndrome pt. 1

Synopsis: Being the daughter of a murderous death eater can be a lot of work and one day something really weird starts to happen but luckily you strike up a friendship with the brightest witch of your age and she’s determined to help.

Pairing: Hermione Granger x LeStrange!reader

Words: 1.2k+

A/N - The anime this is based off is called ‘Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai’ but you don’t have to know anything about it to read the story. It’s a little weird but should work out as a sweet story

Warnings - mentions of bullying and curses

The name LeStrange was praised by many and feared by many more. A name that was both a privilege and a curse. Your family was part of the sacred twenty-eight but with your mother locked up in Azkaban for being a loyal death eater who used the Cruciatus Curse on the Longbottom family, you didn't receive a lot of respect. In fact, it was pretty much the exact opposite. Whenever you mentioned your last name or mother, things always got awkward. Often described as eccentric or just straight-up psychotic; you were the weird girl with the insane mother. In turn, it was no surprise that you ended up isolating yourself from others. It was simply easier than dealing with the names and funny looks. Stupidly at the grand old age of eleven, you were convinced things would change when you received your letter in the mail inviting you to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. These kids didn't know you or anything about your family.

A cloudy dull sky cast the alley in dim light as you were dragged around Diagon alley in search of supplies for school. A few paces behind your aunt and uncle and their eleven-year-old son who couldn't stop asking for things. As distinguished as your family was, they didn't stop the odd looks and creepy side-eye from other shoppers. Did they even know who you were? A long sigh passes your lips as an old woman measures the length of your arms for your new Hogwarts robe, she drones on about how exciting it was to be going and how much fun she had back in her day. You weren't in a particularly chatty mood but you could hear Malfoy chatting to someone while he was getting fitted for his. He seemed excited to be going to school; he was bragging about how he was going to be put in Slytherin. Oh how you were hoping he'd get Hufflepuff or something, that would destroy him. It was a long process in Olivanders trying to get a wand; you went through at least twenty before a wand finally chose you. Your Aunt, Narcissa, held your hand as you walked along feeling less excited as the day went on. As Lucius took Draco somewhere else, she let you pick out a pet to take with you. They had never seemed to be pet people but you guess this was their way of cheering you up; you decided on a pure white cat with shimmering blue eyes. They assured you before leaving for Hogwarts that everything would be fine but they overestimated your confidence. The train to the school was long and lonely so you buried your face in a book and thus your Hogwarts journey began. Everything was fine until they called out your full name; of course, you were put in Slytherin as well as Draco who had been ignoring you since the train. Nobody was surprised. Your mother was also in Slytherin. Probably your father too but whose to know. Once students discovered your name they immediately started treating you differently just like everyone else in your life.

Looking back you probably could have done more to counter the rumours and sly comments that were being spread around. Maybe if you had tried to be more open and friendly than you wouldn't be so alone now. Shunned by other students, you spent all your free time by yourself. Obviously, you have classes with other students but they all had their own friendship groups. Discovering the joys of the school library, soon enough you started spending a lot of time looking through the shelves and reading different books. You could spend hours and hours in this dark and dusty place hidden away in the corner. That was actually how you ended up meeting her, or more like, how you ended up first talking to her in a social manner. Hermione Granger. The two of you actually shared a lot of classes but it wasn't like you had ever talked properly. Nowadays you talked more because over your time at Hogwarts the two of you had bonded in the library and started studying together. She was pretty much the only one who didn't back away at the mere mention of your name.

"So are you going home for Christmas?" You ask softly as you turn the page of your history book.

"I am," Hermione confirms with a small nod. "Are you?"

"I'm not too sure yet," The Malfoy family weren't particularly bad towards you but they almost always asked about school and it was very awkward having to admit you didn't really fit in. Your Aunt says you should be proud of your name but it's hard when it's the reason everyone seems to think you're gonna do something bad towards them. "Might try Christmas at Hogwarts this year."

"If you don't mind me asking, since you're mother is... do you stay with your father?"

That's right, nobody in this school knew anything about you. Did they know that you were related to Malfoy? It wasn't like he ever talked to you unless he was forced to. "No. I actually stay with the Malfoy family."

"The Malfoys?"

"They're the only side of my family, I know. They're nice enough people, if not a little strict. My aunt really cares though and I appreciate them taking me in."

"Wait, so Malfoy is your cousin?" She seemed a little surprised by the revelation. You assumed most people knew that Narcissa was related to your mother but guess it was still weird to say out loud.

"Yeah," you nod. "Sadly.".

"Now that I think about it, it makes sense but you two are nothing alike despite being raised together,"

"Yeah... to be honest, his parents aren't as strict when it comes to me," A gentle sigh left your lips. "I guess it's because I'm not their child plus growing up as a LeStrange instead of a Malfoy meant we were always treated differently by those around us,"

"People have always treated you differently?"

"Pretty much. The name LeStrange is like a bad omen has been for years now- everyone thinks I'm exactly like my mother."

"That's hard to believe considering how quiet and shy you are." Hermione looks to you for a moment before going back to working through her equations.

"Is that a compliment?" You wonder, continuing to flip through your textbook. Unravelling some parchment, you grab your quill to start working out a plan.

"It's certainly not a bad thing," Hermione offers a tiny smile. "I'm sorry that people are so awful to you just because of who your mother is."

"No need to apologise, It's not your fault," You assure her. "I'm sorry that Draco and his friends are so awful to you."

"I can handle Malfoy and his minions but you have to deal with everyone."

"I don't mind," Was that a lie? You couldn't be sure. Over time you certainly had grown used to it but that didn't necessarily mean that you were just okay with it. Sometimes it got to you more than other days. "Nowadays people have sort of just started ignoring me all together which means I can study in peace."

"That's a bonus," That was one way to look at it at least. In big block letters, you write the word 'Plan' and start writing some notes to help with the introduction to your essay.

"I wish everyone would leave me alone when I try to study." No, You don't. You think but don't say. It wasn't like you wanted everyone to completely ignore your existence.

"Stuck with me then," You nudge her a little. "Everyone else will run a mile."

// NEXT

#Hermione Granger #hermione granger x reader #Harry Potter #hermione granger imagine

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taizi · 3 years

Text

the ship sways but the heart is steady

chapter three: build bridges with these arms

the untamed pairing: jiang cheng & wei ying, lan zhan/wei ying, jiang cheng/wen qing word count: 3794 summary: Wei Ying’s friends are at rock-bottom, and Wei Ying puts his life on hold to help them put theirs back together. To absolutely no one’s surprise except Wei Ying’s, his family goes with him. read on ao3

Jiang Cheng doesn’t remember dropping the phone, but he must have, because Wen Qing is holding it now and talking to A-Li in the sharp, rapid-fire way she speaks when she’s frightened. He doesn’t remember getting off the couch or leaving the room, but he’s pacing back and forth on the veranda, the warm glow of the porch light pushing away encroaching nightfall. And he doesn’t remember Wei Ying coming after him, but his brother is there, watching with wide, anxious eyes, his hands balled into fists in the front of his shirt.

“I don’t fucking believe it,” Jiang Cheng bites out, his heart beating so fast it’s painful. “I can’t believe she didn’t fucking—she didn’t fucking call? She couldn’t let us know that—that our sister—”

“Maybe she meant to,” Wei Ying says hoarsely. “Maybe she—forgot.”

“Our mother never forgot a single thing in her fucking life as long as she could hold it against us.” He’s so angry he feels brittle with it, as though moving too much or too fast would cause his body to break. “A-Li asked her to call us and she didn’t. A-Li wanted us there and we weren’t.”

His baby nephew was coming early, and his sister was having an emergency C-section, and his brother-in-law was pacing a waiting room by himself for hours waiting desperately for good news, and Jiang Cheng was just fucking around in a lake the whole time.

A-Li’s voice was so tired and shaky that Jiang Cheng knew, inherently, how bad it was.

She didn’t say it on the phone, of course she didn’t, but she didn’t need to. All of Jin Ling’s useless uncles have been reading every article about pregnancy and prenatal care that they could get their hands on from the moment A-Li told them she was expecting, and they each, to a man, could probably write a white paper on the risks of preterm labor.

Yanli could have died from complications. It wasn’t unheard of even now, in the twenty-first century. She could have bled too much, could have been gone, and Jiang Cheng wouldn’t have known until it was too late. He wouldn’t have been there to hold her.

Mother was supposed to call. She didn’t.

It’s like the sudden collapsing of some integral foundation. The weight-bearing limit was reached and the floor is crumbling beneath him and this building he’s lived in his whole life that he mistook for mortar and stone is actually some childish construction of paper and wax. This place he thought would withstand storm and fire and erosion is finally falling apart after so many years of careful repairs, so much frantic patchwork.

Mother hurt them over and over and over again, but she was still their mother. Family is just hard, Jiang Cheng had always thought. Family hurts. That’s just the way it is, it just costs you every day, and you’re always discovering how much farther you can push your threshold, how much more you can actually take.

Except... his siblings never hurt him. Never on purpose. He doesn’t look at A-Li or A-Ying and feel anything but fondness and exasperation and loyalty for them. He would do anything for them.

Wen Ning plainly adores his sister, and Wen Qing’s world revolves around her brother. None of their immediate relatives stepped in to help them after the fire, clearly screening their calls, none of them eager to sacrifice their time or money, but Granny has been almost a constant presence in their lives since they got here. She adopted all of them, no relation required.

Wei Ying came to the Jiangs when he was five, an emergency placement with the second family listed on his parents’ will, because his legal godfather was dealing with the death of his brother and sister-in-law, and the subsequent adoption of his young nephews. By the time Lan Qiren could be reached and came dashing to New York, it had been almost a week, and Wei Ying and A-Li and Jiang Cheng were all comfortably attached at the hip.

Rather than uproot his traumatized godson again, so soon after the initial upheaval of his young life, Lan Qiren reached an agreement with mother and father to let Wei Ying stay with them. He paid for all of Wei Ying’s expenses and then some. Jiang Cheng only knows because mother likes to complain about being short-changed when she’s drunk.

