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wyn-n-tonic · 3 years

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Oceans in the Desert

Word Count: 1,176 Warning: This is a couple dealing with the loss of a child, that is the theme. It is softness wrapped in grief. I am including an author's note at the end because what I have to say can also be triggering and I don't want to put that just out here and potentially harm or isolate somebody. Anyway, if you're reading this I love you and if you continue on, I love you. But if this subject matter is too triggering? Guess what! I love you.

Gif by: @aomine-dajki.

He’s…changed.

Since losing the baby, he’s changed.

It shouldn’t be shocking, there are two people feeling this sudden absence and it is a fire consuming the tangled branches of their lives. But she is, at first. The hard exterior he usually sported had begun to soften. It always was around her. But everybody else? He was no longer the strong Din. And in her arms? He was completely shattered.

She’s changed too. Resolute in the belief that a loving and full family wasn’t where her role was meant to be played. She expected his face to change when looking at her. Imagined him twisting away from her. But if it changed at all, it was only with the gentle understanding of shared sadness.

Their grief came in unspoken shifts. Hers flowing freely in the light, an open book adding new chapters to the pages he knew so well. His came softly in the night, the darkness veiling him in the same safety of his uniform, allowing him to become free.

Life pattered on in a four-four beat and so, too, did their graceful dance. Families are torn apart every day and the world doesn’t stop. The world won’t stop for them either, it can’t. To process is to work. To tinker. To lead, not to lean. It’s always been like that, the orphan and the runaway. But where they used to hold themselves, they now hold each other.

He became reckless, helmet tossed to the side. He traded the armor for vulnerability, seeking a different kind of anonymity in the eyes of the world.

“I think I’m done with this,” he whispered, “Ana, I can’t do this anymore.”

Her breath caught behind the ever-present lump in her throat, forcing her upward in shock. She looked towards the rough outline of him at the edge of the bed, heart leaping forward as the gunshot signaling the start of the race rang heavy in her ears.

This is it.

“Din, I—“ What does she say? She never was a beggar but this is different. She wasn’t losing him too. “I didn’t mean for it to all fall apart like this. I didn’t mean t—“

“What?” He turns suddenly and cradles her tear stained cheek in his hand, his heartbeat radiating through his palms. “Stars, did you thin—“

But she’s already nodding into his hand, holding his wrist in a vice grip refusing to lose his touch. He’s a space heater and that warmth’s not lost in the gentle laugh that escapes him now. It’s the sweetest sound the living quarters have heard in weeks.

“No.” He’s pressing that soft pout to her forehead. “Never.” The tip of her nose. “My sweet girl.” Her lips.

Water wells heavy in relief on her lids but, still, she says, “I'm sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, I—“ he pulls her to his chest and swallows hard, unable to keep looking into those big eyes still wild with the fear of fresh loss. “We are fragile. I should��ve chosen my words with care, I’m sorry. What I meant was that I can’t keep bowing out and acting like everything is normal.”

He stops, a ragged breath drawn into tired lungs.

“I don’t understand, Din.”

The quaking starts from somewhere deep within him, somewhere far below his sternum. Hollow where his soul should be, as if reaching in and seeking it out would produce nothing but empty air. The same vacancy has carved through her.

His tears fall like stars in the galaxy of her hair.

He waits five beats of his exhausted heart to steady himself before he speaks again, somehow softer, “I can’t continue to run and hunt and hide like this. I cannot keep living in transience and call that healing from my trauma and I won’t let you either.”

“You want a different life? With me?”

“I want a normal life. With you.”

“Din,” she’s pulling back, hands finding his face in the dim light, “What about the Creed? The Guild?”

He pushes a loose strand of hair behind her ears and when he speaks again, he is completely calm. Firm. Resolved.

“I will no longer be bound by rules I did not create.”

Her eyes are searching his, looking for a shred of doubt but there’s none to be found. His mind’s made up but, “Din, you’ve spent thirty-something yea—“

“Fuck the Creed, Ana. The only good thing they ever brought me was my family,” a ragged breath draws through him once more, “but they’re the reason we lost our son. I will not do this anymore. I will not do this to you anymore. We both deserve stability after what we’ve been through.”

The pad of her thumb runs across the curve of his cheek, the constant tears doing in weeks what usually takes years. Her man, her mountain of a man, has been reshaped in front of her. "Where will we go?”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Somewhere green. I think he liked green.”

He nods, sadder still. “I think so too. I wish I could’ve asked him.”

“I wish for so many things, Din. I would’ve waited centuries just to hear his little voice. What do you think his first word would’ve been?”

He laughs again and it fills the emptiness of the room, of them. “Well, he spent all his time with us so my credits would be on, ‘Fuck.’”

Her laughter bubbles up, lilting in time with his as they imagine their sweet boy, beaming up at them with his little teeth and wide eyes.

“And the thing is, Ana,” he’s settling down, chest rising and falling at a normal pace now, “I wouldn’t even have admonished him. I wouldn’t have denied that boy a goddamn thing.”

“No,” she brushes his overgrown curls to the side, “neither would I. He had us wrapped around his finger the moment he came into our orbit.”

His heart visibly sinks, “Laughing makes me feel guilty.”

“Yeah,” she bites her lip and pulls him into her, allowing gravity to take them both to bed, “it makes me feel guilty too."

“I keep wondering if this pain will ever end and then, in fleeting moments, I forget there was ever pain to begin with. Then it hits me all over again because I don’t want to forget him.”

“No, my love, I don’t want to either. They say forgetting is the ultimate loss. I won’t let you do that.” She takes a deep breath as her fingers tangle into the wilds that have claimed his crown. “Promise me that you won’t let him slip away from me either.”

He pulls her closer, wringing out what little space is left between their bodies. Lips finding hers in the gentlest kiss as salt water mixes in the shared space of home, he whispers, “I promise you.”

One day, the pain may subside into a dull ache. One day, it may even go away altogether. But for now?

The sobs that shook their bodies could’ve filled oceans in the desert.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This was one of the hardest, most cathartic things I've ever written. I lost a child when I was twenty-two and I did it all by myself while surrounded by people who said they loved me. I wrote this the way that I did because it's how I wanted my ex partner to behave, I wanted him to care and cry with me and he didn't. His reaction made me believe that nobody else would care or cry with me either. I stayed silent in my grief for years. I used to feel like losing that pregnancy made me a failure but when I finally opened up about it the amount of love and support I received was everything that I had been craving. If you are suffering through this grief alone, I promise you that you're not and I hope that the people you are surrounded by give you the love and the care that you deserve. I hope that the people around you cry with you. You're not a failure, you never have been.

#din djarin #the mandalorian #grogu #fanfic #fanfiction #star wars #sir i am crying because i will never be grogu's mother #pedro pascal #loss #ofc #original female character #baby yoda

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pjo-whore · 3 years

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Percy Jackson At Hogwarts

Chapter 1: Wizards Are What Now?

Look, Percy never wanted to be half-blood.

Being a half-blood – the child of a mortal human and a god – was dangerous. It was scary. Most of the time, on top of having neglectful parents and a dysfunctional and incestuous family that wanted you dead for petty reasons, it got you killed in other painful, nasty ways.

There wasn’t a day that went by where Percy didn’t feel envious of the kids who didn’t have to deal with the mythological world.

Percy Jackson was seventeen years old. Until a month ago, he was fighting a war against a Greek primoradial, the Earth Mother incarnate, Gaea – also known as his great grandmother. Before that, he fought in a war against his grandfather, Kronos, Greek Titan of Time, who wanted to overthrow the Olympian gods and take over the world and the Empire State Building. Somewhere in between he also found time to spend a month in literal Greek hell, Tartarus, who also happened to be his great grandfather, and who also tried to murder him on sight.

Was Percy a troubled kid?

Yeah. You could say that.

And right now, he was still trying to clean up the mess from the Second Giant War.

Now that there wasn’t a war looming overhead, the gods’ recent exploits were coming to light, and new demigods were popping up everywhere, everyday. The number of demigods skyrocketed now that they were actively searching and not waiting for them to stumble into Camp on their own.

But that also meant there were new kids to train, more demigods for the gods to claim, and less time to recoup from the recent war.

Less than a month had passed since Gaea’s defeat.

The days were filled with helping each other get back on their feet, rebuilding the camps, and trying to keep the fragile peace in order.

There was still a lot to sort out, and the gods weren’t as hands-on as most would like. There was conflict building up. News spread about how the gods helped the seven demigods of the prophecy fight the giants, because a giant couldn’t be killed by a mortal alone, and this made many jealous and angry. The gods could pop in for a single battle when it was their own ass on the line, but not when a group of their own literal kids needed to rebuild their home that was dedicated to the gods?

Besides Chiron and Dionysus, the only god to physically stay at Camp Half-Blood following the battle against Gaea due to his punishment from Zeus, there were no other adults. The oldest demigods were barely twenty. Despite age, most, if not all, the demigods looked to the prophecy demigods for guidance and leadership.

Annabeth, Jason, Percy, Piper, and Nico.

The brunt of the responsibility fell on the daughter of Athena, and the son of Poseidon. They led their Camp through the Second Titan War, and now they were survivors of another war.

Things weren’t easy for a long time.

The Camp was completely ravaged.

During Gaea’s seize of the Greek demigod Camp, the cabins were burned by the monsters and toppled by Gaea’s massive earthquakes. Not even the Big House – the staple of Camp Half-Blood, the oldest building on the lot – survived the attack.

Camp Jupiter didn’t fare any better, but their buildings had been more structurally sound, thicker and built of material that didn’t burn and crumble. Enough buildings were still standing well enough to inhabit.

Everything had to be rebuilt for Camp Half-Blood.

Nobody could be sent home – to their mortal homes, with mortal parents, and a mortal life, mortal being the slang for “normal” among the mythological world – despite the new lack of residency at Camp Half-Blood. Kids needed to heal. There were nightmares and PTSD. Trauma and concussions. People to be counted, bodies missing, some so mauled they were impossible to identify. Several bodies were unearthed from the ground, sucked in by Gaea’s attack and suffocated beneath the dirt.

Shrouds were made for those who could be identified, the unknown buried in unmarked graves to be remembered. Those who were missing were given honorary shrouds, unknowing if they were in one of the unmarked graves. The Romans were unable to do their traditional funeral rituals, transporting the bodies all the way to Camp Jupiter, and were burned in shrouds alongside the Greeks.

Mortal parents simply couldn’t help.

They couldn’t fathom their children being in a war.

There were fears that demigods would be taken away from Camp Half-Blood by their mortal parents, horrified at what their kids were put through. Chiron especially worried about demigods who would be kept from Camp by parents, forcing them to live alone without any mythological world support, to defend against monsters on their own, without any magic or special weapons.

So, among the remaining able-bodied demigods, Greeks alongside Romans worked together to erect the new Big House. Tents from the Romans’ siege on Camp Half-Blood were gifted to the Greeks to provide residency until the new cabins were built, while the Romans started to march back home.

During all the chaos, Percy didn’t have any time to sit down and process all that happened.

The whole Camp looked up to him as a leader, but Percy didn’t feel very strong or wise.

He only felt bitter.

There were some who walked by and whispered “lucky” and “prophecy.”

Some who stopped talking as soon as he walked into the room.

Those who acted like he wasn’t even human, just some untouchable hero; but they ostracized him.

Percy was aware that he was one of the so-called “lucky” campers; lucky being compared, because at least he walked away with all his limbs intact.

It didn’t feel like he was lucky.

He wasn’t unscathed. He bore many scars, visible and not. His time in Tartarus was an impossible nightmare on bad nights, and a shadow on good days.

Percy was learning that he had triggers.

He was learning Annabeth did, too.

Neither liked using elevators.

Annabeth’s expression went tight when Percy used his powers around her. She turned away, sometimes completely leaving the area.

She got antsy in the dark, a childhood fear resurfaced.

There were other little things; at night when she had nightmares she would toss and turn in bed, sweating through her clothes and sheets, despite the breeze being cold. Sometimes Annabeth would completely avoid Percy, acting snappish, always coming back and apologizing in the end, and they would hold each other like they were hanging over the chasm again.

Annabeth refused to talk about what she saw in her nightmares, and Percy never pushed. He was one of the only people who could understand what she was going through.

Sometimes all they could do was sit and try to drown out the memories of The Pit.

Percy’s triggers were different.

He developed a deep-seated hatred for empousai. The moment he saw one, his body started to shake with adrenaline and nerves, fire flashing before his eyes.

Percy could no longer look at the stars without feeling a deep loss, tears pricking at his eyes.

He prayed to his father, Poseidon, more often, as if trying to re-establish his connection to the sea, to re-establish his connection to the Overworld, as if that could cleanse him of what happened in The Pit. As if he could wash away the touch of The Pit.

Percy’s nightmares were always blurry and violent. He wouldn’t snap awake like others. He didn’t startle or jerk upright. He didn’t make a single noise. He would wake silently, and lay there in bed, eyes open and unseeing, that shattered glass feeling he always dreaded at the bottom of his stomach. After he could never go back to sleep, and he would get up and sit on the tile in his cabin for hours and look in the mirror and wait for the image to change. He would wait for it to reflect what he feared, though it never did.

“Okay, so, how big is the situation? Is it like, ‘Aphrodite lost her hairbrush again’ big? Or is it ‘Gaea has risen again’ big?”

Annabeth frowned. “I don’t know. All Chiron said was that a god needed our help – and I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the sound of that.” She chewed her bottom lip in thought as they headed toward the Big House. They had been asked to attend a private meeting with Chiron, outside of the camp counselor meeting. “He sounded serious, too. Whichever god it is must be an asshole to seek help so soon after the war.”

She wasn’t wrong, Percy thought.

Jason was appointed Pontifex Maximus in Camp Jupiter, and as such he was responsible of advising the praetors, ruling over the Camp Jupiter counsel, and overseeing the work and prayers to the minor gods. His promise to Kymopoleia to bring worship and awareness for all minor gods became his fulltime job, and it was ruled that most gods must go through Jason to request help from either demigod camp.

A god asking for help directly after a full-scale war? Using Chiron as their connection? It was a hit below the belt, and it made Percy frustrated.

A few demigods raised their heads in greeting as Percy and Annabeth passed by the arts and crafts center. Conner and Travis Stoll, who were trying to build bombs with bits and pieces from the forge, took one look at Percy, then at Annabeth, and wiggled their brows suggestively. Percy unsubtly stuck them the bird, and they started to laugh their assess off.

The Big House was smaller now, after being rebuilt.

What could be scavenged from the attic was saved, but most of it was lost. Magical artifacts and ancient texts were burned and crushed. Now the Big House served mostly as the infirmary, aside from the drop-by medicinal tent near the Apollo cabin, where more medical supplies were. The Apollo and Hephaestus cabins had been the first to be rebuilt because they gave needed services.

Aside from the infirmary, the Big House had a commons area for meetings, and housed a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.

Checking in the commons area, Chiron was in his wheelchair. Nico was sitting at the beloved ping pong table, which had somehow survived the siege on Camp, and Thalia was sitting backwards on a chair by the new counselor table, which no one ever used.

Percy sat next to Nico and twirled the ping pong paddle between his hands, Annabeth taking her usual seat during counsel meetings.

Chiron looked tense.

“Now, I know that only a month has passed since the end of the Second Giant War, but –”

The air practically sparked with the collective tension that built.

“– a new quest has been issued.”

Annabeth leaned forward in her seat, interested. “Chiron, you can’t have an official quest without a prophecy. And the last time I checked; the Oracle of Delphi wasn’t working right now.”

“Well, it’s a good thing this isn’t a quest from the Greek pantheon, then.”

Percy cocked a brow and shared a look with Annabeth.

“The Roman pantheon doesn’t have an oracle, and their last augur exploded himself, so –”

“It’s a friend of Lady Hecate, the Triple Goddess.”

