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sixpossumsinatrenchcoat · 1 month

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Natural Satellite [ch 11]

An In Stars and Time AU. In ch 11, Sif & Isa talk to the rest of the party. Loop gets dragged into their mess. You can start from ch 1 here.

“Okay, so." Isabeau clears his throat. "We, uh. We… have something to tell you.” Sif turns to him, aghast. “You didn’t already tell them?” “W-Well!! I’m new to this!! So it didn’t really feel like my place? And, and—and isn’t that what Loop is for?” “Oh, is that what you thought?” Loop lets out a tinkling little laugh. “Oh, Fighter. That’s adorable. But I’m afraid you were mistaken. I’m here for my stardust. Exclusively. Angry mobs are way above my paygrade.” “I wouldn’t say that I'm angry,” Mira says uncertainly. “More… confused?” “I’m vexed, at worst,” M’dame Odile weighs in. “Though I wouldn’t take ‘angry’ off the table.”

Isa gets to Bonnie just a few minutes after you do.

You’d expected him to be noisier than you. Messier. It’s Isa, after all. He’s not an actor or a liar. But he watches you stammer excuses at (a very disoriented) Bonnie without saying a word. His face is pale, his eyes rimmed with red. He must have cried the whole way here. But now that he’s here, he’s gone utterly silent.

* * *

“Sif,” he says hoarsely, when you’re finally strong enough to walk away.

You look at him.

“We can’t keep this a secret anymore.”

“But—”

“Sif,” he says again. He’s pale as a corpse, but there's no hesitation in his voice. “If we couldn’t stop that, then we—we can’t be responsible for this. Not alone. Not if there’s any chance we could do better by telling the others.”

“But they’ll—”

Isa shakes his head. “I-I’m sorry, Sif, but I’m not asking.”

Huh. You’re not sure you’ve ever seen Isa put his foot down like this. It’s… disconcerting.

“Okay,” you mumble. Okay, okay, okay, this is—yeah. Yeah. Yes. You can definitely see where he’s coming from. If you can’t even protect Bonnie, then what are you good for? “Okay, I—”

You hesitate. You know it’s what you deserve, but… you don’t want them to hate you.

“…You really want to tell them everything?”

“I mean, yeah? Yes.”

Like it’s that simple.

For Isabeau, it probably is. He just got here. He’s not the one who’s been lying to his famil— to his allies for months and months and months of the same miserable day. Taking their trust and forging it into a blade to swing at them.

You clear your throat. “How?”

“We don’t really need a game-plan, do we? Surely we can just… talk? To our friends? Like normal people?”

Ha ha. Of course. Like normal people.

Isabeau’s head tilts. “How would you go about it?”

Well. You already know how you’d go about it, because it literally just happened, like, three loops ago. You’d just foist it off on Loop.

“Ohhh,” Isa realizes. “You’d make Loop do it.”

“...Maybe I wouldn’t.”

“You’re right, though,” he says seriously. “They’re part of this too.”

Ah. Well. The only problem with that is, if you show up at Loop’s tree with your entire party in tow, you’re pretty sure that they might actually kill you. To get out of the conversation, if not just to be petty. “Um. I think I maybe have to warn them first.”

“Okay! Yeah, that makes sense! So you’ll go warn Loop, and I’ll talk to the others.”

Hm. That doesn’t sound so bad. It gets you out of talking to the others. And there’s no one easier to talk to than Loop. “…Okay.”

“Okay?”

You nod. “Okay.”

“Okay!!!” Isa musters the briefest flicker of a smile. “Then I’ll— Or, I guess, we’ll see you at the Favor Tree.”

* * *

When you get to their Tree, Loop is nowhere to be found. But you traveled alone for years before you fell in with the best chef cooker in Vaugarde. You know how to track prey.

They didn’t have time to go far. Just a short stretch down the hillside, across a stream and behind a thicket of… blackberries, you think, though it’s hard to tell out of season.

You find Loop sitting on a tree stump, drumming their heels against the trunk.

“There you are.”

You’d expected a reaction. A flicker of surprise, at least. But when Loop looks up, their face is utterly resigned. They hold their stare for just long enough to spike your anxiety before turning away. “Haha. Yes, well. Here I am.”

“Um. We were… Or, I mean.” You scuff your feet in the dirt. “I… wanted to introduce you to my friends?”

“Oh, did you???” Loop asks brightly. “Fascinating!!! Because—and do forgive my ignorance—from where I’m sitting, it looks like you wanted to keep me to yourself until you had an ugly job you didn’t want to deal with.”

Ah. Well. Yes. That is technically also true. “But—”

“No!!!” Their face flares so bright that you can’t even see their glare. Then they let out their breath and the brilliance recedes, leaving you blinking the spots out of your eyes. “No. I don’t care. I’m not here to clean up your messes! I’m not interested and I’m not going, so don’t bother asking.”

You don’t bother asking. You’ll carry them the whole way if you have to. If you’re really going to tell your family about how you’ve been manipulating them this entire time, you are absolutely not going to do it alone.

“No,” they breathe, eyes widening, as you drop into a fighting stance. “No, come on, be reasonable—”

A half-second later, you collide with their chest like something launched out of a trebuchet.

“Excuse me!!!!” Loop sputters, clawing at your arms. “Are you a wild animal?? Did no one ever teach you how to argue like a normal blinding person??”

“You said not to ask.”

They try to twist free but you’ve got them backed against a tree, so there’s nowhere to go.

“We don’t have to fight about this,” you inform them. “Just come with me.” In your honest opinion, they’re being a little ridiculous. It’s not like it’s Loop that everyone’s going to hate. The only villain in this story is you.

You dig your elbow a little deeper into their throat, just to drive the point home.

Loop gives you a saccharine smile. “Aww. Did you really think I had to breathe?”

They hoist themself off the ground with both hands and slam their heels into your chest, knocking you back into the leaf litter. Before you can scramble out of reach, they’re already on you.

“You’re being sooooo~ stupid about this,” they purr. “You think dragging me into your mess will help you? No. No. You’re a joke to me. Your logic is a joke. And, stardust~~? If you bring those puppets here, I swear on all the Stars, I will kill them. Oh, they’ll come back!” they add, with a tinkling little giggle. “But you’ll remember. You’ll know what you did.”

“Why???”

“None of your business!!!”

When they shift their weight to get a better angle, you slip a foot around their ankle and hook your knee around their hip and flip them on their back. Loop takes the time to wink at you before spitting sparks in your eyes, taking advantage of your momentary blindness to slam their elbow into your nose. You hear something crr-rnch. The impact rings in your ears, floods your mouth with copper. When they twist around to gain the advantage, you're too dizzy to stop them.

You’re still tussling blind when you hear your name.

“Sif?” It’s Isa’s voice, muffled by the trees. “Loop? Are you guys there?”

You open your mouth to answer but before you can get a word out, Loop stuffs their whole hand in your mouth. You bite down, hard. Viscous fluid spills down your chin, fizzes on your tongue.

“Ow!!! Are you a rabid dog???”

You bare your teeth at them. “I don’t understand why you’re being so difficult!!”

“Aaaahhhahahahhhha! Of course you don’t!! How could you!?”

“You could tell me!!”

They lean in even closer, slamming their forehead against yours. “Learn to read between the lines!!!”

You try to flip them over but it’s like they know all the same tricks, only better. You’re still scrabbling for purchase when they slide your knife out of its sheath and press the blade to the side of your throat, right where you always make the cut. You take care of your tools. It barely takes any force at all to slice through cartilage and bone.

“Do it,” you taunt. “I'll be back in five minutes.” You could do this for days. Weeks. It’s a nice change of pace. And it’s exhilarating.

“You think I won't?” Tracing your jugular with the point of your blade.

“Then do it.”

Loop presses down harder, till you feel the characteristic sting of breaking skin. Warmth trickles down your neck. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you.”

“Would you?”

Loop digs the knife in deeper. “I can think of nothing I’d like more.”

Maybe you shouldn’t understand that, but you do. You don’t like getting killed by the King. You don’t like getting crushed by the rock-trap or carved open by a Sadness, but you don’t think you’d mind getting killed by Loop. Loop knows you. They’d know what it meant. It wouldn’t feel any different than dying by your own hand.

“Loop,” you breathe, as they lean in closer.

“Stardust~~?”

“Are we gonna kiss?”

Loop jerks back like they’ve been burned.

“What is wrong with you???” They give you a revolted glare before flitting to their feet and brushing themself off, still shuddering. “Stars above, you are such a little narcissist!!”

“Like you’re one to talk,” you snort, reaching up to pluck the last few leaves still lodged in the miasma of their surface.

Loop huffs a bitter laugh. “What do you need me for, anyway? They’re not going to trust a—” Their face tightens. “A total stranger. Not everyone’s as stupid as you, teehee!”

“But you’re better at explaining.”

“That’s why?” Loop tries and fails to hold back a startled little giggle. “There’s not even anything to explain!! ‘We’re stuck in a time loop.’ There, I wrote the whole script for you.”

“But you’re…” You don’t know how to say it. What did Isa say, again? “You’re… part of this? You’re here, too.”

Loop turns away. “Haha. Well. I guess I am.”

* * *

When you stagger back to your Tree, you’re both worse for the wear. Your surface is cracked and pockmarked, void-fluid and starlight seeping through the seams. Your stardust, of course, is leaking much more conventional blood. It’s drying in the corners of his mouth, in the creases of his eyes. You can see it dripping from a deep gash in their forehead. (You don’t feel sorry. You don’t.)

The Fighter takes one look and does a ridiculous, cartoonish double-take. “W-Woah!!! What the crab happened to you guys??”

“Just a friendly conversation,” you say sunnily.

To your surprise, your stardust nods. “That’s right.”

You can read the rest of ch 11 here: ao3.org/works/53412649/chapters/138439021 Or start from the beginning here: ao3.org/works/53412649/chapters/135189547

#in stars and time #isat loop #isat siffrin #isat isabeau #isat au #isafrin #sloops #isat spoilers

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alice-the-brave · 1 year

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“I guess,” Harrington shrugs, “I just – my parents, you know? They like to have things to brag about. Sports are about the only thing I’m good for.”

He says it like it’s easy, like its fact. Like he’s heard it a million times and it doesn’t bother him.

Billy thinks about him dropping out of the swim team, about the way he loiters about the pool, watching his kids and staying as far from the water as he can. Thinks about that last season he had on the basketball team, lackluster and disappointing. Cut short by a concussion that benched him for the last game of the season. The last game of his high school career.

A concussion that Billy gave him.

He remembers, too, the way he had talked about the kids, the way he said ‘people who care about me’ like he didn’t have anyone else. Like there weren’t any other options. Like they were all he had in the whole world.

“Well, don’t forget about that pretty face of yours, Harrington,” Billy says, looking away, watching the kids, trying to see them the way Harrington might.

Harrington laughs at that, throwing his head back, and Billy can’t help but turn slightly to watch him.

“Yeah, well, I guess I’ve got that going for me, huh?”

“Sure,” Billy agrees, leaning over to pass him a coke bottle, “Popeye’s turning green with envy, man.”

Harrington snorts at that, reaching out to punch lightly at Billy’s shoulder before he takes the offered drink.

“Listen man, it’s not that bad if I ditch the hat,” he says, leaning back against his seat and twisting off the cap, oblivious to the way Billy can’t help but watch the flex of his bare arms as he does, “It’s company policy, but, c’mon, Robin’s my manager and it’s not like she’s gonna call me out.”

“She’s definitely gonna call you out,” Billy argues, “She likes to watch you suffer too much to let that slide. Besides, isn’t that unhygienic or something?”

“Dude. You really think a dog bowl shaped hat is keeping any of our hair out of the ice cream?”

“Hmm, yeah, maybe you should get a hairnet.”

“A hairnet?” Harrington says, scandalized. “You want me to wear a hairnet? Seriously?”

Billy can’t help but laugh at him, at the suburban house-wife outrage on his face.

“Listen, man, it’s not about what I want, it’s about safe business practices.”

“Does Scoops Ahoy seem like the kind of chain that cares about ‘safe business practices’ to you? Dude, Ballast Bubblegum is radioactive, I swear on my life. Nothing approved by the FDA should be that pink.”

“Since when have you known what the FDA is?”

Harrington’s smile turns a little wry at that and he takes a long sip of his coke, throat bared and bobbing. Billy adjusts his sunglasses just to make sure they’re still hiding him.

“Been reading up on all those government agencies lately,” Harrington says, glancing at his kids again, eyes watchful behind his shades, smile placid, “Kind of required reading at this point. What’s with all the letters, anyway? Couldn’t they just name them something that wasn’t a pain to say in the first place?”

“They’ve got to keep the uneducated masses from asking questions somehow,” Billy shrugs, “Making everything a pain in the ass to tell apart helps.”

Harrington turns to him with raised brows, lowering his shades to look at him, expression delighted and surprised.

“Billy Hargrove, are you telling me you don’t trust the American government? How unpatriotic.”

Billy snorts at that, fishes a cigarette out of his shorts and lights up.

Billy doesn’t trust the government for shit. He’s not stupid. Korea, Vietnam. The crazy shit that’s still coming out from the earlier days of the Cold War. He’d have to be braindead to trust the feds. The whole thing’s rotten from top to bottom, from the three letter pigs to Tweedledee and Tweedledum sitting at the corner shop in their cruiser.

Neil had some cop friends back in California. They didn’t do shit about anything if it wasn’t a bank robbery or pushing someone around if they looked like ‘trouble’ – the criteria for which changed depending on the day of the week. Neil hadn’t even cleaned up his act around them all that much. More than that he knows the kind of laws they keep, the kind of things they do to people like him. The cops might not have been able to arrest him just for existing since ’76 but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t beat him to death for it if anyone ever found out.

So, no, he’s not particularly a fan of Big Brother or whatever.

But Harrington? He’s the kind of upstanding member of society that volunteers at the police station or on election campaigns. With his parents’ money and reputation, it wouldn’t be strange if he grew up to be some kind of small-town politician.

Hawkins is the kind of place that really buys into the whole American Dream shit. Working husbands with stay at home wives and two kids with a dog kind of stuff. Wholesome, normal, respectable stuff. They trust the government here. Buy into that ‘serve and protect’ crap Billy’s always known better than to believe.

But Harrington looks delighted by Billy’s casual rejection of it all, looks like he’s been dying for someone to agree with, someone who wouldn’t laugh nervously or call his mother. Someone who isn’t in fucking middle school.

“I’m patriotic as hell,” Billy says, blowing smoke up to the sky, “I love beer and a hot dog as much as the next guy. Just would prefer if Big Brother wasn’t watching me take a piss.”

