#and he's a big old hypocrite (affectionate)

[chronicowboy]

Eddie isn't entirely sure how he ends up on Tommy's doorstep. One minute, he's stuffed into the corner of his couch, staring at the two empty cushions beside him, trying to will joy out of thin air. The next, he's grabbing his keys and knocking on a familiar door. But it's not too familiar a door. It's not the right door, he thinks. It should be Buck's door. But this feels safer somehow.

Buck's door is joy. Buck's door opens into a room filled with sunlight. Buck's door is a portal to all the good things Eddie has never found himself worthy of. He's still learning to trust the good things, joy. And whilst he trusts Buck implicitly, intimately, instinctually. He still doesn't quite trust himself.

Tommy's door is... Well, Tommy's door often opens on casual camaraderie. Tommy's door mainly leads to the sparring mat in the garage. Tommy's door is just a door. Eddie doesn't know if he's there to see it open or seal it shut.

It's been a week since. Since Eddie had danced around in his house in a pair of tighty whiteys he'd forgotten he'd owned. Since an intoxicatingly simple joy had buzzed through his veins and filled him with a glowing pink light that had almost burst out of him when he'd looked through the peephole. Since Buck had offered him a beer and stuffed himself into the corner of the couch to drink in stony silence between sniffles. Since Eddie had resisted the urge to make himself small and had instead spread his legs, so he could feel the warmth of Buck's knee burning into his bare thigh. Since both of them getting drunk enough on beers and each other that they'd danced around Eddie's house until they collapsed on the living room floor. Since they'd laid there on the carpet, staring up at the ceiling, and Buck had finally mumbled his way through a recital of his breakup.

It's been a week of Eddie biting down on his reflexive guilt at seeking out joy whilst Buck wallows in despair. Of Eddie plastering himself to Buck in every spare moment because, even when he's down in the dumps, he gives off joy like a spaceheater throws out heat. Of Eddie allowing himself to bask in it without the whispering warning voices in his mind for the first time ever. Of Eddie allowing himself the simple pleasure of Buck without fear of ruining him.

Eddie startles a little when the door opens, but it's alright because Tommy startles too. His whole face stretches in shock then scrunches up with a wry little laugh and a shake of his head.

"Guess I probably should have expected this, huh?" he says.

And Eddie thinks that's odd. Hadn't expected it himself. Doesn't know why he's here. Doesn't know what he's going to say. But he opens his mouth anyway, lets whatever is in his throat claw its way out, and what he says is,

"Buck is worth the risk."

Tommy blinks. Eddie blinks back.

Something pools in his chest. Something warm. Something hot. It's the warmth of Buck's knee against his thigh and the heat of boiling anger. It's scorching. Eddie can't tell which one burns worse.

"Okay," Tommy replies evenly.

"Buck said that you said you couldn't move in with him because he'd break your heart."

"I did."

"He's worth that risk," Eddie repeats. Doesn't know how else to say it. "Don't you get it? He-he's so smart and passionate and kind and full of love. His head gets a little messy sometimes, but he's still so so full of love. Why can't you see that? He's beautiful inside and out. And he's worth the risk. You can't not take the risk with Buck. He's worth a hundred broken hearts, don't you get that?"

Eddie's chest heaves. A thousand more words crowd his mouth, but he can't wrap his lips around any of them. His brain is flying a mile a minute, everything slipping through his fingers just when he thinks he's grabbed a hold of it. And Tommy is just staring at him in that slightly disconcertingly blank way he stares.

"Eddie, I think maybe you should try giving that speech to a mirror." His voice is still even, but there's an edge to these words that makes something in Eddie sing, makes him want to press against it until it draws blood.

"What?"

"I think you think Buck's worth a hundred broken hearts because you and him have been breaking each other's over and over for the past six years."

Eddie flinches.

"What? I would never—"

"Just because you didn't mean to doesn't mean you didn't." Tommy sighs and drags a hand down his face. All the defensiveness melts out of his posture as he leans against the doorframe. "Okay, let's talk about me, yeah? You wanna know why I didn't take the risk with Buck?"

It's a rhetorical question. Still, Eddie says, "yes."

"Because." He shrugs. "Six days, six weeks, six months, six years. He'd never mean to, but. He was always going to break my heart, Eddie. And he was always going to break it for you."

There had been this moment when he'd first sat down in the confessional between the click of the door closing and Father Brian's greeting where the whole world had seemed to fall silent. It was a crushing thing. In that moment, twenty-three years of sins had fallen upon him like a helicopter. It was as if the booth itself was trying to swallow him whole. Now, Eddie feels it again. Feels it so vividly he almost thinks he's back in that stifling little wooden box. Feels it like a whole new confession, unforgivable and yet inevitable.

"And you were always going to let him, right?" Tommy doesn't even leave room for an answer. Just nods to himself. "You can be angry with me if you want. I hurt him, I know that. But I took the risk when I started this. The writing was on the wall from the beginning. I knew I was living on borrowed time, but... Well, I don't have to explain to you why he was worth it, do I?"

"W-what do you—"

"God, Diaz," he groans, and presses his forehead against the edge of the door. "He was never trying to get my attention. Jesus. He spent that whole game pulling your pigtails."

"No, he was jealous of—"

"Of me because I had your attention." Tommy shakes his head. "I'm not doing this. I can't. Please leave."

And well, Eddie's never needed all that much of a nudge when it comes to running away. He's halfway to his truck when Tommy's voice stops him in his tracks.

"Hey, Eddie?"

"Yeah?" He turns, watches something complicated break across Tommy's face.

"He's worth the risk."

The door closes. Another opens.

[holygroundgone]

AND WHEN IT COMES TO CHU WANNING

His mental illness is very much a big part of his character!

His strong moral convictions and stoicism and asceticism are only compounded by his strong belief that he's an inherently insufficient person, that he's too stiff and harsh and ugly to be liked by other people.

You can point at his disciples and Xue Zhengyong and say that belief is misplaced, but is it really? His perception of the world and the way it reacts to him is incurably pessimistic, yes, but it's true that people avoid him. Chu Wanning's disciples might genuinely like him but all three have their reasons for avoiding him or acting aloof with him.

It isn't enough to break past his existing convictions. He is not going to act in a way not backed up by his own perception of how the world is and how it reacts to him.

If he believes he is unlovable and too old and ugly why on earth would he ever open up in the slightest about his feelings for Mo Ran? His sense of propriety as a shizun and in general is very strong. He wants to do things the right way because he feels like because it's himself, if he doesn't do it the right way it will be unforgivable.

His incredibly low self esteem is something he has come to terms with in his life and has accepted as a matter of course.

There's no point in apologizing or making excuses for himself when it'll only make him look like a hypocrite when he continues to act in the only way he has ever learned to be. There's no point in softening himself if it'll only result in him being thrown away. He's lived this way so long, wouldn't he look insane to change now? And if he did, what would it reveal about him to other people?

I also see a lot of people castigating Chu Wanning for his attachment to a young Mo Ran which I feel is unfair given:

1. He actively distances himself from Mo Ran and does his best to avoid showing him favor because of his infatuation (which ironically causes a lot of the mishaps in the book but i would say he tries to act responsibly in regards to this) and successfully shows no signs of this attachment that anyone and especially Mo Ran can recognize

2. He's aware that he's like this because Mo Ran is from his perspective the first person who chose him for him, is unyieldingly kind and affectionate despite Chu Wanning's instinctive hedgehog spikes. He's aware that it's his own pathetic failing for being such a lonely person.

3. It's explicitly stated that he never wanted anything to come of it, he never actually rationally wanted to be with Mo Ran beyond what his heart impulsively yearned for which he constantly got upset with himself for

The way that he punishes Mo Ran and uses physical violence on him especially impulsively when triggered by anger at Mo Ran's indecency or by his own jealousy is awful, a marked character flaw, but I think it's somewhat understandable when you consider the only example he had for a shizun in his life.

Huaizui is shown at the end of the memory scroll (and i would consider Huaizui's memory scroll to be incredibly (likely unconsciously) emotionally manipulative on his part, constructed in a very specific way that reveals Huaizui's flawed perspective) to react with impulsive anger and violence to Chu Wanning's disobedience. I really have to doubt that it was the first time he reacted in such a way.

I think through reverse engineering there have to be some of Chu Wanning's character flaws that must've come from Huaizui's upbringing- impulsive violence, the uselessness of apologies and excuses, hiding himself, an inability to do chores and basic self-care

Huaizui's few pieces of memories of a young Chu Wanning are interesting- in them Chu Wanning acts like a 'completely normal' and sweet child, but the Chu Wanning we know is naturally fussy, extremely stubborn with strong convictions and picky. In other words, he is autistic. But the child Chu Wanning in these memories shows very little sign of these traits. Did he change completely after what Huaizui put him through at the end there? Was every moment they shared exactly like those sweet and easy moments in the memories?

I really doubt it.

I think those memories were Huaizui's favorite moments with his undeserved disciple. His less favorite moments are easy to imagine, and so are his reactions to them. Chu Wanning was someone he always thought of with a dehumanizing and almost possessive sense of mind- "this piece of wood that I carved for the sake of absolving my sins". Any guilt he feels in thinking of a child in this way was clearly deserved and equally clearly not enough to stop him from locking him up in a cave and telling him to carve out his core.

Chu Wanning's self-dehumanization had to have come from somewhere, and I don't think it only started there at the end of their relationship.

Impulsive violence in reaction to disobedience is what Chu Wanning learns from a young age. And even then after whipping Mo Ran for plucking Madam Wang's rare flower he still questions himself and is questioning what he's done.

I do think that it's a flaw Chu Wanning still needs to learn and grow out of given that in postcanon after two years of living together he still whips Taxian-Jun- something the man is clearly terrified of.

In general I think ranwan have a lot to grow and develop from postcanon before they can be a genuinely healthy couple but given that from the bottom of their hearts they want the best for each other and for the other to be happy at any cost to their own person... I think they are going to make it.

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

First of all, I apologize for my slightly weird English, google translate helps me to read what you guys post on Tumblr. This time I decided to send it from the computer to see if it arrives well, I seem like an old lady with technology sometimes hahaha

Could I get a matchup for Tokyo Debunker, My Hero Academia and Mystic Messenger? If you feel that there is no matchup in MHA or MM, it doesn't matter, the Tokyo Debunker matchup is more than enough.

Pronouns: She/her Sexuality: Bisexual Zodiac/MBTI: Sagittarius, INTJ Appearance: Short curly dark brown hair. Dark skin, freckles on cheeks. I'm 1.65m tall, slim body, small bust and butt and wide waist. Brown eyes, slightly round nose, thin eyebrows and medium-sized lips. Personality: Introverted, occasionally moody, but when I get confident I'm playful/a bit childish. Likes and dislikes: I like desserts; watching movies, mainly horror/thriller/romantic comedy; I enjoy interactive stories and otomes; I like watching videos of people putting on/taking off makeup, trying on clothes and giving reviews, about hair and skin care products… Oh, I also like braiding. I don't like insects; noisy places; disloyal people, liars, and people who don't value their friends; alcoholic drinks and similar substances; I don't like spicy food. Hobbies: Listening to music, watching anime, playing cell phone games, lately I'm learning crochet, so I think I'd add that as a hobby too. Extra information: I am agnostic; I'm not a big fan of physical contact, in any case, I prefer to be the one who initiates the contact and that it doesn't last so long; I think head caresses are very cute; I like to give gifts to my loved ones; I'm somewhat disorganized for some things and organized for others, I think it depends on my mood and motivation how organized I can be; if someone yells at me I get angry easily; according to the MBTI internet test I'm INTJ and to this day I still don't feel identified with the result; I don't know if it affects the answer in any way, but I'm from Latin America, although I don't fit the stereotype at all, I'll just say that there is no worse dancer than me LOL.

Thank you very much in advance, and I hope you are doing well, I wish you peace and stability, kisses and hugs <3

Hi Anon! Thank you for your request! Sorry it took a while. I hope you like your matchups!

In Tokyo Debunker, I match you with...

You and Ren can both be pretty moody at times and while this can definitely lead to conflict, it also means you understand each other well.

Phone games are what brought you together originally. Everyone knows he’s totally obsessed with his games and he loves being able to play them with you.

Ren’s also delighted that you like horror movies as well. Sure, his special interest is in B-rated movies but he’s just glad he can talk about horror stuff with someone who can appreciate it.

He’s not a huge fan of noisy places either so he’s more than happy to avoid them with you. If it’s unavoidable, he’ll keep an eye on the time and leave with you as soon as possible/

Don’t expect him to get rid of any insects for you. He’s terrified of them as well and thinks they’re super gross. If he’s feeling particularly sappy, he’ll get rid of them though.

In My Hero Academia, I match you with...

Jiro’s firmly an ambivert since she likes interaction but not too much. Since you’re an introvert, you make a good pair.

