#because they are very clearly taking advantage of someone half their age and manipulating them into thinking its a normal relationship

[bigothteddies]

I talk a lot of fucking crap but I do have a little black book filled with everything I’ve been told about the tumblr doms on here and all the fucked up shit they’ve done. Creators talk to each other. The friendships aren’t just for show. I’m not saying I have “dirt” on anyone or that I’m friends with everyone and have heard everything or that what I’ve been told is even accurate. What I am saying is I have a good fucking reason to be so spiteful towards a lot of doms on this site, both for things they’ve personally done to people I know and for the long and storied cycle of popular doms on here being outted as abusers and groomers after they’ve been found out.

[sweetbitterimpossiblecreature]

A Brief And Concise Summary Of Is Wrong With The ACOTAR Series

I think we can agree that a lot of ACOTAR is pretty iffy. Consider this a very brief refresher.

What's Wrong With Feyre/Rhysand (juxtaposed against Feyre/Tamlin)

Rhysand drugs and sexually assaults her in Book 1

This is "for her own good". Because he "has no choice". Despite the fact that, from what we know of the plot, Amarantha thinks that Clare Beddor was the one Rhysand was diddling, and is only interested in Feyre because Rhysand, "her" man male, has taken an interest in her.

If we extrapolate from this we can figure that Rhysand is the one directly putting her into danger.

Now, let's be clear: drugging someone is bad. Sexually assaulting someone is bad. One could argue there were extenuating circumstances. But if, in such a situation, what your mind goes to is "I know, I should assault this person... for their safety" I have questions about your moral qualities. There were a million things he could have done. He could have done whatever he did to Clare - that is, remove her ability to feel any pain - easily. He could have helped her escape. Under The Mountain, he - while still there unwillingly - has a lot of power, as Amarantha's side piece. Maybe this would have resulted in him being punished- however, he is hundreds of years old and a badass motherfucker, and she is a nineteen year old human girl.

Now, onto Tamlin. Obviously not a lot of people really ship F/T anymore after ACOMAF, because compared to F/R, it's boring. I read another person's post about it, which was very enlightening: they said that Feyre's personality is essentially a mirror. When she is with Rhysand, she's snarky and malicious- because she is "bouncing off" his energy. When she's with Mor she's super feminist and "in awe of her strength". On the other hand, Tamlin is kind of an empty character. He's a pretty boy with anger issues, which should be more interesting than it is. SJM manages to make him bland. Because Feyre has nothing to bounce off of, (a lot of this is from the person's post), she and Tamlin together is mainly just him introducing her to his world.

What Tamlin Does: prevents a skinny twenty year old from going on dangerous missions with him and combat-trained soldiers, accidentally blows up a room with her in it, and, at the end, prevents her from leaving the house.

This is not a Tamlin apologist post. Obviously it was really fucking gross of him to do that, and their relationship was toxic. However, a lot of his abuse stems from their inability to communicate, as well as own negligence. He does not knowingly and purposefully sexually assault her or rape her mind. And tbh, leaving a girl without combat training at home while he goes on missions with a bunch of muscled sentries is... kind of reasonable?

Again: not a Tamlin apologist post. It was abuse. However, if Rhysand is "allowed" to sexually assault, mind-rape, and drug Feyre "for her own safety", why is Tamlin demonized for preventing her from leaving his mansion "for her own safety"?

Another pertinent point: Rhys is never punished for sexually assaulting her. It is brushed off as part of his "mask" or that his hand was forced. Jesus Christ my dudes, his hand was not forced under her skirt. If he has to maintain his gross rapist abuser tyrant oppressor mask... why? Who did that benefit beside him? None of his actions remotely helped Prythian. They were done solely for his buddies - five people safe in a rich hidden city - and no one else, which is explicitly stated.

Finally, the power dynamic is fucked up. Feyre is less than twenty five years old. Rhysand is 500. There is a tendency in fantasy romance to romanticize a centuries year old man with a young girl, because the man does not show symptoms of age, and so it is easily ignorable. However, can we just briefly acknowledge how fucked up it is? Rhys is over five times older than Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, and other known predators/abusers. She is twenty. That is really fucking gross. She is in a vulnerable position and he takes rampant advantage of that.

If he had wrinkles, liver problems, and erectile dysfunction, more people would acknowledge it.

Let's be clear: I'm not saying writing a book with an uneven power dynamic is automatically bad. For example, in The Locked Tomb series, which is in my opinion THE BEST FANTASY SERIES THAT HAS GRACED THIS EARTH (lol i'm starting fires), one main character Harrowhark Nonagesimus is in a position of power over Gideon Nav, the other main character. However, this is not glossed over or romanticized. Gideon resents Harrow for this- there is a relationship of mutual antagonism, fraught with unwilling familiarity and intimacy from growing up together. They are roughly the same age. While there is a certain power dynamic (in that world, there is a dynamic of necromancer and cavalier, i.e. sorcerer and sword) the "empowered" character (Harrow) emphatically respects her and does not abuse this power, although both would of course deny this, and she does make a show of threatening and being aloof. In short, while Gideon obeys her, Gideon also has power over Harrow, and the idea of what is essentially slavery is not romanticized.

Feyre Doesn't Face Any Consequences For Her Own Actions

Let me present a radical notion: a guy preventing you from leaving his house does not justify completely fucking ruining his country and harming the people inside it.

In other words: Tamlin does not deserve what she did to him.

I know that sounds iffy. We're conditioned to think that if someone is an abuser, then they are the scum of the earth, they deserve to die, torturing/murdering/doing anything to them is completely A-OK. However, here's another radical notion: someone harming you does not justify you doing worse.