“Yeah, okay, a real Yankee Doodle,” Harrington says, rolling his eyes, “Big Brother? That’s uh, from that book, right? With the eye.”

“1984.”

“Uh,” Harrington says, brow furrowing, “No? ’85? June 15th, it’s – it’s a Saturday?”

Billy stares at him for a long moment, cigarette dangling from his lips, blinking slow.

“The book, Harrington. It’s called 1984.”

“Oh.”

Harrington flushes, turns back to the water, fidgeting with his bottle. He’s got that same blush he had when Billy was bothering him at work, before Kathy ruined it, like he’s embarrassed. But not – not in a bad way. The line between embarrassment and humiliation is thin as a knife’s edge for him, but Harrington seems to walk it effortlessly. He knows how to be embarrassed without being particularly ashamed, knows how to not let it hurt. Not let it slip and cut too deep.

“It was written in the 40’s or something,” Billy explains, “as a warning. About government overreach and war and shit.”

“Yeah, well, that guy was on to something,” Harrington says, shrugging.

“What, the FBI giving you trouble, pretty boy?”

Harrington pauses, bottle halfway to his mouth, and cuts Billy a look over his still lowered glasses.

Suddenly Billy remembers himself. Remembers that the FBI probably should be giving Harrington trouble. Billy knows that he’s an accessory to murder, at least. Knows that he didn’t seem too bothered about that. The kind of unbothered that makes Billy wonder if he’s been more than an accessory.

Just because Billy doesn’t want to know doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t.

They’d buried Neil in a patch of dirt somewhere up north, closer to Roane than Hawkins proper. The only Catholic cemetery around for a while. There had been a few graves there, fresh, dates ending in ‘83. The year before they moved here. The year Will Byers died and was resurrected, a cornfed Christ figure that no one seemed to rejoice except for his mother and his gang of nerdy apostles.

Billy hadn’t asked about the strange number of corpses that cropped up that year.

He doesn’t want to know.

#neil hargrove explode challenge #in my ideal world neil dies bloody #harringrove #steve harrington #billy hargrove #stranger things #my writing #hawkins indiana #billy hargrove redemption #he's trying very hard not to become genre aware

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leonardalphachurch · 6 months

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saw the question of “how long does it take rvb to pass the bechdel test” and i got curious and also wanted to make myself mad so.

my answer is Reconstruction: Chapter 5 (s6e5). there’s a recorded conversation between sheila and tex about the ship crashing.

my answer with no caveats is Evacuation Plan (s9e4). carolina, 479er, filss and south all participate in a conversation that takes up a good chunk of the episode.

i talk a LOT more about the state of female character interactions under the cut.

the first time two women talk at all is s2e11/bgc30:

sheila bisexual moments. while iconic, this isn’t much of a conversation (tex doesn’t ever speak to her) and it’s certainly about a man so. doesn’t count. next!

next is s3e1/bgc39:

while here it’s implied that they are actually having a conversation at least we still don’t actually see any exchanges between them and they’re still talking about men and quote “Boring stuff like oppression, and a hostile work environment.” which is great but. a) we don’t see it. and b) again, still about men

next is tex and kai’s exchange in season 5. which is misogynistic as fuck and even if it did pass the bechdel test i would refuse to count it. but guess what! not only are they talking about men, but we literally do not see them talk to each other. kai speaks to tex “who’s o’malley?” but tex doesn’t respond to her, instead asking the guys “who’s the girl?” (s5e10/bgc92). then they talk in the background of the next episode while church and tucker are misogynistic. then it’s two more episodes until we get this gem

y’know, girl stuff! how fucking charming. these writers really have a great grasp on how woman act. god, it’s even worse when compared to tex and sheila’s conversation earlier. in what world would tex be fucking intimidated by kai.

and you know what the joke of this all is. even if they did have a conversation here that passed the bechdel test it still wouldn’t count under some rule sets because kai still doesn’t have a name at this point. great work team.

s5e15/bgc92 has a deleted scene where kai calls up a girl friend and they talk… i’m not counting it because 1) kai is as of yet unnamed and the girl friend is never named, 2) the conversation is ostensibly about junior, though they do talk about other stuff enough that you could argue it’s not about a man, but 3) it’s deleted. you don’t get credit for shit you deleted.

next time two women talk to each other is recovery one episode 4. this is the first time we see two women have an actual, back and forth conversation. the conversation is between south and commamd about wash, delta, and the fact that south isn’t rejoining freelancer. i do think this conversation fits the spirit of the bechdel test (two women talking to each other with deeper characterizations unmoored from being about men) but that’s only really by technicality. command isn’t a character here and doesn’t become one for another 4 seasons; the conversation is only retroactively a deeper one. it’s up to you whether or not you pass it. i think it’s important to remember that the bechdel test isn’t really a hard test to determine what’s feminist (and was made in the first place to be about queer women being able to see themselves in media) but rather a marker to help sort out if the female characters in a work are allowed any depth outside of men. this exercise is less about finding a scene fitting exact criteria and more about. me going oh god it really is fucking bad out there huh.

my actual pick, as i said in the beginning, is s6e5. though tex mentions gamma and the aliens, the conversation is still about the fact that the ship is crashing. and in terms of the spirit of the test, two women yelling at each other as they die definitely fits definitely fits “deeper character motivations outside of men” imo. it’s. kind of really sad though. the first time we ever see tex and sheila have an actual conversation is the last time we really see either of them, chronologically. we only got to see them have a relationship as they were dying. why couldn’t they have been friends in life.

if a recorded conversation isn’t good enough for you, you’ll have to wait until s8e15. season 7 does not have a single woman in it. tεx and filss talk about pfl’s files. it’s not exactly an in depth back and forth and the conversation is shared with simmons and church but. it’s something. i think sheila and tex’s convo fits the spirit of the test a bit more but. let’s chalk it up to two conversations in the 8 seasons. fantastic.

all right, season 9 time. come on, a third of the main cast is women! that’s gotta bring our numbers up, right?

episode 1? no. 2? no. 3?

incredible! we have a conversation between female operative and pilot! just kidding. the wiki doesn’t name them bc they haven’t been named yet, but this is a conversation between carolina and niner! no funny business! just an actual conversation between woman! wow. only took us nine seasons to get to a point where i can confidently say something passes the bechdel test with no caveats. unless we look at the 60 second rule. then. oops.

but… wow! episode 4 has… THREE women? talking to each other? and then a fourth joins in? i thought it was a myth! being able to handle so many women on screen at once… they really did something special here. anyway, this episode is the first to pass with flying colors. i can’t time shut bc i don’t have the videos on hand but i’m certain this passes the 60 second mark. great work! if only it didn’t take you nine years to get to this point.

ugh. i had more written past this point but tumblr erased it and i don’t feel like fucking redoing it. i got to the point i wanted to so. maybe i’ll continue this later. would like to explore the rest of pfl and chorus. it’s impressive how well pfl manages to avoid having women actually speak to each other. they’ll literally be in the same conversation but never actually address each other. this happens multiple times.

#rvb #red vs blue #analysis

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twilightmalachite · 7 months

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Raison d'être - Prologue

Author: Akira

Characters: Shu, Mika

Translator: Mika Enstars

"Congratulations, Pinnochio! It’s great to be human, isn’t it!?"

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Season: Winter

Location: Apartment in France

During ES’ first year of establishment. Mid-March, at the house in Paris Shu is boarding at…

Shu: So, how do I put it? I still feel I am being derided for using a string phone, you see!

Mika: What does “derided” mean again? What a pretty-soundin’ word~. ♪

Shu: So I feel I am being ridiculed, you see! How am I supposed to tell vulgar snobs that way back when I was a student, I had not yet become accustomed to civilization?

Mika: Nnah~, ain’t that a bit different from bein’ looked down on? Doesn’t he just find it amusin’?

Shu: Oh-ho, do you find a difference between the two? You consider the former to be slander and the latter to be well-intentioned?

Mika: I-I don’t really think into it that much…

What's got ya so upset, Oshi-san? Weren’t we just havin’ a fun talk over the rules we have in my room at Starmony Dorms? Just small talk?

Y’know~, how I’d put a put a string telephone out from my room, and my roommate would be thoughtful and say, “Ah, so Kagehira’s talking to his Oshi-san today, huh?”

Shouldn’t ya feel grateful or happy hearin’ somethin’ like that?

Shu: And I resent the fact that a string phone is automatically being associated with me.

I know for a fact that in the minds of those spiteful people back in Japan, I am still nothing but a picky, old-fashioned senior citizen requiring special care.

Hah! The fact they can’t update their personal judgment of me is proof that they are the ones aging!

Mika: That has nothin’ to do with me~? I don’t know what ya want me to say, Oshi-san!

What’s the matter? Did ya have a bad day at university?

Shu: Hmph. Nothing went wrong, it was uneventful and peaceful. Who do you think I am?

Mika: I’m worried ‘cause you’re you, Oshi-san!

Shu: Are you in a position to worry about others? Have you become someone so distinguished?

That’s right!! You are your own person now! You can walk around on your own without me always taking care of you, can’t you?

Congratulations, Pinnochio! It’s great to be human, isn’t it!?

Mika: (Nnah~… Oshi-san really is always irritated~… Whenever I get excited or get in a good mood, Oshi-san seems to get angry in turn.)

(But, what is it he’s really angry at, then? Well, it’s possible it might actually be my fault…)

(I don’t got any clue…)

(I even came all the way to Paris ‘cause Oshi-san told me “I want to take an occasion to talk about the future”, despite bein’ so busy at the end of the school year.)

(Not only did I not get praised, but he started gettin’ all irritated the moment I told him I wanted to continue livin’ at Starmony Dorms fer the next year.)

(I wonder why. I guess it’s not what Oshi-san had in mind fer me?)

(But y’know, Valkyrie basically only has work in Japan, so it’s more efficient to stay in the area.)

(I’m not like Oshi-san, I don’t have anythin’ in particular I wanna study abroad. And I wouldn’t be able t’get into the same university as Oshi-san with a brain like mine.)

(But if I go and say I wanna live with Oshi-san, it’d just be selfish, wouldn’t it?

(I’d end up bein’ a nuisance to those at the house Oshi-san’s boardin’ at, and I wouldn’t have anythin’ to do even if I live here, y’know?)

(It is lonely, but… It’s a pain t’have someone nestle up with ya just ‘cause they’re lonely, right, Oshi-san?)

Shu: Non! How come your hands have stopped moving, Kagehira-kuuun? Have I forgotten to wind up the mainspring?

Mika: Nnaaah, why’re ya callin’ me by “kun”? It makes it feel like we’ve grown apart, it makes me sad!

Shu: It’s about right, isn’t it? Aren’t you always being overly-familiar? Thanks to that, I’ve even misjudged the distance between you and I!

I had been so deluded from that, I even had been preparing a new life for you and everything, in earnest! I’d even bowed my head to the landlady, secured you a room, and even furnished it! Everything was in order, kakaka!

Well, it all was done for naught! I’ve jumped to conclusions and rashly did something so excessive, laugh at my foolishness!

Mika: Nnah~…? I-If it’s what ya want, Oshi-san, I’ll get started on the moving procedures, then?

Shu: No, not necessary! I don’t know what I was doing, take the furniture and everything else I’ve prepared for you back to Japan, sell it, and use that money to fund Valkyrie’s activities!

While you’re at it, take back the work I’ve made in the past year and sell those off too! I’m confident that they’ll be sold for a reasonable price!

Our performance at SS, the war between worlds, was not very satisfactory, after all…

To think I was made to engage in a slapstick we were not accustomed to, if anything our reputations have been tarnished.

In order to wipe away these defects, we shall use the funds from selling everything off to develop a new artistic venture!

Practically, this is no time to get carried away with a new life!

Mika: My bad… I had no idea ya were lookin’ forward to livin’ with me so much, Oshi-san…

Shu: Me!? To what?! What was I looking forward to!?

Don’t go acting too cocky! You know, it’s because of you always leading me on that I’ve misunderstood—

Hm?

Mika: W-What is it? Oshi-san…?

Shu: Stop acting so jittery like you’re some small animal! It’s irritating!

—My phone is going off. Usually the landlady is very considerate to not call me while guests are over… Is it something urgent, perhaps?

Mika: The phone? Ahh, well I’ll be quiet, then~. ♪

(I-If anythin’, this might’ve saved me… This’ll help break up the strange atmosphere.)

Shu: Hello? Why it’s Nii-sama, isn’t that rare. What is it you need?

Yeah, yeah, aren’t you a bother? I’m doing just fine! Hadn’t I asked you to leave me alone? Why is it that you’re—

—…What?

… … …Understood.

Yes… I’ll return home soon.

Mika: W-What is it? That call was from yer big brother, wasn’t it—How come?

Shu: It’s my Grandfather…

Mika: Hm?

Shu: …It appears early this morning, my grandfather passed away.

[ ☆ ]

story directory | next →

#raison d'être #raison d'etre #event #translation #mika kagehira #shu itsuki

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lu-vin-it · 1 year

Text

Girls Night

── ⋅⋅⋅ ────꒰ ୨ ♡ ୧ ꒱───────

Baby Momma AU

Summary: Sarah has a girls night with Uncle Tommy!

Pairings: Ellie Williams X Reader, Sarah Williams X Tommy Miller (Great uncle/Niece relationship, totally platonic)

Pronouns Used: She/Her

Word Count: 842

Warnings: OOC Tommy, Lots of talk of food

A/N: Ty @stqrluvr for proofreading ily! Also, this was a request but I accidentally posted it before I was done so I lost it :/

“Momma?” You hear, followed by the door closing.

“I’m in the kitchen!” You dry off your hands. Sarah comes skipping in.

“Can I go over to Uncle Tommy’s?”

“Did he invite you over?” She nods.

“We’re gonna make pizza and have a girls night.” You snort.

“A girls night huh?” You ask putting your hands on your hips.

“Just cause he isn’t a girl doesn’t mean we can’t have them! We’re going to watch Legally Blonde and paint our nails.” She wiggles her nails in your face.

“I’m fine with it, go make sure Mom’s okay with it first though.”

“Where is she?” You hum.

“I think she’s out back with your brother.” Sarah gives you a hug.

“Okay, love you!”

“Love you too, pea.” Sarah walks to the backyard where, sure enough, Ellie sat with Isaac.

“Hey, Einstein!” Ellie calls out when she sees Sarah. The 10 year old grins at the nickname. “How was school, bug?” She asks as Sarah bends down to hug her.

“It was good.” Sarah hugs her 5 year old brother and then sits down next to her Mom. “Can I go over to Uncle Tommy’s tonight? We’re going to have a girls night.” Ellie raises an eyebrow.