She’s not super fussed on whether you’re disorganised or not. Whatever works for you is her philosophy. And she’d be a bit of a hypocrite if she called you out on being disorganised considering the state of her room a lot of the time.

Music is what drew you two together initially. Jiro loves playing songs for you and would adore going to karaoke nights with you (assuming that’s something you’re comfortable with).

She’s not super affectionate so she’s okay with avoiding physical contact a lot of the time. If you ever feel like physical affection, just let her know.

This seems like an odd inclusion but I think she would really like your crocheting. If you crochet a guitar strap cover or some little nick nacks, she’ll incorporate them into her outfit.

In Mystic Messenger, I match you with...

Yoosung really loves your childish side. He’s surrounded by serious people so you’re a nice change of pace. He can be himself around you.

He loves playing phone games with you! He’s always open to recommendations for games you can play together.

Head pats are a must in your relationship. Yoosung likes giving and receiving head pats so you’ll often end up in a heat pat loop of mutual affection.

I don’t see Yoosung as someone who’s super fond of spicy food so he certainly understands your dislike of it. He’s more than happy to have plainer food when you go on dinner dates.

Loves watching anime, both with you and on his own. I see him as an action and rom-com fan but he’s open to anything you throw his way.

[mysteriousowlspy]

This episode came into my house, treated me well, and then beat me to a bloody pulp. Thank you, Dana.

I have a lot to say about 'Hollow Mind' but I'll start with the more light-hearted aspects before delving into the shitload of trauma that was just dumped on us.

Darius.. Darius, Darius, Darius... ugh, I love this man.

He is a sexy villain who leans on doorways, drapes himself across couches, sprawls over armchairs and his first debut scene was a text-book definition of a diva who cared more about his mud-ruined cape and stiletto white boots than morals.

So surprise, surprise when he turns out to not only be a decent adult, BUT is also conspiring with the same person he just arrested.

I would have LOVED to seen how that went down. Imagine arresting a fellow coven head – you have them securely behind bars, ready to hand their treasonous ass over to your Emperor – only to realise your conspiracy about your deceased mentor matches up with their rebellious agenda?

Your co-conspiracy is going great, but the one day you get off a year is the one day the little prince (derogatory) decides to wear your old mentors golden guard sigil.

Which brings me to this:

In Belos' mind Hunter fondly reminiscences about his golden guard coronation and comments on Darius' odd behaviour during his big day.

If you look there are countless coven heads present at Hunter's coronation. Does this mean Darius was somewhat aware of the string of "catastrophes" surrounding the Golden Guard title? Or was he sad because it reminded him of his dead mentor?

I'm not sure but it was a very nice throw in and the fan-fictions are piling up in my head.

This? This was pure comedy... look at these idiots! I'd watch a spin-off on these three having silent conversations for a solid hour.

Darius motioning for Raine not to go and then practically lunging forward in shock when he realises the little prince (affectionate) is stuck in an abuser's mind. Raine silently chastising him for being a hypocrite AND for leaving the vile behind that activated the spell.

Can I just say that I really appreciated Eda's foresight not to crowd the kids when they came out of the mindscape?

Also, Hunter's panic attack was done so damn well. Additionally, I would like to point out that Hunter's first words were "He KNOWS" not 'he might kill me' or 'I can't believe I've been blindly following him this whole time!' This boy has been so deeply conditioned in his abuse that he's still worried about his upcoming punishment and what this'll mean for him.

The sad part for me was these parallels of him originally fawning over the cape as a sign of respect and achievement in child-like wonder before realising the true horrors of those who have come before him.

The bad news is that Hunter is having a panic attack. The good news is that Hunter is unknowingly running straight in the trio's direction.

[blue-eli]

Masters Elrena, Lauriam, and Ventus from my never spilt au!! I’ve been calling them the Dandelion trio and they are Friends :)!

The Never Split AU is an au where Ventus escaped Xehanort’s attempt to split his heart, and Elrena and Lauriam avoid being nobodies! They are keyblade masters and good good friends

More info about each of them under the cut

I imagine that Ephemer basically named the dandelions (or just the union leaders + Elrena) as Keyblade masters in scala ad caelum law.

Master Elrena:

-still an absolute asshole (affectionately) like,,, the Mean Lesbian.

-25 years old. 12 in KHUx. Very insistent that Ventus is still younger then her.

-not good with kids, or people in general. Tends to play the bad cop to Ventus or Lauriam’s good cop.

-Has taken Aqua under her wing, she is a Bad Influence but honestly I think that’s what Aqua needs.

-she will bring back treats from different worlds for the others, you know she likes you when she comes back from a mission and just yeets a chocolate bar at you.

Master Lauriam:

-THE big brother, to everyone (but especially Ventus)

-29 years old. 14 in KHUx. Old.

-still looking for his sister, a bit more causal due to learning from past mistakes and also it’s been years a while more hopefully won’t hurt.

-not necessarily overprotective, he knows Ventus is very powerful, but will worry about him a lot,,, he lost him once he doesn’t want to again.

-fancy man, very respectable, most likely to get along with authority (he is a mess, he is a disaster, do not be fooled-)

Master Ventus:

-MAIN CHARACTER he is the connecting thread he is whole he is one of the Seven Lights AND Thirteen Darknesses at the same time I love him

-27 years old. 10 in KHUx. Went from baby baby to old baby. He is short and people keep thinking he twelve. He is only taller then Sora.

-has problems with authority, will either treat them as an equal (King Micky, most of the princesses) or be very open about his dislike of them (Yen Sid, Ansem, Eraqus).

-can summon unversed! Generally used them to help with large battles, as something to keep company/keep safe his loved ones (mainly Sora), or to vent feelings.

-only trained with Eraqus for two weeks, left after Eraqus flipped out after finding him with an unversed. Still visited to spend time with Aqua+Terra and use the library (Eraqus let’s him because he isn’t actively antagonistic, he figures Aqua and Terra will be good influences, he’d feel like a hypocrite considering he still is friendly with Xehanort. In return Ventus doesn’t summon unversed while visiting) this leads to a very odd Wayfinders Trio dynamic

[salsedine]

Per l'ask game propongo Solas e Anders di Dragon Age

Ps ho schiacciato sul blog sbagliato e ho mandato un ask per sbaglio all'op voglio morire

Hello e grazie mille per l'ask! Credo che l'op non se la prenderà, ci sono ask decisamente peggiori in questi lidi 🙈 E se può consolare, una volta Tumblr ha glitchato di brutto inviando un mio messaggio critico verso uno show molto popolare ad un blog iper fan del suddetto show. Capisco l'ansia!

Daje now we'll switch to badly written English.

Solas: I wish I could say something, but I still haven't played DAI 🙈 (and i don't even know if I'll be able to without melting my laptop). However, from posts and fanarts I deduced that he is some kind of old god/trickster archetype/the dreadwolf thingy that wants to destroy the world. Interesting!

And a fun fact. For... quite some time I used to think that Solavellan was the name of an actual character. In my defence, it sounds legit for a fantasy setting.

Now, let's move on to the character that will make people stop talking to me lol. Under the read more because I'm on mobile and have no idea how long this is going to be.

* First impression: hello fun guy that hates the chantry and is obsessed with cats, I like your earring! Oh you refused to speak and ran away multiple times so... they left you a year in solitary confinement?? Oh and then your ex/first love is illegally magically lobotomized as a threat against you? WTF WTF WTF.

* Impression now: I pretty much like all the characters, but he really grew on me. I find him very interesting and compelling, BUT I also want to hit him with a brick for every bitchy/condescending/hypocrite comment towards Fenris or Merrill. I also suspect that with him the writers tried to portray mental illness or something similar? I think I read something somewhere.

* Unpopular opinionS: ehhh, here we go. It's called "the last straw" and not "I'm going to commit a political assassination at the first inconvenience" for a reason. I agree that it could have been handled differently (with more time- this game definitely deserved more development time), but it wasn't on a whim, nor I see it as some grand machination that he planned for years. It's a very desperate act that was preceded by years of activism and trying to find a compromise. A compromise that it is impossible to reach, imho, because compromises in order to work need good faith and/or some kind of leverage. Mages have no leverage and Meredith (and Elthina too) have no good faith. Meredith explicitly wanted an excuse to kill them all, and the right of annulment has been sent for... how can you compromise with someone that considers your existence a mistake to correct? I can see that it's a political situation that would have required more nuance than what the game had time to provide - but overall I think it's pretty clear why he did it.

* Favourite moment: The "hello Varric, take my mother's embroidered pillow, just in case something happens ahah I'm so subtle" scene is quite sweet (despite everything that follows), and while I affectionately mock it for being very loud, the First Big Kiss in the sewers is a classic. And any mention to cats is very much appreciated, obviously.

* Idea for a story: the 3 years gap between the acts are full of possibilities, and I love missing-moments stories. Also! If the "something here is a metaphor for mental illness" idea is true I'd definitely love to read some in-depth exploration of it.

* Favourite head canon: considering what I saw from the official writers about him after the events of DA2, I'd just say "the opposite of that".

* Favourite relationship: platonic, I'd say Varric ("let's brainstorm how to kill my brother :D! Also I'm paying criminals to stay away from your underground free clinic, bye"). Romantic, definitely Hawke. But with a disclaimer: I've tried the romance path thingy with a male rogue/archer Hawke (after much consideration, I was really curious about Fenris and Isabela too, but the "ten years, a hundred years-" quote got me) but I still haven't finished it. So yeah, I'm aware I'm missing pieces here -and this is why I looked for all the spoilers. "And I love you so much I'm going to let you kill me" indeed, mrs Welch singing during the end credits, indeed.

Thanks again for asking! 💃✨

[edit] finished the game - he is now in the top 10 of my favourite characters, huge fan of the romance with Hawke (friendship route and 'let's run away' ending).

[rosietrace]

Melodic Misconceptions 🎹 (1.5/?)

Track 01 [ Second edition ]: Introductions

[ Idol miscellany edition ]

Synopsis: Victoria Shard was a former member of the popular idol group [ Poisoner ] from NRC corporations. After discourse with her group leader, Victoria decided it was best for her to leave and pursue her solo career in a record label run by her parents.

It had been half a year since her separation from her old group, and Victoria had never been more successful. But now she has a new problem. She must return to NRC corporations in order to mentor the seven idol groups.

Ellis Clawthorne is a member of [ (Co)-connect ] the most recent group under NRC'S belt. With no experience as an idol, Ellis must persevere in order to succeed and pursue her dreams.

Will both girls be able to adapt to their current situations?

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[ Idol miscellany ] Same profession, separate divisions

Zenith 💚 Zen is a former member of the group [ (!)nsomniac ] of the Diasomnia division. He has good relations with his former group mates and now works at the Shard record label. He's regarded for his chaotic but calming personality, having a podcast featuring Ellis of [ (Co)-connect ], and for being one of the most successful yet cutthroat producers in the industry at 19.

Freyah 🌹 Freyah is a member of the idol group [ Hearts & Roses ] of the Heartslabyul division. She is the SubRapper and known for being the wildcard of the group alongside Ace Trapolla, the lead rapper. The two frequently bicker and are the most featured in "Hearts & Roses on crack compilations". Typically has a much more smooth flow compared to Ace and known to have a very 'chaotically cutesy' side to her choreography.

Nyx 🌊 is a soloist who started out as the head of the marketing department for [ Ocean M4fia ], an idol group in the Octavinelle division that features her two older brothers, Jade and Floyd. After leaving the marketing department, Nyx pursued her solo career by working with NRC corporation's record label and became one of the most successful soloists at 16.

Victoria 💎 Victoria is the former member of [ Poisoner ] of the Pomefiore division. During her time as a member of the group, the marketing team advertised her as the main visual and 'fanservice' to the fanbase, which made her the second most popular after Vil. But due to discourse between her and Vil behind the scenes, Victoria left NRC corporations and became a solo artist in her parent's record label. Currently one of the youngest Grammy awardees in the idol industry.

