#and/or yes. maybe she had actively done something to alienate him

[fideidefenswhore]

Do you think AB alienated her allies, sometimes?

I mean, for sure... I think the extent of that has been exaggerated by Alison W/eir, but you can definitely find examples of that. Like, Thomas Cheney, one of her relatives that she interceded for above Wolsey's protests, seemed pretty firmly in her camp. Then, by 1536 he's part of the faction that's supporting her stepdaughter.

Generally, though, imo, it's underestimated how difficult it is to maintain allies when one has power/influence, and how it's basically impossible to keep everyone happy all the time.

[dulcibella-dreams]

How about Minato comforting a sick SO ? Mitsuru will be super strict regarding the quarantine but Minato will find a way.

P3 protag comforting a sick S.O.!

𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔 A/N: screaming. YOU KNOW I’VE HAD THIS IDEA BEFORE? hsjdkwkakdkw I have a soft spot for this idea. This sounds to me more like a story type beat than a dot point, so that is what I have done :) also tee hee I'm sick rn so 💕Hope you enjoy anon!!

You had it really badly. Shivering in your bed with tissue boxes running out by the minute, your body was in a state of swelter and ice.

Mitsuru had absolutely banned everyone from coming to see you. Even Aigis. Why Aigis???? Not like she was going to catch the flu. You rolled your eyes.

The buzzing of your phone followed your second sneeze in a row. You were really hoping one of your friends cared enough about you to text you. Maybe this time it wouldn't be wilduck burgers persuading you to buy their ‘super mystery X exclusive alien edition triple patty burger’. You were indeed pleased when you saw Minato's number pop-up.

“How are you?” You almost rolled your eyes again. “Sick.” You stared intently at the 'typing...' icon. “I'm coming up to see you.” You blinked a couple times at your screen. You had a sudden vision of him getting brutally executed by Mitsuru. You also didn't want to pass your illness to him, or have him see you in this puffy and runny nose condition. But also, you missed your boyfriend a lot. Mitsuru had you basically locked up like jail in your room for 3 days now.

You quickly hit backspace on your DO NOT DO THAT message, and instead opted for a “how???” He responded quickly. “don't worry about that.” Why did he have to be so cryptic. It didn't make him edgy or mysterious. Okay, yes it did and it definitely added to his charm, but that was besides the point.

You looked at your window. No, he wasn't about to learn how to fly. Or get a long ladder. Or would he get a long ladder? Your laugh quickly descended to a chesty cough. The boy of your heart was truly something. He clearly missed you, despite his casual demeanour.

You suddenly hear a raised authoritative voice. Oh. Mitsuru was not pleased. “You can't go up there! You are putting at risk all of us, not to mention the student body…!” Her voice resigned after Minato very nonchalantly walked into your room and locked the door behind him. Oh yeah, that's right. You forgot he literally does not care. You notice a large open container in his hands, all contents except a water bottle obscured to you.

“She won't be coming up here.” You give him a smile. “She’ll kill you, you know.” “That's a problem for later.” He found a seat on the edge of your bed, resting the back of his palm against your forehead. “You’re feverish.” You gave him a long hard look that said, ‘no way, really?’ but kept your mouth shut, since you were honestly so pleased he was here.

Setting the container down by your bed, he pulls out a small, cold wet towel to place on your forehead. You sigh happily as your scorching skin seems to lull slowly. He grabs one of your hands, and rests it in his lap as he holds it. Minato looks in your eyes as the room fills with a moment of silence. “No-one could keep me from you.” You have to look away so you don't make a fool of yourself. It's rare for him to be so blatant about his feelings for you. He didn't seem to care about your sniffling nose, your raspy voice, or your chapped lips. You were his love, after all.

Minato gently lifted your head, resting it in his lap. He propped you up to undo the ponytail you had messily done last night. It had soothed your burning shoulders then, but now it just ached. His fingers gently threaded through your hair, completely relieving the tension. You could not fathom why he had come so prepared, but he procured a hairbrush and began working through your hair slowly. It was such a soft act of intimacy, to actively look after you in this way. To never want anything in return. His satisfaction always seemed to derive from seeing you content. You closed your eyes and lost yourself in the moment, never wanting to leave.

After some time, the silence was interrupted with a: “…Oh yeah, I brought you your favourite snack.” You watch as he reached into the container again to procure you your gift. Your sickened state almost made you barrel towards tears, but you instead settle on pulling him into a sudden hug. You couldn't even care if you got him sick anymore. You left a trail of kisses from his collarbone all the way up to his cheeks, the edge of his mouth, and finally pressing against his lips. You stay there for quite sometime, your fingers now finding his hair instead. When you pull away, he looks vaguely amused, with the slightest smirk on his face.

“I think you forgot about your snack.”

[starsaviour48]

For a request how about Arcee and June hanging out with each other?

Two girl bosses coming right up.

The space bridge opened and a clearly upset and muddy Arcee stepped through it.

"Wow soooo the scouting didn't went well." said Wheeljack while jumping out off Arcee's way.

The blue femme turned around slowly and looked at her team with a murderous glare.

"You think?!? I had had enough doing you guys dirty work!" said Arcee and pointed to Bulkhead and Bumblebee who were the original team that should have done the mission.

"I'm also tired of your remarks like do you always feel the need to point out the obvious?"

It was Ratchet's and Wheeljack turn to be the target off Arcee's rage.

"And you..." Arcee turned to Smokescreen but realised that this time she has nothing on the rookie.

Smokescreen just lifted his servos in defence.

"I will just cross something off the list "Why Arcee is angry at me this time""

"Good."

Optimus turned to Arcee to offer her an olive branch as the human saying goes.

"You should take this day off. You deserve it."

"Damn right I do."

Having the day off is one thing, doing something with it is another. After a good oil bath provided by Bee and Bulk as apology for their overworked teammate she had no idea what to do. She tried to go to the training room but Smokescreen stopped her saying that she has the day off and training isn't the way to spend such a rare opportunity. On one hand she agreed with him but still...

"I heard of a human activity that you should try!"

"You having an idea? You scare me Smokescreen."

"Ha ha ha. I'm starting to think you enjoy bickering with me."

"Believe me I have a better way to spend my time than being in your company."

"Yeah? Like how?"

Arcee opened her intake to answer her teammate but closed it the moment she realised that she had nothing worthy to mention. Still she tried because she was stubborn after all.

"Watching cartoons with Bee, you and the kids. Have you forgotten?"

"No but you must have forgotten that me and Bee literally dragged you with us to watch anything. So no that doesn't count."

Arcee sighed.

"Fine. You win this time. What is that activity you mentioned."

Smokescreen smiled before explaining Arcee the beauty of slumber parties.

"I will...think about it." is all Arcee said before waving goodbye to the younger bot.

June was looking at Arcee who seemed to be out off it. The nurse thought that although Arcee was Jack's guardian they didn't really spoke a lot. Maybe it was time to change that.

"Everything's okay Arcee? You look...lost."

Arcee stopped walking in circles and looked at June.

"Yes of course Miss-"

"Call me June."

"June. Everything's fine. It's just... This will sound weird but do you know how to have a slumber party?"

June blinked up at the femme. Yeah something is definitely up with the serious bot.

"Do you know what a slumber party is Arcee?"

"If I can trust in Smokescreen than yes I know. He said it would be a great way to relax."

June weighted the pros and cons of having a slumber party with a giant alien robot before answering.

"I think I can help with that!"

Arcee looked a little bit confused. At that June raised a brow.

"I was young once too you know."

The Darby house wasn't really unknown for Arcee especially their garage. However all this colorful and eye catching human things made a place look somewhat foreign.

"What colour do you want for your nails?"

"Let's go with pastel pink." hummed Arcee after a little thinking.

June carefully started painting her digits. Arcee didn't really have nails but she said it was okay to paint the end off her digits.

"Sooo do you have a bot you like?"

That question took Arcee off guard. Although Smokescreen told her that human girls mostly talk during this custom but she didn't expected June to ask something like that out off the blue.

"Not really. I mean I had a little crush on Cliff, nothing serious. And you?"

June chuckled at that.

"Well to be honest Mr. FBI agent is quite the looker but I don't think Jack would approve."

"Just give him time. He will accept it."

"You think?"

"He will understand. He loves you more than you can imagine. If you are happy he won't stand in the way of that happiness." smiled Arcee softly.

It was a rare moment they shared and the femme has to admit it was nice. Really nice.

"What do you think off your teammates? You can tell me anything. My lips are sealed." smiled mischievously the nurse.

"Good question."

"Who's your favourite?"

"I have to say Bumblebee. He is like a little brother to me. He has quite the temper and can be childish from time to time but he is a great bot with endless potential."

"Who would you spend a week with?"

"Hmm... Bulkhead I think. He is a good travelling partner and he has a lot of stories. I have to admit that he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed but he means well."

"Who would be your shopping partner."

"Definitely Ratchet. He knows what he needs and he will do it swiftly. He is a really grumpy and straight forward bot but he puts life above all else and I respect him a lot."

"Who is your bff?"

"You wouldn't believe it but after the whole you aren't fit to be an autobot fiasco I would say Smokescreen."

"Really? I thought you guys are... you know...have bad blood between you two."

"Not really. After a long talk provided by Optimus we came to terms with eachother. Since than we like to goship, you wouldn't believe how much info the kid has it's honestly entertaining to listen to all the "beef" in the elite guard. He can be annoying sometimes but he is just a kid after all."

"Who would you live with?"

"Can I say humans too?"

"Sure."

"Than Jack. It's kinda obvious why."

"I'm glad my son has such a great friend like you." smiled June.

"I'm also happy that I met him."

"Next question. Who would you go on a vacation with."

"Wheeljack. He knows how to party and relax. He is also fun to be around. We are the lone wolf companions. Also he has a spaceship so we could visit some interesting planets too."

"What about Optimus and Ultra Magnus?"

"Well they are like the bosses of me so I wouldn't be that comfortable with them as I'm with the others. Although I would definitely go to a museum with Optimus. He has great knowledge on Cybertron after all. But I think I would drink the Cybertronian equivalent of coffee with Magnus."

The rest of the night went with decorating Arcee with various colorful items and chatting. If Arcee showed up tomorrow with a flower crown on her helm and pink digits nobody said a thing.

Bonus:

"Pink is soooo your colour. Have you ever thought on a new paint job?"

"I would paint myself pink but than I would have to constantly explain myself to Ratchet and Optimus as to why I have so much energon on me."

"So you have been walking around the base coverd in energon but because of your base colour we could see it?"

Arcee nodded and Smokescreen chuckled.

"Savage."

[blackestnight]

27 for tia!! (specially if you have anything for her with karlach 😳 for angsty reasons) + 17 for her as well <3

- @fourteenthz

27. What is the worst thing they've ever done/said to someone they love?

aha. ahaha. ha.

so here's the thing: between the discrepancies in their ages (260-something for tia, karlach being in her late 20s/early 30s most likely) and their recent life experiences (living as a professional harpist in a cushy neighborhood of baldur's gate vs being stuck on the frontlines of a war in Actual Literal Hell for the last decade with no physical contact aside from the vicious murdering of her boss's enemies), tia and karlach have...very different levels of relationship experience. tia has had both long-term and polyamorous relationships before (she actually still keeps in touch with her last girlfriend's kids, they call her "auntie") whereas the last time karlach had any sort of relationship with anyone who wasn't an active threat to her was a decade ago. not to mention tialha was raised in a wood elf enclave where "monogomy" was...kind of an alien concept. none of which is helped by the fact that, historically, she's played into the stereotype of the slutty bard.

anyway, tia's in the habit—and has been for decades—of flirting freely and frequently, with anyone who catches her eye. she did so with karlach's explicit blessing before they reached last light, but it didn't occur to her that once karlach's engine was fixed and they were capable of having a physical relationship that karlach's feelings might have changed, and she went right on batting her eyes at wyll. karlach "abandonment issues" cliffgate did not say a damn thing about it, despite the fact that her number one fear in the world is being used and discarded (fun fact: if you sleep with karlach and then tell her it was a mistake, you net a whopping HUNDRED disapproval). tialha, with her whopping zero insight, did not stop to think that maybe karlach would want to revisit their relationship boundaries; in her mind, sex and romance aren't mutually inclusive, especially since she'd previously considered herself a committed partner to karlach without being able to lay a finger on her.

it was actually astarion who knocked some sense into tia, because karlach is the only bitch in this house he respects and he was not about to let their fearless leader stomp all over her newly-repaired heart.

17. Do they have any enemies outside of the main plot? Any friends?

volothamp geddarm is her lifelong nemesis. she cannot stand the man. they've had an academic feud for the better part of the last century; their chain of "in response to" essays is a few dozen long by now. yes, she appreciates that knowledge should be conveyed in a way that's engaging, but not at the cost of veracity. she was almost tempted to let those absolutists blow him up.

as previously mentioned, she's still in touch with the kids her last girlfriend (a human who died of old age surrounded by her loved ones) had, and she was actually going to meet one of her honorary 'nieces' for lunch when she was abducted by the nautiloid.

[queen-boudicca]

Happy doctor who day everyone!! Next up in the nuwho rewatch is dalek!

(I'm also changing the "did i cry" bit to "did someone die" bc i don't cry often enough for that to be interesting and I've always meant to go through every dw episode and see what ones nobody dies in. People die in all the previous episodes, so I'm not going to go back and edit those)

Bechdel test pass: yes (rose and the soldier)

Did someone die: yes

Ooh the museum

Slitheen arm

Cyberman!

God nine has just the most desolate tone of voice and when he says "I'm getting old" aaagh

Theme song!

BAD WOLF ONE DESCENDING MY BELOVED

I like Goddard ngl

Like sure she's a henchperson for an ultra capitalist billionaire and is fine with the torturing of sapient beings but on the other hand she's funny so

Love that musical instrument that plays three whole notes

This is unrealistic bc Statten would not be specifying they're English; he'd just say British, even if they were Irish

Ooh here it comes

ArjdhfjafhfjjfsjfajgsjrasjftjafjajfatiatjssjtgksgkzgkstksjtsjfsfjsfsjfjafksfksfjsjsfsgkkgsstjjstgkskgssfksfkgkssjfsfjjfskgsgkszfkzgkgkskgsgksjfzfnahdafjskgzgmsgksfksyksktskgskgskgsjfsktsktgjatajtskfsjfjskgskgsjgskgsktsktsgksgksskggksgksgkstksgskkgsgksgmsnfDBAFJW

I'm fine

"I watched it happen; i made it happen!" I'm fine

"You destroyed us?" "...I had no choice" I'm fine

"And what of the time lords?" I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine guys I'm totally fine

His acting I'm

I can't

Wow van Statten you're super intimidating 10/10

God i love Rose's tank top so much

Adam, trying to impress Rose: aliens exist

Rose, who thinks he's hot: wow really?