“You ask Momma?” She nods. “She said yes?” She nods again. “Then I don’t see why not.” Sarah shoots up with a grin.

“Okay! Bye, love you!” She places a kiss on her Mom’s cheek and then runs back inside. “She said yes! I’m gonna pack my bag!”

“Okay, Pea.” You say with a chuckle.

Ten minutes later, Sarah shouts her goodbyes and rushes over to Tommy’s house.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite 10 year old? Come on in!” Tommy says as he answers the door. “What do you have planned for us tonight?”

“I have Legally Blonde and nail polish!” Tommy gasps.

“Well then we better hurry and make this pizza!” Sarah nods ecstatically.

Sarah was given the task of spreading the sauce on the dough while Tommy got all the seasonings out. Once the cheese was added, they picked their favorite toppings and piled them onto it.

“Does bologna taste good on pizza?” Sarah asks, holding up a container. Tommy shrugs.

“I guess we’ll find out!” He grabs it and puts four slices onto the pizza. “Is there bacon in there?” Sarah searches the fridge for a second before her eyes land on the bacon and she hands it to her uncle.

“Ham too, right?” She pulls out a box of pre-sliced ham.

“Is that even a question?” He grabs it from her with fake aggression.

“What about vegetables? Should we put kale on it?” Tommy makes a disgusted face at her which she returns.

“Yeah okay, that was stupid.”

“There might be some pineapple in there that we could add.”

“Are you crazy?” Tommy rolls his eyes.

“Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it kid.” Sarah crosses her arms.

“My Moms say it’s disgusting.” Tommy scowls.

“Yeah? Well tell them I think they’re disgusting.” The 10 year old giggles. “Now, let’s get this bad boy into the oven.” Sarah rubs her hands together as Tommy picks up the pan and slowly puts it into the preheated oven.

Sarah groans and rubs her stomach as she swallows another bite. Between the two of them, they had eaten all but one slice.

“I’m never gonna have to eat again.” She says, her voice strained.

“Nail polish time?” Tommy asks as he rubs his stomach too. The 10 year old nods. Tommy gets up and grabs her backpack before returning to his spot on the couch and handing her it. Sarah fishes the nail polish out. She had a black one and a pink one.

“Where’s Aunt Maria? I wanna paint her nails too!”

“She’s on night patrol, won’t be home till tomorrow morning.” Sarah sighs.

“I hate patrol.”

“Me too, kid, me too.” He holds out his hands for Sarah.

“Pink or black?” He hums, pretending to think about it.

“Let’s go with black this time.” Sarah nods and starts painting.

“Uncle Tommy! Quit moving!” She swats his arm.

“Sorry sorry! You’re taking forever!”

“Patience! Beauty takes time, Uncle Tommy!” Sarah chastises.

Once Sarah is satisfied with her work, she stretches her hands to Tommy so that he can paint her nails pink. And as it turns out, Tommy was not good at painting nails.

“That’s not my nail! That’s my finger!” The 10 year old shouts in horror.

“Oops, my bad!”

The paint is uneven and chipped and she was definitely going to ask you to fix it tomorrow.

“Let’s watch Legally Blonde now.” Sarah says with a yawn. She hands Tommy the dvd and he wordlessly puts it into the dvd player and turns on the tv. “I love this movie.” She says with a yawn.

“Me too!” Tommy says as he collapses on the couch. Sarah snuggles up against him and pulls the throw blanket from the couch’s arm onto them. She was asleep by the time Elle was recording her admissions tape.

── ⋅⋅⋅ ────꒰ ୨ ♡ ୧ ꒱───────

#ellie williams x reader #ellie williams x you #ellie williams x female reader #ellie williams x y/n #ellie williams imagine #tommy miller x reader #baby momma au

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mephinomaly · 9 months

Text

[TL] A Snake in one's Bosom/Ibara Saegusa 4*

Character(s): Ibara, Nagisa, Hiyori

Summary: After a recording, Nagisa suddenly and unexpectedly snaps at Ibara. Lost, Ibara asked Hiyori for help. After some shopping, Hiyori reveals what the reason was...

Season: Winter

Ibara: Thank you for your hard work today! As always, working with a jack-of-all-trades is a delight ☆

Today’s recording focused on adlibs and originally I was rather worried about it but now I know that was groundless apprehension.

The staff have prepared some ice cream. Is chocolate to your liking, Your Excellency?

Nagisa: …Ice cream? Thank you, Ibara. This is a reward for today.

(...!?)

Ibara: I look forward to continuing work with the same attitude tomorrow, Your Excellency, if you allow!

Nagisa: ...

Ibara: Is something the matter? You’re making a glum expression but perhaps that is me overthinking?

If that is the case, then please be as harsh as is needed in order for me to improve. If His Excellency so wishes, this Ibara Saegusa will do whatever it takes. Ha Ha Ha ☆

Nagisa: …So noisy. Shut up.

Ibara: Huh…!?

…Sorry? Y-Your Excellency? Why have you suddenly become angry? Did I do something in order to cause it?

If I did, please! Please tell me!?

Location: CosPro Office

Ibara: —And that’s basically it.

Hiyori: Ahaha. How amusing. Nagisa-kun threatened you and you got scared.

Ibara: This is not a laughing matter. His Excellency hasn’t spoken to me since then.

Hiyori: Oh yeah? Then, you came all this way in order to ask me about why Nagisa-kun got angry, hm?

Ibara: Yes, I did. Since today is his day off, I’d like to use this time to get to the root of the issue.

Hiyori: I don’t think you need to be so timid. He was probably already in a bad mood and you set him off.

Ibara: Perhaps, but I do not believe that something like that would be enough to upset him to that degree.

Hiyori: Fufu...

Ibara: What’s so funny? Seriously, this is no joking matter, Your Highness!

Hiyori: Nono it’s just- Ibara is far more impatient than I thought. It’s cute.

Ibara: I suppose I have to be cautious of topics that could potentially upset him despite not knowing what those could be.

Up until now, if His Excellency is angry, I am usually aware of the cause of it. However, this time, I am completely at a loss.

I cannot help with getting rid of whatever is upsetting him.

Therefore, I humbly request your assistance as someone who is the most knowledgeable about His Excellency!

Hiyori: …Wow, this is very honest and laudable for you, hm?

Ibara: If I continue to cause distress to His Excellency, future Eden and Adam activities may be at risk of failure.

Therefore I believe that the best course of action is to resolve this ASAP.

Hiyori: I see. I understand why you’re so desperate.

But of course, I know exactly why Nagisa-kun is angry. So coming to me was the correct thing to do.

Ibara: You’re a godsend! Then please—

Hiyori: However! Simply telling you why is boring, right? Since you’re asking me for a favour, I want you to show me how serious you are about this.

Ibara: How serious I’m being? How would you like me to show that? Would dogeza be sufficient?[1]

Hiyori: Fufu. You have to accompany me window shopping!

Location: Mall

Hiyori: I was able to get a bunch of different cute spring clothes. What good weather ♪

Ibara: I’m glad you are enjoying yourself, Your Highness. However, this is a rather extravagant way to spend one’s time.

Hiyori: Entertain me first before you start talking about extravagance.

I ask you what clothes you like and you give this model pre-generated answer. You know all the latest trends but it doesn’t matter because all you talk about is when it’ll go out of style.

Talking to you isn’t fun.

I try to teach you the joy of highbrow activities but you do nothing but work so I guess you’re unteachable.

Ibara: For me, work produces the same effects and results as your highbrow activities. Rest assured, Your Highness. Hahaha ☆

Anyhow, could you perhaps now tell me what was upsetting His Excellency?

Hiyori: Hm, fine then. I’m just killing time at this point and you’ve practically become my personal baggage carrier.

So you wanted to know why Nagisa-kun was in a bad mood right?

Fufu. So the reason that Nagisa-kun glared at you was—

Ibara: Yes...

Hiyori: He just has a cavity.

Ibara: …Pardon? He has… a cavity?

Hiyori: Well, to be exact it’s toothache. We don’t know if it’s a cavity yet.

Seems that he glared at you that day because he was eating the ice cream the staff provided and it caused him some pain.

But he knew that if he told you that, you’d confiscate it so he kept quiet and just made a face instead.

Ibara: …If that is the case, it was just a cavity that has been causing me all this grief?

Hiyori: Nagisa-kun’s using his day off to go to the dentist.

Look, I think he went to that dentist today. He’s probably about finished now…

Nagisa: …Hiyori-kun, you’ve come to pick me up.

…Oh? Ibara is here too? Why?

Hiyori: Sorry Nagisa-kun. Ibara was super worried that he had offended you so I ended up telling him about your tooth.

Nagisa: …Oh, I see. Sorry for causing you trouble, Hiyori-kun. Ibara too. My teeth are fine so please don’t worry.

Ibara: Yes?... Wonderful, that is excellent news. It is of the utmost importance that your teeth are in good health.

Nagisa: …Ibara. I’m sorry for before. I was too harsh on you.

Ibara: It’s fine. Now that I know the reason for you being upset, I feel relieved.

However, Your Excellency, I will apologise in advance for my rudeness.

But after today, you are banned from any and all desserts and sweets!

Nagisa: …Banning them isn’t necessary. It wasn’t a cavity, I just have hypersensitivity.

Ibara: It doesn’t matter! Whether a cavity or hypersensitivity, they both cause you pain!

Nagisa: …The dentist showed me the correct way to brush my teeth though. Therefore there isn’t a problem?

Ibara: No, I have already made my mind up. No matter what you say, I will not overturn it. My decision is final.

For the time being, I will be closely monitoring when you eat and when you brush your teeth!

I will even brush your teeth for you if it comes to it!

Nagisa: …You’re pushing your luck, Ibara. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again - I am above you, you are below me—

Ibara: That threat will not work on me this time. The reason for this failure was mismanagement on my part!

I have allowed you too much freedom as of late. I will fix this.

Nagisa: …What should I do, Hiyori-kun. Ibara’s scarier than usual.

Hiyori: You two have swapped positions. Dealing with Ibara is such a bother, so run away with me, Nagisa-kun.

Ibara: You will not be. No more of this farce! This will not be happening again!

dogeza is where u kneel on the floor and put ur forehead to the ground in a bow. Google it for a reference. Mans prepared to beg on his hands n knees

#enstars #ensemble stars #translation #ibara saegusa #nagisa ran #hiyori tomoe #mephi's translations #unfortunately oissu n the html is broken #kicking and screaming

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landofzero-archive · 4 months

Text

Battle on the Sugoroku Board - The Die Has Been Cast 1

(Location: Time Street)

Rinne: Fuah, fu……Aa~ So sleepy……

So glad that “Beehive”’s a success. Wasn’t expecting it to be so lively till morning, but it turned out to be a good distraction for me.

Now then. My head’s spinning after that all-nighter, so I guess it’s about time for me to go home and sleep.

Madara: Good Morniiiiiiiing!

Rinne: Shut up……!?

What. Are you just coming home from staying out all night? You’re a bad kid, don’t come to me if the police detain you.

Madara: Hahaha. My bad, my bad. I saw a familiar face, so, ya know.

I’m just being consistent with SS and wanted to return the favouur!

Rinne: Oi oi, are you for real, Mikeneko-chan. (1)

About that, that’s just how that was directed. I can’t compete with someone who goes around raising his voice everywhere.

Madara: Mikeneko-chan?

Rinne: Isn’t it a good nickname for someone with a free spirit? It’s a cuter name than the dangerous bees that sting people ♪

More importantly. Why are you here? Meeting an idol who roams about in a playground isn’t impressive ya know?

Madara: Unfortunately however, I wasn’t out enjoying the nightlife.

Even though MaM’s been feeling like it’s being neglected, lately the jobs have been increasing little by little.

I’ve been loitering around here since morning, trying to take advantage of this momentum and see if it would turn into a job for me.

The shopping district is around here, I’m sure there are lots of people from the industry world who would be returning home in the morning after staying out all night, just like Rinne-san.

Rinne: I see. I really thought you stayed up all night and it got you all excited.

But still, feeling neglected by the entertainment business huh…… That sounds pretty familiar.

The world is relentless in so many ways, right? Rinne-kun’s starting to hate it……!

Madara: CrazyB’s been feeling neglected too huh. I heard about it a lot from Kohaku-san.

Because I get into trouble every time I take up a job, it feels like I only get handed strange jobs that everyone else would shy away from, or something.

Rinne: Yep yep. It’s really horrible. It’s not fun to just be surrounding yourself with people who are goody-two-shoes right?

That’s why I’m rooting for you too, Mikeneko-chan.

’Kay. As an older brother, I’m gonna treat you to a beef bowl!

There’s nothing more delicious to eat than a beef bowl after staying up all night. It’s a farewell gift from me, so eat it! (2)

Madara: A beef bowl? No, I’m not particularly hungry.

Rinne: What, you’re saying you’re not gonna eat my beef bowl?

You’re so cold~ You’re going to reject this Senpai-in-life who’s really raring to go?

Even though I really wanna go eat some food with Mikeneko-chan~?

Madara: I get it, I get it. If you’re insisting that much, I’ll join you.

Mutual fate!(3) Meeting you here must have been some sort of fate. right?

(Location: Season Avenue (In Front of Convenience Store))

(30 minutes later)

Rinne: I ate, I ate ♪

Wow, after that nourishment resupply, my headache is settling down considerably! Thank you!

Madara: Me too. It was a treat.

Well then, it’s about time I get going. I was actually in the middle of a walk, seee.

I’m going to try to find some interesting job or other while on the walk.

Madara: ……Ohh?

Rinne: What’s this? Mikeneko-chan, your smartphone and mine are ringing at the same time?

Madara: Rinne-san, this is a KiraKira Mail. It seems that a new job request’s come up.

Rinne: “Battle on the Sugoroku Board”——A multiple agency inter-agency competition in which idols from CosPro and NewDi will participate in, huh?

It’s “Open World Sugoroku” where you fight using dice…... I don’t get what that means,but basically, you fight in units based on your agency.

I thought we’re finally going to hit it off, but things never go so smoothly, huh.

”Yesterday’s enemy is today’s enemy too” and all that ♪

Madara: Hahaha. It’s a fitting curtain call for us.

Looking from the perspective of the SS Final competition, it’s like yesterday’s enemy has come to become an opponent once again.

In any case, this is the new job that we’ve been eagerly waiting for.

It’s disappointing that the objective of my walk was realized in an unexpected way, but I can’t say thaat. Let’s reply to this in a positive way.

Rinne: Yeah. Of course I’ll be participating too. It’s sorta rare to get to do jobs from over that side ♪

Welp, I guess it’s time I go home now. Hope you’ll go easy on me the next time we meet ♪

Madara: Ah. I’m looking forward to it toooo. Let’s compete fair and square.

