#again... not my au. Not my rules. Just my two cents on how the situation could go down

[pianokantzart]

The Line of Fire

Luigi seems to be the only one who notices that the "Mario" wandering around The Mushroom Kingdom isn't really Mario. To make things worse, whoever the imposter is seems fully aware of Luigi's position, and is intent on doing whatever is necessary to threaten him into silence.

Another work based on the body swap concept from @elitadream. It has a firm grip on my brain and won't let go. Take care to check the tags for trigger warnings!

Word Count: 4307

Also available on Ao3: X

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It was late in the afternoon when Luigi finally made it home. He tried to look natural as he walked up the front steps of his little cottage on the outskirts of town, carrying a large bag of groceries in each arm, squeezing them tightly to himself every time his sensitive nerves picked up in the slightest little rustle of the grass or shadow cast by the clouds overhead. Glancing nervously over each shoulder he stepped to the front door, then– like a nervous animal– rushed across the threshold and kicked the door shut behind him.

In the familiar confines of his house, he felt no safer. He hurried into the kitchen and tried to ease himself with his usual tasks of putting away groceries and sweeping the floors, but it was no good. Whenever he successfully buried his fear, an equally powerful sense of guilt took its place. Here he was, going about his business like usual, as though his brother’s location and well-being weren’t a morbid mystery. Like something cruel and terrible hadn’t stolen him away and taken his place… Luigi set the broom aside and rubbed his temples, trying to think of what more he could do that he had not already done. What attempt he could make that wouldn’t jeopardize innocent lives? It was crucial to tread carefully, but it didn’t help that he barely even understood what was going on in the first place.

This thing that had taken his brother’s place… the “Not-Mario” he had come to call it… was, from what he could tell, a near-perfect imitation of his brother in appearance and abilities. Luigi had a few theories: some sort of shapeshifter, a facsimile created from magic, or something had stolen Mario’s body directly, and was now puppeting it for their own devices. He suspected the latter and was half-certain of the culprit. There was a startling familiarity to that hellish glint in what used to be his brother’s eyes, but he didn’t dare yet call the thing masquerading as Mario “Bowser.” It felt far too early to make assumptions. He only knew a few things for certain: Mario was in terrible trouble, there was something pretending to be Mario, the Not-Mario knew that he knew the truth, and nobody else seemed to see through the ruse. The doppelganger had assured him that the real Mario was still alive. It was implied in equal measure that Mario’s survival would be determined by whether or not the truth got out. He also threatened Princess Peach, the neighboring toads, and everyone else he could use as leverage, knowing Luigi had no desire to test whether or not he was bluffing.

Uncertainty and doubt knotted Luigi’s heart, endless questions eating away at him when he was steadily pulled from his thoughts by a spot of red appearing in the corner of his eye.

He turned and let out a yelp of surprise. There stood Mario’s body, void of Mario’s spirit, leaning against the doorway of their kitchen, glaring at him with those strange eyes. When did he come in? How long had he been in here? Why had he come here?

Throughout this entire ordeal, one of the few kindnesses Not-Mario had granted him was staying away from their home. This was a selfish comfort, of course, “Mario”’s absence merely meant that he was too busy doing who-knows-what elsewhere. Luigi nervously reexamined his brother’s face, hoping to find some faint glimmer of the man he’d grown up with, but if anything it had only gotten stranger since he had last seen it… sunken and tired, like he hadn’t slept at all.

Before Luigi could ask, Mario’s voice interrupted with a simple command: “Living room. Now.” “What?… Why can’t we talk here?” Not-Mario gave no response, he simply walked off, leaving Luigi feeling stupid for so much as posing the question. Of course not. Where they talked was not the point, the point was establishing at every opportunity who was in control.

Luigi anxiously stepped into the living room, and at once found himself being approached aggressively by his brother’s body, boxing him toward the back of the room where a couch and an easy chair sat in a small half-circle around a television set. “Where were you today?” Not-Mario Growled. Luigi braced himself against the arm of the couch. “I went to the marketplace. You know, to get groceries?” Not-Mario was unswayed. “Where else?”

Luigi gripped his arm and averted his eyes. No way. He was certain he’d been careful. He’d made sure he wasn’t followed. He knew the toad he handed the letter to, made him promise to keep it a secret. He’d done everything right! “N-nowhere else! I mean, I did take a little walk before making my way home.” “A walk? Did your little detour happen to bring you near Peach’s castle?” Luigi felt his heart drop as Not-Mario pulled a familiar envelope from his overall pocket. He held it up and stared daggers; a taunting, hateful grin spreading across his face. “It’s embarrassing, really. Don’t you know the palace guards have better things to do than deliver your mail for you?…”

On impulse, Luigi lept to snatch the envelope, but his opponent proved too quick, immediately catching him by the shirt collar and thrusting him backward, sending him toppling over into his old recliner with such force that he could feel the chair springs snap under him. “Sit down .” The demand was sharp and booming, the undercurrent of rage Not-Mario had carried with him since he first appeared bubbling to the surface. Luigi stayed seated, watching with held breath and a pounding heart as the thing with his brother's face tore open the sealed envelope, and read aloud the letter enclosed:

“Princess Peach, I hope this letter finds you well. I would like nothing more than to explain the situation in person, but I am in no position to do so without endangering your safety. Be wary of Mario, he is not who he seems to be. Keep one eye open at all times, and take care you aren’t left alone under any circumstances. I will do my best to find out what’s happening. I’ll contact you again once I have a better grasp of what to do. Until then, for the sake of The Mushroom Kingdom, remain vigilant.

Dutifully yours, – Luigi”

As he finished reading the letter, he turned his focus to the author, gauging his response. Luigi stayed where he was, putting on a poor performance of remaining calm as sweat trickled down his face and his chest pounded. 

Not-Mario sighed and tucked the letter back into the envelope. 

“You should be thankful this never made it into Peach’s hands. The moment she starts getting suspicious, I’ll have to start taking drastic measures.”

“H-how did you get that?” Luigi finally managed, clutching his knees in an attempt to hide the way his hands shook.

“You gambled the lives of your loved ones so you can play ‘hero,’ and you think you’re in a position to ask questions?”

With a flick of the wrist, the man in red ignited firebrand and rendered the envelope to ashes. Luigi watched the pieces scatter across the living room, catching one of them in his hands as though a part of him hoped his failed attempt to find help could be somehow pieced back together. “You know,” Mario’s voice continued, “there’s a rumor that you’re in the middle of some sort of nervous breakdown. Though I suppose it was only a matter of time… you aren’t exactly known for your mental fortitude, and your recent head injury hasn’t helped things either.”

“Head injury?” Luigi barely managed the question when saw Mario’s form rushing toward him, hardly giving him time to even register what was happening before a gloved hand gripped his face with enough force to rattle his teeth, tore him from his seat, and threw him across the room with unprecedented power. Luigi’s body crashed like a rag doll into the TV set, his back bruising on the edge of the console, his skull shattering the screen. He lay there for a moment on the heap of cracked wood and glass, struggling to lift himself up, the world spinning around him as his vision turned white with pain. A laugh filled the air, such a horrible laugh, clashing with a voice of warm familiarity to create something grotesque and alien. “Nobody in this kingdom believes in you. Your only redeeming quality is that you live under the same roof as I do.” It sneered. “Tell me, do you ever wonder how often Mario took solace in your little neighbors? Finally able to speak plainly about how hard it is being followed around by his quivering imbecile of a brother?” Luigi didn’t answer. His sibling’s stolen voice was laced with poison, but he refused to swallow. He owed Mario at least that small dignity. The voice prattled on. “We seem to be on pretty cozy terms… I’ve apparently earned their unwavering faith. That is not something I intend to squander.” These words made Luigi’s blood run cold. He scrambled to a standing position despite the pain that still rattled his skull. Seeing Mario’s body walking toward the exit, he called out. “What are you going to do?” The question was ignored, and all at once Luigi felt more terrified of seeing the imposter leave than he was of his presence. If this was Bowser, as he suspected, surely a minor concussion wouldn’t be the only consequence of his attempt to seek help. What of the toad guard he had given the letter to? What of the princess herself? What about The Mushroom Kingdom, too safe and cozy to even install locks on their doors? blissfully unaware of the monster that wandered amongst them?