Stkjrajfs i forget Adam said fantastic

Yeah nine maybe don't tell them you're an alien when they've been shown willing to imprison living sapient beings

But i mean you do you

God van Statten is such a bitch

Ngl the dalek was really smart and good at manipulating rose

They were like "hmm she's a friend of the doctor. I've got it just get her to feel bad for me" and it worked

Love the calculating of a thousand billion combinations like okay yeah sure but can it press the buttons that fast? Also why doesn't it lock after a certain number of incorrect attempts? 

No not the west coast! That's where I live!

Speaking of which, glad to hear some good American accents

Love how he's like "you've got to kill it now" but like, they obviously can't

Yay Goddard for caring at least a little bit about the people the dalek is murdering

Good job Adam taunting the great big alien death machine

I really like this soldier. Sure hope nothing bad happens to her

Oh

Rose and Adam literally keep fucking running why are you just standing there

The electrocution was honestly a brilliant move like this dalek is smart

This is the episode where the daleks are most intimidating and best done

But like seriously though every time they bring back the daleks there's more and more of them and it just makes them less and less intimidating bc none of them can ever shoot for shit or do anything clever and they all fall for obvious bullshit traps (revolution of the daleks, anyone?) But like. This is how to do it. One dalek casually murders everyone in an entire base and it's clear it's toying with them. Like it could've just shot them all but instead it activates the sprinklers and electrocutes them all. It's (a) smart and (b) showing off. (Plus that way when they come back in big numbers for the finale it's actually intimidating and not just like oh okay look another army of daleks just like the last dalek episode) Rob shearman write every dalek episode when

Goddard so obviously wants to murder van Statten good for her

The dalek standing in the rain while doctor tells it to kill itself and the dalek tells him he'd make a good dalek is something that can be so personal

Unlike the other times a dalek tells him he'd make a good dalek, where it's just something they just say bc ooh we're so edgy, this one actually works and makes sense and has an impact. Like the doctor just told the dalek he killed all of the time lords just to rid the universe of the daleks; and the dalek is like "that's a lot of hatred there" like fuck if that didn't hit the doctor right the fuck in the chest damn

(And makes all the times they have a dalek arbitrarily say that to the doctor later feel even more hollow and useless by comparison but you don't need me to tell you that moffat sucks)

Anyway rip rose lol

Nine going off on van Statten is something that can be so personal

"I wanted to touch the stars" "you just wanted to drag the stars down and stick them underground underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them"

Now the dalek having an identity crisis

Dammit doc really you're just gonna let the dalek out? Not a great plan

"Broken, broken, hair dryer"

Goddard is low-key hoping for the dalek to kill van Statten and same tbh (but it's more poetic what happens so)

God rose is so kind

The little tentacle reaching for the sun aww

Rose arguing with nine about killing the dalek is something that can be so personal

Love it when a companion takes moral issue with something the doctor does and argues with them and changes their mind

"Isn't that better?" "Not for a dalek"

This whole scene is just. I don't even have a word for the feelings I'm feeling

(God remember when over a decade later they wrote a story about the most ethical way to execute living beings and managed to fuck that up)

"Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?" "Yes" "so am I" I'm fine

Yay Goddard "some place beginning with s" girlboss

God this episode is so good

Anyway, up next is the long game, the title of which i had to look up bc i forgot it so that bodes well

[dsmutp]

Your c!slimecicle smut was so good I just have to ask for another one. Could you do a c!slimecicle x male reader that’s also a hybrid of something? Like maybe a hybrid like badboyhalo but only half demon. The reader is the only one willing to teach Charlie stuff and be patient with him.

If your not comfortable with male readers then you can change it to female ^^

yeah no probs dude - i myself am genderfluid so switching genders aint a problem

Old Slime, New Tricks (C!Slimecicle X Reader)

Las Nevadas was an odd bunch.

It seemed like Quackity had gone out of his way to collect the most eccentric of characters from around the SMP - a half creeper who happened to also be the warden of the prison, a little alien boy who hated everything and everyone, the fox son of the ex-president of L'Manburg, a literal god... the list went on.

Las Nevadas may have been an odd bunch, but as a half demon yourself, you fit right in.

In a constantly changing land plagued with wars, Las Nevadas was a welcome break from the constant battlefield anywhere else. Here, you could settle down, catch your breath - you even had time to get back to some of the hobbies you had enjoyed before everyone had started killing each other.

Hell, you had a real job here - and it was the easiest job you'd ever had.

When you'd first moved into the area, Quackity had all but shoved Charlie at you, assigning you both his babysitter and teacher. You had been a bit disgruntled at the responsibility at first, but even grudgingly you admitted it made sense. If anyone was going to be teaching someone how to be human, having someone that had had to learn human tendencies themselves was probably a good idea.

If you'd taught yourself how to be lean into your human side, you could teach a sentient slime man how to do it.

It helped that Charlie was eager to learn - his endless enthusiasm made the job kind of fun, actually. He was a ray of sunshine even on your bad days, and over time as you showed him the ropes of humanity, you had actually come to really like him.

Maybe too much, but that was a different story.

He had made great leaps and bounds as a student - he had learned basic interactions in almost no time, and he had stopped slipping up with motor functions so much anymore (it had been at least two weeks since the last time he'd forgotten how joints worked and bent his knees the wrong way).

Now, you were working on reading. You were sprawled out on one of the leather couches in the casino, reading over Charlie's shoulder as he read aloud.

"...voice low enough that it was more of a groll? Grawl? What does this one say?"

Were you teaching Charlie to read using pulpy erotica? Perhaps. It was really Quackity's fault though - it was all he had laying around the casino.

"Growl." You supplied.

Charlie blinked down at the page before looking over at you. "He's growling at her? Like an animal?"

You shrugged. "It's supposed to be sexy."

Charlie nodded slowly - confusion written plain on his face. "Right."

You shook your head, amused. "Charlie, do you get whats happening in the book right now?"

Charlie looked down at the open pages in his lap before he glanced back up to you, nodding. "He's going to kill her."

You laughed, pulling the book from him and holding it. "No, they're going to have sex."

"So he's not going to kill her?"

"Literally the opposite." You said, thumbing down the corner of the page you were on. "Do you remember how in the beginning of the book, she was saying how she was drawn to him?"

"Yup!"

"It's because she's attracted to him." You explained. "And since meeting him, she's gotten to know him some more now, and she thinks she loves him, right?"

"I remember that part, it was in chapter 11!" Charlie chimed in.

"So when two people love each other, they have sex." You said. "It's just something you do with someone you love a lot to make them feel really good."

"I see." Charlie said, a pensive look coming over his face. "Can we have sex then?"

You choked on air, eyes snapping over to him and away from the book. "Sorry?"

"You said people do it when they love each other." Charlie said with all seriousness. "And I love you very much, so can we have sex."

You blinked at him, taking in the genuinely questioning expression on his face. He was serious. He actually wanted to do this. And even though you knew you probably shouldn't, since you were basically a babysitter for him, you knew what you were going to say.

"Yeah, sure."

---

"Okay, so it's going to work a little differently then how it did in the book." You said, stripping your pants off so that you were fully naked.

Your clothes joined Charlie's on the floor, and you sat on the edge of the bed next to him, scanning over his skin. He was just as comfortable without his clothes as he was in them, and seemed plenty eager to get on with the actual activity.

"Since you and I are both in possession of dicks," You said, sliding a hand over Charlie's thigh to take him in your hand. "Obviously it's going to be a different arrangement."

In your hand, Charlie's slime rippled with excitement.

"Oh that's fucking weird."

"Sorry." Charlie said. "I didn't mean-"

"Didn't say it wasn't hot though." You finished, moving your hand to Charlie's chest to push him back onto the bed. Leaning down close to his ear, you whispered, "Do you mind if I do the fucking? I've been wanting to for a while now."

This time, Charlie's whole body rippled. "Yes please."

You took the opportunity to press downward, letting your hipbones meet his as you nosed along his neck, enjoying the way his skin actually moved to meet you. He gasped as you sank your teeth into his neck, leaving a love bite right on the slightly slimy skin. At this rate, he would be a puddle of slime by the time you were done.

Propping yourself up so that you hovered over him with one hand, you used the other to travel down his side, feeling as his skin moved and gave with the touch of a hand. "I probably won't even have to stretch you out..." You mused. "I could just slid right in if I wanted to..."

"Go for it man." Charlie said, the end of his sentence getting lost in a whimper as you lined yourself up and pushed in in one go.

As expected, there was no resistance - the slime only giving way and perfectly molding around you. You let out a shaky exhale as the feeling of it all rushed over you, tucking your face into Charlie's shoulder for a moment.

"This feels weird." Charlie said.

"Bad weird?"

"No?" Charlie replied. "It's kind of... nice."

You smiled, pressing a quick kiss over the mark you had left earlier. "You're going to love this next bit then."

You began to roll your hips, thrusting in and out of Charlie, listening to the squelch of the slime as it continued to mold around you even as you moved. It was perfect - squeezing around you without being too constricting, but dragging across every patch of skin as you moved, lighting up all your nerves.

You had only just started, and Charlie was already the best lay you'd ever had.

"Wow." Charlie gasped, fisting his hands into the sheets. "You were right- ah-"

He broke off into a soft moan as you picked up the pace, savoring the grind of your hips together. Moving from where you had your face pressed into his shoulder, you locked your lips together with his, silencing the moan halfway through with a kiss.

If the sweet drag against your cock kept up, you weren't going to last much longer. And judging by the way Charlie's skin was beginning to ripple under your touch again, neither was he.

You pounded into him for the last few thrusts until he was coming, his entire body giving into a fit of shudders as his skin rippled. It was the strangest sensation, feeling the rippling as he was wrapped around you, but it was what pushed you over the edge. You came with a groan, slumping forward to lay on Charlie's chest.

For a moment, it was quiet.

"So?" You asked.

"I would like to have sex again please."

[sheepydraws]

I first watched Tokyo Mew Mew in 2010 and haven't watched it since, so I've decided to recount what I remember of the plot before Tokyo Mew Mew New airs later this year (hopefully).

Basic Premise:

First, we meet Ichigo, our lovable, very normal, slightly ditzy protagonist in the vein of Usagi SailorMoon (I don't know either of their last names). She is a high school girl and has the required two mundane friends.

Ichigo has a crush on a guy named Ayoma whose only noticeable personality trait is that he does kendo

Ichigo is having a lovely stroll in the park when a blond guy named Ryu and his brunette friend whose name I don't remember activate...um...

They did something with endangered animal DNA? To meld it with humans? As part of an...awareness campaign about endangered species??? This is never brought up after the first three episodes.

Ichigo merges spiritually with a special kind of wildcat and now she's a catgirl who is also a magical girl.

She also gets the requisite "cutesy magical girl sidekick" in the form of a pink puffball with bat wings. (It is in fact very cute).

Ichigo proceeds to act in weird cat-like ways such as sleeping through class and liking fish (this is strange, I guess?)

Also, her cat ears keep popping out when she's embarrassed, which is terrible because Ayoma has no personality, and therefore no taste, and therefore probably won't find that hot.

Ichigo tracks down Ryu and his friend, who are funding their bizarre experiments by running a maid cafe. Ichigo needs to work with them so her cover is that she is now working at a maid cafe. Sure.

There is a secret lair under the maid cafe for the experiments and stuff. I really hope I'm forgetting that Ryu or his friend came from money because no way does this make sense otherwise.

Monster of The Week Stuff Happens While More Characters Show Up, Namely:

Mint (my favorite character back in the day) shows up. She does ballet, spiritually fused with an endangered bird of some kind and has little red wings that kind of look like birthmarks on her back.

Actually, all the girls were supposed to have little cutie marks like that and I think Ichigo's was on her thigh, but then the animation department ran out of money or something because I don't remember seeing the other girl's marks. (Maybe Zakuro's was on her belly button?)

The unspellable Kisshu/Quiche. I KNOW his name is supposed to be "Quiche" but your average American can barely pronounce that, so 2010s fansubbers trying to decode mangled Frechanese had no chance. They generally transcribed it however they felt was right in their hearts.

Kisshu is a green-haired alien pissbaby whose first appearance involved forcing Ichigo to kiss him. He behaves like a bratty younger brother but is the best love interest on entertainment value alone.

Lettuce (yes, this poor bitch is named Lettuce) who spiritually fused with a dolphin. She was so so lonely her nascent powers caused paranormal activity at her school and Ichigo had to pretend to kill the timid, bullied Lettuce to placebo the girl into gaining some confidence and becoming a magical girl in earnest.

I remember Lettuce was the only chracter who could use her Special Magical Girl AttackTM without moving her arms, so there were a few times she did it while wearing handcuffs.

Lettuce's weapon of choice were castanets. I don't remember any of the others with surety but I don't think this was the weirdest.

Pudding, who spiritually fused with a monkey, and is somehow supporting her five younger siblings as a street busker. I think it was implied that they are for real living in poverty while she's also doing all this magical girl stuff? Weirdly dark subplot for a magical girl anime.

Zakuro, who spitirtually fused with a wolf. We meet her late in the series after she has done some of her own vigilante work, Sailor V style.

I believe her name means "Taro Root" which convinced me to try a taro root bubble tea for the first time when I was a kid. It was purple and tasted like sugar cookies and convinced me that Zakuro was super cool.

Mint is in lesbians with Zakuro.

Zakuro was the only girl who never got an extended trasnformation sequence. (The "animation department ran out of money" theory strikes again.)

Kisshu's Alien Buddies: The stoic, straight laced Pai, who was kind of Lettuce's love interest, and...oh god...I watched this on youtube, back when you could do that as long as all the episodes were split into three parts and there was one part which opened with Pudding shrieking this guy's name so loud it broke my eardrums, but I can not for the life of me remember his name. We'll call him Caramel, he's Puddings love interest.

The Parts of the Plot That Weren't Monster of the Week Stuff:

Ichigo and Ryu had a will-they-won't-they despite the fact that she's in high school, he's a fully grown man, and he experimented on her without her consent.

Actually, between all three of Ichigo's love interests (Ryu, Ayoma, Kisshu) it seems like the writers, in their shameless Sailor Moon rip-off decided "You know what's better than one Tuxedo Mask? Three Tuxedo Masks!" and just carved Damien into three parts.