Obviously, the effects of psychological abuse can cause you to hurt other people (see: Nesta), but Feyre deliberately and maliciously (oh, God, that insufferable POV of her in Spring Court; she reads like a cartoonish Disney villain) dismantles his country. She uses sexual manipulation (Lucien), torture (causing the sentry to be whipped), and mind-rape (who didn't she do this to? lol).

A summary of the entire first half of ACOWAR: "It smelled like roses. I hated roses. For this capital offense against my olfactory system, Tamlin and the entire Spring Court deserved to burn in hell. I knew exactly what I was doing. I smiled at him sweetly: no longer a doe, but a wolf. He didn't see my fangs.............." *aesthetic noises*

Man. I'm starting to think SJM had a horrible experience at a Bath & Body Works and took it out on the rest of us. Don't do it, Sarah!! I know Pink Chiffon and Triple Berry Martini are way too strong, but don't take it out on an innocent population!!

She steals from Summer Court (there are, yk, other solutions to theft. Like maybe asking politely) and ruins Spring Court. Her boyfriend - yeesh sorry, MATE - does nothing while a dozen Winter Court children are murdered.

Now: moral ambiguity is not automatically bad. Again using The Locked Tomb as an example, in the second book (spoiler alert), Harrowhark has a sort of moral ambiguity. She was raised from the beginning to worship the King Undying as God, and so she obeys him without question. Because of this, she commits a lot of crimes in His name: she "flips" - i.e. kills - the life force of planets, and she plots murder (albeit the murder of someone who tried to kill her first). There is no attempt to justify this. There is also no attempt to paint her as a virtuous and yet also badass Madonna figure. She is desperate, plagued with the "wreck of herself", and the book clearly displays her moral pitfalls. While her POV is of course colored by her mindset, it also is limited by her lack of information, and we as readers can acknowledge that.

BACK TO ACOTAR: Feyre is seen by everyone as gorgeous, formidable, and essentially perfect. Rhys sees her as flawless, "made for him", wonderful, beautiful, blah blah blah. (THEY ARE SO BAD FOR EACH OTHER; THEY EXCUSE AND GLORIFY EACH OTHER'S CRIMES, IT'S SO BAD, GUYYYS). Tamlin is insanely batshit in love with her, or whatever. To the Night Court she's the High Lady. In this way she personifies the Mary Sue character. (Excerpt from the TV Tropes page on Mary Sues: "She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing. She has an unusual and dramatic Back Story. The canon protagonists are all overwhelmed with admiration for her beauty, wit, courage and other virtues, and are quick to adopt her as one of their True Companions, even characters who are usually antisocial and untrusting; if any character doesn't love her, that character gets an extremely unsympathetic portrayal." Sound familiar?)

There is the Ourobous scene. And yet, paradoxically, while presented as an acknowledgment of her flaws, it is in fact a rejection of them. She sees her own brutality... and instead of recognizing that she has these deep, deep moral flaws and realizing that she needs to grow and be better, she in fact "accepts" them.

Guys: Self love means: "I'm important to me, so I'm going to get a massage today after work", or "heck, why not splurge on some expensive lotion, you only live once" or "you know what? I had a tough day today. I'm going to get that strawberry cupcake". SELF LOVE DOES NOT MEAN "oh, I accept all the war crimes I have done, I love myself". LOVING YOURSELF DOES NOT MEAN ABSOLVING YOURSELF OF ALL WRONGDOING.

It's this refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing that is so grating about ACOTAR. It's so goddamn one-sided. And you can tell that after Book 1, SJM decided to completely change the trajectory simply because of how jarring Book 2 reads compared to the first one.

Also: Feyre is a very, very young girl (compared to the other ruling fey) who did not know how to read for the majority of her life. She has no experience whatsoever in politics. Her being High Lady is not a win for feminism.

Rhysand: He Sucks

First, he is 500 years old. He should be written as such, not as some 20 year old virile frat boy feminist. Fantasy is all the more compelling for its elements of realism, which is a concept that SJM does not appear to grasp.

Second of all, his morals are absurd. He is written as the Second Coming of Christ, as someone who can do no wrong, ever, and his flaws only serve to make Feyre love him more. Anything shitty he does is written as part of his "mask" and she can See Beneath It and knows that it "hurts" him to maintain this "mask".

Fellas, WHY DOES HE HAVE TO MAINTAIN THIS MASK???? There is no reason for it. If A) he does not give a shit about Court of Nightmares (we'll get back to that), only about Velaris, and B) Velaris is hidden/protected from the world, what is he pretending for?

It would not hurt him politically to be seen as someone who cares about his country.

"Pretending" to be "Amarantha's whore" does not in any way shape or form benefit the macro-world that is Prythian. In Amarantha's name, he commits atrocities. He commits war crimes; he systemically oppresses entire societies. It doesn't even really benefit Velaris, because Velaris is already hidden.

Let me put this in a real-world perspective. This would be like if Donald Trump was suddenly like: "I know I was a shitty president but IT WAS ALL PART OF MY MASK, WHICH WAS TO PROTECT THIS MICROCOSM OF PRIVILEGED PEOPLE THAT I CARE ABOUT". Like: okay? Sorry, or whatever, but I don't actually give a shit. What about the parents of the children who died? What about Clare Beddor? What about the people who were held in slavery, murdered, tortured?

Rhysand: omg it sucks that my cousin Mor was oppressed by this toxic misogynistic culture from the Court of Nightmares.