And then when his nephews were a little older, and he could step down from his role as director of a ridiculously prestigious music school, Uncle Qiren retired, and relocated his family from Suzhou to New York City. Wei Ying always had a second place to go home to if he needed one. His siblings were always welcome there, too. Uncle Qiren was strict and never let them get away with a goddamn thing, but he keeps all their pictures on his desk.

Family, Jiang Cheng finally realizes at twenty-three years old, isn’t supposed to hurt.

You’re supposed to be loved. You’re not supposed to have to buy it.

Wei Ying is crying in that awful, silent way he cries, as if he’s not sure he’s allowed to make a sound. Jiang Cheng storms over and drags him into a hug that’s probably too tight, and Wei Ying hugs him back just as hard, and for a moment that’s all there is.

Night is creeping in around them, inky and inexorable. They’re suspended in the warm orange porch light like a couple of sailors marooned at sea. Jiang Cheng holds onto his brother, and finally lets go of someone else.

It is silently agreed-upon that Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying need to see their sister. Wei Ying tries to apologize for leaving in the middle of retiling one of the bathrooms and Wen Qing gets properly angry with him for it.

“He’ll finish when he comes back,” Jiang Cheng promises, which ends up sounding more like a promise that they’re going to come back at all.

“The tiles in the bathroom are literally the least of my concerns,” Wen Qing snaps, and that sounds more like she’s saying she doesn’t need a promise, she knows they will.

They barely pack anything, they just sort of move around the house in anxious circles until the airport shuttle shows up, and then they shove on their shoes and grab blindly for bags and jackets.

Goodbyes are made on the veranda. After living together and rebuilding a home together, the embraces come easily. Jiang Cheng doesn’t even have a chance to feel self-conscious about any of it.

“The tickets should be in your email,” Lan Zhan says.

Wei Ying checks his phone and frowns. “You only got two?”

Lan Zhan says, “I will stay here.”

His eyes are dark and unreadable, but Wei Ying must see something in them that Jiang Cheng doesn’t. He drops his bag and shuffles forward and Lan Zhan puts his arms around him. He stands there like some ancient, immovable structure, like a load-bearing wall, like Wei Ying could bring absolutely anything to him and Lan Zhan would help him hold it.

“Give the bunnies a hundred kisses for me while I’m gone,” Wei Ying mumbles against Lan Zhan’s shoulder, muffled and wet in a telling way.

“A hundred kisses,” Lan Zhan agrees solemnly, and presses the first one into Wei Ying’s hair.

A-Yuan, holding Wen Ning’s hand, largely confused and a little troubled by the tense atmosphere, earnestly assures that he’ll take care of the bunnies. Wei Ying ruffles his hair playfully, and then finally seems ready to go.

“Try not to let the place fall apart without me,” Jiang Cheng says to Wen Qing.

“I’ll do my best,” she replies. She doesn’t reach out to him with her hands, but her eyes seem to.

Jiang Cheng can’t get her eyes out of his head.

Yanli is pale and tired and beautiful. She lifts her head as they come into her private hospital room, and then lifts her arms immediately, and Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying both run to her like they’re children again. She’s sobbing, trying to wrap her frail arms around them as hard as she can.

“I missed you so much,” she says. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Jiang Cheng can’t think of how close they came to losing her or he’ll go insane. He just sits on the edge of the bed and holds both of his siblings and doesn’t make fun of Wei Ying for crying as much as Yanli.

Jin Zixuan comes in with a nurse and a bassinet at that point, and there are deep bruises under his eyes and his clothes are as unkempt as Jiang Cheng has ever seen them, but he’s smiling.

The nurse bustles around cheerfully, checking vitals and talking to A-Li about how well the results of some screening or another turned out, but Jiang Cheng can’t focus on anything except the tiny little swaddle of butter-yellow blankets that Jin Zixuan is lifting out of the bassinet.

“A-Ling, this is your Uncle Cheng,” Jin Zixuan says softly, passing the infant into Jiang Cheng’s arms. He doesn’t take his hands away until Jiang Cheng’s apparent panic must have faded, and then he’s suddenly sitting there holding his nephew.

Jin Ling is faintly purple, and his tiny limbs are all curled up like he still hasn’t realized he has room to stretch them out now, and his face is pinched in a moue of absolute distaste for the world in general.

“Oh my god,” Wei Ying says. He leans against Jiang Cheng’s shoulder, smoothing a finger against the soft mop of dark hair on Jin Ling’s head, and the tiny seashell curl of his ear, impossibly gentle. “What a weird-looking baby.”

“Shut up, you asshole,” Jiang Cheng snaps. Now he’s crying, too. “He’s perfect.”

Yanli is beaming at them, leaning into the arm that Jin Zixuan wraps around her shoulders, and asks about California. Wei Ying launches into animated chatter about all their projects and all their progress. Surrounded by them, some jangling, dislocated thing in Jiang Cheng’s chest finally begins to settle.

The day that A-Li and Ling-er are discharged from the hospital, Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng are skulking around the overpriced gift shop on the first floor. Lan Huan is with them, and Jiang Cheng is trying to talk him down from spending eighty dollars on a giant teddy bear, when he sees her.

His mother, making her way through the lobby toward them. Something cold and sharp replaces the warm golden core of him in an instant. He puts a hand on Lan Huan’s shoulder and says, “Keep my brother here.”

Lan Huan blinks. His eyes follow Jiang Cheng’s gaze, and his pleasant expression sours.

“Of course,” he says. “He can help me pick out a bear.”

“Jesus christ, with the bears,” Jiang Cheng mutters, and shoulders past him to get out of the gift shop, cutting his mother off outside the door.

“So you’re finally home,” she says by way of greeting. “Did you enjoy your vacation?”

“We’re not doing this here,” he mutters, hyper-aware of Wei Ying puttering around somewhere not even ten feet away. Turning on his heel, Jiang Cheng leads the way past the gift shop, away from the busy atrium and the receptionist’s desk, trusting his mother’s need to have the last word will compel her to follow.

He stops abruptly in an empty hallway somewhere between the billing and record departments and turns to face her.

“I didn’t come here today to play childish games,” mother says, sounding weary of him, of all things.

And it hurts, how much Jiang Cheng still loves her. How much he still wants to love her. His entire life is a series of attempts to trick her into feeling something for him, feeling anything for him. Trying to win her affection. Attempting the impossible.

“You didn’t call,” he says.

Yu Ziyuan scoffs. “You made it fairly clear that you weren’t interested in anything I had to say to you.”

“A-Li wanted you to call,” Jiang Cheng insists, the temper he inherited cresting inside him like a wave, or a wall of fire. “She could have—do you even care that she could have died? That she was scared? She wanted you to call us. And you just decided not to, to get back at us for disobeying you? I’m twenty-three years old! If I want to go to California to help my friends, I’ll go to fucking California!”

He’s never in his life raised his voice at her like this. A small, childish corner of his heart quails from the stunned anger on her face.

He clenches his fists to keep his hands from shaking.

“You stay the fuck away from us,” Jiang Cheng snarls. “All of us. I mean it. We’re done.”

Family, he thinks, isn’t supposed to hurt.

When he starts to step past her, mother grabs his arm hard enough that her long nails manage to pinch even through the sleeve of his denim jacket.

Knee-jerk, he rips himself away from her. He never forgets to flinch.

His mother stares at him like she’s never seen anything like him before, her hand hovering in the air between them. Jiang Cheng takes a step back, and then another.

He thinks of his sister’s precious life, his nephew’s, used as some sort of bargaining chip.

“We’re done,” he says. It comes out quieter than he meant for it to. It comes out sounding like he really, actually means it.

If something flickers in his mother’s expression, if her hand trembles, if she shifts towards him, he doesn’t see it. He’s already spinning around and heading back the way he came, not quite fast enough to call it fleeing. When Jiang Cheng rounds the corner, he runs headlong into someone who catches him by the shoulder before he can stumble.

Wei Ying’s gray eyes are wide and full of pain. Jiang Cheng doesn’t need to know how much he overheard to know that all that hurt is for Jiang Cheng’s sake, and A-Li’s, with hardly any left over for himself. Wei Ying never had to wonder if Yu Ziyuan loved him—he always knew she didn’t, no matter how much his siblings tried to convince him she did.

Jiang Cheng sinks forward against him, head falling against Wei Ying’s shoulder. He’s still trembling with anger, but now it feels more like grief.

Wei Ying hugs him, cheek pressed to Jiang Cheng’s hair, and after a moment he rocks them both from side-to-side.

“Come on, A-Cheng,” he says gently. “You’ll feel better once you see how much Lan Huan spent on Ling-er’s teddy bear.”

“Oh my god,” Jiang Cheng mutters. He already feels a little bit better.

They end up leaving a week later. A-Li promises to come visit the second the baby is cleared for travel, and kisses Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying both on the cheek. Jin Zixuan waves goodbye at them with Ling-er’s tiny hand.

Flying stand-by gets them home whole hours ahead of schedule, and they land in California at something like two in the morning. Neither of them want to wake up their friends, so they spend a small fortune on an Uber instead.

Predictably, Wei Ying’s eyelids start to droop the second the car pulls onto the highway. Jiang Cheng only nudges him awake when they enter city limits. As they pass the township sign, Jiang Cheng’s heart twists in his chest, like a dog perking up at the sound of a key in the front door. The Uber driver squints in confusion at the GPS screen, so Wei Ying leans up over the middle console to direct him down the proper county road.

They pull up in front of the villa and Jiang Cheng’s whole body sort of sighs in relief.

Wei Ying is beelining towards the front door before Jiang Cheng is even entirely out of the car, juggling bags to dig his keys out of his pocket. He’s got that look on his face of single-minded focus, a look that says he is going to get to his fiance in the next two minutes even if he has to break a window to do it.

“You’re so dumb,” Jiang Cheng says, and shoulders him aside to unlock the door.

“Your face is dumb,” Wei Ying retorts maturely. He kicks off his boots and drops his bags by the door, and then races for the stairs like it’s been thirteen years since he’s seen Lan Zhan instead of like thirteen days. “Night!” he whisper-shouts over his shoulder.

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes and locks the door behind him. He leans against the wall to tug the laces of his sneakers loose and tosses them toward the shoe rack. Shouldering Wei Ying’s bags with his own he deposits all of them inside the big French armoire that functions as an entry-way closet.