The...villian? Of the series is something called Deep Blue. It's the planet's life force and the aliens want to steal it because they used to live on earth, and then the ice age happened(???) so they fled to another planet, which was worse because it is also going through an ice age(???).

Either they think earth belongs to them or they just want to harvest Deep Blue and bring it to their new planet where it can stop the ice age.

But wasn't Deep Blue also the force that was creating monsters of the week?

It's possible either that this was badly explained, or I didn't understand it as a kid, or I didn't understand it because it was badly explained.

There was a hot springs filler episode.

A blond elf-type guy is running around with a fancy sword. He looks exactly like Ryu, except with longer hair and elf ears. His name is the Blue Knight and his purpose is the show was....um...to fufil Ichigo's "getting rescued by a handsome elf" fantasy?

All I remember is that he actually turned out to be Ayoma? Mr. Zero-Personality? He never even manages to remember that he is the Blue Knight, but this still tricks Ichigo into thinking he has a personality.

Pai and Lettuce proceeded to have a conversation during their final battle that could only have been conducted through telepathy.

Uh....I don't remember the next bit, but then it goes SECRET TUNNEL THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS SECRET TUNNEL SECRET TUNNEL

The crisis was averted, once again the day was saved thanks to the powerpuff girls, the aliens returned home...empty handed? Fuck them, I guess. Ichigo gets to go back to being a normal girl dating her boring-ass boyfriend.

The only thing I really remember about the ending is being deeply disappointed that no one actually got a hot alien boyfriend.

THE END

[sapiowoman28]

I can, I can't : Part 1 of 3

Pairing: Jaemin x female reader

Gener: best friends to lovers au, smut, fluff

Warning: mentions of sex, masturbation (Female)

Summary: Jaemin and Y/N are part of a group of best friends. One day, things change.....

They called themselves the dropouts. Brought up in good Catholic families, active within the Church community as kids, Catholic school education... the works. They then grew up and stopped going.

It wasn't some group thing were everyone agreed to stop going altogether at the same time. It was more like, one by one, they stopped going.

Jeno was the first to stop, at 15, after his parents got divorced. He became angry and withdrawn. By 16 he was mixing with the wrong crowd - think underaged drinking, partying, It was only after a close brush with the law that he - literally and figuratively - sobered up and decided to focus on healthier pursuits like education and sports. Thankfully too, the old Jeno that everyone knew and love came back.

Then were was Renjun. Renjun was always the one who wasn't really into religion anyway. He was more apt to believing in aliens and ghosts. His mother kept him going for as long as she could. By 18 he was out.

Haechan, as he got older, became a sporadic goer. After moving out on his own to live with the guys and Y/N in an apartment closer to campus, he stopped too.

Y/N? The older she grew, the more she learnt about the importance of gender equality. The more she embraced feminism, the more she found some church teachings hard to swallow.

All was left, of course, was Jaemin. Now Jaemin, he was still a "good boy", faithfully going to Church every Sunday. It wasn't that he was extremely religious. It was more that he had gone to Church every single week all his life. To not go one week felt odd and different.

The good thing was, nobody made fun of him or tried to stop him from going. Jeno even woke him up on Sunday mornings before he went for his 10km runs just so Jaemin would get to mass on time. (Mass is what Catholics call a church service.)

Y/N enjoyed hanging out with her friends. She was like one of the boys. It had always been like that since they were young. Everyone who knew Y/N knew she was not to be messed with. Not only was she capable of kicking anyone's balls, she also had four bros who would come after their ass too. In fact, guys who were interested in dating her would often try to get in good standing with the four guys so life would be easier for them. So it was hardly surprising that Y/N had never had her heart broken.

The problem was, Y/N was the one breaking hearts. Commitment wasn't her strongest suit, and more often than not she'd break off with whoever she was seeing with very trivial reasons, First she was dating Xiaojun. Then 7 months later she broke it off with him because apparently he "sucked at making out". The truth was, Xiaojun was good enough in bed but Y/N wanted to date the more exciting Yang Yang after meeting him at a frat party her gal friends dragged her to and making out with him. So Yang Yang it was. For a while she was happy. But then 10 months passed and Yang Yang was history. Now it seemed, was some guy called Lucas.

"Now, before you guys misunderstand, Lucas is not my boyfriend." Y/N declared over a pizza with Jaemin one Saturday night. "He's just... a friend..."

Jaemin raised his eyebrow. "You mean a friend with benefits? Cos based on what we have to hear every single Friday night, none of us think you guys are friends. Speaking of which.... Jeno wants me to talk to you."

"Let me guess, you lost rock paper scissors. Again. And that's why you're the one speaking to me."

"Well, we have house rules to follow..." Jaemin started, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

"Jeno and his stupid house rules." Y/N sighed. "What now? I can't bring Lucas home?"

"It's getting kind of weird for all of us...."

"You guys bring girls home all the time!" Y/N protested.

"I don't." Jaemin said. It was true.

"Jeno does. Haechan does. Even Renjun! Remember that weird Yoga chick he was seeing?"

"But they're not loud. Lucas sounds like he has a loudhailer in his throat and it's weird hearing him......we end up having to use headphones."

"I've tried asking him to tone it down. But he gets too excited when I blow him..." Y/N grinned as Jaemin covered his ears with his hands, not wanting to hear the details.

"Look, Jeno says he appreciates that YOU have gotten less loud since that time you were dating Yang Yang. But Lucas he's just.... too expressive. Can't you do it at his house or something? It's not the moaning as much as the dirty talk, you know?" Jaemin's voice was getting tinier and tinier.

"If Jeno has a problem, why can't he tell me himself?" I know it's not Haechan or Renjun who are complaining. Haechan's always gaming with his stupid headphones on and Renjun's always listening to music on his noise cancelling ones."

Jaemin sighed. "Don't put me in a tough spot, Y/N..."

He looked at her with puppy dog eyes.

"Fine. I'll speak to Lucas. But I'm only doing it cos of you, cos you good Catholic boy and virgin and all."

Jaemin rolled his eyes. "For the last time, Y/N, I'm not a virgin!"

Lucas took the news surprisingly well and he was happy to have her hang at his apartment instead. Which turned out to be a better thing, since his apartment was bigger and his housemates were never around. Y/N wondered why she insisted on making out at her apartment to begin with.

"I'm surprised Jeno was the one with the problem.." Lucas said after they had made out and she was snuggling in his arms.

"He has all these rules. The worst part is he makes Jaemin speak to me instead of telling me directly."

"It makes sense. You and Jaemin are close."

"I'm close to all four of them."

"No no no." Lucas said, "Each of them has a different thing with you."

"Explain, Mr Wong." she said, looking up at him.

"I think Jeno knows both of you have strong characters so he has Jaemin speak to you instead when there's an issue so you guys won't argue. He prefers to keep things light, so the most you're gonna get is Jeno making fun of you for having a thing for foriegn men."

"What about Haechan?"

"Haechan's your gaming bestie. You talk about gaming, and game together. But he'd kick the ass of anyone who gives you trouble."

"I think I'm least close to Renjun."

"I don't think it's that. It's more Renjun is kind of in his own world. He's like that with everyone. But he feels close to you guys."

Y/N was impressed.

"What about Jaemin?"

"Jaemin's like your total opposite. But you guys get each other. I like him. He's a good guy."

"Yeah he's a virgin." Y/N joked.

"He's a good looking guy! Heck, if I was a chick I'd go after him man!" Lucas said, his eyes expressive as always.

"Well, he's a good guy. I've never seen him bring a girl home."

"Come on man, when it comes to hormones, even good guys turn bad."

Lucas was driving her home when she got a call from Jaemin.

"Wassup?"

"Are you alone?" Jaemin asked. He sounded strange. "I need help."

"Are you ok?" Y/N asked. "I'm with Lucas. Where are you?"

"Oh. I'll call someone else..."

"Don't be an idiot, Jaemin. Where are you?"

"Hospital." he said. "Can you come? Just don't tell anyone anything. Not even Lucas."

She found him in a bad state at the hospital. Sitting in a daze, blood stains on his crumpled shirt. Y/N had never seen Jaemin look so small.

"Hey" she half whispered. He looked up.

"I can go now. I got an x-ray done. My nose is not broken. And it's finally stopped bleeding." he said. "I already collected my medicines. Mostly painkillers."

"What happened?" she asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." he said.

"Let's get home and get you out of these bloody clothes. And then you can tell me after you've had a good night's sleep."

"Can i sleep in your room tonight?" he asked. It was an unsual request. "I'm feeling quite shaken."

"Yeah. Sure. Let's do that."

It was 2am and he still couldn't sleep. She could feel him toss and turn next to her.

"Jae."

"Sorry."

"No, I can't sleep either."

He sat up.

"I need to get my ID card back. Can you follow me tomorrow?"

"Your ID card?"

"I was fooling around with a first year chick in her house. Her parents came back and caught us. Her dad took my ID away, said he was going to lodge a police report against me for tresspassing his house and taking advantage of his daughter. Well, that's after he beat me up."

Y/N sat up. This was interesting, she thought.

"She's 18?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"18 is legal you dumbass." she slapped her forehead.

"I thought it was 21.."

Y/N groaned. "I can't believe you're so stupid."

"But the trespassing thing?"

"They don't have a case Jae. I'm sure you can prove you were invited there. Even if she lies and said she didn't invite you. They can't prove it beyond a reasonable doubt."

"I'm so glad you're studying law."

"And Jaemin?"

"What?"

"It's illegal for him to detain your ID. YOU can report him."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

"Can you go sleep now that you know you're not actually in trouble?"

"Yes. Thanks Y/N." he said, turning to face the opposite side.

But Y/N couldn't sleep. Her mind was running a million miles a minute. Jaemin made out with someone. What was he like when making out? Was he gentle? Was he sweet like he always was to everyone? Was he a dom or sub? What did he do with the girl? Did he have fun?

Her own thoughts made her sick. Feeling a stir in her stomach made her sick. This was her best friend she was thinking of. She had to stop. Maybe she needed a shower.

Taking a towel with her to the bathroom, she shut the door, stripping quickly and getting under the hot jets of water. Damn it, Y/N, she scolded herself. Not Na Jaemin. What happened to your thing for Chinese guys?

She soaped herself trying to escape the mental picture of Jaemin, between the girl's thighs, lapping on her clit mercilessly, his eyes twinkling like they would whenever Jeno or Haechan said something witty. Suddenly, she was thinking of him between her legs, lapping at her core.

She brought her fingers to her clit, rubbing them from side to side. She leaned against the bathroom wall, moving more aggressively. She was wet. Biting her lip she pushed two fingers into her pussy, thrusting them in and out, the sound of the shower masking the wet noises as her fingers moved.

The muscles in her stomach were tightening. She could no longer hold back, thinking of Jaemin thrusting into her, looking at her with an intense gaze. She wanted him bad.

Slowly she came undone, as she moaned into her hands while cumming.

Suddenly, someone was knocking aggressively on the bathroom door. Y/N froze.

"I need to pee!" Haechan shrieked. "Hurry! I need to go back to my game!"

"Give me 2 minutes I'll be done." Y/N said, drying herself with her towel and getting dressed, mind still dazed from thinking about Jaemin. She knew their friendship was never going to be the same ever again.

She was just wondering how easy or hard it was going to be, to get Jaemin to join her on the other side.

[utilitycaster]

Wizard Breakdown Tracker, Episode 138

I think it is easy to forget that literally every episode that aired in the year of Our Common Era, 2021, has taken place over the span of *Spurt voice* eleven days. Well. It has. And, indeed, the last seven episodes have covered roughly two days.

The reason this is only about wizard NPCs is because they serve as a sort of audience surrogate in that they are nerds who don't go outside, vs. D&D PCs who see more shit in two to eleven days than most people would see in a lifetime; case in point, Essek's current state of shock. This is also making it very hard to check in with the other wizards. But also this is not about accuracy, even though I am usually right about everything. This is about...honestly I'm not sure, other than wizards.

What I'm trying to say is:

Caleb Widogast is a PC, not an NPC, and is not included in these strange statistics*.

Currently sidelined: Pumat Sol, Oremid Hass, Ludinus Da'leth, Astrid Beck, E_dwulf Grieve

Obligatory self-indulgent Vess Derogna song parody: Tomb....takers, killed you in your room, they’ll end the world soon but hey/you cult wizard, lost in a blizzard, whatever you’ve done, well, murdered, you’ll stay

Trent Ikithon: I am 100% serious that while I have made Narrative Sense In Actual Play Media in the rock on which I will cast my Temple of the Gods, if the final boss is Trent riding on Uk'otoa...I won't be mad. Like does it seem tonally off? Yes; Critical Role is not humorless high fantasy by any means** but they are not actively trying to seem like something that should be airbrushed on a van, usually. But will it be pretty awesome? Yeah.

Trent on the other hand is pretty fucking mad, presumably, because Caleb continues to leave him on read and also picked up a little something called Mind Blank, which is actually useful and not in fact No Thoughts Head Empty. With that said I don't think it's increased; I think we're just at a steady simmer.

Conclusion: 7/10.

Essek Thelyss: Okay I am a dabbler in both cosmic horror and mathematics; I enjoy many elements of both but am an expert in neither. But if I may drop the jokes for a second, how incredible is it that in this alien setting of a city that is an unwitting and unwilling amalgam of consciousnesses, with all the trappings of classic cosmic horror, two people decided to take a scientific risk with things seen as forbidden or foreign by their respective cultures...and won.

I don't know what will befall Essek and he's clearly still having a pretty rough time of it, even though unlike Caduceus I don't think he was brought to the brink of profanity again, yet; but no matter what happens at least he'll have the nat 20 of instant long rest. No matter what happens...he was right about dunamancy. Fucking ironic how much potential the dynasty is wasting, really.

With that said he does have a red eye now even though all he (and, to be fair, Fjord, Veth, and Caduceus as well) did was fight off an eldritch abomination without rolling what must have been like a 20 Wisdom save DC. Like, he (and Fjord, Veth, and Caduceus) do not deserve this. You think this man has a positive wisdom score? In this economy? (actually, he might, I say, looking at Caleb 'Wisdom Ostensibly 16' Widogast).