Rinne: Gyaahaha ♪ Coming from you?

Weeell, I’m looking forward to it. In more ways than one ♪

TL Notes 1. Calico kitty. Referencing Mikejima’s name, as the 'Mike' in his name can be read as ‘tri-coloured’ which uses the same kanji as in the word for Calico cat (Mikeneko).

2. Yes he said farewell gift ( 餞別 )…I have no idea why either.

3. 合縁奇縁 - a four character idiom that describes the relationship that happens between two people due to fate.

Previous | Directory | Next

#ensemble stars #enstars #enstars translation #rinne amagi #madara mikejima #era: !!#type: event

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jwnchstr · 2 years

Text

the one with the silent treatment

title: the one with the silent treatment | c.l16

characters: charles leclerc, you!reader, carlos sainz jr.

summary: in which, you didn’t invite charles to lunch wiht you and pierre and he is sulking and gives you the silent treatment.

masterlist | part two

* * *

“seriously? you’re giving me the silent treatment now? just because i didn’t ask if you want to join us for lunch? ugh, what the hell?! if you want to join, just tell me. why is it so hard to tell me?”

of course, you only say these in front of the mirror to yourself. what are you kidding? to say these in front of charles? it’s not that you’re afraid he’ll be mad back at you, but you... all angers and bad thoughts about the ferrari driver will be long gone whenever you’re face-to-face with him. with that cute smile, small eyes, it’s hard to be mad at him.

you continued to talk to yourself in the dark room. imagining the conversations in your head, imagining how the situation would turn out if charles vocalised it himself that he wanted to join you and pierre together at lunch. you kept telling yourself that it’s not wrong to have lunch with pierre, charles’s best friend, without him.

but really, it’s not wrong, right? there’s nothing wrong because you and pierre are just friends. is charles jealous? huh, you don’t think so. not in a million years, you guess. the reason charles is giving you the silent treatment is just because he wants to punish you because you didn’t invite him to lunch together, that’s all.

you were in your own world in the dark room until knocks on the door made you jump and returned you back to reality. you cursed to the person on the other end for intervening you with your own thoughts, but you open the door, anyway. and he had your eyebrows raised when you saw carlos standing awkwardly in front of you.

“yes, carlos?”

“uhhh,” the other ferarri driver stuttered confusingly as his big eyes eyed around the room behind you. “what are you doing in my driver’s room?”

“what driver’s room?” you were genuinely confused. you were so mad at charles just now that you didn’t realise where you were going. you entered the first room that you saw was vacant.

“this is my room and i need you to get out.” only this time you realise that you were, indeed, in carlos’s room.

“sorry. i didn’t realise--”

“is something happening?”

no one wants to admit that charles was bad on the first half of the 2022 f1 season, but most of them admitted that it was partly because of ferrari bad strategy that caused charles lost his points. it was until the second half of the season where charles got back his momentum back. he’s back on fighting the world championship.

and since that, there was a rumour that has been circulating in f1 world. one that charles leclerc has a secret person that brings out the lion in him. it was relieving that you are yet to go viral, but some people on the paddock are already expecting you to be her including carlos.

“ugh!” you rolled your eyes, slumped your shoulders while making a 180 degrees turn before taking a seat in carlos’s drvier’s room. carlos was still confuse, but he didn’t mention it anymore. instead, he followed you entering the room and took his place opposite you. like a good big brother he is, he relaxed and ready to hear your problems.

“what else if it isn’t about your best friend.” carlos thought you were talking about lando until you continued that he realised you were being sarcastic and it’s about charles. “he’s been ignoring me since we got back from lunch with pierre! seriously? what did i do wrong?”

“he’s ignoring you?” carlos raised his eyebrows. a knowing smirk plastered at the end of his lips.

“didn’t you listen to me? yes!” you raised your voice at carlos, but good thing, carlos didn’t take it personally. “you did ask him, right? and he said no. so what’s the problem now? oh, man. why is he so complicated?”

carlos laughed at your annoyance towards his teammate. “the problem is, he wants you to ask him to join for lunch.”

you pulled a face. “well, i was with you when you asked. wasn’t it the same?”

shrugging, carlos said, “apparently, not to him.”

there was a pause since you don’t know what else to say. your mind was constantly thinking about what happened this afternoon. you didn’t think it was your fault, but by the way carlos said, it was as if--

“go and apologise to him,” carlos interrupted your thoughts with an idea that you dreaded the most.

“why should i? it was not my fault.”

“just go and apologise. tell him that you will ask him next time. for lunch, for dinner, or just anywhere you would like to go.”

“carlos...”

“nope.” carlos put up a finger. “you’re in my room. you--”

carlos didn’t manage to finish his sentence when both of you hear a big laugh from someone outside, followed by an interruption soon after. it was charles. he opened carlos’s door with a big smile plastered on his face as if he was excited to tell carlos something, but as soon as he saw you with carlos, his smile faltered.

his face changed. like the bubbly, cute charles was gone to be replaced with monster charles. well, charles isn’t as monstrous as a mnoster, but his face does look like it. without closing back the door, he turned around and left while you still sat in front of carlos in his room, frozen.

oh, you’re really not good at this.

you and carlos shared a look. “what are you still doing here?”

“what am i supposed to do? run after him?”

carlos rolled his eyes at you. you’re fun to hang out with. you’re smart, but there are at times when you’re just stupid than how you appear. “yes! go! apologise to him!”

“ugh! fine!”

not long after that, you found yourself asking people around if they saw charles. you went to ferrari hospitality, he weren’t there. you went to the f1 hospitality, he weren’t there either. you don’t think charles is hanging out with pierre especially after what happened, so you didn’t go to find him at the AlphaTauri territory, but you tried to find him at his car.

you were not wrong, though. he was in his car by himself.

“charles.” you knocked on the window on the passenger’s side. “hey, i need to talk to you.”

charles could start driving and leave you, but he didn’t. instead, he only ignored you like leaving your WhatApp messages on “Read”.

“c’mon, charles. i’ve come here this far to find you to apologise. let me in.”

the ferrari driver continued to ignore, but this time, he put a little more spice. with his arms crossed on his chest, he pretended to sleep behind the wheels.

“seriously?” you threw your arms up. angry, you rounded charles’s car and banged the window on charles’s side. charles was shocked. he looked like he’s ready to die.

charles complained something in his mother tongue. you didn’t hear it nor did you understand it, but you knew.

he rolled down his window. “what are you doing?!”

“it’s your fault! i said i’m sorry and you didn’t let me in to have a civil conversation!”

“civil conversation?! you just slammed my window! my expensive car! and when did you say you’re sorry?! you never said sorry!” charles argued back.

“i just said it just now!”

“no, you didn’t!” charles continued to stay in his car, arguing with you who is on the out of the car, through the window. “you said you came to apologise, but you didn’t really apologise!”

“tell me how to say sorry when you didn’t let me inside your car?!” you yelled back at the french guy. you didn’t want to tear down your ego for charles, but then you remember carlos. “ugh! i’m sorry, okay? i’m sorry i didn’t invite to lunch wih me and carlos and pierre. there. happy?!”

“stop it! you’re spilling!”

boiled, you started to reach charles through the window. and between you wanting to mess up with charles’s hair and him struggling to be free from your attack, he spontenously pulled you into his car.

“congratulations! you’ve made it into my car!” charles said out of sarcasm.

“ugh!” you groaned as you settled into a proper sitting position at the passenger’s seat.

the silence was eating you inside and that made you speak up first even though you didn’t want to lose in the silent contest. you remember carlos, again. how you resepects him like a brother and how you didn’t want to lose a friend as good as charles.

“i’m sorry,” you said.

“yeah. me, too.”

“no. it’s not your fault,” you replied back. “i’m sorry for not inviting you to lunch. carlos asked you so i thought it was fine so i’m sorry. i’ll make sure i’ll include you the next time we’re about to have lunch or hanging out or something.”

“it was never your fault.”

oh, man, what is happening?

“what are you talking about?” you’re so confused with charles right now. just now he was totally irritated with you. now, he’s apologising to you and said that it was not your fault?

“i’m saying that it’s not your fault that i didn’t join you to lunch. maybe it was me. i shouldn’t react the way i reacted just because you didn’t invite me to lunch. maybe you didn’t want to have lunch with me and--”

“what?” i snorted. “carlos asked you--”

“yes, yes. i know carlos asked, but not you! i thought if you wanted me with you, you would’ve asked me yourself. that’s why i said no just now.”

carlos was right. you might be with carlos just now when he asked if charles want to join for lunch, but it wasn’t you who asked so charles thought you didn’t want him to join. wait, what?

“fine. like i said, i’ll include you--”

“no, you don’t have to include me or anthing!” you have a feeling that charles was having a roght time to explain to you on what he’s feeling right now. hence, he’s complaining in french to himself. maybe saying that he is stupid.

“then, tell me what you want? c’mon, charles. we don’t have all day to discuss about this. you have some more work to finish in just a few minutes.”

“i want you.”

you stared at charles with your jaws hanging low. “what?”

part two

#charles leclerc #cl16 #f1 #charles leclerc x you #charles leclerc x reader #f1 fiction #ferrari #f1 2022

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vennyvenadito · 1 year

Text

I watched Derision and….oh God, it’s a mess

I hated it

Everything was so lame

Everyone was so out of character in this episode

And I gonna ask this, when Mari was akumatized, we see her memories right?, alright, now can some please tell….why the heck we could also see other characters point of view???!!! Isn’t this sequence is in Mari’s POV?? Like, someone explain that

And please, look me in the eye and try to tell me this backstory make sense, come, try

Because none of this make fucking sense!

And before you go to tell me otherwise, I’m saying this as some who was in the fandom since season 1, like, when everyone where trying to figure out who Hawkmoth is, that old I am, so no, no try to tell me I don’t know anything about the show and the characters because I know them perfectly

So yeah I can tell, Chloe wasn’t this type of ““eViL””” in previous seasons back then, Marinette wasn’t even scared of her, she was just annoyed by her, even before Alya came she wasn’t really afraid of her, she was like “ugh, this bitch”

And tell me Mari, if you where so traumatized about falling in love with someone, than why didn’t you do the same thing with Luka and Chat Noir huh?, Please explain yourself young lady?

In fact, why are you panicking in front Kim??, you always acted normal around him!!

And for last, I just loveee the doble standard in this show

Marinette can be excused of her stalking behavior towards Adrien, every bad thing she does was just because she is traumatize, so please don’t be harsh on her, after all, she is young, and kids do stupid thing

But nooo, no no, Chloe shouldn’t be excused, forget the fact her mom is a abusive bitch, forget about the fact she openly say to Ladybug she feels useless, forget the fact she was only Adrien’s best friend back then and did care about him (watch “Collector episode 1, season 2), forget the fact she has Andre as a pathetic excuse of father

Because every teen can be forgiven except Chloe

She is evil, she always will be, she can’t change, because Thomas say so, and if you not agree than you are an abusive person, your evil as well

And Mylene…shut up, please

When Thomas would release that not everyone reacts the same way on trauma?

Back to Mari’s panic attacks, everything go to fast to me!, there’s no time no analysis what the hell is going on, also, didn’t she used to be in the public pool before this episode?, like, Mr Pigeon 72 never happen I guess

Also, this episode make her look worse because back in season 3 in Animaestro, she fucking team up with Chloe, Chloe, her bully, the person who made her life back then a living hell, to humiliate Kagami in front Adrien

What the hell Mari!?

And Chat….sweety, honey, I love you, and I insist your deserve better but….please don’t do that, this isn’t you, your not like that, your better than this

Anyway this episode is trash, is literally every salt fic in one episode, every single cliche of a generic backstory perfect for a Wattpad’s fanfic

And please, instead of trying to tell me every episode that Chloe is evil and I should hate her, what not you guys try to focus in more interesting lore instead? Please, like, kwamis, Gabriel and Emilie? (Representation doesn’t count)

And even then, why show this episode in season 5, you literally have a lot of seasons to show this, and you decided this was the right moment??

Ok, that’s all I wanted to say

Se ya folks

#miraculous ladybug #mlb fandom #chloe bourgeois #mlb season five #mlb salt #marinette dupen chang #ml writers salt #derision spoilers #ml derision

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petertingle-yipyip · 11 months

Text

MAD AT GOD - MATT MURDOCK

Season Three - I’m Not Sorry

tags: @ironprincessstranger @johnmurphys-sass @dusstory @americaarse @astrobees @mayasaurus--rex @woowwwee // seven // finale // masterlist

Pairing: Matt x Reader

Word Count: 7,735

Summary: Moves and countermoves. The cat and mouse game nearly draws to a close as Nelson and Murdock reunite in a last ditch effort to finish things from the right side of the law.

Truthfully, the reveal went better than you had expected. After a few questions and a bit of yelling, Ray was willing to hear you two out. You explained about getting his wife and son out of the line of fire. Ray suggested they leave New York all together but you knew Fisk would be watching all airports and seaports. You were going to offer to call Natasha, see if her billionaire buddy could spare some space but Matt said he knew someone to ask.

While Matt made his call, you asked Ray to go and get Seema and Sami.

Next thing you knew, you were driving Ray and his frazzled family to your apartment. From there, Brett took them in his car while you and Matt headed upstairs. You were both quick to change into something that would catch little to no attention before rushing back into the streets.

You and Matt walked together, his cane in one hand and the other arm linked through yours. Your body was growing heavy with every step and it almost felt as Matt had to hold you up as the weight of your latest string of endeavors began settling on your shoulders, making your latest collection of wounds thump with a heavy pulse. As if he knew that - which he probably did - he gave you a gentle nudge with his elbow.

“Can I ask you something?” He said suddenly, the rhythmic glide of his cane the only other noise on the street.

“Sure.” You nodded.

“Sister Ma- My mother told me that you look at me like I hung the stars.” He began carefully, measuring your reaction. “Is that true?”

“I mean… Did you?” You tried and he chuckled. “I know you didn’t hang the stars but…” You looked up at the night sky, only able to see pinpricks of light past the yellow glow of street lamps but that was more than what you had seen in months. “They’ve always been brighter when you’re around.” You turned back to the path you were walking. “Even now… Days are warmer. Flowers smell sweeter. It’s like everything quiets down and life isn’t so bad. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah.. I think I do.” He answered softly.

“Alright, alright. Don’t get all mushy on me now.” You joked as you nudged him with your shoulder, earning another small laugh. “I thought you were this whole super dark, brooding vigilante right now.”

“I guess you bring out a better side.” He said honestly. “You bring back Matt Murdock.”

“I thought you were leaving him behind.”