Reflexively, he checks in on the rabbits on his way through the living room. They’re fast asleep in their expansive two-story hutch that sprawls half the length of the wall. Muttering derisively about his brother’s taste in men, Jiang Cheng snags a blanket off the back of the sofa and steps through the narrow doorway into the den.

Wen Qing is fast asleep at her desk, face buried in her folded arms. She’s been doing this ever since she resumed her classes.

Shaking his head, Jiang Cheng leans over her laptop to save all her work, then closes it so it’ll have some battery life left in the morning. He drapes the blanket over her slumped shoulders carefully.

“I’m home,” he tells her quietly. She doesn’t wake up, but he didn’t mean for her to.

Wei Ying is greeted the next morning by a screech. A-Yuan flings himself away from the breakfast table to attach himself to Wei Ying’s leg.

“You’re back!”

“I’m back!” Wei Ying says, hauling the kid up into his arms. “And I brought you so many souvenirs from New York!”

There are mouth-shaped bruises on Wei Ying’s neck, because of course there are. Jiang Cheng prays to god for any shred of fucking patience and pointedly doesn’t look at him or Lan Zhan. How fucking dare they be like that right in front of his eggs.

When they’ve eaten, Granny says, “Everyone has a big surprise for you two. They hurried to get it done before you got home. A-Ning, go find your sister. Let’s show them.”

They’re shuffled outside, through the conservatory and down the back steps, and Jiang Cheng sees it a half-second before Wei Ying does. He grins, full and wide, and hears his brother gasp.

“You finished the dock!” Wei Ying yells. “It looks amazing!”

He goes running down the hill with Wen Ning and A-Yuan like a summer storm composed of loud, delighted noises and waving limbs. Lan Zhan follows slowly with Granny hanging onto his arm. Jiang Cheng watches after them, reaching into the corners of his chest for the pain that always comes hand-in-hand with moments of impossible joy like this, but he can’t seem to find it.

“The contractor said he would give us an estimate on a pavilion,” Wen Qing’s voice says from behind him.

Jiang Cheng turns to find her standing on the porch, leaning against the door, her hair still messy from sleep. She’s holding the blanket around her shoulders where he left it. Her eyes are reaching for him.

He’s braver than he was when he left.

“That’s a pretty permanent fixture,” Jiang Cheng says, heart beating wildly. “You sure you’re invested in something like that?”

She sighs in that way that means she’s laughing and comes down the steps to join the rest of her family by the water.

When the pavilion is finished, they have a wedding there.

It’s a small ceremony. The Lans are invited, of course, along with Jin Zixuan’s half-brother and a scattering of close friends, like Mianmian and Nie Huaisang. A-Yuan is the ring-bearer, and when he’s successfully delivered the rings to the grooms, he lifts his arms in a bid to be held.

Laughingly, Wei Ying scoops him up. His hair is loose and his eyes are bright, and Lan Zhan is looking at him the way he’s always looking at him, like he would follow him absolutely anywhere.

Just this once, Jiang Cheng will allow it.

The daylight is fading fast, and the night is going to be perfect and clear. Yanli and Wen Ning are spinning each other around in time to the music, totally out of step with everyone else and laughing brightly. Granny is taking a fussy A-Ling back up to the villa to put him to bed in the nursery that every single one of them spent way too much time and energy on, leaving Jin Zixuan free to nurse a glass of sparkling grape juice and stare judgmentally at his half-brother for flirting with Lan Huan. Jiang Cheng might join him for some judgmental staring, actually.

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan are slow-dancing with a giggling A-Yuan held between them. The water rocks gently against the posts, crowded with the lily pads and lotus flowers that Jin Zixuan carefully maintains for A-Li. Wen Qing crosses the dock to Jiang Cheng, and her hand slips easily into his.

And none of it hurts. It isn’t supposed to.

Their house waited empty for a long, long time, but they’re all finally home.

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #yunmeng shuangjie #wangxian #jiang cheng #wei ying #wen qing #lan zhan #jiang yanli #my writing #mdzs fic #the ship sways

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insane-enby · 3 years

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i need some help or advice or please someone respond to this and help me

so um, this is hard, and im kinda just gonna rant. idk if anybody's gonna even see this, probably not, i doubt ill have any responses, but i really just need to talk about it somewhere.

so im pretty sure i have ocd. ive looked up the symptoms more times than i can count and i relate to and have pretty much all of them. it's definitely not as bad as it could be, it could definitely be much much worse and ik people who have it a lot worse so i usually feel really bad if i ever think it's hard to deal with.

the only people that know is my girlfriend, another person at my school that's mentioned they have ocd, and someone who's just really easy to talk to.

i dont have a therapist or anything, and i dont want to go to my parents because even if they do go to get me tested im worried i dont actually have ocd and im just being dramatic and everybody does what i do and then they wont trust me or believe me anymore.

plus..... part of me kind of hopes i have ocd in some ways because if i dont have ocd then that could mean im just crazy or insane or a psychopath or something and that terrifies me, because even my girlfriend who i'd trust with my life barely knows anything about my possible ocd, only the things she's noticed on her own. and i know if i did tell her some of the things, not even everything, she would think im a psychopath or something.

see when i was looking up stuff about ocd i stumbled across "harm ocd" and that's basically where you have these unwanted thoughts that... i dont wanna say drift because, for me at least, it's more like drill into your brain......... and they're these horrible thoughts that are usually terrifying, and basically it's where you excessively worrya bout acting on them so you do things to make sure you dont like avoiding knives or cars or alchohol or something....... when i was reading about it some of the examples it gave were the fear that you would rape someone, or murder someone close to you, and stuff like that. and it's not like you WANT to, and it's not like i ever WOULD, but it's the fact that the thought is THERE, and that it COULD happen, the fact that there's nothing stopping you from actually doing it............. it's terrifying.

so if i dont have ocd, and still have those thoughts, than that would just make me a psychopath, right? because i know for a fact that normal people dont have those thoughts. and i dont wanna be a psychopath i dont want to act on those thoughts, and im terrified i will, and at least if i have ocd i know that the ocd is why i have those thoughts, and it's not me being....... a psychopath i guess.

im sorry this one so long, i doubt anybody read to the end, much less is going to respond and help me. but if by some miracle you DID read this far........ if you know anything about ocd or have any ideas on how to help me........ please help me, please?

-Aliks || she/they

#OCD #help #harm ocd #mental health #advice #please help me idk what to do #should i talk to my girlfriend about this #sigh #intrusive thoughts #actual ocd

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dmclemblems · 2 years

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A whole list of things I wish the game actually explored (under a cut because there’s a batshit lotta text and tbh I’m probably missing some if not a lot of things I would’ve liked to see at all/more of):

Annette and Felix having a post timeskip support that focused on the fact that their parents lived together after the coup. For that matter, I would’ve liked conversations between Felix and Gilbert because of that, because I imagine it means Felix has lived with Gilbert, while Annette was living with her uncle.

On that note, we know next to nothing about Felix’s uncle. It’s a problem in this game in general that we know basically nothing at all about characters’ families, some of them not even getting a portrait (like Glenn, which is insane to me because of his importance as a character he is in Blue Lions, and Holst doesn’t have a portrait either which is also lol wut). I understand some of them not having portraits like say, Caspar and Ignatz’s brothers because they’re not important to the plot of any route or to any character’s development, but they should all still have names and a little known about them.

My main issue with this is less the fact that we know nothing about so many side characters that get mentioned and more that a lot of supports feel like useless filler (as mentioned below, Raphael and Dimitri’s supports. They could’ve had a lot of meaning if they’d gotten another support or two, also detailed below, but both their supports are humor related filler and do nothing for either character whatsoever when we have so much information those could’ve been used for. A lot of supports could’ve been more like Petra and Caspar’s supports where we learn a lot of important information about their backgrounds and their relationship).

There was a rebellion in Western Faerghus, but Yuri never talks about that or if it affected him and/or his mother at all. Sadge.

There is so little information about Almyra that’s it literally stupid lol. You’re gonna make a main character with his route half Almyran and not even make his route have anything to do with Almyra. Real smooth, IntSys. We only get bits of information in supports and we get Nader coming to help Claude briefly in the main story and he’s an enemy in CF, but since they made Silver Snow first you’d think they’d actually make VW signicantly different from an already made/planned route and center the story more on the actual lead character. Even in SS, Seteth is basically your main character while Rhea isn’t there and it’s handled very much as a Church based route. VW is handled as Church Route 2.0 with some relation to the actual main character of that route. It would’ve been really cool if we got to meet some of Claude’s brothers or hell, even just one would’ve been better than what we got. If we were really lucky we could’ve met one of his brothers who hated him, maybe as an enemy not affiliated with the Empire who spills it that they’re siblings and has people questioning that because if people knew his brother was Almyran, it would create a whole plotline in VW relating to people actually finding out about Claude. Ultimately the point is, VW was a waste almost entirely because it has almost nothing to do with Claude, and the Fodlan worldbuilding should’ve been kept to SS and not split between two routes when one of them deserved to focus on Claude instead. All the routes focus on their lead character except VW, which only focuses on Claude a little bit instead of how much it should have.

Constance actually talking about her time in Fhirdiad/enrolling in the School of Sorcery there. Similarly, Lorenz having more to say about his time at the School of Sorcery and about his time in Faerghus in general.

Dimitri is literally called a vagrant in his bio pts. That’s a really weird term to use considering we have really little to go on that explains why his bio defines him with that very specific term. The main thing we’re constantly reminded of is that he was slaughtering Imperial troops, but that doesn’t really put the vagrant adjective into perspective. That sounds more like something someone living in Abyss would be.

Petra’s relationship to Duke Gerth. We get to see him and his relationship with Constance, but nothing about Petra.

Ferdinand apparently took people with him and was traveling before returning to the monastery in non-CF routes. It sounds like he was more of a mercenary or something? We never find out anything about who he traveled with though and what exactly he was doing.

More about Thales and Arundel, specifically when the death took place and how Thales successfully posed as him for so long. Thales had to have known enough about Arundel to be able to do that so convincingly, but there’s so little information about what actually happened.