Also Rhysand: lol whatever, who gives a shit about Court of Nightmares. They all suck. They meanie. Lol what did you say? That there might be other girls just like Mor who are oppressed by this system? Lol whatever. I can't do anything, I gotta maintain my Mask. I gotta sit on this throne and show the entire Court that not respecting women is completely okay.

In summary: by parading Feyre around as his "whore" (!!) he demonstrates by example that it is completely okay for the Court of Nightmares to abuse their women.

A good ruler cares about all his people. Rhysand cares about a tiny tiny fraction of his people: those who were fortunate enough to be born into Velaris.

God, I'm exhausted. Onto Nesta:

The only character who successfully breaks the Mary Sue effect Feyre exerts on her people is Nesta. Her POV for the first half is a joy to read.

Obviously it sucks that Nesta was a huge bitch to Feyre for the beginning of her childhood. However, it was wrong for Rhysand to threaten her- he is a man male with a huge insane amount of power, and it is not okay for him to threaten to bring the brunt of it down on a young girl because she was a bitch to his girlfriend.

I've seen a lot of discourse on the morality of F/R sending her out of Velaris. Here is my two cents:

It was okay for them to cut her off of their money. If they don't want to enable her self-harm, that is their choice. Again, it's their money, even if it wasn't fairly earned (Rhysand born into an enormous fortune).

It was not okay for them to banish her from Velaris with the implication that she was an embarrassment. Let me explain.

If Rhysand and Feyre are talking to her as sister/brother-in-law, then that is that. They have the complete right to express disapproval and try to help. However, they should not be using their royal privilege against her.

If they are talking to her as ruler to subject, then they have the power to banish her from the city. However, a ruler would not give a shit about a random subject getting drunk and having sex. So, they should not be talking her about her problems as a ruler to subject.

I've heard it compared to her being sent to rehab. However, rehab is a system designed to help people with certain problems. It has specialized medical centers and involves therapy. Nesta gets her life threatened multiple times. It is not rehab.

In summary: why did SJM inflict this upon us. Throne of Glass was actually good! GAHHH! After the first few books she completely whipped around and introduced the idea of males and mates and fey and that C is actually A and the quality took a huge nosedive. Sigh.

Final horrible but unmistakable truth: The entire ACOTAR series reads like a bad A/B/O fic. I hate to say it but it's true. We're lucky there were no heat cycles. OH WAIT

[kusagrasskusa]

Kabuto and Adoptive Reader - "Shihaikigo"

Part 1, possible a part 2 (will be linked if it comes out)

Summer: Kabuto had been walking home from a fight and met a little girl there. She had a special kekkei genkai called a Shihaikigo, meaning "controlling marks," which contained the ability to control half the mind of an opposer. She's willingly taken to the Sound Village after she began to trust Kabuto and there she met Orochimaru. She would either be sent to another Sound Villager to be raised or stay under Orochimaru's watchful eye until her kekkei genkai gets stronger. If Kabuto were to aid Y/N in life and to raise her, he could be killed in order to break down Y/N. She's very distrustful in a lot of people but Kabuto since they met. Her kekkei genkai is something that is strong enough to rival a Sharingan or Byakugan so Orochimaru plans to use to for himself one day.

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

Laying there, on the sidewalk on a rainy night, helpless was a child with long, messy, hair and a soaked light-grey dress with red stains. She had no shoes, no home, no comfort, and nobody. She was essentially useless; helpless in this dark, cruel, magical world full of demons, heros, and killers. No matter where she searched for any kind of sanctuary or light, there was nothing. She was left with no motivation or thing to hold on to as right inside the very woods that surrounded the village she is in, was a clan hidden deep within. In this clan was very few powerful, but nonetheless meaningful and strong.

They managed to survive alone and strongly for centuries since their beginnings, as their kekkei genkai is the ability to control 25%-50% some signals heading towards someone's brain, which can therefore nearly control their actions and thoughts and feelings. Of course, such power comes with restrictions. The hair of the people in the clan is very sacred; although it could be cut, it limits the ability for them to use their kekkei genkai forever, even when the hair regrows. If their power is overused, they will be become sick and possibly will be paralyzed, mentally unstable, and others even among death.

This power is stores within three marks on the person's body; it doesn't matter where they are as long as it's on the head, neck, palm, or shoulders. The mark travels between the brain and fingertips, and the user then has to touch their opponent with their fingertips in order for their power to be in use. As mentioned, it has a limit so typically the user's kill is fast and clean. For it's dark advantages and evil disadvantages, this power is represented with horns and a halo;

This clan was feared quite a lot for it's abilities, and most people are raised to never use their abilities as it could be dangerous. But some people would use it on accident as it was surprisingly much easier to use than thought. And it was a certain child's accidental use of that power that caused her to be so helpless on the pavement of Konoha on a dark, wet night. It was empty and alone on these streets aside from the sound of slow footsteps immersing from the left side of her.

The six year old girl barely turned her head to the person walking passed her; he didn't even seem to notice her. But upon seeing his silver hair, a sparkle appeared in her eyes; it was too foggy to even notice the difference between this snake and the ninja she thinks he is.

"Kakashi, is that you?" Ahe asked weakly, slowly standing up. She pulled her arms to her chest, shaking as the cold rain began to rain down harder. The man in front of her stopped, paused for a moment, then slowly turned around k face her. "Oh...I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else." The girl's look returned to hopeless as she hung her head low.