“I thought so, too.”

You two met up with Foggy just as Brett was pulling up with Ray and his family. You thanked Brett’s mom as she welcomed you in and she was as kind as you could’ve expected. Brett helped the family get settled while the rest of you waited in the living room.

There was tension brewing in the bedroom as Ray and Seema talked and you felt bad. You wanted to go and help Ray explain, maybe take some of the blame so their marriage didn’t implode, but that felt like a massive overstep. It was clear that Ray loved Seema and she loved him, but that betrayal would be hard to move past. Instead, you pulled some of that tension into your chest in hopes of them having a rational conversation.

You cleared your throat once it hit you and gave Mrs. Mahoney another thanks before heading outside, claiming to need air. Matt was quick to follow but Foggy stayed behind to talk to her.

“You okay?” Matt asked, putting a hand on your back as you leaned against the bars.

“Huh? Yeah, just… Sometimes it’s harder to block stuff out, especially when I’m tired.” You explained, rubbing your eyes. “I could feel the pain and everything from Ray’s wife. I feel like some of this is my fault..”

“How could it be your fault?”

“I didn’t stop this.” You sighed and turned to lean your back against the railing so you could cross your arms. “You were right. I should’ve just made sure this didn’t happen. Now a perfectly happy marriage is gonna be destroyed because Fisk used Ray.”

“You can’t control everything, sweetheart.”

“What about Sami? That little boy looks up to his father like he lifts the sun every morning. And now, what? He loses that because of a jackass like Fisk? That’s not fair, to either of them.”

“I know.” Matt agreed softly. “But if this works, and we get Fisk put away, Ray’s family will be safe.”

“But Seema won’t trust him again.”

“You trust me?”

“What?”

“After all the lies and the stuff I’ve put you through, everything I’ve said to you recently, do you trust me?”

“With my life.”

He gave a small smile and put a hand on your elbow. “Then I think they can get through this.”

Foggy came out soon after and talked to Matt for a minute. You were glad that you two were able to convince Matt to at least try the legal route. If that fell through, you weren’t exactly sure what would happen next. But that was a bridge you would cross if you got to it.

“So what now?” Ray sighed as he met you guys outside.

“You’re gonna testify against Fisk, after you hire them to represent you.” You answered.

“Represent me?” Ray questioned at the same time Foggy said “Them?”

“Rahul Nadeem, meet the brilliant minds behind Nelson and Murdock, attorneys at law.” You gestured to the boys.

“I thought your old firm packed it up.”

“Everyone loves a comeback story.”

“I don’t know about this, Y/L/N.”

“These two are the best attorneys I know. You’re in good hands.”

“What about you? How do you fit into everything?”

“I can serve as an additional testimony or a character witness, but I’m pretty sure there’s a conflict of interest card to be pulled if I help represent you while still at the bureau. Even for me, there’s limits to what I can get away with.”

“You’re not leaving?”

“Not yet, at least. With Dex still after us, I need to keep an eye on him. There’s no need for guessing what he does or doesn’t know if I can stay close enough.”

“Smart.” He nodded.

“She’s always been the brains of this trio.” Foggy threw an arm over your shoulders. “We won't let you down, Ray.”

“You, Seema, Sami.” You agreed. “We’re gonna do everything we can to help your family.”

“I know… Thank you, Y/N.”

Early the next morning, you and Matt brought Ray to Fogwell’s.

“This is where you went?” You asked him as you walked in, already seeing Karen in there. She gave you a small smile and you waved slightly.

“Nobody knows about this place. We’ll be safe here.” Matt shrugged and headed to the back room.

You patted Ray on the shoulder and gestured to the table Karen was set up at before following Matt down the short hall.

“You alright?” He asked without turning to face you.

“Yeah, just tired.” You leaned back against the wall. “And those two don’t like each other very much so..” You gave a small smile.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t wanna.” He offered, putting his hands on your arms.

“Yeah I do.” You sighed and grabbed onto the material of his shirt. “For a second, can we just… take a moment? Forget about everything out there and between us and just…”

He smiled softly and stepped closer, moving one hand to the side of your head. He leaned down and pressed his forehead gently against yours. You took a deep breath and let go of his shirt so you could wrap your arms around his waist. Your head dropped to his shoulder and he chuckled slightly as he put a hand to the back of your head. His other hand was on your lower back as he pressed a gentle kiss to the side of your head.

As Matt held her close, very few things plagued his mind. Most of them were what he noticed about her. The tension in her muscles. The thrum of her pulse. The rise and fall of her chest. The way her arms were locked together, as if to keep him with her. He wondered how he could ever be so stupid as to walk away from her.

The other thoughts that he could put to words were small, selfish prayers. He prayed that there’d be more to their story, that it was a new first page rather than where it would end. He knew his thoughts echoed her name since he realized he was alive, every day until he saw her again. And then even more after. He left her too soon. He always knew that, whether he’d admit it or not. And now, as she was clinging to him like she was drowning and he was her lifeboat, he prayed that she wasn’t truly in love with someone else. That no one else was waiting for her.

After taking a minute to enjoy each other’s company and take a breath, you two headed back into the main room. Karen and Ray were wrapping up their previous conversation, punctuating the tension in the room as Matt began talking about getting Ray’s family out of town.

“We were thinking overseas, maybe a friend or a distant relative.” Karen offered tightly, almost instantly snapping into focus.

“My brother’s wife has a cousin in Bihar.” Ray nodded. “I never liked him.”

“I can get them on a flight as early as tonight.” You said plainly. “But I’m guessing Fisk is watching the airports for exactly this so they’d have to fly outta Montreal, but a car is just as easy to get.”

“They’ll be watching my bank accounts.” Ray tried.

“We’ll cover it.” Matt promised and you nodded with a gentle, reassuring smile. You pulled your phone and messaged your old friend Rick, telling him you needed some help.

“Thanks.. But it might be more than I deserve.”

“Look, you… you hurt people.” Karen answered. “But it doesn’t define you.” She took a glance towards you.

“I’ve done worse than you have, believe me.” You offered honestly. “If I can have my life, so can you, Ray.”

Your phone rang in your hands as Matt sent Ray off. You stepped to the far corner and answered, turning your back to your friends as the conversation started.

“Long time, Y/N.” Rick said happily.

“Hasn’t been that long.. I had you help get someone out not too long ago.”

“No, Natasha called me for that.”

“Yeah, but it was for me so potato tomato.”

“I don’t think that’s how it goes.”

“But you knew what I meant.”

“Yeah, yeah. So what do you need this time?”

“Trip to Bihar for a mom and her son.”

He let out a long sigh. “Bihar, huh?”

“But they can’t fly out from New York, so I’ll need a car to Montreal.”

“And a car out of the country? Y/N, this one’ll probably clear out your tab and then some.”

“Yeah, well, if it doesn’t, can you cash out the rest and give it to them?”

“Why are these people important to you?”

“Since when do you ask questions?”

He chuckled slightly. “Tell you what, I still have that little buried airstrip outside New York. They can fly with a friend of mine from there so it’s cheaper and I’ll cover the car.”

“Look at you, going soft.” You teased. “How much does that leave for them?”

“Somewhere around $600.”

“Can you make it $850 and I'll send a check for the rest?”

“I can give them $800 and call it even.”

“You’re the best, Rick. Thank you.”

“I’ll call you when it’s ready. Where am I getting them from?”

“I’ll get you the address when you need it.”

“Seriously?”

“With what I’m getting them away from, I can’t take any chances. It’s nothing personal.”

“Still all business, eh?” He joked and you frowned to yourself. “No worries, Y/N. We’ll talk soon. And hey?”

“Yeah?”

“Call your cousin.”

“Goodbye, Rick.”

“I’m serious!”

“I know.” You laughed before ending the call and heading back to the table.

You sat beside Matt as Karen stepped out and he turned towards you. He put a hand on your leg and you leaned your head against his shoulder. He huffed a small chuckle before giving your leg a pat. He stood to go change, leaving you in the small room alone. You let out a deep sigh and wondered how you had gotten to that point.

How were you pitted against Fisk again? How had he swooped your partner right out from under you? How had your vigilante persona been dangled over your head as leverage? How was your career at the FBI suddenly dirtier than any work you did for Dreykov?

Maybe your life was going exactly as it was supposed to. Or maybe something diverted it so far off track that it would be nothing but chaos from here on out.

Maybe you should’ve just taken Homeland’s offers to disappear after the carousel.

Ray came back in during your quiet contemplation and paced the small room. Your eyes glanced up, only for a moment, before reverting your soft gaze to the table.

“Can I ask you something?” Ray said tentatively.

“Is it about Exodus?” Your brows raised as you faced him again. You saw the man had stopped walking and was now facing you, fidgeting with his fingers. The uncertainty radiated off him so you gave a small, reassuring smile and waved for him to go ahead.

“How did Dex know? About you?”

“When we got into his apartment, after you left, Matt and I were heading to the roof. Dex threw a piece of glass and it cut the band for my mask. When I grabbed it, he saw me.”

“Did he tell Fisk?”

You chuckled slightly before letting out a loud sigh of amusement. “No.. Fisk already knew. He was trying to intimidate me into working for him by using that secret against me, but Dex was easier to manipulate.”

“Is it true that you can get into peoples heads?”

“I’m not a telepath.” You shook your head. “I’m tele-empathetic. I can read and manipulate emotions.”

“Oh…”

“Speaking of which.” You said as you pulled yourself to sit straighter as Matt came back in and sat at the edge of the boxing ring. “You need to relax a little.” You waved a hand to clear Ray’s nervousness. “Tower’s gonna eat you alive if you don’t get it together.”

“I loved my job.” He reasoned “And I loved being the good guy. I want to be on the right side of the line again.”

“You didn’t love it enough to stop Fisk.” Matt laughed.

“Matt.” You warned as he hopped down and nodded towards Ray.

“Fisk knows how to make people vulnerable. He got my sister-in-law’s health insurance canceled, left my family with bills to pay. Bills that I had to-“

“So you take out a loan, you sell your house, you figure it out. You don’t allow yourself to become an accessory.”

“It wasn’t that easy-“ Ray tried as you argued, “He can’t just sell his house when he has his son to think about!”

“You backed his play, Ray. You moved him into his hotel. You even gave him his toys back, gave him a new one too.”

“He was giving us information that saved lives.”

“Yeah, while he was taking lives. While he was taking over the city.”

“What the hell are you doing?” You grabbed Matt’s arm to turn his focus on you but he yanked his arm away.

“I thought you were my lawyer.” Ray pressed.

“I am your lawyer but I can’t do anything to help you if you can’t answer this one simple question. Why didn’t you blow the whistle when you watched your boss murder an agent?”

“I don’t know.” Ray said quietly.

“Or when you saw Dex walk into that church?”

“Matt.” You tried but he shrugged you off.

“You didn’t say a goddamn word when he murdered a priest.”

“Matt!” You said firmly and turned on him.

“I don’t know.”

“Then why are we here?” Matt yelled.

“Because I took the damn bait!” Ray answered with the same tone. There was a pause while your hand twisted at your side to bring everything back to a calmer level. “Because I didn’t want my son to see me as just an average federal employee… I messed up. I destroyed my life, my family’s life. And I would do anything to take it all back again.”

“Good.” Matt nodded. “You tell that to the DA, and I can help you.”

You smacked his arm as he turned back to the table. You faced Ray and gave an apologetic smile. He gave a small nod before you stepped closer and put an arm over his shoulders. He hesitantly embraced you back and you felt a heavy shudder as that regret toppled against you.

“I know he’s a dick right now-“ You explained as you pulled away. “-but he’s a good lawyer. He’s gonna help you.”

“Thanks, Y/N.” He nodded. “And thank you for helping my family. I don’t know how I can repay you.”

“Consider it my apology.” You shrugged. “It never should’ve got to this point.”

“Yeah..”

“I’ve gotta get to work. Call me if you need anything.” You said quickly. “Oh, and Matt? Fisk nearly had me when he showed me that prison fight. If you hadn’t come back that night, it probably would’ve been me instead of Dex.. I would’ve done whatever I had to so I could protect you and your secret, even in death... Think about that.”

“I never would’ve asked you to do that.” He reasoned.

“You wouldn’t have had to and you know it. I didn’t ask you to stay at Midland but you did because you thought it was right. You thought I’d be safe, right?”

He nodded silently.

“Ray didn’t ask to be stuck in the middle of this bullshit either. Just help him do right by Sami, alright?”

As you were turning to leave, you nearly ran into Tower and Foggy. Foggy gave you a quick hug and you greeted Tower in a hurry before rushing out and to the hotel for

work.

When you got in, you greeted the few agents that were left. All people you could no longer trust, even though most were nice enough. People that you knew would try to kill you if they were told to, whether they wanted to or not. People that weren’t on your side and may end up paying with their own lives. You set your shoulders as you walked down the hall and followed behind Dex as he entered the suite with the lunch tray.

“Can I get you anything else, Sir?” Dex asked, to which he was ignored.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry about Karen Page. She would be dead if Agents Nadeem and Y/L/N hadn’t interfered.”

Again, he was met with silence and you almost felt bad for him. Dex needed reassurance, needed confirmation that he was doing right by someone. And to deprive him of that was what would truly break whatever was left in him. Whether or not that break would work in your favor was still up in the air so you couldn’t afford it. Not yet, at least.

“After everything you’ve done for me, I… I just wanted

to tell you that I’ll keep my word. I will find her and when I do, I am going-“

“No.” Fisk said simply and even you were surprised. “The matter will be handled but not by you.”

“I can handle Nadeem and Y/N.”

“Do nothing… It’s clear that I have put too great a burden on your shoulders. Your relationship with Agent Y/L/N, it was too sentimental for you to finish the job. You let her beat you.”

“I don’t care about Y/N, alright? I don’t. I can make this right.”

“I see it, the way you look at her.” Fisk nodded slightly as he caught sight of you. “It’s admirable that you want to protect her but it needs to end. She wouldn’t do the same for you.”

“That’s enough.” You spoke finally, earning a quick turnaround from Dex. “Let’s go, Dex.”

You could see the heavy movements of his chest as he breathed deeply. You offered a small nod and held a hand out for him to take. He looked between you and Fisk before taking your hand and letting you guide him out.

The small action was in no way a show of solidarity. It was nowhere near you two being on the same side again. All it was, to you, was a stand against Fisk. You very clearly had already chosen Matt’s side since Dex attacked the Bulletin, and even before that. You wouldn’t turn on the man you loved - and the man who still loved you - for a man who was dead set on killing your friend.

For the time being, you would use that soft spot to your advantage for as long as you had it.

And it showed Fisk that you could still take Dex away.