Raphael having a support with Dedue about cooking because why the actual mcfuckity fuckers does that not exist??? Raphael literally helped at a restaurant during the timeskip and Dedue is like Pro Chef ™. Also in that regard, same with Ashe, because Ashe was born to restaurant owners and surprise kids! also lost his parents.

Raphael having an A+ support with Dimitri. They have so much in common and I’m really, REALLY sad their supports got diluted to nothing but comedy. It’s a huge problem Raphael’s entire character suffers and Dimitri’s supports with the Golden Deer got done so dirty.

On that note, Dimitri really could have had great supports with ALL of the Golden Deer.

Hilda is recruitable in the Blue Lions route and easy to miss in Silver Snow since you only have two weeks to recruit her. Where are my supports about their level of strength because of their Crests and how it dictates so much of how they’re perceived? Hilda wants to be lazy because she’s terrified of disappointing people, while Dimitri is always trying extra hard with everything he does. They’re complete opposites with a central point connecting how they do things.

Leonie wants to become a mercenary and follow in Jeralt’s footsteps (who was from the Kingdom iirc) and I think Dimitri would more than gladly hire her as a mercenary in training in post timeskip. Also, I imagine Leonie would really respect his strength.

Lysithea hates being seen as a child but Dimitri respects people for who they are and wouldn’t judge her for her age and I think she’d really respect him for that; plus they both have ties to TWS and I think Lysithea telling him about them in their post timeskip supports could have given closure to the plot holes regarding TWS’ relationship to Dimitri. Considering in the DLC Dimitri outright asks Edelgard about her hair color, they could have even discussed that in a support and Lysithea could explain what happened to her and that it likely happened to Edelgard as well.

Lorenz literally declares “glory to Faerghus, ruin to the Empire” and willingly fights for Dimitri/Faerghus after the Alliance is dissolved; plus Lorenz’s concepts as a member of the nobility heavily fall in line with how Dimitri treats his people. When it comes to how they feel people should treated, they have so much in common and could also teach each other so much. Both of them have a habit of meaning well and coming across with it poorly, and I think it’d be really nice to see them talk about that and try to come up with ways together on how to fix that. ALSO he left the School of Sorcery early because of political changes in the Kingdom, so they could 110 percent talk about that too.

Ignatz wants to be a painter but is in the Academy training to become a knight. Firstly, Faerghus is like, the Go To Place if you’re training to be a knight, and Ignatz definitely has a lot of chivalry to spare. Secondly, he could become a knight for his family whilst being a painter because as soon as Dimitri found out what Ignatz wanted, he would help him reach that dream. Dimitri wants people to be happy but he also understands the conflict of wanting to make family proud (including Rodrigue, as Dimitri literally states Rodrigue is like a second father to him).

Again with Raphael, they could’ve talked about their parents and how it’s affected them since. Dimitri has gotten violent and aggressive because of it even if he tries to avoids being like that, and I think Raphael could try to teach him how to manage his hatred. More than anyone Raphael has a really good handling of his feelings and staying positive and I think he could’ve really helped Dimitri in trying to stay positive for the people who are still alive. Since Dimitri can only get supports PTS after Rodrigue dies, he could even bring up how people want him to live for himself and how he wants to do right by the living and not just the dead. They could have had an A support that went into why Raphael and Dimitri both want to be so strong, and even an A+ support to balance the humorous supports with actual character development supports on these topics.

where’s my fucking dlc where claude can join you in azure moon and get supports with dimitri y’all know i’d actually pay for just that alone and on that note they should really have supports even pre-ts specifically if they could have supports post-ts and it’s the only route they can both survive in so YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE INTSYS STOP COCKBLOCKING MY SHIPS

Ashe should have had things to say about his relationship with Christophe and it bothers me how we only know about him and Lonato. Also, Lonato attacks in his chapter and mentions “his son” which I feel like was a HUGE low blow to Ashe and really should have been a conversation during the chapter if Ashe is present in the battle (regardless of route). He’s literally fighting the side Ashe is on, he KNOWS Ashe is at the Academy and he could be fighting him but still has the nerve to say he does what he does for “his son”. So like uhhh, hey sir, what about your other son???

You all knew this was coming: where are Ashe’s supports with Yuri??? Also, he was in service of House Rowe during the timeskip (and remains that way until recruited non-AM) so uhhh, no mention of that anywhere with Yuri? Okay. Okay. Cool. Got it. Gotcha. That’s fine I guess. I’ll just be a lil bitter ‘bout that.

The fact that Ingrid and Rodrigue don’t even get to have a conversation anywhere bothers me so much, my dudes. We know all about her love and respect for Glenn and not enough about her and Rodrigue’s relationship. She was literally planned to be his daughter in law at birth and we get nothing about them.

0/10 no information on glenn and miklan having a relationship im not saying romantically, but i’d take that too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Dimitri should have supports with Yuri and it’s 2021 and people are allowed to be offended by anything these days, so I’m offended that they don’t have supports!!!

why no joke about claude proposing to dimitri with failnaught doh oh right bc the proposal wasn’t a joke!!! :D

#JD Rants #you ever just gotta get your thoughts out somewhere? yeah #DCE Comments

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greenygreenland · 4 years

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Liar: Lloyd Garmadon & Sister! Reader

-you're the elder sister of the one and only Lloyd Garmadon

-tell me if you want a pt 2

Summary:

You're Lloyd's sister and would do anything to keep an eye on him, even if it's sneaking into the darkest, most evilest school for boys.

(Y/n) heard terrible stories of the school down the lane. From teachers murdering their students if they weren't up to their expectations to students locking their teachers in their own classrooms and torturing them until they begged for mercy.

Kids were said to grow up to be the worst of the worst, but never would (Y/n) have guessed the people there to look so...normal. Some students dressed incredibly well with uniforms complete with suits and ties while others slipped on sweatshirts and sweatpants instead.

The school had the classic tiled roof of any old building in Ninjago complete with various sparkling windows, stories, and creaky doors. From the outside, the school actually looked peaceful.

The garden out front gave off a feeling of freshness as she passed by with the vibrantly coloured petals swaying in the gentle breeze. The grass tickled (Y/n)'s ankles as she heaved out a deep breath she didn't know she held.

It's not too late to turn back, she told herself.

"No." she interjected. "I have to take care of Lloyd." At the mere mention of taking care of her brother, memories bombarded her like an air strike from above.

The soft, caring smile of her mother. Her warm hands holding her tight. Her words of comfort in her ear.

"I'm so sorry my daughter."

(Y/n) imagined her mother's arms wrapped tightly around her.

"Lloyd has a destiny laid out before him I can't allow."

"What kind of destiny?"

All those years ago, her mother had smiled again with those sad eyes of hers.

"He is destined to be the Green Ninja. He will bring balance, peace. But in order to do so, he must fight and defeat your father."

(Y/n) recalled the feeling of helplessness settling in her gut that day. Her father may have been evil, but he loved (Y/n) and Lloyd more than anything in the world. They could have been a happy family, but he was banished to the Underworld.

"No. He--he can't. Not father, not Lloyd. They can't fight!"

Her mother had frowned with tears in her eyes.

"That is why I must leave."

"Why can't I come with you?"

"Because it's too dangerous. While I'm gone, all I ask of you is to take care of each other. Can you promise me that?"

"Yes, mum. I promise."

(Y/n) shook away the memories with a frown. She was only about eight at the time. Now, she was in her teens. She couldn't back down, not after she dyed her blonde hair black and cut it short like a boy's. Not after she promised her mother to take care of Lloyd, and not after she had done all the paperwork herself.

(Y/n) stared at the documents in her hand with a shake of her head. They were forged at the local library and looked rather professional, but how far would looks go? "This is never going to work." she grumbled to herself.

---

"I can't believe that worked." (Y/n) whispered as she closed the principal's office door. She stuffed her school schedule into her green hoodie and made her way into the first class. She paused when her fingers latched onto the doorknob.

If this were a school for bad boys, then wouldn't that mean she could do whatever the heck she wanted? She could skip class! She wouldn't have to do her homework! She could actually talk back to people!

No.

(Y/n) couldn't do that. She'd willingly brainwash herself into being the villain the staff wanted her and so many others to be. She'd be just as much of a sheep as the children around her.

Like Lloyd.

Her mother said keeping him here would protect him and help avert the prophecy, but (Y/n) didn't understand that. Darkley's was a terrible place to grow up in because of the competitive and dark environment. People weren't nice here (she could tell that much), and it effected even the nicest kids.

(Y/n) released the doorknob and made her way down the hall. When lunch came, he decided to skip and hang out in one of the quieter halls. She didn't have much of an appetite after seeing a group of kids throw bags of fire ants down each other's shirts.

"First Spinjitzu Master is this place insane." she grumbled. A familiar chuckle caught her ears and she jumped to her feet so fast that a book almost fell out of her open bag. A cloaked boy smirked at her as if he told the world's best joke. "Tell me about it." he admitted. "Say, you're the new kid right?"

(Y/n) inwardly smiled. What a wonderful coincidence. "What about it, kid?"

"You may be older, but you're new. You need someone to show you the ropes. What do you say we team up together?" (Y/n) crossed her arms and stared her baby brother down with a firm look. "What's the catch?"

"'Catch'? Uh..."

(Y/n) almost smiled. If Lloyd were one of the other kids, then he would have thought up something to benefit himself on the other end. But he wasn't. He was Lloyd Garmadon, the destined Green Ninja, so of course he wasn't as evil as the other kids. He was an angel in disguise.

"You don't sound so evil, kid." she suddenly said. The confidence on Lloyd's face simmered into a deep frown. "That's what everyone says. The teachers told me they're thinking of kicking me out soon...but I'll show them! I'm Lloyd Garmadon, bringer of evil and son of Lord Garmadon!" As if to prove his point, he let out an 'evil' laugh.

(Y/n) cringed a little. "Great," she said through her teeth, "that's wonderful Lloyd. Now, why don't you show me the 'ropes' of this place?"

"Sure, uh..."

"Jason." she replied. "Jason Le."

True to his word, he showed (Y/n) all the ins and outs of Darkley's, as well as the basics of being 'bad'. She skipped classes with him, ran through the halls, and pickpocketed coins out of her peers' pockets. But along the way, (Y/n)'s morals kicked in and she felt bad about all the stuff she did.