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[ Additional Trivia ]

Victoria has a rivalry with Malleus from [ (!)nsomniac ] because of how he quickly rose to fame so easily due to his connections which is a bit hypocritical but also understandable on her end when you remember that she started her career when NRC Corp wasn't as big of a company

Among these idols, Zen got his first Grammy when he was 15, making him one of the youngest nominees/awardees

Freyah is the only one in this miscellany to be in an idol group

Zen has the most followers on Twitter

Freyah has the least followers on Twitter she ain't salty about it tbh

Nyx was a Vil simp when she started out in the Octavinelle marketing department

She's dating Vil now

Victoria refuses to collaborate with her former group mates due to her argument of popularity with Vil

Freyah is an anti-Ace (affectionate)

Jade and Floyd were fully supportive of Nyx when she expressed her desire to leave the marketing department and become a soloist, even when they offered to let her join their group

Victoria's debut album as a solo artist was titled "Masquerade"

Freyah is the only one without experience as a solo artist

Nyx and Victoria have the most versatile vocal ranges

Freyah has the smoothest rap flow

Zen has the most poetic lyrics in his songs

All idols in this miscellany follow each other on Twitter, TikTok, and their personal YouTube accounts/channels

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Tagging:

@starry-night-rose @fumikomiyasaki @authoruio @windbornearchon @nem0-nee @sakuramidnight15 @twsthoodstar @twsted-princess @phoenix-manga

[syntheticmelancholy]

Some little facts about Nick Valentine and Dolph's relationship:

Dolph loves to watch Nick work at his desk. Sometimes he observes so closely that he begins to physically interfere. Nick makes sure that Dolph doesn't forget to have lunch. He, like a caring parent, worries about Dolph's excessive thinness. Dolph likes to provoke Nick with little pranks and double entenders. Nick tries to keep his composure, which inflames Dolph even more. If Nick gets angry, Dolph panics. He is afraid of an angry detective, so he instantly becomes a good boy. Nick affectionately calls Dolph: parasite, bug, dunce, pal, trickster, my boy, Toto and kid. Dolph calls Nick: Iron Daddy, Pa, Mr. Steel Balls, Tin Woodman, Dick, Mr. Valentine, Nikki and just Daddy. Yep, their relationship has a touch of a "daddy kink" due to the big age difference (just in case, I remind you that Dolph is 25 years old >_>) Nick never shows his feelings in public, he saves it for private moments. He will steadfastly ignore all Dolph's flirting in public. Dolph enjoys when Nick covers him with his trench coat. He also seems to be the only one who loves the smell of tobacco coming from the detective. Nick remembers ALL the little things Dolph accidentally said and uses them to please him or catch him in a lie. Dolph is demisexual gay. Despite his cocky, frivolous demeanor, he never had a relationship before Nick. He also has a mental trauma from his first crush in his youth, which is why he avoided any attachments. Nick hates lies, so Dolph has to be extremely honest with him. Despite his hypocritical and deceitful nature, he is afraid to upset the detective. Initially, Dolph was just a vile swindler, whom Nick arrested. They were literally enemies. Dolph hated and feared all robots and synths. They had to endure many difficult trials together before feelings arose. Nick is a little clumsy in his displays of affection. He is often reserved and indecisive about all these romantic things. He needs time to unwind (He is always a little puzzled by the fact that someone is capable of loving him). Dolph loves role-playing as a policeman and a criminal :) He also has a handcuff fetish... And Nick loves when Dolph feels good, so he can play along. Nick likes to stroke Dolph's hair, causing his metal hand to constantly get stuck in it.

[deaddee-anime-brownfanlady]

More DADS BATJOKES AU HEADCANONS & OTHER  BRUCE  & JOKER (JACK)  HEADCANONS TIDBITS.

{  Here is some more personal headcanons as well other AU details bits on both Bruce and Joker/Jack who are a Vigilantes partners couple duo as well balancing crime-fighting along with fatherhood with their adopted son Malik. }                                                                                                                                                                                                  [Since moving in and living with Bruce, Jack has become super engrossed & taken a big interest in makeup products.  In Arkham he really couldn’t do much when it came to the semi slight burning tingling sensation he always feels on his skin until he meet up with Harley & she breaks him out of Arkham thus starting their crime-spree duo together, upon being in the outside world Jack discover skin care products & kits that’s somewhat helps his skin issues...while at the same time don’t exactly make what he feels go away. Since being with Bruce also now being even more within the limelight Jack has gone all out in terms of his looks, especially when both of them are in the public eye Jack is never seen without any sort of makeup on. Whether it be lipstick or eye-shadow or lip-gloss or a bit of blush, you can except to see him with some kind of makeup on.]               [ When it comes to their baby boy Malik both Bruce & Jack are equally protective Jack being twice as more protective and extra attach to Malik due to the fact that some of those within Gotham public, especially those apart of Bruce more highly rich elitist circles of Gotham 1% sees Jack as being unworthy of Bruce help also you got those that think & sometimes aren’t afraid to say it out loud...at least not within Bruce range of hearing is that they find Jack unfit to be a parent of any kind due to his criminal history also due to the fact of him being a ex-patient of Arkham Asylum.  Jack tends to not get too overly upset by these rich assholes because it’s not like its noting he’s haven’t heard before, but that always doesn’t means he’ll just stand by and take it from these upper crust hypocritical phonies.  | Jack is usually able to shut them up real quick in a funny but truthful seemingly friendly joking mocking fashion by either having fun with the wives & mentioning / joking about how their husbands are impatiently waiting to get back to their mistresses  or dropping some sick burn about how some of these rich pricks are most likely in debt up their asses and are just fronting like they got big money or some other dig at these fakeass elite wealthy people, all in all Jack can pretty much handle himself just fine against these assholes. }     ( As little Malik continues to grow & get bigger from infancy towards full-on active super aware & engaged mouths old baby, the more Bruce & Jack starts to take notice of their son growing personality.  Such as being somewhat of a silly and a bit mischievous little boy,  like having a tendency of finding small important objects such as phones or other gadgets that Bruce has no idea how a 8 to 9 mouths old baby managed to get his hands on & hides them around the manor like some sort of tiny thief.  Or how Malik seems to climb out of his crib and likes to throw things at people, but only to those he really doesn't like. }     ( In terms who Malik tends to favor more when it comes to his fathers that honor goes to the Jack!  While Malik have affections for both parents , Jack is clearly the more favor parent then Bruce, mainly since Jack tends to be the one to either handles or take care of Malik more demanding outbursts or temper-fuelled cries also he’s a lot more affectionate & openly loving also cuddly with Malik then Bruce. Not that Bruce doesn’t show affection or love towards his baby son he does...but not in the same way as Jack, as in he doesn’t go super overbroad with it.  Jack often teases Bruce on the reasons why Malik likes him so much more is due to him not being as emotional-repressed as his daddy. }          [  NOW FOR A LITTLE OF SOME  NAUGHTY & DRITY HEADCANONS BITS |  Bruce and Jack has a slight size difference when it comes to their manhoods, Jack is about average length except his cock is on the thin slander side also its pretty long but not extra too long, Bruce on the other hand is somewhat a beast down there like around 7 to 8 inches as well as being very girthy in terms of thickness which Jack appreciate very much. |  Jack is fully 100% intact as in having foreskin. Which slightly only covers an little bit of the tip of his prick, leaving a nice peek of pinkness which Bruce thinks is kind of cute also as for Bruce downstairs he’s cut.  | In terms of pubes Jack pubic hair is also green which when it comes to dealing with the rest of his unusual bodily condition he has no idea how that’s even possible, he also likes to kept it real trimmed too or shave it in creative shapes such as a heart or an triangle , Bruce pubes are also pretty trimmed up as well although there are times were he likes to keep it bushy and kind of untamed ; when it comes to sex they try to get in as much as they can especially now that they have a kid to care for.  {  There are a couple of times were they be both on patrol as Batman & Joker during a case or investigating or just got finish taking care of a villain or criminal where they are both feeling intensely on the pent up horny side and just ends up going at each other like wild animals like its nothing, often times leaving them fucking with abandon on top of roofs or within a dark allyway also even within the Batmobile more then once or twice. | They’ve also done it in the Bat cave more often then they can count, usual involving Jack riding on top of Bruce in his fancy advance computer monitors chair. }                                 

[alanahq]

                         hello all ! !   i’m clara , hailing from gmt  &   i can’t wait to bring this goddess on the dash so stay tuned under the cut  :~)   

                                    excuse me did you see  madelyn cline  hanging around palmwood studios ?  oh no, that was  alana bishop , the 23 year old actress who plays hayley maya  on beautiful small untruthers . yeah, you know rumour has it he/she's  - vain , and  - manipulative , but her fans all say she’s  + enchanting , and  + coquettish . around palmwood studios she’s known as  the siren . ( cisfemale, she/her)  

*   ◞  ╰   general   .

full name : alana grace bishop . nicknames : lana , lani birthdate / zodiac sign :  somewhere in september during libra season . sexual orientation : heterosexual . parents : sienna rossi ( deceased )  &  elijah bishop  ( 54 ) + traits  : enchanting , confident , coquettish , high-spirited , passionate , affectionate  &   courageous . - traits  : vain , manipulative , stubborn , abrasive , selfish , hypocritical   &  dramatic . noteable features :  plump lips spread into a charming smile , fox eyes , dimples on her cheeks , a few freckles on her nose .  likes :  shopping sprees , traveling , road trips , photography , moet champagne , italian  &  french cuisine , scented candles , affection  &  attention , having her picture taken , gossip ,  red wine , the beach , bubble baths , summer evenings , bikram yoga .  dislikes :  being kept out of the loop or not knowing stuff , liars , secrets , being bored , low quality pictures of herself , bad mannerism , bigotry , being ignored in any shape or form , receiving lectures , “ fashion challenged “ people . 

*   ◞  ╰   quick history   .

the bishop’s have been a name in hollywood for years , starting with james bishop who was the famous heartthrob from the golden age of actors all the way through elijah , his son , who instead of acting pursued directing . 

at the time , during directing his soon-to-be-a-hit movie in europe , elijah fell in love with an italian beauty named sienna  &  nearly renounced his career for her if she hadn’t moved to the states back with him . a couple of years later , the pair welcomed their first child  &  according to press at the time , the moment elijah held his daughter he called her  “ the most beautiful girl in town “ . 

if it weren’t for their very public life  &  elijah’s area of work , they could’ve been considered a normal family , after all , alana was spoiled rotten  &  adored by both her parents .  ( tw: death )  but it all changed following the fatal car crash which made sienna tragically pass away . alana was only a toddler when the accident happened , but even to this day she can almost distinctly remember the media coverage following it  &  the relentless paparazzi .  

frankly , losing her mother left a huge mark on alana’s life , because no matter how many great nannies she had growing up , or how big of a daddy’s girl she was , or how seemingly great it was growing up on movie sets , nothing  &  no one could’ve replaced that void . perhaps , the same could’ve been said about elijah , who since never remarried . sure , he dated a few women over the years but none of them were serious enough to be officially led into the family . 

with her early years of education spent on the coast of italy , alana soon managed to influence her father into allowing her to take acting classes  &  before she knew it , she was back in california  &  taking on a few small roles in commercials  &  her father’s films . after all , resembling her late mother definitely had it’s perks  &  alana learned from a very young age that manipulation was the greatest art of them all  &  how just a couple of tears on her face can weaken any man’s heart . 

fast forward to today , she has now landed her big break with the role of hayley maya on the show beautiful small untruthers , which has finally landed her a recognition  &  attention beyond her family’s name  &  truth be told , she’s loving every second of it . 

*   ◞  ╰   personality & dating life   .

generally speaking , alana is a v v charismatic person . she can light up any room she walks into with her smile  &  it’s something she fully takes advantage of . 

loves being around people  ( read : social butterfly )  ! !  she thrives on companionship  &  often surrounds herself with people she deems interesting who can introduce her to new  things . 

when it comes to her friends , she’s extremely loyal  &  9/10 times would do absolutely anything for them . like you need a place to stay ?  you need money ?  your rep is going down the toilet ?  you need someone to pick ur drunk ass at 4pm ?  she’s ur girl . 

stubborn as a mule  &  very passionate about the things that interest her . 

great listener  ( read : gossip queen )  but for the love of god do not tell her your secrets bc she will spill  ! !   although , people do because she looks trustworthy but ... like ... nah ... 

 extremely coquettish  &  a big attention loves beautiful things  ( read : vain ) including herself ! !  you can catch her posing for pictures anywhere she goes or spending lots of time pampering  &  showering herself with beautiful clothes , accessories  &  other  “ beauty accouterments “  that catch her eye . 

known for being flighty ? ?  while she’s lots of fun to be around because she will make you think you’re the most beautiful , loved  &  special human alive .... when it comes to actual commitment she’s not exactly the most reliable person around ? ?  so she dates  A LOT  but the second things get too serious she’s like  “ lol bye “ esdfnsjfg .

&  last but not least , let’s sum up everything from above into one perf meme that will gather alana’s mood when she’s alone overthinking about her life choices after a busy day  HERE . 

*   ◞  ╰   connections  .

childhood best friends , best friends , ex best friends , friends through association , friends only for the cameras , enemies , exes on bad terms , exes on bad terms , someone she’s currently “ dating “ aka wrapping around her finger ,  etc ! !  

also let me just add some wcs here ;  one , two , three , four , five , six , seven , eight , nine , ten , eleven , twelve , thirteen , fourteen , fifteen , sixteen , seventeen , eighteen , twenty , twenty one . 

tbh this list was extremely vague bc i’m down for anything so just hmu or like this so i can come bug u  :~)

[gch1995]

I’m 25 going on 26 now, and I grew up loving the classic Powerpuff Girls cartoon series when I was a kid. Even now when I rewatch it as an adult, it’s still a cute and funny cartoon, especially now that I’m old enough to recognize all of the adult jokes. Like, there’s no way it was a coincidence that Professor Utonium’s despicably dishonest, greedy, lazy, manipulative, selfish, and sleazy former roommate from college was given the name Professor Dick Hardly by accident.