“You can’t protect them both.” Fisk called as you began to leave. “You’ll have to choose.”

“So will you.” You glanced up and saw Vanessa standing near the top of the stairs. “Who will you protect?”

Back at Fogwell’s, Matt and Foggy were well into their conversation with DA Tower about what Ray knew. The back and forth finally settled on five years jail time for Ray, on all felony accounts. Tower promised to have a grand jury together by 4pm, so all that was left was securing immunity for Y/N.

“We have another agent who’s willing to testify alongside Ray, a character witness in his favor but also a witness to some of these crimes.” Matt began calmly, though if Y/N was there, she’d tell him he was practically vibrating.

“So where are they?” Tower shrugged.

“We’re not bringing her in until she’s guaranteed full immunity.” Foggy continued and Matt knew his friend was feeling that same surge, given how his heart was steadily beating faster.

No matter how many times they’d defended someone, how many times they went tit for tat against their oppositions in court. It was different when their friends were on the line. It always meant that much more.

“She…” Tower repeated with a nod. “It’s Y/L/N, isn’t it?”

“Immunity.” Foggy repeated calmly.

“If she’s as involved and knowledgeable as you say, then she’d be in deep shit. She’d lose her position at the FBI and there’d have to be jail time… What about an anonymous witness?”

“That’s hardly ever used in the US.” Foggy replied with furrowed brows.

“I’m sure I can make it work..”

“If you can’t….” Matt tried, waving his hand expectantly.

“How about… No jail time if she just peacefully retires from the FBI.” Tower shrugged.

“She won’t go for that.” Matt countered. “She loves that job.”

“I don’t care. I mean, don’t you guys see that she is just as much to blame as he is?” Tower insisted, pointing to Ray. “She didn’t stop anything either.”

“No, but she warned you from the start, didn’t she?” Matt answered smoothly, to which Tower sighed heavily. “She told you it was a bad idea but you all went along with it anyway.”

The DA cursed quietly before running a frustrated hand down his face. “If she can’t testify anonymously, then I guess she just has to deal with repercussions from the bureau.”

“Thank you. I’m sure we can get her to agree to that.” Foggy nodded with a proud smile before Tower left. He then turned to Matt and patted his friend on the shoulder. “You’re calling her.”

“What?” Matt’s jaw dropped. “She’s not gonna answer me!”

“She’s not gonna answer me!” Foggy reasoned. “And I thought you guys were patching things up. What happened to that?”

“C’mon, man.”

“When has she ever not answered when you called?” Foggy mumbled as he pulled out his phone and dialed Y/N, putting it on speaker. “But hey, feels good, right?” He grinned.

“What? Letting Ray serve five years?”

“Any other lawyers, he would’ve gone away a lot longer. But I meant working together, you and me.”

Foggy was so caught up in his own words that he didn’t realize Y/N had answered. Even Matt barely heard the shift from dial tone to active call.

“Doing what we’re supposed to be doing the way we’re supposed to be doing it.”

“Yeah..” Matt gave a small chuckle. “It felt good.”

“Right? I miss this. Working together, giving a shit about my clients.”

Y/N laughed quietly on the other end of the call.

“Not just billing midtown jackholes in six minute increments.”

“Bet those jackholes pay well though, huh?” Y/N laughed through the phone. “Matt make fun of the new shoes yet?”

“No, I was getting to it though.” Matt continued the joke and Foggy mocked the laughter. “I don’t know, Y/N/N. He might’ve gotten used to the money.”

“It suits him.” She agreed, and Matt knew there was a smile on her face.

“So I’ll get un-used to it.” Foggy countered happily. “We should do this again. All of us.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. We’re not there yet.”

“But we’re getting there.”

Matt let out a small sigh but nodded, begrudgingly agreeing.

“Guys.. As much as I love this reconciliation, did you call me just so I’d be included?” Y/N asked with a light chuckle.

“No, actually, we have an update.” Foggy answered. “When do you get off?”

“I can probably leave around three for lunch or just take a half day if I need it. Why?”

“Tower can get the grand jury at four and you can get added to testify.”

There was a brief silence in the conversation, filled with the sounds of shuffling feet as Y/N was likely moving further away from her colleagues.

“Okay… What’s at stake for me?”

“You should be able to testify anonymously.” Matt explained. “And then you only have to take whatever backlash comes from the bureau.”

“You mean from Fisk through the bureau.” She scoffed.

“It was either that or an early retirement.” Foggy added. “I think it’s a solid plan, Y/N. And I’m pretty sure we’re gonna need you to sell this thing.”

She sighed and allowed a small silence to pass. Matt could only imagine the thoughts running through her head. She had to be worried about repercussions from Fisk. She’d been taunting him, challenging him since she’d met him, and now she’d be taking yet another stand against him. She had to know that every stand was potentially another nail in her coffin.

But how many times had she cheated death? Matt had started to think she was immortal, though not invulnerable. And they both knew Fisk knew what cards to play to expose her vulnerabilities.

Matt hated and loved that he was one of them.

“Okay.” Was all she said. “I’ll meet you guys where I left you and we can head together.”

“No, we should split.” Matt argued.

“No, we just go unmarked. Maybe a couple switches if it gets tense. I’m not losing this like we lost Jasper.”

“I really think-“

“And I think you need to stop questioning me.” She said firmly. “I’ve done stuff like this more than either of you. I think I should- Oh, shit. I gotta go.”

“Wait, Y/N.” Foggy tried but she was already gone.

“There you are.” Dex said as he approached you with an unusually welcoming smile. “Who you talking to?”

“Friend from college.” You shrugged and shoved your phone away. “Why are you in such a good mood?”

“You’ll see.” He nodded towards the door and began backing away, turning to walk straight once you began following him.

When you two walked in, you were met with two other agents attempting to maneuver a large white painting with a wooden frame.

Rabbit in a snowstorm.

“I thought she wouldn’t sell…” You spoke softly, in mild disbelief that Fisk’s most sentimental possession that he was denied had found its way back to him. “Something about the Nazis and her family being the rightful owners.”

“Just took some extra persuasion.” He shrugged.

That sentence didn’t sit right in your stomach as Vanessa joined you.

“This is from Wilson.” Dex told her and you stepped aside to let her stand between you two.

“I was wondering where it had gone.” Vanessa said, looking at the painting she too adored.

“It was home.” You mumbled and wiped a hand down your face to cover it.

“Y/N, wasn’t it?” She smiled at you. “Y/N Vostokoff.”

“Well, no. Y/L/N, actually.” You admitted.

Her brows raised slightly and she nodded. “Wilson has spoken very highly of you. He respects you a great deal.”

You saw in her eyes a knowing spark. Fisk told her who you were and she was letting you know. She was using her words from the last conversation you had with her as Exodus as a lure to flaunt her knowledge of your truth in front of you.

“The feelings aren’t mutual.” You lifted your chin slightly.

“Tell me, do you still have the painting?”

“Vibrant and loud, but also gentle and vulnerable… Yeah, I do. But it’s not hung anymore. Too many painful memories. The guy I was with when I bought it? We didn’t work out.”

“I see.” She nodded slightly. “Art is wonderful that way, isn’t it? Something so simple-“ She turned to face the large, seemingly blank canvas. “-can be so influential.”

“A bit unnerving as well.”

“As all powerful things are.” She looked over her shoulder to you again. “On either end of the spectrum.”

You looked at the simple painting again and while you remained unimpressed by the creation, your eyes snagged on the new pop of color on the side. A brief splatter of blood that almost no one would notice, but it stood out like neon to you. You then realized that the woman didn’t change her mind. Of course she didn’t. Of course Dex went off and did something terrible to an innocent woman who had suffered her fair share.

“We haven’t formally met yet.” Dex said and took a step to be more in front of Vanessa. Your brows raised slightly but you said nothing. “I’m Agent Poindexter.. Dex. And if you need anything at all, just think of me as the new James Wesley.”

You sucked in a breath between your teeth and tilted your head, earning the attention of both Vanessa and Dex.

“It’s a shame what happened to old Wesley, isn’t it? A whole clip on his chest… And an unrecognizable burn through his sternum. Now, I’d hate to see something like that happen to you.” You said with fake concern lacing your words. It earned you a confused expression that quickly shifted to a glare from your partner.

Vanessa offered you a slight smirk before returning to the previous conversation. “It’s a pleasure to meet you… Vanessa Marianna.” She moved to sit on one of the sofas and Dex shot you a warning look, to which you shrugged.

“I’ve always told Wilson that he has great taste in art.” Dex continued and you rolled your eyes.

“He does love to put beautiful things on display.” She agreed, but there seemed to be something else she was hinting at. “Where’d you find it?”

“Some lady had it. Wilson couldn’t get her to sell it.”

“Well, that must’ve been very disappointing for him. It’s the painting in his collection that means the most to us.”

“I figured as much, so I thought I’d ask her one last time.”

Vanessa scanned the painting again and you saw her attention catch on the slightly bloodied corner as well. You felt a brief uncertainty from her but it shifted to a strange sense of comfort. You wondered if she found peace in violence, in chaos, and maybe that’s why she liked Fisk.

If that was her, a seemingly innocent and unsuspecting woman, what did that mean for you? But when you thought about the violent men you attracted, you were genuinely thankful you were still alive.

The rest of your day was uneventful and you left for lunch right on time. Dex tried to get you to stay, to go with him and “get things back to normal” but you refused. He tried to reason that he was just off from Julie ghosting him and you had half a mind to scream that she was probably dead. Only reasons you didn’t were because you didn’t want to cause a scene when you were drastically outnumbered and if someone threw Matt’s death at you like that, you would’ve gone on a massacre that rivaled your escape from the Red Room.

“Courthouse. No stops.” Matt told the van driver before ushering Ray to the back. You hurried over and watched the relief cross Ray’s face as you got to them. “Nice of you to join us.” Matt smiled gently.

“Yeah, well.” You shrugged with a smile. “It’s not like I have a reason not to.”

“None of this bothers you, does it?” Ray asked a nervous chuckle as you climbed into the back of the van.

“Y’know, with the company of my esteemed attorney here, I have to tell you.” You began dramatically, watching Matt try to hold back a smile. “Rahul Nadeem, I’ve been through so much worse.. Fisk doesn’t scare me.”

“You ever think maybe he should?” He tried as the van took off, just trying to keep his mind distracted so as to not lose his nerve.

You cleared your throat slightly to break up the tension between you all. With a small flick of your fingers, you cleared his uncertainty and let trust fill its place. Trust in you and in Matt. He looked at you and then to Matt, who offered an interested head tilt in return, before he nodded to himself.

“I thought about it… But then who would do this?” You gestured to the van and he broke a small smile.

“You’re nuts, yknow that?” He laughed.

“So I’ve been told.” You nodded with a grin.

After a bit of silence, Ray turned to Matt.

“I’ve gotta ask you something.” He said simply.

“You wanna know about Daredevil.” Matt sighed and you tilted your head, quietly acknowledging that it was a fair thing to wonder.

“I stepped off the path for a few weeks and it destroyed my life… But your life, both of you, you step on and off all the time.”

“It complicates our life, too.” Matt said, seemingly thinking of just how that lifestyle affected him. “Trying to have it both ways.”

“Does it?” Ray scoffed slightly. “I mean, your friends know who you are, what you do. Your girl-“ He gestured to you. “-is right there with you.”

“My life almost got them killed.” Matt countered. “And not for the first time.”

“Not to mention what I drag them into.” You confessed and gave a small lift of your hand. “Everything he puts at risk, so do I. Problem is that I tend to make more rash decisions because I’m the one who’s stepped off the path… He talks about what he’s done and all this but he’s never gone far from the path, y’know? He’s always just walking next to it and finds his way back. Every time, I still try to do the right thing and stay on the straight and narrow but… There’s blood on my hands, Ray. A lot. And there’s always going to be blood on my hands. But if it keeps my friends safe and it helps someone else sleep at night, if a little girl can go home to her parents instead of becoming something like me, I’ll do it again.. We don’t get it both ways. We each sacrifice a lot because we continue to choose this. We give up certain things and..” Your eyes turned to Matt. “Even certain people.”

“Yeah, I don’t see how we could.” Matt sighed, his head turning to the floor as if disappointed. That feeling flashed, only for a moment, before disappearing and being replaced. You felt bad as you understood it was what you said.

Ray insinuated that you could have the people you loved and the lifestyle you continued to choose. And your words implied that you didn’t believe that or didn’t want it. But it wasn’t that you didn’t want it. It was that, at every opportunity, life seemed to not let you. You didn’t believe you were meant to have everything you wanted, so you sacrificed your relationship with Matt because just having him as a friend was better than him dead.

“You guys already do.” Ray said gently, meeting your eyes and offering a small nod towards Matt to which you frowned slightly. “I messed up, and no matter what happens today, I don’t know if my wife’s ever coming back.”

“She loves you, Ray.” You offered honestly, earning a small smile from him. “You’re the father of her child, for crying out loud. It might take time but you’re not gonna lose her. You won’t lose your family.”

“And your friends, they keep coming back.. How do you hold on to them?”

You turned to Matt and he sighed to himself. You leaned back and crossed your arms with slightly raised brows, interested in what Matt would say.

“It’s not me.. It’s them.” He nodded towards you. “They hold on to me.”

You noticed Matt’s attention shift, but all you could hear was the honking. You pushed yourself up quickly and climbed to a kneel as you ditched your blazer. You reached for your gun as Matt motioned for you to get down. Seconds later, he grabbed Ray and your trio dropped to your stomachs. When the bullets finally stopped, you got up quickly and gripped your weapon. You turned over your shoulder and felt a fading sensation from the front seat.

“Driver’s dead.” You said quickly before waving a hand to Ray’s attention “Get your gun out. Matt?”

“Uh..” Matt said before grabbing your hands and showing where to shoot. “There’s a guy right here.”

“Y/L/N, we can’t shoot blind.” Ray tried.

“They’re reloading. Fire your weapon!” Matt insisted.

You groaned in mild annoyance and fired two quick shots. Matt gave you a new target and you fired again. Ray took the third so you hopped out of the van.

You felt a hand trying to close around your arm as you landed but you were quick to move out of reach. You kept your gun raised as you crept around the stopped vehicles. You came across a man on the floor, gripping his bleeding leg, so you came up and pressed your foot against the wound. He yelled in pain so you fired a shot through his forehead. A loud shatter drew your attention and you saw Matt diving through the windshield.

You rolled your eyes slightly at his dramatics before meeting with him and Ray.

“We need to stick together.” Matt scolded as he repositioned his glasses.

“If we did what I said, we wouldn’t be here.” You mumbled as you took position in front of them. “Just follow me.”