"Why are you out here all alone at night? Where are your parents?" He asked emotionless as he pushed his glasses up, eyeing the helpless girl. The girl was silent for a moment before whimpering a little. Then all at once, she broke into tears and collapsed onto the concrete floor beneath her. The man stared at her hopeless form for a minute, watching her cry and whimper before he finally crouched down besides her. He pet her back before sliding his hand up under her chin, moving her head up so he could see her clearly.

"You are part of the L/N Clan, aren't you? You possess the Shihaikigo kekkei genkai, do you not? I can see marks on your skin." The silverhead asked, cockkng his head to the side. The little girl sniffed as she wiped away her fallen tears, her lip quivering as she nodded. After a moment, he hummed. "Why is there blood on your dress?" He asked as he wiped away her tears.

"I didn't mean to," she whimpered out. "It was an accident..." And just from that, Kabuto understood. The blood was from her parents; she accidentally killed them. He smirked lightly upon seeing her fragile body break down once more, but this time she lunged towards him and wrapped her small arms around him and clenched his clothes tightly. She cried into his chest as Kabuto brushed his fingers through her chair.

"It hurts, doesn't it? To have lost everything you had ever cared for just like that. And you fear the people around you will hate you; hurt you emotionally snd physically; kill you. It's truly frightening. Such a shame someone so oung has to endure such a thing, hmm?" He asked as he pat her back. She remained in her broken state, his more quiet and listening closely to him. "However, what if I told you there was a way to make these problems disappear? I know people who will except you and love you and raise you for who you are."

Y/N pulled away, her small hands wiping away her tears once more. "But...but...killers don't deserve happiness," she breathed out softly. Kabuto clicked his tongue, shaking his head.

"I think you'll find that everyone deserves happiness. Except," he paused, gritting his teeth as a wider smile appeared over his face. "Excpet those who try to take it from you because they have no idea what you've been through. Selfish people like that will never deserve happiness." Y/N pure yet terrified E/C eyes stared deep into his; she was so young, so naive and so gullible.

"I, for one, believe you deserve happiness. You're a little girl who made a mistake. That's all," he spoke, looking down at her with such manipulation in his eyes. "You deserve a good home with a warm bed for you and nice food. You deserve good parents and most of all, happiness. Don't you want that?" Y/N slowly nodded her head, never breaking her gaze into his eyes. She was so helpless that it was sickening for Kabuto to pry on such a little girl and obviously only for her kekkei genkai.

Y/N sniffed, sighing a shakey breath before replying. "Thank you...so, so much, suh-sir. I really do want things to go back to normal," she replied. She wrapped her arms around him again and sobbed away her last tears in his chest as he held her close. He was patient with her but the heavy rain and fog was making it very hard to see through his glasses. Suddenly, he burst out in a little laugh.

"How rude of me to offer this before I even introduced myself. My name is Kabuto Yakushi. What is your's?"

"My, my name? It's Y/N L/N," she mumbled as she pulled away from him for the last time. "I just really, really, want things to go back to normal. Please, take somewhere safe, please," she begged. Kabuto softly wrapped his larger hands around her waist and picked her up while standing up straight as well. He held her close smiling softly at her with closed eyes and a tilted head. Y/N smiled back at him and giggled for the first time in a while.

He than began his walk to his original path with Y/N in his arms. Along the long walk, he would ask a question about her age, clothing type, school life and grades, hobbies and other things, and he'd give his own answer as well. Anything to get to know each other. Puddles splashed with each step he took and the clouds seem to just get darker and darker. But luckily, about 30 minutes later, it all came to a stop once Kabuto had arrived to his destination: the hideout of Orochimaru or Otogakure.

"Stay here for a little please, Miss Y/N," Kabuto spoke lightly as he walked inside the underground home. "I must go talk to someone right now, but I'll be back with a surprise," he smiled at her as he left her by the entrance doors. She waved goodbye to him as a large smile remained on her face as she was happy to finally by out of the rain. Kabuto's face dropped as he walked to Orochimaru's room in order to discuss Y/N to him. On his way, what played in his mind was the conversation he had with her on his way here.

Such a young girl was capable of such intelligent responses and detailed storytelling. She may have stuttered here and there but overall she was very consistent and concise. She reminded him a lot of himself as he was willing to abandon his orphanage and family to make them live a better life out of fear for their lives. Y/N attacked her parents for nearly harming a few civilians out of thr goodness of her heart. The situations may have been different but deep down, his heart was just as pure as her's at one point in time.

"A member of the L/N clan, you say? My, my Kabuto, you found quite the prize," Orochimaru smiled darkly as he finished hearing the word of his pawn's finding. "Is she capable of using the Shihaikigo?"

"Yes. In fact, she ran away from her clan because she ended a life with it despite her young age," he explained with a dark smile on his face. "She has a very intelligent mind as well."

Orochimaru laughs were hushed as he considered his moves with the girl. "Perhaps after Kimimaro could be her, don't you think? After all, her kekkei genkai is worth as much as a Byakugan or Sharingan; what good is simply seeing chakra when you could control it? A power like that must be harnessed," he thought out loud. "How about this... A girl of her age can't comprehend what it's like to have a meaning or worth and what giving up her life for another would mean. We will raise her to be desensitized to any evil she sees before we break the truth to her."

Kabuto nodded, "Understood, Lord Orochimaru."

"Well, don't just stand there. I'd love to meet the child," he laughed as he looked Kabuto in the eye again, his smirk growing. Kabuto obeyed and walked out, returning again later with a soaked little girl by his side. She was so happy when she heard she could meet the one who would make her dreams come true, only to be met with fear when she saw the pale snake-like man himself. Her smile dropped and she started to shake; Y/N hid behind his leg, staring at the creature with fear in her eyes.