Conclusion: keeping him at 8/10. It's funny because he is fully on an emotional roller coaster but it's averaging out to about an 8/10 each time; it's just that he's constantly beset by horrors beyond imagination and really terrible rolls but also incredible validation of his beliefs that had so long been ignored. The man's mental state is basically a sine wave, which interestingly enough is itself influencing his mental state.***

Yussa Errenis: The Prodigal Most Interesting Man in Exandria returneth! Wensforth, play Freedom! 836 PD. You know, he should probably feel a little bit of shame, because he should know better, but also he probably does not. Anyway please enjoy the lines I had for Yussa while he was trapped in Cognouza that I did not ultimately use:

aha no don’t get your consciousness sucked into an ancient city you’re so sexy

Here am I floating in an ancient and terrible world-devouring city/far out in the planes/Threshold crests are blue and there’s nothing I can do

Making bad choices and joining the voices it’s...YUSSA ERRENIS

Conclusion: I'm going to say 6/10 but rapidly decreasing. Also Wensforth has had several days to clean the tower...maybe he just won't tell Yussa? He probably will though.

Allura Vyesoren: she's going to facepalm so long that Kima starts timing it, isn't she. She's going to get a series of messages like "hey so the Mighty Nein seem to be doing well! they freed me from the city which sucked me in like some spicy ramen when I did an astral projection...also something happened in my tower?" She's going to just stare out the window for a long moment. She is going to ask herself, much as I have many a time, what the fuck is in the water in Wildemount.

Conclusion: 3/10. Hey, at least she got some news on the Mighty Nein and the city!

Known Gem Wizard Hotsauce Lutefisk: consider: after over 35 years, give or take, in your own perception of time, trapped in a gem, you finally come across some people. Consider that one of them apparently can't resist a big shiny wizard trap. Now consider that this guy went into your +1 Demiplane of Wizard Murdering AND got his mind fully schlorped by Aeorians and yet you are still, inconceivably, stuck in this fucking gem. This is where he draws the line? At a teensy little bodily possession? What the fuck dude.

Conclusion: I'm pretty sure he's already a few large handfuls of iron filings short of a component pouch (which is to say, full up on the batshit) already but this cannot be helping.

*this will be the first but probably not the last cosmic horror and/or math joke because I actually forgot to make cat jokes last night, so thoroughly did the Nein demolish Cree. Speaking of Cree's fate...call that a Furrier Transform.

**high fantasy is a complicated distinction and the wikipedia page includes Discworld which does not seem right to me; it also includes the Belgariad, a series for which I have great fondness having inhaled the first three books while sick in bed as a fourteen year old and having reread several times, but which is explicitly written by a guy who was like what if I made something as formulaic as possible but also literally everyone is either super sarcastic or a huge moron but anyway imo High Fantasy is actually frequently fucking hilarious and a sign of the skill of the creator(s) is whether it's hilarious by accident or on purpose.

***something something Heisenberg uncertainty principle. I had a joke here but it got very convoluted and that is actually not a pun although if you understand why it could be a pun, good work.

[your-highnessmarvel]

From Bleak to Bright - Part Ten

All other parts on on my masterlist, link provided below.

AN: omg this chapter is so sad!!!

Warnings: angst, language

MASTERLIST - SERIES MASTERLIST

PART TEN

You cried so much that you forgot what it felt like to not have your breath caught in your throat, or tears in your eyes, wetness on your cheeks. Even if you’d barely spent a week with Loki, when he left you there, without even trying to get to you, the bond inside of you screamed. It’s even worse than when you couldn’t see him, when Natasha and Bruce were trying to get you to stay away. Now that’d you’d had a taste, you just wanted more, and the bond that had been a knot in your belly now felt like burning fire.

Thor took you in his arms and brought you back to a jet, but both the wound on your head and the one in your heart kept you from having any conscience of it. You were crying so hard it hurt, your stomach clenching, breaths hiccupping out of your lungs, eyes swollen.  

The last thing you remembered before they put you under, pressing a mask to your face, was the wretched sobs coming from your throat.

Your dreams were nothing but black. It was like floating in space, with no stars, with no air, and the suffocation of the dream left you even more anguished than Loki’s departure.

Why hadn’t he tried? Why hadn’t he at least tried to take you with him, instead of looking at you with those eyes, his mouth parted?

You’d remember that look until the day you died.

Death was more peaceful than this.

When you woke up, Bruce was all over you, acting like the mommy you both never had. He was in your recovering room 24/7, bringing you everything you ever wanted. And when they moved you out of the recovery room and back at the Avenger’s compound, Bruce was still on your heels like a leech. 

Nat kept her eyes on you every time you passed by the door, as if you’d pounce right back out there if she dared to leave you alone.

Steve kept giving you speeches about good and evil, how Loki’s bond with you did not mean what he did was right. 

Tony dropped by once in a while, asking you questions on Loki, but all you knew was what you’d seen while at the loft, and revisiting those memories made you want to scratch your eyes out.

When you stopped talking, just shut down, they brought in a therapist. But even she couldn’t make you talk. All that anger was the only thing that made you remember him. And the bond desperately wanted you to remember him. Every single moment spent away from Loki, the bond called to him. It gave you stupid ideas to reach out somehow, to runaway, to seek out a way to get back to him. 

But you couldn’t leave. Ever. The Avenger’s compound was on lock down, and you could not be left alone in it, ever. It was your own personalized prison. 

You wished so desperately, but so quietly, that Loki would come for you. That he’d bring an army and get you back. 

But the news you overhead - because they didn’t allow you to know anything about Loki’s whereabouts - suggested Loki couldn’t give more of a fuck about you. He’d terrorized more people across the Earth, all intent on “taking over the world” or whatever. 

“He’s got Selvig,” you heard Thor telling Nat. You were lying on the couch and they didn’t know you were there as they prepared lunch. “He’s going to open a portal and bring the Chitauri army here.”

“If he does that,” Nat said with a hiss, “then it’s going to get far worse than it already is.”

You knew what she meant by that. The Avengers already had to take care of you - Loki’s soulmate - and adding an alien war to the pile was not going to facilitate their game.

And if Loki wasn’t coming for you, you wouldn’t make any effort to get back to him. 

*** Eighteen days later, Three hours before the attack on New York ***

You didn’t like the movie. Nat had chosen it as the boys had taken over the gym to have “a boys workout” as they called it. 

Nat had been careful in avoiding any romance movies, and had picked an action packed, hot boy movie with no story line and a lot of explosions. The main character was good-looking enough to distract you from the actual plot, and the fact that you did not have a phone - actually, not allowed - made you even more concentrated on the character. 

It wasn’t long before the boys came back out, smelling like sweat and rubber. Lately, they’d all been hitting the gym often since Loki’s army was waiting to invade. Tony insisted on a seven-day a week training until they’d either caught Loki or killed him.

You swallowed the lump in your throat at the image of a dead Loki in your head. Thor’s presence didn’t really help either. He kept mentioning his brother as if you weren’t even there. 

“You okay?” Bruce asked, tapping your knee as he took a seat beside you.

You wrinkled your nose. “Ew, Bruce, you smell so gross,” you whined, pinching your nose. 

He smiled, the perpetual look of caution on his face he wore only around you dropping and softening his features. 

“Come on,” he drawled, “it’s not that bad!”

But before you could answer, Tony’s cell rang. Everyone went deadly silent. You could feel the blood draining from your face as Tony brought the device up to his ear, his face severe.

Your fingers curled into fists. Your blood ran cold, colder than you’d ever felt as you watched Tony’s face tighten. 

The first thought to enter your mind was Loki’s wellbeing. 

Please tell me he’s fine.

Tony hummed and hung up. “Suit up,” he said, his tone deadly, “Loki’s opened up the portal. They’re dropping armed Chitauri in the streets.”

The entire living room activated, as if everyone around you had just been waiting for Tony to give the heads up. Nat launched off the couch, running upstairs to get her suit, followed my Steve and Clint - which yes, they’d manage to save between all this time.

Tony turned into the kitchen, mumbling to JARVIS.

Only Thor and your brother remained in the living room, hard like statues, their eyes emotionless.

“Who’s gonna babysit, huh?” you mumbled, but your words felt like ash on your tongue. 

“I wager I should stay,” the God of Thunder said, pointing to you. “After all, my brother will attempt to get her out of here before he obliterates the planet.”

The soulmate bond would not let him leave you here to die.

Bruce shook his head, sweaty strands of hair sticking to his forehead. “She’s my sister,” he said. “And you’re more needed than me on the battlefield.”

You frowned, anger and heat crawling up your chest like sour vines. “Bruce, if he gets here and you’re the one standing between him and me, he will go through you,” you argued, crossing your arms over your chest.

“I can take him,” Bruce shot back. “And Thor will man the streets with the rest of the team. No one is going to take this planet and no one is going to take my sister! And until Loki is either dead or locked up until the end of your days, I will never allow you out of my sight!”

Thor knew better than to stay. He vanished from the living room even before Bruce had uttered the last words, either because of the look on your face or the privacy you and your brother needed.

Bruce had stood, towering over you, his face stricken with a mix of anger and annoyance, and you looked up at him from under your brows, heaving, feeling betrayal course through your veins. 

“Bruce,” you muttered, trying to keep a lid on your anger. “I’m a grown woman. I don’t need my fucking brother looking after me forever.”

Bruce’s lip twitched. “That’s what you made us all think,” he seethed. “That’s what we thought. That we could trust you. And then you literally betrayed us and went to him with arms wide open.”

“He’s my soulmate, Bruce!”

“I don’t care!” At this point, your brother didn’t care that he was screaming and that Tony could hear him in the kitchen. “You’re a threat to yourself.”

“He wouldn’t hurt me,” you gritted from clenched teeth.

Bruce’s eyebrows shot up. “I told you the bond is different for men,” he said. “He doesn’t care about love or passion or whatever he made you think! It’s about possession, owning what is meant to be his! And with Loki, there is no possible way the bond could be -”

“You don’t know that!” Now it was your turn to stand, facing your brother like you’d done so many times as kids, but this time, it was for something a little more severe. “You say all that shit about the bond for men but you don’t even know yours! You stopped yourself from knowing her because of the shit you did to yourself!”

You regretted the words before they left your mouth, but anger had made you open up your lips and spill anything hateful that would deter your brother. And it did. It so fucking did. His face fell from that angered scrunch to something more tragic, tormented. 

Bruce had always counted on you to understand that the Hulk was not - absolutely not - Bruce. 

And there you’d been, accusing him of creating this monster he hated so much.

Bruce took a step back, his eyes falling to the ground. “If you leave this house, I will not hesitate to use force.” And then he plopped himself on the couch.

You looked up, seething, spotting Tony leaning against the door to the kitchen. He shrugged, jerking his head to the stairs, silently signaling that maybe you should retreat to your room.

Feeling like a child who hadn’t gotten what she wanted, you ran up to your room, crossing Steve in the hallway and not even bothering with wishing him luck. For all you cared at that moment, they could all burn.

You felt like your insides would fall out as you tumbled into your room, slamming and locking the door. You sat on the edge of the bed, holding a pillow to your belly, hoping the pressure would prevent your insides from spilling out.

What had you done? Why had you gone and said those things? The image of Bruce’s face falling, that look of utter bewilderment and betrayal passing across his features, haunted you. You rocked on the edge of your bed, feeling the tears brimming behind your eyes, an odd sort of pressure building in your head. 

You knew he was there before he even spoke. The air shifted, like a soft wind inside a glass jar, and the sound of fabric against fabric echoed in your otherwise dark room. 

“He’ll kill you,” you said, biting on the edge of the pillow to keep from sobbing.

“I am not really here,” he answered.

Relief and disappointment. They would not be able to hurt him if they caught him in here. He wouldn’t be able to actually touch you. 

“What do you want?” you uttered, still clutching the pillow, facing away from him.

“I can come and get you out of here,” he said, his voice calm, leveled.

You frowned. “You left me,” you whispered. “You fucking left me, Loki. You didn’t even try. And even if I wanted to go with you, my brother would rip you to pieces before you even set foot in here.”

You could sense Loki’s anger, rippling from him even in his illusion form. “You do not want to come with me?” His voice was rough, as if fighting to stay even. He was sad. 

You clenched your jaw so tight it hurt. “No.” Then you straightened. “No. Leave me alone. You’ve caused enough damage in under a month of being my soulmate. I don’t want to see you again. Now get the hell out of my room before my brother has me put in an actual cell.”

You never got an answer.

When you turned to see if he was still there, the air was empty, dark, silent, as if he’d never even been there to begin with.

DON’T WORRY! I KNOW WHERE THIS STORY IS GOING. I HAVE A PLAN ;)

tags:  @subtlemalice @yallgotkik @buckyandlokirunmylife @kaz11283 @legolas-bromance @shylittlemountain @tofeartheunknown @feelmyfckngsoul @kind-of-crazy-butthatsokay @caffiend-queen @tomhollandsslilslut @lady-loki-ren @nathan-no @rosaline-black @abundanceofcarolines @my-own-oracle @it-was-all-a-beautiful-dream @marvelouslovely @drbaureid @bored-as-hell-666 @youhavemyfantasticbeasts @theinfinitenerd @toe-vind-ek-jou @ink-and-starlight @blank-bakabane @sunshineonloki @holaamishamigos @palegoopbearlight @heyarely16 @pleaseexecuteme @athalahild @help-i-need-a-social-life @tapismyforte @coloursforyourportrait @celestialstarshadow @fukyouthink @lust-for-pan @thic-thor 

[five-rivers]

Stars Aligned Chapter 3

(Please do not ask when the next chapter will be, I do not know. Links to AO3/FFN will be included in reblog.)

.

Here’s the thing. The very, very, stupid thing. Despite all his planning for this trip, Danny had no idea what his birth family looked like. Presumably, they also had no idea what he looked like.

As much as Danny would like to blame this on a wizardly aversion to the internet and photographs, he couldn’t. Danny could have sent them a picture of himself through the mail at any time. Even if wizard mail involved owls for some unexplained reason. But he didn’t. Because he was dumb.

And his equally dumb wizard family had also failed to send any pictures.

What were they thinking? Did they assume they’d somehow recognize each other on sight? Was that a wizard thing? Did they expect to spontaneously develop blood-relative telepathy? Was that a thing?

Danny did not know what to expect. He honestly didn’t know enough about wizards.

The end result was that Danny was standing in the middle of the wizarding world’s equivalent of an airport, which involved way more open fires than could possibly be safe, and people stepping into those open fires, which, again, could not possibly be safe. Of course, Danny had done it, as uncomfortable as it was for his core, and anything that used internal combustion was technically also using fire as a means of transportation, so Danny might have been a bit of a hypocrite, but still.

But, back to his dilemma. He, a dumb teenager, could be expected to do dumb, thoughtless things and make easily avoidable mistakes. It was basically a requirement. His actual family, who probably could have realized the error, didn’t want him to go and could be forgiven for any oversight. But dumb wizard birth family had at least one semi-competent adult in it. Supposedly.

Despite himself, his desire to kidnap his brother increased. Even though it would most likely cause an international incident.