ONE MONTH LATER

The sun slowly sunk over the horizon, casting the empty classroom in a hue of oranges and reds. Lloyd laid flat on a set of desks, arms behind his head with a satisfied smirk. "You're not so bad at this Jason. Maybe one day, you'll be as good as me."

(Y/n) rolled her eyes. "I'm sure I will be, Lloyd." There was a moment of silence before he sat up on the desks. "You know, you remind me of someone." (Y/n) shifted in her chair with a nervous chuckle. "Is that so...?"

"Yeah. My sister. But she'd never do anything as evil as us. She couldn't pick up twenty dollars off the street even if it stared her in the face!" He sighed to himself. "Goody two shoes."

(Y/n) snorted. "What's your sister like?"

He shrugged. "She's a liar who pretends to be nice. We were supposed to meet at Buddy's Pizza, but I haven't heard a word from her in four weeks! What a snake." (Y/n) winced, but Lloyd didn't seem to notice.

"Not only that, but she's a total two-face!"

(Y/n) winced again.

"One second she's nice and the next she's gone like my parents! I thought she cared about me, but apparantly not."

Lloyd's words piecered (Y/n)'s heart like a knife.

Two-faced.

Liar.

Snake.

Was that really what her baby brother thought of her? After all she sacrificed for him? All the times she showed up to hang out with Lloyd, the day before she'd scrap by to earn enough money to buy him lunch. All the times she brought him to the arcade? She used all the allowance in her pockets.

There was a weird burning sensation in her chest. "What if," she quickly said, "your sister was just busy? What if your sister was going through something she didn't tell you?" Lloyd placed a hand on his chin. "I didn't really think about that."

"Maybe you should, because no family should leave each other behind." (Y/n) abruptly stood. "It's getting late, we should head to the dorms."

The walk to the dormitories was silent. Lloyd could tell just by the crinkle in (Y/n)'s brow that she was angry, or at least annoyed with him. He wasn't sure how he knew just by a single glance, but the tension was beginning to freak him out a little. "Did I...say something?" he muttered. (Y/n) frowned a little. "No."

"Then why do you look so..."

"So what?"

Lloyd shrugged. "I don't know...annoyed?"

(Y/n) froze in her steps, and it was so quiet that Lloyd heard every squeak her shoes made. The rays of sun shone on her pale face, illuminating her bright eyes and silky hair. From her hair part, Lloyd noticed a few golden strands peeking out.

Wait a minute.

Gold? Since when did Jason have golden hair?

Lloyd could have sworn this guy looked familiar. The almond-y round eyes, the sparkle that never seemed to dim, the hair like liquid gold that could only be possible if he were related to his grandfather. This wasn't a boy standing before him. No, no, it was....

"(Y/n)?"

The name slid off his tongue before he could stop himself. (Y/n) tiredly sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She knew he would have figured it out eventually, he was smart like that. "The dye must have been cheaper than I thought," she quietly mumbled.

"Dye?"

"I spent the last of my monthly salary on the cheapest hair dye I could find."

"You've been here the entire time and I didn't even notice?!" exclaimed Lloyd. (Y/n) nodded. "Yes, I have." Lloyd squinted at her tired eyes with an angry frown. "But--but why?"

(Y/n) laughed so coldly that Lloyd shivered. "Why else? You're my baby brother. You've been stuck at Darkley's, and I haven't been able to keep an eye on you. When I heard you might be kicked out, I wanted to make sure I wouldn't lose you for good."

Lloyd was speechless.

I spent the last of my monthly salary on the cheapest hair dye I could find.

He had just bad-mouthed his elder sister.

You're my baby brother.

How dishonourable of him.

I wanted to make sure I wouldn't lose you for good.

A wave of guilt hit Lloyd like a tsunami. He ran at (Y/n) like a bolt of lightning and jumped straight into her arms. How could he have thought such terrible things about her? She would never abandon him because she was the best person he had ever met in all of Ninjago even if he were too blind to see it.

She cared about him more than she cared for herself, and now Lloyd understood. All those times she showed up late to pick him up on the front lawn of Darkley's. All those times she let Lloyd eat whatever he wanted while she sat at the table with only a glass of water. All those times she snuck in to hide handmade cards or gifts under his pillows. That wasn't her pretending to act nice or being two-faced, that was her sacrificing all she could to be the best sister in all of Ninjago.

Lloyd almost cried then and there out of guilt. "I'm sorry I called you two-faced." he croaked out. "And I'm sorry for calling you a snake and saying you were fake to me. I didn't mean that, I promise. I just--I didn't know." (Y/n) wrapped her arms around Lloyd's tiny body with a sigh far beyond her years. "I know you're sorry, I forgive you." Lloyd let go of (Y/n) with a sad frown. "I really don't deserve you."

(Y/n) mimicked his sad frown. "Maybe...maybe it was destiny that knew you needed someone like me in your life. You need a guide to keep you on the right track, and that's what I am." Lloyd smiled a little. "You're more than that." He hugged (Y/n) again. "You're the best sister in the world."

#ninjago lloyd #ninjago masters of spinjitzu #ninjago #lego #lego ninjago #ninjago x reader #reader insert

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verxsyon · 2 years

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VERA OMG! i just read your premise for an interactive story/webtoon and GIRLIEㅡ

first of all, i have no idea how you have such vivid dreams LMAO. mine are like "you're stuck in a random hotel with people from high school you never even talked to" 😂

secondly i really like the idea!! i think it's cool to see a modern fantasy that's not focused around some sort of supernatural/magic school/university.

one thing i would say though is that you might want to make sure you're up for writing nine different romance routes; i know i personally could NEVER because it's so much work but honestly if you feel like you can then definitely go for it!!

thank you for tagging me and letting me see inside your mind for a bit 🤯 if you ever need someone to reblog anything related to this just hit up ya girl 💙💙

yes, call me insane for planning 9 routes lmao.

as much as i want to make it into a webtoon, i can’t draw to save my life. so interactive fiction is the best option for me, but i can’t also code to save my life lol. but i can write at least, so there’s that haha. i’ll hit you up when i get started!

omg no, i wrote down the synopsis this morning before work:

since ancient times, shadowed creatures called voids have invaded earth. they were warred against humanity, causing chaos in their wake. when humans first tried to settle, among the group was an esper who warned them about the presence of voids, but it didn’t sound believable until they were attacked. when humans thought all hope was lost, the esper wished to the stars to send help. then, elemental beings claiming to be sent from the stars came to their aid. they’re later known as luminaries.

for centuries, they've been living on earth, forming a contract with the esper and their descendants to cleanse the planet of voids. and as centuries passed on, they became history, and so did those creatures. or so the historians thought.

unknowingly a descendant of the esper, nova (default name) was the sole survivor of a freak accident that triggered the inherited power. touching an object that belonged to their parents, they saw a vision of a void. it was thought to be a hallucination, as voids only existed in history textbooks these days. that is until the voids invaded earth once more.

with their newfound ability, nova is tasked to find the luminaries and save earth. it’s a race against time; it can either make or break the fate of the world.

#— mail 💌#— stars ✭#— gem ♡#thanks for giving your thoughts!#really appreciate it!#idk if you played mystic messenger #the plot is separated into three different stories #each story focuses on two or three ro’s #i wanna make into that #so i can focus on three at a time #if that makes sense lol

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mcrmadness · 3 years

Text

This is just me talking about (my) asexuality and aromanticism and mainly about how I figured I'm aroace. I'm from Finland and recently turned 30 so my experience and "lgbt+ history" might not be what you know it as, especially if you are not from Europe, or if your native language is English.

Also this is highly personal, so I doubt anyone here will have 100% same experience. But that's fine because remember: we're all individuals here and these are NEVER universal. You're still valid even if you wouldn't relate to what being aspec is to me.

It might be IS a long post so beware, but I've just been feeling like writing down some thoughts so here we go...

What I have been able to track is that I was 17, in 2008, when I first stumbled upon the term "asexuality". I don't remember exactly how, but I just remember reading about it and immediately going "yeah that's me". But what I do remember is that no one talked it being about sexual attraction. Basically how understood it was: asexuality = sex-repulsion.

I was 17, and somehow I knew I was sex-repulsed, but at the same time also thought I'm just a minor, so it's normal to be sex-repulsed. But even after turning 18, I don't recall ever feeling sexual attraction. I didn't think of myself as a "late bloomer" but just as someone who just has no interest towards sex. At some point I became really anxious of men, however. Nothing has ever happened to me* but still I, for some reason, developed terrible fear of men. I'm afab and just did not want to be seen as an object, and it made, still makes me, terrified to think someone might look at me and have Emotions. I know that we can't control our brains, I mean, I can't look at someone and force myself to feel attraction - just like those who do feel attraction, can't force themselves to stop feeling attraction. They can only control their actions. But yeah, I also had horrible (sexual) intrusive thoughts due to my generalized anxiety disorder at some point, which did not really help. They got a bit better when I came into terms with my asexuality and aromanticism, but sometimes they still come at me and it's never fun, but at least they're not as strong as what they used to be.

*(Unless if you can count that as sexual harrasment when, CW, I was 11 and a classmate was "into" me and tried to touch my face and talk "sweet things" to me but made it into a show despite me being uncomfortable and usually crying cos as a neurodivergent I didn't know how else to react.)

But anyway, back to the topic. So for years I understood asexuality as sex-repulsion, but I guess it's because I, well, am a sex-repulsed ace. So if I'm sex-repulsed, why would I then look at someone and feel something if I'm repulsed by the thing anyway? Like, it probably can't get any simpler than this :D And I know today that it's not as simple anymore. But that was 2008, at school (in ~2005) they only talked about gays a little, on one page in a sex.ed. book that otherwise was maybe 100 pages long. Only one page. About gays. And it was basically "Some boys like boys or some girls like girls and it's totally fine." and that was it, but the overall assumption was that everyone likes someone. And also there were no romantic orientations. Liking someone = both sexually and romantically. Not liking = not a thing except when you were depressed or otherwise mentally ill, or autistic or mentally disabled (which is a SUPER ableist take btw). I don't remember teachers ever talking about this, but it could also just be my adhd, maybe they did mention, but I just don't remember. At least in my notebooks there is no mention of this, everything was very much heteronormative and amatonormative, and also there was only two genders. I don't remember ever hearing about transgender people, apart from foreign documentaries and in them they were always portrayed as some shocking freaks of the nature, and loads of wrong terms were used. And this is still the mid and late 2000s we're talking about!