Dead silence.

“The Triple Goddess?” Percy parroted. “I don’t follow.”

“The Triple Goddess is of the Old Religion, once practiced in Europe hundreds of years ago by the druids and magic users in general. It belonged to Albion, a land of five kingdoms, before it split into the United Kingdom and Ireland.”

“What does that have to do with us?” Nico said.

“All those years ago, in the middle ages, after the golden age of the Greek pantheon, the Old Religion became very popular in Albion. Magic was something that anyone could practice even if they weren’t born with the innate talent, with the proper training. Through the ages, though, the religion declined, and the New Religion rose and became the staple. While the Old Religion relied on the magic of the land, sea, and sky; the New Religion relied on your inner magical core, and so not everyone could do this new magic.”

Chiron shifted in his wheelchair and pulled out a small stack of photos, but when he tossed them onto the ping pong table, the demigods saw that they held moving pictures.

In one photo, it showed a person standing over a boiling cauldron, on the wooden table beside them, old parchment with a quill that moved by itself, writing on the paper. The picture moved slightly, the character stirring the cauldron. Then the animated picture reset and repeated.

In another photo, two persons stood facing each other, holding purposefully shaped wooden sticks, pointing them at each other. Bright lights exploded from the tips of the sticks, and their robes and hair swayed with strong winds.

In the last photo, a person was wearing a uniform of sorts, with a helmet and pads on their knees and elbows. They held an old broomstick between their knees, and metal hinges held on the back close to the bristles, like a hitch for the feet. In the picture, the person grabbed onto the end of the broomstick and shot into the air, like magic. It gave image to the stereotype of witches flying on brooms in the night.

“The Old Religion died out because the land lost its magic. Only select spots held magical creatures and natural magic. Magic was only preserved through the New Religion, and those who practiced the New Religion became witches and wizards. The lot of them went into hiding and created their own society – the wizarding world.”

“In today’s day and age, magic is passed down through genetics. And sometimes, those with magic cores can be born to those with no magic at all. The population of magic users stays stable, and there is balance in the world of magic …” Chiron winced. “Mostly.”

“But these people have lost contact with the Triple Goddess. They no longer worship or prayer to her. They rely solely on their own magic, not what comes naturally from the land, like in the Old Religion. And recently, war has passed for them. The Second Wizarding War ended four months ago. And this has severely depleted their resources and magic. There is a school for the magic users, used as the stronghold during the war, and now the wizarding world’s hero is returning to finish his studies.”

“His moniker is ‘The Boy Who Lived,’ and he’s called Harry Potter. But he was only a child – is only a child. He and his peers are children who have been used to fight a war that they shouldn’t have had to fight.” Chiron looked very grim.

Percy bitterly sank back in his seat.

“We were kids, too.”

Chiron sighed. “This war has thrown the balance of magic out of whack. The natural magic has been depleted for too long, and there are those who are actively tipping the balance to sabotage the magic for their own gain. It’s suspected that the dark forces from the war – Death Eaters – are still operating in the shadows. It is because of this that the Triple Goddess has called upon you as heroes to help restore the wizarding world and save magic.”

“You would only be obligated to attend the school of Hogwarts until you uncovered the source of oppression over magic, so the Death Eaters can be caught and restrained. If you choose to accept, of course.”

Percy eyed him sharply. “You say that as if we have a choice.”

Chiron pursed his lips. “Despite what you think, yes, you do.”

“But this is from a whole other pantheon,” Nico said. “A group of magical people who don’t even believe in the goddess who brought about their magic. Why do we have to fix this?”

More silence.

Chiron looked down on them unapologetically.

Percy shifted uncomfortably, looking over at Annabeth. Chiron seriously expected them to just up and leave Camp for this quest. Barely a month had passed since their own war, and they were getting by as they were. Percy didn’t believe Camp Half-Blood could afford to lose any support or cabin counselors, even for a short period of time.

“So, let me get this straight,” Percy said. “Basically – if I just ignore the little prologue, you gave there – you want us to go to this magical school, on orders of a goddess that’s almost faded, stalk a kid, and watch out for people who like to try to rob the world of magic – magic, which they use themselves.”

Chiron looked pained. “No, I don’t believe they’re purposefully robbing the world of magic.”

“Oh, well that clears everything up.” Percy threw his hands in the air.

“Regardless, you understand what’s being asked. This is a quest, technically coming from Hecate, as a favour for the Triple Goddess. It’s valid as a hero’s quest. It was decided it would be best that you go undercover as transfer students and secretly watch over Harry Potter, the target for most Death Eaters. Your goal is to prevent trouble before it gets serious, though I doubt that will be hard, as trouble always manages to find you –”

“Wait, hold on,” Percy said, still hung-up on the quest. “How are we supposed to fit in at a school for the magically gifted? None of us are wizards.”

“Oh, that is something that can easily be fixed,” Chiron said, dismissing the problem.

“Excuse me?!” Thalia said.

“Hecate considered this quest from the Triple Goddess for a long time before coming to me.”

Percy rolled his eyes. Out of everyone in the room, he had the least faith in the gods. They never gave him anything to have faith in.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the camp director. “And how exactly does Hecate plan on ‘fixing’ the problem? I don’t see any obvious solutions. We’re demigods, not wizards.”

Chiron shifted awkwardly. “She has not shared that with me. I have only gotten the request that you undertake this quest for the Old Religion, and that she will visit to prepare you.”

Percy felt like grinding his teeth. “Oh, so she just expected us to accept the quest. She never considered us refusing? Why can’t the wizards fix their own problem?” Chiron said nothing. “Camp is still in shambles – we don’t even have all the cabins rebuilt yet! We can’t leave, not now. There’s still too much work to do here, and too many new demigods to watch over and protect. And have you even considered that maybe we don’t want to go on this quest? That maybe we want a break? My entire childhood was prophecy after prophecy, quest after quest, serving the gods. We’re under no obligation to do this. You can tell Hecate that she can stick her magic wands up –”

He didn’t get the chance to finish because Annabeth had already taken a ping pong paddle and smashed a ping pong ball in his direction, the mutual action used to keep order in camp counselor meetings.

“BALL!” Annabeth yelled, slamming her paddle across the table.

Percy scowled and took his seat again.

“Now, Percy,” she said sweetly, leaning over the table. “Where did you say Hecate could put those wands?”

“Nowhere,” he muttered.

Annabeth acquiesced and put the paddle down.

“Where is this school anyway?” Nico asked. He frowned. “And Hogwarts? What kind of name is that?”

“It resides in Scotland, its exact location unknown and hidden by powerful magic. Outside of the school, which is an ancient and famous monument for the wizarding world, there are other magical establishments. One place you will be required to visit is Diagon Alley, a wizarding market. That’s where you’ll collect your resources for going undercover at school.”

“Again, you’re saying all this like we’ve agreed to go,” Percy mumbled.

He was ignored. Thalia raised her hand, her features etched with confusion. “Okay, I hate to be the one to say it – but how are we supposed to blend in with wizards and witches? We can’t use magic, and we know nothing about their world.”

Chiron admitted he didn’t know how Hecate would find ways around the problems. “She has informed me that, only once the quest is accepted, will she come and discuss the details. In fact, she should be arriving any moment –”

What happened next could not have been anymore dramatic.

There was a blinding flash of light �� the glow filling the entire room – and it forced the demigods to cover their eyes lest they go blind from laying eyes upon a god’s true form.

All eyes landed on the goddess, technically titaness.

Hecate appeared as a tall, thin woman. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a kekryphalos, the shining coil twisting and adorned with intricate gems and metals. Loose strands of hair framed her sickly pale face, which held sharp chartreuse yellow eyes. She wore a dark chiton robe that draped over her thin figure, and it seemed to ripple like a heat hallucination, like ink spilling off to the ground.

At her feet, she was accompanied by a black Labrador retriever and a polecat.

The demigods all stood as one and politely bowed, as was common for all gods. Percy glared up through his bow as he followed reluctantly.

“Rise, my young heroes.” The goddess’ voice was smooth and rich. She sounded monotone. “You have done more than enough to prove your worth to me, and for that, I know that I can trust you. I have called you four here on special request from the Triple Goddess, who has observed your acts of heroics. She believes you can save the wizarding world, her beloved kin, and magics.”

“You will use the ways of the Old Religion to learn magics and go undercover. As demigods, you already have magical cores. They just need to be trained; refined.”

Percy scowled.

“And will the oh-so-gracious Triple Goddess be visiting us herself?”

Annabeth shot him a scathing look.

“Percy!” She hissed.

Hecate eyed Percy again, as if reappraising him. “No,” she said, after a tense silence. “You will be sent to get your wands from one who still practices the Old Religion and can pair you with an appropriate wand. Your cover stories are fabricated and with the wandmaker. The Triple Goddess does not appear without dire need.”

“Her entire world being in trouble seems pretty dire to me,” Percy muttered under his breath.

Annabeth elbowed him harshly.

Hecate narrowed her eyes.

“This,” she said, pulling a laminated piece of paper out of thin air, “is called a portkey. It is an enchanted item; when touched by the intended people, or random persons, it can magically teleport you to a predetermined location.”

She held it out to demigods.

On it, in fancy letters, it read: Littletree Farms, Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts.

“Touch this, all at once, and you will have accepted the quest.”

Chiron gave them an encouraging nod. The demigods all shared exchanged looks.

“Our responsibilities …” Thalia started, subconsciously reaching up to grab at her lieutenant circlet, from the Hunters of Artemis.

“Will be forgiven for the time while on quest,” Hecate assured. “The Triple Goddess does not ask favours lightly. This has the potential to spill into the real world; to affect our pantheon. The Old Religion is younger than the Greek pantheon, but its reach goes far and wide. The Triple Goddess is powerful; no harm will befall your precious little Camp while you are away.”

Nico hesitated, but was the first to reach for the paper. “If this is really that important … why ask for us specifically? A larger group, organized and planned, could do better.”

“The Triple Goddess has observed you, and believes you are the right heroes to help save magic.”

“But right now? This instant? Can’t we have time?”

“You will come back to your little Camp before you leave for Europe.”

Annabeth pursed her lips, then also reached for it. “Okay.”

Percy looked at her, askance. “Okay? Just like that?”

Annabeth shrugged. “A quest is a quest, and someone needs help. We are in peace right now and have no threats. I don’t see why not.”

“Fine,” Percy said, tone short. He looked over at the laminated paper. “So, this will take us where? What’s in Boston that could be so magical?”

“A wand wood farm,” Hecate said, smiling thinly. “And your quest starts now.”

Percy’s eyes snapped to the paper, where Hecate had pushed it into their collective hands unwillingly. Then the world began to spin, and there was a sharp tug in his gut, yanking him out of time and space.

#pjo #hp #percy jackson #harry potter #pjo x hp #crossover #percy #annabeth #nico #thalia #part 1 #magic percy

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vermiculus-incipiens · 4 years

Photo

OOC INFORMATION:

What’s your name? Cleo

Preferred pronouns: she/her

Timezone: CET

IC INFORMATION:

Character Name: James Fleamont Amias Potter With names such as Euphemia and Fleamont, his parents really wanted their son to have a less ancient name. They had quarrelled over possible options (one of such being John to James terror because he could have shared a name with the John bloody Lennon!) and finally settled for James. As his mother argued, it has a nice ring to it and was historical enough that he could never face any pureblooded elitist discrimination over it. They did add more traditional names as his second and third since they felt it was a necessity.

What’s a hobby or pastime that your character enjoys?: James can be found doing anything and everything for as long as he is being active. If he is not stationary he’s good. That means flying on his broom, hiking in the Highlands, strolling through Muggle London or meeting for a cuppa (or a pint) with his friends are all very valid ways of spending his free time. Any activity that keeps him moving is what he needs to stay sane, however, with Lily’s pregnancy James is all the more content to spend his days prepping the house for a child. He has found immense pleasure in setting the nursery and putting together the crib without the use of magic. He’s settling down into the role of a father, something that feels is so much more important the closer they are to meeting their child and it’s helping him mature even more. And maybe, just maybe, Harry is going to be falling asleep to James reading him transmutation textbooks instead of fairy tales.

Do you have any preferred ships or anti-ships?: Would I be joining such a group if I didn’t like Jily?

What do you think your character’s Boggart would be? If their greatest fear isn’t something that could easily take a solid form, what is it? Why?: Tw:accident As a child growing up in an old magical house, James has had a misfortune of seeing several boggarts. In fact, around his seventh birthday, the Potters actually had a huge problem with one that kept reappearing in his very own closet for close to two weeks. It kept scaring him, especially at night, because even though he knew what it was, a magical creature set on showing him his biggest fears was not exactly something he could just ignore and go to sleep. But as a child, he used to see all the regular things. Snakes and spiders and then an occasional bloodied pirate. Until one of their neighbours died in a freak accident. Dorothea Hayward was in her forties when she misstepped on a stair and fell down two floors breaking her neck in the process. It reverberated strongly within the Potter’s household because she was Euphemia’s best friend and their most frequent visitor. She also used to babysit James whenever the need arose and she always baked the most tooth-rottingly sweet pies. To be honest, she was more of an aunt to him than his actual aunts were. He was eight when he finally understood what death meant and around that same time realised that his parents were much older than regular parents were meant to be. It is normal for a child to get separation anxiety at a certain point in life, but his turned into a regular trauma. He couldn’t sleep at night and when he did, he’d wake up screaming for them after having seen various visions of their demise. It lessened slightly after he actually went to school, but he always worried that every goodbye could be the last one. Fortunately, the school was more or less void of boggarts because he didn’t exactly fancy the idea of his schoolmates seeing him shatter at the sole thought of becoming an orphan. Now, as he’s all grown up and fighting a war, he hasn’t seen a single boggart in years but if he did it would most likely resemble a tragedy striking their family — Lily losing their child, Lily dying or any of the boys doing so while he is unable to save them.

What’s your character’s biggest pet peeve?: James cannot understand how some people can choose to be neutral in this war. It’s impossible for him to believe that there are others so absolutely uncaring about the whole thing and deciding to stray clear of the conflict. Obviously, he cannot understand how people can think other’s so far below them to start actively targeting them, but somehow the fact, that there are blood purists out there is much more comprehensible than the existence of those who claim to be neutral. Especially, since no one can stay untouched by the war in the long run.

What would you consider to be an eccentricity of your character?: Despite having spent his whole adult life actively fighting in a war, James had never stopped being loyal to a fault. He values loyalty and friendship above all else and is physically unable to distrust those closest to him. In general, he either trusts you completely or believes you are a Death Eater even though there are so many shades of grey in real life, It, to some extent, has to do with his disbelief in not choosing a side. You are either with him or against and that’s naive, but it is something that allows him to stay sane.

What is/was your character’s favorite subject in school? Why?: Transfiguration became James’ favourite subject the minute Minerva McGonagall introduced herself to the class. She was an imposing witch, one that simply demanded respect and would not have it any other way, but boy, was she fun to mess with. It simply became a thing of honour for him to make McGonagall crack with laughter over one of his pranks, and while he never achieved that goal, he was certain that the occasional sudden glint in her eyes was more than just a reflection of light. It helped matters greatly that James simply had a knack for transfiguration and loved to study it, quickly moving to more advanced spells and techniques while at school and then further exploring the subject after graduation.

What time of day is your character’s favorite? What time of year?: James loves early mornings. While he is also a person who enjoys sleeping almost as much as flying, it might be surprising how much he enjoys seeing a day be born. Holding a cup of coffee in one hand and stroking their ginger cat with another, he likes to just look out of the window of their soon-to-be-born baby and relax. In moments like this, he can imagine having no worries while at the same time bracing himself for the incoming day. Of course, it’s not every day that he wakes up early enough, but it’s definitely a frequent occurrence.