He sighed. Maybe he should just follow the crowd and see if anyone stopped him. After all wizards might have magic blood-relative detection something or other.

He trudged along, pulling his trundle suitcase behind him. Silver lining was that whatever happened, he didn’t have to spend hours in a metal tube breathing recycled air. Silver lining. Silver lining. Silver—

Ah. Hm.

Danny blinked at his name written in large letters on a square of poster paper. His first and middle names, that is, and his bio-family’s last name.

He was highlytempted to turn around and go back home, but there was his twin, holding the card and looking fragile and hopeful, standing next to a tall woman with greying black hair.

He sighed. He was doing this, then.

“Hi,” he said, “you must be Draco. I’m Danny. And, uh, you must be Narcissa Malfoy?” He sort of held his hand out, feeling awkward.

“You can call me mother, Deneb,” said Narcissa. She sounded slightly tearful.

“It good to meet you, Deneb. Er. Danny.” Draco’s eyes flitted up to his mother.

“Yeah, um. Please don’t take this the wrong way, Mrs. Malfoy, but I don’t actually know you. And I’ve got a mom.”

“Yet,” interjected Draco. “You don’t know mother yet. That’s what this visit is about, right?”

“Right,” said Danny. “I’m… really looking forward to it.”

Draco looked relieved. “Excellent. Well, then, Looky can get your luggage and we can floo home.”

A very small, rather wizened person stepped out from behind Draco’s legs.

Okay. Danny had questions.

.

Danny did not particularly care for the answers to his questions.

.

Draco didn’t know why his twin had stopped talking to him before they’d even gotten home. He had, to some degree, expected rough spots. Merlin knew his family didn’t get along perfectly. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t hoped he and his twin would have a special connection. That they would mesh.

That… wasn’t happening. In fact, this was rather… awkward. Painful, almost.

He thought back to what they had been talking about. He didn’t think he’d said anything particularly objectionable. Had he hit on some chip on the shoulder those squibs had inculcated in him? Well, he thought, rather shamefacedly, he shouldn’t think of them like that. They hadn’t been the ones to abandon Deneb – Danny – just for not being immediately magical.

“Right,” he said, as Danny stepped (jumped, looking slightly disturbed) out of the fire. “Let me show you your room. We’ve had the house elves clean it out.”

Something on Danny’s face went dark, but he visibly controlled himself. “Thank you,” he said. “And, um, thank you, Looky. For your help.”

Draco frowned. He was confused, and he didn’t like feeling confused. He knew muggles didn’t have house elves, of course, but still. The concept wasn’t that hard to understand, was it? Although, it was possible Danny had never come across house elves at all, even second or third hand.

He supposed they might be unsettling if they were the first magical creature one came across. Ugh. He’d never tried to put himself in the position of someone learning about magic for the first time. Why would he? That was mudblood business, and he’d never associate with one of those.

But Danny was in that position, just about.

That meant it was Draco’s job to help Danny understand.

.

Danny was hoping he was misunderstanding something and that wizards did not, in fact, practice slavery.

This seemed to be a forlorn hope.

“So,” said Draco clasping his hands behind his back in the doorway of ‘Danny’s’ room, “er, house elves. You’ve probably not seen them before.”

“Can’t really say so, no.”

“Probably the first magical creatures you’ve seen.”

“Um,” said Danny. “Also no. I did have to go get a wand and stuff, and you’ve got to go to a wizard town to do that. I saw a bunch of different stuff there.” He didn’t really want to explain the ghosts, but… “Also, my parents study ghosts.”

“You mean, your adopted parents.”

“My parents, yes.”

“I didn’t know squibs could see ghosts. Well, they never seemed to have any trouble with it, so…” He shrugged.

“I… see.”

Danny doubted it, somehow. “But you were saying? About house elves?” Benefit of the doubt, he reminded himself.

“They’re servants,” said Draco. “Magically bound to serve certain families.”

“Magically bound,” repeated Danny, liking this less and less.

“Yes, it’s very old magic. An ancient agreement between our race and theirs, and the individual families and the house elves in question.”

“They can’t, like, opt out or anything?”

“That would defeat the point.”

“Okay,” said Danny. “So… Do they get, you know, paid at all?”

“Of course not,” said Draco.

Danny closed his eyes. “Okay. Um. Draco.” How to put this in a way that wouldn’t immediately alienate him. “Isn’t that slavery?”

“No,” said Draco, immediately. “They want to serve.”

“Well, they might say that to you, but human slaves used to say the same thing, because they’d get in trouble if they didn’t.”

Draco opened his mouth, closed it, and then said, confidently, “It isn’t like that.”

“Are you sure?”

“They aren’t human. They want to do this.”

Danny was no stranger to dealing with inhuman mindsets (but he most definitely did not have one himself). Even so…

“I think my point still stands. Like, are there very many house elves in this situation?”

“I don’t know,” said Draco. “I suppose so. Most families of substance and breeding have at least one.”

“Okay. Ah. Look. I’m not even sure where to start with this. Slavery is bad, right? We can agree on that.”

An annoyed expression passed over Draco’s face. “Yes, we can. That’s a given. But that’s for humans—"

“Great. Let’s start there. It’s bad for any human, right? Even, like, no-majs, or stupid humans, or—”

“Muggles,” corrected Draco. “No-maj is the American term.”

“When in Rome, I guess, sure. Muggles, then.”

“Yeah,” said Draco, uncomfortably crossing his arms.

Oh, Ancients, there was something there. Which Danny should have expected, given his birth father, whom he had yet to meet, threw him out of the house literally at birth.

Wizard supremacist weirdos corrupting his poor twin brother.

“Then what makes house elves so different?”

“Like I said, they want to do this. It’s in their nature. You wouldn’t, I don’t know, decide a dog was unhealthy because it barked instead of meowed, would you?” He spread his hands in frustration.

“I’ll give you that, but Looky looked actively afraid of you. And what was she even dressed in? That can’t be comfortable.”

“Giving them real clothes would free them – only if it’s their master, which in this case is Father.” He shifted slightly. “Except for Looky, I suppose, who is technicallymine. Great Aunt—Oh, you won’t know her. Why do you even care?”

“Why do I care about other people suffering? But otherthan that, what’s the difference between a house elf and a human servant? Like, would you treat a human servant like that? If you were a servant, wouldn’t you want to be treated with respect, even if being a servant was all you’d ever wanted?”

“But I’m not a servant.”

“But if you were. Can’t you just try to imagine it? A little? Please?”

“I… fine. But don’t bring this up to Mother and Father. They wouldn’t be pleased.”

“Okay. Deal.”

“Deal,” agreed Draco. “So. Do you like your room?”

Danny looked around. “Yeah, actually. It’s nice. Bit different from what I have at home, but, yeah. Good, um. Good floors. And wallpaper. And, um. Do all wizard paintings move like that?” He genuinely hadn’t noticed until just now, intent on the house elf problem.

“Yeah,” said Draco, seemingly relieved at the more normal topic. “It’s an enchantment on the canvas and paint.”

“Seems like it’d be hard to work with,” observed Danny.

“Well, the spell isn’t finished until after the actual painting part is done. At least, that’s my understanding.”

“I see, that would be easier.”

Silence.

“Would you like to see the peacocks?”

“Sure, why not?”

.

It took a bit of time to get bundled up in coats (cloaks in Draco’s case) because it was cold outside, but once they did…

“Wow. They’re albino peacocks.”

“Yes.”

“Wild.”

“No, they’re quite tame.”

“Oh, it’s, um, it’s an idiom. Like cool. Or wicked, I guess? Do British people use that?”

“I’ve heard some people use it. But Mother and Father are… not particularly enamored of slang.”

“Right,” said Danny. “I’ll remember that.”

They continued walking through the garden, towards the pond. Danny tried not to dwell on how much labor it would take to keep the grounds here so pristine.

“What do you do for fun in America?” asked Draco, out of nowhere.

Danny blinked. “Different people do different things,” he said. “Uh, a lot of things I usually do won’t work here because of the whole magic and electricity not getting along well thing. Have you ever heard about video games?”

“No,” said Draco. “Is it anything like quidditch?”

“I have only the loosest of understandings of what that is. It’s that broom sport, right? The one where you fly?”

Draco looked scandalized. “… Yes,” he said, finally. “I’m going to have to teach you how to use a broom before you have to go back to America.”

“The flying type of broom?” asked Danny, teasingly. Sure, he already could fly, but whatever.

“Merlin, yes.” Draco rolled his eyes. “I’m part of my house’s quidditch team. Letting you leave without some understanding of the rules would be a crime.”

“Draco, are you a jock?” asked Danny. “What is this world coming to. Related to a jock.” He shook his head dramatically. “I’ll never live it down.”

Draco nudged him slightly. “I’m not a meathead beater, at least,” he said. “I’m the team seeker.”

“I have no idea what that means.”

Draco’s smile slowly slid off his face.

“What?” said Danny.

“It’s just… you should. You should have grown up here, with family, as part of this world.”

“I did grow up with family,” said Danny. “Just not direct blood relatives. It kind of sucks that we didn’t get the chance to grow up together, but, like, I’m not really impressedby your parents so far.”

“Mother was very upset when she heard what Father did.”

“Sure, but she also kind of ditched us as soon as we got back here.”

“She has a delicate constitution? I’m sure she’s just trying to decide how to act… giving you space to make you feel more comfortable?”

Danny shrugged. “Well, we’ll see what happens. I’m going to be here until the end of the break, after all.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to Hogwarts, just for the rest of the school year? I’m sure they’ll be better than any alternative in America, when it comes to catching you up. Father has friends on the board of governors and the Ministry Department of Educational Oversight. It would be easy for you to go.”

“My friends are all back home,” said Danny, “and magic or not, what I really want to do with my life is become an astronaut, and I need ‘muggle’ grades and school for that.”

“A what now?”

“An astronaut?”

Surely, Draco had just misheard him.

“Is that some sort of muggle thing, then?”

“I- Do you not know what an astronaut is?” asked Danny, flabbergasted. “Really?”

Draco’s eyebrows were furrowed. “No, I don’t.”

“How about cosmonauts? Do you know about them?”

“No,” said Draco. “Is this related to the Argonauts, somehow? That Greek thing?”

“No,” said Danny. “I mean, the root word – But no. Not the same thing at all. How do I even… Do you know what outer space is?”

“Astronomy is a class at Hogwarts.”

“Not a very good one,” said Danny, “if you don’t know what an astronaut is. I think I’d die.”

“It’s a very good class. Hogwarts is the best wizarding school in Europe. And I know what outer space is. It’s the space up above the atmosphere, where the planets and stars are, and stuff.”

“Okay. I mean. I’m not trying to make you feel bad or anything,” reassured Danny, sensing that he had ruffled some feathers. “I’m just… an astronomy class should teach about astronauts. Astronauts are people who’ve been to space. Outer space.”

“That’s rubbish,” said Draco. “You can’t go to space.”

Danny refrained from informing Draco that he had, in fact, been to space. “Well, I want to go to space,” said Danny, “and other people have been there.”

“No one’s been to space,” said Draco. “Unless maybe someone apparated there by mistake, but how would you even do that?”

“I don’t know what apparating is,” said Danny. “Some kind of teleportation?”

Both of them stared at each other, each one probably at a loss for words regarding the other’s ignorance of things they themselves considered common knowledge.

“Yeah, more or less,” said Draco, finally. “But you can’t get to space. It’s impossible.”

“It isn’t. There are people up there right now,” said Danny. “On the International Space Station. Which is… it’s sort of a little house. In space.”

“There’s no air up there.”

“They bring the air with them.”

“Wouldn’t it explode?”

“They figured out how to make it so it wouldn’t explode. It’s very, um. Sturdy. Rigid. The space station is airtight.”

“And you’re saying that there are muggles in it. In space. Outer space. Right now.”

“As we speak. I mean, I guess some of them could be secret wizards, but considering your reaction, I’m doubting it.”

“Muggles. In space.”

“Yeah. We made it to the moon, too. But that was—”

“The moon?”

“Yeah?”

“In the sky?”

“That, uh.” He looked up, as if expecting to see the moon despite the thick cloud cover. “Yeah. The moon.”

“You’re telling me,” said Draco, in a hushed voice, “that there are muggles on the moon. Right now. As we speak.”

“No, that was before we were born,” said Danny.

“What.”

“Yeah, some people went, but it was really expensive, so they haven’t been back. Which I think is silly, because can you imagine the scientific advancements we could have made? The resources we could have brought back?”

“The moon.”

“You seem really hung up on this. Are you okay?”

“You- That- The moon. And muggles in space?”

“Yeah,” said Danny. He rubbed the back of his neck. “So, you see why I need to go back. I’m sure Hogwarts is great and all, but I really want to be an astronaut.”

“Can you see them through a telescope?”

“See what?”

“The muggles in space.”

“On a clear night, sure, if you know where to look.” Before the Accident (the Big One, the Unaliving, the Green Flash, the Knockoff Origin Story), Danny usually checked the internet for the times the ISS passed overhead. But he’d developed a ghost power that gave him a pretty good sense of where anything in the sky was, so long as he concentrated for a few minutes. “It orbits the Earth every ninety minutes or so, although it doesn’t always catch the light enough to see properly. You can actually see a lot of satellites.”

“There are more of these things?” hissed Draco.

“Not with people on them.”

“I’m getting my telescope,” declared Draco, starting to stride back to the house.

“We won’t be able to see anything now,” said Danny.

“It’s enchanted to see through cloud cover and ignore non-reflected sunlight. It’s top of the line.”

Danny had never wanted a physical object so much in his entire life.

“What? What? Magic can do that?”

