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bokettochild · 3 years

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Cider and Coca Part 2

Part 1

Who wants to see Ravio get his home back? Show of hands?

When the portal appears in his room of the castle, swirling and golden, Ravio stares at it in awe.

It’s beautiful and feels like Mr. Hero’s power, like that of Miss Princess Zelda, and he’s drawn to it. What lies beyond, he doesn’t know, but he does know that it feels safe, and despite being an utter and complete coward (no matter how much Mr. Hero has told him he’s not) he isn’t scared of it.

When Hilda comes in for their regular evening talk, draping in her regal bed robes and holding a mug that’s far too fancy to be at home with the cider he’s tried time and again to replicate, his princess panics, voice raising with fury that the deal she’d made with Hyrule’s princess has been broken.

“But no one has come through it.” Ravio murmurs softly, trying his best to appease her.

The princess glares at it but her mouth snaps shut as her mug hits the floor. It’s golden, so it doesn’t shatter. Ravio almost wishes that it would. “We’ll investigate it tomorrow.” She says at last, face pinched and brows furrowed as she wheels about on her heel. “For now, you can stay in one of the guest rooms.”

And Ravio nods, but once he’s been left alone in another room he immediately creeps back into his room, staring at the portal as he sips slowly on the not-quite-right cider. It’s not salty at least, but it’s missing that wild taste that made drinking it an adventure.

The portal is enticing, and even though he knows Hilda doesn’t want him or anyone else to go through, his heart yearns for a cluttered little cottage on the edge of an orchard, bees humming as they do their work and the songs of lands far away rolling over the fields that stretch out and away from it, carried over the breeze in the dulcet tones of a pink haired hylian who’s fingers work at light smithy work and embroidery.

He can’t go, he reminds himself as he stuffs his scarves into his bottomless sack.

Hilda will be mad; he whispers as robes and shoes and any number of items follow after.

He can’t leave, even if he’s no longer needed as an advisor now that Hilda has found better and more bold people to aid her, his mind reminds him as he ties the bag shut, slipping his hooded robe back on a with a sigh.

“Hilda’s going to be so mad.” He murmurs as his foot crossed over to whatever lies beyond.

He finds himself in a different place entirely, a great giant castle full of people and warriors and knights, and just outside there is fighting and shouts and cries of fear.

It’s little to no time before he’s swept up in the battle when what he assumes are enemy forces break through the gates, and for all that he’s a coward and a merchant, he’s learned a few things from Mr. Hero, and he does what he can to protect both himself and the other people in the castle. And when the dust clears and there are three Mr. Hero’s, although none of them his, he learns the truth of the portals and the war happening around him.

It’s hard to not be pulled along into the fighting and non-sense that is war, and injuries and illness plague them on the daily. There is little comfort in the army camps, and on the cold night all that can be done is bundle deeper into his robes and share a few of his extra scarves when the younger ones become chilled.

Mr. Captain Hero Sir, the tallest of the three heroes, will settle with him beside the fire many a night, a child pressed to either of his sides as Tune and Captain Hero Sir Jr. Either doze or stare into the flames. Neither child is innocent to war, and neither rest easy in the long nights that follow a battle, their hands resting on their blades and their eyes sharp and open against traitors.

There people are cold. They are made harsh and wary and thin by battles after battle, and they meet the world with wariness that Ravio wishes he could wash away with the same ease as his cocoa had offered Mr. Hero.

It’s that thought that sets him off one night, watching the soaked and trembling youngsters' bundle together under warm scarves and the single blanket they’ve been able to find, Mr. Captain Hero Sir lending his own heat to the pile as he holds both of the younger heroes. It’s like watching Mr. Hero come in from the rain all over again, and he wishes that the trio could have the comforts that he’d been able to offer or help Mr. Hero to gather on the rare trip he made home.

And then it strikes him that he does have some of them.

He’s puttering about the fire in a practiced yet clumsy manner, the eyes of the trio of heroes following his motions as he juices the apples and spiced the juice, boiling it over their campfire and handing it out in mugs.

It’s too bitter. He realizes mournfully as he sips his own, but the three all release sighs of delight as they drink, and only thanks can be heard as they smile up at him.

Ravio only wishes they could taste Mr. Hero’s cider; they would be over the moon.

The war ends and he is sent back to his own world. His own Hyrule. He does not bother to correct Lana when she calls it that, there is no point in telling her to send him back to his homeland when there is nothing that waits there except for a bitter and still recovering sister who struggles to speak with him in any manner but that of a princess to her aid. So, he lets the Time Guardian make her mistake, and when she opens another portal, he sees that she smiles, almost knowing, as he waves back at her and steps through.

The portal swirls and tosses him about, nothing like the pathways between Lorule and Hyrule, and Ravio is left lying on the ground when it spits him out, stomach churning as he looks up hazily at apple blossoms and bees that buzz soothingly as they go about their work.

A smile pulls at his face as his body settles, and he’s pulling himself up ad looking around with growing delight as he takes in the familiar cottage and orchard, eyes feasting on the sight.

It must be a Thursday, he tells himself as he looks around. It’s noon and Mr. Hero isn’t puttering about the hives in the back like he does on Mondays, and he’s not working the orchard like he does on Tuesdays, and the washing isn’t hung out to dry like it is on Wednesdays. There’s no fire roaring from the mini-forge round the back like there is on Fridays and Saturdays, and while it could very well be Sunday with how still it is, there isn’t a mug and stool by the front door.

He’d asked once why Mr. Hero liked watching the sunrise every Sunday morning, but his friend had only said it was something even he didn’t have the answer to, only that he’d been doing it since childhood and had no wish to stop now. The mug of weak tea he’d sip as he sat would always be forgotten for some reason or another, and it isn’t there now, at mid-day, when Mr. Hero would be too busy to retrieve it.

So, it’s Thursday, when Mr. Hero cleans his items.

Only, when he taps nervously at the door, there’s no response, and when he peeks in at the single window that hasn’t been left shuttered up, there is no sign of life, only a faint coating of dust across the kitchen table.

Ravio's brow furrows. That won’t do at all! Mr. Hero not using the table? Has he reverted to eating outside alone? Or not at all? Heavens! His friend is thin enough as is! He doesn’t need Mr. Hero fading away entirely!

Worry gnaws as his heart as he searches his pockets for the spare key. He’d only realized after they parted that he’d never returned the thing, and in the months since, he’d found comfort in having another little piece of home. After all, Mr. Hero made the key himself! Something that most people can’t replicate and therefore they can never sneak into his house. The item in question is at the bottom of his pocket, and he only finds it with the help of its faded pink ribbon, the silky fabric catching on his roughened fingers as he digs about.

It clicks into the door stiffly, as it always has, and Ravio has to bite back a sigh as he realizes that Mr. Hero never did get around to fixing that blasted lock and stopping it from sticking every time.

When the door opens, it does so with a creak that makes Ravio wince, and dust flies up around him and makes him cough and wheeze for a good minute before he can enter. When he does step through the door though, his eyes widen in horror.

It’s empty. There’s no sign of life; everything is covered with dust and Mr. Hero’s blasted rocker is still shoved in the corner where he’s last put it. Ravio’s brow furrows. Mr. Hero always used that bloody chair when he cleaned his items, a smirk on his face as he’d stared pointedly at Ravio, rocking the thing in its creaking manner as his oil-cloth would slide over weapons and items, a faint chuckle in his voice when Ravio finally breaks and insults it. He hates the thing, but as he walks further into the room, he finds himself brushing his fingers over its dusty arms with a sad little smile on his face.

The house is empty. Mr. Hero has gone somewhere, possibly yet another adventure, and the house is stale and cold and smells of nothing but dust.

This won’t do, not at all.

He’s bustling about with Sheerow in minutes, dusting surfaces and organizing items. It takes three whole days of fussing; washing the curtains and sheets and tablecloths and hanging them out to dry, dusting off the items on the shelves and lighting the candles around that awful monster mask, turning the mattresses in the bedrooms and cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom.

The whole while, he keeps a pot of cider on, trying his hardest to bring back the smell of home.

By the time he finishes cleaning the house and setting it back to rights, he’s been visited four times by villagers who think that a robbers broken into the house. Each one explains that Mr. Hero has gone away again, just as he expected, but they also welcome Ravio back with bright smiles and even brighter rupees as they wager and haggle to buy some items they’d been hoping to acquire before he’d left.

Before he knows it, he’s got folks coming up to see him regularly, and just like before he’s got his shop all set up in the main room, his poor imitation of cider brewing over the fire and filling the house with a smell that isn’t dust and dirt.

The villagers offer advice on how to better make the cider, how to try and replicate Mr. Hero’s special brew, but none of them appear to know it any better than he does, and the longer he tries the less the house smells like home.

And then, one day, he’s busy tidying the shed, one of the places he’d failed to get in his initial cleaning, when the door busts open and Ravio finds himself darting into a corner to hide as several armed men dressed like knights enter. He’s delighted when he sees Mr. Hero among them, even more delighted to see familiar and not so familiar faces of the family that his friend has brought back with him, and his first order of business (after trying to sell them something) is to invite them up to the house for some cider. The heroes agree, following after and watching as he putters about in a nervous imitation of the easy dance Mr. Hero preforms when he’s working in his kitchen. The cider smells sweet, but wrong as he nervously pours it out into mugs and distributes it, and he has to fight back a wince as Mr. Hero’s face stiffens at the first sip.

“This is good!” Mr. Captain Hero Sir states, sipping at the cider happily, face nostalgic as he looks into his mug. “Just like I remember.” And the others all nod in kind, murmuring thanks and compliments as they drink, but Mr. Hero is still frowning down into his drink and it makes Ravio’s hard patter lightly in shame.

“I know it’s not as good as yours.” Ravio mumbles softly. “I did try, but there’s just-”

“Cloves.” Mr. Hero looks up, brows furrowed. “Did you use cloves?”

And Ravio’s words stutter to a stop, mind winding back to the jar of little black particles that Mr. Hero given him. The ones he had looked at later when he’d unpacked his bags and thought they were seeds from a trade that must have occurred earlier on, one he hadn’t remembered. “Lolia below!” He groans, tugging at the ears of his hood. “I forgot!”

The smile on Mr. Hero’s face is the faintest hint of one, but it’s the closest he’s had in ages to seeing the real thing and Ravio treasures it, smiling softly to himself as the veteran hero pulls himself up out of his cursed rocking chair and moves towards the kitchen, shaking his head. “I’ll make a new batch.”

Mr. Captain Hero Sir snorts into his mug, chuckling softly as Ravio’s eyes fall on him and cocking a brow in question. “So sure you want him in the kitchen?”

Ravio blinks, confused. “Why ever wouldn’t he go in the kitchen, Mr. Captain Hero Sir? It’s his house.”

And that’s all it takes to have Mr. Hero back in the room, a real grin playing over his surly features as he glances between Mr. Captain Hero Sir and Ravio. “’Mr. Cap-’”

“Shut it.” Mr. Captain Hero Sir snaps, face flushing, only making Mr. Hero chuckle mischievously as he looks from one to the other.

“We met in the war.” Ravio explains, motioning to the captain. “When you- when the portals were closed, I stayed home, but then one appeared in my room and-.”

The smile he’d been so delighted to see fades as Mr. Hero stares at him in horror. “You fought in a war?”

“Yes. But don’t worry! I mostly just sold items! I only fought when I really had to and it wasn't all that dangerous. You’re the one who said I wasn’t a coward, Mr. Hero, and when I tried to think of you and how you would act, I didn’t feel so very afraid and I was able to help and-”

“Ravio.” Mr. Hero’s brows furrow in what Ravio knows is a subtle sign of concern. “Don’t worry about it. I just didn’t think Hylia would tug you across time to fight a witch.”

And he nods; he understands. Mr. Hero doesn’t like people having to fight. He doesn’t like adventures and wars and Ravio can understand why, so he doesn’t press, instead turning to his friend and staring at him with all the hope he can gather glimmering in his eyes. “Regardless, Mr. Hero, would you please make us some cider? I haven’t had yours in forever, and no matter what I try it doesn’t come out right!”

Mr. Captain Hero Sir snorts. “Legend can’t cook to save his life, why would you want him to make cider? Your’s is terrific, Rav! We don’t need burnt apple juice to spoil it!”

It’s said in a teasing way, and Mr. Hero’s glare is in no ways serious, but Ravio stares at the rest of the heroes in horror all the same. “Are you saying that Mr. Hero has never cooked for you? He’s never made you cider? Mr. Hero! How could you deprive these poor souls of your brilliant creations!”

The veteran hero rolls his eyes and darts back into the kitchen, but Ravio isn’t done. “No tarts? No pies? Please tell me you at least shared some of your lovely apples with them Mr. Hero!”

But Mr. Hero doesn’t answer, he only continues to glide about the kitchen and whip up a batch of cider that just feels and smells so much like home that tears leak down Ravio’s face, and he’s bursting into sobs as a mug is placed in his hands in the familiar dismissing way that Mr. Hero does thing, as if it’s a side though although they both know it isn’t.

“Ravio, are you-”

“Ravio! You’re crying!” Tune and Captain Hero Junior both cry out, but Ravio can’t bring himself to care as sweetness and spice rolls over his tongue all familiar and safe.

He has been at this house for a month and five days, but it is only when he takes a sip of Mr. Hero’s heavenly cider that he finally feels that he is home.

The heroes have to leave again after a few days, but Mr. Hero allows him to stay (he pretends he’s doing Ravio a favor but the hug that the merchant received once the others were out of sight that first evening is all he needs to know that Mr. Hero has missed him too). There’s fussing and bustling for all of the morning that they depart, but then Ravio is left alone in his and Mr. Hero’s house, with only Sheerow as a companion.

That’s alright. As much as he loves the heroes, he loves the quiet as well. It’s never truly silent here, and the hum of the bees and the singing of Mr. Hero’s bird friends mixed with the song of the breeze and the dancing of the trees to fill his head with noises of home and safety and life.

That doesn’t mean he’s opposed to it when the heroes all come back, time and again.

The wind is whipping fiercely outside when Mr. Hero and the others stumble in through the door, half-frozen and soaked to the skin and so, so reminiscent of so many nights before when he and Mr. Hero were still getting to know each other.

Just like those nights, Mr. Hero’s first course of action is to stumble into the basement where there’s more clamor than usual as Ravio guides the heroes to the living room and pulls out warm blankets for them while Mr. Rancher stokes the fire higher.

Scarfs are wrapped around necks and Ravio delights in handing out fuzzily knit socks for them to wear on their cold and frozen feet. But feet aren’t the only things that are frozen, and the sound of a clatter in the kitchen and a burst of swearing has him darting towards the room, only to see Mr. Hero kneeling in a puddle of apple juice, fingers trembling pitifully as he curses the stairs and the floor and the spilled juice that will no longer be able to become cider.

Ravio frowns as he pulls his friend up, gently guiding Mr. Hero into the living room and settling him before the fire, even as he protests and insists that he still needs to clean the spill and make something warm.

“Let me do it. I’ve been sitting all toasty and you’re half frozen!” Ravio coaxes, rubbing icy fingers in his hands carefully and breathing over them in hopes of inciting some warmth. Cold hands are bad as is, but with Mr. Hero’s arthritis they must be downright miserable!

Mr. Hero scowls, about to protest when Ravio adds. On. “I’ll make hot cocoa.”

That stops Mr. Hero from saying anything, and the veteran hero only nods sullenly as he settles where Ravio had placed him, blushing lightly as Ravio presses a warm kiss to freezing hands before darting up and towards the kitchen.

Cider is a dance full of tripping and blustering, but cocoa is practiced and known and comfortable, and as the chocolate melts in a saucepan he busies himself with the puddle on the floor, listening with a warm smile to the idle banter that leaks in from the living room.

The cocoa is perfectly frothy and sweet when it is done, and Ravio makes extra sure to sprinkle an extra bit of ground chocolate flakes and cinnamon over the cocoa in Mr. Hero’s mug.

Curious eyes follow him as he trails through the living room with a tray of steaming mugs, and he starts with the youngest heroes and works his way forwards, carefully depositing a slightly bitter one in Tune’s hands and an extra sweet one in those of Captain Hero Sir Jr. If cider was any indication, they’ll like what he’s done for them.

He doesn’t know enough about the others to do anything special, but their eyes light up all the same at the smell of the stuff, all save for Mr. Rancher, who looks down at the mug sadly before handing it off to his protégé. Ravio is halfway through handing Mr. Captain Hero Sir a mug when he sees the little exchange, hurt filling his eyes at the rejection of his labor. “Do you not like cocoa, Mr. Rancher Sir?”

There’re snorts of laughter from the others at the name, but Ravio ignores them, green eyes boring into midnight blue as the rancher shifts uncomfortably.

“We’ve never had cocoa before.” Mr. Champion Hero Sir frowns, looking down at his extra mug and then up to his mentor. “Why don’t you at least try it?”

“I can’t.” Mr. Rancher murmurs apologetically, offering a weak smile to the merchant and then his protégé. “I’m- uh...allergic.”

Understanding dawns on him. “I’m so terribly sorry! Would you-”

“If I may,” Mr. Rancher stands, brushing himself off. “Might ah make some tea? I can do that at least without setting things on fire, so you needn’t fuss ‘bout it.”

“Of course! Mr. Hero keeps some tea in the corner cabinet I believe.” He answers, and the hero nods thankfully before ducking into the kitchen.

Ravio shakes his head to himself. How unfortunate, but at least Mr. Rancher can have cider, apples don’t hurt wolves after all.

He’s handed out mugs to the rest of the heroes before he moves to curl up at Mr. Hero’s side. His house-mate huffs lightly as Ravio has to help him hold his mug while his fingers thaw, but once he’s taking small sips, Ravio is bustling about the two of them with pillows to make them comfortable, and making sure that Mr. Hero’s favorite blanket is snug over both of their shoulders before he takes a proper sip himself.

It’s sweet and rich, and after having so much cider, eh sighs in disappointment. “Still doesn’t beat your cider, Mr. Hero.”

“I told you I could make some.” His housemate responds with a huff. “But why would you want cider when you can have cocoa?”

“Why would you want cocoa when you could have cider?” Ravio challenges in return.

Just like that, the old argument blooms between them as they bundle close together, his scarf around both their necks and the blanket covering their shoulders and trapping the heat of the fire before them. Giggles sound from around them as the heroes listen to them squabble, their lack of malice clear to the others as the age-old argument comes to its close with Mr. Hero scoffing and slurping his drink pointedly.

“If you offered cocoa at an event in any other country but Lorule, it would sell like mad, whereas if you offered cider, you’d be left with half a barrel to drink at the end of the day.”

“The opposite is true in Lorule though.” He responds with a grin, but he lets it end there as Mr. Hero yawns heavily, head drooping to lean ever so slightly on his shoulder. A smile lights his face as he gently takes Mr. Hero’s empty mug, ignoring the coos and chuckles of the others as he pulls the blanket closer around Mr. Hero’s shoulders before running a hand through long pink locks. There’s still ice in Mr. Hero’s hair, but it’s silky soft like rabbit fur all the same.

There’s no comeback to his argument as Mr. Hero falls asleep on his shoulder, and Ravio wouldn’t have it any other way.

He turns to the others with a mock glare, brows low and eyes glinting with mischief as Mr. Rancher re-enters the room with a mug of tea, a surprised smile on his face. “Cider is the superior drink, correct?”

Some grin with mischief and agree, and others roll their eyes with a smile as they sip their drinks, but no one contests his statement, and he feels satisfied that he has, at last, won the argument. It’s almost a shame Mr. Hero didn’t get to see it, but looking at the peaceful face that leans on his shoulder, he supposes he doesn’t mind too very much.