What’s your character’s Patronus? If they can’t conjure one, what would it be if they could? Why?: When James had first conjured a corporeal Patronus, he hadn’t been surprised to see the mighty deer. He had heard before that the spell usually took on a form identical to that of a person’s animagus (however, most books said it the other way around as teenagers shouldn’t be able to master that kind of magic) and yet he still felt proud. A deer Patronus indicates that the wizard has a strong intuition, especially towards anything dangerous. Deers are also presented as majestic animals, filled with grace and gentleness. The meanings associated with the deer combine both soft, gentle qualities with strength and determination. And he’s not ashamed of that symbolism.

What is your character’s biggest vice (bad habit or immoral craving)?: James can’t stay put. There’s a huge reservoir of energy deep inside of him that needs to find an outlet regularly and that usually means he doesn’t stop fidgeting or else he gets cranky and can explode. He bores easily and needs constant stimulation. That also sometimes can mean he rushes headfirst into action before thinking things through, which had caused him a few mistakes and injuries in the past. He had to put actual effort into changing that side of himself and he had been somewhat successful (a part of his growing up process) in slowing down, but not entirely and definitely not always. However, it does still require effort and when emotions take over him he loses that control.

Is your character an introvert or extrovert? How well do they handle social situations?: As a child James used to crave attention. While his parents loved him and made sure he wasn’t lacking in anything they were old and tired and most of the time he was left alone to his own devices simply because they couldn’t keep up. Going to Hogwarts was a dream come true to him because not only could he finally start learning magic, but he was also surrounded by hundreds of people around his age. And James easily thrives while surrounded by others. In a social situation he likes to make sure everyone feels included. No one can be left alone or feel down when there are others in the room. James will make sure of that.

What is your character’s diet like? What’s his or her favorite food?: There is a lot of food that James doesn’t like. He’s beyond picky, something that always drove his mother mad, but he’s stubborn and always had been and if he says that he will not eat this or that – won’t. And it’s not about him not eating things that could be considered garbage, either. It’s not about only stuffing his mouth with expensive and good in quality ingredients, but rather the few dishes he likes the taste of, and he can live solely on those. In fact, if faced with a necessity (or under no supervision) he’d be happy to eat the same thing seven days in a raw. For as long as there is no corn in it or pineapple, or it’s a pizza with nothing else, but pepperoni and mushrooms.

How do you think your character’s psychological issues have manifested and changed your character up to this point?: James doesn’t really notice any physical changes in himself. When he looks into the mirror, he doesn’t notice the wrinkles that are showing on his face and shouldn’t have place on a twenty-year-old or how his jaw is tight whenever he’s not smiling. In fact, he himself tries really hard not to change too much. It’s a small rebellion on his part as he is not allowing the war to force itself onto his person. He refuses to stop trusting people to keep a grip on anything he recognizes from the life before the war. Or actually, his life before he took a part in this war since he was still at school when it started. But he’s quieter now. He still jokes and messes around, but it’s more forced since he knows it’s inappropriate. There are people dying every day because of the war and if he keeps joking it’s like he’s mocking their sacrifice. But some people want to pretend that nothing has changed, so he tries to bring smiles to people’s faces during particularly tedious meetings. And usually, for a moment, it feels like everything is good with the world again. He really wants the war to end, even if it’s hard to imagine. The war has been going on for so many years now, that perhaps a world without it is impossible. It’s wearing him down… Making him anxiously reach for his wand at the slightest of rustles and observe his surroundings even if he’s somewhere supposedly safe. He doesn’t want this kind of life for his child, for his wife and for his extended family and friends. He has already lost so much to the war. Both his and Lily’s parents were dead and that meant, that were anything to happen to the two of them, their child wouldn’t even have grandparents that could take care of him. This war needed to end and it needed to end soon.

Give us a headcanon for your character. Anything is acceptable.: James would love to have a huge family. At least four kids and preferably with as small age gaps as possible so no child of his could ever feel lonely. But with Harry surprising them, they can’t really fulfill that particular dream so he will make sure that his son is never alone.

#VIAccepted #Accepted #James Potter #Closed Character

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juistheseminarian · 5 years

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Eccentric, part 1: (gasp) a child!

You can tell I take myself seriously as a writer since I was originally planning on making this a stand-up-sounding twitter thread, doing my usual best turning the topic into a trendy depression meme while telling anyone who’d listen that I’ve decided to write “real articles” since I “can’t find a job in my field” (I’ve totally looked). So this is me taking a step. I get the tingling feeling it might sound exactly as it would have anyway, except this time i’m gonna have to pry readers from one platform they spend their time on to another that’s about real reading, and somehow this distance is a real marathon to close. I know because I don’t read, and i do run. I expect little and I hope for even less.

Writing “for real”, as opposed to waxing my usual poetics, has been a terror of mine, along with praying mantises, stick insects and john mulaney’s wife, in a good way. It’s been my plan A as well as my every other plan for as long as I can remember, which is an excellent reason to stay away from it since nothing else could possibly keep it from failing. It’s almost like I didn’t believe in hard work, which is ironic for a person who spent hours a day playing over two-measures loops of music so I’d learn guitar solos for a man. Where’s the reward here? Non-gendered consideration? Give me a break.

I’ve been told in school that a writer’s first work is oftentimes autobiographical, in reaction to which I thought it would be a funny idea to even try to write about anything else (who could possibly?). That was before I tried viewing it through the lens of standpoint theory and claiming the relevance of my situated point of view as if we needed another white girl to cry about the upper middle class experience. Now don’t get your hopes up, I’m still gonna do it, but I’ll do my best to keep some perspective. There are more important pieces to be written and more important voices to be heard and I’ll never replace them or try to; what I want to do is use the language I’ve had the privilege to develop, and acknowledge my main skill as an opportunity to challenge what needs to be challenged at my own scale.

Now that I’ve proceeded to justify myself because clearly you had asked, and have realized I’m going to have to find another way to introduce myself than to offer my guests a cup of insecuritea (get it?), let’s move on - I’ve been meaning to talk about, well, me, you got me there - no but really, about my journey trying to put words on my mental health. Tl;dr: I haven’t yet. I’m starting to think the final boss of this game is financial independence so I’ll probably shelf it and go back to super hexagon for a decade or two. What could go wrong.

It all started when i was still going to school in rollerskates and wearing orange tights to show how I had just discovered the sex pistols - in fact, it started long before, as the nice ladies at daycare told my parents that maybe I was a little more than just shy. The year after that, I was pulled out of school for being unable to stay in class during storytime: I had taken to crying uncontrollably and panicking into a near catatonic state at the thought of the old crone in charge reading fairy tales. I got sick in the morning. I was taken home and it fortunately coincided with my family moving to another village, where I started class the next year and appeared normal, if a little keen on the self-pity. My teacher suspected I was bored, but shit happens, and it didn’t show. I didn’t show.

I never showed. Later on I tried to show and disappear all at once, which was, you’ll see, a little suboptimal, but you do what you can, right. I went from year to year in constant fear and numbness, threats surrounding me in the classrooms, hallways, home, people. I felt injustice and it made me puke, and all that mattered was not being seen, not being seen for this reason at least. To everyone’s surprise, including mine, I had numerous friends, which made the loneliness thing all the more age-typical. Girl-typical. Good grades for a good girl, we never hear her. Now she’s too confident, we hear too much of her. Oh I too was bad at maths! You’re good at languages, where did you learn this? Why do you know that? Why do you talk like this? Look at her, she was ready to cry! We got you!

Most of what I remember from school is the shame and inadequateness of feeling. I had a few questions: why was I obsessed with sex, how would boys like me, why did it feel better talking to adults even though I was ashamed to do so. At home, I was shamed for masturbating and at school I was just ashamed without anyone needing to make me that way. I don’t know where the trauma was, so don’t ask, okay? I know it’s gotta be in there but how can I tell what’s real and what’s a memory this abusive therapist planted for the sake of being right?

My body felt like a traitor, always horny and always heavy and always numb. The swimming pool was a nightmare. My femininity was nowhere to be found. The delicate, cheerful way the others sang and hopped around made me grow old, I found myself revoltingly fat, I found my hair too short, and why didn’t I know how to dance? Why were people telling me I was so honest when all I did was be ashamed? Something wasn’t working out for me, and I was crying often. As soon as I pictured myself skipping and singing i couldn’t hold back my tears. I invoked this image of me as what I figured would be a normal little girl, and I felt a thousand years old, an antediluvian tree, its movements blocked and its curves absent.

The body did things and I hid them. Through puberty i felt like an impure, sexless organism, like secondary sex characteristics implanted on a shape, a bunch of pubes on a round mistake. I didn’t know what makeup was for and my friend group had common enemies: lingerie, sluts, girly girls, because they could not be smart, they wore thongs and smoked and thereby lost the war of clever versus hot. Somewhere along the line we admitted to masturbating and that was the breakthrough, that’s that on that, and one day a girl choked another during recess. Around this time fat became an issue and everyone knew before I did, because it was normal and I overplayed normal. The limits were, and are, invisible to me.

The old school ended without a diagnosis, and I feared for my life since some older kids made a hobby out of telling us we were gonna get beat up as soon as we’d have set foot in the new school. I was scared, normal scared at first, and I shared the scared, which was something I thought I could get used to (unfortunately I did, and then it went away). I moved on and at first it all seemed to have worked out, I had kept some old friends around and even made new ones, I had a boyfriend for one month and we held hands before I told him I was a vampire (I had read a book by Anne Rice) and he no longer wanted to speak to me. I didn’t particularly mind. I found another (I didn’t want him and we tried to fit him inside me; it didn’t even feel like it would ever be a physiological possibility, he was a gentle friend, I was not receptive). I found another (it worked out and we dated for five years. I did manage to fit him inside me, and to this day i’m not certain I should have). Fat had become an issue.

For the first year it didn’t show - well, not alarmingly so. I studied how to girl and promptly found out that caring about the body seemed an effective shortcut, and I did, very much. I was nerves and erogenous shame, a piglet in human cast, and anything that touched me sent thunderbolts of frustration through my entire bedroom; anyone that talked to me was taking me by surprise and met with confused torrents of whatever had to come out that day. At this point we called the food thing “being careful”: you didn’t want to gain weight so you were “being careful”, salad instead of a main course, no ice cream, careful. Look in the mirror, have you been careful enough? I have a very clear image of walking in on my mother weighing herself and telling me “you see, the biggest worry for moms is to have a flat tummy”. She denied it ever happened. Truth is, the last time she said it was three days ago.

Then came the warnings and I had already learned to take them as compliments. Everytime someone told me I was eating too little, I was gaining points. I was about to graduate. I was about to evolve like a training pokémon; warnings were congratulations and fear was validating me as a fragile young girl, finally, finally, no longer a slug. You could say it was progressive, and throughout the whole thing I was taken care of, yet I slipped through everyone’s fingers because I had lost twelve kilos and weighed a remaining 36 (that’s 79 pounds).

My grandmother was afraid of my hands and my body was drying out, dehydrating, too weak to menstruate or feel. During this time I have never fainted, but have pretended to numerous times. I still wasn’t the center of the world, so I considered it a failure. My mother’s friends said I needed to gain weight for men to love me, my mother said I needed to eat or people would keep staring, and everytime I bought diet coke my boyfriend gave me the look you give to a relapsing junkie, because it was the case. All other possibilities had been eliminated, by me.

The abusive therapist was there all along, but then she was okay still. I saw her all the time, did all sorts of talking and then I saw a doctor and she measured my heart and threatened me with a hospital stay so I cleaned up my act. I was admitted once, in a special unit for teenagers, and it was a nightmare. The others were real and a girl lived there long term because her mother threw chairs in her face (she was the first one to come and introduce herself to me, smiling, complimenting my clothes, kind). One had lost her father and one didn’t like spinach. Before I could spend the night I had caved in and my parents collected me, and I collected the phone they thought was the problem. ED treatments: isolation won’t do shit, trust us. We get better because everyone else is less cruel than you were, and don’t say that’s the point. You lasted one hour before telling me my skirt was too short.

At one point I told the abusive therapist I was going to get better, and I did. It had lasted about a year and the doctor said it hadn’t been real anorexia or I would have had it worse, and I thought, the nerve on this person that jumped on the occasion to invalidate me as soon as I ate one bite. Don’t you dare take the words from my experience, don’t be ridiculous, I’ve already claimed the words - I do realize how lucky I was, others died, I didn’t, but I was very ill indeed, your ego be damned. I was very ill, I was offered fashion advice and condescension and suggestions that I should stop or men wouldn’t look at me, and I was not medicated and I had my asshole pumped full of water because it had dried shut. My heart sounded like a ruffled biscuit wrapper and my first year of high school was a made-up arrangement for me to not completely float away: I would come to some classes for the sole purpose of keeping myself afloat and would repeat the year no matter what. I think this kept me alive.

My first days of high school i was a mummy. I had taken to rubbing the skin off of my arms with a pumice stone until they oozed with pus and burned constantly, I wore bandages from my wrists to under my t-shirt sleeves, I don’t know how my legs supported me, I don’t know how anyone did. I had picked a special high school where half my classes would be in english but I’d know nobody: I lasted two days and was transferred to my local school, and there I appeared sporadically in french class, bonding with the delightful old man who gave it and thought my writing was “images”. He said I should do contests but maybe I wouldn’t win because “the best ones often don’t”.

I repeated the class and fell in love with the next french teacher, a gentle woman who taught us about the middle ages. She was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen, mysterious, a woman but not just a mother, she didn’t know what to do with my writing and I’m ever so sorry she had to fence off the embarrassment and try to be a good role model. Lucky for me, she really wasn’t.

Ultimately I got better. But I gotta say: my style during this era was off the charts. I looked amazing, I copied Amanda Palmer and my boyfriend and the mad hatter and David Bowie, I once went to high school with a suit and converse because of David Tennant, and I cut my own hair with kitchen scissors. My then-boyfriend painted my t-shirts with foetuses and whatever else we found extremely shocking. We said we’d lose our virginity to raw power by Iggy Pop (did we?) and his mother said she was afraid I would mentally screw her stable, balanced son whose anger issues had him slap me a bunch of times - I would have slapped me too, I said then, and almost stand by it. Years later he phoned me saying he was in therapy and he was sorry and it wasn’t my only fault; I don’t think i hold grudges and I’m glad others don’t either. My mother, however, does. Beyond unrealistic. Must be exhausting.

If I had to describe what anorexia felt like, i’d say it felt like depression but floating, like compulsive obsessing over fashion because I felt I was allowed to now that I was thin; like the most hopeless cul-de-sac with no way out except the one you came from, a well full of serpents like you’re Ragnar Lothbrok and the british are laughing at you from the surface. You float yet sink and you have to claw your way up but your nails are like chalk, you know, from the not eating bit. The anxiety makes every day feel like a year of waiting in terror, and you don’t know why it came and you don’t know why it ends, and sometimes it doesn’t.

...

I’ll have to return to the abusive therapist topic, which is why this is part one of a series on my experience of mental health issues. This isn’t meant as a self indulgent victimization (although it is self indulgent, I mean what the hell, i’m not catholic) though I don’t think it requires further justification, either. I don’t know what will come out of this once I said everything I had to say on the matter, but for now i’m angry about things, and I feel we need to do better.

I was in the best possible conditions and my treatment still sucked, and I still spent the last fifteen years of my life in pain because health professionals can’t have an empirical, science-based approach for shit. I’m not exaggerating when I say I was a ping pong ball in a match doctors played with their dicks. Gender informed how easily my anorexia was diagnosed whereas countless young men still suffer in silence; it also informed how patronizing people would sound and how “efforts” were suggested as medication for my disorders. How pleasing men was supposed to be reason enough for me to eat my own illness. How my ‘’giftedness’’ was not investigated and neither was my ADHD because female-coded symptoms are overlooked. I’m pissed off, I’m qualified to be, and you’ll hear more of me.