"Y/N, dear, you can't always judge a book by its cover. This man is Lord Orochimaru; it would be wise to-"

"Come now, Kabuto, this reaction is understandable really." The snake stared down at the little girl with interest glimmering in his dead eyes. He then extended his hand towards the little girl crouching down before her. "Give me your hand, darling. I don't bite, I promise," he laughed. Y/N's lip quivered as she looked up at Kabuto. He had an encouraging smile on his face that told her everything would be alright. That's all the validation she needed before reaching out to take Orochimaru's hand and have him pull her closer.

He held her chin and examined the three marks along her body (you choose where they are :)) before laughing once again. "You're kind is so incredible. That even a child managed to murder with it. Yes, truly incredible." Y/N's eyes widened with fear and she started to freak out even more.

"Mister Oro...Orochimaru, I don't understand," she mumbled fearfully. Orochimaru brushed his fingers over one of her marks and then stood up, patting her head.

"You'll understand one day, child. I promise you," he said as he looked at Kabuto. "Do you wish to help raise her or have other ninja do it?"

"I want to stay with Kabuto, Mister Orochimaru," the little girl called out. Kabuto's dark eyes looked down at her small form. He felt helpless against the adorable voice of the girl and sighed out loudly. She turned to Kabuto and took his hand, hugging it possessively. "Please don't leave me! I just met you and you're the only friend I got now! Please, Kabuto, I'll be good, I swear!" Orochimaru raised a brow, laughing.

"You are good with children, I see. Good. If you wish to take her, I'm sure you would have no problem finding food and clothes for her, right?" Kabuto crouched down by Y/N, her still hugging his hand, and chuckled before booping her nose. He could guess that Orochimaru may kill him in order to destroy her and use her in the future, but for right now, a little more time with the girl wouldn't hurt. After all, it had been quite a while since he had been near a child. In the back of his mind was always the home he grew up in and forever, he will miss it. If being around a single happy child will make him feel more at home, so be it.

The thing is, Kabuto doesn't care about Y/N enough to care about raising her; after all, Orochimaru may kill him. However the idea of having a piece of his past that was taken frkm him back meant a lot to him. So why throw it away? And the thing tipping the scale towards possible death was Y/N's adorable big E/C eyes and cute voice, just like some of the girls in his old home. Plus how she can expirence what it's like to be parentless and be able to relate to him kn a deep level.

"Alright, I made up my mind," Kabuto spoke.

"Kabuto, please," Y/N spoke, her dry eyes swelling up with tears again. "I want to stay with you." Orochimaru smiled at Kabuto patiently, awaiting an answer.

"I'll take her in. It's best to keep a watchful eye under such a kekkei genkai, isn't it?" He asked rhetorically. Y/N gasped loudly before smiling widely and hugging him so tightly.

"Thank you! I promise you woke regret it, haha!" Kabuto frowned, patting the top of her head.

"Let's get you cleaned up before we sleep, Y/N. While you bathe, I'll find clothes for you, okay?" He asked as he pulled away from her hug. Y/N smiled happily as she nodded grabbing his hand before desending out if the room with Kabuto. Orochimaru stayed behind, watching closely, laughing under his breath about how innocent she is and what his plans for her will be.

It had been an hour later when the two of them were ready to go to sleep. After all, although it wasn't mentioned earlier, Kabuto was dirty from fighting earlier that day and he needed to bathe as well. Of course, separate from when Y/N did. The silverhead's chamber was relatively large and minimalistic, though now more crowded with a little mattress across the room and two bags full of clothes for her age group. There was a big bed, a dresser, a mirror, and a bunch of candles around the room for a light source. There, of course, was no windows and no toys for Y/N to play with much to her dismay hut she was too tired to question.

"You will sleep in my bed tonight," Kabuto spoke as he helped Y/N climb into his bed. "If you need anything, let me know. I'm blowing out all the candles so if you need anything, you have to speak before you doing anything else, okay?" Y/N yawned and nodded in understanding.

"Yep. Thank you," she replied as she rubbed her tired eyes and laid down. Kabuto blew out each candle on every side of the room before he returned to the small mattress across the room. It was comfortable but it would be removed so as Kabuto would eventually get Y/N a chamber of her own to sleep in of course. He pulled the covers over him and set his glasses on the floor besides him. "Hey Kabuto?"

"Yes?"

"I love you as much as my real dad. Thank you."

Kabuto frowned, taking a moment to comprehend what she had said. "I care about you too. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite," she giggled before slowly falling asleep under the covers.

[lavendersheep20]

I’m 16. The older I get, the more I realize how shitty some people have treated me in the past.

Because I’m autistic, it takes me longer than others to understand when or why people make fun of me or manipulate me.

I’m only now realizing how many people have taken advantage of my barely-noticeable-but-clearly-there social “deficits.”

It’s not that I’m bad at socializing. In fact, I can be very good at it.

I don’t click with too many people, but when I find people I love, I love them hard.

Growing up, I was always different. However this difference wasn’t really that unexpected, I was homeschooled until I was in 5th grade, my family was vaguely hippie (think natural childbirth, no tv, as I already said, homeschool, committed Ana Baptist Christians, brown bread, few packaged foods, etc), and I had always been a bright and “mature” child. If anyone, including me, noticed I was different than my peers, it could easily all be attributed to these things.