[sassyhobbits]

It might be late but screw it

YES WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE ROWAN RECOGNIZES THE BOND FIC

Make into a multi chapter fic

With a happy ending

well... heres a lil something. it’s probably the shortest thing i’ve ever written but it’s written!! maybe there will be another part or so if anyone wants to see it. who knows!!

~~~

Celaena hated him.

She had known Rowan Whitethorn for no more than a week and she already had run out of new, creative fantasies about maiming him. It had started with slowly torturing him the way Arobynn had taught her and ended with tossing him into a pit of starving dogs.

And she was in no better a mood after her meeting with Maeve. She just wanted to get her answers so she could haul ass out of Doranelle and keep her vow to Nehemia. But now she had to train with the silver-haired hardass that hated her as much as she hated him. 

Mistward wasn’t what Celaena had expected a fortress of Fae, or even demi-Fae, to be like. It was just so… ordinary. The only thing that set it apart from the mortal world was the fact that the denizens wandering around were taller, stronger, and more prone to growling. 

She was just so angry. Angry at the world, the gods, at Nehemia for leaving her, at Chaol for breaking her trust, at herself. It was far too easy to goad on the warrior prince leading her through the fortress, to utter the disgusting words, “Fae like you make me understand the King of Adarlan’s actions a bit more, I think.”

His punch had come swiftly and the tang of blood had filled her mouth just as fast. Before the ache of pain had even begun to set in, Rowan had her pinned against the stone wall, forearm pressed into her windpipe and fist raised, poised to strike again.

Celaena snarled, baring what had to be blood-stained teeth. “Do it,” she hissed, knowing she deserved it. Deserved worst, to be honest. 

Rowan’s green eyes burned with annoyance. Celaena couldn’t even describe it as hatred. To call it that would assume he actually had the energy to give a shit about her, even if just to put in the effort to actively despise her.

She held his gaze, waiting for him to do something. To strike her down with either his fists or his words but…

It was as if the world had suddenly slowed to a halt. Celaena gasped as a force more powerful than anything she had ever experienced barreled through her: mind, body and soul. It felt as though something molten had entered her bloodstream, reforging every inch of her. The anger in Rowan’s eyes sizzled away to nothing, dropping her and springing away as if she were poisonous. 

Celaena’s knees were weak, leaning her shoulder against the wall to help her stay upright. Her heart was hammering against her ribs, reaching up and digging her fingers into the skin of her chest as if she might claw the offending organ out herself.

Celaena panted, looking up at the male standing across from her. His hands were hanging slack at his side, looking at her with a strange look on his tattooed face.

“What-what was that?” Celaena demanded.

Rowan didn’t answer, only continuing to stare silently at her.

Celaena straightened, her confusion changing to a peculiar mix of panic and anger. “What did you do to me?”

Rowan only shook his head slightly, something almost like devastation lighting his face.

Celaena felt her throat tighten, her eyes begin to burn. She staggered forward, shoving at Rowan’s chest, though he barely budged. “Answer me!”

Still, nothing. Not even a twitch on his lips. 

Deep down, Celaena knew what it was that she had experienced, what it meant. But couldn’t be. It couldn’t.

A sob tore from her throat, shoving at Rowan’s chest with all she had left in her, which wasn’t much. “What did you do to me, you bastard?”

The warrior looked down at her, holding her gaze for a moment before shaking his head once more and rasping, “No.” 

With that, he turned and stalked down the hall, leaving Celaena alone in a strange place with a strange feeling burning in her chest. 

She waited until the warrior-prince had turned a corner and disappeared from her gaze. A few of those hot, frustrated tears teaked down her dirty cheeks as she wobbled backwards until her back hit the wall once more.

The rest of the strength in her legs left her in the same breath that her first cry did. Celaena slid down the stone until she had fallen to the cold floor, knees tucked up to her chest. All she could do was shake her head as her fingers dug into her trousers, because it couldn’t be. The gods couldn’t be that cruel, could they? After all that they had done to her already?

But there was no denying that new, alien feeling pressing up against her heart.

Rowan Whitethorn was her mate.

[nicanario]

this post is a product of its time

tw: discussion of racism, homophobia, misogyny and a short mention of sexual abuse.

ok, this is basically gonna be a very long rambling post about my not fully developed thoughts on the justification many people give to bigotry when talking about the past: "it was a product of its time"

it would be fair to say, with me being a raging SJW socialist scumbag, that I don't think this is a very good argument and is most of the time actually an excuse to not think about the problems inherent to our society, historical or not, and, by extension, the problems with ourselves. but I do think that sometimes, just sometimes, this can be a valid point, or at least one that raises some interesting questions.

I'm going to cite examples from several pieces of media, but fear not, I'll try to make this as accesible as I can.

so, let's take Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) as our first case study. this show has, correctly, been called progressive by everyone except for clueless people who don't know much about Star Trek's history, Star Trek's crew, Star Trek's cast, or, frankly, Star Trek. because if you ignore the clear, sometimes in-your-face political history and present of the franchise, I don't think you know much about it at all. I do think you can call yourself a fan if you like it, you may have watched every single episode for all I know. but lots of mental gymnastics are needed to ignore the political progressiveness Star Trek has had since its very beginning.

episodes like Let That Be Your Last Battlefield are obviously anti-racist, at least in their intention. but the episode in question really is "a product of its time," and at the very end fails to uphold its ideals. the episode ends with the two aliens (who are LITERALLY. BLACK ON ONE SIDE. AND WHITE ON THE OTHER. BUT IN THE OPPOSITE SIDES.) fighting each other on their devastated planet, and the crew is like, "oh yeah if they both would give up on their hatred that they both share both of them equally" when it has been firmly established that one is the oppressor and the other one is the oppressed.

and that's a lot of Star Trek, not just TOS. even Discovery, one of the most recent series, has done Bury Your Gays (and Trans) TWICE (though both times literally rectified it, which is cool). there are episodes of the franchise that are overtly racist, or misogynistic, etc. TOS is lauded, mostly justifiably, as very progressive, especially for the standards of the time. they put a woman of colour as one of the senior staff, for fuck's sake. of course, when you analyse that same character, as with most of their intentions at being progressive, you'll see that she was relegated and sometimes even outright mistreated when she had the potential to be much more. but, at that time, it was a lot.

I had a friend (emphasis on "had") who, after I told him about TOS's both progressiveness and constant misogyny, told me something like "imagine feminists trying to complain about a show from the 60s." so, with unearned spite, he was, in some way, trying to make the argument that it was a product of its time.

you could say Star Trek, all of Star Trek, is "a product of its time" in the sense that it's not always perfect. uh, yes, I would agree. but that doesn't mean people have to accept it. well, I mean, the show is kinda over, you have to accept it's that way. but you don't have to accept that it's not wrong just because it was a product of its time.

H. P. Lovecraft, as another example, was a greatly influential writer whose works still shape a lot of people's ideas to this day. I have only ever read like one of his stories, so don't expect me to have an opinion on his works. but I can have an opinion on what I know about him as a person (he did have a life outside his writing, after all). and, yeah, he was a huge asshole. if you want to know more in depth about the subject, please watch Hbomberguy's video on him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8u8wZ0WvxI

but basically, he was incredibly racist & homophobic. some people might even say, "he was a product of his time." well, there are two possible rebuttals to that. the surface level one, and the one that examines why that argument is wrong to the core.

The Surface Level Response to "it was a product of its time": um, no it wasn't. Lovecraft was more racist than a lot of people even in his time. he wasn't just a guy who carried the racist beliefs of his society like everyone else, he was a reactionary who actively thought and discussed how racist he was, and how right he was for being that way. but that's only applicable to Lovecraft. one can't argue the same for Star Trek: TOS, because TOS did try to be more progressive and more anti-racist than the rest of its society. that leads us to the next response.

The Response that Actually Deals with the Fact that No Matter How Progressive You're Trying to Be, Your Failings Can Still be Criticized: the thing is, trying to excuse Lovecraft's or Star Trek's bigotry because they were "products of their times" misses the fact that racism is still wrong, and some people knew that in those times as well. people from these times weren't all naive or stupid or whatever. they had the capacity for rational thinking. they could stop and think, "hey, maybe what we're doing is wrong." and the fact is, some people did. not perfectly, not to our standars, but they did. everyone could have stopped and think. but most of them didn't, and we can criticize them for it. racism, homophobia, sexism, etc. HURT PEOPLE. horribly. massively.

also, even if you agree with the "it's a product of its time" argument, some people aren't criticising people's or work's bigotry: they're explaining why they don't want to experience it.

The Talons of Weng-Chiang is a 1977 Doctor Who serial, and it's one of the show's more racist stories. almost all the villains are Chinese, every single Chinese person is a villain. there's yellowface, slurs, stereotypes, the Doctor speaking nonsense words instead of actual Chinese, and a general belittling of Chinese culture.

note that I'm neither Chinese nor of Chinese descent. I have been searching for hours for a few posts I've read a while ago (some by people who are of Asian descent) about this episode and I can't find them. sorry.

suffice it to say, even though I love Jago & Litefoot (the audio series and the characters), it's not an acceptable episode at all. but it's also important to remark that, because of it, some people aren't going to want to watch it. sometimes, people aren't saying "the episode shouldn't be this way," which causes others to answer that it was "a product of its time." sometimes, people are just saying, "this is an episode that attacks real people. I don't want to see it. I don't care if it was common in that era to be racist, i don't want to experience it."

however, there is an interesting point to the "it's a product of its time" argument. after all, everything is influenced by its society, for better or worse. and we can't change it anymore. TOS sometimes didn't quite understand the political themes it wanted to explore. Lovecraft was a horrible bigot. Talons was racist towards Chinese folks. and that's that. I don't think we should change the episodes/stories or anything. edit them in any way. that would be, in a sense, changing history. and we wouldn't learn anything from it, about how we can do better.

I think there are two solutions to this:

1. warnings before starting the text: this was done with The Talons of Weng-Chiang. on Britbox, where you can watch Classic Who, this serial has a content warning before the start. that's good.

2. the removal as a whole of the text from some places: I think before applying this one, there should be a lot of thought put into each case. I don't think removing a whole serial of Doctor Who or Lovecraft's stories from anything would be, well, fair. especially on tv episodes a lot more people worked on those, not just the writers and the directors. Lovecraft's writing influenced thousands. we shouldn't erase them or anything. but sometimes, for some cases, we should.

those in the US might seen a Confederate statue being taken down. that is, in a way, a form of removal of a piece of history.

but that is a good removal. statues glorify. one sees a statue and probably thinks "this was a person worthy of admiration." they should be taken down, maybe even with a permanent mark of why this was done (a plaque that reads "a statue of X was here, but he didn't deserve it because of Y" could be put in place of the statues, for example).

another example is the removal from DVDs of the short episode A Fix with Sontarans, a Sixth Doctor minisode that featured Jimmy Savile, a presenter who was later found out to be sexually abusing children.

the removal of that minisode is good, actually. it's not a full episode (it's not even Doctor Who). some might say that's "erasing history" but, like, you can still find it online or information about it if you want. this minisode deserves removal from DVDs and Blu-Rays and whatever more than content warnings. it's not an important part of the show and it prominently features a horrible person who did horrible things during that time.

so, after all that, I have explained why I don't like the "it's a product of its time" argument. it is an interesting point that deserves to be examined, but it's not very good.

I have had this in Drafts for so long I've probably forgot some of the points I was going to make, but eh, what can you do? hope you enjoyed reading this.

bye

[scapegrace74-blog]

New Ways of Turning Into Stone, Chapter 2

A/N I should really think of story titles with fewer words in them, huh?  Thank you so much for the warm reception to the first chapter of my latest fic!  Of course, we all want to know what caused Janet to force Jamie to seek out grief counselling services.  But before we get there, I think we need to know a little bit more about the good doctor herself.  So no Jamie in this chapter, but never fear, he’ll be back in the next one!   Trigger warning for fertility issues.  The working chapter title is “Psychiatrist, Heal Thyself”.

Friday evening arrived, announced by two days of nearly pristine pages in her planner.  Exhausted by the work week’s hectic schedule, Claire stood ambivalently at the doorstep of each dawning weekend.   It wasn’t that she minded the time alone.  Quite the opposite; she was fond of her own company.  But a quiet mind was a mind open to whispers of the past, and those she couldn’t abide.

“What are yer plans fer the next twa days, then?” Geillis asked as she locked the office door.  Her friend was well-versed in Claire’s many coping mechanisms, even the ones Claire barely acknowledged herself.

“Oh, you know, the usual,” she replied as they got into the lift.  “A few classes at the gym, tidying my flat, maybe a run.”

“Christ, tha’ sounds like a punishment, no’ a break!  Ye need tae recharge, Doctor Beauchamp.  Would ye stop tae smell the flowers, jus’ fer a second, fer me?”

Watching the floor numbers slowly tick down, Claire considered her friend’s oft-repeated counsel.  It wasn’t that she doubted the sincerity or sense behind the plea: clinically, she knew the healing power of relaxation, of doing something for the sheer pleasure of it, or of doing nothing at all.  She had been on the treadmill of mindless momentum for so long, though, she wasn’t sure she remembered how to to step off.

The bell dinged and they walked together across the lobby.  Everywhere, people were milling about, rushing with a mobile tucked between chin and shoulder, meeting friends for an après-work drink.  They reminded Claire of ants, engaged in alien activities she could only interpret from a distance.

“I’ll take it under advisement, Geil,” she placated.  They had reached the pavement outside their office, where each weekend they parted to go their separate ways.

“Alright, hen.  Call me, if... weel, ye ken ye can always call, right?”

The back of her throat constricted, squeezing moisture towards her eyes.  Rather than risk speaking, Claire nodded emphatically, gave her friend a quick hug, and walked away without a backwards glance.

***

The next day dawned with a moist crispness to the air.  Having lived in the capital long enough to know that any pleasant weather might be short-lived, Claire threw the windows of her flat open to the timid breeze.  Pushing her utilitarian furniture against the walls and rolling back a threadbare Oriental carpet she’d inherited from her uncle, she proceeded to mop and then wax her floors.  Curls restrained in a kerchief, she’d donned her oldest yoga pants and sweat top for this Saturday morning cleaning ritual.  The kitchen was next.  By the time she reached the bathroom, she was perspiring and a number of ringlets had escaped confinement.