-Ju

#my writing #mental health #juistheseminarian

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maiasolaire · 6 years

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KDramas I Wanna Watch

Dramas recommended to me by friends and/or internet posts.

(Summaries aren’t mine)

1. She Was Pretty

Can you over-romanticize a cherished memory from childhood? Ji Sung Joon (Park Seo Joon) was a shy, porky kid who was constantly teased by the other kids for his rotund shape. When he transfers to a new school in fifth grade and meets Kim Hye Jin (Hwang Jung Eum), the prettiest, most popular girl in school, his life turns around. The kind-hearted Hye Jin becomes his only friend and protector — and they become each other’s first love. But then everything changes when Sung Joon’s family immigrates to the United States and then Hye Jin’s father’s business goes downhill, plunging her family from their previous wealthy lifestyle. But that’s not all! Hye Jin’s beautiful looks initially took after her mother. But as soon as Hye Jin hits puberty, her father’s genetic skin condition takes hold and leaves her with reddish facial scars that makes her resemble a raccoon. Fifteen years later, Sung Joon is a whole new person — dashing and handsome and a successful art director — who is transferred from New York to the Seoul office of “The Most” fashion magazine to work as the deputy chief editor. He tries to find his childhood friend, Hye Jin, again. But embarrassed by her current unglamorous appearance, Hye Jin passes off her best friend, the stunning Min Ha Ri (Go Jun Hee), as herself. But when Hye Jin is suddenly transferred to the magazine department at her new job to work as in intern under Sung Joon, how much longer can she keep her true identity a secret?

2. Descendants of the Sun

Some relationships are fated, despite the challenges of time and place.

Yoo Shi Jin (Song Joong Ki), the leader of a Special Forces unit, meets trauma surgeon Kang Mo Yeon (Song Hye Kyo) in a hospital emergency room after Shi Jin and his second-in-command, Seo Dae Young (Jin Goo), chase down a thief on their day off.

Shi Jin is immediately smitten with Mo Yeon, and he asks her out on a date. But Shi Jin keeps getting called to duty when he is with Mo Yeon, and the two also realize that they have conflicting views about human life (he will kill to protect his country and she has to save lives at all costs). They decide to break off their budding relationship as a result.

Dae Young also tries to break off his relationship with Army doctor Yoon Myeong Ju (Kim Ji Won) because her father, Lt. General Yoon (Kang Shin Il), thinks Shi Jin is a better match for his daughter.

Shi Jin and Dae Young are then deployed to the fictional war-torn country of Urk on a long-term assignment of helping the United Nations keep peace in the area. After repeatedly being passed over for a promotion because of her lack of connections, Mo Yeon gives up performing surgeries, loosening her principles somewhat to become a celebrity TV doctor and caring for VIP patients at the hospital. But when she refuses the sexual advances of the hospital chairman, Mo Yeon is picked to lead a medical team to staff a clinic in Urk! There, Mo Yeon unexpectedly reconnects with Shi Jin.

3. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

Do Bong Soon (Park Bo Young) comes from a long line of women possessing Herculean strength. But Bong Soon can only use her strength for good; if she uses it for her own personal gain or to mistreat others, she can lose her strength forever like her mother, Hwang Jin Yi (Shim Hye Jin). Bong Soon’s twin brother, Do Bong Ki (An Woo Yeon) did not inherit the unusual family strength and is a doctor, but Bong Soon has trouble finding gainful employment as an aspiring game developer.

When Ahn Min Hyuk (Park Hyung Sik), the young CEO of AIN Software, a gaming company, witnesses Bong Soon’s amazing strength against a group of gangsters one day, he hires her to be his personal bodyguard to help him catch a man who has been making death threats against him. Bong Soon has a secret crush on her childhood friend, In Guk Doo (Ji Soo), a police detective who is trying to capture a dangerous kidnapper in Bong Soon’s neighborhood. Can Bong Soon help both men track down the culprits?

4. While You Were Sleeping

A young woman with bad premonition dreams meets two people who suddenly develop the same ability.

Nam Hong Joo (Suzy) lives with her mother, Yoon Moon Sun (Hwang Young Hee), a widow who runs a small restaurant. Jung Jae Chan (Lee Jong Suk), a rookie prosecutor, and his younger brother, Seung Won (Shin Jae Ha), move in across the street. Since she was young, Hong Joo has had the ability to see bad events before they happen, but she is often unable to do anything about it.

One day, Jae Chan has a strange premonition dream about an accident involving Hong Joo and Lee Yoo Beom (Lee Sang Yeob), a ruthless attorney who used to be Jae Chan’s tutor. Jae Chan decides to interfere in the course of events and ends up saving the lives of Hong Joo and Han Woo Tak (Jung Hae In), a young police officer. When Jae Chan, Hong Joo and Woo Tak then start having dreams about one another, they realize that their lives are now somehow entwined.

But can the three discover the reason that they were brought together, and can they prevent the people closest to them from getting hurt?

5. Just Between Lovers (Rain or Shine)

A building collapse ties the fates of three young people years later. Ten years ago, the S Mall collapsed due to shoddy construction, killing 48 people inside.

Ha Moon Soo (Won Jin Ah) was there with her younger sister, who perished in the accident. Lee Kang Doo (Junho) was there waiting for his father, who was an electrician doing work on the building. Seo Joo Won (Lee Ki Woo) was helping out his father, who was the head engineer of the building. Moon Soo, Kang Doo and Joo Won survived the horrible accident, but their loved ones did not.

Years later, Joo Won is an architect who is working on a new project to replace the former S Mall. With her keen eye for detail and sturdy building construction, Moon Soo ends up working for Joo Won on the project. Kang Doo works odd jobs to get by and ends up working at the new construction site.

How will they each deal with their respective pains as they are reminded of the event that changed all of their lives so profoundly?

6. Father Is Strange

This is one of those things that can disrupt a seemingly normal family. Byun Han Soo (Kim Young Chul) lives on the outskirts of Seoul with his selfless wife, Na Young Sil (Kim Hae Sook). Their bustling lives center around his small diner, “Daddy’s Snack Shop,” and their four adult children, Joon Young (Min Jin Woong), Hye Young (Lee Yoo Ri), Mi Young (Jung So Min) and Ra Young (Ryu Hwayoung).

Joon Young tries not to disappoint his parents as he has been unable to pass the civil service exam for five years. Hye Young is the most accomplished as a successful attorney who has an on-again, off-again relationship with Cha Jung Hwan (Ryu Soo Young), a television producer-director. After years of trying to land a job, Mi Young finally lands her dream job as an intern for Gabi Entertainment, only to discover that her high school bully, Kim Yoo Joo (Lee Mi Do), works there as a team leader. Ra Young works a yoga instructor and falls for Park Cheol Soo (Ahn Hyo Seop), who has absolutely no interest in returning her attention.

The close-knit Byun family is thrown into turmoil when Ahn Joong Hee (Lee Joon), an idol-turned-actor, shows up one day and claims that Han Soo is his father. Joong Hee is widely ridiculed by netizens as a robotic actor, but he is determined to earn respect by landing a role in a highly anticipated miniseries about a father-son relationship. But in order to conjure the emotions needed for the role, Joong Hee decides he needs to get to know the father he believes abandoned him and his mother 35 years ago.

Will Joong Hee’s appearance threaten to reveal a deeply buried secret and otherwise disrupt Han Soo’s happy family life?

7. Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

What else could there be to life than barbells and heavy weights?

Kim Bok Joo (Lee Sung Kyung) is a weightlifting phenom who has only focused on barbells her entire life while growing up with her father, Kim Chang Gul (Ahn Gil Kang), is a former weightlifter. She attends Hanwool College of Physical Education, a university full of top-notch athletes who are driven to succeed in the hopes of representing their country in national and international competitions.

Bok Joo went to the same elementary school as Jung Joon Hyung (Nam Joo Hyuk) but reunites with him in college. He is now a competitive swimmer who is having trouble recovering from the trauma of being disqualified for a false start in his first international swim competition.

Song Shi Ho (Kyung Soo Jin) is a fiercely competitive rhythmic gymnast who won a silver medal at the Asian Games when she was 18, but the pressures of her sport drive her to break up with Joon Hyung. Bok Joo’s tunnel-vision life starts to change when she falls in love with Joon Hyung’s older cousin, Jung Jae Yi (Lee Jae Yoon), a former athlete who became an obesity doctor after suffering a career-ending injury.

Will Bok Joo learn that there is more to life than weightlifting?

8. Queen In Hyun’s Man

Every actress hopes that an opportunity will come along to play an iconic role that could bring her out of obscurity and make her a star.

For Choi Hee Jin (Yoo In Na), that opportunity is in a television drama playing the role of Queen In Hyun (Kim Hae In), who was deposed during the Joseon Dynasty as King Suk Jong’s (Seo Woo Jin) consort by the scheming actions of Lady Jang (Choi Woo Ri). But Hee Jin’s modern-day world collides with that of her character in ways she doesn’t fully understand.

Kim Boong Do (Ji Hyun Woo), a scholar from the Joseon era, is mysteriously transported 300 years into the future to modern-day Seoul and comes into Hee Jin’s life as she is preparing for her career-making role. Boong Do not only knew the real queen but also supported her reinstatement.

Was Boong Do brought to the future to help Hee Jin bring some authenticity to her role as the queen?

9. Madame Antoine

Can a very observant woman outwit a psychotherapist? Go Hye Rim (Han Ye Seul) operates the Madame Antoine cafe on the first floor of a building that also houses a famous psychotherapy clinic on the top floor. Hye Rim uses her keen intellect and heightened senses to also work as an adviser to psychotherapist Choi Soo Hyun (Sung Joon). But unknown to Hye Rim, Soo Hyun is running a top-secret experiment on her “ideal type of man” with the help of his younger half-brother, Choi Seung Chan (Jung Jin Woon), and clinic employee Won Ji Ho (Lee Joo Hyung). But unknown to Soo Hyun, Hye Rim also is being paid by a mysterious man to get a hold of Soo Hyun’s valuable experiment files. What is Soo Hyun’s true experiment, and will Hye Rim help him or hurt him in his research goals?

10. The Guardians (Lookout)

The Guardians tells the story of a group of people who team up to serve justice themselves after losing their loved ones to criminals. The group consists of a detective, prosecutor, hacker, and an extremely shy person. They want to give these criminals the punishment that they deserve, and take matters into their own hands as the corrupt justice system in South Korea fails to capture the culprits.

11. Circle (Circle: Two Worlds Connected)

A sci-fi mystery drama that takes place in both the year 2017 and the year 2037. In 2007, twin brothers, Kim Woo-jin and Kim Bum-gyun, witness an alien arrival that brings about a huge change in their lives. In 2017, Kim Woo-jin (Yeo Jin-goo), now a college student, notices that a series of suicides in his university is somehow linked to his brother, Kim Bum-gyun (An Woo-yeon). While in pursuit of the case, he meets Han Jung-yeon (Gong Seung-yeon), another college student who is investigating the serial suicides. In 2037, South Korea is now divided into General Earth, a heavily polluted place where crimes are rampant, and Smart Earth, a clean and peaceful city free from crimes. Kim Joon-hyuk (Kim Kang-woo) is a crime detective who tries to get into Smart Earth to investigate a case of twin brothers who went missing in 2017. Each episode contains two parts, the first part is set in 2017 called “Beta Project,” while the second part is set in 2037 called “Brave New World.”

12. The Heirs

The series follows a group of rich, privileged, and high school students as they are about to take over their families' business empires, overcoming difficulties and growing every step of the way.

Kim Tan (Lee Min-ho) is a wealthy heir to a large Korean conglomerate called Jeguk Group.[9] He was exiled to the U.S. by his brother Kim Won (Choi Jin-hyuk), who tries to take control of the family business.[10] While in the States, he meets Cha Eun-sang (Park Shin-hye), who went there to look for her sister.[11] Despite being engaged to Yoo Rachel (Kim Ji-won), a fellow heiress, Kim Tan soon falls in love with Eun-sang. When Kim Tan returns to Korea, his former best friend turned enemy Choi Young-do (Kim Woo-bin) begins picking on Eun-sang to irritate Tan. Tension ensues when Young-do also falls in love with Eun-sang, and Kim Tan is forced to choose between responsibility of pursuing the family business or love.

13. Laughter in Waikiki (Welcome to Waikiki)

The story of three men who come to run a failing guesthouse called Waikiki. Complications spark when their guesthouse is visited by a single mother and her baby.

14. I’m Not a Robot

Kim Min-kyu (Yoo Seung-ho) lives an isolated life due to a severe allergy to other people. He develops extreme rashes that rapidly spread throughout his body once he makes any form of skin contact. Jo Ji-ah (Chae Soo-bin) is a woman who is trying to make it in life by creating her own businesses. However, after an encounter with Min-kyu, she ends up pretending to be a robot in place of the supposed Aji 3 robot. The Aji 3 robot was developed by Ji-ah's ex-boyfriend, professor Hong Baek-kyun (Um Ki-joon) and his team. The robot was meant to be tested by genius Min-kyu, however an accident caused the robot's battery to malfunction. As Baek-kyun modeled the robot after Ji-ah, the team ends up recruiting her to take the place of Aji 3.

15. Because This Is My First Life

House-poor Nam Se-hee (Lee Min-ki) and homeless Yoon Ji-ho (Jung So-min), both unmarried in their thirties, start living together as housemates.

#series recs #mine

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serahne · 6 years

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As I said I would, here comes my Maki Harukawa analysis, or the first part at least - I figured that if I already needed so many words to cover the chapters 1 & 2, I could just as well keep the part about her development in the later chapters for next week. Nevertheless, I’ve really tried to show who she was beyond the usual ‘tsundere’ cliché that is put on her forehead by people who are happy to wave off how much personal growth she goes through during this game and I like how that turned out.

I also think this first analysis is already a good base to understand how she acts and reacts in chapter 5 ( which is apparently the moment where she is the most criticized for her actions by the fandom ), though this will be really discussed in the next part.

A girl with a secret

Maki is the only student who enters the Academy while hiding her talent of Ultimate Assassin from the very beginning. She hides it even before Monokuma appears to tell them about the Killing Game they are now part of.

This secret makes her a character who is unable to open up, for any relationship she could build is based on her lies about being a Child Caregiver, and during the second chapter especially, she is the one who refuses to bond with anyone. This distance is symbolized by Saihara not being able to spend time with her during chapter 2, when she is the most on edge and removed from the rest of the story. Like for Komaeda or Kuzuryu in the previous game, it is made clear that no one can approach her in that state, and this is a truth that will last until her secret is revealed.

This is what sets her apart from the rest of the group during the first chapter and most of the second chapter, too. Hiding her talent becomes her main goal, and while the others are busy thinking of a way to eliminate the mastermind, or escape the Academy, she is focused on making sure no one manages to find out about her secret. This goal turns to obsession in chapter 2, when her Lab opens. Since her lab doesn’t have a lock, she chains herself to the door and does anything in her power to not let anyone in. To show how everything else took the backseat when it comes to her priorities, we know that in chapter 2, she is successfully blackmailed by Ryoma, and accepts to put everyone in danger by giving him the video.

One of the criticism toward Maki that I see a lot is how she gets a ‘free’ pass for her selfish actions. And yet, in chapter 2, everyone agrees that hiding that her and Ryoma met is unacceptable, and that she just can’t decide to keep something like that for herself. We learn then that she only hid the truth because she was terrified it would lead to her being revealed as the assassin.