I must stress that I did have friends growing up. Even being homeschooled, my two sisters and I were far from cut off from the world. We had 8 friends in our neighborhood alone that we played with endlessly. It’s not that I lacked social connection, in fact I was very rarely lonely as a child. Being the oldest of three by four years, I also had a little sister who was always in a state of wanting to play with and follow me, which I usually adored.

When I was in 5th grade, I felt that I was ready to go off into the world. After much consideration, my parents agreed to send me to the local public school for one year. Over all, my memories of that year are quite fond. I was good at making friends, and most people liked me.

But despite my good friends, there were always bullies. In my class of 24 kids, there was a group of four girls who for some reason felt the need to pick on someone. I guess they decided I was the easiest target. I’m not sure what exactly it was that made them realize it would be so easy to bully me. But for some awful reason, in the middle of the school year, the “wHaT aRe ThOsE?!?” vibe made it big. For anyone who doesn’t remember, this was a video of someone making fun of another person for wearing crocks (I think?).

The thing was, coming from the weird family that I did, I most certainly was not connected to Vine. In fact, I’d never even heard of the platform! So when these girls started coming up to me and going “WHAT ARE THOSE!!!!” and pointing to my crocks (my favorite pair of shoes back then, I tended to be very attached to items of clothing for periods of time, another unknown autistic trait, and at that time my bright pink crocks were the shoe of choice for a good year and a half, even in the winter), I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. I understood that they were making fun of me, and I understood it had something to do with my shoes, but I couldn’t figure it out much beyond that.

See, contrary to popular belief, autistic people usually DO know when you are making fun of us. We just don’t often know why, or how to best respond to this.

And so the cycle began. These girls made fun of my shoes. I can’t remember how I responded exactly, but whatever I did it only encouraged them to do it more. The more they harassed me, the more they realized how helpless I was to defend myself. It was so cruel, when you really think about it, to pick a target you know can’t fight back.

In hindsight, these girls were only trying desperately to feel powerful in a system that made us all feel powerless. All of them were sporty “tomboys,” which was still acceptable at age 10, but was gradually becoming less so. I was actually introduced to the word “gay” when someone made fun of the ringleader of the group by calling her that. As girls, we were already at a disadvantage in our school and in our world, and we were starting to feel it.

This was only the very beginning of a lot of cruel people taking advantage of me because of my autistic traits. Did they think to themselves “Wow, it’s an autistic girl, she won’t understand if we bully her, let’s be super mean” ? No, I don’t think they did. But did they,  consciously or not, realize that I was different, that I was other, that I was vulnerable and naive? Definitely. And that’s what’s so painful.

The message of this story is not “don’t be mean or bully someone, they might be autistic!” While that is a good takeaway, I must say that a much better one is this: do not be mean or bully anyone, because they are human. It doesn’t matter if someone is autistic, neurotypical, or something else entirely. While it is especially cruel to target an autistic person, it is cruel to hurt people because they are people, and whether you understand it or not, they have emotions.

[jojorno]

I been having Thoughts and I feel like Bruno would be the exact type of person to get into unhealthy/possibly abusive relationships really easily. Here is my essay.

1: The first model for relationships that you see are your parents. His parents probably had an unhealthy relationship, given the divorce. Something about his mom just made me feel really ... Off when I watched it so I rewatched the scenes a few times and she’s... it describes her as nice but her actions don’t quite line up.

We see a brief image of them at the dinner table, Bruno and his mother close and smiling, while his father sits a foot away with an almost blank expression.

When Bruno overhears them talking about the divorce his mother says she “needs a change of scenery”. After a ten year marriage..... ok. It also states that the “reason” was only known by his parents, meaning there was more to it.

Then when they bring Bruno into the room to discuss it with him, his mother grabs his shoulders and tells him that it’s his decision. However she also immediately goes into complimenting him and selling points about moving to the city with her. When he chooses his father, they both seem shocked, and she starts shaking him while saying things like “you like me better, don’t you?” And “think about this!” Before sobbing in his shoulder. That’s really manipulative, especially to a young child that you’re asking to make a huge decision.

Even this early he seems withdrawn from others and doesn’t react much when his mother cries or even leaves.

2: He immediately went from living with his father to being in the mafia, where he was lead to believe that they were not selling drugs. He genuinely believed that the mafia did not sell drugs until he found them on someone. Considering this is shown after his father dies when he’s 17, he’s at least that age when he finds this out. This shows a certain... level of naivety I would say. Bruno is clever with his stand and seems to retain information well (ie. being able to identify the seagulls), but when he’s not actively fighting we see him lied to and manipulated over pretty big things twice and I think it’s safe to say that his cleverness doesn’t always extend to more interpersonal areas. His father is also mentioned to be stand-offish and not the best with others and shown to be mild-mannered and passive, Bruno seems quite similar to him in childhood.

3: Selfless is often a word used to describe him. But when you take selflessness to an extreme it can become self-sacrifice. We see Bruno make choices throughout golden wind that could have gone terribly or left him in a position to be take advantage of easily. He invites Narancia, a young teen that he’s known for presumably less than a day, to stay at his house. Kind? Immensely. A safe and rational decision? Mmm... less so. More clearly when he helps Fugo, the younger points out that he could end up killing Bruno, who literally says “well, let’s see.” He also does things like jumping out of a train at full speed and zipping his heart in half.