#cocoa and cider #apple cider #cocoa #linked universe #linkeduniverse #lu ravio #lu legend #lu warriors #lu wind #lu wild #lu time #lu twilight #fluffics #linked universe fic requests #domestic fluff

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fandomficsnstuff · 3 years

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Healer - Part 16

Ivar x Modern!Reader

(Warnings: I don’t know anyone with OI, I looked all this up so I hope that’s okay. Also fighting and the death of a certain someone who was a certain bitch and certainly had it coming *cough Freydís cough*)

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You were walking next to Hilda, hand on the tiniest bump on your stomach as you were looking at the different things for sale “so when will you visit them?” you asked, looking back at Hilda as she shrugged “soon, I expect, I will be there for a while too, I’m taking Estrid with me as well” she said and you ground out loud “no! I love her” you said with a whine and Hilda smirked “I know, but she was just a baby when she last saw her grandparents, she wants to meet them” she informed and you nodded “makes sense” you mumbled, looking at a necklace before moving on. Your eyes caught a certain blonde hair, following it to see the face you thought you’d never see again, and she was staring right at you with that fake polite smile, pulling up her hood and moving into the crowd. You moved after her before you lost her figure “find Ivar, tell him Freydís is here!” you said and Hilda nodded and ran off while your feet picked up the pace, following after the figure of the woman that also picked up the pace. Luckily, people parted for you, but soon you lost her, stopping in an empty street and looking around with a frown, head turning frantically as you tried to catch her figure but nothing, you didn’t see any trace of her. Suddenly you heard a horn blow on the other side of the walls, making ou frown as your hands clutched your stomach, your feet automatically moving backwards, eventually turning you and carrying you faster towards the Great Hall, the sounds of fighting taking over all your senses, prompting you to run into Hilda, letting out a scream at first but when you see that it’s her you hug her tightly “Ivar? Where is Ivar?” you asked, Hilda frowning “at the wall but he-” she couldn’t even finish before you ran towards him, your feet carrying you as fast as possible, just in time to see Björn through the wall, your eyes locking before he ran after Ivar shot an arrow at him.

“Ivar!” you shouted, Ivar turning with wide eyes, watching as you stormed towards him, almost angry, but in the end you hugged him tightly, Ivar hesitantly hugging you back before giving it his all, as he always did. “You’re alive… thank the Gods” you whispered, Ivar smirking as he had never heard you mention the Gods in that way, praising them, thanking them. He knew you didn’t believe in them, not the way they did anyway, so to hear you say that out of instinct made him feel proud of you. He parted from you and kissed you, his men cheering him on as you kissed him back, your arms wrapping around his neck, only parting from him when you both needed air. Ivar’s hand found your stomach and he couldn’t help but glance down at it, a soft smile on his lips before he looked back up at you “come, let us celebrate a victory!” he said and the men and women cheered as you all moved to the Great Hall.

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You groaned as the horns began to blow next morning, trying to block it out with the pillows but when it didn’t work you dropped them and rolled over to Ivar instead, trying to put your arm around him only to have him push it off gently “I don't even think they need me to defend Kattegat” he groaned and you hummed low, eyes still closed “it’s good for them to see you. If the king will not fight for them, why should they fight for him?” you philosophised, Ivar scoffing at it “you seem smarter the more tired you are” he joked as he sat up and grabbed the handle that allowed him to sit up while using his other hand to swing his legs over the edge of the bed “mhm… it’s little Ragnar I bet” you mumbled, Ivar smirking at you over his shoulder, scoffing. At the moment you were trying out different names, apparently today started with Ragnar, his father’s name. The thought that you’d name your child after a man you had never met, based on Ivar’s opinion of him, warmed his heart to it’s core. “No? Didn’t sound right either” you mumbled sleepily, eventually sitting up and opening your eyes, kissing Ivar’s shoulder, about to get up and help him dress when he stopped you “what are you doing?” he asked and you frowned “uh, getting up?” you asked, Ivar shaking his head “no, you and Ulf need rest” Ivar said and you narrowed your eyes at him “Ulf?” you asked and Ivar smirked at you “it means wolf” he said with a shrug and you nodded with a smirk, happy that you had gotten him on the same trend you had been on for weeks now.

You kissed his cheek and sighed “won’t argue with that” you mumbled and rolled over in the bed, getting further under the furs as Ivar finished getting dressed “when you’re done come back, okay?” you asked through a yawn, Ivar scoffing and leaning over, kissing your bare shoulder in response before leaving.

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You woke up some time later, the sound of battle waking you up, already instilling some anxiety in you, the feeling as though someone was watching you only adding to that anxiety. You sat up and looked around with a frown, getting out of bed and pulling on some quick clothes before looking around the room again, that gnawing feeling of being watched a constant in you. You were about to leave the room when a woman with a hood and cloak appeared, smiling as she removed the hood, revealing herself to be none other than that blonde bitch. “I knew I saw you” you said through gritted teeth, the fighting outside growing louder, making you unconsciously clutch your stomach that was already starting to show, just the tiniest bit, barely noticeable, but you had noticed, and so had Ivar, much to his joy. You took a step back as Freydís took a step forward, that smug smirk on her lips as she was unbothered by the fighting outside. You glanced at the door behind her as you took another step back while Freydís took another one forward. Your eyes darted to the door behind you and in an instant you felt a stinging pain in your cheek as you hit the floor, turning your head to see Freydís smiling down at you after having slapped you. “Why are you doing this?! Because I sent you away?!” you snapped and Freydís scoffed “I should have been Queen! Not you! Queen of Kattegat!” she cursed and you nearly bit her head off “that’s it?! What about Ivar, hm? You’d just fake loving him?!” you snapped, Freydís chuckling that ‘mean girls’ chuckle “aren’t you?” she snapped back and before she could blink you tackled her “you sick bitch! I love him!” you yelled and grabbed her hair, slamming it into the ground and getting up, running towards the door but she caught your ankle, making you fall and hit your head on the floor, your vision becoming blurry, your eyes almost shutting until you heard it. *Click* *drag*. You rolled over and crawled towards him, feeling his leg by your hand. You looked up, dazed, unaware of your nose bleeding.

Ivar looked down at you, helping you up and then glaring at Freydís, pure fire in his eyes as he made sure you were leaning against the doorway before glaring at the woman who had not only led the forces into Kattegat but tried to kill his wife and unborn child. Freydís paled at the realisation that he hadn’t just heard everything but that he did, in fact, love you as you loved him, none of it was faked. She were about to open her bitch mouth to try and worm her way out of this when suddenly Ivar grabbed her by her throat, falling on his back while he had a wire around Freydís throat, her feet kicking as Ivar strangled her while you watched, no remorse in your eyes as you put a hand over your tiny bump, gently using your thumb to stroke it over. Ivar only let go a few seconds after she had stopped moving completely, turning to you as he got up with a groan, limping over to you and cupping your cheek, looking worried at your broken nose. “I’m fine” you assured him just as some guards burst in “we have to leave, my lord, my queen, now!” he informed and you both nodded, hurrying along with the guard who led the two of you to the secret escape route, killing one of the other soldiers who had seen the way you both escaped before following.

You winced as you hurriedly put on the fur coat while Ivar put on his disguise. You used some coal to darken your hair as much as possible, it didn’t matter it’s previous color, you could wash it out once you were all safe. You got up on the cart by Ivar’s side as he made sure he had his hidden knife, his eyes falling to you next and you noticed that one of them was bloodshot, making you frown as you cupped his cheek, his sad look saying everything you needed to know. He was sorry, he was sorry that you had to be on the run like this, disguised, and he was about to verbalize it when you shook your head “I belong with you, Ivar. Not because some hundred year old man said so, not because the Gods have decided so, but because I love you, and we,” you gently placed one of his hands on your growing stomach “will be just fine” you assured him, Ivar staying silent as he looked away, welcoming you as you leaned against him as the cart began to move, putting whatever of the fur coat you could over his shoulders so you shared it. Your hands absentmindedly fiddled with the necklace Ivar had given you, your wedding ring hanging around it, so you always knew where it was, you never took the necklace off to begin with, so it was always close to your heart.

Soon you were far away from Kattegat, barely able to see it anymore, making you relax somewhat “Balder” you said, raising your head from Ivar’s shoulder to look at him, seeing him look down at you with a soft smile “Balder… like the God?” he asked and you nodded, Ivar smiling softly down at you, raising one of his hands to gently stroke his thumb across your cheekbone, looking down at you lovingly “we have about six more months to decide” you remind him and he smiled softly at you, nodding ever so slightly “we have, yes… you will not give birth to our child in the middle of nowhere, my love, I promise you that” he said, tone serious but eyes soft and you smiled softly at him as he did at you “Ivar, all I need is you to hold my hand and I will be okay” you said and Ivar leaned down, gently kissing you before kissing your forehead, resting his chin on top of your head as you rested it on his shoulder, a hand on your stomach as she glared at nothing in particular, determined to keep his promise, no matter what, no matter who stood in his way, he would not let you give birth in the middle of nowhere with a winter on the way.

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You smiled softly as your hand stroked your stomach, which had grown quite a lot, you surmised you were about 7 months along now. “(Y/N)?” Ivar asked in a soft tone, making you turn and frown at him “yes?” you asked, Ivar hesitating before looking away from you “where you are from… I know you have said there are people who cannot walk but are there people who… are like me?” he asked and you sighed, turning so you could face him more, though it was harder now than a few months ago due to your stomach. “Well… it’s tricky… the way your bones break so easily would point to osteogenesis imperfecta, also called ‘brittle bone disease’” you admitted, Ivar frowning “but?” he looked at you and you sighed “the spinal deformities in the severe forms of OI can lead to reduction in truncal height. Similarly, fractures and bowing of femur and tibia, fractures occurring through the growth plates, and abnormalities of the epiphyses in the severe forms of OI lead to decreased limb length and overall height” you explained, Ivar looking at you like you had three heads, making you sigh “uhm, with ‘brittle bone disease’ there are different… types. Stages, if you will. I’m not sure what exactly you have but since you’re average height, your arms and legs are average length, I suspect some form of type 1. What mostly leads to thinking you have a form of OI to begin with is actually your eyes… I didn’t think of it at first but the blue in your eyes? People with OI have it. It’s called Blue Sclerae” you further explained, Ivar still looking as confused as before. “Your eyes, the blue in the whites of it, and your legs, how easily they break” you explained in simpler terms and Ivar finally nodded “I see” he said and you couldn’t help but scoff “mhm” you said with a smirk, Ivar noticing and rolling his eyes dramatically “I am not clever like you, I do not understand most of what you said!” Ivar exclaimed and you laughed “that’s because you didn’t spend over four years of your life in a work field that used to be dominated by men and so it sometimes still carries the stigma of that around with it. Besides I was barely able to drive when I entered medical school” you said, Ivar just shaking his head at you “crazy woman” he mumbled jokingly and you gently punched his shoulder, causing the two of you to grin like idiots “asshole” you retorded, Ivar only smirking in response.

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Tags:

@not-another-viking-fanfic-blog @istorkyou

@heavenly1927

#Ivar x Reader #Ivar x Modern!Reader #Vikings fic #Healer fics

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mirandalinotto · 3 years

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Why I hate the CAOS video essay that came out a week ago

Did anyone else get extremely angry at the way Friendly Space Ninja discussed all of the female characters in CAOS? like, don't get me wrong... I understand most of the points he's making, and agree with a lot of what he says in the video essay (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A Frustrating Waste of Potential), but when he speaks about Zelda, Lilith, Prudence, and Rosalind, I don't know... i just get a bad vibe. It's like he's doing a "bad faith” analysis, and it bothers me, because CAOS has so many parts to validly criticize, and yet he missed the mark more often than he hit it, in my humble opinion.

He basically says the same thing over and over again: that the actors were good, but the characters were bad, because they were all boring, shallow, and one-note, or whatever... and it's like... dude? of all the things you could say (especially about Zelda and Lilith in particular), the characters being “boring" isn't really the biggest criticism one ought to have of this show...?!? and it isn't even accurate?

Like why aren't you criticizing the trauma porn? Why aren't you criticizing the butchering of Lilith's mythology? Why are you ignoring all of the character development that does happen (particularly with regard to Zelda, whom he actively seems to hate) in favor of insisting none of these characters have an arc? It’s not beneficial to anyone if you’re going to criticize a show’s characters by actively misrepresenting them!

Which brings me to my next point: one of the things that bothered me the most was just how surface-level his analysis was. You could tell he hadn’t watched the show in a while, and clearly wasn’t interested in celebrating any part of it—which is okay, if you just want to roast Roberto for an hour, be my guest—but why does it feel like this video essay was the YouTube video equivalent of writing a book report on a novel you only skimmed…? He made a lot of generalizations that made it seem like he only watched the first season, and then paid no attention to the rest.

For example, some of his arguments are just so random and insignificant? Like why does he make shallow observations the basis of whole arguments about characters, such as when he goes on about how Zelda says 'Praise Satan' too much and “it got old"...?!?! Like what kind of bullshit analysis is that...? How is that even close to being something worthy of talking about in a video essay that is an hour and twenty minutes long...? Why are you taking such a trivial aspect of her character and making it a talking point in a video that is already much longer than it needs to be?

And while I agree with what he said about Lilith's motivations being inconsistent/unclear at times, and that Zelda's character growth wasn't as linear or developed as it could be, it really feels like he didn't even try to understand these characters at all. I realize I'm biased, because all I do is try to understand them and explain their motivations... but still! If you're making a video about the wasted potential of CAOS, why do you immediately dismiss almost the entire female cast, pretty much out of hand, when they're the foundation of the show...? They ARE the potential?! The good parts about them ought to have been given some credit? Like why does he fail to acknowledge all of the trauma these female characters went through that very much informs their decisions, and instead makes it sound like nothing the characters do make sense? While I might not always agree with every choice these characters made, there usually is something driving them to do whatever it is they’re doing, and particularly in the case of Lilith and Zelda, it’s not that hard to understand why they make irrational decisions sometimes, when they’re literally surrounded by abusers and everything is constantly blowing up in their faces.

Also, something smaller that really pisses me off is that he includes Zelda sending Blackwood out of the room during the birth of the twins as an example of the show's misandry and "bad feminism," but that's literally not what that moment is about? If he stopped to think about it for a moment, the moment is perfectly logical. Zelda is a midwife, who was most likely trained in the 1800s, when men literally weren't meant to be around when the the birth happened, so how is she being a misandrist just by doing what she’s been taught, especially when they’re all in a crisis situation? Men not being allowed in the room is an established part of the history of women’s health/childbirth, and it isn’t exactly obscure knowledge! Men used to be forced/asked to sit in the waiting room during labor, and before that, when home births were the status quo, midwives definitely wouldn’t allow men in the room as a matter of course. In fact, it wasn't until the 1970s that men being in the delivery room became a more normalized practice. So, men being present/witnessing a birth is a far more "modern" thing than I think people realize, and the exclusion of them from the delivery room has absolutely NOTHING to do with women hating men...? like fuck off with that “misandry” argument, in this instance. do some research before you start reaching that far, so as to act like Zelda was being hateful for simply following “industry standards,” if you want to call it that. There are medical articles that still come out to this very day that argue that no one should be in the delivery room besides the person giving birth and the doctors and nurses, because the husband/partner often gets in the way and distracts the medical team at critical moments. (Also men tend to faint or get sick at the sight of the birth, which then forces the team to split their focus in order to see to the unconscious man on the floor.)

And don't get me started on the anti-Zelda rant he goes on towards the end!! While I agree very much that Zelda is a flawed character, he uses an example of her degrading Hilda that isn't even something she actually did?! It's from a dream sequence!?!?!? like dude, did you even watch these episodes/scenes before you talked about them?!? He uses the example of dream-Zelda criticizing Hilda's appearance as a reason why Zelda is such a bitch, and I'm like... seriously? that literally wasn't her? just because Zelda said it in Hilda's nightmare, doesn't mean Zelda said it in real life, and should be criticized for it...?!

But yes, Zelda is abusive to her sister, and classist, and rude, and many of the things that he says--but when he tries to argue that because she's a woman, nobody cares that she's like that, and it’s a problem, because that’s evidence of more misandry… that’s where he loses me. He sees it as yet another issue with Roberto's writing—that he gives qualities that would be condemned in a male character to a female character, and allows that woman to be one of the "good guys" ...but yet again, dude... you're completely missing the point?!? Women are allowed to be flawed, without you seeing it as some gross failure of feminism?

He also at one point claims that Zelda resents Ambrose, and hates having him around, when I would argue Zelda actually really values Ambrose and has a close relationship to him...? Like did we even watch the same show?

I didn't expect to get this heated about a video essay that made a lot of other points that I agreed with (mainly the dragging of Roberto parts). But in my opinion, this guy got really offended by Roberto's fake feminism (which is valid), but then proceeded to tear down all of the female characters for an hour and twenty minutes straight...?! All he did was talk about how they're all misandrists and shallow characters and therefore the show isn't worth watching? like okay... but here's the thing... plenty of women have made it through shows that have misogyny at their very core, and have still managed to find the good points...? Game of Thrones is like the most popular show of all time, even though there's misogyny in every aspect of it, for historical “realism" purposes (*rolls eyes*). Zelda and Lilith's defining qualities aren't solely related to hating men, so it really pisses me off that he made it seem like that's all that shapes them, and that every time they insult or manipulate a man, it’s completely unjustified.

idk. I feel like I just watched an 83-minute roast on a show I love despite it's flaws, and that roast wasn’t mostly focused on all of the biggest flaws that I would’ve brought up, but rather on how all of the female characters are terrible and their misandry makes the show unwatchable.

So let me get this straight: you're hating on the female characters... in order to show how much of a feminist YOU are, as opposed to Roberto...?

Wow. Much feminism. Very enlightened analysis.

#zelda spellman #lilith #caos #chilling adventures of sabrina netflix

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sage-nebula · 3 years

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the pokemon company be like *thinly-veiled misogyny*

To be honest, the sexism isn’t even really thinly-veiled if you think about it. Like off the top of my head:

— Professor Juniper was our first female professor, and it took until Gen V to get her. But whereas all the other professors got to stand on their own without needing anyone else, Professor Juniper had to have her father come in to provide answers to various plot occurrences that she didn’t know. IIRC, she also inherited her practice from him, which was also something that the male professors before and after didn’t have to contend with. It’s a miracle that this was averted with Professors Magnolia and Sonia in Gen VIII, both of whom are women.

— Speaking of female professors being screwed over, in Gen VII we’re introduced to Professor Burnet, whose practice specifically focuses on ultra wormholes and disturbances in space-time (which makes sense since she was previously working on the Dream Radar). Given how much of the plot concerns ultra wormholes, you would think that she would be the main professor of the story, or at least play a big part. But you’re wrong! Instead she’s only in one mandatory scene, and then is basically never heard from again. Meanwhile, Kukui shows up all the goddamn time even though his goal (to create a League) is literally meaningless in the scope of the overall plot. (And even that could have been cool if it had delved into the socio-political ramifications of what overthrowing Alola’s current system of government for another one would mean, but now is not the time to get into the failings of Gen VII’s plot. I’ve gone through that enough times.)

— Back to Gen V for a second, we’re also given two rivals in the first of the Unova games: Bianca and Cheren. While Cheren, the male rival, is taken seriously and has it talked up over and over how great of a battler he is, Bianca has her Munna stolen from her halfway through the story and spends the rest of the game talking down on herself and ultimately deciding that her father was right and she really is not cut out to be a Pokémon Trainer. Keep in mind that Bianca was the first mandatory female rival in the games, because while May could be a rival in Gen III if you played as Brendan, if you chose to play as her, both rivals (Brendan and Wally) were male. So on that note, our rivals so far look like:

Gen I: Blue Oak (male)

Gen II: Silver (male)

Gen III: Wally (male), optional May (female), optional Brendan (male)

Gen IV: Barry (male)

Gen V: Cheren (male), Bianca (female), Hugh (male)

Gen VI: Shauna (female), Tierno (male), Trevor (male), optional Serena (female), optional Calem (male)

Gen VII: Hau (male), Gladion (male)

Gen: Hop (male), Bede (male), Marnie (female)

So, let’s see. We only have two mandatory female rivals (Bianca and Marnie), as well as two optional female rivals (May and Serena). Meanwhile, we have twelve mandatory male rivals, as well as two optional male rivals (Brendan and Calem). To cap this off, while the mandatory male rivals (outside of the useless Kalos ones) are always treated as strong, competent battlers who have important roles in the story, our two mandatory female rivals, well . . .

Bianca: See above

Marnie: Gets battled a whole grand total of two times and has basically zero impact on the plot despite the fact that her brother is the only Gym Leader who didn’t give into Rose’s vision for how Galar should operate and use Dynamax evolution

And even when it comes to the optional ones, since Brendan is treated as the default MC by TPCi, that means May is the one who gives up training to go be a professor like her dad. (Which is the exact thing they basically did to Bianca in Gen V, except she studies under Juniper instead.) Serena at least keeps battling if she’s the rival, but jeez.

So to say there’s definite gender inequality where the rivals are concerned is a bit of an understatement.