“Wait!” Luigi called again, taking a few stumbling steps after the body of his brother. “I need to know you won’t hurt anyone!”

At this, Not-Mario stopped just short of gripping the handle and turned to Luigi with his brows raised. “First you demand answers, now you want me to make promises?”

“Yes! Swear you won’t hurt anyone. Otherwise, I’ll… I’ll…” Luigi stumbled over his words. He wrung his hands and swallowed a lump in his throat, gathering together what little courage he could scrounge from the growing pit in his stomach. What would Mario do? What would Mario do? Pull yourself together, do what Mario would do! He released a heavy breath as he sank into a fighting stance, a crackle of electricity rolling along the fingers of his gloves, the hair beneath his cap fluttering with static. “... I’ll… I’ll make sure you don’t hurt anyone.”

It was a wild gambit, but all he wished to do was relay a message. Yes, he was weak, yes, he was terrified, but he was just strong enough and brave enough to get in the way. There was still one hero left in The Mushroom Kingdom, and whoever this imposter was, he couldn’t just wander around and do whatever he wished.

This time, Luigi was prepared when Not-Mario rushed at him, and he met the attack with a blast of bright blue electricity. 

He had no intention of causing serious damage– if this was his brother’s body, he was going to need it back in the best condition possible– but he did hope to incapacitate him. If luck was on his side, perhaps he could get enough of an upper hand to restrain him. Then what? He didn’t know if any of the toads would believe him, but perhaps if he could just get Princess Peach to see the imposter– ask him questions, look into his eyes, confirm for the sake of everyone that he wasn’t Mario– they could figure out a plan to get the real Mario back! Mario’s body seized up under the shock but didn’t fall, and though the muscles of his face stiffened his expression showed no hint of pain. Barely perturbed, he barreled into Luigi with full force, knocking him flat on his back. Before Luigi could recover he felt the full weight of the man bearing down on top of him, and two large powerful hands wrapped tightly around his throat. Mario was strong, stronger than Luigi remembered, which was certainly saying something. Luigi knew his brother always held back whenever they sparred– fun, playful fights meant to do nothing more than hone their skills– but the strength he possessed now almost didn’t make sense. It felt more akin to the motions of an unwavering machine than that of a man. It pushed forward with reckless abandon, shrugging off Luigi’s struggles and blows with the resilience of a brick wall. Gasping for air, Luigi sent another charge into Mario’s body, feeling the current surge through his arms back into his own throat, and yet these efforts only seemed to tighten the grip around his windpipe. As the seconds ticked on with agonizing slowness, his struggles became more mindless and desperate as his mind clouded, his vision darkening, the electricity flashing from his hands fading into faint sparks as the adrenaline of battle turned into an animalistic fight for consciousness.

He didn’t want to die here. Luigi was not ignorant of his own mortality, but he wanted to go out in a way that would’ve made Mario proud. If he had only successfully delivered the letter, had alerted the citizens of what was happening… even just put up enough of a fight to put the doppelganger in his place… he wanted to have gone down doing something– anything of use. He’d failed at every turn, and now he was going to die, strangled to death by the very hands that carried him when he was injured, held him close when he was scared, and dragged him repeatedly out of the jaws of danger. Luigi’s last coherent thought was a prayer that Mario would be okay, before every sensation thinned out into nothingness, and the whole world turned black.

“Well, that was a waste of my time .”

Bowser let out a tired huff as he looked down at the unconscious body of his enemy’s brother. Luigi lay perfectly still, save for the slight rise and fall of his chest, his bruised throat making a slight wheezing sound with every inhale and exhale. Satisfied that his opponent was down for the count, Bowser took the time to examine the damage that had been done to his own body. Pulling up his sleeves he found red burns, shaped like tree branches, stretching along his forearms up to his shoulders. Bowser flexed his limbs, confirming they worked the same as usual, though he knew they would likely hurt a great deal if he was in a position to feel pain. He was thankful the markings didn’t extend any further than they did. So long as he wore his usual long-sleeved shirt, nobody would see the injuries or ask questions. He rolled his sleeves back up and knelt beside Luigi, paying especially close attention to the darkening marks appearing along his throat. He felt a powerful urge to once again wrap his hands around that scrawny little neck and finish the job, not because of the threat he posed, or the insolence he had displayed, but the idea of delivering the corpse to the real Mario… seeing the look on his face… was just too delicious not to revel in. But no, right now the threat Luigi posed to his plans did not compare with the suspicion it’d elicit if he disappeared. Despite Bowser’s claims, the surrounding Toads were already inquiring about Luigi’s absence and well-being. Just today, a wrinkled old codger named Enoki approached him to ask whether Luigi would be able to play cards with him that weekend. Bowser had done his best to imitate Mario’s intonations when he explained Luigi was “not feeling well” with feigned concern, so forced he felt on the verge of biting off his own tongue. Thankfully, Enoki bought the claim wholeheartedly, and even gave him a bag of loose-leaf tea to take home “for his brother's nerves.” Bowser accepted with a feigned thankfulness and threw the gift into the nearest garbage once he was out of the old man’s line of sight.

At length, Luigi’s eyes fluttered open. Seeing his brother’s form standing over him, his gaze widened. He shuddered under a fresh wave of fear, and little bolts of electricity sparked across his skin. Bowser huffed. “I suppose you’re wondering why you’re not dead?” Luigi didn’t speak. He clutched his throat with one hand and tried to push himself upright with the other, head lowered and eyes shut in apparent expectation of another attack.

“Don’t be so paranoid,” Bowser continued “You’d be far more of an inconvenience dead than alive. A nobody creates far less stir than the corpse of a nobody. But you did just try to attack me. What do you think I should do about that?”

Again, Luigi said nothing. While Bowser had initially enjoyed his fear-stricken silence, it began to feel more like defiance than submission. Seeing the plumber attempt to get to his feet, Bowser knocked the hat from his head with a sharp kick to the back of his skull and grabbed a fistful of hair. Forgetting his own shortness of stature, Bowser tried to lift Luigi all the way off the ground by his scalp. When all he could manage was to drag him halfway to his knees, he chose instead to twist his head at a purposefully painful angle.

“Answer me.” Luigi winced. His lip quivered as though he was trying to say something, but all that he managed was a pathetic squeak. Bowser leaned in closer to his “brother,” his lips unsettlingly close to his ear as he asked in a low growl: “Maybe if you’re so intent on imitating your sibling, I should bring you a little piece of him for inspiration? A few fingers, perhaps? Or better yet, one of his eyes…” This was a bluff, of course. The real Mario was imprisoned deep within The Darklands, chained up inside the hulking body Bowser used to inhabit. Though the thought of carrying out the threat was tantalizing, there could come a point where he’d need his old body back, and if Mario felt as disconnected from that body as he felt in this one, then mutilating him would be a waste. But Luigi didn’t know that. That was made clear by his reaction.