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup actually are pretty relatable little girls who have believable flaws and insecurities. They make believable bad choices for little girls. Those issues actually get dealt with seriously, rather than just being brushed aside as no big deal with no negative consequences. They are still endearing and sympathetic in spite of their flaws.

While he had a few OOC moments of bad parenting in some bad episodes here and there, generally speaking, Professor Utonium from the classic Powerpuff Girls is actually one of the best dads in cartoons that I’ve ever seen, which is sadly pretty rare in most cartoon sitcoms, even the ones that are actually aimed at a children audience.

Most cartoon dads are abusive, lazy, neglectful, selfish, and stupid oafs. Granted, those type of dads in cartoon sitcoms can actually be entertaining and funny to watch when they are actually being well-written as shitty and slow-witted, but still essentially well-meaning people in regards to their families, such as S1-S8 Homer Simpson from The Simpsons and even S1-S3 Peter Griffin from Family Guy. However, the entertainment quality of those shitty, but well-meaning cartoon dads was mostly lost when the writers flanderdized their negative traits to the point of making Homer and especially Peter downright despicable with little to no redeeming or sympathetic qualities much of the time anymore. They went from being shitty, but essentially well-meaning parents and husbands to downright bratty and spoiled man-children who were much more intentionally abusive, childish, cruel, neglectful, petty, and selfish in regards to their families and others around them with little to no sympathetic or redeeming qualities much of the time anymore, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why The Simpsons went downhill in quality after S8, and why Family Guy went downhill in quality after S3.

Nonetheless, even as they were originally written on their shows pre-flanderdization when they were still well-meaning, but misguided parents and spouses, cartoon dads like Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, weren’t good dads on the whole. There were still plenty of recurring plot lines and/or gags of them being abusive, lazy, neglectful, reckless, and selfish. Back in early seasons pre-flanderdization, it was more forgivable, though, because they also still had their fair share of kind and selfless moments with their families, and their shittiness as parents wasn’t intentionally abusive, malicious, premeditated, and selfish in nature, which balanced them out enough to still be entertaining and likable characters in spite of their flaws.

Realistically speaking, though, dads like Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson would be better off having their kids taken away from them by CPS. Their good qualities and lack of malicious intent, particularly in earlier seasons pre-flanderdization, would still not hold up as legitimate excuse as to why they should be allowed to keep their kids. Bart would have bruises all over his neck, fractures in his neck, and he could possibly be killed if Homer strangled him hard enough to actually break his neck and/or cut off his air supply long enough in real life just once. Meg, Chris, and even Stewie would not only be injured, but actually outright killed in real life from some of the abuse and neglect that Peter and Lois put them through in later seasons of FG. All of these kids, especially Meg, would have serious self-esteem issues for the rest of their lives because Peter, Lois’, and Homer’s abuse and neglect of their kids went beyond just a pattern of being physical in nature, but emotionally and verbally abusive as well.

So yeah, Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson are really not good fathers who you’d ever want to deal with for a parent in real life, even pre-flanderdization. The major reoccurrence of the abusive, bumbling, idiotic, lazy, drunken, neglectful, and selfish dad trope in cartoon sitcoms is exactly why I really love Professor Utonium from the classic PPG cartoon. I don’t necessarily mind it in absurdist cartoon sitcoms when it’s done well as a trope, but I’m also getting tired of mostly just seeing bad and stupid dads in cartoon sitcoms, and not enough good ones.

For the most part, the OG Professor Utonium is a great dad who goes above and beyond to make sure Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup are happy, healthy, disciplined, and safe. He’s usually the parent most of us wish we could have in real life, if we don’t already. It’s refreshing to actually see a good dad in an animated sitcom for once.

Professor Utonium in the classic PPG cartoon is generally a very kind, loving, selfless, and supportive dad to girls. However, he also knows when he has to discipline them and be strict without ever being mean about it. He gives them good advice. He’s very selfless, and even though the girls are superheroes with superhuman abilities, he’ll still risk and/or sacrifice anything to protect them when they’re unable to protect themselves with their powers, including his own life. He didn’t need to be the stereotypical cartoon sitcom abusive, bumbling, dumb, and neglectful dad in order to be funny either. He was funny because he could sometimes be overprotective of the girls, and he could sometimes embarrass them by calling them sickly sweet terms of endearment and telling embarrassing stories that he shouldn’t have about them in public. He was socially awkward. These are relatable flaws in parents that even the best ones have.

While the girls don’t have a mother, Ms. Bellum and Ms. Keane were very brave, kind, and intelligent strong women who were good role models.

Also, the Professor did many activities with the girls and chores around the house that get gender-coded as “mother’s work.” Some of these things include begrudgingly playing dress up as Bubbles to make her happy when she was playing PowerPuff Girls with Buttercup and Blossom on a rainy day inside of no crime when he saw that she was upset that no one wanted to be her, cooking, cleaning, and actually sitting down to talk with the girls, listen to them, emotionally support them, and give them advice. He’s also not afraid to be openly affectionate, doting, and emotional with the girls. There’s just not enough good dads in cartoon sitcoms, which is why I really like Professor Utonium from the OG PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie. He mostly defied all the bad dad stereotypes, and was a really great one to the girls more often than not.

The main villains from the classic PowerPuff Girls cartoon are incredibly entertaining, especially MoJo JoJo. Him was always the creepiest to me because he was the most devious, insidious, and manipulative one. All of the psychological abuse and manipulation he put the girls and Townsville through was always the scariest to me when I was a kid because out of all the villains on the show, the torment that he wreaked upon the girls and Townsville by brainwashing them, gaslighting them, and/or exploiting their fears and insecurities often was played as dead serious with really scary results, especially in early seasons of classic PPG. While Him had a few human moments here and there, for the most part, he was pretty consistently played off as being seriously scary and dangerous.

MoJo JoJo was an egomaniacal asshole hellbent on destroying the PowerPuff Girls and world domination, and on a few occasions, he actually came close to succeeding. On a few occasions, he genuinely was more scary than camp evil. But he still had a lot of humorous, human, fallible, and relatable moments, too. My favorite MoJo moments are the ones where he is making jokes, irritably going grocery shopping to get eggs, getting too frustrated by the girls antics and childish behaviors and reactions to actually go through with his plans to destroy them at certain points, and getting angry and jealous enough to actually destroy the alien/robot invader from another planet who was destroying Townsville in all the evil ways that he always wanted to himself. He was highly intelligent at coming up with clever schemes and inventions with all his science and technology to take over the world, destroy Townsville, and/or destroy the PowerPuff Girls. However, his arrogance, impatience, and impulsivity always doomed him to fail to succeed in the end, though he did come pretty close on a few occasions, especially in the 2002 prequel origin story movie, and he did actually get to rule the world in “The PowerPuff Girls Rule the World!” Surprisingly, he actually was a kindhearted ruler who did good things, but then he gave it all up and went back to being evil because he got bored.

Originally, MoJo was a well-intentioned extremist who wanted to create a utopia ruled by primates where they would never be controlled or rejected by humans again. As much as Professor Utonium’s irritation with JoJo for being a destructive chimp lab assistant was completely justified, it’s also hard not to feel kind of sorry for Mojo Jojo and understand where he’s coming from in his motivations to become evil, particularly in the 2002 prequel movie because originally all he really wanted was to be loved by his owner, too. He understandably felt rejected when Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup became the center of his universe instead. Of course, that doesn’t excuse him for choosing to respond to the Professor’s rejection by becoming an arrogant, evil, cruel, hateful, hypocritical, domineering, manipulative, petty, selfish, and vengeful villain going on a quest for world domination, attempting to commit homicide several times, probably committing voluntary manslaughter of citizens several times that we didn’t see on screen when destroying Townsville all those times, turning the rest of the world into dogs to try to take over the world, and trying to destroy the girls. However, you understand why Mojo became the villain he did with his backstory. He’s relatable. Occasionally, he does have some genuinely sympathetic moments where he’s actually willing to be friendly with the girls, team up with them, and do the right thing.

HIM was just the personification of evil for no other reason than the fact that he was satan. While MoJo was a complex, human, and relatable anti-villain with his origin story as the Professor’s lab chimp, who gained genius-level human intellect from having Chemical X splashed on his brain, and then chose to become evil after feeling rejected by the Professor when he saw how he pretty much forget about him once the girls became the center of his universe instead, HIM was evil, manipulative, and hateful for no other reason than the fact that those traits were a part of his nature as the very embodiment of evil. Many times, a fictional villain being portrayed as one-dimensional with no sympathetic qualities or relatable motivations will annoy me, but with HIM being evil just because that’s who he is, it actually works because he is literally Satan. There doesn’t need to be a deeper sympathetic story behind why he is evil. Committing crimes, wreaking havoc, corrupting people, manipulating people, turning people against others, exploiting the fears of others, and deceiving others for his own amusement is just who he is, and in the early seasons of classic PPG in particular, that made him really scary to me when I was a six year old little girl watching the cartoon on TV.

You get the idea...The classic PowerPuff Girls was a fantastic cartoon, particularly the first four seasons. Granted, there was some series seasonal rot going on in the writing in S5 and S6 after the 2002 prequel movie, and Craig Mcracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure from the crew. Like, the characterizations of the characters and/or storylines in S5 and S6 felt comparably flanderdized, ooc, immature, inconsistent, pointless, shallow, and underwhelming at certain times to fit the plot, such as in the episodes “Keen on Keane,” “Pee Pee G’s,” “Seed No Evil,” “Reeking Havoc,” “Toast of the Town,” “Say Uncle,” “City of Clipsville,” “”Bubble Boy,” A Made Up Story,” “Mo’linguish,” and “Simian Says.” Even the good episodes of S5-S6 still didn’t ever reach the same level of greatness of the ones from S1-S4. However, the seasonal rot in the classic PPG cartoon of S5-S6 after Craig McCracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure still wasn’t nearly as bad as the seasonal rot on The Simpsons after S8, Family Guy after S3, and SpongeBob SquarePants post S3–S4 ish, so I’m still willing to consider most of S5-S6 of classic PPG legit canon.

However, it sounds like the 2016 PPG reboot fucked up everything that was originally good about it to go for a more slapstick comedic feel without substance without consistency, depth, and intelligence. Now, I hear that the CW is making a live-action TV show spin-off of the PowerPuff Girls being jaded and resentful young women who’ve given up crime fighting as result! No, no, no! Why? Why does the CW keep making dark, nitty, and gritty live action teen soap operas out of beloved childhood cartoons?

Yeah, the original PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie had dark moments. The girls could be bratty and make bad choices sometimes. However, it was still very much a fun show about normal little girls born with superpowers, which they chose to use to defend their father, their city, and on some occasions, the whole world, from crime. No one ultimately forced them to be superheroes for everyone in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. They chose to do it because they had brave and selfless hearts. There was ultimately no obligation for them to be superheroes in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. Sure, they got tired of fighting crime at times, but they still ultimately enjoyed doing it when push came to shove. They weren’t weighed down by the darkness of the world, hatred, and resentment. They still were relatively normal little girls with happy, peaceful, and normal lives of little girls whenever they weren’t fighting crime after the events of the prequel movie about their origins. That’s what made the PowerPuff Girls classic cartoon so special.

By turning Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup into jaded young women, who have given up on being superheroes because they’ve grown resentful of “losing the normal childhood to crime fighting” that they basically are shown to have in the original series for the most part in their spare time aside from having superpowers that they chose to use to fight crime to defend their dad and Townsville from, anyway, where is the fun in that?

[gldenhrs]

                                (—) ★ spotted !! ALANA BISHOP on the cover of this week’s most recent tabloid ! many say that the 23 year old looks like MADELYN CLINE , but i don’t really see it. while the  HEIRESS / DANCER  is known for being  ENCHANTING  my inside sources say that they have a tendency to be  MANIPULATIVE i swear, every time i think of them, i hear the song SUGAR BY ROBIN SCHULZ .