— Moving away from the rivals, let’s talk about villains! We didn’t get a female villain until Gen VII with Lusamine, and even then she wasn’t allowed to stay a villain because I guess Game Freak doesn’t want to accept the fact that women can be evil, too. Moreover, all of Lusamine’s achievements come from the men in her life, and all of her motivations revolve around her husband. To spell it out:

- She inherited the Aether Foundation from her grandfather / father, without having founded it herself like we’re at first led to believe.

- Her husband Mohn was the one who discovered how the ultra wormholes work, not her. IIRC, he was also the primary researcher behind Type: Null’s creation.

- The reason why she does what she does is because she’s looking for her missing husband Mohn, with an added dash of “women just go crazy (and abuse their children) without their husbands!!1!!!” thrown in for flavor.

Compare this to Giovanni, Maxie, Archie, Cyrus, Ghetsis, Colress, Lysandre, and now Chairman Rose, all of whom formed their own organizations (Giovanni inheriting his from his mother is anime only and does not pertain to the games at all) and had their own goals and desires, versus relying on someone else for those goals and desires. And as if Lusamine not being allowed to form her own organization and have her own goals for her own sake wasn’t bad enough, they then had to go and make it even worse in USUM by turning her into a damsel in distress in the Rainbow Rocket plot, depicting her as not only less capable as the male villains, but also less capable than her male subordinate. Gag me.

— On that note, Oleana is sorely underappreciated by basically everyone except the Twilight Wings writers considering she’s the only reason anything Rose did got done, yet got none of the credit for herself. Damn shame.

— Stepping away from the games for a moment, Generations was a hot mess in terms of sexism. First of all, they only ever used the male MCs, pretending that the female ones didn’t exist at all, even in cases where the female MCs are vastly more popular (e.g. May, Dawn, Hilda). Second, most of the episodes focused on male characters from the series, and the ones that didn’t were either there so they could disrespect the best character in the series by not giving her the episode she deserved (Zinnia), or were told from the point of view of a male character despite that it was supposed to be a female character’s story (Emma). And lastly, there was whatever the fuck that mess with Cheryl was. It was animated in a way that made it look like an anime not suitable for anyone under the age of eighteen. Like honestly, what the hell.

— Leaf has been consistently and constantly disrespected all over the franchise. Despite there allegedly being four trainers who left from Pallet Town (counting Ash) in the anime, Leaf has never been seen or mentioned even once throughout the two decades that anime has been running. They had an opportunity to show her in at least a cameo form in the 20th anniversary movie, but they chose not to do that either, adding yet another disappointment from that movie to the list. She had no appearances in Origins, no appearances in Generations, they didn’t do what they should have done in HGSS by making her the rival atop Mt Silver if you chose to play as Lyra, she wasn’t a skin for Pokémon Trainer in Super Smash Bros. until Ultimate, I’m pretty sure they never made an Amiibo for her either, they replaced her with her Special counterpart in LGPE and her characterization absolutely bonkers to boot, and back to Masters, SS Leaf doesn’t have the Main Character designation for the theme skills that SS Red has, and is also routinely left out of any story bits that feature Red or Blue. It’s a miracle she was even included in the Battling Legends event or whatever it was. As far as TPCi seems to be considered, Kanto only has one main character and that’s Red.

— Oh and speaking of Iris, they gave her the Gym Leader theme designation instead of the Champion designation, instead choosing to act like Alder is Unova’s only Champion when he, no offense, didn’t really fucking do anything in Gen V. :’) We hate to see it.

— In the current run of the anime, the two boys (Ash and Gou) have gotten to go around and have adventures for ~50 episodes while the girl (Koharu) has had to stay home and go to school. You can argue, “She wanted that!” all you want, but you have to remember that she only wants what the writers tell her to want, and the writers said the boys get to have adventures while the girls stay home. She finally has an Eevee and will presumably go on adventures now, but we’ll have to wait and see. And don’t get me wrong, I like Journeys and I love Gou as a character, but it is absolutely a Choice to not have a female lead present in the adventures at all and it’s one that the writers deliberately made for whatever reason.

— On that note, let’s look at Ash’s female companions, shall we?

Misty: A Gym Leader who has a vague goal (water pokémon master) and is largely out of focus during her run as a primary companion. She had no rivals or in-series (as in, concrete ones she could accomplish before leaving the main cast) goals of her own.

May: A coordinator. Does have rivals and has a story, which is nice, but battling isn’t her focus.

Dawn: Another coordinator. Even more focus than May (she was written as a deuteragonist), but also not primarily focused on battling.

Iris: A battler (her Gym Leader / Champion Status is written out) who actually does get decent focus and a cool arc surrounding her connection to dragons.

Serena: A performer, which is a girls-only career path that doesn’t have battling in it at all, unlike contests. Does have a goal, but much of her character is written around her crush for Ash and at the end of the series she says that he is her goal.

Lillie, Lana, Mallow: Honestly I didn’t watch enough of SM to have an opinion on how these three were handled outside of hating how Lusamine didn’t get to be a villain in the anime either.

Koharu: See above, she’s only just now getting to be involved with things.

Now, don’t get me wrong: There’s nothing wrong with being a coordinator (and we do see male coordinators too, such as Drew and Harley), and I think that both May and Dawn are wonderful characters. But it does make me feel some kind of way that the female characters were often given the “girly” sidequest while the male main character got to go for the Gym badges, especially since AG and DP went on for a good chunk of years. None of the ladies so far have been treated as badly as Serena was (that performer stuff is just nasty, I’m not sorry), but again, it’s a deliberate choice and something to think about, especially since I feel the only reason they didn’t go that route with Iris is because of her Gym Leader / Champion status in the games.

I could probably think of more examples of the casual sexism in the series if I thought about it, but this is just from the top of my head. As you can see, there is a lot. All of this being said, and I’m putting major emphasis on this since I don’t want anyone to get it twisted—

I love Pokémon with my entire heart, flaws and all. It has been my hyperfixation for 22 years and that is not going to change any time soon. So DO NOT even dare suggest that I hate Pokémon, or shouldn’t play it, or anything like that. I will be playing Pokémon on my deathbed and nothing and no one will stop me.

But that being said, I criticize because I care. Because I wish it would do better. Pokémon is for everyone. It’s for boys, girls, nonbinary folks, and people all over the gender spectrum. But the treatment of its female characters and the abundance of favoritism shown toward the male characters leaves a lot to be desired (though at least girls are at the table, whereas trans folk are relegated to background NPCs and nonbinary folk are nowhere to be seen :/). I think Pokémon can get better—Magnolia and Sonia felt like a proper apology for how Juniper in particular was shafted, not to mention Burnet—but it’s got a long way to go.

(And also, yes, you’ve understood this right. Twilight Wings is the only anime series to not fuck up at all when it comes to sexism. You go, Twilight Wings. Four for you, Twilight Wings.)

#pokemon critical #pokemon criticism #pokemon negative #let me know if I should use any other tags #long post for ts #stabbymattress #the treatment of Ash's female companions from best to worst has been:#Dawn - May - Iris - Misty - Koharu - Serena #and the Alola girls somewhere in the middle ig I honestly didn't watch enough of that series to know

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knoblauchgarten · 3 years

Text

Spoilers for season 4 of Sabrina

Tw mentions of death

I just watched the last episode of season 4 of the chilling adventures of Sabrina ans words simply cannot express how mad I am.

The ending was cheap, the charcaters deserved so much more. It was fucking not convincing, especially if one thinks about how redundant death for some charcters had been previously in this series.

Point number one, they bury the Sabrinas in the graveyard where they have their resurrection pit, which worked with Hilda nad Agatha and was never mentioned again after a certain point. Hell it was mentioned how fucking often Zelda killed Hilda and got her back through the pit.

Point number two, Sabrina was dead and got resurrected in season two, when the missionaries attacked(one might argue that this was by the dark lord and she is not in his favor anymore yadda yadda, but Lilith should after what happened have the same power, shouldn’t she? And after all they got contacts to hell. Also after what was revealed about Mambo Marie, why didn’t Zelda call her?)

Point number three, next to the failed resurrection of Harvey’s brother there are other forms of necromancy shown in the show. After all that Sabrina has done for everyone else, you cannot tell me, that nobody tried to bring her back in some way or to modify the existing magic.

Damn I thought the death of Sabrina Morning Star made no sense bu this is literally the cherry on top. I hate this ending with a burning passion, because after all that DID NOT kill Sabrina, the way she dies is just redundant.

And don’t get me started on Nick appearing in the afterlife, I felt sick, that was absolutely not romantic.

To add more, didn't Zelda see the future in season 3, passing away, surrounded by the coven and her family INCLUDING Sabrina and this was treated as serious outcome?

The more I think about it the madder I get.

#the chilling adventures of sabrina #season 4 #spoilers #death #rant #wtf was this I'm so mad #chilling adventures of sabrina

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gascon-en-exil · 3 years

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Who Can Say if I've Been Changed For the Better?: Ferdibert Does Wicked

This concept has been a bit in building. It started from a much-loved cover by Hubert and Ferdinand’s VAs inspired by their support line and the broad observation that these two are a musicals couple who absolutely would sing their feelings in all manner of theatrical AUs. It continued through my later observation that there’s ample material to carry that idea even further, albeit with a shift outside of Crimson Flower for a better tonal match. Still, I’m not quite sure what to call this project; it’s not really a headcanon nor is it fanfic by any means. I’ve written a handful of longform character/narrative explorations before, although when it comes to FE I’ve previously been inspired to do so only for Jugdral characters. That setting is somehow both underdeveloped and deceptively dense - and I suppose in a way you could say the same of Three Houses as well, insofar as it’s been incredibly popular for fan content of all sorts.

Regardless of what this post is in terms of my fandom output, the following isn’t exactly a Wicked AU as such. Rather, it’s how I would envision a hypothetical blend of the non-CF routes of FE16 centering around the Eagles trio and set to the structure and songs of the musical as organically as possible. There are no 1:1 analogues with characters and plotlines from Wicked, because few if any would exist without a lot of tweaking; to use the VA cover example, Ferdinand might be a decent proxy for G(a)linda, but the mere presence of Edelgard substantially complicates Hubert’s claim to the Elphaba role. The similarities only unravel further from there, but I did my best.

Writing this out gave me the opportunity to play around with Edelgard’s character as a way of addressing what I and many others in my circle have long considered to be some of the major problems with her canon presentation. For Ferdibert meanwhile I got to make use of my headcanons for how their relationship would develop outside of their support line, in a way that mostly preserves Hubert’s delightful evil wickedness. Add some ruminations on how one would splice together the non-CF routes in a dramatically satisfying fashion, some snark directed at the non-character of Byleth, and a bit of background Dimidue/Lions OT5 for spice and that just about sums it up. Enjoy this…whatever this is.

Act I

“No One Mourns the Wicked”

The show opens on the citizens of Adrestia celebrating the death of their emperor and the end of her bloody war. Ferdinand rides in, resplendent on his steed, and is hailed as the new Duke Aegir as he relates to the crowd the news of Edelgard’s death at the hands of the combined army of liberators. The “Are people born wicked?” flashback sequence is replaced with a summary mostly in pantomime of Edelgard’s backstory: the Insurrection, her being taken to Faerghus and then returning, and then being experimented on by the Agarthans before agreeing to work with them. Notably Hubert is not named or referenced anywhere in this song, appearing only as a boy at Edelgard’s side at appropriate times during the flashback.

“Dear Old Shiz”

Someone in the crowd finally brings up Hubert, the emperor’s vile and murderous minister, and accuses Ferdinand of having been his friend. With Ferdinand even more flustered than Glinda since his “It depends on what you mean by friend” definitely carries sexual undertones, so begins the flashback to Part 1. There’s an equivalent intro of Garreg Mach, so one may feel free to insert any headcanons for school songs here. The following dialogue scene establishes the student body in general and the dynamic of the Eagles trio in particular: Ferdinand pompous and eager to one-up Edelgard at any opportunity, and Edelgard and Hubert cold and dismissive toward his antics and just about everyone else for that matter. Edelgard is instantly enamored of the quiet new professor, of course. Because the room assignment conflict doesn’t make a lot of sense with the monastery’s setup, instead Ferdinand is incensed that Edelgard is chosen as the Eagles’ house leader over him even though it’s been ages since a Hresvelg has attended. Neither Nessarose nor Morrible has an exact equivalent (although Seteth can act in Morrible’s role as the academy’s main authority figure), so the segue into the next song ends there.

“The Wizard and I”

Now alone together, Edelgard and Hubert have a brief dialogue outlining their villainous plans for the school year. This establishes Hubert’s hypercompetency but also how detached and professional Edelgard is around him. Then comes the song, now “My Lady and I,” which serves as Hubert’s character introduction. In tones more sinister than Elphaba ever reaches - you know he’d have fun with “When people see me they will scream” - he outlines his history with his lady, that he delights in serving her because she validates his work ethic and gives him an outlet for his ruthlessness and cruelty. Where Elphaba fantasizes about the Wizard removing her green skin, Hubert instead goes full Nice Guy, believing that once he’s given Edelgard her continental empire and crushed all her enemies she’ll be so grateful that of course she’ll put out for him.

“What Is This Feeling?”

You could rip the tone of this one directly from the Ferdibert C support and change nothing - homoerotic subtext included. I like the thought of Hubert replacing Elphaba’s deadpan one-word summation of Galinda with a mocking imitation of Ferdinand's most memetic line: "He is Ferdinand von Aegir!". The chorus can be made up of any number of other students excluding Edelgard, who’d happily agree that Hubert is ugly, creepy, and downright unpleasant.

“Something Bad”

The content of this song and surrounding scenes would have to be completely altered, but they work as a necessary reminder that the plot of Part 1 is still going on in the background of all the school drama. Seteth runs through the major events up to Chapter 9 of the game, including the bandit threat, Flayn’s kidnapping, and the experiments on the Remire villagers. The audience/accompaniment for this exposition dump ought to be Dimitri and Claude with Byleth as a silent observer (more on them later), with Edelgard brushing off the news and eventually being the one to shut down the song as Morrible does. There could be some small side character moments in here as well particularly involving the Lions and Deer since they get so little focus in this story.

“Dancing Through Life”

Speaking of which, this was an awkward sequence to place. It matches up chronologically with the ball in Chapter 9 and the main part, Fiyero’s, is a dead ringer for Sylvain and his flirty, hedonistic nihilism (“Nothing matters / but knowing nothing matters!”), but it’s hard to tie into what’s going on with the Eagles trio particularly with the Ferdibert timeframe preserved, i.e. unlike Elphaba and Galinda they don’t become closer until after the timeskip.

As such I see this song as an opportunity for little vignettes with the other students: Dimitri angry over how Dedue’s talked about and hoping they can share a dance (fitting contrast with the coldness of Edelbert), Felix prickly between Dimitri’s recent outbursts and Sylvain’s showboating, Claude hinting toward the bigger picture with Hilda flitting between her excitement over the dance and knowing more than she's letting on, Dorothea casually taking note of Edelgard’s fascination with Byleth (see just below), Bernadetta as a wallflower who doesn’t want to be disturbed (a setup for Act II), etc. Thanks to one of the Forging Bonds events in Heroes I had the thought that the "You/we deserve each other" through line that later gets attached to Nessarose can become one for Dimitri's relationships, with Felix initially throwing it out at him and Dedue and the two of them then turning "We deserve each other" into a romantic line...and then an ironic one and finally a triumphant one come Act II, by that point with Felix et al included as well.

I’m not sure that the following scene of Galinda and Elphaba bonding on the dance floor really needs an equivalent, although it could be altered to something Edeleth-related. In any case Ferdinand ought to get a dance scene of some nature, so he can try to show up Edelgard as he brags about in canon.

“Popular”

It would be a travesty to have a musical starring FE16’s cast and not give Dorothea and/or Manuela a solo. This song works quite well for the former, and it doesn’t intrude on the Ferdibert development with the aforementioned timeframe and how the lightly sapphic vibe doesn’t translate well to two guys. Dorothea has taken note of her good friend Edie’s crush on their mysteriously wooden professor, and she senses the opportunity for a makeover. Not as exaggerated as Dorothea trying to make over Hubert, naturally, but I still think this works out well. Also, Galinda’s observation on leaders, “Did they have brains or knowledge? / Don’t make me laugh! They were popular!”, is darkly comedic when said to Edelgard.

“I’m Not That Girl”

This song comes with preceding dialogue scenes for setup, so those first. Edelgard emerges fresh from her makeover (given her general hot for teacher fixation, I’m thinking she’d lean pretty hard on the naughty schoolgirl look) to Byleth silently grieving Jeralt’s death - bad timing there. She’s as callous about it as she is in canon, only now with more clumsy flirting, and while it’s impossible as always to tell if Byleth notices or cares Hubert most certainly does. The scene segues into the Eagles trio together, with Edelgard alluding to the upcoming events in the Sealed Forest and indicating that Hubert should meet up with her later for some more villainous scheming after he’s ditched Ferdinand. Ferdinand, indignant about being left out of the loop as he is in canon, grumpily points out that he was a much more splendid dancer at the ball than Edelgard, makeover or not. To his utter surprise, Hubert acknowledges that this is true before leaving. This leads into the actual song, altered from homoerotic via triangulation of desire to an outright sexual awakening for Ferdinand. He realizes that part of his jealousy toward Edelgard is that he wishes Hubert were devoted to him instead, and tells himself not to get his hopes up because he’s, well, not that girl or even a girl. We shall of course leave aside how anyone could be attracted to someone as repulsive as Hubert; that’s part of the inherent comedy of this pairing.

“One Short Day”

This was the hardest song to place in this whole project. The touristy trip to the Emerald City just doesn’t have an analogue in the story of Three Houses, especially not late in Part 1 when tension is mounting toward the upcoming reveal and war. It took me a while to realize that it works wonderfully as an Edeleth piece: Edelgard invites Byleth to Enbarr for her coronation, but that scene is left offscreen in favor of a light romp through the city that further highlights Edelgard’s crush as well as her emotional immaturity in spite of everything she’s about to do. She just wants to have a fun day out and take in the sights and eat sweets with her beloved teacher, and it’s all very “Edge of Dawn”-esque where Edelgard knows she’s about to do terrible things that will change everything forever and hopes to prolong the time until she has to take that step. Adjustments to the lyrics could even work in reference to that song to make the similarities more apparent. An awkward/funny issue here is that I envision Byleth to be totally silent throughout this musical with no sung or spoken parts, which would naturally make them having a duet impossible and make Edelgard’s fascination with them even weirder. Even their gender should be left ambiguous throughout, somehow never confirmed if it’s m!Byleth or f!Byleth. It would take a lot of reworking, but I can see the value in it.

“A Sentimental Man”

The core of the Wizard’s character is not all that different from Rhea’s. Both were thrust unexpectedly into positions of authority that required them to enact a large-scale deception to maintain their power/safety, and both are driven somewhat by parental feelings. The tone of the Wizard’s songs doesn’t align well with Rhea, but once you cut out the vaudeville and do some rewording I could see this one working as Rhea addressing her child (among other things) Byleth at the Holy Tomb just before the Flame Emperor reveal. Of course the dramatic irony hits differently; Rhea knows who and what Byleth is whereas the Wizard doesn’t learn about Elphaba until the end of the show. Nonetheless this would still establish Rhea’s character and motivations as well as set the stage for the impending betrayal.

“Defying Gravity”

Said betrayal being Byleth’s, who decides to stand by Rhea and condemn Edelgard as the Flame Emperor when she arrives with her army. This is another song in parts that would need to be broken up. Edelgard gets the bulk of it, but the middle sections between Elphaba and Glinda could work as a kind of separated duet with Edelgard and Hubert attempting to convince Byleth and Ferdinand respectively to join them. Because of Byleth’s silence only Ferdinand can reply in song; only he and Edelgard add the “my friend” bit to the end of this segment, to illustrate the unevenness of Edeleth and Ferdibert at this point in the story. Then things turn to full bombast, albeit darker than in Wicked proper. Edelgard does the belting, Hubert’s sinister laughter reverberates below her (would it be too tasteless for him to be leering up her skirt the whole time?), Ferdinand has Glinda’s mournful “I hope you’re happy!” toward Hubert, and through this and the reprise of “No One Mourns the Wicked” the major events of the timeskip are enacted in pantomime or silhouette. Byleth tumbles off a cliff, Rhea is taken captive as is Dimitri but Dedue rushes after him, and Claude makes a tactical retreat. Side note: “And if I’m flying solo, / at least I’m flying free” is classic Edelgard fixating on Byleth and forgetting that Hubert exists.