“No!” A hoarse plea finally burst from the man’s mouth. He clasped the hand that gripped his hair to ease the pain but didn’t dare struggle beyond that. “Please don’t! I’m sorry.”

Bowser tugged Luigi’s head back to better examine his face. Tears were already forming in his eyes, pouring down his cheeks. Disgusting. He’d forgotten this one was a cryer. It was easy to forget, for he had never known anyone of worth who cried. Junior was an exception, of course, but he was a still child– new to the world and his own emotions. Luigi was a grown man, a hero, allegedly, and yet he whimpered and sniffled as though it would garner any sort of pity. “You’re what?” Bowser growled. “Say that again.” “I’m sor-”

Bowser interrupted the second attempt at an apology by slamming his knee into Luigi’s stomach. He released him then, allowing him to crumble back to the floor at his feet. “Huh, I didn’t quite hear that. Say it again.”

Luigi’s whole body shivered, trying its best to cling to consciousness in its renewed struggle for air. “I’m… s-sorry.”

“Again. Louder.”

“I’m sorry!” Luigi’s voice steadily rose in pitch and volume as his breath returned to him, the tears in his throat and the bruises on his windpipe cracking his speech. “I’m sorry!”

The shrieky tone elicited a chuckle of genuine amusement from Bowser. After the stress of masquerading in his hated enemy's body for so long, seeing someone regard him with the fear and deference he deserved was a long-awaited bit of gratification. Taking advantage of the situation, Bowser made a little game of seeing how many times he could elicit an apology, and, of course, a crucial element of the fun was seeing to it Luigi stayed on the floor at his feet. Whenever the plumber tried to stand or crawl away, a sharp kick to the ribs or a stomp planted into the square of his back would send him back down to the ground.

But by “I’m sorry” number fifty-eight, Bowser grew bored. 

So, with confident idleness, he abandoned Luigi in order to look around his nemesis’ home in search of fresh inspiration for what was to be done. Funny as the groveling was, there was a chance Luigi’s change of behavior wouldn’t last long. He didn’t trust him not to delude himself into attempting another “heroic” stunt once left to his own devices. It was crucial to get the message through. It didn’t take long for Bowser to find the staircase. The upper story was a bigger disappointment than the lower one, made up of only a shared bedroom and a bathroom, connected by a narrow hallway. Their cottage as a whole was far too small and simple for his liking, even when he was as physically diminutive as Mario. After all he had done for The Mushroom Kingdom, he should’ve at least been granted a small castle of his own.

Bowser entered the bedroom and looked around, wondering if there was anything there of value or information to be gleaned. No good, everything was trivial: comics and fantasy novels on the shelf, posters for small local bands hanging on the wall, multiple pairs of the same stupid overalls hanging in the closet. Atop the little table between matching red and green beds, there were a number of paper crafts. They were shoddily made… no doubt gifts by the local children. In a moment of impulse, Bowser ignited firebrand and released a little red flame to crawl across the corner of one of the paper stars. Finding a strange comfort in the sight, he allowed the fire to steadily spread to the other origami structures, and when its light began to fade he reinvigorated it with the flick of his hand. He ignited two more fires for good measure, one on the corner of Mario’s bed, another on the corner of Luigi’s, where the flames eagerly climbed up the downy quilts, swallowing the vibrant colors and filling the air with smoke.

He neither noticed nor cared when Luigi raced up the stairs. By the time the man in green had arrived, the fire had spread to the walls and the carpet, the rising flames painting little black spots on the ceiling.

“Looks like I was a little careless.” Bowser shrugged, watching the room burn with perfect calmness, “you may want to do something about this if you want to save your house.” Once Luigi overcame the paralysis of horror and disbelief, he disappeared back down the stairs. He was only gone for a few moments before he returned, armed with a fire extinguisher. Bowser stepped aside, allowing him to dive into the room and spray it down with a thick layer of white foam. When the smoke cleared and the heat died down, Bowser got a better look at his handiwork. The framework of the house still stood strong, but there was not a thing in the bedroom that the fire hadn’t marred, the vibrant reds and greens dulled and charred from the blaze, every furnishing and appurtenance disfigured. In the middle of it all was Luigi, holding the now empty fire extinguisher. He was making a valiant attempt to hide that he was crying again, harder than before, wiping at his face with his sleeve, airborne ash mingling with his tears, streaking his cheeks with soot. Bowser rolled his eyes. “I suppose you’d better get to work fixing this. Given your mental state, a project this big should help you occupy your troubled mind.” He nudged Luigi’s shoulder with a mocking friendliness, reveling in the way he tensed beneath his hand. “It’s probably best that you stay at home, anyway. And you will be staying home from now on, right?”

Luigi’s arms tightened around the fire extinguisher. Bowser readied himself, just in case the plumber suffered another flash of impulsive bravery and tried to swing it at him. But Luigi pulled no such stunt… he simply lowered his head and nodded.

Satisfied, Bowser left without another word. Heading down the stairs and crossing through the shattered remains of the living room, he shut the door firmly behind him before he hurried down the steps of “his” home, and headed back down the road toward the glimmering pink castle in the distance.

The first order of business would be to go into town and make sure whatever toads had seen the smoke were reassured that everything was under control; that the fire didn’t do much damage, and was “more smoke than flames.” Then, he would meet with the squadron of Koopas he had successfully snuck behind the palace walls. After exchanging intel, he would select a few to watch the outside of Mario’s house and ensure Luigi honored the agreement.

Halfway back to his destination, Bowser rolled up his sleeves slightly to reexamine the electric burns on his arms. He frowned, wondering if he had been too lenient. Luigi was no Mario, but the fact that he tried defying him at all was worthy of concern. Bowser decided then that at the next hint of insolence, the very slightest sign of defiance, Luigi would officially no longer be worth the trouble of keeping around.

In the meantime, however, he was at the very least entertaining.

[stitch1830]

🎩

I'm fine and dandy,

Mind i ask your opinion on what became of the Gaang in LOK? I know the Toph being a cop thing ruffles some feathers and some don't accept Aang was a bad father.

HAT ANON HI glad to hear you are fine and dandy on this exquisite day of the week. And OOF this is a loaded question, but I'll do my best! :)

So I feel like there are a couple ways to answer this question based on your shipping preferences, but for the sake of this I'll try and answer everything based on what is considered canon. So ATLA, comics, and LOK.

I'll also preface by saying that I get why there are some controversial takes in LOK... I think they were trying to make the characters have more depth and show that even our favorite characters have flaws, even when they're adults. I just think that in some situations it was OOC and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth when you see where the Gaang went from the start to the end of ATLA, and then to see glimpses of their adult life and only seeing the trashiest parts.

Aang: If he's with Katara, it's not surprising to me that he's not a great father. Like, he has very strong opinions about his culture and while Katara is just as passionate about her upbringing, there isn't a ton of evidence of Aang accommodating the children's upbringing to also integrate SWT traditions in their lifestyle. I don't think he was outwardly trying to be a bad dad or anything, but his desperation to pass down Air Nomad traditions to an airbender overshadowed his primary need to be a father to all three of his kids. It's also really hard to see him as still this happy, lovable nice guy who treats everyone with kindness and respect when we know that he practically ignored 2 of his kids... But basically, his 'bad takes' as a dad were left unchecked, and his actions were probably defended by his wife as opposed to having to face them.