So this takes us to the other part aka aromanticism. Back then asexuality was not only sex-repulsion but also merged together with aromanticism, because people didn't talk about romantic orientations yet. So asexuality was not only sex-repulsion, but also you simply just not wanting a relationship. Again, nothing about attraction, just someone who did not care about sex nor relationships. A "forever single", if you will.

This was already annoying me a lot back then because I was really annoyed by sex "running the world". I was so angry because why is asexual the only sexuality that doesn't like sex? All the other sexualities had the assumption of them always wanting to have sex. Like, even think about someone who is straight, you hear that someone is straight, and you automatically assume(d) that oh they're into sex too cos why wouldn't they be. This was really driving me nuts because I was sure there are people who want to have a partner, but never want to have sex! I was still experiencing crushes, and I knew for sure it was nothing sexual, so it annoyed me that just because I'm asexual, it means I can't have crushes. That's why I actually called myself as "asexual bi" for a while, because "bisexual" indicated I would have not been sex-repulsed and I wanted to point out that I'm NOT into sexual things, at all - and remember that this was still the late 2000s or early 2010s and I had not heard of romantic orientations yet! So I was up to something, there just were no terms for that yet! Today that would be called bi-/panromantic asexual.

I haven't been able to track the exact date or even year when did I figure out I'm aromantic, or when did I hear about romantic orientations for the first time. From the messages I've been able to find, I was already in my early 20s. Aka somewhere around maybe 2011-2013. In those, I have still been wondering what I am or if I even want to have a relationship, not being really able to tell what I wanted or didn't want. Again, no one told me romantic orientations are about ATTRACTION and not about whether you have commitment issues or not (this as a half-joke, cos I have severe commitment issues with everything :D I need to feel free!).

Anyway, I do remember my key moment with aromanticism, or the "aromantic awakening" as you could call it too, was when I was 17 or 18. Or maybe I was older? I don't know, I have time blindness. Anyway, I had this one online friend I had a "crush" on (I think it was just undiagnosed adhd's person hyperfixation) and I even told her about it. Everything just is super shady, from those years, I was not really on my best and there are so many overlapping memories that feel like different alternative universes instead of memories on a same timeline. Anyway, I just remember at some point thinking about this girl and I thought about some "romantic" stuff, like kissing, and I just remember my brain going "NOOOOOPE!" I had wanted to meet with her some day so bad, but when I started thinking about actually meeting with her, I started to nope the fuck out. All I had in my head was awkward embarrassing "first kiss" scenarios from movies and I just was not having it! I basically went "lol I guess I'm aro too, then XD" but I still don't remember when did I have this realization. Was I 17? Or was I, say, 22? I guess I need to go through my old MSN Messenger and Skype convos some day to investigate this further because I really want to know. I couldn't even find anything from my Tumblr from those times (I registered here in 2011), but I don't know if that's just me not tagging or Tumblr search functioning normally (aka it never finds anything).

But yeah, I am touch-repulsed. And kiss-repulsed, and romance-repulsed, too, (unless it's my OTP we're talking about). I'm still not exactly sure if I'm touch repulsed because I'm aromantic, or if I'm aromantic because I'm touch-repulsed. I only know that because of my sensory issues (I'm neurodivergent), I have never liked touching nor being touched. Even as a little kid I hated hugs and never liked sitting on anyone's lap. I only tolerated my parents, mainly my mom, because they were my safe place as an extremely shy baby/toddler/kid, who was especially wary about men. I can't explain the latter, but there was something about adult men that caused me (as a baby) to hide my face against my mom's shoulder if they talked to me. I did that to everyone I didn't know, but especially to men I didn't know. No idea why.

I also remember how my siblings loved to sit on people's laps and were always climbing onto their laps, and I didn't like this. And once my (late) grandma was so touched when she asked me if I want to sit on her lap (I was maybe 5-7?) and I agreed just to make her happy. I still remember how it felt, and I did not like it at all, but it still made my grandma so happy that I THINK she almost cried when she told my mom I actually agreed to sit on her lap. I'm not sure how real this last part of the memory is because I was so young. But I do remember thinking I do that for a change because I knew my grandma would be happy.

So yeah, my touch-repulsion is not exactly a new thing but just something that has been a part of my personality forever. But is that the core reason for why I only feel aesthetic attraction? I never look at people and feel like I wanna touch. More of the opposite, the idea of having to touch them or them touching me makes me go "eeewww". If you have seen that video of a gibbon shaking their whole body after seeing a rat in their exhibit? That's what I feel like when I think about touching or being touched, in just any way, also platonically.

The only time I feel "sensual attraction" is when I see photos or videos of animals. The urge to pet a tiger is insane. But the feel of another human's skin or muscle (or hair or whatever) is very repulsive to me.

I still remember how disgusting it felt to e.g. sit on a cousin's lap. We sometimes used swings like this, and somehow I was aware of it not feeling nice, but still not doing anything about it cos it also was okay? Only later I have realized I really, really loathe the texture of human skin. Or the warmth and overall feeling of a human body. For example, I was at least 7 or younger when I sat on my cousin's lap while we were sitting on a swing and STILL, after over 20 years, I have that all in my body memory. I remember how the thigh bone felt under my legs and how freaking disgusting the muscles felt inbetween. Also at school, on the 1st grade, we often had to walk in a line of twos after the teacher and hold the pair's hand so no one gets lost. My then-friend had so ridiculously dry skin that the only thing I could think of was how I felt like throwing up because the skin on her palm felt so damn disgusting. I still can feel that in my hand when I think of it. That's one of my "core memories" from 1st grade - how disgusting the human skin can feel like.

I don't think I have ever felt actual romantic attraction towards anyone. It's really difficult to differentiate because as I mentioned, I get those people hyperfixations easily. I guess it's the same hormones but I never really want to do anything with them? I guess it's the emotional intimacy that "attracts" me and what gets me excited, but I'm still not exactly sure what emotional intimacy means to me. I don't exactly fall into the QPR category either, in a way I wish I had a best friend whose best friend also I would be, and that neither would have anyone else who is "better" than the other one. But the only intimacy there would be emotional intimacy, nothing else. And I need my freedom so I wouldn't move in with any human being, either.

Sometimes I've thought my "ideal partner" would be a robot because if I get annoyed, I could just turn it off and stuff into a closet and leave there, and if I felt like not having a "relationship" anymore, I could just remove the harddrive and destroy the robot, or both. That way I would be the only one with the memories, and I wouldn't have to worry about someone out there knowing things about me, things that only the closest can know, and I'm really afraid of letting anyone close in case it won't work (also with regular friendships) because I can't stop thinking about how much I wish I had that MIB memory cancelling device so that they would again know almost nothing, or at least much much less about me. There's already one friendship that ended a few years ago and I still keep thinking about how I wish I could take everything back and how I wish they delete(d) all the files and drawings and stuff I sent them. There are so many things about me I wish I never told them, now as we are no longer friends. Back then it felt like "of course this is gonna last a lifetime!" but turns out that nope, not all friendships will.

I guess it's time to stop rambling. This post is really long already. If you read it all the way here: congrats. And thanks. You probably just wasted your time but... that's on you I guess :DDD But yeah, some thoughts from a 30-years-old aroace who has been aware of their identity for at least or almost 10 years now.

#mcrmadness' deep thoughts #asexuality #aromantic #aroace #aspec

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fluffymcu · 4 years

Text

Letting Loose

Part TEN

This series is TICKLE related. Outfits that are linked here are purely for picturing the clothes, you don’t have to look like the model.

Series Summary: You’re the little sister of the one and only Captain America. You’re also the youngest girl on the team, so that automatically makes you the avengers’ little princess. And they spoil you as such. They have become your amazing family and you don’t know where you’d be without them. This series will show random adventures and fluffy events in the daily life of the reader and her family, along with an unexpected turn later on as you read.

A/N: I’m so exited to have gotten to the big twist! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter even though it doesn’t have any tickle scenes in this one just because I didn’t really feel it fit right with this part since it’s kinda serious.

Warnings: Drama?

Word Count: 2,335

Previous Next

----

“I don’t understand, how is that possible?” You ask her, the team equally as confused. You had let her in, motioning for her to take a seat. She did so with a sigh and had a look of mild annoyance.

“To put it simply, I was made out of a one night stand. My mom was Cassandra Murray.” She started, Tony instantly recognizing that name and gulping at the small pang of sadness hitting his chest. “She got diagnosed with cancer when I was 12. I didn’t have any other family because my mom and her parents had a falling out years ago for being too abusive. Of course, she didn’t want me staying with my abusive grandparents ever, or ending up in foster care, so she made me promise that when she died, I would go straight to find my father.”

“I don’t understand, why didn’t your mother tell me she was pregnant or that I had a daughter?” Tony asked, his brows furrowed in deep confusion. Ruby Anne only shrugged and looked away.

“She never said. She just... kept it a secret until I was old enough to know who you were and she finally told me you were my father.” The room feel into a deep silence before Steve decided to speak up.

“Well, thank you for keeping your promise coming to us. You’ll stay here in the compound until you’re of legal age and after that you can decide where you want be. But we’d be happy to have you here for as long as you want.” Steve nodded at her, giving her a sympathetic smile before deciding to give them some space. “Oh, and I’m so sorry about your mom. May she rest in peace.” The rest of the team agreed and gave her their apologies before you followed the team out of the living room, leaving Tony and Ruby to talk.

The room fell silent again, Ruby Anne avoiding Tony’s gaze. He took a deep breath. “Would you like me to... show you to your room?” He asked. She nodded without a word and followed him upstairs, taking her bag with her.

----

“Holy crap, this is insane!” You exclaimed. All of you were currently in the basement processing the news. The team agreed and ran their fingers through their hair and rubbed their hands on their faces. You were still also very confused as to why she was looking at you weirdly. You had nothing to do with her, why was she giving you weird looks? You knew everybody knew who you were, and that you lived with the team but that wouldn’t really seem like a valid excuse to take it out on you. But then again, we all grieve in different ways??