I do personally think that she would have spoken up before the class could reach a false verdict, but there is no way that she decided to put everyone in danger, including herself, by hiding what had happened the night of her murder. Her safety also takes the backseat when compared to keep her secret, as it’s highlighted when she admits that she doesn’t even bother locking her door at night. Sure, this could be a way to show that she is confident in her skills but… no matter how you look at it, it’s careless.

All of that makes me somehow grateful to Kokichi for finally telling the truth about her. While I don’t think he did it for her benefit at all, I do think it was the only way for her to start opening up, and also that she might have killed someone eventually, have things went on for too long, considering how emotionally exhausting and destructive hiding this secret was for her.

Official talent : Ultimate Child Caregiver

I like the idea of Maki choosing to pick the ‘Ultimate Child Caregiver’ talent for herself. Sure, there is probably a logical reason behind it too : the best lies are born in truth, and she spent time at the orphanage, and she did take care of children. From her FTE, we also know that her days at the orphanage when she was very young were the happiest moments of her life and the only ones where she wasn’t alone. Something to note, too, is that ‘Ultimate Child Caregiver’ is the most nurturing talent this serie ever had, and it’s on the opposite spectrum of ‘Ultimate Assassin’ on this regard. And while Maki’s persona is supposed to be cold and aloof and distant, I’m going to quote Kaede on this one :

And she did. Because despite what her ‘trope’ is supposed to follow, despite what Shuichi thinks of her sometimes, Maki cares. She does care about the children in her orphanage, she did care about her childhood friend, and she does care about the people in the Academy. I would even say that she care too much and too deeply for others.

For example, In chapter 3, after seeing Tenko upset at Himiko, she is relieved to see that she isn’t depressed by what just happened.

Shuichi is constantly surprised by how caring and empathic Maki can be, and I think that might be where this popular ‘tsundere’ cliché comes from. I’m not saying that she doesn’t have some traits that couldn’t fit, but the serie had many characters inspired by this trope through the games ( Fuyuhiko or Hajime are the main ones ), and Maki is the only one where ‘tsundere’ is used as a criticism to her, so I thought I would give my two cents on this one.

The reason a trope turns into a cliché is by being over-used, but also badly used, by writers, who put these tropes into stories without understand their genesis. They copy-paste formula while forgetting what this formula even means for the character it was applied to. The reason the tsundere trope became a cliché is because too many stories used it to create unnecessary drama or as an ‘endearing’ quirk for a female character, which adds an artificial challenge for the male character. I absolutely do understand why this cliché can be annoying, since I tend to be annoyed by it. But that’s not what Maki Harukawa is about at all.

She is a deconstruction of this cliché, and a way to show that a character being cold and unable to create relationships despite wanting to is something that take its roots in a lifetime of trauma. Maki’s behaviour isn’t supposed to be seen as ‘cute’ or ‘endearing’. It’s the enemy that she is supposed to fight, entirely dictated by a past she didn’t chose, and something she had accepted with resignation after years of dehumanization.

Maki’s entire character is build on how she cares too much about others, and she sacrificed her existence for them without ever getting something in return, and how she considers it’s normal. In chapter 2, she is surprised to see that Shuichi put himself together.

She isn’t doing that to be cruel, right ? So reading between the lines, we can see that she is the kind to be affected by the death of people around her. So much that she can’t understand how Shuichi managed to get over the death of a girl he knew for a few days.

Maki caring too much didn’t start with her entering the Academy. So please, let’s stop pretending that Kaito flipped a switch that totally changed her personality, because that’s not the case. Maki canonically goes to extreme lengths for others.

Hidden Talent : Ultimate Assassin

Her main problem is that she doesn’t know how to care about people beyond her work. Her ‘do you want to die’ might seem endearing a ultimately harmless, but the way she oftens sees a situation is alarming. First after their confrontation with Angie :

And the day after, in the dining room, when they are looking for something to resolve the situation.

The way she acts in chapter 3 is incredible, for her first option is ‘murder’ - knowing that it would sign her death, too, by the way. She is an Assassin, and while she isn’t happy about it, that’s such a big part of her character that she doesn’t know how to function without it. In this game, she is probably the one who follows this tradition of ‘cursed by talent’ character, the way Kirigiri or Komaeda were, that is to say character who are defined by their talent, this talent giving their life a meaning but condemning them to a life of suffering. And what Maki suffers the most as an Assassin is loneliness.

Another important trait in Maki is how resigned she is. Once Kokichi reveals her talent, she doesn’t even try to explain herself to people, claiming that she doesn’t want to hurt them but that they won’t believe her, anyway. We don’t know a lot about her past, but from what she says, we can infer that she saw the story plays out again and again, and she never saw it ending well. She knows that she will be distrusted and that people might decide to attack her, forcing her to kill or be killed, once again.

Maki has a very negative mindset through most of the game ( and even when she doesn’t, I would barely called it ‘cautiously hopeful’ ). She is one of those who don’t think they’ll manage to escape from the beginning.

She is cynical, easily criticizes people who show a more optimistic outlook, especially Kaede and Kaito. But beyond this cynicism, I do think she is sure that she, specifically, will never be able to make a change at the end. I do think she is serious in chapter 2 when she says that it doesn’t matter if she investigates anything. The way she anticipates the others’ answer to the reveal of her talent is also telling, and makes me curious about the way she slowly started to isolate herself.

This mindset comes from her past, where she saw again and again that she couldn’t save anyone, even if she tried, even if she tried, even she gave up on her life entirely. Her childhood friend that she sacrificed for ? Dead trying to save someone else, totally disregarding the sacrifices Maki made for her to live, and showing Maki how little her decision was important for her friend’s future. The orphanage she became an Assassin to preserve ? She is ultimately irrelevant, for now that she is stuck at the Academy, another kid will take her place and that it won’t do any difference for the others. Hell, even trying to hide her talent, and putting everyone in danger for it didn’t account for anything. If Maki can’t do anything meaningful, then her entire doesn’t have any sense : she was put on rails when she was a child and nothing changed from here.

And yet.

Despite everything, she has this weird admiration for people with the strength to challenge fate. For people who refuse to lay down and get hit by life just because that’s how it is. Whether it’s Kaede :

Or Kaito. Who she, in chapter 1, already follows the plan of to try and help everyone, despite how much she claims that there is no way for them to escape.

Once again, a lot of people will interpret Maki being especially harsh toward these ‘optimistic’ people’s failures as being tsundere. But when she blames Kaede for the underground exit disaster, when constantly calls out Kaito’s ‘all bark no bite’ behaviour, it’s not to be cute and endearing. It’s because that’s something she just doesn’t have the luxury to be, too.

And that’s what Maki’s arc is all about.

#maki harukawa #danganronpa #ndrv3 #dr #analysis

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zeldafanlegends · 4 years

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Author’s Favorite Scenes: Excerpt from The Legacy of Myriad Book One - Mark of Wisdom: Chapter 16 - Gift

"Two children bound by fate will learn the truth of their pasts and the direction of their futures with the awakening of a powerful sage named Myriad."

Orphaned and sent to Kakariko Village as babies, Link and Mira live a relatively normal life despite their vast curiosities concerning the truth of their past and the identities of their birth parents. Yet their only clue is an amulet left to Mira from the mother and father that gave her up, which doesn't provide any answers. Such mysteries are put on hold however when a soldier from Hyrule Palace brings news to Kakariko of the King and Queen's untimely demise. Soon after, the children are torn apart for ten long years-and their reunion provides Mira with answers she never thought possible. Not only is she the true Princess of Hyrule, but she's caught on a path to destiny with Link that will change their lives forever.

Full Story Available on:

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--- --- ---

“I had often wondered if, when the day came, I'd end up meeting the babes I placed in Impa's care seventeen years ago.”

Instantly, Link's gaze darted to Lyonel, and Mira's surprised expression mirrored his own feelings.

“You're the one who gave us to Impa?” she asked.

Unable to stop himself, particularly in recalling Myriad's claim that he'd learn more about his parents in Roshala, Link added the question, "Who told you to take us?"

Pulling his pipe from his lips, Lyonel looked from Mira to Link, quietly sizing him up as if to ascertain whether the young Hylian was ready to hear his answer.

For Link, such deliberation seemed to take an eternity, but his host finally related, "A mournful father did. He overheard Dragmire issuing a private command to have the newborn Princess taken from the Palace to be killed, and she wasn't the only baby there at that time. You were the other, and what better way to force Myriad's obedience than by threatening someone so young and innocent?”

Looking down at the table top, Lyonel added, "So your father sent you away with Zelda, hoping the two of you would form a friendship with each other instead of bearing the burden of loneliness, and seeing you both now, I'm certain he'd be pleased to learn he was correct.”

Mira quietly glanced across the table to see Link staring at its surface in thought, and could only hope he was alright. Sadly, the tone of his voice didn't inspire confidence over the matter when he asked, “Did you know my father?”

Letting a low sigh, Lyonel returned, “I know he served his post to the royal guard as valiantly as he could, but … .”

Trailing off with a look suggesting he'd just remembered something, Lyonel tapped his fingers on the table top in deliberation before standing and qualifying, “There's actually something I need to show you, Link. It'll take me a moment to find, but if you'll excuse me, I'll get it."

Link nodded, allowing the man to depart as just he noticed Mira gazing at him with concern in her eyes.

“Are you okay?”

Taking a deep breath through his nose that he exhaled from his mouth, he returned, "Just disappointed I guess, and angry over what Dragmire tried to do to us. What he did do.”

As he stared down at the table, Mira's hand slipped into view, moving to take his with a gentle squeeze. The sight of their joined palms evoked a wave of contentment and appreciation that only grew stronger when he looked up to regard the warmth and sympathy in her violet blue eyes.

Instantly, the rest of the world ceased to exist. Holding her gaze, he could barely recall the reason for his upset, particularly when she offered a tiny, reassuring smile filled with understanding. His heart swelled with more than simple contentment to see it—it also ached, though he couldn't think clearly enough to determine why.

He only knew that if it was his father's wish to provide his son with a friend, he'd found the most wonderful person in the world. She's just … beautiful.

For as absorbing as the quiet musings were, they came to an abrupt halt when Lyonel returned with a small satchel that he placed upon the table. With their hands drawing apart, they watched as he rummaged through the contents quietly, then produced an old envelope which he held out to Link.

"This is from your mother,” he explained. “She wrote it to be given to you once you were older, saying any of us ever found you again. Yet your father feared it would only tie you and Zelda to the palace even more strongly, so he asked me to keep it safe rather than send it with you.”

Link stared at the envelope, the paper tan with age, and couldn't quite get his fingers to take it. Still, he somehow reached out anyway, as if another had taken control of his arm to open the flap as Lyonel sat in silence with Mira, the two giving him ample time to read the message inside.

Thankfully, the elegantly written words upon the paper were still legible despite its age.

My Only Son,

As I write this letter, you are settled safely on my arm, fast asleep. Yet I fear that once I am done, you will be taken from this place. Your father has learned of evils being plotted against you and the newborn Princess Zelda, meaning it is no longer safe for you here, and that I would do anything to protect you, I must now do the hardest thing any parent could ever be asked to do.

Relinquish their only child.

My dearest Link, words cannot express my sorrow, and yet I needed to write this in the hopes that it will one day find you and tell you what I was never able to - I love you so very much.

Releasing you will be the hardest thing I've ever done, and I'm not certain I can. Yet, watching you asleep now, I wish you could see yourself. So tiny and helpless, and this helplessness is the very reason I cannot fail.

I pray that one day we will be reunited, and if we aren't, I pray this letter will be a constant reminder to you that I never meant for any of this to happen. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me, and no matter what comes, I beg you, never doubt yourself. I can look at you and see there is strength within you to pull through troubling times. So please use that to keep yourself safe where I am sadly unable to.

Sincerely

Your Loving Mother

A few tears borne of both sadness and anger spattered against the paper as Link read each word twice over. Aside from those tears, his mien remained impassive, but it was only a mask of calm for the emotions roiling in the pit of his stomach.

Quietly placing the letter down on the table, he stared at it in consideration of what his mother begged him to do, to leave all doubt behind and stand strong. Before that moment, he'd intended to do just that, not only for the people of Hyrule, but for Mira, his cherished friend who'd been just as wronged by Dragmire as he had.

And now?

"Now I have a third reason to fight.”

Turning in his chair, he stood to depart the room so abruptly the seat fell over.

Mira gasped at the sudden movement, staring behind her friend with the thud of the front door shutting hitting her ears only a moment later. Brow creased with worry, she reached for the letter to look the words over.

Reaching the end in quick time, a low sigh escaped her lips as she replaced the letter in its envelope, asking Lyonel, “Is it possible that Link's parents are still alive?”

“Anything's possible, though I've never been fond of offering false hope.” Turning his gaze to the door, he added, “Either way, you should go to him now. He needs someone who understands what he's going through, and you're that person. I'll go ready my guest rooms for you in the meantime.”

"Thank you, Lyonel,” Mira returned, knowing fully well he was right, and she was probably the only person Link would confide in or allow to console him—saying he was in the mood.

There was only one way to find out, however, and she soon joined him outside, exiting the front door to find her friend at the bottom of the porch steps, staring up at the full moon. Mira watched him for a silent moment before taking the steps to stand next to him without bothering to mask the sound of her footfalls.

Hearing them, Link briefly glanced her way, then sighed and provided an apology.

"I'm sorry I left like that. I was just angry."

"I know," she returned gently, adding, "but there's no need to apologize. You've every right to be angry, and so do I. Dragmire stole everything from us before we even had a chance to live, and now Ganondorf is freely carrying his father's legacy onward without regard for the cost.”

Proving he knew it, Link's head dipped, his fists balling as if her words had only renewed his anger. So Mira stepped around to stand before him, reaching to lift his chin until their gazes met.

There was a fiery determination in his sapphire eyes that made it difficult to recall what she wanted to say, but she managed to continue, “Some of the damage they've done can't be fixed, but we'll make sure it stops there, and I'll always be here if you need to talk, okay?”

Link continued to hold her gaze, unable to look away. She was no longer smiling, yet a warm sincerity was visible in the depths of her eyes proving she truly meant what she said—and bathed in moonlight, the expression was so sweet it scrambled his thoughts.

He'd spent ten years with her face just beyond the edge of his memory, and now that he could see it clearly, he didn't think he'd ever be rid of it. Perhaps it was their shared trauma, or maybe there really was more to the attraction he felt than mere physical appreciation. Either way, looking at her now, he wanted to do more than hug her tight.

He wanted to kiss her.

His anger dissolved at the thought, and it was difficult to resist the urge instead of simply taking her hand from his chin and pulling her in closer. Still, he managed to exercise restraint, limiting himself to a hug, and not just out of vast appreciation for their friendship.

He also knew the longer he regarded her lovely face, the more likely that kiss was to come true.

“You're right, we'll fix what we can,” he started, adding meaningfully, “and I know you'll be there, Mira. You always have been.”

Mira didn't resist his hug, her eyes closing as her temple came to rest upon his shoulder. A feeling of safety and comfort came with the way his arms wrapped around her, reminding her of the times they'd hugged as children. Even then, she'd found it hard to be truly afraid when Link was around, and not because she knew he'd protect her, but because he understood her feelings.

The thought prompted her to state, “When we were children, it always felt like you were the only person in the world who really understood me. That's how it feels now, too.”

With his cheek resting against the back of her head, he smiled and tightened his grip around her, agreeing, “Yeah, it does, and if we weren't actually meant to ever meet our parents, then I'm glad we've at least got each other.”

“So am I,” she whispered, confident that all would be well as long as they stuck together.

Inside the house, Lyonel stood at the living room window and tugged the curtain open just far enough to see the young Hylians hugging outside. A small, sad smile curved his lips in response. Knowing they were the same babies he'd sent away so long ago and seeing how close they'd actually become warmed the heart as much as their plight broke it.