Katara: This one hurt lol. Again, it's not surprising that when she's with Aang that she chooses to settle down and be a wife and mother and healer. Aang's the Avatar, he's busy, their two oldest children are really rambunctious and are craving attention, so it's gonna be Katara to give them the love and care they need. But based on what we see in ATLA, it's just sad that we don't get to see or hear about any changes she made in the world or fighting. She really does seem to be ushered off to the side, left to retire in SWT after Aang dies. It's also sad/crazy that her strength and ability to stand up to disrespectful or ignorant people goes away when she's an adult. And I feel like this is glaring in her relationship with Aang and then also when Korra is finishing up training in the SWT. The other masters are whining that Korra isn't ready and Katara says she is and then the men keep complaining and whining. Like, no way would ATLA Katara let that go without her giving her two cents. Yes, she does help Korra leave, but she definitely would've said something to those old hoots. It's also weird that her strong resolve doesn't show up when she's raising her children with Aang. Why didn't she confront him? And if she did, how come nothing changed? Maybe it was too late, but idk. Katara doesn't seem like the person to let things go after she stood up to the problem once. Essentially, I'm upset that Katara was this strong and powerful female protagonist in ATLA, but not really hear about her amazing strides in the world in LOK (because if she did change the world, they didn't mention it... sad).

Sokka: Hmmm, he's not really ever shown in the show except in one flashback (because he's dead tears), but from what it sounds like, he didn't have any children, didn't sound like he ever really settled down, nothing like that. I think it would be sad if Aunt Wu's fortune was true and he never really ended up happy because of things he did. Would that be considered OOC? I don't think so... He was the goofy guy and the brains of the operations, but he seems like the guy that is afraid of being happy or ruins things when he is happy. My only reasoning for this is when he lost Yue, it changed him on some level, and at first he tried to push away Suki when she was initiating a kiss. Pretty light and lame reasons, but it's something....

Suki: MY GIRL SUKI NOT MENTIONED THAT'S SO OOC. Lol. Like, why didn't she randomly pop up from time to time? Are the Kyoshi Warriors just not around? I don't like that she wasn't in LOK, not even in a small flashback or anything. She was friends with the Gaang and it seems odd that no one mentioned their dear friend that helped save the world with them even if she passed away or anything. And also I don't think a casual statement about her settling in the suburbs counts as canon lol.

Toph: Okay. I don't hate that she's a cop. It's not really in character, but I don't hate it. If all of her friends settled in Republic City, and they all had their own responsibilities to deal with and asked Toph to run the RCPD, I think she would say yes out of loyalty to her friends, maybe out of boredom. I'm surprised she was in the role as long as she was, though... She was starting to get bored of her metalbending academy after a year or two once things were running smoothly, so she seems like the kind of woman that would search for the next adventure. But if she had to be a cop, I think she'd much rather be the one enforcing the rules at the top as opposed to following the rules, but... yeah. In a canon universe I struggle to come up with a long-term career for her, so I made my peace with the cop thing. Many of my friends haven't though lol, which is okay! Another thing I didn't like was how she was portrayed as a bad mother. Not that she was a bad mother (as much as it would suck, I can kind of see her being a bad mom), but they way she was a bad mom didn't really fit her character. She was neglected as a kid, doesn't seem right that she in turn would neglect her kids by giving them too much freedom. Also! My least favorite thing was how she had a 20/30 year rift with her girls, and then it was suddenly resolved. Like... No we need some more context to the conflict, and we need to see work being put into the resolution if we're going to bring this up. If Lin held a grudge against her family for 30 years, a short "sorry I wasn't a great mom, hope you don't hate me" comment isn't going to make her forgive them lol. I do like how she was portrayed as a single mother to two girls. She doesn't really seem like the type to settle down, and it was a nice surprise to see her have daughters from different men. Families come in all shapes and sizes, and it would've been the perfect opportunity to show those differences and show that there's more than one way to have a positive upbringing (Like, let's see the cloudbabies and the Beifongs both happy even though they had two very different parental upbringings? Just... there was an opportunity is all). And yeah, she seems like the one that would never settle down or have a family, so it would've been interesting to see her handle motherhood and her job! So I'm okay with that bit.

Zuko: Okay Zuko seems chill in canon, but who's his wife? Where she at? He got a partner or anything? We may never know... But it's nice that he appeared to have a happy life with good kids and grandkids... And yet I'm confused as to why Korra preferred to go to Zuko instead of the Avatar's wife for advice on what Aang would have done when choosing between saving the Air Nomads and turning herself in to the Red Lotus?? Like, I know Katara was in the SWT, but they have phones now, you're telling me they couldn't have called Katara? Why wasn't Katara the first person they thought to ask about the situation? I know the logistics would've been difficult considering Katara is holed up in the SWT, but why did everyone say that Zuko knew Aang the best? Why didn't his wife know him the best? Thoughts to ponder.

Okay. I wrote a lot and there's probably more that I do and don't like about how the characters were portrayed... But I think what it all boils down to is that there was an opportunity to still get depth in these beloved characters without us being frustrated with situations that are OOC. Then again, that would make it less about the Krew and more about the Gaang... It just seems like a bit of a slap to the face when we see glaring problems with the Gaang's characterization, and yet, we get no explanation. It does allow for canon writers to play with the 70 years in between, but idk. I much prefer AU's where there's time and opportunity to explore the characters as their best selves I suppose. Honestly, with my disinterest and disliking of canon ships, I don't see the bad takes in LOK as OOC, but it makes me wonder how different things could have been if other ships were made canon (thank goodness they weren't, we're not pigeonholed into one type of story, but still).

Does this kind of answer your question? Lol, sorry if not. My thoughts are all over the place with this one! Thank you for the ask, though, Hatty. Hope you have a great day! :)

[drabbles-of-writing]

How big are the Isle exactly? Is it a large island + archipelago or is it more akin to a continent. And how big is the the demon realm for that matter because the Isles are said to be situated in the Boiling Sea, hence the name, which suggests that there are other lands. If there are, do the isles get visitors from these distant shores or are the isles relatively isolated? And how is life different on the isles compared to these other lands?

Welcome back, Purple Sonic. I literally have no idea. Course the show has never addressed on this, so I’m going to throw out my two cents on how it works in all my AU’s, though some will be subject to change.

I assume it is mainly one big island, since it’s on the corpse of a dead Titan, with a few smaller occasional islands around it. They appear to be in the middle of Fuck-All Nowhere, so I bet visitors from The Mainland are probably pretty rare. And after Belos decided to start a cult there, it probably became a lot rarer.

There are islands far in the distance you can see, and sometimes people from the Boiling Isles goes to visit, but it’s highly frowned upon to leave at all (we love cults) and usually they’re the ones who receive visitors, often ones who are either lost or really need to trade something. The closer islands have been affected by Belos, and there are covens on those islands, too. Though it’s not as heavily mandated since neither Belos or very many Emperor’s Coven members are there, but some are sent out.

The Mainland is a whole other story. It’s massive, and you have to travel by boat for at least a week, sometimes longer. And Belos decided The Mainland was too much trouble to keep track of, so he pretty much spread wild rumors that The Mainland witches were wild and untamed, beasts who had lost all sense of rationality. Really, The Mainland is one of the few places who still has wild magic and absolutely zero covens. The witches there are organized in their own way, just a lot more in tune with the land itself and there are many ‘scientists’ who are learning new types of spells, and since there aren’t really any rules about what magic you can study, there’s a lot more freedom to just...wander. Go wherever you want, see what there is to see, in fact, I’d be willing to bet that The Mainland has discovered ways to travel to other dimensions, specifically the Human Realm.