Act II

“Thank Goodness”

A surprisingly tough one here. The core of the song, pivoting around the double meaning of “I couldn’t be happier,” suits early Part 2 Ferdinand perfectly, second-guessing his choice and, outside of CF, melancholy about fighting his homeland. In terms of plot it’s an easy translation too, with the crowd announcing the terrible things the Empire has been doing to win its war - persecuting believers, abducting civilians and turning them into Demonic beasts, consorting with inhuman shadowy figures who can disguise themselves as ordinary people - and the assembly working as a way to bring together the leads of the three routes: Byleth, Dimitri (who had Dedue always at his side and thus never had a full psychotic break), Claude, and Seteth, with Ferdinand representing the Adrestian resistance. It’s only the wedding announcement that’s hard to pin down, and I toyed with a number of ideas including Dimidue making yet another public declaration of devotion to one another or Ferdinand planning to follow through with his arranged marriage to Bernadetta they have in their supports (which makes more sense in light of the following sequence). In the end though I don’t think the marriage element is strictly necessary, leaving the song as a means of catching up with the cast five years later and seeing them united against Edelgard - with Ferdinand’s private regrets the only sour note.

“Wicked Witch of the East”

More a dialogue than a song, but still important. Bernadetta is arguably the Eagle other than Hubert most comfortable supporting Edelgard, because all Edelgard has to do is put Count Varley under house arrest for Bernadetta to sing the emperor’s praises. I can also see her as the same sort of self-centered, negligent ruler that Nessarose becomes in Wicked, not because of an unrequited attraction but because of her reclusive desire to be left alone. I see this scene playing out as Hubert surprising Bernadetta at her estate, angry about rumors that she may be helping the rebels and/or engaged to Ferdinand if going with that plot point after Edelgard has done her the favor of locking up her father. He’s fully prepared to, ahem, “persuade” Bernadetta, but before he can break out the torture implements Ferdinand arrives asking for her to support the rebels’ cause.

Farcical, sure, but it gets the two of them together again after five years and underscores how strong their UST has become in their time apart, with Hubert too flabbergasted to attack a known enemy and Ferdinand expressing how happy he is to see Hubert again despite everything. Each learns that the other isn’t as happy about his chosen path as he’d hoped, in Hubert’s case because his lady has grown ever more distant from him as the war has dragged on. Bernadetta cuts through the tension by bringing things back to the song (sort of) and blurting out that she knows both sides are marshalling their forces near Gronder Field. Ferdinand is too caught up in the fraught romance angle to do more than leave with this new information, but Hubert recovers enough to condemn Bernadetta for her flagrant misrule (venting by inference his frustrations toward Edelgard in the process) and resolve to set her on fire for her treachery.

“I’m Not That Girl (Reprise)”

The Gronder rematch happened offscreen - and Bernadetta was indeed set on fire - and on the Imperial side Edelgard is left increasingly frustrated over her losses and hurt that Byleth still refuses to listen to her and continues to fight her regime. You may notice that I’ve shuffled around the middle of Act II, necessary at this point in order to better line up with FE16’s story and Hubert and Edelgard’s separate narrative climaxes while also ensuring that those climaxes don’t overlap too much. This song is only a brief reprise, but it’s a significant one; Hubert finally realizes that Edelgard will never love him. It’s also kept gender-neutral, because Byleth.

“As Long as You’re Mine”

That segues naturally into this moment. Ferdinand sneaks into Enbarr using his unexpected stealth powers (I usually talk about Dedue having them, but Ferdinand shows he’s no slouch in his Mercedes supports) and encounters Hubert. Their UST boils over in a furor of awkward, impassioned sex and also this song. I like the idea of rewording some of Fiyero's lines to incorporate Hubert's acidic snark: “Maybe you’re brainless, / maybe you’re wise.” It’s all very desperate and sensual, ending with Ferdinand taking Elphaba’s line about feeling wicked for the first time - which will have a dark reverberation two songs from now.

“Wonderful”

Again, axe the vaudeville and it’s a solid Rhea song. There’s just the small problem of Rhea being captured at this point in the plot; I thought about moving this number toward the very end at first before reconsidering. While Hubert and Ferdinand are rolling in the sheets, a distraught Edelgard confronts Rhea in prison. Rhea responds to Edelgard’s frustrations with Byleth with her backstory in song, much more somber than the Wizard but, like him, still willing to rehabilitate her estranged listener. The bits of this song about the nature of history are especially relevant to what Edelgard falsely believes about the church and what she views as her own legacy, so I could see this as an interesting character study on what Edelgard actually wanted with her war apart from dragon genocide. There’s a lot that could be done here in the dialogue surrounding those revelations.

“No Good Deed”

However the interrogation of Rhea turns out, Edelgard takes a leaf out of SS Dimitri’s book and visits Byleth alone at the monastery, only to be as harshly rebuffed as is possible to be without the rebuffer speaking. Then comes this song, which was incidentally the one where I realized that Edelgard would need a major role in FE16-does-Wicked even with the Ferdibert focus. Hubert fully embraced his evil wickedness long ago and wouldn’t think twice about being wicked or being perceived as such, but Edelgard is a different matter. Here she breaks down, admitting that her good intentions were largely selfish and that she regrets that her war has cost her any relationship she could have had with Byleth (continuing the joke at his expense, Hubert goes unmentioned when Edelgard names the people she’s lost/failed). It ends with a foreshadowing of her Hegemon form, the sign that she’s abandoned all pretense of goodness and become truly wicked.

“March of the Witch Hunters”

Another ensemble/vignette piece, checking in with the various members of Byleth’s army as they prepare to storm Enbarr. Dimitri hopes for the chance to forgive his stepsister, Claude has big plans for the continent and wants to remove the threat Edelgard poses, Seteth is desperate to find Rhea, and Byleth…is there. As in many of the songs, the self-righteousness of the crowd here rings more sincere and less hypocritical than in Wicked given Three Houses has actual villains, but it still works.

“For Good”

The song that inspired this whole thing, now with many paragraphs of context to set it up instead of only some fluff based on the Ferdibert A+ support. Ferdinand sneaks into Enbarr (again) ahead of the battle, and their second love ballad is more somber as they resign themselves to their fates. As in the VA cover, Hubert refuses to ask forgiveness for anything and Ferdinand is fine with that.

“Finale”

Wicked reduces the final battle from The Wizard of Oz to silhouettes backed by sections of “No One Mourns the Wicked,” and that’s what comes here: Ferdinand and Hubert facing each other in battle, Edelgard becoming the Hegemon before being defeated and then dying as in AM’s final cutscene, and Dimitri taking the throne with Dedue at his side and proclaiming his intention to do all he can to restore both the Kingdom and Duscur - and that his first act as king is to announce that he and Dedue have decided to open their marriage up. This is met with much manly cheering and stripping and someone (Ashe?) saying incredulously that he didn’t even know they were married. End silhouettes.

The final scene with the Wizard and Morrible becomes Claude, Seteth, and Byleth rescuing Rhea. Rhea names Byleth her successor as leader of the church and says that she will go into quiet seclusion and do what she can to correct her mistakes. This all suits Claude just fine, who tells everyone that he’s off to take care of some other business and that Byleth will make a great archbishop - and also they can have the Alliance, no big deal. As with the King of Faerghus’s gay orgies, the King of Almyra’s grand ambitions are too large for this story to do more than allude to.

Next, Ferdibert does a version of the Elphaba/Fiyero scene, with Ferdinand revealing that he had Hubert spared on the condition that he help root out any remaining Agarthans and that he remain under house arrest at the Aegir estate. Ferdinand was also required to assume governance of the Empire, because Dimitri wasn’t getting that dumped on him as well. They can be together, but the general population can’t know that Hubert survived lest Ferdinand’s reputation and basic ethics be compromised…which in a darkly funny hypocritical twist then segues to Ferdinand pontificating before the crowd at the beginning of the show, reprising “For Good” with Hubert until they’re drowned out by “No One Mourns the Wicked.” Thus the story concludes on one of my favorite things about Ferdibert: perhaps even in this non-CF continuity Ferdinand wasn’t changed for the better by falling in love with the Most Wicked Man in Fódlan, but they’ve both been changed….

#Fire Emblem #FE16 #Fire Emblem Three Houses #Ferdibert #Hubert von Vestra #Ferdinand von Aegir

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pastelsapphy · 5 years

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Why does Sylvian hates himself?

(This ended up being really long whoops)

*cracks knuckles* time to talk about my boy

[All quotes taken from the Fire Emblem Fandom Wiki, so there may be some slight inaccuracies]

Okay so first off Sylvain grew up in a shitty environment, to say the absolute least, and that fucks with your head.

First: his brother. He attempted to kill Sylvain on multiple occasions as kids because Sylvain had a Crest. And Sylvain just like, accepts that??? You can see that a lot in his A support with Byleth. He talked about being shoved in a well and being left on a mountain in winter by his brother, and almost immediately followed up with “I have no right to complain” because he, in theory, got lucky: he got the Crest.

And you figure, he would’ve grown up apologizing and made to feel guilty just for existing. You can see in his dialogue against Miklan, in chapter five:

Miklan: Hmph! Hurry up and die already. If not for you… If it hadn’t been for you…

Sylvain: Shut up! I’m so tired of hearing that. You’ve always blamed me for something that isn’t my fault.

He’s definitely been saying that since they were kids. That kinda stuff really fucks with your sense of self-worth after a while.

Then we have the rest of his family. We don’t hear anything about his mother, or much about his father, but we can infer some things about the latter: Margrave Gautier disowned, abandoned, and cast aside his first son in favor of the one with a Crest. Considering the dialogue about “everything being taken away” from Miklan, it’s possible that he was being raised to be the next Margrave, because someone had to inherit–with Crests becoming less common, who knows how long it would’ve taken to get a kid with one, if they got one at all? They needed a backup plan. And then Sylvain came along, with the minor Crest of Gautier, and suddenly Miklan didn’t exist. That’s fucked up, and it shows how little Margrave Gautier cared about his kids. I honestly doubt he showed Sylvain any kind of affection or attention growing up, and probably only interacted with him for inheritance- and Crest-related reasons. To him, Sylvain was a walking Crest, not a person (Sylvain’s fear of people only ever wanting him for his Crest, and not as a person in any respect, had to come from somewhere).

(And, if I can add a bit of an aside, I feel like this is the root of his philandering. Makes me think of the whole “even negative attention is better than nothing” kinda thing. You figure, Little Sylvain would have been incredibly touch-starved and desperate for attention. Humans are a social species and we literally need attention and affection to live well. I mean, he flirted with Ingrid’s grandmother when he was eight. I can only imagine what he said/did if Ingrid remembered it, considering she would have been five or six at the time. And kids that young don’t really know any better yet. Poor kid probably just wanted attention.)

(Additional aside that came to mind while writing this: I wonder if seeing the arrangement between Ingrid and Glenn affected this at all? Like yeah marriages in that kind of setting were purely political and such, but Ingrid was engaged to Glenn because (a) House Fraldarius was a powerful, well-to-do noble family and House Galatea really needed the resources, and (b) Ingrid was desirable as a wife because she had a Crest. Of course, we don’t know the exact circumstances of the arrangement, but we can infer from her other prospects. Sylvain still would have essentially seen Ingrid being used for leverage because of her Crest.)

So long before the events of the game, Sylvain is already pretty fucked up, emotionally. Trauma does that to you, especially when you have an “everyone else has it worse and I, actually, got lucky, so it doesn’t count and I’m not allowed to feel bad about it” complex. Survivor’s guilt is a hell of a drug lemme tell you. Sylvain has already internalized that,

He’s only good for his Crest

Any negative feelings about his Crest don’t matter, because those without have it worse.

No one will ever truly see him as a person–he’s just a Crest.

Already, that’s a pretty fucked up view of oneself.

By the time he gets to Garreg Mach, he has a carefully crafted persona set up: He’s an asshole, a liar, a serial flirt and cheater, dumb as a box of rocks, and a self-proclaimed “good-for-nothing.” In his B support with Dedue, you hear that people describe him as “indefensibly worthless,” which is followed by,

Sylvain: Indefensibly? Heh, that’s a bit harsh.

Dedue: I already knew your reputation concerning women. But these new rumors deprive you of all redemption. I did try to correct them. But I doubt I was believed.

Sylvain: Well, thank you all the same. Listen. You don’t need to worry what people think about me. As you well know, it’s not easy to correct misunderstandings or change people’s minds. And if I’m going to behave so badly, it seems misunderstandings are inevitable.

He doesn’t even argue, just kinda brushes it off and accepts that’s just How He Is (listen, Sylvain can definitely be an asshole at times, but I have to agree with that being harsh). He doesn’t want people to expect anything from him (well, not anything good). In his supports with Annette, he’s shown to be pretty smart, but admits he hides it because the pressure it puts on him is suffocating. He kinda goes out of his way to hide his more redeeming qualities like that. Also on that point, we have this bit from his B support with Ashe,

Sylvain: […] My advice on the whole thing is just to follow your instincts. That’s what I do. If someone’s in trouble, I help them. You don’t need to be a valiant knight to know that. Doesn’t matter if the person is an ugly old man or the cutest girl you’ve ever seen, you help ‘em.

Ashe: So, you’re saying…

Sylvain: Everybody’s the same, deep down. It’s our job to help anyone who needs it.

Ashe: Ah!

Sylvain: What? You’re looking at me funny. Did I say something wrong?

Ashe: No! No. I’m just surprised, that’s all. You’re actually a much better person than I thought.

“You’re actually a much better person than I thought.” Several of his supports have some variation of this line. Usually after he does something kind. And I mean, Sylvain is a kind person, under the philandering. Most of his supports involve him helping others out somehow.

He helps Dimitri with the girl situation (he kinda got him into it in the first place but I digress)

His whole C with Dedue is pretty much “racism is stupid and I’m going to be your friend, fuck what everyone else says.”

In his supports with Felix and Ashe, he helps them out in battle, at a detriment to himself (You can also throw Byleth in here, during their A support, but he was a jerk in their C and B).

In his Annette supports, she calls him out for going easy on her during training. He admits he was, but only because he didn’t want her to feel bad because she puts so much effort into her work while he “sorta gets by on [his] wits”

Okay I need to say how much I love his supports with Bernadetta???? He does genuinely try to compliment her work, and when he sees speaking to Bernie face-to-face won’t work, he goes out of his way to write a nice and well-worded review (a fairly lengthy one, according to Bernie) and compliment of her work–which Bernadetta takes to much better than she did talking in person. And this is one of the few supports where he doesn’t try to flirt. He’s just trying to give her genuine compliments on her writing and goes out of his way to do it without upsetting her.

His support with Hilda could go a few ways, but he did return the books for her and he did apparently get yelled at for something he didn’t do and didn’t even try to deflect that. And it seems that’s not even why he confronts her later: it’s because of how her actions were detrimental to other people (”And those books you left in your room for so long? Teachers and classmates needed those. So stop lying, and maybe stop being quite as selfish too.”). It’s not until she asks if the librarian said anything that he’s like “Oh, yeah, they yelled at me.”

And a fair amount of people still see him as “indefensibly worthless.” Sylvain often goes out of his way to help people, but he tends to brush it off and keep it lowkey.

I got a little off track here, but my point for this is Sylvain projects an outward appearance of being a really shitty, deplorable person. Almost everyone he has supports with is GENUINELY surprised when they realize that no, he’s not as bad as all the rumors about him imply. Sylvain just doesn’t really want people to know. And, as much as he plays it off like he doesn’t care, that kind thing gets to you after a while. So everyone except a handful of close friends seeing him in such a negative light? It filters in eventually, even if you’re not already emotionally fucked up.

Another thing I want to point out: A lot of times, it seems like Sylvain does not give a shit about what happens to him. A few of his support conversations involve him taking a blow in battle to protect someone else (and his attitude afterward is “better me than them”). Reading his A+ with Felix, “…protecting me like that. You’re so weak and yet you always… always…” this is definitely something Sylvain has a habit of doing. Additionally, we have one of his goal requests: “The best way to impress people is to save them by diving into harm’s way. That’s what a Great Knight does, yeah?” In true Sylvain style he covers it with “I just want to impress people” but he’s still devoting his training to being the guy who jumps in front of everyone else to tank the hit. Fully committing to that kind of thing takes more than just a shallow want to “impress people.” Then there’s his Monastery line to Byleth, toward the end of Verdant Wind I believe?, where he says he fights like he wants to die. Which…. yeah.

Another line of his that sticks with me: “burn until we meet again,” after defeating an enemy post-time skip. A friend of mine pointed out it might just be dramatic, but I think about that a lot. Does he think he’s going to the 3h equivalent of hell??? Does he think he’s that terrible of a person??

Uh this turned out to be a lot longer than i thought. So I guess to sum up:

Sylvain grew up internalizing the idea that he doesn’t have any worth as a person. Everything he is and has is related to his Crest. Everything that people feel towards him is related to his Crest and not who he is as a person.

He internalized the idea that because he has a Crest, that he’s not allowed to be upset about any of this, because he got lucky.

Growing up with Miklan’s abuse, he was definitely made to feel guilty about simply daring to exist. So he grows up hating himself.

He developed an outward persona that only reinforced these ideas–he makes and lets people believe he’s a piece of shit.

His attitude in battle shows how little he seems to care about himself.

tl;dr: Sylvain grew up without any love or affection, and was severely emotionally fucked up by his family, which complicated his relationships with other people and his view of himself as a person and his worth. He purposely projected an image of himself to support this, letting people believe he’s a shit person and doesn’t argue back because he feels it’s well-deserved. He doesn’t seem to think he’s actually worth anything. Sylvain, of course, like all people, has negative traits–that’s just part of being human. But his sense of self has been so warped and twisted over the years that he can’t seem to do anything but hate himself.

#fire emblem three houses #sylvain jose gautier #sylvain gautier #fe sylvain #fire emblem sylvain #three houses #fire emblem three houses spoilers #fe16 spoilers #three houses spoilers #fe16 #feth #fe three houses #asks #anon #mine #long post #i have a lot of feelings about sylvain okay #abuse mention #abuse mention cw

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robbyrobinson · 3 years

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When the Wind Blows: Alternate Ending

When the Wind Blows. That was a title I hadn’t heard in a long time. It was just obviously a British animated film based on a graphic novel by Raymond Briggs. You know, the guy who did The Snowman? It centered around an elderly couple then one day, word came out that war would break out in three days. The graphic novel was written around the height of the Cold War. The threat of nuclear war was as high as it is now.

I’ve always had morbid affection for dark animated films. Watership Down; The Plague Dogs; Felidae, you name it. When the Wind Blows fit snuggly in that bubble. Having watched it religiously on YouTube, the film was ultimately removed most likely because of it violated the website’s terms of service with its objectionable content. My thirst for the darkness of the animated feature was unquenchable and I hadn’t watched it sense.

That would all change one day. While I was browsing the internet, I came upon an online forum dedicated to dark, more obscure cartoons. It must’ve been my lucky day because one of the users happened to discuss When the Wind Blows. It was boring at first with just him elaborating on how he was immensely disturbed by the film when he saw it at 7. Then the discussion took a swerve.

After he explained what he considered the most horrid aspect of the film, he added an interesting tidbit. Apparently, it was an interview with Briggs himself. In the interview, Briggs explained that what contributed to his penning the graphic novel was the reality of a nuclear war and how virtually impossible it was for anyone to survive a nuclear holocaust. As such, there was a secret ending embedded in the home releases of the movie. To further his point, the user left an link to download the movie.

Curiosity overwhelmed my reasoning. For all intents and purposes, he may as well might’ve fabricated the whole thing. But, if it was in fact real, it would prove a good nugget of knowledge. So, I clicked the link. As it loaded, I was growing concerned that I was hoodwinked and that some sort of virus would crash it. I glanced back at my computer screen seeing that it was finished.

The film surprisingly started off without a single lag nor freeze. David Bowie performed the title song per usual followed by the real-life footage and Jim returning home from reading the newspapers in town. He lived with his wife in his country home in Sussex. He conversed with his wife again without issue. I felt a building dread. This was likely the third time I’ve seen the film so I already knew how everything would play out. Its saccharine mask would crumble away exposing its sinister underbelly. I hadn’t the faintest idea as to why this was the case. If I could put money on it, I’d have to guess Jim’s tone of voice. He was voiced by John Mills and yet rather than his jovial, more informed self, he had a forlorn expression on his face. Hilda immediately took notice.