After a much-needed shower, she decided to apply a hot oil treatment and throw together an egg-white omelette.  She ate on the couch, the morning paper balanced on her knee.

Ten o’clock.  Only twelve more hours to go before bedtime.

***

Emboldened by the continued clear skies, Claire decided to try a new running route after lunch.  She usually ran the perimetre of Holyrood Park before finishing up with a hard sprint to the rocky nub of Arthur’s Seat.  Today, she took the tram to Corstorphine Hill, the site of an under-visited walled garden according to an article she’d read online.  Dirt paths meandered the park,  entering and leaving oak woods whose grassy skirts were embroidered by sunlight and bluebells.  It was all quite enchanting, and by the time she came across the walled garden, her heart beat with a long-lost weightlessness.

The garden itself was a pocket wonder; tiny but bursting with botanical life.  And while she didn’t literally stoop to smell any of the vernal blooms, she thought Geillis would be quite satisfied when they shared their usual Monday debrief of their weekend activities.

Walking downhill in search of a water fountain, a muddied roar travelled on the springtime wind.  It took a moment to place it, but she recalled that Murrayfield Stadium was located just to the south of the park.   Never a huge sporting enthusiast, she hadn’t been aware that a Scottish national rugby match was being played that afternoon.

Thoughts of rugby called to mind her newest patient.  With his height and bulk, she could imagine him following the sport, if not playing it himself.   Reason enough, she mused, to wander past the stadium as she cooled down.

With her mind pre-occupied, she completely missed the queue of people until it was too late.

“Frank!” a shrill voice broke her reverie, sending an icicle of dread down her spine.  Her heart kicked back into high gear, while her eyes scanned about for an approaching threat.  A tow-headed boy ran past, chasing a squirrel.  She stepped automatically out of his way, but managed to stumble over a tree root in her haste.

“Franklin!  Come back here this instant an’ apologize tae this lady!  Ye near knocked her o’er.”

Turning round, Claire was confronted by a hugely pregnant pale-haired woman, presumably the mother of the young boy who was now scuffing his feet through the leaf litter on his reluctant return.   She looked for a quick escape, but there were families everywhere.  She’d completely forgotten that the Edinburgh Zoo shared the hill with the park.

“I’m terribly sorry,” the mother offered.  “He’s sae excited tae see the pandas, ye ken.  An’ I canna chase after him as I used tae.”  As she spoke, the woman rubbed the globe of her belly, her eyes alight with the mysterious joys of impending motherhood.  It suddenly hurt to breath.

“No... errr, it’s fine, really,” she stammered.  “No harm done.”  Which was patently untrue, but the damage was pre-existing and beyond repair.  “Congratulations,” she choked out, the word like chalk in her mouth.  

The woman seemed eager to strike up a conversation. With a mumbled apology, Claire took off at a run, weaving down the path to the pavement, turning east and sprinting back to the safety of her flat, nearly three kilometres away.

***

As the evening wore on, it became impossible to overlook the truth of the day’s events.  No matter how hard she tried to pretend otherwise, Claire still wasn’t recovered from the ordeal that befell her over two years’ ago.  The irony of being a grief counsellor who couldn’t manage to overcome her own grief was bitter on her tongue.  What right did she have to counsel others in behaviours she couldn’t master herself?

She didn’t begrudge Frank his happiness, but she envied him greatly.  Their inability to conceive had torn a fatal wound in their relationship.  Both of them had suffered, both of them had lost a spouse.  But where Frank had quickly moved on to find another, more fertile partner, Claire felt like she was trapped in a never-ending cycle of self-blame and contempt.  No matter how far she ran or how diligently she planned the tidy compartments of her life, the anguish found her.  It was a corrosive shadow that dogged her days, always ready to darken her brightest moments.

It was well past eleven o’clock and she lay watching the flare of headlights chase each other across her bedroom ceiling.  A bottle of prescription pills promised sweet oblivion from inside her night table drawer.  She resisted for as long as she could, but as the minutes crept by, weary resignation won out.

Swallowing two of the capsules dry, she lay like a corpse wrapped in an Egyptian cotton shroud.  Slowly, the dry ice fog and discord of approaching sleep pulled her down, down, down below the waves of consciousness where nothing could harm her.

[hournites]

I just thought of a weird, but funny Hournite/Stargirl fic idea/prompt: Yolanda misses out on a JSA mission thanks to her parents & when she see everyone the following day all of the JSA’s personalities have been inverted. Rick is really bubbly & dorky, Beth is bitter, angry, & goth-like, Courtney is sarcastic, mean, & very Queen B. Pat tells Yolanda that the Shade was trying to steal the Wizard’s wand & the ensuing chaos caused the sides of their personalities that the three of them usually never show to turn into their dominant traits. While Pat’s searching for a cure to this problem, Yolanda’s forced to watch dorky Rick swoon over an oblivious & bleak-minded Beth, all while Courtney makes fun of all of them while flipping through fashion magazines & complaining about her broken nails. So... yeah... Yolanda has her hands full lol. Love to hear your thoughts on this!

This got out of hand...

Invert

~.~

While most days as a member of the Justice Society of America consisted of many fun surprises, there were some days Yolanda had no word to describe. Yolanda dropped her school bag at the table downstairs at the Pit Stop, then climbed upstairs. Taking in the scene unfolding in front of her, she realized today was one of those no word days.

Beth was curled up in the corner of the couch, legs drawn up to her chest with a book, wearing a scowl so jarring, Yolanda had to think back to the time she’s ever seen such an expression on Beth's face. Yeah, probably never. What’s weirder was the way Rick’s hanging over her shoulder, leaning against the couch and rambling about his car. He was in a regular t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up to look like a muscle tank, biceps on full display. It was almost like he was showing off, trying to impress her. And it would impress Beth, Yolanda was pretty sure. But she wasn’t even looking at him.

“….Hi?”

Only then did Rick notice Yolanda. He brightened up with a wave. “Hi! You missed a lot.”

“I see that,” she answered slowly. “What exactly...did I miss?” And where’s Courtney? “Did something happen yesterday?”

Beth snorted. “You could say that.”

Yolanda frowned when Beth didn’t elaborate.

“The Shade got hold of the Wizard’s wand,” Rick explained, grimacing a little. “We think we got, uh, spelled? I can’t put my finger on what exactly. We’re just different. I feel different, I mean. Like, I think this might be the longest sentence I’ve said to you? And I’m not even done. It’s not bad, it’s just weird. I’ve been trying to convince Beth to go outside with me for the last half hour.” He shook her shoulder. “C’mon, Beth. Please?”

“I’m reading,” she groused.

“You can read in my car and we can go for a drive? I’ll take you out!”

“Yeah…” Beth considered his words. She looked up at him, and Yolanda took a step back. She was wearing thick black eyeliner and her book had covered her matching dark lipstick. “Maybe later?”

“Yes!” Rick cheered, pumping his fist. “It’s a date! Great, I’m excited!”

“Wow...Beth...That’s quite the makeover…”

Beth shrugged. “Yeah. It’s new. I like it.”

“She looks great, doesn’t she?” Rick gushed. He sat at the other end of the couch. “So do you want to go to dinner on our date?”

Yolanda turned around so Rick won’t see her reaction to his desperate crush. The second-hand embarrassment was getting to her, if Rick was his regular self he wouldn’t be nearly this obvious. She’d always known Rick sort of liked Beth, but she’d never seen him so vocal about it. Rick was the type to bury his feelings, even romantic ones, until they explode. Not actively pursue them.

She climbed back downstairs and ran into Courtney. “...What did I just watch?”

Courtney’s hair was straightened and styled up in a high ponytail.

Great, Yolanda thought. More random makeovers.

In all honesty, Courtney looked absolutely beautiful, but any appreciation Yolanda could find in herself to compliment her vanished when she got a good look at the meanness on her face.

Courtney snapped pink gum obnoxiously with a hand on the waist of her sweats. “Are you talking about Rick and Beth?” She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it’s pathetic. I’ve been avoiding them.”

Yolanda narrowed her eyes. It was not like Courtney to insult their friends. “I was going to say weird...Rick isn’t pathetic.”

“If you say so. Well, you know what is pathetic? The fact you let your parents make you stay at home. We needed you last night and now everything’s messed up because you had to be a goody two-shoes.”

“Don’t talk to me that way, Court.” Yolanda pushed her aside. “You know it’s not easy. If I disobey them they’ll only hate me more. I love my mom, Court. I don’t want her to alienate me.”

Courtney shook her head. “I don’t really care. Hearing you complain about your mom and dad gets annoying. They suck. We get it. Get over it?”

Yolanda blinked back tears. “You don’t understand what it’s like!”

“Oh my god, are you actually crying?”

The hurt in her chest squeezed. Yolanda almost couldn’t breathe. Courtney had always been understanding to her, she’d let her vent and express her emotions, she was a compassionate person, it’s what she’d loved about her best friend so much. But her personality and behaviour resembled nothing like the Courtney Yolanda cared for. “Screw you, Court!”

She sped out of there, wiping at her eyes with the back of her palm.

“Yolanda!” Someone called after her, but she didn’t want to be here anymore. She understood her friends were under the influence of some magic, but she couldn’t stomach the way everything had flipped upside down. “Yolanda! Wait!”

She slowed her pace and turned around when she saw Pat jogging down the sidewalk with her forgotten bag. “You forgot this.”

“They all changed, Pat! Especially Courtney.”

Pat sighed. “I know. I was going to find you but Zeek called and got me all wrapped up in some nonsense, I wasn’t able to warn you on time.”

“So it’s true? They’re spelled?”

“Evidently. The good news is, Mike and Jakeem apprehended the wand back early this morning. We just don’t know how to use it.” He leaned in and gave her a half hug. “Why don’t you head on over to our house? Barb’s also been taking this whole mess pretty badly. We can figure out next steps this afternoon.”

Yolanda nodded, she couldn’t imagine what Courtney’s mom must’ve felt to see her daughter lack any empathy. She took her bag and started to make her trek to the Whitmore-Dugans.

They had to get to the bottom of this, she knew that. But witnessing the inversion of her friends accumulated a dark cloud over her head the longer she thought about it.

What if she was there during the mission last night? Yolanda couldn’t help but wonder what life would feel like unburdened.

What if I didn't care about what others thought about me? What if I didn't feel so cautious and careful about what I do or what I say? Or trusted everyone I met with ease again?

What if I had the chance to feel free?

[kasienda]

The Five Minute Adventures of Snake Noir: Ch 6 - Miraculous Abuse

Chapter 1: I Want It To Be You

Chapter 2: Best Friends

Chapter 3: Best Laid Plans

Chapter 4: A Thank You

Chapter 5: Unwanted Revelations

Chapter 6: Miraculous Abuse

If Adrien had avoided using the snake before, he now was operating on the other extreme. Ladybug had told him to abuse it, and he’s not sure she would have meant it quite so literally, but well… he and Nino had come up with a list. 

It had started with his homework. If he could finish his homework in far less time, he’d  have more time to visit Nino and Marinette. Not that it took a lot of time to visit Marinette as it was usually a loop, so even if he spent hours with her, it never took longer than ten minutes as far as the rest of the world was concerned. 

He unfortunately couldn’t do all of his homework in a time loop because that would leave whatever he had completed in the last five minutes erased. But he could do all the reading, researching, planning, and studying in a loop. Anything that didn’t require him to write anything down. 

Nathalie had only walked on him transformed once. 

“Yes, Nathalie?” he had asked, without looking up from his textbook. He hadn’t even thought about it. 

She stood stock still and was dead silent. He glanced towards her with a frown - her eyes were comically wide, but that was the only sign that she was shocked. He glanced down, and remembered he was transformed at Aspik. 

Read on Ao3

“Oh shit!” 

But it had been easy enough to fix. He just reset, destranformed, waited for Nathalie to come in and deliver his schedule changes for the week and leave, and then he transformed again. 

And then Nino had realized if he could pack all of his studying into the space of five minutes, Adrien could surely squeeze in some well deserved leisure time as well. 

It only took 71 loops to read a hundred thousand words, and Adrien had long ago discovered the joys of fanfiction, but he had never really had time to read more than a bit here or there. Now? With unlimited time and an entire endless library of things to read based on his favorite games and anime? Let’s just say his current power set brought a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Just One More Chapter.” 

And a season of anime was only 119 loops. Hell, he had gotten through all 981 episodes of One Piece in 4532 loops, which was still nothing compared to his time as Aspik, and honestly, far less traumatizing. 

He had felt slightly guilty about it. He was literally using the powers of time travel to watch anime. 

But when he mentioned it to Nino, his friend had just rolled his eyes. “Dude! You’re thinking about this all wrong. You’re a hero and we need you to be okay. This is about avoiding burnout as much as it is about having a good time. It’s so you get enough of a break and enough sleep to be a competent hero that we all need!”

But eventually the stories and shows hadn’t been enough to hold his attention. And he took another of Nino’s ideas and started paying visits to several of his friends. 

He had gone to Kagami first. He had no expectations of healing things with her, but he had always wanted to be able to explain so that his apologies might mean something.

“Chat Noir? Is there an akuma?” she asked by way of greeting. 

He rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Ah, no. I wanted to talk to you about something, but I also have to erase your memory after the fact to protect identities. Are you okay with that?”

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “You have piqued my curiosity. You may proceed.” 

He nodded. He had already activated his power before he had landed in her bedroom that was definitely as lavish as his own if not quite as spacious. 

“So… more than anything I wanted to apologize to you?”

She frowned. “I’m unaware of anything that you have done that would require an apology.”

“Kagami, I’m Adrien.”

Her eyes went wide for a second. “Ah, I see.” Then, she nodded. 

“That’s it?” 

“No, it makes a lot of sense.” And then she did something he never would have expected. She smiled. And most of his tension released. 

“I just wanted to explain now that I had the ability to. That I wasn’t ever lying to you or running from our dates because I wanted to.” 

“You had to sacrifice your own desires for a higher calling.”

“Yeah, that’s it exactly.”

She smiled at him again. “I appreciate you coming to explain and I understand completely why I can’t remember. May I ask you a question?” 

“Of course!” 

“Were you never in love with Marinette?”

“Well, I… uh… it was hard to see Marinette when I was completely enamored with Ladybug, but…”

She shook her head. “Are you in love with both of them now?” 

“I mean, sortve?” He knew Kagami hated when he ended every sentence as if it was a question. “They’re the same person.”

Kagami sighed. “How disappointing.” 

“Disappointing?! She’s amazing!” 

“I know, but if she’s Ladybug and you’re Chat Noir, I have never had a chance with either of you.” 

He felt like he had been thrown off a cliff. “What? You had feelings for Marinette?” 

She grinned. “Well, she is amazing, as you always say. At least I know that I have really good taste.”

“Well, I’m sorry to have ruined all your prospects.” 

“I will survive. Neither of you define me as a person.” 

“You’re pretty amazing, too, you know,” he told her sincerely. 

She nodded. “You honor me.” 

He laughed. “Kagami, please don’t get all formal on me. I’m still just me.” 

“Well, I hope you know that I appreciate all that you and Ladybug do for the city,” Kagami told him, ignoring his request.