Overall these point to a personality, with it’s level of compassion and lack of self-preservation, that wouldn’t be hard to take advantage of. In addition with him blaming himself for the other’s injuries (particularly in the airplane when Trish points out he couldn’t have known and he still looks guilty and upset), there’s a good chance he also blames himself for other things he can’t really control. So I could entirely imagine him, with his compassionate streak and very likely savior complex, to be the kind that picks people up and goes “I can fix them!”. And instead just drags out a long and terrible relationship. He might even be aware of how bad it is, but still chase it because of a misplaced sense of self-worth stemming from how useful he is to others (which seems like something the mafia would encourage in their subordinates)

[ouyangzizhensdad]

I'm reading through some of your meta and in the one about WWX possibly weaponizing MXY being gay you mention how MXY being a molester was fabricated. I agree with this but I always thought that this was a personal headcanon and didn't realize that it was supported by canon. If you're up to it, please may you point me to where it might say this?

Hi anon, 

I’m sad to report that there isn’t a scene where JGY admits before a jury that yes, it was I, I fabricated the claims against Mo Xuanyu, who was a hapless victim all along! which would be convenient for winning arguments quickly and easily. But, I promise you, so long as we read between the lines, it is undeniable that we are meant to understand by the end of the novel that the accusations leveled against Mo Xuanyu were baseless and that he was another victim of JGY’s (and NHS’s!) machinations.

Beyond a purely thematic reading of the novel, which would  therefore highlight  that the theme around how public opinion is willing to believe accusations and condemn without material or sensible proof (particularly so when it comes to people who do not hold a lot of power within society, those who are the Other) is one that is repeated across many characters, the narrative reveal of JGY’s true personality and actions indicates that the accusations against MXY were just  another ploy of JGY’s. 

At the very beginning of the novel, when WWX looks through Mo Xuanyu’s things, he’s able to piece out together that Mo Xuanyu’s “lunacy” seemed rooted in a deep and paranoiac fear of.... something. MXY didn’t just get thrown out of the Sect in disgrace--something clearly happened to him, or he clearly witnessed something that scared him out of his senses. 

“after he returned, he seemed to have gone completely mad—although no one could tell what kind of shock he’d suffered. He had good days and bad ones. It was as if he had been scared witless.” [Chapter 1]

Further into the novel, it is revealed that MXY didn’t actually harass his “peers” but actually only one person: Jin Guangyao. Right after this reveal, we also learn that MXY used to treat JGY with the utmost respect and deference. While Jin Ling seems to misunderstand this past deification of JGY as a side-effect of MXY’s presumed feelings for him, as readers we can see how it actually raises doubts into the claims leveraged against MXY, as it would then seem very out of character for MXY to disrespect JGY by harassing him (especially if one considers that the risks of harassing his powerful half-brother definitely would not outweigh the benefits....).

“Don’t listen to [JGY],” said Wei Wuxian. “Let me tell you—when you grow older, you’ll find out that there are more and more people you want to beat up, but you’ll have to force yourself to get along with them nicely. So, since you’re still young, go beat up all the people you want. At such an age, if you don’t have a few proper fights, your life won’t be complete.”

Jin Ling’s face betrayed faint yearning, yet he still sounded contemptuous, “What are you talking about? Shushu’s advice is for my own good.”

After he spoke, he suddenly remembered that the past Mo Xuanyu had always regarded Jin Guangyao as a deity. He definitely would not have disagreed with Jin Guangyao in any way. Yet, now he was saying not to listen to him. Was it that he really did not hold any improper thoughts toward Jin Guangyao anymore?

(we also learn that Zewu-jun never knew about what supposedly happened, or even who MXY was, which again.....fishy.... JGY what are you hiding...... not mentioning someone harassed you to your bff is one thing, but not introducing him to your half-bro?.... )

Then! Almost right after we learn all this new information, it is also revealed through WWX’s paperman adventures and NMJ’s adventures that JGY is not who he has presented himself to be: he is a master manipulator, who has lied and continues to lie to preserve his position and to eliminate people he perceives as threatening the place he carved for himself in sweat and tears and blood. 

At this point, the deal is pretty much sealed: we have an unreliable witness in the man we now know to be able to do incredibly scary and cruel things (a knowledge that will only be reinforced by the end of the novel once NHS’ plan is completed). What actually happened, how MXY went from someone who deified JGY to someone who would need to be sent away in disgrace and scared into silence and compliance, all this is not told to us by the novel. It is possible that JGY might have seen MXY as a potential accomplice to his deeds (like he did his other half-brother, XY) (EDIT: I DREAMED UP THAT XY was one of JGS’s bastard children, please disregard it), or that he might have seen MXY as a potential threat to his position because of they shared a father--honestly, I can see many possibilities here! 

Also, it is important to consider that even the claim of MXY’s “lunacy”  is pretty fraught and ambiguous. The novel ends up setting up the idea that MXY’s erratic behaviour was related to him being scared (as we see in the and frustrated at the injustice he received at the hands of both the Jin Sect and his family (for example, this piece of shino meta)

Finally, it’s a good time to remember that even MXY’s sacrifice was not a decision he made on his own: he was once again the victim of a mastermind with much more power and influence than he could ever dream to have. After all, the novel takes pain to explain to us that NHS’s schemes for revenge depended on MXY sacrificing himself (passage under the cut because this post is getting long!)

“Nie-zongzhu,” Wei Wuxian asked again. “I heard that you often travel between the Gusu Lan sect and the Lanling Jin sect, am I right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then did you really not recognize Mo Xuanyu?”

“Ah?” Nie Huaisang’s face twitched slightly. 

“I remember that the first time I met you after my soul had been offered into his body, you acted as if you did not recognize me, and even asked Hanguang-jun who I was. Mo Xuanyu was then entangled anyhow with Jin Guangyao during that time* and was able to access even his secret collections, and you often went to find Jin-zongzhu to complain. Even if you and Mo Xuanyu were not familiar with each other, did you really not see him before at all?”