When she asked her husband what the matter was, he informed her about the likelihood of war being inevitable. After she went through her tirade of war being wicked, the radio shuttered to life announcing that war could be expected in three days. The film segues to Jim preparing the house for the nuclear missile such as by painting the windows white or making a makeshift bomb shelter all according to the Protect and Survive pamphlet the government handed out. He called his son Ron only to become disheartened with his son's seeming ignorance. Ron's laughter could be heard over the phone. A mixture of humor and melancholy. He quoted famous songs much to his father’s chagrin. To me, it was clear that Ron was aware than he was letting on. He was losing what little sanity he had left by partying his troubles away.

The film progressed with the couple mentioning previous world wars and D-Day. Hilda was making a cake while her husband further desecrated the house in accordance with the pamphlet. The radio sounded again, the announcer explaining that an ICBM would arrive in three minutes. Jim became more hectic, and shoved Hilda underneath the door after calling her a bitch.

The screen turned to symbolize the missile dropping. A deafening siren blared through my headphones nearly sending me sprawling on the ground. Violent images of civilians' bodies littered the scenery. Fire rained down from the sky and engulfed the bystanders.

A school bus full of children was hit by a wave of the flames; each child’s body bloated up from the blast and ruptured like water balloons. Their skin melted off gorily. Imagine placing a stick of butter being placed in a microwave. Other people were glued to the streets due to their legs fusing with the concrete. Faces burned off as buildings and houses were leveled by the onslaught of chaos.

The sound wave struck the couple’s house, decimating it. Miraculously, or rather unfortunately, they survived. Hilda in typical fashion wanted to tidy up only to be held back and told that she couldn’t leave until the fallout subsided. In a new addition, Jim assured his wife that they would be fine. Another voice spoke out one that Hilda could not hear. Jim reacted in disgust becoming further unsettled.

“Old boy, while are you sentencing your wife to death?”

The conclusion I drew was that it represented Jim’s innermost thoughts, or more directly his conscience. It was a monotonous voice bereft of any emotion nothing there but a cold, pure logic.

The two attempted to survive as long as they could off what little rations they had left or whatever survived the blast. Their water bottles were disintegrated and subsequently, their water lines were cut off. The couple were immeasurably famished. Throughout the week, they made offhanded remarks about how people lost in the wilderness resorted to drawing lots and sacrificing the weakest member so the others would live. The thought they were so hungry they'd be willing to eat each other was horrible.

Jim once found a meat clover and walked over to his life as she laid on the couch sleeping. He contemplated his options but got cold feet when Hilda was stirring awake. He quickly hid the weapon away, instead telling her that she was hearing things because of her age.

One day while they were walking in their yard, Jim smelled something in the air. Hilda followed him also smelling it. Roasted pork, she thought. Her stomach was so barren, she’d waste no time gorging on the pork.

They walked over a hill, their thoughts immediately turning to sorrow. A family of four was huddled together tightly and were roasted dark by the blast. They were the remains of a husband and wife and their two small kids. Hilda and Jim looked at each other then at me with that thousand yard stare. The camera focused in on Jim’s beady eyes. Fire danced in them. He knelt down and ripped off an arm from one of the kids. Hilda prayed over the bodies before digging in as well.

"The Powers That Be will get to us in the end.”

A few weeks passed by. The couple were somehow still alive. The camera panned to the fridge showing scraps of flesh that were left of the family. Around that time, Jim had also collected the rain water, unaware that it was radiated and unsafe regardless of boiling it. Their water supply had vanished again. Rat carcasses were thrown all over the floor. It then segued to Hilda vomiting into the toilet ranting about hating the taste of rat meat and blood. Boils were all over her body and Jim’s. They were skeletal in appearance with their leathery skin barely being held together.

“I just hope that Ron and Beryl made it out okay,” Hilda weakly said.

As she said this, a jump cut of Ron popped up. He was animated with clay alongside his wife and children. They were melded together in a fleshy blob with their limbs conjoined together. Jim assures her that their son's family would always stick together. Hilda's hair began to fall out by the time she suggested to Jim that they should return to their bags because another attack could come. Jim agreed to her suggestion still assuring her that help would arrive.

The voice from earlier returned now violently criticizing Jim on withholding the truth about their situation. Hilda got into her bag and waited for her husband to join her. It felt like hours before he returned, and when he did, I was taken aback. In his hands was a rifle. He cocked it, and pointed it behind his wife’s head.

“Dear, are you there?” she asked.

Jim choked back tears as he tried to speak coherently. “Recite the Lord’s Prayer for me, would you?”

She obliged. Hilda recited the prayer louder as if hoping that her prayers would be heard. A single tear rolled down Jim's face. A loud gunshot is heard when the camera panned to the outside of the house. Jim looked at the gun in horror and tossed it beside his feet. Kneeling down, he clutched his wife as she laid dying. Tears dropped on her bosom. He remained in that position until the film faded out. The voice reappeared after the Morse code spelled out MAD.

"Old Jim died clutching his beloved wife to his dying breath due to radiation poisoning. But what he ultimately learned was that when you die…nothing happens.”

I was speechless with what I had witnessed. The film was dark, but never would I have thought that Briggs had a more sinister ending in store for the elderly couple. I took a flask and hard copied the download so I could watch it every now and then. Good too because the user’s account was terminated with the only indication of its existence being the other responses that the users gave.

Briggs said it himself that the wanted to show the utter hopelessness of surviving a nuclear war, and he succeeded.

#raymond briggs #lost episode #lost episode creepypasta #when the wind blows #when the wind blows 1986 #nuclear #nuclear war #nuclear holocaust #when the wind blows raymond briggs #bloggs

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carefreejules · 3 years

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Prologue – Broken Routine

In the middle of the void of darkness, a lone figure stands under a single spotlight as she feebly clutches the gleaming golden trophy in her small hands. She lifts up her head to smile at an audience who’s not even there. The single ray of light shuts off suddenly, enveloping her entire being into darkness.

Cold.

Lonely.

Muffled voices grow louder and louder, clearer and coherent. Filling the empty dark void with a cacophony of the same demeaning phrases that repeat like a broken record. The girl shivers from the darkness. She falls to her knees, as if being weighed down by the words themselves.

“You cheated.”

“You tricked opponents into feeling sorry for you.”

“You didn’t deserve to win.”

A tear falls. Then two. Until her eyes are blurred and overflowed with tears.

Through the sea of self-deprecation that drowns her mind, she weakly reaches out into the darkness and says,

“Help me.”

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

The girl in the dream jolts up awake, older now, her heart and mind racing from the adrenaline of abruptly being pulled from her nightmare. Her skin feels hot from the warm summer air that breezed inside of her room from an open window, but at the same time feels cold from the lingering darkness that clings to her body, refusing to let go. She shivers. Her sleepy cobalt blue eyes drift around her room, as if confirming to herself of the present and not of the past that creeps into her dreams every now and again.

Just to be sure, she pushes the covers off of her and wanders over to her blue messenger bag to pull out her wallet and Trainer ID.

Name: Juliet

Birthday: June 15

Home Region: Hoenn – Lilycove City

That was enough for her. She lets out a sigh of relief and turns her head to the wide mirror in the bathroom. She tiredly regarded her medium length wavy black hair with various stray locks sticking up in random places, the subtle bags under her eyes, and the baggy Mudkip shirt she wore over shorts that didn’t match.

“Good morning,” Juliet greets her reflection. Something comes up from behind her and nudges his head against her ankle. She looks down to see her Shiny Trapinch groggily nuzzling his head against her legs, silently requesting mutual affection. Her smile is gentle as she scoops up the baby Ant Pit Pokemon in her arms and plants a soft kiss on his head. Seeing her beloved pet Trapinch was enough to make her forget the dream she had.

“’Morning to you too, Pistachio. I have to get ready for work so be good while I’m gone, OK?” She told him gently. Pistachio nods obediently and squirms out of her arms to waddle back to his bed.

As she went through her usual morning routine, her Rotom phone hovered in front of her to deliver her morning updates that mainly consisted of the weather, missed calls or new texts, and the spawns of Pokemon that were likely to appear in the Wild Area via Power Spots.

“Rotom, are there any strong Raids that are likely to appear today?”

“Bzzzt! There is likely going to be a Dragapult Raid in Axew’s Eye. But, it will be raining.”

“Dragapult huh...Ghost and Dragon, but being part dragon means it potentially has a large type coverage.” Juliet mused to herself as she tightened the bright yellow tie around the collar of her black and white plaid Battle Cafe uniform. After successfully taming the knots of her bed head, she pulled her hair back into a high ponytail and slipped on her thick framed navy glasses. She took one more look at herself in the mirror for any obvious imperfections, filled up Pistachio’s food bowl, before grabbing her messenger bag and heading out.

It was a hot day in Wyndon, but the breeze that brisked passed her face as she biked along the route to work made it bearable. She wasn’t going to let a dream put a damper on an otherwise, beautiful day. The smell of coffee, tea, and pastries did wonders to calm her nerves, and she could vent out any frustrations on Raids after work.

The Battle Cafe came into view, making her jump off her bike to walk the rest of the way there. She slipped to the back of the cafe, carefully parking and locking her bike to a light post, and welcomed the scent of freshly brewed coffee that hit her senses the moment she walked in.

“’Morning, Boss!” Juliet called. Her boss turned his head back and shot her an easy-going grin. Richard, who casually lets her call him ‘Boss’, is the Cafe Master of the Battle Cafe, so he was the one who battled customers while she was just a part-time Barista.

“Top of the morning, kiddo! Alcremie and Slurpuff are in tip-top shape today so I have a good feeling about my wins today!”

“Ohoho...Is that so? I'll be paying close attention, then.” Juliet tossed out her Sylveon, whom she named Hilda, to help around the cafe as per usual. Her Pokemon was also popular amongst regulars and children for being friendly and playful; sometimes even putting on a little show for customers while they were waiting for their drinks.

Juliet fell into her usual comfortable rhythm, taking and making orders that came in, overseeing battles that were requested by customers – it was clear that today was just going to be another normal day at work. Before she knew it, the end of her shift came and she swiftly changed out of her work uniform into her usual blue varsity jacket, ripped black shorts, and grey beret before taking off to the Wild Area.

This routine was enough. She didn’t need anything more or less.

It was raining heavily over Axew’s Eye, but that didn’t stop Juliet from peeking into the stony well and tossing a Wishing Piece in its depths. She immediately took a step back as a huge pillar of energy shot up from the Power Spot and swirled ominously with power. A tell tale sign of a powerful Dynamax Raid. But she had travelled from region to region with her Pokemon and it wasn’t like this was her first time battling a powerful Raid by herself. She took off the soggy grey beret sitting on top of her soaked ebony hair before throwing her legs over the Power Spot and falling into its depths. She skillfully landed with her knees bent in a crouch to avoid impact in her ankles and rose to face the Dynamaxed Pokemon that was waiting for her.

A Dynamaxed Dragapult. As her Rotom predicted.

She hummed thoughtfully before sending out Hilda. Her Sylveon growled at the large Dragon Pokemon before her trainer summoned her back to be Dynamaxed. Hilda stood on an even playing field as Dragapult and unleashed Max Starfall as commanded. Dragapult recoiled and immediately put up it’s defences. The trainer didn’t expect things to go down hill so quickly from there. Breaking down its barrier wasn’t the hard part; but it was how many turns it took to attack and the range of the attacks, chipping off Sylveon’s health too quickly for comfort.

It became clear that this battle wasn’t feasible for one person.

Juliet clicked her tongue in defeat and returned her Pokemon before fleeing out of the Power Spot on her Flygon. Once the trainer was back on the surface, she called out her Sylveon to heal her up and reassured her of her efforts.

“It’s OK, Hilda. I was a little in over my head thinking I could do that Raid by myself. I might have to call the others.” She cooed while stroking her Sylveon. Hilda yipped sadly but nudged her face into her trainer’s hand. The trainer retired to her tent that she had set up a few feet away and as if on cue, her Rotom Phone started to ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Jules! You called saying you needed help with a Raid? Are you sure you should be doing raids in this weather?”

“Well, I thought it would be smart since there are less trainers around and the rain has let up a bit. I could use some help, though. This one’s a tough one.” Juliet replied as she dried her hair off with a towel with her free hand.

“Then, let me help! Where are you?”

“Axew’s Eye.”

“Ahh, so it must be a dragon Pokemon! Those are tough. I’ll be over in a jiffy!”

“Thanks, Mary!”

After 20 minutes or so of waiting, Mary peeked her head into Juliet’s tent. Mary was a member of their Raid group and one of Juliet’s good friends that she met when travelling to Johto.

Unlike the Gym Challenge, where young aspiring trainers take on the Gyms across the Galar region in order to participate in the Champion Cup, there was another sport that was rising in popularity for those who were looking for a more thrill-seeking experience that involved teamwork. Throughout the Wild Area in Galar, there are countless rock wells called ‘Power Spots’ that hid a massive cavern of Dynamaxed Pokemon, all varying in rarity and strength. Sometimes the Pokemon lurking underneath will make their presence known from the beacons of light that emit from their wells. However, rarer Pokemon are more compelled by the power of Wishing Pieces that are thrown in. Wishing Stars were not easy to come by, being meteorites that fall from space, making them a strongly sought out item for Raid teams.

The Raid team that Juliet is the ‘leader’ of, which she named ‘Raid Prism’, is considered one of the most well-known teams due to the fact that they were one of the first teams that started the boom of Raids in the first place. The boom was unintentional and started from a few impromptu Raids they took on when they first landed in Galar over a year ago. Juliet jokingly recorded and streamed their battles for something to look back on, until a steady stream of supporters tuned in with each Raid they took on thereafter. Her group weren’t really doing it out of competitiveness to see who could catch the rarest Pokemon or amass a collection of Gigantamax Pokemon – they’ve always done it out of the excitement of just fighting strong Dynamaxed Pokemon as a team. Their efforts were eventually recognized by Professor Magnolia, who hired them as Field Researchers in order to uncover the secrets of the Dynamax Phenomenon from the various Pokemon that were caught in the Power Spots.

Well, Field Researchers was a bit of a stretch since their job mostly just involved catching Pokemon that were requested of them. Because of this, their team wasn't blessed with the opportunity to hear the different theories that were thrown around over round tables about what was being researched, but it did pay well – well enough that the team decided to settle down in Galar for the time being in neighbouring flats in Wyndon.

But that hardly mattered at the moment..

Jules and Mary jumped into the Power Spot and, surprise surprise, were blown out from their defeat. Mary dusted off the wet dirt from her paint splattered patterned tights, wrung out rain water from her damp, curly brown hair, and grimaced down into the Power Spot.

“You weren’t kidding. I think this is the first Raid Pokemon I’ve encountered that could attack so many times and with so much range!”

“Do you think Tessu and Vanquil are available? I think we need the whole team for this one.”

The duo took a moment to call the two remaining members of their team and they arrived in record time. Tessu stared at the state of Mary and Juliet, who were soaked from the rain and their hair were also tousled from being blown out. The short haired trainer gritted her teeth.

“Yikes. How many attempts did you make?”

“Mary once, twice for me.” Juliet grumbled while pulling her hair out of their twin braids.

“Well, we’re all here now so let’s wrap this up, yeah?” Vanquil suggested while rolling his shoulders confidently.

“Why is this so hard?!” Vanquil yelled as he lay face first inside of Juliet’s tent. The others sat around him in defeat as they tiredly ate through their curry in hopes of adding fuel to their exhausted minds and bodies.

“Do you think we’ve finally been bested?” Tessu mumbled.

“I don’t think so. I think the best course of action is to work around how many times it can attack.” Juliet began.

“You mean like, figure out how to not get hit?”

“Exactly! Our Pokemon are strong enough to dish out damage and break down its barriers but the problem is stamina and it’s Dragon Darts attack.”

“Hmmm...Why don’t we use attacks that will make our Pokemon out of its range before attacking?” Mary thought out loud.

“Ohhhhh...like Fly or Dig? That could work! I also have a bunch of Guard Specs that could eliminate any debuffs our Pokemon get.” Jules turned to her Rotom Phone, which had been recording their conversation, and uploaded it to their team’s Pokegram. She always made a habit of recording as much of their Raids as possible for the purpose of helping and inspiring Raid teams. The comments were already flooding in with ‘you can do it!’ or ‘psh, it can’t be that hard’. Once they had finished their curry, they set out to the Power Spot in hopes that this would be the final attempt.

“This is working way better than I thought!” Juliet yelled as her Flygon, Tiki, flew towards the Dragapult to unleash Crunch, which broke through it’s barrier and weakened it. The Dragon Pokemon started to look worn out, signalling that it was almost down for the count. Mary’s Thievul dealt a final Night Slash before the Dragapult fell in defeat.

“Now, Jules!!” Vanquil shouted in her direction. Juliet quickly pulled out an Ultra Ball to Dynamax it and ran with it before jumping high and throwing it over her head with all of her might at the fallen Pokemon. The giant Ultra Ball opened and sucked in the Dragon Pokemon before landing on the ground with a heavy thud.

They all huddled together in anticipation as the oversized Ultra Ball shook slowly on the ground.

It shook once.

It shook twice.

It shook thrice.

The Raid team braced themselves for the Pokemon to break out, but the Ultra Ball glowed green and shrunk down to normal size. Vanquil threw a fist in the air and let out a loud whoop that echoed through the cavern while the other three sighed in relief and slumped to the ground in exhaustion. Vanquil went over to retrieve the caught Pokemon and helped them up so they could finally get out of there. But not before posting the recording of their battle and victory first.

The rain had begun to stop as they got out of the Power Spot one by one. Vanquil proudly twirled their Dragapult’s Ultra Ball on his finger before staring at it curiously. “What do you guys want to name him?”

“God.”

“My Worst Nightmare.”

“Hell?”

“Um...On second thought, I’ll leave it at that. I think we’re all a little traumatized right now.”

“Of course, Professor Magnolia. It was a hard one to catch but hopefully the Dragapult will offer something to your research. Yes. You’re welcome. Take care, OK? And say hi to Sonia for me. Good night!”

Juliet had never been this happy to be back in her flat before. She was soaked from head to toe from the rain and her body ached from over-exertion. Thank Arceus she didn’t have work the next day and she could spend the day sleeping in and lounging around. The trainer took a long, hot shower, threw on her so-called pajamas and was ready to knock out for the day.

Another day came and went. Another routine, unbroken and passing by peacefully-

RING RING RING RING

Until her Rotom phone started ringing.

She whined exasperatedly and was ready to tell the telemarketers off upon taking a quick glance at the unfamiliar number. Her exhausted body screamed at her to ignore it in favour of sleep, but her thumb instinctively tapped the answer button anyway.

She tried to put on her friendliest, at work, voice for the person on the other line.

“Hello?”

“Good evening. Is this Miss Juliet?”

A mature woman’s voice, she deduced.

“Yes, it is. Who is this?”

“My name is Oleana. I’m the secretary to Chairman Rose.”

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Chapter 1: New Job and Old Connections

In the middle of the void of darkness, a lone figure stands under a single spotlight as she feebly clutches the gleaming golden trophy in her small hands. Except this time, she doesn’t raise her head to smile. She barely acknowledges the ghostly hands that run through her hair across her back, coddling her but with no warmth to speak of.

Cold.

Lonely.

The muffled voices returned, growing louder and louder, clearer and coherent. Filling the empty dark void with a cacophony of empty compliments and reassurance. Or, were they actually empty?

She didn’t know. She didn’t know which voices to believe.

“You did amazing!”

“You’re so strong!”

“I want to be like you someday.”

Why wasn’t she happy? Why couldn’t she be happy? Who cares what other people thought? As long as there was someone who believed in her, that’s all she needed, right?

Wasn’t making her parents proud, enough?

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Instead of jolting awake, Juliet’s eyes fluttered open, letting the few tears escape down her cheeks. Recalling the fragments of her dream made her heart uneasy, and her hands shaky. No matter how many times she saw those dreams, she could never get used to them. But, at the same time, she knew she couldn’t dwell on them. Ignoring them meant they would eventually go away, right?

Right.