“Yup, and we’ve seen some weird crap over the years.” Clint chuckled humorlessly, taking a seat on one of the cushions. “Poor Tony, this is gonna hit him hard.” Your stomach tied itself in a knot at the thought of Tony being so distraught. Tony deserved only happiness and the fact that he might be experiencing something other than that made you frown.

“But, he’s Tony. He can handle anything, right?” You asked, doubt and worry dripping from your words. When you didn’t receive a verbal answer, instead just unsure looks, you sighed, making it your mission to help Tony as much as he needed with this situation.

---

“Okay! This is you.” Tony sighed, giving her a small smile as she walked in, putting her bag by the bed and looking around, showing no expression. “Umm, listen, so I know you’re going through a tough time right now, your mother just... passed and I just wanna say I’m so sorry. And I mean that for everything. For-” He gets cut off by Ruby Anne looking at him straight in the eye for the first time since she got here.

“I don’t need your pity right now. I’m fine. Thanks for the room, I’m good for now.” She says dryly, turning her back to him.

He wants to say he’s surprised at her behavior but how could he? He hadn’t been there for her, and her mother just died, and now she has to come live with a bunch of strangers all of a sudden. So no, he wasn’t surprised at her distant behavior, but he could only hope she would warm up soon so he could make up for all of that lost time. He nodded quietly, grabbing the knob to her door. “Well, if you need anything, anything at all, just let know.” And with that, he left, shutting the door behind him. Ruby sighs, and sits down on the big chair next to her nightstand and stares around the room. It’s nothing like her room at home. Everything in here looked expensive, but it didn’t surprise her. It was the Avengers compound after all.

-----

You and the team were surrounding the kitchen island trying to have a normal conversation after all of this, but failing miserably. Moments later Tony joins them at the island and sighs, rubbing his hands over his face. You frown and feel bad for him, walking over to give him a hug. He returns it, a sad expression on his face.

“I know it’s only the first day but it still hurts to see her hate me.” He mumbled.

Nat tilted her head and rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. “She doesn’t hate you Tony, she’s just stressed. Like you said, this is the first day and a lot of things are changing for her and it may be too much for her right now. Plus she’s going through grief right now, so just give her time. She’ll come around.” She smiled, the rest of the team nodding in agreement. Tony sighed, not really believing it but nodding nonetheless. Now he just has to explain to Pepper why there’s another 15 year girl living in the compound when she comes back from her business trip.

----

It’s been 2 weeks, things have settled down a bit, the news finally settling in. The talk between Pepper and Tony going much better than expected, Pepper being very understanding and supportive. It made Tony feel at least a little better about the situation now that he had the support of his wife. Ruby Anne is still very distant, but he tells himself to be patient and give her time and space. She’ll warm up. He thought. She’ll warm up.

You and Peter trudged down the stairs, ready for school, waving everyone goodbye before running out to the car. Ruby was already there, sitting in the front seat next to Happy since you and Peter always sat in the back.

You thanked Happy, the 3 of you getting out of the car and walking inside. When Peter left to go to his class, you took advantage of this small time alone to try and talk to her, and maybe convince her to spend a little time with Tony.

“Hey, so maybe you wanna spend a little time with tony after school? I know he’s been eager to get to know you better and be a father to you?” You smile, trying to get her excited about spending some quality time with her dad. She turned to look at you with dulled eyes.

“He’s never been a father to me.” She ground out, walking in front of you. You stay there for a few seconds in mild shock but quickly recover, shaking off the stress and catching up to her.

“Ok... but,,, he didn’t know you had- you know, he didn’t know you existed then. But he does now! And he wants to apologize for everything and fix it!” You shrug cheerfully. She glanced at you once more before shaking her head and walking faster.

“No thanks.” She spat. You stand there and sigh, watching her advance and roll your eyes tiredly.

The whole school day you were thinking of plans to get Ruby Anne out of her shell. Right now, you would have liked it better if she could start warming up to Tony but apparently that wasn’t gonna happen just yet. So your next move was trying to get her to warm up to the rest of the team. Or at least for now, you and Peter.

———

You had gotten home later that day because traffic was horrible today so by the time you, Peter and Ruby got home, dinner was ready and they were waiting for you at the table.

“I’m not eating tonight.” Ruby mumbles, going straight to her room and closing the door. You raise your eyebrows a bit in mild awkwardness as you and Peter make your way to the table. Tony sighs, almost inaudible but you heard it. Pepper pats Tony’s back and reassured him. “Don’t worry, she’ll come around.”

“I wonder when that’ll be.” He chuckled dryly and you all begin to eat, trying to change the subject to a happier matter. You hate to see Tony so upset like this. And although you understood what Ruby was going through right now, the fact that his own daughter was the cause of him feeling like this didn’t sit right with you. You were getting impatient for him.

——-

3 weeks have passed, and Ruby has taken no steps toward getting to know anyone on the team. She would literally spend the whole day in her room if she wasn’t in school.

It was a Friday afternoon, and you all had gotten back from school and you and peter were watching a movie with Bucky and Wanda in the small movie theatre in the basement. Tony went to check up on Ruby, as he did everyday, hoping today would be the day where they take a positive step towards healing.

Ruby sighed when she heard the knock on her door and she rolled her eyes, letting out a mumbled “come in.” and facing away from the door. Tony stepped in, offering a smile even though she couldn’t see it. “Hey.” He started, not surprised when she didn’t respond.

“I uhh, just wanted to-“ He paused, not wanting to be turned down immediately again, deciding to delay the subject a bit. “Uhh y/n and Peter are down in the basement. They’re watching a movie with Barnes and Wanda. You didn’t wanna join them?” He asks.

She shakes her head silently, acting annoyed and shifting in her position. Tony bites his lip for a moment before trying once again to talk to her. “I also cane to say that I’m really sorry for not being there for you. If I had known-“ He sighs deeply as he gets cut off like he does every time he brings it up, looking down at the floor as she talks. But this time, she snaps at him.

“Look! I didn’t want to come here! The only reason I came in the first place was because I promised my mom I would. I didn’t want to come here!! I begged her not to make come here, but she made me promise because she didn’t want me ending up in an orphanage or foster care. That’s it! My mom was there for me!! You weren’t.” She spat, turning back around and giving him her back. Tony stood there, shocked. It was the longest conversation they’ve had together in the 2 months she’s been here, and it was to snap at him.

“I-I know, I didn’t know she had a daughter. And I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I promise, if I had known, I would never-“ he paused, chocking up a little as the guilt overtakes him. “I would have been there for you.”

She rolled her eyes and looking down at the floor, her brows knitted together. “I don’t need a father.” She seethed. “I spent all the important years of my life without one. It can stay that way.” She mumbled. Tony stayed there in silence, processing her words, and slowly nodding.

“Ok.” He sighs, leaving the room and closing the door, making his way down the halls. Ruby feels a bit of guilt for a split second before anger overcoming it and he grunts, taking a seat on the chair and moping.

———

After the movie, you go to check on Tony and after looking everywhere else, you go check down in his lab and you find him there, working on a suit. As you come in and walk closer to him, you notice how distraught he looks and your heart hurts as you walk faster over to him and rest your hand on his shoulder. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Tony looks up at you, giving you a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, and looks down to his work. “She uhh,,, doesn’t want me around her; at all. Says she’s lived all the important years of her life without me, so she can keep it that way.” He mumbled. You furrow your eyebrows at the fact that she would actually say that to her father. “Maybe I should just let her be. When she’s a legal adult, she’ll be allowed to leave the compound and she won’t have to see me again.” Your body jerks up a bit at the sound of Tony being close to giving up and you shake your head.

“No, don’t give up, Tony! She’s your daughter. She’s gonna be a challenge... I mean, she is your daughter after all,” you smile lightly, hoping to liven up the mood. Tony chuckles once and shrugs.

“Yeah, but... if she doesn’t want this, why should I force her.” He draws his lips in a fine line.

“Because she’s your daughter. And you have to show her that you’ll be there for her now, and that you won’t give up on her. Make her know she’s worth it to you. It’s gonna be hard, but, you can do it! You’re Iron man.” You smirk, nudging him a bit. He smirks up at you and hugs you tightly.

“My little munchkin.” He cooes, pulling apart from the hug to look at you again. “You sure you’re not gonna be jealous now since you’re gonna have to share my attention between you, Peter, and Ruby Anne?” He teased, pinching your hip causing you to giggle.

“No. She deserves all your attention right now.” You grin, patting Tony’s head affectionately. He smiled and nods, promising himself that he won’t give up.

———-

So since this chapter was a bit serious, there wasn’t really any tickle scenes, but chapter 11 will have lots of fluff so that will be out this Friday! I also have a short Steve x reader imagine that I will post next week :)

#ticklish!reader #tickle fight #avengers tickle #marvel tickle #tickle fluff #avengers #marvel #marvel mcu #peter parker #peter x reader #peter parker x reader

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msgrumpygills · 3 years

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I gotta say, the more relatable the Pads try to seem, the more they piss people off.

I am a mother two. My husband constantly works to keep us afloat and I take side jobs when I can as long as it works with my kid's school schedules because we can't afford child care. I don't have multiple nannies to watch my kids or help with housework and you know what? I don't complain about how hard it is. It's the life I chose to have. I don't expect praise for doing what I am supposed to do. My husband works 5 days a week and when he isn't working, he's spending time with us. Sometimes he'll even take the kids off my hands for a few hours so I can get a break because that's what a good father and husband does. When he posts about them on social media, it's always talking about how grateful he is to spend the time with them that he does get to spend. And we all get on each other's nerves. The kids drive both of us crazy and we drive each other crazy, but we don't try and pretend like we're perfect. We're a typical family.

A family who can afford to have staff on hand at all times, a mother who never has to worry about bills and education, who never has to feel guilty for taking a few minutes to herself because she knows someone else is there to take care of whatever she's putting off, a mother who has time to do anything other than provide for her spouse and her children...a father who spends all his free time away from home, who complains about how hard it is to be around his kids, a man who praises his wife for all that she does without acknowledging that she has help, all while pretending that they are perfect...that's not a family, that's Hollywood.