Course, there are schools and houses and niche little communities, but it’s not uncommon for groups to decide they want to travel and they vanish without a trace before popping up a few decades later as their own town they created. They have a vague idea of what’s going on with their distant islands (there are of course witches who have left The Mainland to go see the ocean), but many of them either don’t believe it’s real or don’t care all that much. What’s one little island going to do to them, anyway?

There have also been stowaways on the Isles who flee to similar islands, or after hiding for a while they take over the boat and sail towards The Mainland to escape Belos. Some make it, some don’t.  Most witches on the edges and beaches of The Mainland know very well of Belos, but again, aren’t doing anything about it and are happy to be a safe haven to those who escape.

And now you’ve given me a lot of ideas. Congrats, there’s probably going to be an arc where the gang gets on a boat and travels to the Mainland. Thank you for that.

[girlmeetsliv3]

Used to Disappointment

@saxpam24 requested: nerd yandere au. Like the yandere is the one at the top of the class and the OC has the lowest grades, and how he manipulates her with that.

A/N: Hope you enjoy it. I had a lot of fun diving into it. Strap in cause its a doozy.

Trigger Warning: The following story contains mentions of manipulation and abusive acts. The behavior and mindset of the characters in this will be incredibly yandere and toxic. This is a work of fiction and doesn’t represent the character of bangtan sonyeondan. Enjoy ~~~

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           You were used to disappointment. It was the same expression you had been given whenever you went on a date, tried to make friends, or socialize as a normal human would. It was the expression your professor was wearing and you could swear on your life that the moment your mother had given birth to you, she’d worn that same expression - maybe that’s why she gave you up. “I must say [Y/n] [Y/l/n], I am disappointed. I expected more from you.” As if. It took all your will power not to roll your eyes or burst the undeniable dam that was building behind your eyelids, but you would be damned if you gave him that satisfaction. From the corner of your eye, something caught your attention: Kim Namjoon was seated towards the corner of the room filing tests and grading papers, doing every professors job for them, you often wondered why he did it but assumed he was that overachieving. “Mr. Lee I-” Your professor held his wrinkled and calloused hand up to interrupt you. Namjoon glancing up from his work to pay attention to the show being put on by the two of you. “I’ve heard the story time and time again. Really child if you are that dense then simply get a tutor.” Even though you hated the way he spoke to you, the professor wasn’t wrong. Getting a tutor wasn’t something you hadn’t considered or looked into, but there was a problem. “I can’t afford one.” No hint of surprise passed through the elderly man’s face, can’t say you expected it. Not only were you the bottom of the class, but you were also the bottom of the food chain in the high school hierarchy. Even the stoners or criminals ranked higher because at least they didn’t struggle to get food on the table.

           “Well, then I will ask one of the students to consider tutoring you for extra credit. That way it is beneficial to you both.” You knew who he was talking about before he even spoke his name, “Namjoon would you be kind enough to help y/n out, so at the very least she can graduate.” If it wasn’t for the condensing tone or who he asked you would’ve been thrilled, but the moment you saw the bastard rise from the chair and give his dimpled smile you knew exactly what you were in for. “I would love to. It would look exemplary on my transcript.” Look at him using twenty-five cent words. “Well, it's settled you begin tomorrow after class. You’re dismissed [Y/n].” It wasn’t that Namjoon was a bad person. He was simply a highly attractive and highly intelligent individual who was entirely aware of both those things; meaning he was an ass. A smart ass that could help you graduate, but an ass nonetheless. You decided to wait outside the classroom until he got out, so the two of you could arrange things for the tutoring session you told yourself. In reality, the longer he took the more you could avoid going home.

           “I thought you’d left.” His deep voice drawing you out of your thoughts. His gaze was harsh and in his eyes, you knew that he was only doing this out of necessity, not want. “Just wanted to go over what we’re going to do tomorrow. You know where to meet and stuff.” Your voice trailed off, you weren’t the best at speaking. Not to mention the embarrassment of what he had been witness to was still fresh in his mind. “You waited for two hours just for that?” It could have been your mind playing tricks on you, but you sensed some disappointment in his words. “What else could I have been waiting for?” You smiled sheepishly, the awkwardness of the situation only making your anxiety worse. Namjoon groaned and rolled his eyes, “Nevermind. Tomorrow at three, my house I’ll test you the details.” Then he walked off without giving you time to dwell on what he’d just said. “Thanks, I guess,” you muttered, turning to walk the opposite direction. How did he even get my number?

           “The class president? I didn’t know the two of you were close.” Your aunt asked munching rather obnoxiously on the stale fried chicken. “We aren’t. He’s doing it to put it on his transcript and for extra credit.” You pouted, twirling the plastic fork in your hand having no appetite tonight. “Still. Maybe you can seduce him and he’ll get us out of here. Isn’t he the chairman’s son?! Oh, imagine the things we could buy if you became his girlfriend. Or better yet what if the two of you got married?!” She rambled on lost to her daydreams. Your aunt was the type of woman who believed a woman’s only role in life was to be pretty, get married, pop out a few kids, and wreck your husband’s bank account. She liked to say she was born in the wrong generation, but mainly she talked about how much better her life could be. When she reached for the liquor bottles underneath the kitchen cabinet, she expressed how much better her life would have been if she wasn’t forced to take care of you. The woman would cry for hours and hours about what a disappointment she had turned out to be. You despised yet sympathized with her for it. “I don’t know Auntie. It’s just stuff for school. Plus guys don’t look at me like that.” You tugged your bottom lip in between your teeth, biting down on it. “Darling he doesn’t have to fall in love with you, he just needs to fuck you long enough where he becomes attached.” Laughter bellowing out from her, a small piece of chicken landing on the table. With that, you excused yourself and went to bed.

           The look of surprise on Namjoon’s face when he saw you and his attire was enough to tell you he didn’t think you’d show up. It felt a little nice if you were honest. Seeing the always stoic man lose his cool even if it only lasted a second, “Let’s go up to the library. Figured we should start with science considering that’s what you failed last and work our way through every subject till Math.” He spoke bluntly, yet his words cut right through you. Preferring to save grace you opted not to speak and only followed him around the palace-like house. It seems like it would be so easy to get lost here. “It is if you’re not careful.” Blood rushed to your face when you realized you’d spoken your thoughts. The library was on the second floor, second to the last door in the long hallway. “What’s that door lead to?” You gestured to the rustic oak that towered over the two of you looking rather out of place in such a modern house. “Storage room.” Namjoon simply mumbled before dragging you over the threshold. You spent the next three hours having Namjoon rewire and reteach you everything you had ever known. It was exhausting and halfway through your brain had burned out, the only thing that kept your sanity was seeing Namjoon completely in the zone. Before you thought he was merely smart, but now you knew better: before you was a gifted man. Someone who would change the world, you only wished you were more deserving of the knowledge he imparted. “So that is how you identify the limit using the product rule. Are you okay?” The furrow in his brows brought you back from your daydreaming. “Sorry I think I’ve reached my limit.” He nodded but more towards himself than to you, “Well you should head home then. It’s getting late.”

           A large sigh of relief escaped your lips and you stood up and bowed slightly. “Thank you so much for your help. I’m sure I’ll pass the exams now.” You went to leave, but Namjoon wrapped his hands around your wrist tightly prohibiting you from moving. “You are coming back, right [Y/n]? I mean what does it matter if you pass the exams, but still don’t have enough credits to graduate? You do want to graduate, don’t you?” His words echoed in your head. You needed to graduate if you graduated you could leave town, go to college, get a job, leave her behind. The longer you waited to reply the tighter his grip became until it nearly cut off blood flow to your hand, you didn’t notice too used to pain. “All right. I’ll be back tomorrow.” You shrugged trying to act as if you weren’t about to spiral. “All right. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Namjoon smiled and released your wrist letting you walk away from him. It didn’t matter as you would soon be back. Soon.