*   ◞  ╰   general   .

full name : alana grace bishop . nicknames : lana , lani birthdate / zodiac sign : somewhere in september during libra season . birthplace :  los angeles , ca . sexual orientation : heterosexual . family : sienna rossi ( mother , deceased )  &  elijah bishop  ( father , 54 years old ) siblings :  aiden bishop ( brother , 26 years old ) pets : four months old labradoodle named harvey occupation : heiress / dancer . life goal : idk , she doesn’t really have any she got it all fnerhfbd . love language : physical touch . + traits  :  enchanting , confident , coquettish , high-spirited , passionate , affectionate  &   courageous . - traits  :  vain , manipulative , stubborn , abrasive , selfish , hypocritical   &  dramatic . aesthetic :  lip gloss , long hours at the dance studio , blowdried bouncy hair , lipstick stained coffee mugs , matte nail polish , satin sheets , impulsive shopping sprees , romantic comedy binge watches , day drinking , lingerie as outerwear , chanel eau tendre perfume sprayed at the nape of her neck and wrists , hardwood mahogany floors , bubble baths , half naked pictures , rose water , iced matcha , laughter floating through a room , missed calls , diamonds , getaway vacations . muse inspo :  andie ( how to lose a guy in 10 days ) , brooke davis ( one tree hill ) , rachel green ( friends ) , buffy summers ( buffy the vampire slayer ) , cher horowitz ( clueless ) , stassi schroder ( vanderpump rules ) , jackie buckhart ( that 70s show ) , lorelai gilmore ( gilmore girls ) , blanche devereaux ( the golden girls ) , phoebe halliwell ( charmed ) , gabrielle solis ( desperate housewives ) , cassie howard ( euphoria ) , maddie perez ( euphoria ) , hanna marin ( pretty little liars ) 

*   ◞  ╰   quick history   .

the bishop’s have been a name in the world for decades now , after grandad bishop started a company back in the early 20s ,  &  all the way now to elijah bishop who after co-founding one of the  ( now world famous )  best computer softwares out there ( think microsoft )  , became the youngest billionare at just the ripe age of 22. 

at the time , during during one of his business trips in europe , elijah fell in love with an italian beauty named sienna  &  nearly renounced his business altogether for her if she hadn’t moved to the states back with him . a couple of years later , the pair welcomed their second child  &  according to press at the time , the moment elijah held his daughter he called her  “ the most beautiful girl in the world “ .

if it weren’t for their very public life  &  elijah’s area of work , they could’ve been considered a normal family , after all , alana was spoiled rotten  &  adored by both her parents .  ( tw: death )  but it all changed following the fatal car crash which made sienna tragically pass away ( think princess d kinda accident )  . alana was only a toddler when the accident happened , but even to this day she can almost distinctly remember the media coverage following it  &  the relentless paparazzi .  

frankly , losing her mother left a huge mark on alana’s life , because no matter how big of a daddy’s girl she was , or how she had a great older brother to grow up with , or how many greats nannies she had , nothing  &  no one could’ve replaced that void . perhaps , the same could’ve been said about elijah , who since never remarried . sure , he dated a few women over the years but none of them were serious enough to be officially led into the family .

as alana goes , being the youngest  (  the most resembling their late mother ) definitely had it perks. she was spoiled rotten since day one from both her father , learning at a very young age that manipulation was the greatest art of them all   &   how a few tears on her face can weaken the man’s heart .

by the time she was 5 years old, alana was already a face almost every household had known. after all, she was gorgeous little kid with locks of beachy blonde hair that accompanied her father on many social events. so it came to no real surprise that she grew up to become one of the typical  “ daddy’s trust fund baby “  out there. 

but , something that  did  shock the world was the fact she was actually v v gifted when it came to dancing, something her father picked up on v early on  &  decided to enroll her into the best schools money could buy so by the age of 7, she was also a competitive dancer ! 

by the time she was 16 , she was already featured in a few music videos !  ( think maddie ziegler in sia’s music videos ) 

at 18 , she finally landed her big break ever when j.lo asked her to be her backup dancer on tour .  her dancing career sky-rocked at that point  &  later on went on to perform for many famous musicians including britney spears , drake , rihanna , justin bieber  &  more !   

right now , she’s in the process of filming another season of dancing with the stars ( her star partner is a wc plot idea !! )  !  

*   ◞  ╰   personality & dating life   .

generally speaking , alana is a v v charismatic person . she can light up any room she walks into with her smile  &  it’s something she fully takes advantage of .

loves being around people  ( read : social butterfly )  ! !  she thrives on companionship  &  often surrounds herself with people she deems interesting who can introduce her to new  things .

when it comes to her friends , she’s extremely loyal  &  9/10 times would do absolutely anything for them . like you need a place to stay ?  you need money ?  your rep is going down the toilet ?  you need someone to pick ur drunk ass at 4pm ?  she’s ur girl .

stubborn as a mule  &  very passionate about the things that interest her .

great listener  ( read : gossip queen )  but for the love of god do not tell her your secrets bc she will spill  ! !   although , people do because she looks trustworthy but … like … nah …

extremely coquettish  &  a big attention ho. 

 loves beautiful things  ( read : vain ) including herself ! !  you can catch her posing for pictures anywhere she goes or spending lots of time pampering  &  showering herself with beautiful clothes , accessories  &  other  “ beauty accouterments “  that catch her eye .

known for being flighty ? ?  while she’s lots of fun to be around because she will make you think you’re the most beautiful , loved  &  special human alive …. when it comes to actual commitment she’s not exactly the most reliable person around ? ?   so she dates  A LOT  but the second things get too serious she’s like  “ lol bye “ esdfnsjfg .

another one of her downfalls is that she’s definitely a little too much self-absorbed ? ?  like when things don’t go perfectly right for her she feels as though the world’s ending  &  everyone is against her ? ?

hates being alone - likes to do everything with someone by their side, and ideally that someone is an object of affection aka she LOVES being loved .

*   ◞  ╰   connections  .

childhood best friends , best friends , ex best friends , friends through association , friends only for the cameras , enemies , exes on bad terms , exes on bad terms , someone she’s currently “ dating “ aka wrapping around her finger ,  etc ! !  

also let me just add some actual plots that i have written  HERE  .

tbh this list was extremely vague bc i’m down for anything so just hmu or like this so i can come bug u  :~)

[bagadew]

The Great Ace Attorney Playthrough: The Adventure of the Great Departure (Part 3)

Last Time: We finally found Miss Brett, the English woman who’s present had been erased from the scene of the crime, and dragged her ass to court only to discover that she was a Massively Racist Bitch in a swan hat. After a lot of back and forth it became clear that Dr Watson Wilson actually died of poisoning, and that Miss Brett took advantage of the fact Japan currently doesn’t do autopsy reports to shoot his corpse in the chest and frame me (Ryunosuke) for the murder. Fortunately for us Hosonaga took the bottle from the crime scene, and after needlessly translating Miss Brett for the last hour (and presumably filtering out a lot of questionable content) was only to happy to produce it for the court. Unfortunately for us the poison wasn’t in the bottle, so it’s up to a lady in pink to save the day!

I’m going to roundhouse kick Auchi

I’m liking how everyone else in this room is just as done with Auchi as I am

Our saviour Ryunosuke, that’s who

Oh, that’s not a glass

Is it about poisons?

It is!

Ok so I’m pretty sure that Curare is incredibly powerful and fast acting poison (which lines up with what we know). Unfortunately I think it needs to be injected but I might be mixing it up with something else.

Susato’s actually given me the report now, which is probably a much more sensible way of getting information (rather than me trying to remember what I’ve picked up from Agatha Christie novels), and unfortunately it looks like I remembered correctly about it needing to be injected.

(Side note: how alarming is it that I’ve retained this much knowledge on poisons? I feel the need to explain that I’ve been reading and listening to audio dramatisation of Agatha Christie novels since I was about three, but I feel like that makes it worse)

What is curious though is it’s potential use as an anaesthetic. Given that Dr Wilson had just had a tooth removed with anaesthetic I wonder if there’s a connection there?

I’m not sure what it could be though, unless it turns out Miss Brett Weekend at Berniesed his corpse all the over way from the clinic.

GET HER ASS RYUNOSUKE!!!

Actually wait...

GET HER ASS JUDGE!!!

Auchi if we were to run this courtroom on things you know about we’d be running a kindergarten.

Auchi, you’d never even heard of Curare until I told you about it, be quiet while the grownups are talking.

Yeah, Curare is not a nice poison.

I’m not going to post the full explanation here, but wow, Kazuma’s really going all out with his description!

Also it looks like I misunderstood about it needing to be injected. Everyone’s saying that it can just be swallowed, which I guess that makes sense given how deadly it is.

Miss Brett’s being a bitch again (but what else is new) and Kazuma’s taking none of your shit and telling her that the feeling’s mutual. (Something I would have screenshot, but I was too busy calling Kazuma a legend to press the little square button.)

I knew it, it was only in the glass.

Yeah, now try it again from the glass you took.

Don’t worry Ryunosuke, I got this!

It’s ok Kazuma! Believe in me (Ryunosuke) and our beautiful friendship!

It astounds me too Kazuma, but for once I’m on to something!

Kazuma, please stop saying foreboding things, I need you to survive the next case and you’re already not being helped by the fact that you’re so much better than me. You’re so good you kind of render me, the protagonist, a little bit obsolete in fact.

PENALISED!

I guess I was wrong then! That bottle does somehow contain poison.

Yes Kuzuma, because I’m going to be penalised otherwise!

OH FUCK I’VE GOT IT!!!

I UNDERSTOOD CORRECTLY THE FIRST TIME!!!

IT DOES NEED TO BE PUT INTO THE BLOODSTREAM!!!

AND THE DOCTOR HAD A GAPING WOUND IN HIS MOUTH!!!

WHICH MISS JEZAILLE BRETT ADMITTED SHE KNEW ABOUT!!!

It’s finally time!

Let’s get her!

He’s got it!

GET HER ASS RYUNOSUKE!!!

She’s cracking!

Is it hatred Ryunosuke?

Ah no, my mistake - it’s lawyer rage conviction!

I know I’ve said this a lot but...

GET HER ASS RYUNOSUKE!!!!!!!!!!

HE DID THE THING!!!!!!!!

WE’RE USING HER OWN WORDS AGAINST HER

AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!

Oh good... she’s started laughing

Oh no. We’ve set things into motion haven’t we.

Kazuma, I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to take care of yourself in the case to come.

SHE’S DESTROYING THE EVIDENCE!

You can’t do that!

Oh who am I kidding, this lady’s been dancing on privilege since she walked in.

Oh Ryunosuke I think she might have done...

I knew she felt like an end of game villain!

Auchi’s about to catch these hands!

Kazuma’s telling us to step into our mind palace.

‘Is Kazuma right’, he thinks, as he remembers the blood on the plate.

I don’t know Ryunosuke? Is water wet?

You got it Kazuma!

I mean to be fair it did only just happen.

DID HE STEAL THE PLATE?!?

YES HOSONAGA!!!

YOU BEAUTIFUL GENIUS!!!

I do genuinely love these moments in Ace Attorney though. When everyone works as one to get some untouchable big fry. There’s something very rewarding about the whole thing.

Shit... she swapped it out...

Fortunately my man Hosonaga has everyone’s plates though!

Cheer up Ryunosuke, look, we have steak blood at least. And I’m sure Hosonaga’ll bring us the rest of the plates if we ask nicely. Especially after Miss Brett broke his bottle.

Miss Brett’s now making racist statements again.

But at least I’ve been given the steak to examine!

Bless you Kazuma

Ryunosuke what short of cats have you been looking at!

Get his ass (affectionately) Kazuma!

THE STOLEN COIN!!!

I KNEW SHE SWAPPED THEM!!!

(Also it looks like I was right about it being stolen by Nosa)

Didn’t know that was there, did you Miss Brett?

Now, dig your own grave with your words!

Now it’s time to dob Nosa in it. Sorry Nosa but you were kind of a jerk. Look on the bright side though, now’s your chance to redeem yourself in my eyes, like Hosonaga has!

Old man Korekuna’s armed and pissed!

Nosa I’m sorry. It’s best to throw yourself on his mercy now before I rile him up more. Use your baby to calm him if you must.

NICE CATCH NOSA!

I take everything back, Nosa your complete safe, old man Korekuna has no idea how to use that thing.

Ah, I forgot he was proficient in vase!

(Which I forgot to screenshot)

Never mind Nosa, you’re still screwed!

That is the right face to pull (Nosa not Hosonaga):

Look at him in the corner there. I feel bad now.

It was theft wasn’t it?

...oh Nosa what have you done?

(Kept food on his kids plate probably, given how he can’t afford childcare)

Nosa’s now accusing his infant son of being the mastermind... Sure Nosa, everyone’s bying that.

Either accusing a baby is a panic response, or I don’t need to feel so bad anymore.

Hosonaga how did you not immediately catch this guy?

HE SLIPPED THE COIN UNDER THE STEAK SO IT WOULDN’T BE FOUND WHEN HE WAS SEARCHED!

MISS BRETT’S TRYING TO WEASLE HER WAY OUT TO LUNCH AGAIN!

Oh thank god!

I thought for one terrible second we were letting her go.

(I’ve say it before and I’ll probably say it again, this is an intense first case)

Yes! ‘Her’ steak had a big bite mark in it!

But I thought and English Lady like yourself wouldn’t eat steak that way Miss Brett?

Of course, there’s a difference between the two photos.

I knew I could see the glass in the first one, which means it was taken before Miss Brett rearranged the table!

Oh, now Nosa’s saying that he switched the plates.

I must admit I didn’t expect that, I thought it was something Miss Brett did to remove the bloody evidence.

She’s cracking!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

YEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

IT WAS ALIVE!!!

BABIES!!!

BABIES EVERYWHERE!

Oh god... what’s she planning.