“Y/N, just stop and listen.” He grabbed your arm and yanked your back. You pulled out of his grip and used your other hand to press him back against the nearest car. “Trust me, alright? You two pretend to lead me and do what I say.”

“Мне не нужна твоя помощь.” You sneered, pushing off him and moving forward again. (I don’t need your help.)

You moved to the other side of the cars and got to the side of the next two. While they were distracted firing at Ray, you moved quickly. You ran at them and let yourself collide with the first man, hooking an arm around his shoulders. Using the first man as leverage, you slammed your feet against the second one. The impact made him fall back and hit the back of his head against the car.

As your momentum shifted to push you backwards, you moved your leg until you felt your foot against the car. You hooked the toe of your shoe into the wheel well. That allowed you somewhere to steady yourself and pull, which forced the first man to slam back against the hood. You climbed up so one knee was against his chest as you slammed your gun against his temple.

You watched as Matt and Ray made their way forward but you were distracted by a heavy hit of fear. You quickly looked around the cars before seeing the familiar yellow fog leaking from a sedan a few feet away. At the same time you were making your way to her, one of Fisk’s gunmen was heading that way.

You acted fast, firing a shot into the man’s leg. He buckled almost instantly, which allowed Matt time to pick him up and slam him into the vehicle. You opened her door and got her attention while Matt fell into his helpless blind man routine. Flashing your badge was enough to get her to trust you and run as fast as she could in the other direction.

When you found the guys again, they were stuck in a fistfight on a bus. You climbed to the hood of the closet car, knelt as you lined your shot at the man that had Ray, and fired. The bullet landed in the side of the man’s head, causing him to fall limp. You slid down and hurried across as Matt kicked a man out of the bus. When he tried to get up, you slammed your heel down to finish it.

“Oh shit.” Matt groaned.

“What?” Your brows furrowed.

“It’s a cab.”

“Who cares? Just get in. Ray, you drive.”

You climbed into the backseat and shoved your gun back into place. You wiped the blood splatters from your hands and face but could do nothing about the splotches on your clothes.

At least you had evidence of the attack.

Ray made it a quick drive to the courthouse and the three of you were quickly ushered into the building. You met with Foggy and Karen, who didn’t bother to hide their concerned expressions. You offered a small smile for reassurance but that seemed to only deepen Foggy’s frown. Tower rushed your group through the halls, which allowed for Foggy to give a rundown on what would happen next.

“What about my family?” Ray asked, turning to you.

“My guy is taking care of it. They should be out by tonight, early morning at the latest. Karen, can you get the details to Seema?” You leaned around the group to see her on the far end.

“Yeah, yeah I can.” She nodded quickly.

You pulled a folded envelope from your back pocket and passed it over, with all the details of where they were going and what you were able to give them, along with the number to text her address to once you said it was good. You explained that you’d tell them once you heard back.

“Right after I do this.” She gestured outside.

“Well, wait.” You stepped behind the guys to move closer. “What are you trying to do?”

“Press conference.”

“Are you insane?”

“Look, it’ll keep the majority of eyes off you guys for a minute. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna be pretty interested in what I’m gonna have to say.”

“Karen…”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Be careful.” You sighed and she patted your arm before hurrying off.

Tower led you and Ray into the courtroom and the small room had an entirely different atmosphere. It was suffocatingly tense and the fear hung heavy in the room. You cleared your throat slightly to try and break it up, but it seemed to swell right back together. You tilted your head slightly with a quick brow raise to admit to yourself that it wouldn’t change.

“Before we begin, I should make it known that your petition for an anonymous witness has been declined. Given the severity of this case, any and all federal agents need to be identified and held responsible. Will both witnesses proceed?” The judge explained as you all approached the bench.

Ray’s hand found yours and you shivered slightly. It was no different, to testify anonymously or not. You stood against Fisk before and survived. You took on Dex multiple times and survived. The Hand. Yakuza. Red Room. Billy Russo. You wouldn’t turn and cower because your name was going to be attached to your words.

You would stand against Fisk, mask or no mask and taunt his retaliations yet again.

Let him come. Let him try.

“Yes, I will.” You nodded.

They took Ray’s testimony first while you sat beside Tower. It seemed to drag on, every word raking across your nerves. Your own body felt electric, thrumming heavily with every second that ticked by. At first, you assumed it was your own jitters but you had gone through worse. You were raised to withstand worse, so why were you so rattled?

You realized then it was coming from somewhere else. You turned the jury and saw the faintest buzzing around them. Understandably, it was a huge case to be a part of so it made sense they’ll have some anxiety. But one juror in particular stood out. One seemed to be vibrating in his seat.

Something else was weighing on him.

He looked quickly between you and Ray, fidgeting with his hands as his leg bounced hard enough to rock him in his seat.

Your eyes closed and you sighed to yourself as you understood. Fisk had a man on the grand jury. Nothing you said would matter.

You’d already lost.

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hannahmanderr · 1 year

Text

DannyMay Day 2 - Backpack

Words: 2,725

Summary: In which Dash becomes strangely invested in other people's personal belongings (FFN)

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“It’s okay, man,” Kwan said, clapping Dash on the shoulder. “Lancer’s a nice guy! He’s had your back before.”

“Yeah, before,” Dash muttered. Before Lancer suddenly got all up in arms about student athletes’ academic performance and began cracking down on him and his buddies.

It was all unfair, in Dash’s opinion. He was the star of the football team! He’d made the starting lineup as a freshman and led the team to their first playoff appearance in a decade. Who cared if he got a couple of lousy grades when he was 17 for 21 in completions at the last game? With no interceptions!

But no. Lancer had to play hardball with him just because he was sitting at a D- in his class. It was only October, there was still plenty of time to pull it up. And a D- was still a passing grade, right? So long as it wasn’t an F.

That hadn’t stopped Lancer from pulling him aside in class yesterday and telling him that until he could get up to at least a C in the class, he’d be prohibited from seeing any active play time. He’d gotten absolutely reamed by the coach over the whole thing at last night’s practice.

And so there he was, standing outside of Lancer’s classroom at the end of his study hall, right before his English class, trying to work up the guts to go in and ask (beg) for some sort of extra credit. They had one of the most important games of the season next week, there was no way he could miss that. Kwan had only come as moral support. And to offer his services as an English tutor, if necessary (Dash never would’ve guessed, but Kwan had a surprising knack for writing. Some of his friend’s poems and stuff weirded him out, but hey, if Kwan’s hidden talent could save his hide, he wouldn’t complain).

Dash groaned loudly and buried his face in his hands. “He’s not gonna give me anything. He’ll just tell me some teacher thing about, I don’t know, thinking about the consequences before I decided to flunk, or something.” Which wasn’t even a fair assessment. It’s not like he’d chosen to get bad grades. They just kind of… happened. He could only nag Mikey into ‘helping’ him with his homework so many times before it got suspicious.

Kwan, always the chipper one, grabbed Dash by the shoulders and steered him towards the door. “Nah, you don’t know he’ll say that!” he declared over Dash’s protests. “It’s like my mom always says: you won’t know until you try!”

“Kwan, wait-” Dash said, but it was too late. Kwan had pushed open the door and him inside. He panicked; he hadn’t worked out what to say or anything!

He was so focused on scrambling to come up with a reasonable plea that it took him longer than it should’ve to process the fact that Lancer wasn’t sitting at his desk. The teacher wasn’t in the classroom at all, actually. No one was.

“Huh,” Kwan said, echoing Dash’s thoughts. “I could’ve sworn he did lunch detentions this period.”

“He does,” Dash responded. “He gave one to Fenton for being late for, like, the billionth time yesterday. And he gave one to Dale for texting Tiffanie during class.”

Kwan stifled a laugh. “At this rate, Lancer’s gonna have the whole team benched!”

Dash didn’t find the joke funny. Partially because he didn’t appreciate the jab at his expense, but also because he’d just noticed that the classroom wasn’t completely empty.

“Hey, whose bag is that?” he asked, pointing at the ratty purple thing leaning against the leg of a desk in the second row.

The backpack had certainly seen better days; the straps were frayed, a variety of stains and dirt splotched the bag in an irregular pattern, and the canvas was completely torn in the very front pocket. It was the kind of bag Paulina would probably puke at if it got within ten feet of her.

“Umm…” Kwan hummed as he took a step closer to it. “Isn’t that Fenton’s?”

It was Dash’s turn to stifle a laugh. “Yeah, right,” he said. “Have you seen the way he’s been obsessing over his bag lately? No shot that loser just leaves without it.”

He watched as Kwan considered the argument, but he knew his point was airtight. Fenton had started keeping a death grip on his backpack out of the blue, a little more than a month ago. Other A-list members loved to guffaw over stories about how he would take the thing with him to the bathroom on his famous psychic bladder trips. Some of them thought maybe he was on to something - it was a miracle that so few personal belongings had been ruined during ghost attacks - but most of them used it as an excuse to poke more fun at him. To think Fenton would just leave his bag alone, even during a ghost attack, was dumb.

Still, Kwan looked skeptical. “I don’t know man,” he said. “Like I’m pretty sure that’s his. It’s the same color and stuff.”

An idea manifested itself so clearly in Dash’s head, he could practically feel the lightbulb going off (sue him, he liked watching old, cheesy cartoons with visual gags). He elbowed Kwan and, with a mischievous grin, said, “Only one way to find out.” He snatched the bag off the ground and hoisted it onto the desk, grabbing the zipper.

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Kwan said. He caught Dash’s wrist. “We can’t just go through someone’s stuff like this! What if Lancer comes back and sees us?”

Dash scoffed. “We’ll be quick. And besides, it’s not some random kid’s stuff, it’s Fenton’s.” He quirked an eyebrow and added, “Unless you’re admitting I’m right about it not being his.”

Kwan bit his lip. “I still don’t know, man…”

“Fine then, you can stand there and be a lookout. I still wanna check. And hey, if you’re right, then maybe we can score something juicy on that loser!”

Kwan sighed, still clearly unhappy with Dash, but he didn’t stop his friend from opening up the main pocket and sifting through the bag’s contents.

Algebra book, boring. A few folders stuffed with papers, boring, although the name scrawled across the top of one of them confirmed it was, in fact, Danny Fenton’s. Disheveled notebook, boring. Leftovers from a bagged lunch, gross. A handful of crappy pens and pencils, boring. A silver tube of lipstick, just plain weird.

He was starting to think that it’d been a stupid idea after all (of course it was, why wouldn’t it be? It was loser Fenton they were talking about here) when he saw, sitting innocuously in the bottom of the backpack, Phantom’s ghost catcher.

At least that’s what he thought it was. It looked like the same green and silver thing he always used to suck up the ghosts - it was definitely scratched and dented enough to be his - but it also looked like a soup thermos. A super techy soup thermos, but a soup thermos nonetheless.

Was Phantom’s ghost catcher thingy a thermos? Dash couldn’t really remember. He’d never seen it up close.

Kwan had noticed how Dash had paused so suddenly. “What? What’s in there?” he asked, craning his neck to see.

Carefully, Dash took the thermos out of the bag. “Check this.”

Kwan’s jaw dropped. “Holy crap,” he breathed. “Is that Phantom’s? No wonder Fenton’s been watching that bag like a hawk!”

“You sure it’s actually his? Like come on, why would someone as cool as Phantom give something so important to someone as lame as Fenton?”

“I dunno,” Kwan said, shrugging. “Maybe he found it or something? After one of Phantom’s fights? Or maybe it’s actually his, it’s got his parent’s logo on it.”

Sure enough, stamped into the lid was a stylized F, recognizable by just about every resident of Amity Park. Dash frowned down at it. “Why the heck would Phantom be using one of the Fenton’s dumb inventions?”

Kwan shrugged again. “Are we even sure it’s Phantom’s?”

Dash turned his frown toward his friend. “Dude, you’re the one who said it was Phantom’s first!” At least out loud, he added mentally. “Plus look at it, it’s so beat up and stuff, it’s gotta be his! Who else have we seen using one of these things?” He thrust the thermos at Kwan, but both boys were startled when they heard something clatter against its metal sides.

“Oh my gosh,” Kwan whispered. “There’s a ghost in there right now!”

Dash smacked the back of Kwan’s head. “Idiot, ghosts are, like, squishy! They don’t sound like that!”

He grabbed the lid, fully intending to twist it off, but Kwan’s uncharacteristic squeak made him pause. “Don’t open it!” Kwan screeched.

“Quit being such a wuss,” Dash said, twisting the lid again. It popped off easily and, when no ghost came flying out, he shook out its contents into his hand.

Kwan, who had covered his eyes with his hands when Dash opened the thermos, peeked out from between two fingers. When he saw the object in his friend’s hand, he slowly lowered his guard. “A ring?” he asked, bewildered.

Dash echoed the sentiments. It was, in fact, a ring resting in his palm, threaded with a plain silver chain. The ring itself was totally bizarre. The metal, which was freezing to the touch, seemed to radiate with a bright green color. The black onyx setting didn’t protrude too far from the body of the ring, but it had to be wide across in order to house the main stone - a large emerald, surrounded by tiny ruby studs. When Dash raised the ring in between two fingers and twisted it, he could see a pattern being formed in the stone’s facets. A face of some sort?

The whole ensemble reminded Dash of the class ring his mom had ordered for him last year. Somewhat bulky, very showy, and very unlike Fenton. Judging by its creep factor, it seemed more like Manson’s style than anything. It didn’t help that when he held it, he felt his heart seize up in a sudden sense of foreboding, as if he was being hunted. A cold breeze brushed against the hairs on the back of his neck despite the fact that the AC was definitely not running. Some sort of strange, inhuman beat thrummed in his chest, out of sync with his heart.

It was unpleasant. He shifted his hold onto the silver chain, and the feelings abated. Mostly, anyway.

Kwan whistled. “Wow. A rock like that’s gotta be worth some serious change.”

“You think?” Dash asked absently. He was still distracted trying to decide whether the flash of anxiety had actually been triggered by the ring or not, though he didn’t fail to notice the fact that Kwan made no move to touch it.

“Totally. Look at the size of that thing! It’s like, bigger than my thumbnail.”

Dash shot his friend a look. “Dude. I’ve told you, you gotta stop making weirdly specific comparisons.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that Lancer was all over my ‘descriptive capabilities’ in that last creative writing assignment,” Kwan said, folding his arms across his chest. “Either way, though, I gotta wonder how on earth Fenton could get his hands on something that fancy. Unless if it’s like, a family heirloom or something. Don’t you remember how he had that pop-up garage sale just to afford those sweats for that one party you had?”

The gears in Dash’s head churned faster and faster as the pieces began to fall into place. “Yeah…” he admitted slowly. “And look at it. Fenton wouldn’t be caught dead wearing something like this.”