Wiping a stray tear from his cheek, he sighed and regarded the flute clutched in his hand. Considering its origins, his smile grew as he turned from the window and walked upstairs. Link and Zelda would come inside when they were ready, and he wouldn't interfere.

Not when they needed to be alone.

--- --- ---

Full Story Available on:

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Ao3

#Legend of Zelda #Legacy of Myriad #Zelink #Link #Zelda #Princess Zelda #Fan Fiction

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imaginarybird · 7 years

Text

Unwilling and unable to face everyone on her own when it comes time to attend Auggie and Ava’s wedding, Riley Matthews hires a solution in Lucas Friar. Loosely based on The Wedding Date.

Part One // Part Two // Part Three // Part Four // Part Five // Part Six

Rating: Around a PG 13/14

Notes: So this took a little while, but honestly…a lot happens in this chapter. Like… a lot a lot. But in any case, thanks so much to everyone who has been supporting the fic, especially @sand1128 for getting me through the worst of my doubts about what I’m doing, as always.

Please take notice of the fact that this chapter contains a semi-graphic scene of medical trauma and treatment. There is blood and discussion of injuries. If you’re squeamish, you can skip over it without losing too much content--it’s the third scene of the chapter, starting with ‘“What happened?” Riley demands…’ and ending with ‘when he gives his instruction. “Turn.”’

Also, please note that while I did a bit of research to accurately talk about treating the injuries, nothing in this story is done following any real protocols and the way some things are done is most definitely Grey’s Anatomy or ER style, i.e. for dramatization purposes rather than realistic medical integrity. This should not in any way be considered medical advice. Do not try what you’re about to read.

Anyways….

In this chapter, Lucas feels awkward, Riley saves the day, and then Riley and Lucas climb up a tree.

“Not everyone can be the princess, or have a fairy godmother to grant all their wishes, or have a prince burst in and give them everything they’ve always wanted. Some people are just the ugly stepsister in someone else’s story.”

Lucas can hardly believe the words as they come out of Riley’s mouth. How can a woman, who’s so beautiful--so wonderful--think so little of herself? “You don’t really believe that, do you?” He asks, unable to stop himself from furrowing his brow. The context of the conversation is ridiculous (it’s not like fairy tales were ever a big thing for him growing up or anything that he ever bought into) but the root of the matter is clear; Riley somehow doesn’t think that she’s the star of her own story. Just a bit part in someone else’s.

Now, more than ever, he wishes Riley were more interested in explaining her past, because he’d love to know who had convinced her to think that way so he could show them all the ways that they’re wrong.

Riley sighs, pushing herself to her feet. “Could you not…?”

“Could I not what?” Lucas follows after her. They start down the beach, back towards the party and the bed and breakfast.

“Do the whole… ‘Oh my gosh, but you’re so great Riley! Of course you’re not the stepsister. Your happy ending is totally coming!’” Riley throws on a mocking, tired effect as she apes her example. She takes a sip of her drink before returning her tone to normal. “You were just trying to convince me that that kind of thinking is a waste of people’s time and energy. Don’t insult me by turning around and telling me that you didn’t mean it was a waste of time for me.”

“I meant obsessing over it and spending your life waiting for the happy ending to come to you instead of living your life and going after what you want is waste of time.” Lucas explains. “Not that there’s no room for hope.”

“I have plenty of hope, Lucas. Just not for that.”

Lucas stops walking. He can’t explain it. Why his chest aches to hear Riley admit that she doesn’t have hope for herself in that way or why he wants to do everything in his power to fix things and change that. He’s heard about all manner of unfulfilling lives and sad life stories from his client and he’s never felt the need to do anything outside the scope of his job for them; that’s just not who he is. But here, and now… with everything he’s seen so far this week and Riley in front of him… Even after all the attempts he’s made to remind himself of his role, all Lucas wants to do is sweep Riley away from this mess of a family and find a way to prove to her that she’s so much more than what they’ve convinced her of.

“Riley--,”

“I’m really tired, Lucas.” Riley spins on her heels, flashing him a sad (and ultimately false, he thinks) smile. “I’m just gonna go back to the room and get to bed.”

Riley turns back once more and walks down the beach, leaving Lucas behind, wondering what on earth he can possibly do.

Try as he might, Lucas can’t figure out how to start another conversation with Riley, least of all about anything of substance. At first this was because he had no approachable opportunity.

On his way to follow her back to their room, he had been sidetracked by Ava, asking myriad questions about what he would be wearing to the wedding, right down to the socks that he had brought (and Lucas had started drifting off partway through the conversation when Ava had started wondering whether or not his jacket used matte or shiny thread but he’s almost positive he agreed to swap out the laces on his formal shoes to something more ‘beach chic’ appropriate, whatever that means, before the conversation finally came to a close). By the time he did manage to get back to the room, Riley was already in bed and if she wasn’t asleep she was doing a very fine job pretending that she was, so Lucas had little choice but to go through his nightly routine and climb into bed beside her.

Then the morning came, and try as he might, Lucas just isn’t a morning person. He hasn’t been ever since leaving Texas and the ranch where mornings were more of a necessity than an option, so even though his body was awake bright and early as the alarm clock in the room dictated, his mind didn’t really join him until after breakfast when they were engaged in a dance rehearsal at Ava’s behest. At that point both he and Riley were too engaged in making sure that they were in the right position, doing the right step at the right moment to discuss anything else.

Now they’re on a chartered schooner with the extended Matthews family (minus Maya, who claimed an unsteady stomach wouldn’t do well out on the water and opted to stay on shore) for the entire afternoon. One last private activity for the family before the rest of the wedding guests start arriving. And although they’re fairly isolated from everyone else, choosing to enjoy the view of the water from a padded bench on one side instead of eating at the ‘set-up for a party’ bow with the entire clan and watching several of the men engage in a clam shucking contest, they aren’t exactly talking much.

At least, not about anything of substance.

Riley seems quite content to chatter on about any benign subject from explaining why the music choices for the opening dances at the reception are significant for the young couple, to giving him more detailed accounts as to how her aunt and uncles and other extended family met their spouses (although she noticeably stays away from Josh and Maya) to telling him about some of the more exciting days she’s had since she started working in a busy emergency room.

Anything, Lucas thinks, to keep them from going back to the subject of the previous night or anything related to it, and he can’t find a way to steer them back that direction as he so eagerly wants to do. How else can he figure out a way to help her?

Riley is in the middle of explaining how they handle Halloween in a pediatric ER, when the ship hits a particularly large and choppy wave, leaving her lurching sideways to fall across his lap. The ensuing blushing and giggling disentanglement of limbs is enough to halt the filler conversation, and to remind Lucas exactly what a dangerous line it is he’s straddling; Riley is really creeping her way into his head and heart, becoming so much more engaging and interesting and attractive than any client before her has. All without any negligible effort on her part.

“Sorry.” She apologizes as they both straighten. She sends him a demure, dimpled smile as she tucks a strand of hair that’s blown out of her ponytail back behind her ear. “What was I talking about?”

Lucas doesn’t want to answer. Partly because she didn’t seem nearly so comfortable while running down her laundry list of distraction topics, and partly because this seems like as good of an opportunity as any to try and move the conversation where he wants to go. But, possibly sensing his intent to move them back towards a subject she’d rather avoid, Riley speaks again before he can find his path.

“Nevermind. I wanted to thank you, anyways.”

“Thank me?”

“For actually listening to me last night and not...trying to fix me or whatever.” Riley leans back in her seat, then looks over at him. “I know you don’t agree with what I said last night and that you wanted to say something and try and change my mind, and it means a lot to me that when I asked you not to you respected that.”

Oh.

Now Lucas just feels like a tool for wanting to broach the subject in the first place.

Riley thinks his silence on the issue was him respecting her wishes (and how low is the bar that that alone is enough to mean a lot to her? he wonders) when in reality he just didn’t know how to do what he wanted. And now she’s thanking him for it which means he absolutely cannot go back to that conversation without looking like the biggest asshole in the world and Lucas knows he can’t do that. He doesn’t want to hurt or disappoint Riley like that.

“You don’t need to thank me for that, Riley.” He settles on, hoping that his face doesn’t give any of his surprise or uncertainty away. “My number one job here is to make sure that you’re comfortable. We’re not gonna talk about anything that you don’t want to talk about.” He means it this time too. He’s not going to do anything that will jeopardize the trust that Riley has been building in him.

“Well, I really appreciate that.”

A beat passes. Lucas hesitates for a brief moment, but ultimately reaches over and grabs her hand. “So... with that settled, what do you want to talk ab--,” He doesn’t get to finish the thought.

Another wave rocks the schooner, only this time instead of falling into each other’s laps again, Lucas and Riley hear a shriek, followed quickly by someone crying out, “Oh god!”, at the same time that there’s a second, anguished scream.

“What happened?” Riley demands as they arrive at the bow of the ship and the root of the clamor and screaming. She’s holding Lucas’ hand as she pushes through the chaos of caterwauling family members buzzing around a small catering table, but drops it in the same moment she speaks: just as they spot the bright slicks of blood.

Her dad and Uncle Josh are both clutching at drenched, blood-soaked hands. Even at a distance Lucas can tell that Cory’s wound is worse; he has a nasty looking knife jammed in the base of his hand. With a pale face and glassy eyes, he looks ready to drop at any moment.

Eric answers as Riley rushes towards them. “Their knives both slipped with that last wave.”

“Someone get me the first aid kit!” Riley grabs her father by the forearms. “Let’s sit down before we fall down, OK?” She starts to lower him to deck and kneels beside him. She glances back to Lucas. “Help Josh, please.”

Lucas darts over to do as told. Josh is already starting to sit, but he helps him the rest of the way when he sees the man sway a little too much.

“Knife! There is a knife in my arm!” Cory’s eyes are transfixed on his arm.

“Close your eyes and try not to think about it.” Riley instructs. “I’m gonna look at it a little bit. You’ll feel my hands near the wound. If anything I do hurts I need you to tell me.” She grabs his injured hand and starts to inspect the wound. “Lucas, tell me about Josh. How does he look?” She doesn’t turn away from her exam, just asks the question, while doing her work.

Eyes clenched shut, Cory groans. “Take it out. Take it out.”

“That would be a bad idea.” Riley answers.

Lucas pries the hand Josh is clenching to his injury off to take a look. He finds a jagged gash, flowing with dark blood. “Like he sliced his hand with a big knife.”

“How deep? Can you see anything? Bone or fat?”

He tries to probe it, but just gets another spurt of red. “I can’t see anything past the blood.”

“Get a bottle of water and pour it over the wound to clean it.”

Cory continues to moan about getting the knife out of his arm. Riley continues to ignore that and work. Eric tosses Lucas a bottle of water, which he unscrews the lid off of the moment he catches, tossing it aside.

“Are you sure you should be doing that Riley?” Topanga asks. “The hand has a lot of delicate nerves and blood vessels…”

“Take it out. Take it out. Take it out.”

“I’m a nurse, I know what I’m doing.” Riley huffs, blowing her loose hair away from her face. “I’m not going to take it out, Dad. I’m going to tape it in place. Where are we on that first aid kit?!”

“It’s coming!” Someone shouts from the down the boat.

Riley glances over. “Lucas, how is that cut looking?”

Pouring the water over the wound and sending a runny flood of crimson down Josh’s arm, Lucas can’t see anything that doesn’t look fleshy, angry, and red. He relays the message.

“You’re only a pediatric nurse.” Topanga interjects loudly.

“Here’s the first aid kit.” Linda arrives bag in hand and breathing heavily from her sprint.

Riley rolls her eyes, muttering. “Because the structures of the hand only magically spring into place when a patient turns eighteen?” She holds one hand out behind her. “Give me some gauze and the medical tape, then take the rest of the gauze over to Lucas.” As Linda digs through the bag and provides the supplies, Riley gives her instructions. “Lucas, you’ll need to pack the gauze tightly over the wound. Then you’ll want to elevate the hand so it’s resting above Josh’s heart and continue to apply pressure. That’ll control the bleeding until I can come take a look.”

“Captain wants to know if he should turn back to the marina.” Morgan announces.

“Absolutely.”

“Riley, I just think that all of this would be better left to the real profess--,”

“There is a knife in my arm and it needs to come out now.”

“Dad, no!”

Riley’s protests come too late. By the time Lucas can look over to see what’s happening, Cory has torn the knife out of his own hand and blood is arcing out, spraying across Riley’s form. The crowd shrieks, moans, and otherwise panics while Riley dives across to clamp her hand around the now open and spurting wound.

“Lucas, I’m gonna need your help over here!”

Lucas hands Josh over to Eric and scrambles over to Riley. She has both hands holding some soaked gauze to her dad’s wrist, and he can see more blood pushing up through. “What do you need?”

“The knife was in his radial artery. Is there a blood pressure cuff in the first aid kit? I need to temporarily cut off blood flow so I can bandage the wound properly.”

“Like a tourniquet?”

“Hopefully for not nearly as long, but yeah.”

Linda produces a blood pressure cuff and tosses it over. The Matthews’ family falls into a thick silence. “What am I doing?”

“Wrap it just above his elbow and pump it up until I tell you to stop.”

All Lucas can hear is the lapping of the waves and the air-filled ghostly puff of the blood-pressure cuff as he inflates it. Cory’s mouth is flapping as he stares, white-faced, at the bloody mess Riley is trying to control, but no noise is coming out.

“Stop!” Riley orders. “Leave it there.” She lifts the soaked matted mess of gauze away from her dad’s hand and drops it to the deck beside her; the wound now trickles rather than bursts with fluid. “Perfect. Now I’m just going to pack the wound with as much sterile gauze as we have,” she holds one hand back again for Linda to start supplying her, “and wrap it as tightly as I can with an ace bandage. Meanwhile, I need someone to keep time for Lucas.”

“Time for what?” Morgan asks.

Riley doesn’t stop working, barely pausing to wipe at her forehead with the back of her wrist. “Every twenty seconds, he needs to turn the release valve on the blood pressure cuff a quarter turn to let some of the blood flow back to dad’s hand.”

“Riley, he’ll lose more blood that way!” Topanga protests.

“Turn it now,” Riley instructs softly before addressing the complaint. “And if I leave him with the blood supply to his hand cut off we risk damaging the tissue or forming a blood clot that could cause him to have a stroke. I know what I’m doing.”

“I’ve got the timer.” Shawn steps up, pulling out his phone.

“But Riley--,”

“But nothing, mother!” Riley nearly shouts as she continues to pack the wound. “I am the medical professional here, you are merely the uneducated wife of the patient, and if you want this done correctly so your husband gets to keep his hand, you need to step back, shut up, and let me do my job!”

The thick silence of moments before has nothing on the air of stunned quiet that hits the group now. Lucas risks a peek at everyone’s faces and finds them all staring at Riley, mouths agape. Topanga looks particularly floored and flummoxed.

Riley works on, breathing heavily but seemingly oblivious.

Shawn coughs once and Lucas could almost swear his voice breaks a little when he gives his instruction. “Turn.”

“Quite a day, huh?” Lucas comments as Riley emerges from their bathroom, showered and changed from her earlier clothes to a more casual (and less bloodstained) outfit. After dealing with the immediate problem of stemming the blood flow from her father’s injury, Riley had been able to properly evaluate Josh’s cut and take care of both family members until the ship’s captain returned them to the marina and she could transfer their care to the waiting paramedics. The work had left her a blood-covered mess, but it had also given him, and the entire family, a front row seat to a whole other side to Riley; gone was the nervous, subservient little girl… in the face of a real crisis Riley was confident, calm, and efficient. She knew what had to be done and didn’t hesitate to make it happen.

It had been quite the scene to watch and be a part of.