Your honour, she’s already poisoned one person, do you want to be next?

Kiss my ass Miss Brett

Get used to it Auchi.

HAHA!

DAMN KAZUMA

(Editor Note: I am very upset by how poorly my screenshots conveyed Kazuma destroying Auchi’s hairdo with his sword)

Also, were you always hot Kazuma?

Wait no - I can’t be thinking that. The bar for fictional men I like is the floor and if I want Kazuma to continue to live a long, happy, non morally ambiguous life, I need him to not fall into the category of ‘fictional men I find hot’.

For some reason, I picture it being blue and spiky your honour

Wait what’s this about Kazuma having a mission?

Oh fucking hell, I’ve doomed you to moral ambiguity haven’t I Kazuma?

Thank you for the backhanded compliment your honour!

Ooh, petals rather than confetti, that’s a nice touch!

We did it!!!

And most importantly of all, we’re being praised by Kazuma!

Susato! Our saviour! Has turned up, along with her father: the innocent Professor Mikotoba, who I would like to thank and to reiterate that he could never kill anyone!

Seriously though, what was the relationship between him an Dr Wilson?

Ah ok, I simply just had to click on to find out.

So apparently the two of them worked together in the same hospital in London for a while.

OH MY GOD KAZUMA’S TAKING THE SWORD WITH HIM TO GREAT BRITAIN!!!

YES KAZUMA! F THEM UP!!!

(Also if your journey tragically ends in the customs office there’s a non-dead-Kazuma reason for me to go in your place.)

Oh fuck, she got off didn’t she...

I knew it

Of fucking course...

So basically she’s going to get off with a slap on the wrist. That’s what I’m getting from all of this.

Yep

Ah, but what you’ve failed to understand Kazuma is that the British Government and 99% of those people in power, are hypocritical dirtbags who will change the rules to suit them.

OK TEAM LETS GO GET HER ASS!!!

FINAL BOSS! FINAL BOSS!

Now on to the party with Kazuma!

And also Hosonaga apparently. Who is clinging onto his waiter job even though the case he was investigating is solved. Look like Ryunosuke was right about money being tight.

Hosonaga, do you not have a job anymore?

Were your superiors upset when you said ‘fuck the government’ and bought Miss Brett to us? Or was it your one man forensics team shtick that upsets them?

Oh yeah, we never did find that out did we?

Kazuma Asogi I forbid you from charging me with looking after your sister, of for that matter anything, incase something happens to you!

Fortunatly for us Hosonaga is here! Diving in-front of that Kazuma shaped plot bullet with promises of food!

Ryunosuke over here, taking the cases final moments to roast Hosonaga.

I think we’re even now Satoru, my second favorite character.

I don’t want to click to the next text box.

OH FUCK!

Oh wait, false alarm everyone!

I genuinely thought that the case was going to end with something like: but little did I realize that he never would.

Anyway that’s enough worrying about Kazuma! For now let’s enjoy the fact we’ve finished this bastard hard first case!

We’re moving on to Episode 2: The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band next!

[agent-cupcake]

So happy you but up the headcanons! All of them are gems and I love them so much. Rereading the Dimitri and Felix rivalry hc made me want to ask for claude and yuri rivalry, but dark of course because both of these boys are sane and logical and would move on if they both caught feelings for you and weren't attached to you by a dark obession lol.

Sorry, I know you asked for love rivalry but I simply could not help myself and got a little carried away with seeing the so-called rivalry to his inevitable conclusion :3c

~Not that it’s probably necessary, but I had to consider the timeline for this. A rivalry between them wouldn’t fit in the events of the game because of Claude’s ambition, but he leaves the country in most endings. My solutions would be to have Claude split his time between Fódlan and Almyra as a politically active prince such as in his solo ending or to propose that Yuri would spend a lot of time in Almyra. Reasons for this could be that he went in aid of his good friend and military commander Balthus (Yuri would make for an awfully good royally sanctioned spy) or that he’s abusing the newfound system of open-market international trade for his criminal enterprise. Either way, Claude is powerful Almyran royalty and Yuri is a shady figure of the underworld. Not too unlike a story I’ve written, but this is separate from that. None of this really matters, ultimately, but whatever I like to think of how this would work out.

~Both men are powerful and ambitious. Both of them are emotionally isolated despite (or because of) their positions. They’re friends, or at least on friendly terms so there’d be a lot of overlap in social circles. And, really, they are quite similar so it’s plausible that they’d go for the same type.  

~I’ve since changed my stance on reasons why Claude might develop a fixation on someone. He is concerned with the intrinsic value of a person. He values the thoughts, feelings, and especially the perception of people he is close with. Claude is also a loner, a fundamentally lonesome person who wishes to be seen and loved on his own merits despite the guard he puts up and the social games he plays. Not to say I entirely retcon my previous opinion, but I focused too hard on the idea that he would need to dehumanize you by zeroing in on utilitarian usefulness rather than be driven to darker feelings by his fear of being alone and need to find a connection.

~This all goes for Yuri too, although it’s easier for me to imagine Yuri getting his authentic feelings twisted up and dark. Yuri’s circumstances were somewhat similar to Claude’s, except that he was shown genuine affection by his mother and the old man. Therefore, he knows what it is to lose that. He learned early on what it is to have people die because of him, to shoulder the burden of guilt that comes with such profound loss. Yuri’s scarred by a brutal, painful upbringing where “love” was a commodity to be traded in for favors (even by his mother) and genuine, honest relationships became nearly impossible to comprehend. If he met you and developed those true, affectionate feelings, if he found a so-called light in the darkness, maybe it’d make sense that he’d do everything he could to keep it from losing it.

~Their similarities in this instance would work out for this scenario. Somebody useful to them, somebody authentic enough to appeal to their deeply ingrained sense of loneliness, somebody clever or interesting or fun… There’s a lot of reasons they could develop unhealthy feelings for you born out of an innocently platonic friendship.

~And it would have to be platonic on both counts. Yuri and Claude are too self-aware for them to make a move if you made a choice early on. Or, I don’t think it’d become as big of a production because they wouldn’t have emotionally invested so much in you. Leading them both on unintentionally just by having a normal human friendship is kinda sad but also kinda funny.

~They’d know that you were close with the other. Of course they would. Maybe it would hurt, but neither would express that feeling to you. Claude would ask pointed (but not direct) questions about your feelings and dazzle you with grand overtures. Yuri would work the seductive and sweet angle, trying to win your heart the old fashioned way. But, you know, with more uncomfortable subtext and innuendo.   

~Something that has not changed is my opinion that Claude would be obsessive about his darker feelings. Not on a consistent, all the time basis, but more like a hobby. A puzzle he couldn’t solve, an itch he couldn’t quite scratch. He’d search for all of the pieces of you in the hopes that the final picture would allow him to understand his increasingly dangerous feelings. Claude’s not stupid, he’s really self aware. Enough to feel guilt, enough to recognize that what he’s doing isn’t right, and enough to justify himself out of the responsibility of doing amoral things for the right reasons.

~Yuri, on the other hand, wouldn’t be so… aggressive about it. He’d want you to come to him, to return to him again and again to prove to himself that what he feels isn’t wrong, to ingratiate himself into your life in a way that validated everything he felt for you and put you on more equal footing. He’d internalize everything a lot more, feel a lot of guilt about the intensity of his feelings, but he’d find ways to keep you close. Or, for you to keep him close.

~Don’t get me wrong, though, you wouldn’t get so much of a glimpse of this weaker, more vulnerable Yuri. He’d go the opposite direction of his guilt or doubt, wearing an impenetrable smiling, sarcastic, playful mask. My main point is that I see him as being more emotionally wrecked by having these dark feelings due to his self hatred. I also think Yuri would be more generally sensitive to unhealthy romance dynamics, especially if it became physical at all. 

~In an interestingly twisted way, Yuri hypocritically recognizing Claude’s behavior as being dangerous would encourage him to be more proactive about his own feelings and feel less guilty about doing so. Being the protective type rather than the obsessive really just fits Yuri so much better, although I see it as one ultimately leading to the other.

~It’s not about winning. They’d be competing, clearly battling against each other for you in a way that would not only be creepily objectifying, but also emotionally strenuous, but they’d keep on insisting that it wouldn’t be about winning. They’d just want you to be happy, to be safe. They both would just want what’s best for you. And what is best for you? Just ask them.

~Claude’s argument: Yuri’s lifestyle is dangerous. He’s a good guy, Claude really does trust him, buuuuut he’s not exactly the type of man you’d be safe with, you know?

~Yuri’s argument: Claude’s not treating you right. He’s obviously manipulating you, how could you possibly miss that? You deserve better, don’t you agree?

~But in the same breath they’d both insist that if you didn’t want to be with them romantically, that would be fine. They both, truly and unselfishly, would just want you to be happy. Just want to stay close with you. Veeeeeery unselfishly. 

~Their interactions with each other would be amazingly fake and aloof. Making small talk and smiling all the while vying for your attention in a nearly juvenile tug-of-war. Still, I don’t think, even through all of this, that they’d dislike each other. It’s not about winning, right? It’s not a game, right?

~Okay, so, I know the whole thing with scenarios like this is an inability to face rejection, but if you were to chose Yuri over Claude or vice versa, that’s where it would end. Committing yourself to one of them still wouldn’t work out super well because that’s the nature of giving into such dark and unhealthy feelings, but it would no longer be a rivalry.

~Let me propose, then, that you would eventually reject both of them. At first, the whole thing would have been so fun and so nice. Getting all of this attention from two powerful and attractive guys would be exciting. You’d feel so lucky, they’re both charming and friendly and kind. But then things would have gotten more intense and there’s this weird love triangle that is incredibly trite and uncomfortable and you wouldn’t have wanted to hurt either of them so it’s better to just leave it, right?

~Yuri would be more likely to use his personal feelings as a tactic of manipulation, I think. Worse, he probably wouldn’t see it that way. He knows, he truly knows, how dangerous and terrible the world could be and he’d do anything to shield you from it and his feelings would reflect that. Granted, if he felt you weren’t getting it, I don’t think Yuri would exactly be above veiled threats or bludgeoning you with fear tactics and even a dash of shame for how you’d played with both their hearts.

~Claude would do his best to convince you that you didn’t actually want to go. You didn’t have to chose either of them, but you couldn’t leave, either. That was way too dramatic. Besides… wasn’t it a little selfish? This was where you were needed, he relied on you. He trusted you. Sure, Claude’s a visionary, but what does that vision matter if the one who he shares his dreams with is gone?

~Maybe that wouldn’t work, though. Long term, it probably wouldn’t. I mentioned before that they wouldn’t hate each other, so if it came down to actually losing you, why not work together?

~Love triangles are for chumps, invest in a horribly unhealthy three person dynamic with possible kidnap and very overt tones of mental and emotional manipulation.

~That would solve all the the problems, wouldn’t it? Why would you try and leave them after they made so many compromises for you? Really, would you be that ungrateful and callous? They would both care about you so much, love you, even. Yuri and Claude would be trying to make it work despite the fact that it came down to essentially a tie in this bizarre game, why couldn’t you do your part? Landing such attractive and powerful guys, having them lay their hearts at your feet, you’d have to be a really terrible and selfish person to reject that. Not that you’d be given a lot of choice, but the devils in the details and if you fought them on this, it probably wouldn’t end up very pretty for you.

~Not saying either of them would hurt you. Physically, I mean. Probably. 

~In some ways, the compromise would make the guilt easier for them to bear. The fact that they were also being forced to deal with something they wouldn’t necessarily want to would be a leveling ground for them to justify any of your unhappiness with the situation. Like, it was all an equal amount of compromise to make things work for all three of you. 

~Claude would know how much Yuri meant to you and feel like the fact that he hadn’t taken that away from you absolved him of a lot of the responsibility of the other things he’d taken from you. Plus, Claude’s a distracted guy who’d lose track of things sometimes, always getting caught up in whatever project he was working on at the time, so he’d know that you wouldn’t be lonely during those times.

~Yuri would see Claude as being, in many ways, a better person than him. More out of a horrible sense of self perception than fact. So Yuri could have his piece of you with the recognition that Claude was there to balance the worst parts of himself and make you happy in ways this dark, twisty version of Yuri might not think he could.

~I don’t think that either Yuri or Claude would ever truly get along because of how similar they are and the fact that they both kinda lost to the other but I also don’t think that would be a huge issue. Their verbal sparring would be entertaining, honestly. 

[hhjs]

rewind, revive. (all that we are.)

pairing. — kim sunwoo x reader.

genre. — angst.

alternatively. — wherein letting go is all but a reminder of why he seemed to hold on.

mystery trope!

word count. — 2.8 k

note. — inspired the nbhd's 'wdywfm' and 'reflections'. (impacting characters exactly in that order of the songs.) this is unedited so bear with me lmao

Regret is a funny thing.