“Thank you, Kagami. That means a lot coming from you.” 

She nodded in acknowledgment and he knew he was being dismissed, and then he slid the switch on his bracelet and he was on the roof of her family’s manor once again his heart a little lighter.

He had gone to Alya after that. He had been nervous since she was the one who tended to push him aside as Chat Noir. But his fears proved to be completely unfounded as for the most part she could never stop laughing whenever he revealed himself.

“Wait! You’re Adrien?!”

She burst into cackles immediately. 

“Why is that so funny?!” He has demanded the first time. 

She had just grinned, shaking her head and still chuckling. “I wish I could explain it to you, sunshine.” 

“I already know Marinette is Ladybug,” he said.

“Oh good! Then I don’t have to be panicked about accidentally slipping!” And she went back to rolling on the floor laughing. 

“You wouldn’t happen to already know Marinette’s other secret would you?” she asked.

His eyebrows scrunched together under his mask. “Umm… that she’s in love with me as Adrien?” 

Her face lit up. “Oh see!! You do get it!” 

He shook his head. “I do not get it.” 

“The two of you managed to get yourself in a love square. You’ve been chasing each other around like two cute little hamsters in hamster balls.” 

He sighed, far less amused than Alya at the current state of his Marinette’s relationship. “I’m really glad someone is getting some joy out of this.” 

“Hey!” she objected. “I’m only going to know this for another three minutes! Let me have my fun!”

He held up his hands in surrender, and he was smiling in spite of himself. Maybe some time in the future, after he and Marinette could be together, it would be funny to him, too.

“God! This is why it feels like I’m third-wheeling during akuma fights,” she exclaimed.

“You feel like a third wheel?!” he repeated in disbelief. “Have you seen the chaotic energy that is you and Marinette coming up with a plan together? I am definitely the third wheel in that situation.”

And then she was cackling again. “I’m sorry,” she wheezed. “Nino says I can be a bit of a bulldozer when I’m trying to find a solution to something.” 

“That’s putting it mildly,” he said dryly.

All the mirth fled her face and she looked at him in concern. “Hey, you okay?”

He nodded. “It’s not like I’m allowed to be anything else.” 

“No, don’t say that! You’re allowed to be upset with me! I deserve it sometimes.”

He shook his head. “I’m never going to hold your ability to defeat an akuma against you. I just… have felt a little unneeded lately,” he admitted.

She stared at him for a second and then she burst into laughter again. 

And despite still not getting it, he found himself chuckling, too. Her laughter was just that infectious. “Why do you find this so funny?” he asked. 

“Because you’re a literal superhero and a model with more money than god, and a heart of absolute gold. You work with her as Ladybug so well I have to deal with crazy conspiracy theorists on the Ladyblog  who think the two of you must be telepathic aliens!” 

“What? People don’t think that.” 

“They do! And it’s annoying. But my point is you’re the real deal, Agreste, and she’s crazy about you, and you know it, and yet you still manage to doubt yourself.” 

“I’m glad my struggles and hang ups are so amusing to you,” he said with a pout. 

She sat up and fist bumped his shoulder. “Aww! Sunshine! I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, your insecurity makes you seem sweeter and cuter. And it makes you seem more human. I don’t mean to mock you in any way.”

He searched her face and only found open sincerity.

“Thanks, Alya.” 

“So, does she know that you know?” 

“I mean, she doesn’t right now. But I’ve told her. Many many times, but it was just like this and she doesn’t remember.” 

She softened. “That sounds difficult.” 

“It’s apparently better than the alternative,” he said, going for nonchalance, but he didn’t fool her if her scooching to sit right next to him was anything to go by.  

“I wish we could all fix it for you, Adrien.” 

“Yeah, me too.” 

“How are you?” 

He shrugged. “I’m okay at the moment. Some days are worse than others. Nino… Nino has been a godsend.” 

She smiled. “He is pretty amazing. He knows outside of a loop?” 

“He does.” 

“I’m glad you have that, Adrien. Marinette was falling apart at the seams before she told me.” 

“Does he know about Marinette?” Adrien asked. Sometimes, it seemed like Nino knew more than he was letting on. But maybe his friend was just really respectful of secrets and didn’t ask questions.

“Not from me! And he hasn’t told me about you being Chat Noir either.” 

Adrien glanced toward the window. 

“Does it bother you that there are secrets between the two of you?” he finally asked.

“No, not these ones. They’re not our secrets. They’re yours, and they’re Marinette’s, so they’re not ours to share.”

“I'm jealous,” he admitted.

She offered him a sympathetic smile. “Someday, you won’t have to be anymore.”

The Snake beeped it’s first warning. “Time’s just about up.”

She offered him a fist bump and then a hug. He reciprocated both. “I’m glad you stopped by, Sunshine. You’re always welcome any time you think my particular brand of company is something that would help you.” 

He grinned. “Thank you, Alya.” 

“I look forward to the day when all four of us can just be open about everything,” she said. 

He snorted. “You and me both.” 

His went to his bodyguard next. 

“I just wanted to apologize to you for always running off. I don’t mean to make your job harder or get you into trouble. I am literally running away to save the city.”

His bodyguard didn’t say anything. He never said anything. He had just let out a resigned sigh and then patted Adrien’s shoulder. 

Adrien took that as forgiveness and reset the loop. There was no sense in sitting there in awkward silence for another four and a half minutes. 

When he had told Nathalie one afternoon at her desk outside her office, she looked horrified - frozen as still as a statue trapped in Medusa’s gaze. 

“Nathalie?” 

“I… all this time?” she whispered.

“Yeah. I know it’s a lot. I know it causes you a bit of grief when I disappear.” 

She waved away his concern. “Right now, we’re in some kind of time loop and I won’t remember?” 

“But you will,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

“Yes,” he confirmed anyway. 

“Adrien, I need you to listen to me.”

He nodded. 

“I can never find out. Your father can’t either. If you need something because you’re hurt or cornered, or…” she trailed off.

Was she crying? 

She cleared her throat. 

“Go to your friends. Their parents. Just… not your father, okay? Or me, because I’d have to inform him.”

His brows furrowed together in confusion. “Okay?” It wasn’t hard to to agree despite how weird she was being. He knew Paris needed him and he also knew that his father would never let him continue. Especially if he was seeking help due to an injury or something.

That’s what Nathalie was referring to, right? 

She patted him on the shoulder. It was even more awkward than when his bodyguard had done it. 

“Adrien, you’re quite impressive as a hero.” 

“Thank you,” he said with a smile.

And then there was Marinette. He had learned that it was impossible to tell her he was Adrien without making her cry, which was frustrating because she was also so much more open and affectionate once she knew. 

“How do I get you to not breakdown when I tell you this?” he asked her seriously.

She laughed through her tears. “I’m sorry, kitty. I have no idea. It’s just… it’s not fair.” 

He smiled. “That’s what Ladybug always says,” he told her casually. She didn’t know that he knew this go around.

“She’s right! You deserve so much, and life… it’s not fair!”

He turned to her seriously. “I don’t need life to be fair, Mari. I just… don’t want to have to wear a mask all the time.” And then he smiled. “I’m glad that you’re okay with me doing this.” 

She nodded tearfully. “Anytime, Kitty. Anytime.”  

Then during a regular patrol at one point. He had just realized he wanted to make her laugh. So he spent another few hundred loops figuring out which jokes made her laugh the hardest and which ones were absolute duds. Then, on a day when she was having a hard time, he showed up on her balcony and gave her the best one hour comedy of her life. 

Her unrestrained laughter was so explosive she had literally fallen out of her chair. Totally worth it. 

“Thank you, kitty,” she said wiping the tears induced by her laughter. “You have no idea how much I needed this.” 

He hadn’t argued. “Of course, princess. I am always at your service!”

Then, he started working on the perfect confession. He was trying to see if he could get her to kiss him as Chat Noir without revealing his identity because, you know, that always made her cry. 

“Can I use the snake to ask you a very important question?” He has asked Ladybug on patrol. 

She nodded, and he activated it. 

“What do you think it would take to get you to kiss me?” 

She laughed. “Are you serious right now? That is your very important question?” 

“It is,” he nodded, but offered her a huge grin so she could take it as a joke if she wanted.

“Why? You haven’t been able to be successful yet?” she teased.

“Oh no! I’ve been super successful. All I really have to do is tell you my name.”

She scoffed.

“No, I’m serious!” he boasted with a huge grin splitting his face knowing she only half believed him.

“So, why don’t you just do that?” she asked seriously. 

“Because you always cry! And I don’t want to kiss away your tears. I want to make you smile.” 

She got quiet. “You know, we can’t be together right?” 

“Yeah Marinette,” he whispered. “I know that really well.”

 It was silent.

“How long have you known?” she asked softly.

He had no idea how to answer that question. Because time was now very weird for him. In one sense he had only known for a few weeks, on the other he had literally spent so much time in loops that it had to have been at least twice that at this point. Maybe more.

“A while,” he said. “But we’ve already talked about that to death. I’d much rather figure out how to get you to fall desperately in love with this half of me.” 

She raised her eyebrows. “You want me to fall desperately in love with you in five minutes?” 

He shrugged. “We have a solid foundation of trust and friendship. I’m not starting from nothing. Plus, I’ve fallen in love in less than five minutes before.” With her. He didn’t think he needed to say that though.  

She actually smiled. “Yeah, I’ve fallen in love pretty fast before, too.” 

And it occurred to him that he had no idea what had made her fall in love with Adrien. He probably could ask her, but that was one more memory that he wanted her to remember having told him. 

He could probably just show up on her balcony as regular old Chat Noir and just say something like, “So, Adrien Agreste, huh?” She’d probably tell him, and she’d even remember it. But she wouldn’t know that it was him she was telling. 

How the hell had his life gotten so complicated? 

“There’s no way I would start crying just from knowing your name though,” she said. “You have to be making that up.”

He just turned to her and raised his eyebrows. 

The expression probably didn’t work as well with his transformation covering them. 

But she still hesitated. “There’s no way!” she exclaimed, but then she got a thoughtful look in her eyes. “Unless…” 

And then her eyes started welling with tears.

And he almost laughed. But he managed to hold it back.

“Oh, come here, bug,” he said instead, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her to him. And he just held her as she shook silently. 

“It’s not fair,” she whispered. 

“I know,” he said, and then kissed the top of her head. “I know.”

“Do you see my problem now?” he said after another pause. 

And she laughed through her tears, which had been his intention, and he smiled.

She pulled away. “I’ve thought about it before, you know.”

“Thought about what?”

“Letting myself fall for Chat Noir?”

He hugged her tighter. “Yeah?” 

“It never seemed like it would be that hard. I think if it hadn’t been for Chat Blanc, it would have happened after New York.”

He laughed. “Really? New York was when I thought maybe I should ask out Marinette.” 

She looked up at him in horror. “Oh my god! We’re just perpetually screwed, aren’t we? We’re just going to keep missing each other over and over!”

He kissed her hand. “No m’lady,” he assured. “That can’t happen because now I know, and I can’t forget.” 

And then she was crying again, harder. “I don’t want to forget either.”

“I know,” he told her, kissing her hand again. “I promise it won’t be forever.” 

“I love you, Adrien.” 

“I love you, too.”

And that time, of the two of them, it was he who was stronger and able to slide his fingers across the reset. 

And he might have stayed in that loop far longer than he should have trying to figure out the way to the heart he had apparently already won.

He learned that she did enjoy his flirting whatever she said to the contrary, but the moments where he was vulnerable and genuine were the ones that seemed to move her the most.

But none of it was quite enough. If he wanted a kiss, he always had to tell her his name. 

But despite his failure, pulling himself out of that loop was the hardest thing he had ever done.

And that’s how he knew he was in trouble. 

… 

“Nino, you have to take this away from me,” Adrien said, holding out the snake miraculous. He had just arrived and released both his transformations. 

Nino took it, his eyebrows pinched together. “What? Why?” 

“Because I’m scared I’m going to go into a loop and I’m never going to come out of it.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Look! Being here with you, with you knowing everything, is amazing. It’s the only time I feel like myself, unless,” he held up the bracelet, “I’m using this and… it’s getting harder to pull myself out of the loops.” 

“Your visits to Ladybug?” 

“Yeah,” Adrien admitted. “She told me to go every single day so I would remember what it was like to be loved,” he paused for a second, trying to swallow the sudden lump in his throat. “The problem is I really really like being loved.” 

And then he couldn’t hold the tears back anymore. 

Nino pulled him by the arm down to the ground and sat right next to him shoulder to shoulder.

Adrien buried his face in his hands. 

“For the record, dude,” Nino whispered. “You are loved even outside a loop with Ladybug.” 

Adrien threw his arms around Nino. “I honestly don’t know why you put up with me at this point. I feel like you have to put up with a lot.”

Nino grinned. “Hey! I happen to like hanging out with you! This shift has been awesome because I get to see you way more often.” 

“And I’m not like messing up date night with Alya or anything, am I?” 

“Nah!” Nino waves away his concern. “Alya and I hangout in the mornings and during lunch. Lately Marinette has monopolized her evenings.” 

Adrien managed to keep a straight face at that. “If you and her ever do need a day away from the children, I’m sure Marinette and I can figure out a way to take care of ourselves for a day.” 

Nino burst out laughing. 

“What?! I’m a big boy and Marientte’s a big girl. We can take care of ourselves.” 

Nino just shook his head, still snickering. 

“Maybe all four of us could do something some time,” Nino suggested, his eyes sparkling.

Adrien narrowed his eyes. Did Nino know? He knew he couldn’t ask without giving it away, and he had just handed over the snake. 

“That sounds really nice,” Adrien said, knowing he wouldn’t be able to handle going on a double date that he had to pretend wasn’t a double date. But someday. 

He wanted to cry again, but his eyes remained dry. 

“So, you just want me to keep it?” Nino asked, holding up the bracelet. “Should I hide it here in the room? Or wear it?” 

“Wear it,” Adrien said. That was the only way Nino would know where it was at all times. “But don’t use it. Not even for an akuma.”

He didn’t want Nino to ever experience a loop on the battlefield. Not if he could help it. 

“I reserve the right to come save your ass if necessary,” Nino said as he slipped the miraculous around his wrist. 

Adrien laughed. “Okay, but please don’t unless you absolutely have to. I don’t need Ladybug pissed at me for giving away a miraculous.” 

Nino frowned at him then. “Why are you giving this to me, instead of back to her?” 

Adrien’s answer to that was complicated. Partly because he didn’t want Marinette to know that his loops with her were hurting him even as they gave him hope, and he definitely didn’t want her to know that he had fallen to the point of being borderline addicted. 

But there was also a strategic element to his choice. He could approach Nino in either form, and Nino would know to trust him. 

“You know who I am,” Adrien finally said. 

“Will you be okay without it?” Nino asked.

Adrien shrugged. “I don’t know. But I’m definitely not okay with it right now.” He paused, then looked at Nino. “I might be texting and calling you a lot over the next few days.” 

Nino laughed. “I can’t promise to answer right away all the time, but you can always do that, man. Always.” 

Adrien let his head fall onto Nino’s shoulder. “Have I ever told you that you’re the absolute best?” 

“I could stand to hear it a few more times,” Nino said. 

Adrien grinned. “Noted.”

…

Chapter 7: The Five Minute Adventures of Ananta