Turning over to her Rotom phone, it reminded her of the important meeting with Oleana and Chairman Rose that was scheduled for her Raid team, from the call she got a few days ago. She couldn’t recall specific details of the call amidst her initial excitement but she knew that the opportunity given to them was an honour to receive. Thinking about where the job could lead them, filled her with the enthusiasm she needed to force herself out of bed and get dressed.

After sifting through her wardrobe for a good hour and a half, mentally cursing herself for not having many business or formal appropriate clothes options, Juliet settled on a blue blouse with black pants to wear for the meeting. Her hands instinctively went up to her hair to tie them into their usual braids, but perhaps she looked a bit more mature if she left her hair as is.

She didn’t really know what she was doing. Travelling all over the world didn’t leave many opportunities for her to dress up for the occasion.

“This should be fine.” She told herself.

“Trapinch?” Pistachio called out. She turned her head to the baby Pokemon, who waddled over to her feet and gazed up at her curiously. He probably was just as unfamiliar to her current attire as she was.

“Me and the others have an important meeting to go to. But, do you want to come with me? It must be boring being at home, but you have to be good, OK?”

“Trapinch!!”

“...This is a really long elevator.” Vanquil grumbled while tapping his foot impatiently. It certainly wasn’t an understatement. The Rose Tower stood over 1000 feet tall, overlooking all of Wyndon and beyond. It’s sleek, futuristic architectural design was fitting for Chairman Rose, the one in charge of the Pokemon League and president of a large business conglomerate known as Macro Cosmos. Even though they were inside of the Rose Tower and about to meet the man himself, it still didn’t feel real.

The elevator finally slowed to a stop, and the doors finally opened to reveal Oleana and Chairman Rose waiting for them on the far side of the room. Rose stood up from his executive chair and beckoned them out of the elevator with a gentle grin.

“Come in, you four. No need to be shy.”

Easier said than done from a man with as much power and money as one could only dream of.

Juliet was the first to exit and firmly shook his hand. “Good day, Chairman Rose. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise. The things you’re doing for Dynamax Research on top of contributing to tourism, I’m very grateful to see the Galar region thriving especially with the Gym Challenge fast approaching.” Rose added.

“Tourism?”

“Why, yes. With your group and many others making a sport and spectacle of Max Raid Battles, we’ve seen an increase in visitors from all over the world who come to visit the Wild Area for themselves.” Rose motioned them to sit on the leather couches, where tea and other refreshments were spread out in front of them.

“I’m glad! The Galar region is a beautiful region and the Wild Area is just one of the few reasons why we’re so happy to be living here. Right?” Juliet asked, turning her head to her friends, who were already treating themselves to the snacks offered to them.

“Right! We’ve only been living in Galar for over a year, but it’s been really fun doing Raids and inspiring trainers to go out into the wild to see what the region has to offer.” Tessu replied.

“We’ve also been looking forward to the Gym Challenge since in other regions, it’s not as hype up as it is here.” Vanquil added..

“Thank you for reaching out and giving us the opportunity to be co-hosts of the event. But, if I may ask, why us?” Mary asked with a tilt of her head.

“Well, on top of your group playing a part in Dynamax Research, I believe your group in particular will be able to offer different insights of battling since you all come from different regions, correct? That will surely make commentary more interesting and entertaining.” Rose then handed them each an application to fill out, along with an outline of the upcoming Gym Challenge.

“Please look over the application carefully and feel free to flip through the outline of Gym Challenge so you can familiarize yourselves on how we operate it.”

Juliet flipped through the application carefully, choosing to read over the contents first instead of filling it out right away. As the group fell into a comfortable silence and their noses were practically buried in the terms of service, they didn’t notice the person that came by to join them.

Even though he wore his signature fur lined red cape and his signature snap back on his head that never failed to turn people’s heads in his direction.

“Sorry I’m late! I took the wrong monorail on the way here.”

“It’s alright, Leon. Our new employees were just getting settled in.”

CLATTER

Leon. That name made all of them freeze. Juliet didn’t know which one of them dropped their clipboard and pen, but as if in tune with her teammates, they all raised their heads at the same time to look at the legend himself.

Champion Leon.

“L-L-L-L-Leon!” Mary, Vanquil, and Tessu shot up from their seats like a group of Spoinks, eyes sparkling with endless awe and excitement. Juliet watched in amusement as her friends stumbled over questions and compliments of admiration, but...shouldn’t she be sharing in the glee as well?

At least, that’s what she thought. Watching the Champion soak up the praise being sent in his direction, and seeing him smile through each question with ease – something about the scene felt...oddly familiar. But not familiar enough where she could pinpoint when and where the feeling came from.

Her shoulders tensed when his burning golden gaze fell on her. She felt...uneasy being stared at, especially by someone with a strong, overwhelming aura as his. Was he sizing her up? No, it didn’t look like it. His head cocked to the side and it looked like his eyes were searching for something. Then, his eyes lit up in recognition and the wide smile he sent her was all teeth.

“J, right?”

J? What kind of an alias was that? Juliet blinked confusingly. Her mind repeating that name over and over in her head, trying to pull up the memory of the name – if there was any at all.

J, J, J…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Right...Wait. What’s your name?”

“My name?”

“Yeah. You’re not wearing a name tag like your aunt is.”

“...Call me J.”

“J? That’s it?”

“Is that weird?”

“No! In that case, you can call me Lee.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Lee.” She blurted out. The memory that flashed in her mind was hazy, but there was no mistaking the foggy images of her helping at her aunt’s inn in Lavaridge Town, along with a purple-haired teen around her age, who was staying at the inn for a vacation. She could barely make out his toothy smile and youthful spirit, that seeing the teen mature into the man in front of her, made the memory feel more distant than ever.

“You remember too. I’m glad! Do you think you can tell me your name now?” Leon joked and outstretched his hand to her. Juliet looked down at his hand, trying to recollect the sudden wave of memories that washed over her. Where did they come from? And why did it take until now for her to remember them? She didn’t want to keep him hanging for long so she swallowed down the uncertainty before reaching out to shake his hand.

“It’s Juliet. Sorry for keeping you in the dark for so long-”

“Stooooooooooooop! Hold on!! You two know each other?!” Tessu interjected in between their handshake. Juliet scratched the side of her cheek and looked to the side sheepishly. ‘Know’ wasn’t the word she would use. Especially since it seemed like Leon had a better memory than her.

“Something like that. It felt like so long ago but, back when I used to help my aunt out at her inn, Leon and his family were on vacation and they stayed at the inn.”

“That’s right. I think I was around...16 maybe? I’ve never forgotten how hospitable your aunt was during our stay. Or how you almost beat me in a Pokemon battle.” The Champion laughed fondly at the memory.

She did? Oh boy, she really did have a bad memory to forget something like that.

“You almost beat the Champion of Galar in a battle?!” Vanquil gawked in disbelief.

“And you didn’t put two and two together when we came to Galar?” Mary wondered, leaning against Juliet with a suspicious gleam in her eye. Juliet pushed back against her with a pout. Was now really the time to catch up?!

“Look, so much happened after that! I travelled around the world, met you three, came to Galar, etc. If I’m remembering correctly, Leon was a bit more scrawny and his hair was shorter back then.”

“I wasn’t that scrawny.” Leon retorted with a pout of his own.

“Well, it seems you’re all getting along better than I expected!” Rose’s chuckle snapped them back to the task at hand, making them pick up their neglected applications that were left on the ground.

That was...a bit embarrassing to say the least. But at the same time, reminiscing on one of the happier periods of her life, it brought back a youthful cheeriness that she hadn’t felt in years. It felt nostalgic. Refreshing even. Perhaps Leon had that effect on people. His positive and confident aura could pick people back up without needing to say a word.

No wonder he was so loved and looked up to like a King.

Even as the meeting continued without interruption, the Champion couldn’t help but steal a few glances in her direction. Anytime their gazes met, he’d shoot her a toothy grin, which she responded to with a sheepish smile. For what reason she didn’t know, but unlike earlier where she wanted to shrink from his gaze, his occasional glances felt comforting.

Like a dandelion basking under the sun.

“You’re going to be working with Leon?!”

“Mind toning it down, Boss? The whole cafe doesn’t need to know.”

“But, I’m so jealous! If there’s one person I want to battle, it’s Leon!” Richard lamented dramatically as he stocked up the shelves and display cases with more pastries and coffee beans. Juliet leaned against the counter, allowing herself to recover from the end of the lunch rush and pouring herself a cup of tea.

“Maybe you’ll break the record for shortest Pokemon battle-” She said with a smug grin on her face. Her boss threw a dirty rag in her direction out of retaliation, but she caught it easily and tossed it into the sink. Still, she’d love to see such a battle.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take less shifts? Seems like a lot to juggle with being a Field Researcher and a co-host now,”

“It’ll be fine. There’s going to be gaps within each gym for challengers anyway especially since many of them are going to be exploring the Wild Area for the first time. Don’t worry about me, Boss.” Just as Richard opened his mouth to respond, the front door opened with the tell tale jingle of the bell above the door, signalling Juliet to bow politely to welcome the customer as she became accustomed to do as it was second nature.

“Welcome to the Battle Cafe! Are you interested-”

Juliet felt a sudden sense of unease wash over her. Black trench coat, a black baseball cap, dark sunglasses, and a white face mask. Did this man know it was the middle of summer? Or maybe it was a woman? She couldn’t tell how when their trench coat was consuming their body like a black hole. She didn’t mean to judge someone on appearance alone, but even her boss wore a face that told her he was suspicious and nervous too. Swallowing her anxiety, she stuttered,

“A-Are you interested in battling the Cafe Master for a complimentary Casteliastone if you win? Or would you like to make a regular order?”

The man approached the counter, drawing curious eyes to him as he searched through his trench coat for what she presumed to be his wallet. Or worse-

“I’ll take a regular coffee. One milk, one sugar.”

A normal order. Juliet let out a breath of relief she didn’t know she was keeping in. “That will be 250 Pokedollars, please. Can I get a name for the order?”

“...Dande.”

“Thank you, Dande. Your order will be served to the left of you.” As he walked past after giving her an affirmative nod, she could have swore she saw a flash of familiar purple hair from under his hat. She hummed curiously, narrowing her eyes at him to see if he would break under her persistent stare. Even when his head turned away, she could see the beads of sweat that were streaking down his copper skin.

Was it from the heat or her glare? Maybe both.

When she set down his finished drink and he reached out to grab it, she leaned over the counter and whispered, “You know it’s summer, right Leon?”

The man let out an exasperated sigh and lowered his sunglasses enough so she could see his familiar golden eyes. “And here I thought I had a good disguise.”

“Sure, if you want people to think you’re a serial killer or a drug dealer. I think you’re drawing more attention with this disguise than if you didn’t wear it at all.”

Leon laughed nervously at the few weird looks he was getting from the other patrons of the cafe.

“I see your point.”

Juliet rolled her eyes and untied her apron from her waist. It wouldn’t be a good idea for him to go back out into the sweltering heat without cooling down a bit first. She was technically off the clock now, so she’d put him out of his misery. “My shift is done now, but I’ll be hanging around in the back for a bit before going out, Boss.”

She came out from behind from the counter and beckoned Leon to follow her through the ‘Employees Only’ door, where a blast of cool air washed over their bodies. It wasn’t like the cafe itself didn’t have AC, but with the amount of hot drinks that are served and the cool air that escapes through the front door, it was only somewhat cool. Once the door closed, the Champion practically ripped off the trench coat and face mask, sighing with contentment at the AC air cooling the sweat off his neck.

“Thanks, but am I allowed to be back here?”

“It’s fine. Some regular customers like talking to me and when they have bad days, we talk back here on my breaks. My boss already knows and is cool with it especially since they leave big tips.” Juliet looked at his discarded trench coat that he left on the floor. “Just don’t steal anything.”

“Of course not. But, it looks like I’ll have to look into a different disguise.” Leon muttered.

“OR, you could just wear seasonal appropriate clothes like a normal person.”

“I wish I could, but it’s hard going out when you get stopped so often by fans...Not that I mind, it’s just...”

“You just want to be treated like a regular civilian?” Juliet finished for him as she plopped herself down on one of the spare cafe chairs. Leon followed suit and rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze fixed to the floor as if reluctant to admit to himself that, yes, he just wanted to be treated like a normal person instead of someone on top of an impossibly high pedestal.

“Yeah, something like that.”

She didn’t want to push him to reveal anything to her, but she thought it was a fitting opportunity to catch up with Leon in hopes of filling in the missing pieces of her foggy memory. She folded her arms over the table and looked at him with a carefree grin.

“So, how’s your brother? He was pretty small the last time I saw him.”

“He’s doing great! I’m actually going to surprise him and his best friend with their starter Pokemon next week along with endorsement letters for the Gym Challenge by yours truly.” His hesitant demeanour vanished, replaced with bright optimism from talking about his younger brother.

“Oho, looking to dethrone his older brother, huh?” Juliet teased lightly.

“It’s always been a dream of his and I’m excited to see how strong he’ll become. This year’s Gym Challenge is shaping up to be a game changer, I can feel it. Which means I have to train thrice as hard!” The Champion flexed his muscles for added flair, making the barista snort in her hand.

This was the Leon that everyone knew. The Undefeated Champion who answered the calls of anyone who dared challenge him. The Undefeated Champion who pushed himself to the limit, so challengers in turn, could push themselves. It was a wonder how he had so much determination, the courage to reach new heights and be one of the strongest of them all.

Strength...Something Juliet wished she had or at least, the bravery to acknowledge the strength she did have. What was it like? To believe in yourself and have the power to instill courage in everyone else? These were questions she couldn’t ask him, at least not right now.

Whatever the answers to those questions were, she did know one thing – seeing the Champion of Galar give it his all for his family, friends, and fans, to push the boundaries and prove to everyone what he was made of,

She was going to do the same.

Then, hopefully one day, she’ll be able to look at herself in the mirror and say,

“I’m strong and I’m proud of myself.”

“So, you’ve moved to Galar, huh?” Leon noted after taking a sip from his coffee.

“Yup. That’s partially thanks to Professor Magnolia for hiring my team as Field Researchers after seeing how capable we are in Max Raids.” It was a humble brag, but a brag nonetheless, and she’ll always feel thankful for the opportunity.

“Chairman Rose filled me in about that and I couldn’t help but watch some of your Raids afterwards. They’re a lot different from competitive battling, but you guys look like you’re having a lot of fun and I’ve learned a lot from just watching.” Leon pulled out his Rotom phone and opened up the recent Raid they did against the Dragapult.

Ah.

The Dragapult they ended up naming Dragon Lord, much to Magnolia’s amusement.

“This is probably my favourite Raid your team did. As a proud owner of a Dragapult myself, they’re pretty resilient to deal with.”

“You can say that again. Dragon Darts is such a pain.”

“Heh. Viable move when you’re the one using it, though.” Leon’s eye then wandered around the staff room of the Battle Cafe, skimming through the shelves of coffee beans and other stock items. “I guess it doesn’t really surprise me that you’re working here too. You’ve always been a hard worker.”

Juliet grinned gently. He really paid attention to little details about people, huh?

“I thought it would be good to get a side-job to get to know the locals since we didn’t know anyone upon moving here. Ease ourselves into Galar society, you know?”

“And, how’s that working out?”

“Pretty much settled in at this point! Though, I’m still on the fence about using Galarian slang every day like ‘lad’ or ‘mate’...” She grimaced. “...It sounds wrong when I say it.”

“Pft! Of all the things to struggle with. Come on, it can’t be that bad. Try it out on me.” Leon egged her on teasingly, casually leaning his cheek on a propped up hand.

Seriously?

Juliet stiffened considerably and her face looked like she sucked on 50 lemons from how scrunched up it was. “H-Hey, mate. H-How’s it going…?”

…

The Champion stifled a snort in his hand, but he couldn’t exactly hide the chuckles that followed right after. He had forgotten how funny and silly she was, enjoying the moment of carefree laughter despite how disapprovingly she glared at him. “I think you should stick with what you’re used to.”

“Haha, laugh it up.”

They hadn’t realized how long they were spending just talking. Getting each other up to speed about what the other had been doing, sharing stories about their travels, talking about their Pokemon – there were no shortages of things to talk about when each conversation jumped from topic to topic, neither Leon or Juliet losing interest in each other's stories.

Only the sound of a cup shattering to the ground could cut through their conversation. Their heads whipped around to see Richard with his jaw dropped, and a broken cup of tea by his feet.

“You were talking to Champion Leon this entire time and didn’t invite me?!”

#pokemon #pokemon sword and shield #swsh #champion leon #fanfic #jewels art

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initiumseries · 4 years

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CAOS Part 3 - review

Uh, okay, so I think by now, we all know this show is terrible. Netflix gives showrunners a lot of creative freedom, and I think, for better writers, you could get some really interesting content, but they just seem to keep giving these assholes who wrote the travesty called Riverdale, so many opportunities to make more shitty television, and I feel like they really deserve to be limited in their ability to create/write if not stopped completely and thrown into a well with Julie Plec. Anyway, I’ll try to break this down as best as I can into different piles of shit and this will contain spoilers:

Characters

Prudence and Ambrose

So, to be really honest, I watch this show exclusively for Prudence and Ambrose. Because, well, look at them:

I wish they had more chemistry because they are super hot together, and I still ship it. A young Black couple? On TV? In this sea of shitty interracial relationships? I’ll take it. Anyway, of course, the progression of their relationship is ridiculous and frustrating. Ambrose decides at the last minute, not to kill Father Blackwood because he has a weird time egg thing that they don’t really understand, also he has the twins under some weird mind control for no clear reason, so they stay their hands. It doesn’t make sense, but it becomes clear, Father Blackwood has an insane amount of plot armour and ultimately would have to serve as a vessel for Satan. Father Blackwood uses the manipulated mind of the other weird sister to sic her on the coven, and she ends up killing Dorkus, whom Prudence finds. She then blames Ambrose for not allowing her to kill FB, and they break up. Now...this would kinda make sense, if not for the fact that they trapped one of the pagan witches and forced her to change everyone back, but no one bothered to do anything about the mentally ill witch who you all strapped up for a reason? Lol ok. Seems like an oversight on your part Prudence, but...okay. Clearly manufactured breakups are exhausting, especially since [young] Black couples with no serious relationship dysfunction are now an endangered species. It’s also frustrating because we barely got to see them....*be* together, especially after they returned home.

Nick & Sabrina

So, I know from the beginning, we were supposed to believe that Nick and Sabrina had that kind of, Bad Guy, seduces the girl Good Girl, luring her into the dark side, hot, intense, passionate relationship. But their lack of chemistry and really shitty acting just made them really dry (which I get into here). I don’t believe them, and I definitely don’t believe that Sabrina would, once again, break a shit ton of rules to get Nick back. I just don’t buy that they had that kind of an intense, desperately in love, kind relationship, because they do not look all that comfortable around each other, much less in love.

I personally find Sabrina utterly unlikeable as a main character, largely because who IS she? She has no personality, she just does whatever the plot needs her to do in the moment, and the actress makes Sabrina appear smug and unremorseful while she fucks up everyone’s lives. There is a lot of exposition of everyone telling us she’s this power hungry, manipulative character, but we never see that. She just does stuff and everyone is all “Sabrina how could you?!” and there are never, ever any consequences. I would have liked to see her push so hard to get Nick back and the struggle being, sure she wants him back, but mostly she’s doing it because she can. But that’s not what happens.

So Nick ends up in this weird drug addiction, alcohol, sex demon spiral because he has parts of Satan still in him and it all just falls so flat and lame, because this show is SO bad at pacing, and these actors suck, so nothing is believable. The idea of him scrubbing his club foot, having nightmares, suffering PTSD, is fine, the execution was trash. Nick sees Caliban and Sabrina have one interaction and he’s like WELL, GUESS I GOTTA CHEAT. And just ends up in some S&M situation with sex demons and heavily self medicating, but none of this has any weight, and we don’t really see him...spiralling. He just immediately resorts to these things and it has no real impact on anyone or even him really, and that’s it.

Harvey and Roz

Uh, they’re probably the most confusing match here, because there is no lead up to their relationship, there’s not suggestion, there’s no pacing. Just BOOM, we’re into each other now. BOOM, Roz is the only sexually active person in her friend group (lol of course the Black girl is sexually active. Gotta maintain white innocence at all costs), so she’s just ready to jump Harvey’s bones any second now. So of course, the show punishes her by having the pagans turn her to stone. And as if that’s not bad enough...