One can feel it approaching light years before the realisation hits. Like squinting at dim headlights in the distance, before the vehicle picks up pace, before the tires skid against wet gravel, before it finally, finally occurs that it's too late, too late to go back and walk away, to stop oneself from facing the impact head on. From having the air knocked right out of one's lungs.

Sunwoo knows for a fact what he is doing fits that criteria.

Something about the prevailing silence that comes after heated arguments is utterly eerie; being an on and off couple for the longest time indicated that you recognised that much.

"I think we should take a break. Figure things out on our own."

He looks at the little scar you'd gotten from accidentally ramming your toe into the doorframe because you were too excited to see him. (It's healing.) No, that's not right. From this position, sat atop the sofa, when he's holding his head in his palms as your tone rises mid syllable, that's all he can see. No, he can't look at you. He can't look at himself in your eyes now, dropped way below all expectations you held to him once, silhouette of his peeved face in them leaves a rancid emotion inside his belly.

"Is that what you really want?" You ask, this time with a slight hint of surrender in your voice.

Sunwoo wants to say he doesn't exactly know what he wants, what he is feeling, perhaps it's the aftermath of working too hard, taking on too much stress, or so Changmin explained to him earlier that week, he doesn't quite perceive himself as someone who could lament his problems easily - however, it's very clear to him that he is pushing you away, sealing himself off suddenly, missing out on dates, calls and falling short in the department of being his usual affectionate self.

Or maybe, Sunwoo doesn't love you anymore.

What if he's never loved you at all? What if whatever you have is all a resultant of mere infatuation and he was too young to differentiate from the start?

Whatever it is, Sunwoo isn't too sure, but you... obviously notice. He's always finding excuses to distance himself and it's changing you, who you used to be when he fell in love with you. In fact, every day is a constant evidence of just how disconnected your relationship is from how it was in the beginning, in the 'honeymoon stage' or whatever. The way he tenses up when you throw an arm around him every night he plops down against your shared bed too late, only entertaining your comforting words with monosyllabic responses; he seems to test your patience, trying to find your breaking point.

And this is it, he thinks.

What you suggested as an innocent movie night with him, trying to get him to talk to you, about anything, anything at all, soon took a bad turn when you reached out to interlock your arms and he found himself brushing you off.

It was just the same little act that piled and piled atop all of his 'little acts' and this final blow sent everything tumbling down, all at once. The way you stared at your spread out, empty palm as you asked him why he was being like this is an image he finds difficult to forget.

Albeit he doesn't hesitate, asking you to stop nagging him, to stop overreacting. To just leave him alone.

Now, with the weight of his words absent inside, all he senses is blatant emptiness taking refuge in its place, an epiphany that he can't take back what he said.

You don't say a word when Sunwoo's reply comes in the form of an affirmative nod and what's worse, he thinks, is that you don't look surprised.

As if you saw it coming all along.

...

When he agrees to put up with one of the double dates Eric set, it's because his friends are convinced that the relationship has reached a dead end. Sunwoo ignores that idea and indulges in what he perceives as newfound freedom.

Even though the excitement of getting to know someone new is momentary, replaced by a strong underlying feeling that nauseates him. Whenever Sunwoo looks over the candlelight and watches his date smile back at him, it feels like he's doing something wrong. Something hypocritical.

Recently, every day feels the same. Every hour melding into the same old routine. This is boredom, Sunwoo tells himself, though he's positive it's anything but.

It's quite a surprise not having chanced upon you by accident, given years of dating has merged your social circles.

Really, when he thinks about it, Sunwoo's known you for the longest time.

Since he was sure he would fail a calculus pop quiz and he kicked your chair to gather correct answers, you were so shy, innocent and how that sparked a sense of adoration in him for the first time ever, since you ended up becoming best friends in spite of your essentially different personalities. Sunwoo tries to remember the exact feeling of snowflakes collecting on his cheeks, in your eyelashes, his cool fingers in his pockets, while a street light buzzed overhead - not every detail is clear - but the sight of your beaming face as he timidly confessed his feelings is unmistakable. As time passes, he tries thinking about it more and more, afraid someday he'll look back and miss out the most essential rudiments of the event. Or worse, forget altogether. It's such a distant, fleeting moment that elicits a bittersweet sensation in him. Sweet because some part of him will always be entwined with some part of you, bitter because you were no longer together.

Sunwoo shakes his head, as though the gesture ought to come in assistance in ridding himself of the aforementioned thoughts. He's the one who wanted this whole break thing, right?

He pushes his trolley around, leans on the handle like he used to as a kid and paces up through empty lanes after looking around to see that the seven eleven store is mostly empty. He successfully breezes through aisles and throws in packaged kimbap, frozen fried rice and crisps to his trolley; and then, suddenly, a juice extract shelf in the distance catches his eye.

Sunwoo focuses his vision and marks his next destination, all the while imitating low humming of a makeshift engine with his mouth.

But of course, much to his dismay, his trolley jams right into another that approached out of the aisle to his side that he hadn't kept an eye on in moving only forward.

He mutters a string of quiet apologies, bowing briefly and hoping to God that the person hadn't heard him swear under his breath. "It's alright."

Sunwoo looks up and blinks curiously recognition washing over him.

It's only been a few weeks but the sight of your face, the real thing, not instagram photos, not the ones in his money bag or photo frames in his drawer, hits him with the force of a bullet train.

Your face is bare, shadows splattered against your forehead and the tip of your nose because you're wearing his - and he only realises now - ridiculously big, pink bucket hat, a hand casually positioned into a jacket pocket, there's something so endearing about this.

"Hey." Sunwoo says.

"Hey."

You stare at him for a good second and then as if realising something, you blink rapidly, fishing out a pear extract juice to dump it in his trolley. "Here."

It is an unspoken gesture, to relay that you still remember what he likes and what he doesn't like, that you've unraveled the likes of Sunwoo, excavated all the little, measly, trivial quirks, secrets and lies buried deep inside the cavity of his chest.

"Thanks." Sunwoo just stares, entranced.

It is only when he's back home, nuzzled into the comfort of his favourite blanket that still smells a little like you, does he realise he misses you.

...

"I don't care."

Sunwoo thinks he means it, like this, when he has a hoodie pulled over his head and balances a controller with great expertise, looking perfectly unfazed by Chanhee's comment about whether or not he should invite you to his party, it almost sounds true. "I just wanna see them." He settles. Time apart only reminded him just how impatient he could be when he wanted something and wasn't getting it immediately. He is seeing clearly, you're the only constant in the overwhelming vicissitudes of his life, the only one who saw him at his worst as you did at his best and stayed. That comfort, that very familiarity, is far better than the infamous honeymoon stage or any stage, for that matter.

Sunwoo realises that now. Even if it's just a little late.

Rolling his eyes, Chanhee pushes a grocery bag containing the former's snack and tears open a packet of honey crisps.

Prior to this confession, no matter how much Sunwoo insisted that he was fine, that his stare didn't linger every time he mistook a stranger for you, that he definitely didn't pretend to do the dishes even though he refused to do the chore under any other circumstances just to overhear his friends talking about a new event in your life, or just... about you, Chanhee doesn't believe him.

In retrospect, no one does. But Chanhee is least discreet about it.

"I don't suppose that's a good idea..." He pauses, swallowing, "What if things go south?"

Beneath an act of trying to untie the grocery bag, Sunwoo contemplates that he doesn't know how to respond to this inquiry, he had pictured your next meeting many a times, prepped himself to do or say very particular things, the way you always made up, time and time again forgiving each other in spite of all obstacles in your way, to a point where you friends got tired of you going back and forth, convinced that you could never really break up... - no, he is sure nothing can change, that's a blatant impossibility, Sunwoo knows you and you know him. No matter how much he fucks up - you know he'll always come back to you.

That's how it has always been.

"Figures, huh?"

Sunwoo scoffs, noting the way his friend's expression morphes to a confused furrowing of brows. He holds the yellow classic salted packet up instead whilst wrinkling his nose more than necessary, knowing the remark would prompt Chanhee to get annoyed and forget all about his own remark. “You got the wrong flavour again.”

The older male crumples a crisp in his palm and flicks it at Sunwoo.

The answer is simple, he'll never know if he never tries. Love is not chance but a decision, love is a choice, isn't it?

Well, Sunwoo chose you, he chooses you. He'll choose you over and over again.

...

"Can we talk?"

You nod slowly, a sigh escaping your parted lips. An expression on your face that Sunwoo can't put a finger on. But he doesn't have to, not when you comply so easily, joining him out into the balcony divorced from the apartment rife with noise and evidence of inebriation.

You lean over the railing, your eyes travelling far off into the impossibly dark scenery, the silence is imbued with a vague sense of eerie, the kind that ensues before something terrible happens.

All Sunwoo can think about is how beautiful you are. Suddenly, he feels guilty - see, he can't remember the last time he appreciated you, showered you with accolades you most certainly deserve. He mimics your position, turning his head slightly to take in every detail. Committing it all to memory. Things are different now. You look different.

Last time he saw you, he could map out the swollen quality of your eyes, nails bitten and chipped, the little characteristics that gave away you weren't doing well. Now, there's an indescribable glow to your face, something under the perfectly dolled up look, the red beret on your head, matched with an utterly fabulous coat that guards you from cool autums.

It's a new outfit. The discomfort is newer.

"You look great." He finally speaks and it's not the best way to start a conversation that's dangling by its last finger, akin to an inexperienced acrobat - he doesn't know what is.

You chuckle. "Is that what you wanted to say?"

"N-no...I just.." he pauses, the words all bundling up on his tongue into one big mess of sentences that don't make any sense. When you finally look at him, leaning back on your elbows now, Sunwoo gulps, this isn't a figment of his imagination, no, this is real. It's now or never. "I'm sorry." He starts, the mere utterance of those words seem to spark no change in your appearance. As if you're waiting for him to continue. Right now, apologies just aren't good enough. "This whole thing was so stupid. Baby I-I know I fucked up but... I love you. Okay? I promise I'll do anything to make it up to you. Whatever you want."

You stare at him for a long second, just letting his words sink in but also just seemingly allowing yourself to think. Then you push yourself up, standing straighter. "You dont have to." You say simply, a hint of finality laced into your tone. All Sunwoo finds himself thinking is how you don't reciprocate, uttering the same I love you like you always did. Out of habit.

He curls his fingers into fists, knuckles whitening and whitening under the strain. His vision is a blurring film against which you look like a faint silhouette, secluded by rivulets of raindrops racing down windows. It's embarrassing, how he feels, all those bubbling emotions reduced to that of a child being denied his favourite candy.

"W-What is that supposed to mean?" He blinks, finding that you're staring at your spread out palms. Like they're evidence for something you've done.

"Sunwoo." You say. It sounds like a warning, like a don't get any closer. "I don't like who I become when I'm with you."

At this point, Sunwoo just listens. In his mind, he hadn't foreseen this. He knew it wouldn't be easy, he knew he had to try his best but...this...losing you... that was out of question. Right?

No, he tells himself, he'll fix it, he'll get it together.

"You know, I was really angry at you for breaking up with me...but it was probably for the best." You produce a garbled laugh, lifting your face skyward, looking up at the glossy layers of pollution, of purplish clouds and the barely there moon behind, like you're reading off sentences from them. Sunwoo stares at you, he wants to reach out and trace the curves of your face without thinking twice, without holding back. "We did need time to think... and it made me realise that I've always loved you more than you've ever loved me. Heck, even more than I loved myself...and... I can't be that version of me again." You sniffle, "That's not love... That's devotion."

"Hey, don't say that!" He drags his fingers up from the railing and reaches out to touch your elbow, "Come on...we-we can work it out. We always do." These words , they come out all choked up and hoarse.

You stiffen up at the sound, "You're not listening to me." You shrug him off, adamantly piloting your gaze to linger away from him, your back's turned away from him but then you pause, just slightly looking over your shoulder and your gaze softens at the sight of him using his sleeve to dab at his cheeks. The gesture makes him feel hopeful, just for a second. 

Then you sigh, shaking your head, "Don't you get it?" You say, "We can't fix this...we can't fix each other.

Inexplicably, he thinks of a perfect world, where he could go back just once, where it all started, everything before, holding his head in his hands and the little scar on your toe and is that what you really want?

This time, Sunwoo would mutter a quick no. He'd flick on the television and snuggle into your side, talking mindlessly about something that makes you laugh.  To forget all about the stupid argument.

But in reality, he lets your words ricochet off of the walls, listening to the transient beats of music pouring into the balcony when you slide the door open to let yourself out. 

It shuts.

Everything goes quiet.

And this soundlessness, this solitude, he knows this, he's heard this, he's seen this, he's felt this, this... this is final,

 this is goodbye.

[astriiformes]

Whumptober 2021 - Day 8 - Coughing Up a Lung

Fandom: The Owl House

Word Count: 2698

Playing a little fast and loose with prompt interpretations here, but still well within the right ball court. This one is actually a continuation of my Day 5 prompt fill, which some of you may remember as the, uh “fucked up” one, but it’s a lot less intense -- I would mostly just warn for discussion of past intense medical procedures.