Kwan looked up at Dash from the ring. He raised an eyebrow; Dash could tell he recognized the look on his face. “What are you thinking?”

Dash grinned. “I’m thinking that we were right about that thing being Phantom’s ghost catcher,” he said, pointing to the thermos with his jaw. “Fenton probably saw him put the ring in there and stole it from him! Maybe he thinks the ring is valuable and he’s waiting for the chance to sell it!”

“Maybe,” Kwan mused. “How would he have stolen it from Phantom in the first place, though? And why would Phantom put a ring in his ghost catcher?”

“Bro, look at this thing and try and tell me it’s not some ghost thing. Don’t you feel that creepy vibe it’s giving off?”

Kwan shrugged noncommittally. “Okay, so we’ll say it’s Phantom’s. You wanna, what, try and return it?”

“Yeah, exactly!” Dash exclaimed. “Think about it! Even if the ring is worthless, Phantom’s gotta be wondering where his ghost catcher went. If we tell him we found it and we give it back to him, it’ll totally establish the three of us as bros! He’ll be so grateful, he’ll definitely want to hang with us.”

Kwan opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by the ringing of the bell. Dash let loose a string of swears that would absolutely earn him a detention if Lancer had heard him; he snatched the thermos off the desk and dropped the ring and chain back in it. He swung his own bag off his shoulder and, despite Kwan’s sputtering protests, shoved the thermos in.

Satisfied, he threw Fenton’s bag back onto the ground and pulled Kwan towards their usual seats on the other side of the classroom just as the first student walked in.

“What are you doing?” Kwan hissed at him. “Fenton’s totally gonna realize it’s gone! And how are we even supposed to find Phantom to give it back to him?”

A thought flashed across Dash’s mind, making him chuckle at how both of their roles had switched. “Oh, Kwan, dear pal of mine,” he said, “it’s like your mom says: we won’t know until we try.”

Kwan slid into his seat, but kept a glare trained on his friend. “Using my mom like that? Low blow, man.”

Dash watched as more students filed into the room. Mia was busy shooing away Ricky, who kept trying to insert himself between her and Sarah while she showed her something on her phone. Paulina perched herself in the chair in front of him, raving about some sort of girl drama he usually only pretended to pay attention to. Manson and Foley entered a minute later. Their heads were bent close together, and they were whispering furiously about something, even after they took their seats.

Strangely enough, Lancer and Dale were still missing from the room by the time the bell rang. Less strangely, Fenton was late as well.

Dash didn’t really notice. He was preoccupied with watching Manson and Foley, who apparently hadn’t noticed that their third member had left his precious backpack unattended. He scoffed. They were probably too wrapped up in one of their stupid arguments to notice, although the last time they’d gotten into a fight, freshmen were swearing up and down that the two of them could be heard all the way from the gym.

A full four minutes after the bell rang, students had begun muttering about leaving class if Lancer didn’t show. To their disappointment, including Dash’s, the teacher rushed in a moment later looking particularly frazzled. He was followed closely by Dale, who looked downright traumatized, and Fenton, who simply looked bored.

“I apologize for the delay, students,” Lancer said as he shuffled the papers on his desk. “Our lunch detention was rudely interrupted by a ghost who thought it funny to try and make us bungee jump off the school roof… sans bungee cords.”

Well that helped explain why Fenton had left his bag behind. And why Dale, who was deathly afraid of heights, looked like he was about to puke all over his desk.

Dash stole another glance at Fenton, who’d joined his loser friends in their whispering. Manson and Foley, he’d noticed, had relaxed significantly once they’d seen Fenton. More importantly, none of them had paid any attention to Fenton’s bag.

Dash grinned triumphantly. “See Kwan?” he whispered. “I’m telling you, this is gonna work out just fine.”

Kwan only shook his head and pulled out his notebook. “I hope you’re right, bro.”

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To be continued in Day 27 - Rings

#danny phantom #dannymay #dannymay2023 #dannymay 2023 #dash baxter #kwan #backpack #dannymay day 2 #hannah writes #fanfic #danny phantom fanfic

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madrone33 · 1 year

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RotT ranting ‘cause I need to express my unhappiness.

JIM YOU COMPLETE FUCKING IDIOT!

There is a whole ass 20 min long ep in Trollhunters called ‘Unbecoming’ exploring the question/insecurity of “What if Jim wasn’t the Trollhunter?” The answer clearly shown in the episode is “The whole world will go to shit, and in the end Jim is the Trollhunter, Amulet or not.”

Ya hear that Jim? AMULET or NOT.

So why is it that the 1st thing young Jimmy does when the Amulet breaks is go, “Oh no but can i be a hero without the Amulet?😱” Bitch EXCUSE ME??

Where did all that character development go huh? Up Gunmar’s fat asshole? ‘Cause no way are the writers doing this arc again that they already did very well in a series explicitly dedicated to Jim alone, without the time limit of a movie and the need to include sixty million other main characters from the other shows and all their separate arcs.

But apparently, the writers collectively decided to have selective amnesia that day and completely forgot about the episode dedicated to Jim’s insecurities and doubts. Nice going writers.

And then. And THEN. They have the audacity to take Toby - ma boi TP - and make it so the only thing he can do to help is sacrifice himself for the cause, and then die. Yes, you heard that right. They kill off Toby for shock value.

What. The. Fuck.

Toby is so much more than just the support guy who dies to give the movie a dark edgy “deep” ending. He’s Jim’s best friend, the steady accepting rock that Jim is lost without. It’s not a happy ending if Toby’s not in it. Jim would be broken. But I guess that was probably the point, huh. “Oh no, one of the main chs died, this movie really does have consequences!”

Except it actually doesn’t, because they almost immediately scrap that. See, after Toby’s tragic death - which btw I legit didn’t see coming and was completely confused by. And this wasn’t shock or denial from grief, this was just plain scepticism and confusion. Huh? Ok so did Toby just… die? It’s not a fake-out for drama?

I just sat there for a few minutes waiting for the film to clarify. And then when I realised yes, they did actually kill Toby, I waited a bit more for the film to pull something out of its ass to retcon this. Which it did. And boy was it some retcon.

Time travel. Yep. You heard right, but I’m going to write it again anyway: They used time travel.

Now time travel on its own isn’t a show breaker. Hell, it’s used quite effectively in many stories and movies. Harry Potter PoA case in point. So time travel as a concept isn’t bad. It’s when the time travel breaks the timeline, already existing lore, character development, character integrity, stakes, suspension of disbelief, and makes you feel like nothing you watched mattered, that it becomes bad. Which RotT does. And it’s a dumpster fire.

Jim travels back in time, not to the moment before Toby’s sacrifice, which would have invalidated that sacrifice but might have been bearable. Not to the beginning of the movie, which would have been a bit weird but bearable. No. Go big or go home right? He goes all the way back to Trollhunters Season 1 Episode 1 ‘Becoming’. The beginning of the fucking series.

In case you don’t realise what a colossal screw up this is, let me lay out the situation for you.

So, y’know all those characters you know and love? Y’know how you love them because you’ve seen them grow from idealistic normal kids to responsible and dependable badasses? Y’know how you put your time into watching 88 episodes and 1 movie? Y’know how you witnessed 34 hours of these characters learning and growing and interacting together? Y’know all the highs and lows, the tears and the smiles, the laughs and the cringes, the heartbreak and wholesome? The journey these characters, and this world, has taken? The moments and episodes and people and places you know and have grown to care about?

Well. Take all that, wrap it up really nicely with a bow on top, sign ‘My Childhood’ on it, and then just kinda… throw it in the trash. And then crush it under a trash compactor. And then light the resulting piece of shit on fire.

According to the writers and world and lore and canon, those 88 episodes? They don’t exist. None of that has happened, except in Jim’s head. It’s kinda like the ‘it was all a dream’ stories, but almost worse because that dream is going to happen again.

We know what’s going to happen. Doing it again will feel cheap and boring and flat. Those characters we like ‘cause of character development? Not there anymore. We’re stuck with the simple boring normal versions of them again. And we’ll have to watch them go through the same things as if for the first time just to get to the characters we like. Only it won’t be for the first time. And we’ll know that.

Why would we want this? Writers? Hello? Someone answer me, because I don’t know the reason myself! Why in the everloving shit would we ever want to retcon 32 hours of viewing experience, just to do it all. Over. Again. There is no reason. Because we don’t want to.

Hell, even Jim probably doesn’t want to! The writers made it so he still remembers everything, so do you know how much trauma this guy probably has by now? Let’s see:

Bular trying to kill him, Draal trying to kill him, Goblins trying to kill him, Nomura trying to kill him, Gladys trying to kill him, the Stalkling trying to kill him, lightning trying to kill him, Strickler trying to kill him, lying to his Mom, Golems trying to kill him, Gato trying to kill him, Angor Rot trying to kill him, Pixies being pixies, his Mom almost being killed, Aaarrrgghh being killed.

The Darklands trying to kill him, Nyarlagroths trying to kill him, Gumm Gumms trying to kill him, Dictatious trying to kill him, Gunmar trying to kill him, the Gruesome trying to kill him, Usurna trying to kill him, the Deep trying to kill him, Vendal being killed, Otto trying to kill him, Trollmarket’s citizens being killed, Claire almost killing herself. Claire getting possessed and trying to kill him, Draal being killed, Merlin trying to kill him, Jim killing his humanity, the sun trying to kill him, Morgana trying to kill him.

The Green Knight trying to kill him, Arthur trying to kill him, Guards trying to kill him, Aaarrrgghh trying to kill him, the Arcane Order trying to kill him, Jim trying to kill his friends, Merlin being killed, Jim being killed. Nari trying to kill him, Numora being killed, Strickler being killed, Archie and Charlemagne being killed, the world being killed, Toby being killed.

Yeahhh. He’s got trauma. He’s got trauma for days. Hey, you know what’s great for someone who has trauma? Putting them back into the traumatic situation and doing it again! I’m sure their mental health won’t completely crumble under the stress. This is going to go great! Not.

And that’s not even the worst part. Haha ohhh no!

The worst part - by FAR - is that this stupid garbage excuse for a movie not only forgets about ‘Unbecoming’ once, but twice.

During the bulk of the movie, Jim struggles with feeling like he can’t be a hero without the Amulet. During the end of the movie though, after Jim’s successfully time travelled to the writers’ heart’s content, Jim forgets the other major lesson of Unbecoming, the part about what happens if Jim isn’t the Trollhunter. Don’t remember? Here’s a friendly reminder from before:

“The whole world will go to shit, and in the end Jim is the Trollhunter, Amulet or not.”

Did you catch that first part? Ahem.

“THE WHOLE WORLD WILL GO TO SHIT.”

If Jim is not the Trollhunter, if he does not pick up the Amulet and stop the Bridge from forming, and kill Bular and Gunmar and Angor Rot, the whole world goes to complete, absolute, no holds barred, shit. And what does Jim do at the end of the movie, having seen in terrifying detail exactly what that kind of future is? Why, he makes Toby the Trollhunter of course!

I- I can’t. I just can’t with this movie. How-? Why-? Just why. Why do this? Jim, you remember what happened last time you refused the call, right? You- you do remember, right??

Killahead opens. Bular is still alive. Gunmar and the whole Gumm Gumm army is free. Arcadia’s population of humans is eaten alive. Trollmarket is overrun. There are Changelings and Goblins and all kinds of Darklands creatures everywhere. No-one can kill Gunmar because the Amulet is broken, which means no Eclipse Armor.

Merlin’s staff is most likely taken by the bad guys, since the Amulet can’t lead any GGs to it first. Merlin is crushed to death without waking. Morgana is freed. The Eternal Night is upon us. Humanity is eaten. The Arcane Order turns everything back to the Stone Age with no one to stop them. The Arkiridians land on Earth and are probably killed. There goes Arkiridian-5’s royal family. General Morando becomes Gaylen and battles the Arcane Order for ultimate supremacy over the Universe.

This is the Bad Timeline. Everything sucks.

Jim. Jim buddy. Buddy ol’ pal. Jimbo. Why in the everloving fuck would you do this? It’s official, I think the writers have amnesia. They forgot that whole episode, apparently it wasn’t there.

And wait a minute- who ever said Jim could give the Amulet to Toby in the first place? It’s not, like, really his choice? Sure he rejected it in ‘Unbecoming,’ but that was mainly Merlin’s choice to make Draal the Trollhunter instead of Jim to teach Jim a lesson. Key word: Merlin’s choice. Because it’s Merlin’s Amulet, and he chooses who the next Trollhunter is.

Why would Merlin choose Toby just because he sacrificed himself in the future? Toby is, no offence Toby, not a logical choice to be Trollhunter. At this point in the story he’s not very fit, doesn’t seem to want the kind of adventure Jim does in the first episode, and he doesn’t have any fighting skills.

It’s only Jim’s expertise in cooking that lets him live in that first battle with Bular. Toby doesn’t have cooking skills. He will die on the first night, and then the Amulet will choose Jim again, but this time he’ll have even more added trauma.

And let's put aside the plot relevance of how much of a horrifying choice anyone who’s not Jim having the Amulet is for a sec. Plot aside, Jim as a character would never in his LIFE give Toby the Amulet. Because it’s not just a glowing amulet with cool armour and a sword for someone who’s worthy.

It’s a burden.

It’s a burden and a responsibility. It’s a lifelong commitment to putting others first. To making hard choices and having to live with the consequences of them in the aftermath. To giving every part of yourself, to sacrificing everything you are, so that someone else can be saved. Two worlds on the Trollhunter’s shoulders. Human and Troll.

That weight is something Jim has not wanted so many times. He’s admitted or complained or sighed or yelled that sometimes he wants to get to be a normal kid, live longer than high school, not worry about someone trying to kill him or someone else all the time.

The Trollhunter doesn’t get that luxury. Rule number one: Always be afraid. The Trollhunter can never stop being afraid. Their whole life from this point until DEATH is dedicated to this destiny of fear and hunting and protection.

Jim, who cares for and loves his best friend as a brother, would never ever push that kind of life and responsibility onto Toby and call it something good. The sole reason Jim went back in time at all was to save Toby. There is NO universe in which Jim willingly and happily then takes Toby’s life and shoves him into the path of Bular, and Strickler, and Angor Rot, and Gunmar.

And the icing on the fucked up cake is that the only way Jim managed to kill Gunmar was by turning into a troll. By giving up his life as a human teenager with a human family. By becoming a species with a lot of instincts and traits most others would label as monster. By giving up his life in the sun. By giving up part of his humanity.

Jim would NEVER force Toby into having to make that kind of choice. And I am ashamed of the writers who thought that he would.

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