“I know, right?” Riley is almost grinning as she answers. “A beautiful trip on a schooner, topped off with a clam shucking contest gone awry...who would have thought I’d get to practice my triage and treatment out on open water at my little brother’s wedding?”

“It’s...definitely not the story your coworkers will be expecting when you get back.”

“And the day’s not even done. We still have the big ‘Welcome to the Cape’ party at that restaurant in a couple hours.”

The party Riley’s referring to is Ava’s way of greeting all of the wedding guests who have arrived throughout the day. According to the itinerary Lucas had been e-mailed not long after his confirmation as Riley’s date for the week, the patio of a local restaurant has been rented for a night of dinner, drinks and ‘one or two fun surprises’. By far not the worst activity to be saddled with, even after the craziness of their day. Lucas just can’t believe it actually is still happening after their misadventure on the cruise; he would have thought that with her future father-in-law requiring outpatient surgery (and her witnessing the initial trauma on top of that) Ava would be holding court, giving dramatic retellings and frantically wondering how Cory’s splint and Josh’s stitches will affect the aesthetics of the wedding. Not to mention how the rest of the family felt, seeing Cory in what appeared to be dire straits. Lucas isn’t particularly close with family, but he can definitely imagine the emotional journey he would go on if he were to see him involved in a gory accident like had happened today. He’s certain the only reason Riley is as calm as she seems is because she’s so used to dealing with similar scenarios at work that somehow, she had gone into nurse-mode and saw Cory as just another patient to deal with.

“Are they really up for hosting a party after such an... eventful day?”

Riley flops down onto the bed with a bounce. “I would have thought your bar for ‘eventful’ would have been set a little higher, Lucas. Aren’t you the guy who helped a horse give birth all by yourself when you were eleven?” She turns onto her side so she’s facing the side where he’s sitting, resting her head on her hand.

“Oh, so you’re saying a severed artery isn’t an event? Or getting to save the day by bossing your family around? Or standing up for yourself and telling your mom to shut up?”

“You were doing a nice job making your point until you made up that last one.” Riley rolls onto her back. “I’d never tell my mom to shut up.”

Lucas side-eyes her. Does she really not remember telling off Topanga? “Well...you did.”

“I couldn’t have.”

“Your exact words were ‘step back, shut up, and let me do my job’.” Lucas recites, watching as a look of panicked realization slides down across Riley’s features.

“Oh god.” She bolts upright and scrambles off the bed. “I yelled at my mother. I told my mother to shut up.” She starts to pace at the foot of the bed. “I slipped right into work mode and didn’t even think about what I was doing.”

It would almost be comical, although Lucas knows Riley’s worry is quite genuine; in a lot of ways he’s still getting to know her, but from what he can tell, the part of her with confidence, who can assert herself and handle whatever gets thrown at her...doesn’t exist around her family. Something in her still wants to please them, or gets incredibly intimidated by them, or something and she just becomes quiet and small. So for her to have stood up for herself, especially with her mother who Lucas can’t recall her even making token attempts to defend herself during the conversations he had been a part of, and especially when she wasn’t doing it entirely deliberately (if her lack of immediate recollection is any indication) has to legitimately be distressing for Riley.

He slides to the end of the bed to be closer to her. “I’m sure it’s not that big of a deal. Everyone gets told to shut up once in a while.”

“Not Topanga.” Riley shakes her head. “She’s always the one in charge. No one doubts her or tells her to shut up. It doesn’t matter what the question or problem is. If they disagree with her, they shut up and deal with it. It’s her way or no way at all.”

OK, well that sounds a little over dramatic and a bit like Riley is letting her childhood impressions color her point-of-view now. Nobody is that intimidating or domineering. “Riley, she’s an adult. Don’t you think she can recognize that you were both in a high stress sit--,”

“You don’t get it, Lucas. You’ve talked to her once or twice. You don’t really know her. When I say nobody yells at her, I mean nobody. I’ve heard stories that Feeny got away with it once, but that’s Feeny, anything involving him is a whole other ball game anyways.”

“What’s a Feeny?” From the way Riley stops her pacing to cross her arms over her chest and send him what can only be described as a burning glare, Lucas determines that this is the wrong question to ask. Time to inject a little rationality into the conversation. He hops to his feet and closes the distance between them, gently placing his hands on her elbows. “Riley, I think you’re looking at this from the wrong perspective.”

“I don’t see how you can know th--,”

“What I’m hearing you say,” Lucas begins, guiding her to sit on the foot of the bed, “is that your mom is going to be very upset with you for standing up to her and telling her that she was wrong.”

“Monumentally upset.”

Lucas nods, giving Riley the perfunctory correction. “OK, she’s going to be monumentally upset with you. I guess I just don’t understand why that’s such a big deal. I know I don’t have the story as to why, but it’s painfully obvious to me that she already doesn’t think any of the choices that you make are the right ones. You already have a relationship that’s so strained that you moved across the country to get away from it. If she’s mad at you about this one little thing, on top of the problems that already exist between you, exactly what difference does it make?”

Riley’s mouth opens to say something, but closes a half a moment later. She does this two more times in slow progression, her frenzied expression giving way to one of deep thought.

“Your mom strikes me as the kind of woman that doesn’t forgive someone she thinks has wronged her unless they come crawling on their hands and knees, ready to jump through an obstacle course of flaming hoops and beg her to accept their apology.” Lucas says, threading his fingers through Riley’s. “And you strike me as the kind of woman who’s strong enough, and smart enough to know deep down that doing that and sacrificing who you are will never be worth it. If you weren’t, you would have done your penance with her a long time ago. So you’re already at an impasse. It might not feel good, knowing that you’ve probably renewed her anger with you, but does it actually change anything?”

Riley still doesn’t answer him, not right away. “How do you do that?” She asks, voice quiet.

There’s something about the softness in her eyes when she looks at him, the sparkling mix of gentle awe and understanding that suddenly makes it hard for Lucas to focus. That’s not how women usually look at him. “Do what?”

“Get me to calm down and make everything seem so simple.” She replies, adding a tender smile. “You always seem to know exactly what to say. Are you this insightful with everyone you go out with?”

“I don’t think I’ve understood any of them the way I understand you.” The response just...slips out. No qualifiers, no exceptions, just the bare bones. I understand you. In that instant it feels like all of the air is sucked out of the room, and Lucas could almost swear that Riley’s breath hitches but he doesn’t dare entertain the thought or kid himself like that.

Especially when Riley looks away, closing her eyes.

How could he have gotten so relaxed? So stupid? This is a job, not a date. If he doesn’t get better about seeing Riley as nothing more than a client he’s going to be in for a world of hurt when they part ways at the end of the week.

“I know you probably say things like that to all of your clients,” she says, eyes still closed, “but thank you for saying it to me. Even if you don’t mean it, it’s nice to not feel so weird and out there for the way I feel. At least for a few minutes.”

“I don’t.” He answers, again before he can really think about it. “Say things like that to all of my clients.” So much for distancing himself. “And I do mean it. I feel like even though we may not share the same experiences, our stories are the same.”

Riley glances over at him, jaw slack. Barely a beat passes before she jumps to her feet, drawing her hand away from his. “I, um, I should call Auggie. See how dad’s surgery went. And then I think I’m gonna walk on the beach for a little while.”

She exits the room in a whirlwind. Lucas can’t even acknowledge what she said or say goodbye, she moves so quickly. And he’s left wondering exactly what just happened. How did they go from feeling so comfortable and connected to so stilted in such a short span of time?

The answer eventually comes to him as he falls back so he’s lying down, staring up at the ceiling.

Feelings.

More specifically, his feelings.

He’s so used to dealing with his clients forming crushes and thinking something exists where there’s nothing but play-pretend romance--so used to letting them down gently and keeping things professional on the job--that he never even thought about what would happen if he was the one who started to develop affection for a client. About how awkward that would be for the poor person who’s just trying to get through whatever awkward interaction they didn’t want to face alone that led them to hiring him in the first place. He’s so used to never even having to consider his feelings for a client because he’s never seen them as anything more than a business transaction that he barely even realized how much more Riley had become to him, or that he had a problem he needed to control before he had already let them run loose and made an awkward mess of it.

No wonder Riley had bolted from the room.

Lucas reaches for his phone to call his business partner. The call the day before had been a standard check-in they do when he goes on extended trips with a client; now he’ll ask for one piece of backup he never thought he’d have to ask for. The speech they’d written together about all the reasons it is a terrible idea to fall for a client.

Lucas quickly decides that he’ll listen to that and get his head on straight, and then do everything he can to show Riley that everything can be just as normal as it was and nothing has changed. He can be professional. He has to be.

The last thing he wants is to lose the friendship they’ve started to form.

“‘Cause I’ve had the time of my life,

And I’ve searched through every open door,”

“I can’t believe Auggie and Ava brought a karaoke machine to their welcome party.” Riley groans as the couple wraps up their duet. The party hasn’t even really started yet--everyone thought the two had gone up on the small staging area to give the formal speech to kick things off but instead they had started singing what Riley had informed him was their absolute favorite duet, the ballad from Dirty Dancing. “This does not bode well.”

“I’m sure they’re just having a little bit of fun.” Lucas answers, unable to keep from smiling as the couple dances on stage to the synthesized instruments as they play out the end of the song.

To his great relief, when Riley had returned to the room to get ready for the party, she had seemed just as eager to put their awkward moment of feelings behind them as he was. She’d given him what seemed to be a well-rehearsed speech about how emergency situations often amplified and distort feelings, that they were both probably feeling the effects of the adrenaline leaving their bodies after dealing with the clam shucking incident, and that they should move on as though that piece of the conversation had never happened.

Lucas had agreed, happy to latch on to a provided explanation that let him save face over something that was pretty much entirely his fault, and after a few small bumps in the road where he wasn’t sure whether he should hold Riley’s hand or have his arm around her shoulder as they walked into the party and similar moments of indecision, they’re now back to the status quo of comfortable, easy interaction.

“Thank you everyone!” Ava waves and curtsies as the song ends while the crowd on that patio cheers. “And welcome to Cape Cod for our wedding extravaganza! We are so thrilled that you’ve all made the trip to share in my and Auggie’s happiness, and that you’ve come a few days early to enjoy some of the beautiful sights the Cape has to offer and some fun activities.”

Auggie takes over for her. “Now, one of the things Ava and I wanted to do for everyone over the course of the next few days is share the activities that we’ve spent our entire relationship enjoying together, with all of you. And the first of those, as you might have guessed by our little performance,”

“Our flawless performance,” Ava corrects.

“Is karaoke.” Auggie finishes, quite obviously, in Lucas’ opinion, used to being interrupted in such a fashion.

“That’s right everyone! This isn’t just a Welcome to Cape Cod party, it’s also a karaoke party!” Ava screams and claps, seemingly oblivious to the mixed reaction she’s getting from the crowd. Most everyone is cheering, but it’s a lot less enthusiastic than they were when they were just applauding the performance or the welcome message. “There’s only one rule, and that’s that nobody gets to leave the party without getting up on stage at least once.”

The cheers lessen even more, but Lucas is fairly certain that the crowd will perk up again once they’ve had real chance to get a drink or two in them.

“In a moment, I’ll bring around songbooks to each of the tables so you can all make your selections and sign up.” Auggie explains. “And you’ll want to be quick about it--no one wants to listen to a night full of repeat songs.”

“No one wants to hear a night full of karaoke either but that doesn’t appear to be stopping you.” One table over, Maya makes a not-so-muttered comment, though Josh, hand freshly-stitched and bandaged, hushes her soon after.

“And while Auggie’s doing that I’ll get this party started with one of my personal favorites. So pick your songs, find partners if you need them and let’s have some fun! Welcome to Cape Cod everyone!”

Another synth-heavy beat kicks up behind Ava, who starts to dance, while Auggie hops off stage, grabs a large stack of mini-binders and starts to distribute them to every table.

“Hey boy, don’t you know I’ve got something going on? Yes I do.

All my friends are gonna come, gonna party all night long….”

“So…” Lucas can’t help but smirk as he looks at the rest of the table. “How does everyone here feel about this little surprise?” He’s barely a step above tone deaf, but he can’t say he minds the night’s new obligation; what does it matter if he embarrasses himself a little? It’s not like he’s ever going to see these people again once he goes back to LA.

He and Riley chat with their companions at the table, the always entertaining Eric and Linda, who both seem incredibly enthused by the prospect of getting up on the mini-stage and singing their hearts out. Riley is not nearly so thrilled, he decides based on her expression, but she’s not panicking like Lucas might have expected. He has to wonder if that’s because this is actually quite typical of Auggie and Ava or for some other reason.

After Auggie drops off the small black binders containing all of their song options, and it takes about a minute for Eric and Linda to rush off to get their choice in the lineup because they ‘weren’t going to risk anyone else getting to their song first’, Riley glances over at him in between page flips. “See anything you want to do?”

“I see a few songs I know.” Lucas shrugs, not sure that he cares too much. “Did you want to do something together or--,”

“Actually, I have an idea. If you don’t mind. As part of your,” she glances around to see if anyone’s paying attention, leans in close and whispers the last word, “job.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Now it’s nothing but my way.

My loneliness ain’t killing me no more.”

Lucas has to admit, watching Riley sing her song, going after every syllable in a take-no-prisoners performance, and looking every inch the self-assured woman that had taken charge on the deck of the schooner, that her idea is the perfect choice for them tonight.

Apparently, after their conversation when she was taking a walk, one of the other things she had come to understand was that once she got over the initial panic of realizing that she had stood up to her mom, it actually felt really good to have done it. And now she wants to take a few more baby steps towards letting her family know that she’s happy with her life.

Things like rocking out to a Britney Spears power ballad on a karaoke stage.

And when she’s done with that, having her ‘dedicated and handsome’ boyfriend dedicating a song to her and putting on a bit of a show for everyone.

Well...Lucas is more than happy to do that.

Especially after she more than nails the execution of her part of the plan. Riley finishes her song on a high note, to the applause and cheers of Auggie and Ava’s friends and some uncomfortable looks shared between many of her present family members. She bounces off the stage, a broad smile on her face.

While Auggie and Ava do their duties as hosts and MCs for the night, spouting off commentary on Riley’s performance and starting to build up his, Lucas hugs her quickly. “That was great! How did it feel?”

“Amazing! That was so much fun! Why have I never done that before?” She laughs broadly, stepping back and twirling.

“Stay close for part two, OK?”

“And now to sing a song for his sweetheart,” Auggie says, using his best TV presenter voice, “Mr. Lucas Friar!”

Lucas hops up onto the stage, grabbing the microphone and starting his song. He only has eyes for Riley as he sings the first verse (as though that’s hard), and by the time he hits the chorus, he strides off the stage to grab her hand and start dancing while he sings, causing Riley to laugh and blush while they sway, twirl and even dip.

“If you’ll be my soft and sweet, I’ll be your strong and steady,

You’ll be my glass of wine, I’ll be your shot of whiskey…”

At the second verse, he takes her back up onto the stage with him, continuing to serenade her and guiding her through a one-handed dance, until they get they reach the end of the song.

“If you’ll be my sugar baby, I’ll be your sweet iced tea,

You’ll be my honeysuckle, I’ll be your honey bee.”

As they dance out the end of the music, Lucas fumbles the microphone back into its stand so he can hold Riley with both hands. He twirls her out, and then in in rapid succession. She collides into his chest, and he can’t help but notice the same sparkling, gentle awe in her eyes as they meet his.

The last chord plays and the crowd bursts into applause.

And with Riley’s face barely inches from his, and feeling the joy and fun and the sparks that seem to be hovering in that small space, Lucas stops thinking completely.

His lips crash down onto hers.