Pictire perfect doesn't exist and anyone with a brain knows that. If they want to peddle their crap they need to stop trying so hard and be real for once because, lets be honest, you cant live off the money of adoring fans forever. People lose interest in thing over time and Walker isn't exactly thriving. Eventually the spn crowd is going to fizzle out (of course there will still be those few who stay forver) and a handful of people emptying their pockets to line theirs isn't enough to keep their lifestyle. People don't want to see perfect and they sure as hell don't want to listen to people with more money than anyone needs and help around every corner complain about how hard life is for them. And sure? Celebrities have struggles, but those struggles are not on the same level as the people they're trying to relate to. People definitely don't want to keep shelling out their hard earned money give to a celebrity so that celebrity can donate a portion of it to a charity when thay celebrity has more than enough to reach the goal that they set on their own.

I hope they wake up to reality soon. Otherwise they're gonna end up like the rest of us and as much as I would pay to see that wake up call, i don't wish that kind of abrupt life change on those children (being raised by parents who don't know how to function without gobs of money and never had to raise them alone could be seriously damaging)

I want to say that I commend you and admire you so much! I can’t imagine the strength and willpower it takes to do what you do, and if no one has told you today, you are so appreciated! <3

Your family is the exact type that Jared and Gen are trying to portray. They wanna paint themselves as the hardworking parents that work so hard to support and take care of their three kids and how Gen is a hero for doing it all on her own while Jared is winning that bread. They’re definitely actors playing a role here and their “family” is as authentic as Jared’s sobriety.

I think by trying to be relatable, they just make asses of themselves. Everyone knows they have a staff of help, but Gen acts like she has to fight to get time to herself. Jared acts like seeing his kids is the worst thing on the planet and he makes sure everyone knows it. Like I said, some parents joke around about the kids driving them insane, but it’s not every single post. On top of that, those parents who make those jokes once in a while are present all the time, they’re with the kids, they appreciate their kids, they don’t pop in for the weekly dad appearance and then complain about it the whole time. Jared might think he’s being cute and relatable, but he looks like an asshole.

I don’t know if anyone else here ever watched Wife Swap, but I would LOVE to see the Pads swap lives with an actual family who has actual problems. They would implode. I think you’re right about the kids, they’re the ones who are going to suffer ultimately, more than they probably already are. Their father is barely there (I wanna say Jared brought that up about his kids not really knowing him? Maybe it was someone else so don’t quote me on that.) and when he is there, he acts like he can’t get away fast enough. He just pops in for the staged “family goals” pictures and then shovels the kids back onto the nannies so he can go act like a 20-something college kid. Their mother only pays attention to them when she needs them to pose for her charade of happy family on instagram. When she doesn’t need them, she’s shilling them onto the nannies so she can go have “me time” which she certainly doesn’t get enough of, being unemployed and letting ghost writers take care of her passion projects. When she should be a caring mother, she monetizes it. Nothing is genuine and you can tell that the kids are getting tired of being the performing monkeys for her clickbait social media posts.

I’d hope that Jared has some money stored away and has invested it well so they’ll be prepared for when Supernatural fizzles out and when Walker (hopefully sooner than later) dies out. Gen won’t be able to jet around the country and buy clothes that are as much as car payments, and Jared won’t have the extra money to go blow on weekend getaways and traveling to anywhere that isn’t his compound. They might even have to downsize and what are they gonna do without their 3 gyms, tennis court, pool and guest house?

I hope they get a wake-up call or snap out of it, but I don’t see that ever happening with these people.

#grumpy answers #anti genevieve #jared padalecki #Anonymous

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shadow--link · 3 years

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List of things that I don't get because Ganon sucked as a 'parent' and I hate humans but the list gets more concerning the more you read it

uh tw this is kinda a vent

1: People liking 'toe beans' What is so cool about an animal's feet grippers. and like, I saw them on a fersona and they had human hands..that is very imprracticall..just..why

2: Calling things cute. it fucking makes me sick. I hear it so much I wanna burn something. Like people calling a shirt cute and the shirt is one piece of a cloth that barly covers their breasts. No. It's not cute, it's gross.

3: Sticking your tongue out trying to be cute/sexy The amount of rage that boils inside me when I see someone stick out their tongue is insane. I feel so fucking pissed and I don't know why. I wanna punch them in the face and rip out their tongue then burn it.

4: People that I look up to liking something I know shit about I feel bad that I don't know this thing you really like and I wanna relate with you but if all you talk about is this thing I know nothing about I feel dumb and stupid like I wanna cry and why am I your friend when we have nothing in common..I just feel bad and I hate it and I don't know why.

5: Not knowing 100% of a hyperfixation Like I kinda enjoy the DreamSMP but there's things in it that I don't know..it took me weeks to figure out what o7 meant (it's a salute) and like EVERYONE knew what it was and I didn't and I felt like a fake fan cause I don't know what this thing is and it's CLEARLY IMPORTANT but I don't know what it is cause I joined the fandom late and now I'm the stupid one

6: any word that ends in 'isum' Like... "oh nooo the people that have more meletonin then me are evil" the fuck. Why is that even a thing. "Oh no, person have boobie and coochie. Person stupid. I have penis. I smart." why. Y'all are all Hylians. Just..fucking GAH stAHP with it. It makes no sense. What's so bad about someone being a different colour then you? IT'S A FUCKING COLOUR GUHHHHHH also "oh no man kissed another man the world is gonna end." Why. THey're just kissing. I don't..H

7: I can't remember shit for shit Why is forgetting things a thing. I hate it. SOmetimes I can't remember what my favorite "insert noun here" is! Like someone will ask me "Hey what's your favorite food??" And I don't fucking know! WHY DON'T I FUCKING KNOW?? IT'S mY FAVORITE FOOD! I SHOULD KNOW THESE THINGS! But I don't.. like, I think it's sushi.. but now that I think about it, sushi is kinda gross. So it could be pizza.. but.. ok there's nothing bad about pizza, but..I sound like a dumb little kid saying that..

8: I'm close to being an adult Ganon forced me to grow up from a young age. I don't remember my childhood..probably because I didn't have one. Man, this thouht hurts the most.. I've been forced to mature far before I'm ready..I'm still 15..I'm still a kid...but no, I'm almost 16 and at 16 I HAVE to get a job or I'll just be sitting around the castle like a worthless sack of fleash... and well, I am in a batter situation now, I'm living in the castle with Link and his family.. no longer with abusive Ganon.. but Link's Dad is still scary when he yells...and he expects me to work when I'm 16 and to stop mooching off of him in my mid 20's...but... I don't feel like I'm ready.. I can't function on my own... I really can't...and..I finally worked up the courage to tell Zelda that.. but Link's Dad heard me say that, and he said "So I've failed you? It's my job to prepare you for the outside world!"..or something like that.. it made me feel so upset.. I ran out of the room and fled to my bed to cry, and wanting to die.. I'm not suicidal. I'm scared of death. But in that moment..I really wanted to die.

9: Talking about feelings I never vent. This is like the 3rd time I've vented. Besides in Among Us. hheh, sorry. I couldn't help myself..humor is how I cope with stuff. Guess I now understand why the 'funny friend' in memes is portrayed as sad when alone..cause at the end of the day, that's what I am. Alone. with no one to talk too. Guess that's why I went back to this blog to vent.. Link might see this and talk to me, though. And I know Vio will be talking through him. Just hope he doesn't scold me about putting this on Tumbler lol........what was I saying.. oh right.. talking about feelings is hard for me. When I was young, before Ganon stole me from my homeland, I was always an outcast. The one time I went to school, everyone hated me. Now that I look back, it's probaly cause I have autism and ADHD. Well, I might have them. Not diagnosed yet. But Me and Zelda have done the reasurch. A tone of it. And there's no way I'm nerotypical. But anyway. No one wanted to be my friend when I was a child. Probably why Ganon took me away. I wouldn't be missed. And I wasn't. Only a few remembered who I was when I returned to Lorole after breaking the mirror. I spelled that wrong but don't care. And the friends I made as a kid...I couldn't find them..and any friends I did make...man..I was such an asshole towards. I.. was transphobic towards this one friend...I feel so bad about it. I hate how I used to act. I hate it. I fucking hate it so much I just wanna- no. that's not me anymore. No more killing.

10: The medical system Why do ya gotta wait years to get diagnosed for mental disorders. WHy do you gotta be an adult to get trans uh helping surgery. Why do ya gotta wait till 16 to get on hormone blockers. THEY AIN'T GONNA BLOCK SHIT NO MORE, I ALREADY WENT THROUGH PUBORTY AND IT ENDED AT LIKE 14 FOR ME!... at least my chest is small. I am so greatful that my chest is small and can be hidden in a bif shirt. "bUt ShAdOw LiNk, YoU'rE a BoY" well I'm glad you think that, asshole. SOmetimes, when a Lohian/shadow/shade is born, they're the oppaside of Hylians, right? Well, sometimes the gender is reversed as well..so...Link is male, I was born a female. Hada stupid ass name that sounds like raw-vio lmao. But I didn't like that. So I changed..I.. wanted to be Link, but different.. so I called myself Lync, cause that looks cool. But Ganon was like "No, that sounds like Link, and he's an asshole. Don't call yourself Lync." So he called me Shadow Link.. and well, that's the only thing Ganon has done to me that I don't hate...but now that I think about it, I kinda relate to the Lohian god Loki and wanna call myself that instead. But anyway..when I failed at anything, Ganon would call me by my deadname. I hated it.. when I would win, he would call me Shadow Link. And I started to hate my deadname...now I hate it cause it's too girly. Reminds me of the old old me. I think I got off track. oh well.

this had been a list of shit that pisses me off. There might be more to add to this but I'm sad, it's late, and I don't want Link yelling at me. Goodnight.

#shadow link #tw #vent #tw vent #vent tw #yelling tw #tw suicide mention #no I'm not self projecting at all what do you mean #ok maybe I am #but like i never vent and shit has been building up inside me and i don't know any other way to let it out #so i let it out through shadow link #that's how i let out all my anger #by pretending to be someone im not #......guess i really am them #heh

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