           That “I’ll see you tomorrow” became a common phrase exchanged between the two of you. For the next couple of months, you spent every afternoon at Namjoon’s going over lessons, classwork, and exams. Eventually, the two of you simply began hanging out, having grown incredibly close to one another. It was a routine you didn’t want to brake: you laying on the floor of his bedroom next to him either watching a new film, jamming out to songs, or having pointless yet insightful conversations. It kept you from your old routine of wallowing in your own misery, failing classes, and seeing your aunt drink herself to oblivion. Going to bed hoping the next day would be different only to be met with disappointment. Now things were different - a good different. You were graduating tomorrow and would be moving out next week to a dorm room you managed to score due to financial aid. Your college entrance exams had been stellar only because of Mr.148 who forced you to sleepover for three days in order to properly cram. “...tomorrow.” You frowned, “What?” Namjoon only chuckled pulling you closer so you would be pressed against his side. “I said do you want me to join you and your aunt after graduation tomorrow? I know you’re dreading it.” It was true. Your aunt had mentioned that she had a very important individual to introduce you to after your graduation, stating the three of you would have dinner and that you should dress up. “Tell Namjoon to buy you a pretty dress. It’s the least he could do.” Had been her exact words, which you, of course, hadn’t shared. “I’d love that. I only hope it doesn’t go as bad as I think it will.”

           At that Namjoon scoffed, “You should be used to disappointment already. At least with her.” Once you divulged your less than perfect home life to Namjoon, he had wanted to help you. The man even offered to let you move into his home. He had been quite desperate about it, hounding you for days, but you managed to convince him somehow. “I know, but the last thing that dies is hope.” You gazed up into his dark eyes and saw how they glowed beautifully even in poor lighting. Namjoon leaned in and went to press his lips into yours, but you moved away last second. His face contorting to a pained expression before he masked it and kissed your forehead instead. There was another routine in your relationship: Namjoon constantly desiring to cross that line between friends and lovers. He demonstrated this through kisses, affectionate touches, and longing looks. It had been going on for a while without any reciprocation on your part. You had assumed he would grow used to disappointment as well. “It’s getting late. I should go. I’ll see you tomorrow.” You quickly pecked his cheek before standing up and waving goodbye, walking out the door before he even managed to reply. “Bye [Y/n].”

             Your the excitement the next morning had been rather short-lived when the principal had called you to his office before the ceremony was to commence. “Sit down Mrs.[Y/l/n] there is some news I would like to share with you.” Was the words you were greeted with upon entering his office. You swallowed thickly and moved to sit in one of the leather seats in front of the large wooden desk. Before you could even question why you were called, the principal spoke. “It has been brought to my attention that the grades you have been receiving this past school year were incorrect.” You frowned tilting your head to the side with confusion but allowing him to continue. “It appears that no matter what your answers were on homework or exams, you were graded unfairly on purpose. We noticed this discrepancy when we compared your exams with others and found that you did well enough. Perhaps enough to merit some scholarships.” A single word was all you could muster out as you tried to wrap your head around the situation, “Why?” The man simply continued to express his laments and promised the professor had been fired and would be dealt with appropriately. None of it made any sense, your professor never seemed to have a vendetta against you, the man was too lazy to properly teach the class much less - the light coming from an open window gleamed off a picture hanging above the principal’s desk. The man stood with a professional smile on his face whilst he shook hands with the chairman. As you stared at the picture a realization came over you. “I’m sorry, but I have to head over to the ceremony.” You spoke numbly as tears began to conjure up in your ducts. “Of course. Enjoy your graduation and have a good life [Y/n].” The principal replied before you bolted out the door.

             Avoiding Kim Namjoon for the entirety of the ceremony had not proven an easy task, but you had managed to do it either way. Slipping away with your aunt to your small decrepit apartment before he had noticed. Currently, you were helping set the table as your aunt finished cooking. The mysterious guest set to arrive at any second and your aunt seemed over the moon. “You’ll see [Y/n] this is everything you’ve ever wanted. The answer to all our problems.” She hadn’t had a drop of alcohol tonight and that elated your mood even if just a bit. Who knew maybe things could go well this evening? That way you could forget about the betrayal you’d learned of. Maybe you could forget all about it and him as well? You should’ve known better. There was a harsh pounding on the door, the strength alone nearly causing it to fall off its hinges. Your aunt ushered to open it as you finished placing the plates on the table. It was the scream that had you whipping around to see Namjoon gripping your aunt by the throat, lifting the tiny woman off the ground by several feet. “Namjoon! What the fuck do you think you're doing?!” You screamed before running over to him and attempting to pry him off of her. Now up close you could see the blood that had soaked into his black suit. The specks across his neck and cheek. Most importantly you could see the insanity in his eyes.

           Refusing to let go of your aunt, he tightened his hold before speaking. “This bitch right here was trying to sell you off.” The words stunned you for a second, before the choking sounds of your aunt’s constricted airway forced you to try and draw them apart once more. You succeeded this time, placing yourself in between them. “Stop lying Namjoon. I know what you did. How you almost robbed me of my future all for what?” His eyes widened and his body began to shake, “You don’t understand. I didn’t rob you of anything. I gave it to you! Without me, you would’ve been some mediocre student who would’ve gone onto live some mediocre life.” He kept getting closer and closer to you and all you could do was cower in place. “You would have ended up exactly like her.” He pointed towards the sobbing figure that was your aunt. You knew his words weren’t true, just another means of manipulating you. “I trusted you Namjoon. Why? Why did you truly do it?”

           “Because I love you, [Y/n]. I hoped you could come to love me too with time.” Namjoon reached out to caress your cheek lovingly, but all you felt was disgust at who he was and the words he spoke. “Well, you should be used to disappointment.” You laughed cynically. Those were the last words you spoke before Namjoon tackled you to the ground. The screams of your aunt filling your ears before a hit to the head sent you into a dark abyss.

[prettywordsyouleft]

Too Good To Be Wrong - Part 1

Summary: No matter how much you tried, you couldn’t resist Park Chanyeol, even if you knew it would test everything that you thought family stood for.

Genre: childhood friends & “siblings” to lovers au / forbidden romance / older woman - younger man au

Characters: Park Chanyeol x female reader

A/N: This is a series about falling in love with your “brother” Chanyeol - your family took him in when you were younger. It will contain mature content in later parts, but for the majority of the story it’s about reconnecting as adults and discovering feelings for each other.

I am expecting Too Good to be Wrong to be around 10 parts long, but this could change depending on how the story progresses in further parts.

Too Good To Be Wrong will be posted every Tuesday at 10am NZST.

Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

You groaned when you checked your phone again, the short vibration indicating that it was a text this time. It was another message from your mother and in any other situation, you would have answered her when she called the first time an hour ago. But it was your second week as an intern at your new job and you were a little busy.

And by a little, you were literally being run off your feet.

Answering her call would have to wait but she seemed incessant about getting in contact with you that you started to panic. Was it something to concern yourself over? You had been preoccupied trying to balance two trays of takeout coffees as you dashed back into the office when she rung the last time. Then you were photocopying enough copies of the month end report for all the team members when you felt it vibrate in your pants pocket once more.

Deciding you couldn’t do anything about it until you could squeeze in a toilet break, you made the decision to place your phone into your bag under your desk and began typing up the sales reports your supervisor had just placed down next to you.