#rucas #rucas fanfic #rucas fanfiction #riley matthews #lucas friar #gmw #fanfiction #au #fic: Cold Cape Cod Clams #cw: blood #cw: medical stuff

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mermaidwetbar · 7 years

Text

Who is Legion

FX is airing a new show called Legion based off of the character Legion from X-Men. The show exists in the XMCU which means he lives in the revamped timeline where Cyclops is alive and none of those first horrible movies existed but it’s not necessarily going to have any connections to the X-Men yet. The character Legion is also going to be an original take on the character but he is so great that I’m going to give you the canonical history of his life so far. It’ll be interesting to see what the keep the same; they definitely kept his mental illnesses.

Legion’s real name is David Charles Haller, a Jewish man from Haifa Israel who canonically can’t grow his hair into anything but a gigantic mohawk, and he is an omega level mutant which means he has practically God–like powers.

His father is Charles Xavier, Proffessor X himself, but his mother, Gabrielle Haller, kept that a secret for a very long time. Gabrielle met Charles at a hospital where he was using his psychic abilities to alleviate trauma of the Holocaust survivors. They had a short fling in which David was conceived but Gabrielle, suspicious of his psychic abilities, kept David a secret and David’s godfather, Daniel Shomron, stepped in to help raise him.

When Gabrielle entered the Israeli Diplomatic Service she and her family were attacked by a Palestinian terrorist cell. Gabrielle and David survived, but Daniel used his body to shield David from the bullets and was killed. The trauma activated David’s mutant genes early (he was 10 years old and they don’t usually manifest until puberty) and as his psychic abilities turned on he killed all of the terrorists. David went comatose and absorbed the psyche of one of the terrorists who took control of his body, still comatose, and fought the growing alter egos forming in David’s Mindscape due to his DID

Gabrielle turned to the renowned geneticist Moira MacTaggert, coincidentally another one of Charles Xavier’s ex girlfriends, who insisted Charles come to treat him personally. Charles found that David had very similar mutant abilities to his own, only much stronger, then found out he was his father.

By joining the war in David’s Mindscape Charles was able to wake David back up and most of the alter egos were destroyed but they continued to develop unchecked.

Legion/David gained and lost control of himself many times, hurting many people even murdering Destiny, Mystique’s wife, when she tried to intervene with him and he saw through her precognitive abilities how devastating his future would become.

David decided he would realize his father’s dream of mutants and humans coexisting and to do that he traveled back in time to his own conception to kill Magneto who Charles was also with at the time.

Time travel shenanigans ensue and Bishop ends it by showing David what future he is actually creating. David was ashamed and in the reconstructed timeline he was thought to be dead, his mother even questioned his conception.

Years later David was discovered trapped in a concrete box and once he escaped he was transported forward in time where Bishop resided. It was a dystopian future and David was immediately captured and put into slavery. He got out of it somehow, these sort of things happen quite a bit to him. The X-Men finally took him in and Karma and Magik began working with him to get better but he still had major reality twisting hiccups while he was trying to be good but his ever increasing alter egos keep taking over. Meanwhile his relationship with his father continued to be estranged; Charles seemed to think he was too dangerous unless he wanted to utilize his powers or alternate personalities. Magick is the only one that seems to consistently try to help him but sometimes with ulterior motives

Now for the really good part. X-Men Legacy: Legion written by Simon Spurrier.

Up until this point Legion was very inconsistently written because he had been a very minor character but in Spurrier’s Legion series the loose ends of the story are tightened and we actually see David as David. Before he only momentarily surfaced to find that he had caused a disaster and everyone was debating on whether or not he should be put down.

Charles had sent David to a secluded place for rehabilitation and never came back, as is his pattern with David. After the event of Avengers vs X-Men where Charles dies David finally had to face the fact that his father was never going to come for him, he was never going to publicly acknowledge him, and he never planned to let David return to the real world.

When he felt his father pass away David’s power surged and he wiped out the community he was living in, before his Guru died he told David to wait for the X-Men to come to relocate him again but David left, deciding he finally needed to change the pattern of his life, get a grip on himself, and find a way to see his father’s dream of coexistence come true. He does this by making himself somewhat of an invisible mercenary, trying to save mutants the X-Men hadn’t gotten.

David turns his Mindscape into a prison to keep all of the alter egos contained which worked relatively well, all things considered

Blindfold, a mutant nearly as powerful and ostracized as he is, seems to have an instinctual connection to him.

Blindfold is Ruth Aldine, and she takes after her legendary grandmother Destiny. The Destiny that David accidentally murdered years before. Ruth has a very traumatic history; she was powerful she was born with her mutant abilities already developing and she was born blind, specifically she was born with no eyes at all. When Ruth’s father left her brother Luca blamed her because she was a mutant and tried to kill her but accidentally killed their mother instead. Luca joins a radical anti-mutant group and ends up fracturing her mind which gives her schizophrenia and a very prominent speech impediment

She takes refuge in the X-Men mansion/school but the way she speaks, looks, and is unable to restrain herself from reading everyone’s minds makes her a social outcast

The X-Men eventually track David down with the help of Ruth’s powers

And David isn’t having it

The X-Men try to keep Ruth from him but through their mysterious connection Ruth easily enters David’s Mindscape where she is partially able to speak normally, depending on her mood

She is able to get through to him until one of his altars breaks out and attacks her, knocking her out.

David lets the X-Men take the mutant children he had found and secretly follows them back to watch over Ruth who is now comatose. He enters her subconscious and sees her whole life, specifically her bullies

He brings her back to consciousness and they meet briefly as he escapes

She keeps track of him by following him in her astral body, not understanding quite how powerful he is and that he always knows where she is

He tracks down the radical group her brother had joined and sets out to destroy them and her brother. She “reveals” herself to him telling him to knock it the fuck off.

She makes him promise not to hurt them so he sort of complies by messing with their minds so they will no longer be a threat. David continues on his mission to save mutants and impress Ruth and she continues to be his conscious while they secretly meet on the astral plane

As this is all going on David is trying to deal with what looks like his father’s consciousness personified in his Mindscape jail. The entity does claim to be Charles Xavier and it continually terrorizes all of the alter egos and mocks David, among other things…

The golden pervert, David and Ruth’s inherent connection, and because it’s X-Men everything is leading to a future dystopia where David loses control again but this time destroys everything. Ruth will have to kill him because she’s the only one strong enough and deeply embedded in him to destroy all of the alternate personalities along with David

but David insists that he can change fate. He’s powerful enough and with Ruth as his one that gives him “purpose” he’s pretty sure he can pull it off

But he’s going to do it by changing the will of people that will influence the dystopian future. Ruth argues that it’s immoral, especially to punish people for things they haven’t done yet. It was against Charles Xavier’s dream to force people into anything (although he often did it, unbeknownst to them) but David isn’t empathetic, in fact he already took out Aarkus before asking her permission. Ruth was mad but soon thereafter she sought him out again by using Cerebra

But he had already made a deal with the golden pervert in his brain that in exchange for checking on the future again the pervert could have controlled his body for one minute. (Each of David’s altars personify one of his thousands of powers.) David sees the apocalyptic future he creates and runs off to an ideological facility that “cure” mutants by giving them medication that will give them brain damage, blocking their ability to use their powers. Ruth goes to her peers and the X-Men asking for help to get David out of this but it takes a lot of convincing

David he realizes that although the patients seem to be well their minds are really shattered but another apparition of his father appears, reminding him of his failures and making him feel guilty for denying his heritage but David blocks amount and decides to go through with the cure anyway

The operator of the facility reveals himself to be the Red Skull and the one that caused him to see his father because he had implanted Charles Xavier’s brain into himself, hoping the shame of giving up would make David want to fight but David still doesn’t want to

He is given the medication and they air his conversion live on TV

Ruth appears with X-Men she had convinced to come help her save him which is what the Red Skull had apparently been aiming for and the X-Men are live on TV appearing suddenly in what appears to be a peaceful facility to stop a man who admits to being a monster from “rehabilitation” but David had planned on him planning this and uses that moment to bring in a young mutant he had saved earlier. The boy’s ability was that everyone immediately loves him and believes anything he said, practically giving him the ability to change reality. Through live TV he convinced everyone watching that the mutants weren’t their enemy. He tries to evoke empathy but that doesn’t work as well

Of course a battle with Red Skull ensues which is when the golden pervert who looks like Charles Xavier comes to take his one minute with complete control of David’s body. He wants Xavier’s brain for himself.

Ruth fights to get the minute to run out so David can take control of his body again and then we have this really funny moment

Obviously this isn't the end. Not only because it's comic books, but because this is a cliffhanger. The ending is kind of amazing so I want to encourage you guys to go read it.

You can buy them on comixology, book retailers, but check your local libraries as well. My local library is nothing but comic books and VHS copies of Titanic.

#Legion #Legion f #X-Men #xmen #comics #bio #xmcu #Legion fx

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putris-et-mulier · 7 years

Text

Who is Legion

FX is airing a new show called Legion based off of the character Legion from X-Men. The show exists in the XMCU which means he lives in the revamped timeline where Cyclops is alive and none of those first horrible movies existed but it's not necessarily going to have any connections to the X-Men yet. The character Legion is also going to be an original take on the character but he is so great that I'm going to give you the canonical history of his life so far. It'll be interesting to see what the keep the same; they definitely kept his mental illnesses.

Legion's real name is David Charles Haller, a Jewish man from Haifa Israel who canonically can't grow his hair into anything but a gigantic mohawk, and he is an omega level mutant which means he has practically God–like powers.

His father is Charles Xavier, Proffessor X himself, but his mother, Gabrielle Haller, kept that a secret for a very long time. Gabrielle met Charles at a hospital where he was using his psychic abilities to alleviate trauma of the Holocaust survivors. They had a short fling in which David was conceived but Gabrielle, suspicious of his psychic abilities, kept David a secret and David's godfather, Daniel Shomron, stepped in to help raise him.

When Gabrielle entered the Israeli Diplomatic Service she and her family were attacked by a Palestinian terrorist cell. Gabrielle and David survived, but Daniel used his body to shield David from the bullets and was killed. The trauma activated David's mutant genes early (he was 10 years old and they don't usually manifest until puberty) and as his psychic abilities turned on he killed all of the terrorists. David went comatose and absorbed the psyche of one of the terrorists who took control of his body, still comatose, and fought the growing alter egos forming in David's Mindscape due to his DID

Gabrielle turned to the renowned geneticist Moira MacTaggert, coincidentally another one of Charles Xavier's ex girlfriends, who insisted Charles come to treat him personally. Charles found that David had very similar mutant abilities to his own, only much stronger, then found out he was his father.

By joining the war in David's Mindscape Charles was able to wake David back up and most of the alter egos were destroyed but they continued to develop unchecked.

Legion/David gained and lost control of himself many times, hurting many people even murdering Destiny, Mystique's wife, when she tried to intervene with him and he saw through her precognitive abilities how devastating his future would become.

David decided he would realize his father's dream of mutants and humans coexisting and to do that he traveled back in time to his own conception to kill Magneto who Charles was also with at the time.

Now for the really good part. X-Men Legacy: Legion written by Simon Spurrier.

Up until this point Legion was very inconsistently written because he had been a very minor character but in Spurrier's Legion series the loose ends of the story are tightened and we actually see David as David. Before he only momentarily surfaced to find that he had caused a disaster and everyone was debating on whether or not he should be put down.

When he felt his father pass away David's power surged and he wiped out the community he was living in, before his Guru died he told David to wait for the X-Men to come to relocate him again but David left, deciding he finally needed to change the pattern of his life, get a grip on himself, and find a way to see his father's dream of coexistence come true. He does this by making himself somewhat of an invisible mercenary, trying to save mutants the X-Men hadn't gotten.

David turns his Mindscape into a prison to keep all of the alter egos contained which worked relatively well, all things considered

Blindfold, a mutant nearly as powerful and ostracized as he is, seems to have an instinctual connection to him.

Blindfold is Ruth Aldine, and she takes after her legendary grandmother Destiny. The Destiny that David accidentally murdered years before. Ruth has a very traumatic history; she was powerful she was born with her mutant abilities already developing and she was born blind, specifically she was born with no eyes at all. When Ruth's father left her brother Luca blamed her because she was a mutant and tried to kill her but accidentally killed their mother instead. Luca joins a radical anti-mutant group and ends up fracturing her mind which gives her schizophrenia and a very prominent speech impediment

She takes refuge in the X-Men mansion/school but the way she speaks, looks, and is unable to restrain herself from reading everyone's minds makes her a social outcast

The X-Men eventually track David down with the help of Ruth's powers

And David isn't having it

The X-Men try to keep Ruth from him but through their mysterious connection Ruth easily enters David's Mindscape where she is partially able to speak normally, depending on her mood

She is able to get through to him until one of his altars breaks out and attacks her, knocking her out.

He brings her back to consciousness and they meet briefly as he escapes

She keeps track of him by following him in her astral body, not understanding quite how powerful he is and that he always knows where she is

He tracks down the radical group her brother had joined and sets out to destroy them and her brother. She "reveals" herself to him telling him to knock it the fuck off.

As this is all going on David is trying to deal with what looks like his father's consciousness personified in his Mindscape jail. The entity does claim to be Charles Xavier and it continually terrorizes all of the alter egos and mocks David, among other things…

The golden pervert, David and Ruth's inherent connection, and because it's X-Men everything is leading to a future dystopia where David loses control again but this time destroys everything. Ruth will have to kill him because she's the only one strong enough and deeply embedded in him to destroy all of the alternate personalities along with David

but David insists that he can change fate. He's powerful enough and with Ruth as his one that gives him "purpose" he's pretty sure he can pull it off

But he's going to do it by changing the will of people that will influence the dystopian future. Ruth argues that it's immoral, especially to punish people for things they haven't done yet. It was against Charles Xavier's dream to force people into anything (although he often did it, unbeknownst to them) but David isn't empathetic, in fact he already took out Aarkus before asking her permission. Ruth was mad but soon thereafter she sought him out again by using Cerebra

But he had already made a deal with the golden pervert in his brain that in exchange for checking on the future again the pervert could have controlled his body for one minute. (Each of David's altars personify one of his thousands of powers.) David sees the apocalyptic future he creates and runs off to an ideological facility that "cure" mutants by giving them medication that will give them brain damage, blocking their ability to use their powers. Ruth goes to her peers and the X-Men asking for help to get David out of this but it takes a lot of convincing

The operator of the facility reveals himself to be the Red Skull and the one that caused him to see his father because he had implanted Charles Xavier's brain into himself, hoping the shame of giving up would make David want to fight but David still doesn't want to

He is given the medication and they air his conversion live on TV

Ruth appears with X-Men she had convinced to come help her save him which is what the Red Skull had apparently been aiming for and the X-Men are live on TV appearing suddenly in what appears to be a peaceful facility to stop a man who admits to being a monster from "rehabilitation" but David had planned on him planning this and uses that moment to bring in a young mutant he had saved earlier. The boy's ability was that everyone immediately loves him and believes anything he said, practically giving him the ability to change reality. Through live TV he convinced everyone watching that the mutants weren't their enemy. He tries to evoke empathy but that doesn't work as well

Of course a battle with Red Skull ensues which is when the golden pervert who looks like Charles Xavier comes to take his one minute with complete control of David's body. He wants Xavier's brain for himself.

Ruth fights to get the minute to run out so David can take control of his body again and then we have this really funny moment

I'm stopping here for two reasons

1. I want you to get the comics you can see what happens for yourself because David is one of my favorite characters and this was such an amazing series I want to give you an incentive to read it firsthand

2. Comixology is selling every appearance of Legion including this whole series for $0.99 a piece. Check it out

And if you are interested, this whole week all I will be posting on my X-Men blog are some of my favorite Legion moments

I'll be doing posts like these for sexual and gender minorities, POC, and disabled characters through The Discourse now. I hope to see you there.

#legion #Info #X-Men #XMen #comics #comic

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