Which I talk about here and here, because honestly I’m just sick of this show’s antiblackness. Theo & that other guy

So I was watching this unfold like, yeeaahh, they’re gonna make the trans guy get with the enemy aren’t they? And yes, they did. Cool, they didn’t kill him off, but I’m still perplexed at how Theo isn’t even a little upset that this guy was basically sent to infiltrate his friend group and sat by while his people harmed Theo’s friends, and also...used him? Like...we just...are gonna...gloss over that because he changed his mind? Lol ok. Sure.

Mambo Marie and suddenly Zelda?

I...I mean her name is Mambo Marie. I love the idea of Black witches finding Black spirituality and magicks through Vodun and a Hatian Priestess. But they quickly undo that, by ensuring that Mambo Marie only teaches Prudence in the presence of these white witches. And we see her...doing...an African drum circle (eye roll), only to be interrupted by the High Priestess of White Feminism, Zelda Spellman. It quickly devolves into thinly veiled racism where Zelda doesn’t trust Marie because she’s Catholic (says the woman who worships Satan, has an anti Pope and prays to Lilith with the same prayer for Mary mother of Jesus? LOL. Not even unpacking the fact that Vodun is an African spirituality having 0 roots in catholicism WHITE WRITERS). Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Marie and Zelda are a thing for no reason? After the way Zelda treated her? Why did Marie even stay? This isn’t her problem. This is a white witch problem. Okay. That’s too much to unpack.

Plot

So, my biggest problem with almost all Netflix English programming is that they are so obsessed with aesthetics, and don’t pay enough attention to actual character chemistry, plot, story flow, details, pacing etc. Like...things that actually make stories interesting to watch. So they slap all these people together and throw them into aesthetically pleasing backgrounds, shake it up with so much exposition that nothing actually happens, and are like BEHOLD A STORY. And CAOS is *especially* guilty for this.

First of all those musical breaks were annoying as fuck. Musicals serve 2 story functions: advancing the plot or telling a story. These musical numbers did neither and were honestly ridiculously gratuitous, highly annoying and totally pointless.

What time of year is this? Why are we having pep rallies and how the fuck and when did Sabrina and Roz join the cheeleading squad, and why?

for the aesthetics and not for any real plot reason. It just seems stupid because now I don’t know how much time has passed between Nick going to hell and this, because you’re all handling it like it’s been a few weeks and is still relatively fresh, but suddenly, Theo, Harvey and Roz are in a garage band? You’re a cheerleader? For what? Since when? Why? These choices introduce more questions than they answer and serve no narrative purpose. So much wasted time on shit that doesn’t matter.

Sabrina is supposed to be fighting Caliban (who is literally the only person she has chemistry with on this show and they killed him bc ofc they did), for her seat on the throne, and yet the trials only seem to come up when it’s convenient, and also seem to be directly related to her dealings with her coven, which is also convenient. I’m so confused about Satan. His powers come from being a celestial being, and so, because his coven mistreats him he’s like...lol okay, well fuck you guys and goes through all these convoluted small motions to greatly inconvenience them and withdraws his powers? This is so petty and pathetic. Also, what’s the point? He could just wipe them out and start over, instead of skulking around inside FB then suddenly decides to track down Lilith. Again, convoluted. This plot is all over the place. Why does Satan need Sabrina to be Queen of Hell in the first place? He seems perfectly healthy. Why can’t he just rule it? Like...that makes no sense. What is he gonna do? Retire? WHAT is going ON?

How did Sabrina come back in time to herself stuck in stone? Is that trip to Pontius Pilate (lol) supposed to have created a loophole for her to save herself and everyone? This is giving me hardcore Twilight Breaking Dawn vibes, where, the show finally, FINALLY gets interesting, there’s real stakes, shit is actually happening instead of everyone talking about things happening (Hilda ending up killing her fiance was literally the only time I felt something watching this show because it was genuinely sad, and well acted, and Hilda coming through with that doll at the end was pretty disturbing, I’ll give them that), and ofc, Sabrina goes back in time and undoes it all. Lol. Okay. God forbid there be real consequences to anything on this show.

Final thoughts

Once again, the white feminism runs high on this show. They treat this Black Vodun Priestess Marie, like garbage, allude to her “foreign” magic, but Marie is sitting here like “we’re not men, we’re women, let’s work together.” This is why I hate white writers writing for Black characters. Black characters should have Black motivations, and a Black Vodun Priestess, should know that white women and Black women do not have aligned motivations just because they share a gender. Once they started with the bullshit right from her arrival, she should have handed Prudence her card and peaced tf out. Instead she tolerates the isolation, ostracization and thinly veiled racism...and decides to stay, and help. WHY? Marie has gained nothing by sticking around helping these ungrateful ass witches. I honestly would have preferred Prudence asking her to stay to learn more about Vodun, and them building a mentor/mentee type of relationship, especially since Prudence was the one who invited her and stepped to Zelda to defend her. I want(ed) to see that relationship go somewhere. The deliberate denial of healthy Black female friendships on tv is frustrating.

These witches finally finding their power in their ancestors and I donno, some female creator or whatever, reminds me of white women “finding” wicca and praying to “Gaia”, (reminds me of BTVS s4 when Willow joins the wicca group) which is basically what happened but lol okay whatever. I guess they aren’t satanic witches anymore. Lol, I love how Harvey and Roz and Theo are teenagers, human teenagers, who have lead largely normal teenage lives up until this point, but see their loved ones tortured, deformed or murdered in hell, with basically no residual issues, and are all like, YES, let’s roll up on these adults with shotguns and swords and kill the FUCK outta these people!! That absolutely sounds normal! Like...what? Lol. God this is just so bad.

Also, I’m so confused by this aesthetic choice for Sabrina as Queen of Hell. Like what the fuck. Why is she dressed like a Victorian era queen, with shoulder and a broken rib bodice? What?!

This show is truly awful, this season made no more sense than the last two and now that Prudence and Ambrose aren’t together, I might be done watching.

-20/10

#caos season 3 #caos part 3 #caos prudence #prudence x ambrose #prudence night #ambrose spellman #the chilling tales of sabrina #sabrina spellman #caos spoilers #long post #caos review #rosalind walker #mambo marie #zelda spellman #hilda spellman #harvey kinkle #theo putnam

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beyondconfessor · 4 years

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The Infernal Contracts [10/16]

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Lilith/Zelda Spellman

Summary: It had seemed like semantics, but what did demons argue for in their contracts, if not the finer details?

N.B.: Also posted on AO3

Zelda laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling. The memories of last night repeated through her mind, reminding her sharply of every mistake. Her actions had been reckless. She should never have allowed Lilith into her home in the first place, she shouldn't have sat next to her, and she should never have kissed her –– amongst other things.

She almost ruined everything, and for what? Some superfluous addition to her magic?

Not only was she hiding the Dark Lord's involvement from Sabrina (made easier by the fact that her niece was seemingly avoiding her) but she was emotionally and physically binding herself to the self-proclaimed Mother of Demons, expecting to not get bitten as a result.

How many times had she, herself, re-iterated the story of the Scorpian and the Frog to Sabrina, reminding her that hell-beings were never to be trusted.

And here she was, swimming across the river with the scorpion on her back.

No. She needed to terminate the contract before anyone found out.

Climbing out of bed, Zelda bathed and then moved to wardrobe to choose an appropriate outfit. It needed to sufficiently show that, yes she was attractive, no she wasn't attainable, not even by the Mother of Demon. Not any more.

It admittedly took longer than it should have to choose, but finally, she ended up deciding on a pair of tailored high-waisted trousers. This way, there was no skirt hiking, no slipping underneath the material. Lilith would have to get creative to seduce her.

Zelda sat at her dresser, choosing her jewellery carefully before pausing at her rings. She still wore the ring Lilith had provided her. It had felt more comfortable on her right hand than the wedding band did on her left. Fiddling with it, she considered removing it to make her decision apparent.

She turned it three times over and then decided that no. It had been a gift, and if Lilith wanted it back, she would need to ask for it.

Besides, it went with all her clothes––which was a rare find in rings these days.

Rising before the vanity mirrors, she looked herself over, ensuring that she looked desirable and unattainable before she left the room.

First thing first, she would drop in for morning tea with Hilda, having promised her the other day. It would make it easy to check on how Sabrina and Ambrose were doing, and then she would make her leave for Lilith's home afterwards, giving her plenty of time to return to the Academy before dinner.

When she arrived at the Mortuary, Sabrina took one look at her and returned upstairs to her room, under the guise of studying.

"Don't worry about her, love. She's just adjusting to change. We all are," Hilda said as she pushed a cup of tea into her hands.

"Adjusting is one way to put it. She's switched from my classes at the Academy. You'd think that I'd ruined her life rather than saving our family."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry. You know how teenagers are, melodramatic about every slight."

"Certainly true," Zelda agreed as she took a sip of the tea. However, she couldn't help but feel hurt by Sabrina's absence. She'd like nothing more than to move past this, but it seemed that was entirely up to her niece.

It made her less inclined to tell her the truth, knowing that it would be the final straw for Sabrina. However, the longer she held onto it, the worse the outcome would be.

She needed to tell her soon.

"Everything alright, Zelds?" Hilda prompted. "He hasn't…tried anything since Rome?"

Zelda looked up from her tea, shaking her head. "No, we're at a stalemate for the moment. He's liking waiting for an opportune moment to get retaliation, but as so far it seems we're held in a ceasefire." Except for how she was occasionally charming him with dreams to soothe their relationship. Eventually, he'd catch on to that too.

Zelda felt as though she was spinning a vast web, and if she weren't careful, she'd get tangled in her own lies.

"I see. And how did the dinner party go?"

Zelda drew in a breath, trying to forget the kiss she'd shared with the Mother of Demons. Or the feeling of the woman's hand, sliding up her thigh. Or how her body had–– "Quite well, I'll have the books returned to you later, during the week."

"Okay, well, not to push but you're bit with the fairies at the moment. Has something happened?"

Zelda stared at her sister, narrowing her eyes. Before she could assure her sister that she was fine and there was nothing discuss (because there wasn't), the sound of the front door opening and shutting interrupted her.

"Are you expecting someone?"

"I'll go see who that is," Hilda said before running off to the foyer.

Zelda rolled her eyes, drawing a sip of her tea. Within a few moments, Mr Scratch was entering the parlour with a book under his arm. "Lady Blackwood," he greeted politely, with a short nod of his head.

Zelda felt her chest constrict at the name. "Mr Scratch," she greeted. "I take it you're here to visit Sabrina?" she asked, hearing the sound of Hilda's footsteps climbing the many stairs towards Sabrina's bedroom.

"Yes, I…"

"With a book?" she asked, gesturing to it. She watched his hand curl tighter around it.

"Yes, uh. For us to study," Nicholas said, looking awkward as he forcibly tried to relax. Zelda rose, coming to stand before him. Nicholas had the look of a warlock trying to hide something and Zelda did not appreciate men coming into her house with the intention of hiding things from her.

She reached out and took the book, watching as the boy briefly fought her before thinking better of it.

"A book of prophecies?" she asked, turning it over. It seemed amusing at first and then realising that Sabrina was involved and Nicholas Scratch had clearly not wanted her to know his intention, her heart began to sink in her chest. "Why are you bringing a book of prophecies to Sabrina?"

"We're studying prophecies in class," he said in an abysmal attempt to lie.

Zelda narrowed her eyes, coming to stand tall before him. "Try again," she suggested.

Nick drew in a breath, looking over his shoulder as if Sabrina might appear at any moment and help, but her niece was still upstairs, likely arguing with Hilda going by the muffled sounds.

"I will not ask again, Mr Scratch, and I don't think I need to remind you as to just what I would do to ensure Sabrina's safety."

In a rush of words, Nick explained everything. Beginning with Sabrina's party, how Harvey and Theo interrupted and drew them to the mines, how there was a prophecy imprinted there depicting Sabrina of being the Herald of Hell. He went on to say how Sabrina had attempted to speak to Ms Wardwell about this (and Zelda felt herself grow cold at the mention of the teacher), but the woman had been strangely absent from her home, so Nicholas advised that he'd moved to the library for research and had found a footnote prophecy, likely discussing Sabrina.

"Which one?" she asked.

Nicholas reached for the book and turned to the page, pointing to the prophecy.

It took two reads to understands, and then Zelda could feel her growing anger and fury. Not only had Sabrina hidden this from her, but this was the goal the Dark Lord had planned.

How fucking dare he.

She snapped the book shut and looked at Nicholas. "Thank you, Mr Scratch," she said, schooling her features. "I appreciate honesty in this house." And then she reached out and placed her hand on his left shoulder, staring into his eye. "But I think you should forget this. After all, you're here to see Sabrina and help her study, are you not?"

The thrum of magic shot through her hand and Zelda watched as Nicholas' eyes became foggy, the spell eating at the memory until it turned to dust. "Sorry, could you say that again?" he asked.

Zelda smiled, drawing her hand away. "I said it's lovely that you came here to help Sabrina study. I expect she has a lot to catch up on with her new classes."

"Ah, yes," Nicholas nodded, turning to look over his shoulder at the sounds of Sabrina approaching. "She's doing well, though."

"I expect nothing less," Zelda said. "Now, if you don't mind, I have some business to attend to."

Zelda left, exiting out of the parlour to the foyer just as Sabrina was coming down the stairs. Zelda considered confronting her about the so-called Herald of Hell mosaic, but bit her tongue instead and smiled politely to her and Hilda both.

"You're leaving already?" Hilda asked. "I thought we might have a spot of lunch?"

"I'm afraid I have some business to attend to."

"Oh, is that why you're so dressed up?" Hilda asked.

"So you're off to some date with his Unholy eminence?" Sabrina snarked.

Zelda felt a sharp comment rise in her throat and then thought better of it. The last thing she needed to do was place any more kindling on that fire burning inside of Sabrina. Given everything that was revealed, no doubt her niece had an amount of pent-up rage, and instead of thoughtfully managing it like an adult, she decided that picking fights were a better use of her time.

"Goodbye. Enjoy your afternoons," Zelda said, before exiting out of the Mortuary to where her car was.

She placed the book of prophecy on the passenger seat before closing the driver's door and starting the car. Her own fury began to burn inside of her as she thought over the prophecy's words again, and what they meant.

Lilith raising her niece to be the Dark Lord's Herald was one thing, possibly something she could view as an honour if it were to happen far in the future, once Sabrina had completed her education. But the prophecy was advising that Sabrina was to sit at his side on the throne, and there was no way in Heaven she would allow her niece to become some child bride. Not to the Dark Lord, nor to anyone for that matter.

Did Lilith know? Was this her true intentions?

No, Zelda couldn't believe it. And yet, it made more sense than she wanted it to.

Arriving at the cottage on the edge of the forest, Zelda parked the car. She took two deep breaths, deciding to get answers first and then seek retribution, before exiting the vehicle.

Clutching the book of prophecy to herself, Zelda walked up to the house and rapped her knuckles onto the front door.

She heard the muffled sound of heels clicking from inside and then the lock turned, the door opening wide for Lilith to lean against the frame and run her eyes over Zelda's body. "Miss me?"

Zelda pushed past the woman into her home. She was too angry (and admittedly a fair amount of worked up) to engage in flirting. Setting the book of prophecy down on the table, she pointed to it and raised her eyebrows at the woman. "Did you know?"

"Did I know…what?" Lilith asked dryly.

"Did you know that about the prophecy?" she hissed.

Lilith's eyes narrowed, all amusement fading as she stepped closer and picked up the book, going to where the page had been bookmarked.

Zelda studied her expression, watching it harden into a neutral mask as she traced her fingers over the footnote prophecy (someone didn't want it to be noticed, but it was stated that all predictions must be written down). "I didn't know about this one," Lilith said as she looked up, snapping the book shut. All playfulness had left the woman, and for the first time since Zelda had met her, Lilith looked unsettled.

No, she couldn't believe her because a few muscles pulled in a particular expression.

"So the miracles, the exorcism, fixing the mortal friend's blindness, that wasn't at your direction?" Zelda asked. "Because I distinctly recall you sauntering into my home-"

"Obviously, that was me, but I didn't know it would––" She cut herself off, drawing in a deep breath. "I thought she was to replace my position as the right hand, which would allow me to ascend to the throne. But obviously not." Zelda watched as the woman's lips pressed tightly, a familiar rage building and then simmering inside of her. "You don't need to believe me, but it is the truth."

"You didn't know?" Zelda asked

"Why would I throw away everything I worked for to some child?" she snapped and then recoiled, looking around the woman as if aware that someone might be listening. "I didn't lie to you, Zelda."

"How am I meant to believe that?"

Lilith gave her a tired look. "Do I need to repeat myself?"

Zelda closed her eyes, feeling a pulling headache surface. She didn't want to believe Lilith, and yet the idea of her stepping aside for Sabrina willingly seemed...wrong.

"Does she know about this?"

Zelda thought better of admitting the entire truth, (there was safety in ignorance after all) and instead stated, "This prophecy was discovered by Mr Scratch who's conveniently forgotten all about it for the moment, so we have time."

"When did this occur?"

"Only moments before I left for here."

Lilith stared at Zelda before a slow smile graced her lips. "And you came rushing to me with the book?"

Zelda flushed, discomforted by the change in mood, knowing where it was likely to go. "I was already planning to visit if you recall. We have matters to discuss. And I came here to accuse you, not do whatever you're inferring."

"Is that so?" Lilith set the book on the table and stepped towards Zelda. "And what 'matters' do we have to discuss?"

Zelda resisted the urge to step back, refusing to allow herself to be corned again. "The contract for one, and that I need to reclaim Leviathan."

"Of course," Lilith nodded, now standing terribly close. "And what problems with the contract do you have?"

"I want to end it."

"I told you, you can end it whenever you desire to." Lilith's hand had begun playing with the collar of Zelda's blouse, smoothing it across her chest, so it sat flush. The touch was innocent enough, but it was pulling a strange desire in Zelda's chest, a longing for the fingers to draw against her skin. "Is that why you came here, to close our contract? Or did you perhaps come here in want of fixing a little problem?"

"I want it to end," Zelda said, but the words had thickened with arousal.

Lilith's smirk widened, "Ending this has nothing to do with want."

Zelda blinked, going to argue that she had explicitly stated only moments ago that contact was about her want to exit from it––and then Zelda realised that no, she hadn't. When they initiated the contract, Lilith had stipulated it was about desiring to leave, not wanting. Panic grew inside of her. "What do you mean it's not about 'want?"

"Oh, I think you know," Lilith said as she tilted her head to look at her. Her fingers began trailing down her blouse, over Zelda's ribs, down to her waist where the trousers rested. "Tell me, Zelda, do you desire to end our contract?" Lilith was leaning forward now, one hand pressing flush against her abdomen, the other coming to curl over the waist of her pants. "Be honest."

It had seemed like semantics, but what did demons argue for in their contracts, if not the finer details?

She drew a breath, feeling the woman's fingers begin to undo the top of the slacks, flicking the button undone.

She wanted the consequence of this relationship to cease. She wanted the desperation she felt when she was near the woman to disappear. She wanted to be lying in bed at night without daydreaming of Lilith next to a man she didn't care for. She wanted to wake up and not feel the sudden longing in her chest. Satan save her, she wanted so many things.

But the ending of this infernal contract? She was at war with herself, knowing that it would likely destroy her and knowing with great certainty that she would happily allow it to if it meant Lilith would look at her like she had last night.

The woman was everywhere in her thoughts. Zelda may not want it, but she did crave the woman's presence in her life. Her touch, her perfume, her voice. May Hell forgive her, she wanted to hear Lilith moan her name again.

"Lilith," she husked. "This will not end well for us."

"Few things do for women like you and me."

The quiet sat with those words, Lilith holding her waist firmly, looking up at her with wide blue eyes, asking her to say the words and Zelda looking down at her, feeling them on her tongue.

She should tell her no, tell her that she couldn't. That she must return to Sabrina and advise her of this prophecy, she must protect the Blackwood children. But her heart was pounding, and Lilith's hands felt as if they were made to hold her.

"Come now, Zelda, say the words," Lilith purred. "You may even get a reward."

"I want you," Zelda admitted. "I yearn for you every other moment of the day and right now all I want, all I desire, is to fall at your knees and worship you."