Also I’m going to start mentioning which characters actually show up in each of these individual fills: Today’s features Raine & Hunter!

[Ao3 Link]

Raine had thought, once, that they knew what it meant to be tired. They knew now that Past Raine had been deeply mistaken, and that Present Raine was more tired than they had ever been -- and that poor Future Raine might have it even worse, at the rate things were going.

The Day of Unity had… not been what anyone had expected, to say the least. Not a bang, but an ominous whisper. As of right now, nobody even knew where Belos was, presumably off gathering strength for the next wave of whatever he was planning. Something had been set in motion, that was for sure, but the rebels trying to stop it still weren’t even sure what.

That was Part Number One of Raine’s exhaustion. They, Lilith, Amity and Luz’s other little friend – Augustus, they were pretty sure? – had been poring over every sufficiently old book in the Owl House’s chaotic, illegal library, trying to figure out what it meant that the sun had turned red during the eclipse and never changed back. Something was going on with the stars, too – Raine had exhaustedly blinked up at them enough to know that. They didn't look...right. It was clear enough the Isles were sick in some way, and that worse things were probably coming, but thus far, the “nerd squad”, as Luz was affectionately calling them, had come up empty trying to figure out what.

It was a cold comfort knowing Belos might not be happy with how things were going, either. Raine remembered from the clandestine coven meetings they’d very briefly been a part of that the Day of Unity had been supposed to happen a lot faster than this. Figuring out what they’d done to throw off his plans – especially in conjunction with the clue that wild magic might be able to help them reverse it – was their best shot right now. And yet they had nothing.

Well, that wasn’t entirely fair. Raine was pretty sure they knew one of Belos’ problems. Maybe even the main one. He’d stressed on multiple occasions that the combined might of all the coven leaders was going to be needed to pull off his plan. But two of the coven heads hadn’t been there for the big day – they’d been holed up in the Owl House instead.

That, together, was Part Two and Part Three of Raine's exhaustion. Physically, they were on the verge of collapse, even without the late nights they'd been pulling -- every time they thought they were finally over their recent ordeal, weak and wrung-out from the month they’d spent in Belos’ dungeons, they would backslide again, suddenly wanting nothing more than to lie down and numb themself to the world with one of the potions they were trying not to rely on anymore, especially seeing as they couldn't afford anything clouding their thinking. Their limbs were aching less, and the tightness in their chest was getting a lot better, but it was going to take a while before it all went away. They'd fainted in the kitchen just yesterday.

And then. Well. There was the third thing.

As if in response to their thoughts, they heard a weak cough coming from across the coffee table -- where they’d been poring over yet another semi-ancient text, desperately searching for some clue that might help unravel all this. Concerned, they drained the last dregs from their mug of coffee (which they were drinking a lot of these day, no matter what Lilith said about it being a bad idea given what they'd just been through; she was a hypocrite and probably about half coffee by weight now herself) -- and rose to check on the source.

There were at least a decent number of people to take it in shifts, but after the whole ordeal five days ago, it was unanimously agreed upon that someone needed to be watching Hunter at all times. Seeing as they were one of the ones who could do the most if things turned south again, Raine had been taking a lot of the late-night ones, so none of the kids would have to shake someone awake in a panic if he started getting bad again.

Hunter hadn’t had any other episodes as terrifying as the one when he’d first teleported back to the Owl House, where Belos’ weird curse goop had threatened to kill him, but it was clear enough that something was still wrong. He wasn’t recovering from his injuries as well as he should have been even this early, and every once and a while, he’d still cough the stuff up – just a lot less of it, and a lot less violently. So they were keeping a careful eye on him. Lilith had filled a whole notebook with copies of her experimental healing glyph pattern, which seemed to have a helpful, if diminishing, return when he got particularly bad, and had taught everyone else in the Owl House – even Hunter himself, technically, although Raine wasn’t sure if the out-of-it teen had actually processed any of what she’d been trying to show him – how to draw it, just in case.

“Everything okay?” they asked him, walking over to rest a hand on his forehead. The mild fever he’d had for a few days now seemed like it might have gotten a little worse, but it was nothing to panic about – yet.

The teen nodded, eyes squeezed shut in pain. Sure enough, he’d coughed up some more of the curse goop, but not too much of it. Raine gently wiped his face with one of the clean cloths they’d taken to keeping by the table. 

It was funny to think that, together, the two of them might be the main thing standing between the Isles and Belos’ plans actually working -- considering Raine was about ready to fall asleep on their feet, and Hunter was a complete invalid. But only funny to a point, especially when they thought about how messed-up it was that a 16 year-old had been put in charge of a whole Coven in the first place. They knew just how much work went into running one, and that was the Bard Coven, which had a reputation for being one of the most laid-back ones -- not the Emperor’s Coven, which definitely did not .

“You know,” they mused aloud, deciding to share their thoughts with Hunter, and brushing some sweat-slicked hair from his face. “You and I are probably the biggest thing in Belos’ way right now. Neither of us is even at full strength, so I think that’s pretty impressive of us.”

"'M trying my best," Hunter mumbled. Raine laughed. 

"Me too," they said

Raine was about to go fetch him a glass of water (which seemed to be about the only thing anybody could offer him whenever he started coughing up goop, since even if it wasn’t about to kill him, they couldn’t imagine it tasted great) when they finally registered what they'd been hearing as they talked to him – soft and almost imperceptible, but potentially scary in its implications.

Hunter’s breath was rattling irregularly, in a way they might almost have dismissed as just a sign of him being so sick if they didn't know exactly how messed-up his insides still were, which made them about a hundred times more paranoid. Instead, the increasingly labored sounds were giving them a bad hunch. They knelt down next to him to get a better look.

“Hunter, could you open your mouth up for me?” they said. Distressingly, there was a clear spike of anxiety in his face as he obliged. Raine supposed they couldn’t blame him though – every time during the past few days people had asked him something like that, it was usually because something was wrong. Often, very very wrong.

They clicked their tongue in their mouth as they had a look, swabbing the side of his throat with the corner of the cloth. Sure enough, it came back black and gunky.

“Hm,” Raine said, looking at it with concern. “Can I take a listen to your chest?”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Hunter said. He still sounded incredibly weak, but he had gotten enough strength back in his voice in the last day or so for it to carry some emotion. Right now, the emotion in question was “rising panic.”

“I just want to check on your breathing,” they said, using the exact same level tone of voice they’d always employed with students stressed out about exam scores. “Nothing serious yet.”

“Yet?”

Oops. Bad word choice.

“I don’t think it’s anything we can’t handle,” they assured him, but the fear in his one visible eye, the one that wasn't all bandaged up, didn’t go away much. “But I think it could get bad if we don’t figure out what’s going on. The curse goop is accumulating in your throat now, and maybe your trachea, too. We need to figure out why you’re not coughing it up anymore.”

“Thought it was… a good thing… I wasn’ coughing so much,” he said slowly.

“It’s better for your chest wounds,” Raine admitted. “But maybe not for your breathing.” 

They placed their ear to Hunter’s chest, listening for any tell-tale rattling or other sound that would give them a better picture of what was going on.

“That’s dumb,” he said. “Should be able t’ be… both.”

“I agree,” Raine said. “Bodies are just very complicated.”

They frowned. Actually… come to think of it….

Hunter’s anatomy was… confusing. The cauterization had stopped his bleeding in the moment, but it was a dramatic band-aid on a much worse set of internal wounds, and he’d been hurt badly enough that it was inevitable someone would need to muck around in there physically -- at least a little bit --  to fix it. Raine was no Healing Coven witch – obviously – but neither was anybody else at the Owl House right now and they, at least, knew their way around an injured body better than most people (it was the sort of thing you started looking into when you went vigilante). And also weren't a literal teenager. So handling the majority of non-magical care Hunter needed had fallen on their shoulders, which they were mostly okay with. Anything to help the poor kid. When they'd first tackled the scary task of doing some slightly more-precise surgery on the him, though, they’d started to second-guess their capability to help him pretty badly.

Nothing seemed to be in exactly the place they’d expected, and not just because of his injuries. Anatomy wasn't something they had the best knowledge of themself, but even simple, basic things were off. Most notably, they'd been checking over his heart -- close enough to the mangled lung, which was going to need a lot of magic to fix properly, that it seemed smart to examine -- when they noticed his bile sac was missing completely. 

At first they'd thought it was a casualty of his injuries. After all, Hunter was lucky his heart itself hadn’t been ripped clean through – it was just hairs shy of the worst of his injuries, close enough that Raine had to wonder if Belos had actually been aiming for it. A not-technically essential organ in the vicinity getting completely destroyed was horrifyingly plausible. They’d filed it away and moved on, already mentally bracing themself for the heartbreaking conversation they’d need to have with Hunter later, when he was a lot less fragile. How did you tell the extraordinarily gifted teen prodigy of the Emperor’s Coven, of all people, that he was never going to be able to do magic again? 

Later though, when Raine had been discussing their findings with Eda in hushed tones, she’d made a comment that Hunter had probably never had one to begin with, given what Luz had told her. That had surprised them – all that flashy magic, on his staff alone? They’d seen him in action several times, even before the two of them were on the same side, and never would have guessed the kid was fooling everybody with quick moves and even quicker thinking. 

It had felt like a very private piece of trivia to learn at the time, but now, they wondered…

“Hunter?” they asked. The teen was still looking at them with anxiety. “Did you get sick a lot growing up?”

“What’s that got to do w’ anything?”

“Did you?”

“...Yeah. Sucked.”

“Well,” Raine said, standing up. “It might have sucked then, but I think it’s good news now. At least, good in that I think I know what's going on. You know how most witches’ bile sacs help us fight off infections and illnesses by sending a little extra magic into our systems when we’re sick?”

Giving them a blank look, Hunter shook his head. Titan . Raine had to assume that Belos had known the specifics of Hunter’s condition -- and that he’d also been well aware there were consequences for a witch with an impaired bile sac other than just their ability to do magic. Had he really never told him?

Of course he hadn't. He was the worst.

“Okay,” they said, gently. Out of all the ways they could have expected tonight to go, ‘rudimentary health class’ was not one of them, “Well, they do. It’s mostly important when witches are really little, or really old, or otherwise a lot more vulnerable. You probably got sick so much as a kid because you didn’t have one helping you, and while I imagine it’s gotten better as you’ve grown up into a healthy teenager, right now, your body is fighting off a lot. I think your immune system is struggling to keep up without one.”

“...Oh.” Hunter frowned.

“The good news is,” Raine said. “It shouldn’t be too hard to help it along. There are all kinds of potions and things meant to mimic the same effect – mostly brewed up by parents whose kids still aren’t managing, even with bile sacs of their own. I’ll ask Eda if she knows any good ones in the morning, and hopefully we can help your body understand it's supposed to be fighting something. Your cough will get worse again, but you should get back to breathing easier, too.”

Come to think of it, his fever would probably also get worse -- along with who knows what else -- if his body had been impaired fighting all this off. Especially since it seemed like the curse-associated symptoms were moving in a more more illness-like direction. They would have to be careful.

“For now, I think we should sit you upright,” they said. “We probably don’t need to wake her up until it's morning, but I do want to make sure you’re breathing alright, especially since your lung isn’t healed up yet.”

None of him was healed up yet, but after scaring him earlier, Raine was trying to put a positive spin on things.

Once Hunter was propped back against the arm of the couch, several pillows tucked under his back and neck for good measure, Raine got him some tea – and themself another mug of coffee, mentally sticking their tongue out at Lilith as they did so – and settled in on the other side of the couch with their book. There was room, with him sitting up, and they figured he might like the company.

“What’re you reading?” he said. It was pretty clear he was going to drift off in a matter of moments, but he still looked interested, and Raine was ready to indulge the poor kid in just about anything they could offer.

“Oh, this? Nothing riveting. ‘Wild Magic and the Moon: It’s Not Just a Phase!’ It’s a couple hundred years old, I think, and the language is pretty dry and dated. But I’m hoping it might tell us something about the eclipse that just happened.”

“Like that one,” Hunter said sleepily.

“You’ve read it?” Raine said, surprised. “I figured Belos would’ve kept you away from this stuff.”

“Tried. I like books…” he trailed off, then, more sadly, added. “...wish I could help.”

“You’re helping already, remember?” Raine said, reaching over to ruffle his hair. “And I solemnly swear to you that if Luz actually makes us those ‘nerd squad’ buttons she’s been talking about, I’ll make sure you get an honorary one, okay?”

“She pro’lly would anyway.”

Raine laughed. “You’re not wrong! I’ll make sure yours is extra big, though."

They tucked his blanket over his shoulder, noting it seemed like he had, in fact, fallen asleep.

Well, they thought. Scared teen, no magic, book rebel… just how many other secrets have you been hiding under that mask, little Golden Guard?

They hoped this would pass, and they would have lots and lots of time together to find out.