“Y/N, I need them in an hour!” she called out after her departure and despite your pleasant response, you were grumbling on the inside. You’d even have to hold on to go to the bathroom now too.

Finally, your work day was over and as you exhaustedly left the office you turned out the lights, being the last to leave for the day. You were barely out of the building before you heard your phone vibrate again and you groaned, fishing it out of your bag and pressing talk.

“Oh what, Mum?!”

“Finally, you answer!”

You sighed heavily from your outburst and pulled the phone away from your ear momentarily to see how many notifications had stacked up over the day. Gasping at the number, you pressed the device back to your ear. “Is everything okay there?!”

“It would be too bad if it weren’t with your lack of attention. What made it impossible for you pick up a call for five minutes?” she prattled and you heaved another sigh, your annoyance returning.

“Having five minutes to myself today would have been a blessing,” you admitted with a groan and narrowed your eyes on the darkened street ahead of you. All you wanted now was food, a shower and your bed.

“Well, do you have five minutes for me now?” she asked, her tone changing. You knew that tone all too well and it made you teeter between hanging up and listening on to what she had to say. “Do you?”

“What, what?” you bit back, hearing her triumphantly laugh at garnering enough of your curiosity. “Let’s hear what’s been so important for you to blow my phone up about!”

“Your apartment, remember how your father and I helped pay the deposit for it?”

“Please don’t tell me you took out a loan and now I’m homeless so you can pay it back,” you breathed down the phone and the older woman gasped.

“What do you take me for?! It was your Uncle that one time and I paid you back every cent I borrowed. Some filial daughter you are.”

“Fine, what?”

“Channie.” She started and you huffed out air at the mentioning of the real pride of your family. “He’s coming to Seoul.”

“So?”

“He needs a place to-”

“What, no! Mum, you know Chan and I never get along together. He’s so frustrating and I’m too old to put up with him,” you cut in, shaking your head at her half spoken request even though she couldn’t see it. “I can’t, I have adult friends and important things that I do with my life.”

Like order in Chinese food and cry over k-dramas romances, you thought sadly to yourself, unable to even bring your pathetic lifestyle up to the woman who raised you.

“You act like Channie is still that awkward kid who followed you about everywhere. He’s an adult too. It’ll only be for a couple of weeks, maybe a month at max. He’s landed a job up there as a music teacher at a university, so it’s not like he won’t be able to pay his way and I told him he has to treat your house rules as gospel. Come on, Y/N. He’s not even going to be in your way much.”

“But…” You had no comeback, and the woman on the phone knew it. “Ugh, fine but if he does so much as one thing wrong I’ll kick him out immediately, okay?”

“He’ll be there in two days, thank you!” The call disconnected and you let out an indignant scoff at her manipulative ways.

Fried chicken and beer it was for dinner tonight.

It was the weekend when Chanyeol arrived and it was far too early in the morning too. You stood in your doorway with sleep in your eyes and a scowl attached to your face. He grinned at you. “Some things never change.”

“Know that I only agreed to this because Mum made me aware that I’d get paid for you staying here.”

“Duly noted, what a generous heart you have towards your brother,” he admitted as he stepped inside with his belongings and you cringed, shaking your head at the tall boy.

“Ugh, brother is too much and you know it, Chan.”

“Our parents were thinking of adopting me last year but I told them I was fine with it being the way it is. I’ve been a part of your family for so long now I don’t need it to become legal. Besides, it’s fun being able to tease you about it.”

“What, that my Mum dotes over you more than her own flesh and blood?” you challenged and he smirked, nodding his head once. “You even admit to it now so freely!”

“You left home and I filled her heart, what can I say?” he retorted with a grin as he went back to the door to head out and grab more of his belongings. You merely stood there, watching as box after box filled up your small living space. Shaking your head, you waited until he closed the front door and smiled at you.

“I’m going back to bed.”

“It’s ten in the morning!”

You nodded slowly, as if he didn’t understand the need for sleep anymore. It used to be him that you’d be kicking out of bed in the early afternoon only a few years ago. “Try being an intern who works for one of the biggest editorial companies in Seoul and see how well you sleep during the week. I’m an adult unlike you most days!”

“I can’t guarantee I’ll be quiet,” he warned teasingly. You marched over to his side and gazed up at him, your nose scrunching up at how tall he was now. He had grown again, you were sure of it. He watched you bemused as you turned and climbed up onto your sofa to gain some height and authority over him. Chanyeol tried to suppress his laughter but his shoulders bounced and you swiftly kicked him in the leg. Yelping out a curse, he bent over enough and you smiled triumphantly. “My house, my rules.”

“Noona! Didn’t you just tell me you are an adult?! Still playing your dirty tricks with me!”

“Like you said before, some things never change,” you told him sweetly and shutting your bedroom door behind you.

Having Chanyeol living with you wasn’t as difficult as you imagined it to be. It was lively and you embraced any moment you had to tease him, the younger boy giving it back just as much. Such as your relationship was, nothing was ever serious and you had been laughing all weekend. You had learnt despite all this he had actually gotten himself a pretty decent job at the university near your work, and it allowed you to bribe him to take you to work in his car. This not only gave you an extra half an hour in the morning to sleep, but you would get to escape the woes of the crowded subway too.

You decided having him stay was going to benefit you in the morning.

“Remind me why I’m doing this for you?” he asked as he strapped in his seatbelt, glancing at your all too happy expression. “Noona, you look deranged.”

“Just drive Chan, I can’t be late.”

“Like I’ll make you late, I know how to drive,” he muttered and pulled out of the car park. It was silent for a few minutes until he reached over to turn on the radio, loud music full of drums and bass immediately blasting out which made you groan. Chanyeol laughed. “What? My car, my rules.”

“Petty son of a bitch.”

“I got taught by the best, what can I say?” he replied with a laugh as you reached to turn it down a little. You would placate his music taste as long as you could hear yourself think.

“So, this week should I be aware of any plans where I might need to vacate the apartment?” he asked and you glanced at him, your brows knitting together. Chanyeol smiled, keeping his eyes on the road. “Mum said I have to be mindful of your male friends. I of course asked her what friends but – oof!”

You slapped his chest and Chanyeol shot you a glare. “I’m driving!”

“You’re being a butthead!”

“You’re almost thirty and you still use language like butthead? And you say I’m not an adult?!”

You folded your arms over your chest in a huff.

“So, no male friends then?” he tried again, holding up a defensive arm as your own shot out to attack instinctively.

“Park Chanyeol!”

“It doesn’t suit you anyway,” he mentioned after laughing at you for a moment and you looked at him from the corner of your eye. “You and a man? I can’t imagine it.”

“I’ll have you know I am capable!”

His eyes widened. “I don’t want to know how much!”

“Then you shouldn’t ask such questions,” you surmised smugly, turning your attention to out the window. Inwardly, you whined over his attack and wished for the car ride to hurry up.

You were regretting not taking the subway now.

_________________

Part 2

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[7goodangel]

Discussion on Recent Post on PJ

AKA Answering Ask Time

Ah man sorry for just suddenly disappearing like that guys. Just I had to take a sudden break from tumblr. Anyway – I got several asks over the hours I was not on there... though I did turn it off at one point due to some hate being sent to me, which I will address below. I decided to go ahead and answer all of the asks that are surrounding the situation that happened and the events that happened due to it in this post. Any other questions that are specifically asking about something else (though mentioning a bit of what happened Monday) I’ll answer on their own and appropriately tag them, since I know a few of you were wondering about PJ a bit.