Lilith's eyes darkened with arousal, before she slipped her heels off, kicking them away. And then she slowly knelt onto her knees before Zelda, as if she were about to pray.

Zelda had only a moment to prepare herself, before she watched the woman's mouth part, her teeth catching the tab of the zipper from her pants, pulling it down with more eroticism than any one person had a right to.

Zelda couldn't recall the last time a lover had been on their knees before her, and as Lilith pulled down her pants, Zelda was sure she'd never been more aroused in her life. She couldn't think to say anything, only stare at the woman with awe as the woman's hands drew up her bare legs, coming to rest on her thighs.

Lilith held for a moment, looking up as if waiting for Zelda to say or do something –– when no response was summoned, she leant forward and pressed her mouth to Zelda's sex, her tongue slipping between her folds and tasting the growing arousal. Zelda moaned, feeling a rush of electricity run down her spine with each slow, firm stroke.

Zelda reached out and drew her hands through the thick mane of hair, encouraging her closer, and as Lilith's pace increased, she found herself falling back against the wall of the room, one hand curling tighter in Lilith's hair, as the other pressed against the wall, trying to hold herself steady.

"Lilith," she whined, feeling the tongue curl against her. "Lilith I-" the praise cut off in a strangled gasp as she looked down to find Lilith's eyes watching her. She knew the woman was smirking between her thighs, absolutely enjoying the hedonistic indulgence she was placing on her.

Zelda stifled a moan, her hand tightening in the woman's hair, eyes squeezing shut as she felt the wave ebb closer. Her body clenched and released, an exhaled breath barely leaving her before she was inhaling again in short-sharp gasps as Lilith began sucking on her clit.

"Satan in Heaven," Zelda hissed as she felt the wave rise, the climax within reach — and then Lilith was pulling away from her, and the Zelda felt as if she was falling.

No, she was falling.

Zelda gasped, her legs tumbling out from under her as she was tugged to the ground, thrown onto her back before Lilith straddled her torso, just over her clavicle, so the weight of her made it difficult to breathe.

Lilith looked down at her, grinning as if she was so delighted that Zelda had defied her. "Here I was offering you a grand prize, and you brought Him into it," Lilith tsked. "I thought I taught you better than that."

"I…" Zelda tried to speak, but the woman's fingertips pressed to her lips, a warning look in her eyes.

"Oh no, language like that will need to be punished." And then Zelda watched as the woman slipped off her clothes, the lingerie underneath being tugged of far faster than Zelda would like. "But I don't know if you really learnt your lesson last time, so I've decided that you're going to be a good girl and use your mouth until such a time as I think of a good lesson. Understood?"

Zelda nodded.

"Now, little witch, open up."

Zelda stared up at the woman, wondering if she was serious about the theatrics, before deciding very quickly that she was.

She parted her lips, looking up at the woman with raised eyebrows. Lilith grinned from above before pushing up onto her knees. There was a moment where she adjusted herself, moving her legs on either side of Zelda's body before she curled her hand into Zelda's hair.

"Remember, no sooner," she said, her tone carrying a warning.

Zelda lifted her head between the woman's thighs and obeyed. She drew her tongue over the woman, tasting the sweet arousal.

Lilith was quiet in pleasure, restrained almost (which only annoyed Zelda as she knew the woman was deliberately holding back her contentment). When she came, it was with a deep breath she held in her lungs, as her hips rocked against Zelda's face. The hand in Zelda's hair grew tight and then loose before she let go altogether and then exhaled with a warm chuckle as she looked down at Zelda.

"You know, I don't think I've thought of anything yet," Lilith said to her. "I hope you have nowhere else to be because you're all mine until I'm done."

Zelda grinned up at her, feeling the chuckle rise. The truth was, at this moment, there was nothing in her thoughts but Lilith. Lilith's body, Lilith's voice. She wanted to worship it all.

Her hands drew up the warm legs, as the sex lowered over her mouth again. She had places to be, she couldn't stay here for all eternity, and yet she wanted to, desired to.

It was as if she was in the most divine worship, and there was nothing that could make her leave this moment.

#lilith #zelda spellman #zelith #madam spellman #caos fanfic #morgan writes #morgans fics

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mirandalinotto · 3 years

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Oh my god it’s so beautiful! I’m obsessed with hurt/comfort and this fic hits me right in the heart! I absolutely love it! This replaces canon! Zelda’s inability to sleep and hyper-awareness fits her character and the situation so well. And the fact that she can have sex, but can’t share a bed with Marie also fits, especially considering it’s that bed in that room where so many terrible things have happened. I love that between Hilda’s sweet efforts and Marie’s presence Zelda felt warm and

(continued) safe enough to take her to the bedroom. That alone is a huge step! But once there, it makes sense that she gets swallowed up by the memories and has to fight to push through them. It breaks my heart to think that she did force herself to push through them and continued making love to Marie, but again, it’s very Zelda. Her memories of having to pretend to be under Blackwood’s control literally made me feel ill. I could see and hear it in my mind and that just shows the power of your writing.

Zelda being unable to play it off when Marie accidentally scares her and feeling like it is a failure for it is so heartbreakingly accurate to our self-loathing Zelda. Marie responding with such gentleness and understanding was everything though. She came in at just the right moment (if not in the right way) to pull Zelda out of her spiraling and to provide her with the comfort she needed. I love that she asks what Zelda needs, giving Zelda control, and the way she stays close without touching as Zelda explained what was wrong. She also doesn’t try to ‘solve’ it or ‘fix’ things in the way so many well-meaning people often do, she just offers Zelda her support and comfort. And Zelda explaining that she wanted to keep what’s between them free from the darkness just shattered my heart! She wants one thing to be safe and untainted! Something that can be hers to enjoy without Faustus and his cruelty being able to touch it. It breaks my heart that Marie is right, the darkness is a part of her and she can’t keep Marie from it if she wants a true relationship with her.

Zelda mirroring others as a way of protecting herself from her father’s wrath is such a powerful reminder that the trauma she’s trying to drink away isn’t just from Blackwood, it isn’t just from Lucifer, it goes back to her earliest days. Even as a young girl never got to feel entirely safe or comfortable and the message she received was that it was her fault, something she was doing wrong, that caused her trauma which is a lesson we know that she learned too well. Zelda accepting Marie’s comforting embrace is just such a moment of relief! I love it! The trust she shows Marie, not only by accepting a hug, but also by sharing a little of what is distressing her, is beautiful! (And the mention of Hilda holding her hand and being able to ground her is just so sweet and everything I need! You know how much I love their relationship and to see that Zelda finds so much comfort in her sister’s presence makes my heart swell!) Marie offering to sing and Zelda’s grumbling acceptance was so sweet and it ended things with a softness and a lightness that I needed!

Did I go overboard with this comment? Yes. Did I say half of what I wanted to convey? No 😂 But I what I most want to say is that I love seeing Zelda’s trauma acknowledged and seeing her receive the love and comfort she deserves! Thank you for this beautiful fic!!

These messages about a consummation devoutly to be wished made my heart so happy! I really can’t thank you enough for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. It helps improve my writing, and it makes me feel like I’m actually doing some things right!

I’ve struggled to write Zarie since Part Four aired, but pretending as if it didn’t happen solved a lot of my problems! I am desperate for Zelda to get the care and support that she so clearly needs, and I’m glad that I appear to have succeeded, at least a little, in delivering the hurt/comfort that so many of us wish had happened in canon.

It was definitely important to me that Marie let Zelda speak, and didn’t try to “fix things.” She asked Zelda what she needed, and was sure not to overstep--at least not after that initial moment where she unintentionally startled Zelda.

The mirroring is something I stole from Miranda’s body language, as opposed to Zelda’s, but I do think it fits. When Miranda pulled her legs up to mirror the comedian in the “joke” interview, it struck me as an interesting quirk, and I’ve been wanting to incorporate that into a fic ever since. It makes sense that Zelda would use it as a survival mechanism, as I think canon very much implies that Edward was the golden child, and Hilda was the baby, so where did that leave Zelda? I imagine it wasn’t a particularly happy or healthy childhood, especially considering the blatant misogyny in the Church of Night.

And I’m so glad you liked the little detail about Zelda being able to sleep in the room when Hilda was with her. I wish canon had done more to address how traumatic being in that bedroom again might be for Zelda, but alas, it’s up to the fans to acknowledge trauma, because RAS certainly doesn’t.

Thanks again for this lovely review! Your comments never fail to lift me up and encourage me to keep going. Thanks a million.

#zelda spellman #marie lafleur #zarie

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the-hilda-librarians-wife · 4 years

Text

Family Fights - Chapter Eight

Summary: Even the strongest bond, the most loving family, can be broken by nightmares, and the librarian is soon to learn this. As she learns sinister things about a person who she had thought was lost forever, she realizes she will need the help of another witch to get her family back.

Notes: Credit for the marra’s name goes to @hilda-fanblog (I think). Also sorry for how long this took, I was freaking out because of school *screams*

(chpt1) (chpt2) (chpt3) (chpt4) (chpt5) (chpt6) (chpt7) (chpt8)

The day was sunny with a light breeze, the kind of weather that made people joyous, more likely to do things to please others. That served Frida perfectly: the happier people were, the more inclined they were to buy her cookies.

She stopped in front of a yellow door, taking the time to straighten her uniform before knocking. As soon as the door was open, she began her speech with a smile on her lips.

“Good morning! My name is Frida, and I’m here in the name of the Sparrow Scouts. Would you be interested in-”

As soon as she looked up to make eye contact with her potential buyer, the carefully rehearsed words got stuck on her throat. With a look of disdain on her face, the marra who had tormented David stood at the doorway. Frida recognized her, and she knew the marra had recognized her too.

“Get on with it.” She said, her voice the same emotionless sound that Frida remembered it to be. Struck as she was by the shock, she briefly considered asking one of the other Sparrow Scouts who were accompanying her that day to speak for her, but none of them felt as comfortable doing the talking. Besides, Frida didn’t want to let her think she’d scared her.

As soon as that sale was done, though (and who would have thought that nightmare spirits enjoyed scout cookies?), Frida did excuse herself, telling the other scouts that she wasn’t feeling all too well and that she’d better go home for the day. In reality, she ran as fast as her legs would take her to Hilda’s house.

Hilda hadn’t said much about what was going on between her and the librarian. She and David did know that she was being trained in witchcraft, but when they asked her what that had to do with the Marra, and why the librarian was interested in her becoming a witch, she’d always say that it wasn’t her secret to tell. The two friends respected that. They knew Hilda trusted them and wanted to tell them, but if she felt like she couldn’t, then they’d respect it.

But as little as she knew about the matter, she was sure she’d just found out relevant information: where the Marra lived.

_#_#_#_

As soon as she’d seen Frida out of the house, Hilda turned to her mum. Johanna had silently heard the conversation between the two girls, looking at the ground while Frida told them what she had seen. Before she even closed the door, Johanna knew what Hilda wanted, and Hilda knew just as well that her mother was aware of it.

“Mum.” She said, walking closer with Twig at her heels. “I need your help.”

Sighing, Johanna let herself fall to the couch, her torso leaning forward as she supported her forearms on her tights. Even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to deny Hilda her aid, she still felt like she should try to talk some sense into her.

“Hilda… it’s dangerous.” She argued. “Besides, I can’t just break in.”

“But I’m not asking you to!” Sitting down next to her mum, she touched her back in an attempt to ease Johanna into agreeing with her. “You could just knock and… ask if they have sugar!”

Johanna lifted an eyebrow, skeptical. “Sugar?”

“Yeah! Just go over there with an excuse to talk. You could go during school hours. Even the marra needs to go to school.” Hilda rubbed her chin. “Or at least I think they do.”

Sighing, Johanna leaned back against the back of the couch, evaluating her situation. She had no experience with magic except for that which she got from Hilda’s adventurers. If there was anything dangerous in the house, she would not be able to deal with it. And for the same reason, she might not even be able to discern what would be useful for them or not.

While she was thinking about the matter, with Hilda looking expectantly at her, she felt something tickle her ear. Turning her gaze to her right to see what it was, she realized that the two of them hadn’t been alone in the living room.

“I could go with you” Alfur said, his hand still resting on her earlobe, where he’d touched her to call for her attention. “With the marra away, it shouldn’t be too hard to look around for information”

Hilda took the cue to clasp her hands in front of her heart in a pleading gesture, leaning towards her mother. “Please, mum. You two could really find something useful there. Just think about how happy Maven will if you bring her something about the marra that she doesn’t know yet…”

Sighing audibly, Johanna let her shoulders drop. “Fine. I’ll go tomorrow, while you are at school.”

“Thank you so much!” Hilda threw herself on her mother’s lap and hugged her, feeling Johanna wrap her arms around her and return the embrace. “You’re the best.”

_#_#_#_

Johanna shifted her weight anxiously from foot to foot, trying to squash the second thoughts she was having. She needed to do this for Hilda. If they could find anything that would make the spell easier, or maybe safer, then she had to take it.

“Ready?” She asked Alfur, who was holding to the neck of her sweater. When he gave her a nod, she raised her hand and knocked three times on the yellow door. Just when she was beginning to think there was no one home, a dark haired woman answered.

“Good morning!” She said with a smile. It put Johanna more at ease - at least the woman didn’t look like she was going to attack her or morph into a nightmare spirit herself. “May I help you?”

“Yes, actually! I’m new to the neighborhood, and I was wondering if we could get to know each other a little better.” She went through her memorized speech, which she’d been repeating to herself all over the walk to the house. Technically, it wasn’t a lie, and she felt happy about how natural she had sounded.

“How lovely!” The woman exclaimed while she moved away from the door frame to allow Johanna in. “Of course, my dear, of course. i was just about to have some tea, so why don’t you seat down while I put the kettle on?”

As soon as she had turned her back to her, Johanna furtively looked around for a place to drop Alfur at. He pointed to a coat hanger, from where she imagined he could slide all the way down to the floor or hop onto some other furniture. They had already agreed that if Alfur finished his search while Johanna was still in the house, he would come right back to her: but if not, Johanna would be waiting for him outside, by the corner of the block.

With this matter settled, Johanna soon was sitting down with the woman in a small table out on the back garden, where she kept cages of domestic birds. She was amazed at first by the vibrant colours of the animals, certain that many of them weren’t from their country, but then amazement gave way to distraughtness when they began singing at the top of their lungs. It sounded more like a cry for help than a melody, and Johanna had to stop herself from opening the cages of her hostess’s pets.

While the tea was being made, the woman, who had introduced herself as Loren Holt, asked her basic questions about how long she’d been living in Trolberg and what had been the reason for her coming to the town. She’d had to think fast to come up with an answer other than “house smashed by giants”, but overall it had been pleasant enough conversation.

Finally, as they sat down with steaming cups of mint tea, Johanna felt like she could begin digging for clues. It was very easy to find out the Loren was married and with a kid, who were both away at the moment. She could only imagine that it had been the daughter who opened the door to Frida, so she used the excuse of being a mother as well to show an interest in her.

Jade was a lovely girl, Loren said. She had many friends and was always ready to help people. She did well in school and still found time for family. As her mother described her, Johanna began to wonder if that was really the person she was looking for. A girl like that couldn’t possibly be a nightmare spirit, could she?

“She sounds delightful. You must be really proud.”

“I am” Loren nodded with a smile on her face.

“If that’s okay, could I see a picture of her?”

“Of course!” She said, getting up and asking for Johanna to wait for a second. Walking inside the house, she soon returned with a portrait on her hands.

“Here it is.” Johanna took the frame from her hands, its intricate metal pattern feeling cold under her fingertips. “It’s a recent family portrait.”

The girl in the middle, standing between two adults, looked exactly like Hilda had described. Blond pigtails, pale skin, and a frown on her face. Jade didn’t look at all happy to be there, and she seemed obviously misplaced; both her parents had shining smiles on their faces. Loren’s husband was a tall man with brown skin and dark hair, and dimples that appeared with his smile.

Johanna frowned. Jade looked nothing like them. She could have inherited her skin colour from her mother, but her hair colour was still completely different from what one would expect from the child of that couple. Not only that, but also her facial characteristics weren’t present on her parents either. She supposed she could have inherited her father’s lips, but the resemblance ended there.

“Forgive me, I don’t mean to be rude, but is Jade adopted?” Johanna asked, trying her best to sound curious and not suspicious. “My Hilda is adopted too.”

“Adopted?” Loren chuckled. “Oh, no! She’s our very blood.”

Biting her bottom lip, Johanna ran her fingers gently across the thin glass that protected the picture. “Are her grandparents blond, then?”

Loren laughter again, amused at the thought. “They’re most certainly not.”

It didn’t make much sense. Jade could have dyed her hair, but if that was the case, then certainly her mother would have mentioned it upon noticing Johanna’s confusion, and it still didn’t explain why they didn’t look alike. Johanna’s swallows back a sigh. This was proving to be trickier than she’d thought it would be. Besides, she realized she was being very indelicate to Loren.

“I’m sorry for all those questions, Mrs. Holt.” She apologized, giving the woman the picture back. “I was just… under the impression that she didn’t look much like you.”

Before Johanna could add that now she could see the resemblance, Loren fixed her stare on her, hard and unyielding, unlike the softness her eyes had carried throughout their meeting until that point. To Johanna’s horror, a strand of steam began to rise from her head.

“Well, you can’t have taken a good look.” Her voice was an octave lower than usual, and she spoke in a monotone. “She looks exactly like us.”

Then, the smoke suddenly stopped rising and she blinked a few times, looking like her normal self when she opened her eyes again.

“Oh, look at that!” She squeaked. “I didn’t even bring any scones!”

Johanna watched Loren walk back into her house, pressing herself against the back of her chair and breathing heavily due to the fright. Whatever was happening in this house, it was worse than she’d imagined.

_#_#_#_

“Smoke you say? That’s a typical sign of enchantment, you know.”

“Enchantment?” Hilda squealed as she sat in the couch next to Alfur.

In the end, the elf had finished his search sooner than Johanna, who’d stayed and made small talk with mrs. Holt for a long while, even if she was not fully recovered from what had happened. When she noticed Alfur climbing the table, she politely excused herself, thanking Loren for the time and saying she had a meeting to get to.

Now that Hilda was back from school, she had asked Johanna to tell her everything that happened. She’d said about the portrait, the girl’s unhappiness, the nonexistent resemblance between them, and she’d finally gotten to Loren’s reaction when she pointed that out. Alfur had been trying to get a word since Johanna had began her story, and now that he had a chance to speak, he took it.

“It’s what I’ve been trying to say!” He exclaimed. “The girl’s room is packed with information on magic. Sheets and more sheets of paper with spells, and most of them on manipulation! I would bet my favorite pen, and do realize that I do not sniff at my favorite pen, that this marra put a spell on that couple to convince them that she is their daughter!”

Hilda gasped quietly while Johanna frowned, astonished at the possibility. It was such an evil thing to do that she couldn’t bring herself to believe that a teenager would do it. Still, it made sense. There had been no pictures of Jade in the house in which she didn’t have the same age as she did now. Besides, it would explain why Loren had such a positive view of her when everything indicated she wasn’t that outstanding at all.

“But where would her actual parents be, then?” Johanna asked, pacing around the kitchen while she thought. “Why wouldn’t she be with them? If she can make someone believe she’s their daughter, surely she could get away with the marra activity.”

“Maybe she didn’t want to do this to them. Enchantment can have harmful consequences to the bespelled.” Alfur suggested.

“Maybe she ran away!” Said Hilda. “Like Myra. Maven told me once that her sister left them because of ‘opposing ideas’, whatever that means. Maybe it was the same with Jade.”

Johanna stopped her pacing suddenly, her back perfectly straight as she realized how important this information could be.

“Maven.” She said, walking to the small wooden table near the sofa, where their telephone was. “She needs to know.”

_#_#_#_

Maven had been checking out books when her cellphone rang. It took her some time to pick up, as she couldn’t simply drop the task and leave the patron in front of her waiting for his books, but she sped her pace up when she saw who was calling.

As soon as the young boy was gone with his books, leaving her alone in the circulation desk, she took the phone to her ears with anticipation and a small smile pulling on her lips. She’d barely had time to say hello before Johanna spoke, in a secretive and worried voice.

“Maven, there’s something you need to know.”

#fic: family fights #my fic #the hilda librarian #hilda fanfic #the hilda librarian fanfic #hilda johanna fanfic #hilda's mum #the marra #the marra fanfic

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