Anyway! On with the show! I hope that with this I can clear up a bit of things as well as give my thoughts on what you have to say about it! And I’ll be going in a random order with the asks… so bear with me! ^^

First, let’s do the not so great ones. Exactly – what happened with these:

Ok… so by now I believe all of you know that Rouge was joking about all of that. Guess I can kinda claim these anon(s) as the first ‘hate-like’ messages I’ve received on Tumblr. Honestly I was expecting hate much sooner than this o-o But you guys can relax – the AUs that Rouge has are not being altered or going anywhere! Though just so you know – it was inappropriate to send hate about this when the problem stemmed more from the fandom and not me.

And to the next… time to do some clearing up ones:

Yeah @lesmolghost … I thought so too. But then I discovered Amino and OH BOY… I’ll talk more about that with the next Anon answer…

First – there have been a small amount of people who have been breaking my rules. There has been and probably is sin of PJ floating around on the internet when I asked people to not do it. I’m glad that most do not do this and some even ask the ones who have sinned to take it down on my behalf.

Second - as in how some of my friends would word this: “Show me a body”. This means ‘show me the proof’. I didn’t say that I hated the AUs or want them all to disappear. Goodness! I love all of the AU ideas you all make! Like dang, I am super surprised at that! I was more stating that I just really wanted people to understand who canon PJ is and not argue about it since people have been pretty hostile and even arguing with me on that an alternate version of PJ is canon. It’s fine if you like an alternate interpretation more, it’s fine if you hate PJ all together, it’s all fine – I just want to reestablish the foundation and then release y’all back to doing what you do best – creating stories and ideas!

A big part of me is keeping as much creative freedom to everyone as possible. I am a huge advocate of this idea. I hate limiting people – and my friends can back me up on that. (Honestly, it would kinda make me a hypocrite by having a character design based on two AU Sanses then saying no one can do AUs of that character o-o)

I say that Sam from @askinfresh did a great job of explaining this here: http://askinfresh.tumblr.com/post/158373656135/hi-7goodangel-i-am-here-to-ask-you-about

Plus… gonna mention Amino again – Just… if you have some free time to kill… humor yourself and look up either “Paper Jam”, “Paperjam”, or “Jammy” over on the Undertale Amino and… I think you’ll see where I’m coming from with at least being kinda…ticked about this.

So with that in mind:

@annaskeleton – That is totally fine with liking how she interprets him! And it’s totally fine to have him in your AU however you imagine him to be like in there! ^^

Though if you want to know more about PJ, I have the tag “paperjaminfo” for any miscellaneous information on PJ as well his main bio on my main tumblr, my RP blog of PJ, and even on a wikia!

https://7goodangel.tumblr.com/pjbiodatru1

But yeah – As long as you mention that your PJ or any of your interpretations of characters are not to canon within an AU – go forth and make some universes!!!

So don’t be sorry about making an AU! Be proud! I can’t wait to see more of it! ^^

And also:

Yep @iludahirihiri! I am the creator of PJ! ^^ And I would refer to the items above for more info on Paper Jam! These links are on my tumblr page as well! If on mobile, click “Nav for Mobile” and it should take you to the page where all my pages are at!

Now… while the top was a little more neutral or kinda negative… I want to say that majority of the response to what I had to say was positive and overall… I was dumbfounded of how many nice messages I got... I’m gonna try my best now to respond to each one that I was sent here: 

First some anons – though I see one is @artisticcopykat ^^

But just… I was shocked to find people who never knew about how PJ really is… people who knew canon PJ for a while, and people who don’t even like any PJ at all – just coming together and saying nice messages. Like gosh… I say that there is a huge chunk of the UT fandom that is toxic… but you guys? You guys show that with every con, there is a pro. Just man… seeing support from all angles is just… amazing. YOU ALL ROCK!!!

Thank you @sparklyracer44. I can see by the amount of people liking the post and for the ones that reblogged it either as is or added their two cents to it (no matter if you agreed or not! Still appreciate ya adding your thoughts to the conversation!). Again, I didn’t really see that extremely happening on Tumblr – it was happening on other sites I’m either not on as much or not at all. Again – to reiterate – I just want people to understand how PJ is truly. Not to convince everyone to like him or to force everyone to use that version only.

And @aimeetheshrimp, that’s exactly how I think on that too! Jammy is like an entire entity separate from PJ and that’s the same with all versions of PJ. I think if people thought of Jammy and PJ as two separate beings – then a lot of air would clear up! Again – love Jammy too! I really thought about the situation of Jammy’s Love and in his own universe – how he acts makes sense. But yeah – not canon, but still interesting to read and individual AU!

Strangly enough @trusting-my-insanity…

OmniPJ hasn’t gotten that much hate as I expected…

However, while I have not received any major hate directly due to the ship, there have been people on different platforms that have given disrespect and hate to the creator of Omni, @cereusblue.

One time that I witnessed this was when Blue got an ask about how someone mentioned about how popular FreshPaper is and Blue responded “Too bad it’ll never be canon”. (Ya know… to be truthful yet funny!) But then… another person replied to that saying “What did you say you piece of shit?” (sorry for no censors but yeah o-o)

There has also been times that people that have thrown shade onto OmniPJ ship on more than one occasion. As well as directly disrespecting Blue with anything regarding to Omni. Which leads me to AMINO HELLO ONCE AGAIN. As one example, someone straight up told her that they will not change the title of their favorite from “PJ x PJ” to “PJ x Omni” due to using an OmniPJ picture… and both I and Blue explained it to them!

Yeah… just wow Amino.

And for a more recent example of someone disrespecting Blue, here is a link to a recent post of hers: http://cereusblue.tumblr.com/post/158449708763/this-is-why-i-hate-amino-fucking-spare-me-this

Some just see Omni as another PJ and that is just another topic of ranting and pointing out… =_=

But yeah… I didn’t just want respect for PJ and myself – I want respect for ALL creators and their content.

@awesome-moni-sama, thank you for the nice message! I do hope that people that haven’t looked at his bio and do things with AU PJs take a look at it and at least get an understanding on who is truthfully! But gosh… still thank you and your friend!!! ^^

I agree with you @bloo-the-dragon, that’s how it’s like for most fandoms, just Undertale has really gotten that B A D.

All I want and wish is that this could be a lesson for all artists to understand the risks of posting an original character connected to a huge fandom, as well and more so for people who see artist’s content and want to go and do things with their OCs. We are all so supportive of one another, and want to show our favorite characters to others. We just need to make sure we all respect the artists and writers and creators. We all need to double check our information. We are in the age of individual research! If you can access Tumblr, you can also take the initiative to go and look up characters and make sure you know who created them. Sometimes the artist is just as popular as the OC, and sometimes they are not that well known. All artists no matter how big or small deserve the same respect across the board.

But to really end on a positive note – I want to thank everyone again… and also:

Thank you so much for the support!!! I cannot believe I am under 200 away from 5000… o-o

Gosh I thought I was gonna loose followers due to what I said…but you all proved me wrong! Thank you. And though I am unable to do a lot of drawings due to school, I am so thankful that you are all patient with me!

I’m gonna announce that I do have two comics planned! Of course Mediplane… but I only have arc 1 fully thought out and needing to go through some editing (if I find time), so I want to work on one that is shorter! Which the temporary title is “Witch and Siren”, being about…of course… a witch and a siren and how they interact with one another! More info will be shown of that once I am out of school! Which all I need to do is pass these last few classes, take an exit exam…and I’ll be complete with my masters!

So I hope to go ahead and post some more sketches I’ve done and reblog some amazing art for the time being! Thank you for being so patient again!