Nie Huaisang scratched his head, saying, “Wei-xiong, Jinlintai is so huge, I can’t possibly recognize everyone, even if I’ve seen them, I can’t remember. Moreover…” 

Looking rather awkward, he continued, “You know about Mo Xuanyu’s identity back then, it’s slightly…...the Lanling Jin sect had tried their best to hide it, so it wouldn’t have been surprising if I had never met him before. Even Xichen-ge may not have met him before.”

“Oh, that’s true. Zewu-jun did not know who Mo Xuanyu was either.”

“Right! And what I don’t understand is, even if I had seen Mo Xuanyu before, why would I pretend not to recognize him? Was there such a need?”

Wei Wuxian laughed and replied, “Nothing much, I just thought it strange and was casually asking. 

However, he thought, He was simply trying to see whether the ‘Mo Xuanyu’ he met was the real one.

For someone who was said to have been cowardly and weak, where would have Mo Xuanyu gotten the courage to sacrifice himself and offer his soul?

And as for Chifeng-zun’s left hand, why was it discarded? It could not be that Jin Guangyao would accidentally lose it.

Moreover, why was it that it happened to appear right at the Mo family residence, just when Wei Wuxian had been reincarnated, but not somewhere else? 

If Chifeng-zun’s body had been buried by the QingheNie sect, would Nie Huaisang, who had always respected his older brother, not notice that his body had disappeared all these years?

Wei Wuxian was inclined to believe an alternative situation. 

[...]

As such, [NHS] thought of another person; Mo Xuanyu, who had just been kicked out of the Golden Pavilion. 

Perhaps in order to let Mo Xuanyu listen to him, Nie Huaisang had already spoken to him before and heard from an upset and anguished Mo Xuanyu that he had seen one of Jin Guangyao’s scrolls of forbidden spells recording a certain ancient demonic spell. He then took advantage of the Mo Xuanyu, who was then humiliated and bullied by his clan, to persuade him to perform the spell as revenge**. 

And which fierce corpse would he summon?

Naturally, he would summon the Yiling Patriarch.

Unable to bear the days of humiliation any longer, Mo Xuanyu finally drew the array, and Nie Huaisang also took the chance to throw out the hot potato that was burning his hand: ChiFeng-Zun’s left arm.

From there on, his plan had begun and he no longer had to spend his own time and energy to find Nie Mingjue’s remaining body, leaving the dangerous and troublesome job to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. All he had to do was watch their actions closely. [Chapter 109]

*I changed the translation here, which originally said that “Mo Xuanyu was harassing Jin Guangyao” since I find (at least with my limited linguistic skills lmao) that the original is much more ambivalent. The clause is  莫玄羽当年好歹也纠缠过金光瑶, and the use of  好歹 signals to me toward ambivalence, which is further compounded by the fact that the verb  纠缠 does not necessarily translate to harassment. So I doubt that the original intent was to suggest that WWX was saying to NHS: shouldn’t you have known the dude who was harassing JGY? Anyone who knows Chinese more than I do is free to come and correct me if I am completely wrong in my assessment.

**Okay I changed the translation here again because the translation I was working with made it seem as if MXY was motivated by shame? but the original Chinese says  他便怂恿当时饱受族人欺辱的莫玄羽 which to me clearly points to his treatment by the Mo family/clan and to the fact that it was something being done unto him, not a state of mind he had. 

[twistedapple]

Crackling Fire

And here the announced piece! I felt like working on something nice and hopeful this time around, it was fun. Very minor spoilers regarding stuff that’ll be fully addressed in Neve’s backstory, but it really shouldn’t detract from the text itself and it’s not a big deal if you read about it now. Little addendum at the end, however.

BGM: 1, 2, 3

Without further ado...

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The winter holiday was approaching fast, way too fast for Malleus. He knew exactly what he wanted to do, but he had to be clever about it to fully normalize the situation. Aside from his amusing little plan for the new student at Ramshackle dorm, he wanted to prepare the field to separate Bianca from her family on one hand, and put himself as a worthy mediator towards her parents – especially her mother – on the other hand. He had made no attempt during their first year, preferring to wait and see instead, and Bianca’s first second year had been… Difficult for her, so he felt it would have been out of bound to start meddle a bit. However, this time seemed auspicious enough for him, yet it also made him painfully aware of how far he still had to go. Even though coming to NRC had been meant to help him expand his horizon and improve in his understanding of other people through a new setting, he still felt his shortcomings as well as the prejudices he had to face, and as far as House Bosconero was concerned, it worried him. After all, the family had sworn fealty to the Draconia long ago, and had been faithful servants ever since. However, their power lied in diplomacy and a powerful network that extended way beyond the Valley of Thorns, and while the family had been notorious for its shrewd ways, Crimilde, the current head of the house, had shown an exceptional talent at it, carefully cultivated by her own mother, Margherita Bosconero, friend to the Witch of Thorns and a Head of the Magic Council who had been known for the reforms she’d brought. With such illustrious background, the notion of facing Crimilde Bosconero definitely seemed humbling, even as Malleus Draconia. Despite being known as the Lady of the Yew, she was very much a dragon herself, if only in temperament.  And that part was only half of the issue.

So, Malleus found himself thinking about the way he could get Bianca to at least spend some days with him without it seeming generally forceful or suspicious. It truly was a situation that emphasized the importance of a solid choice of words and how much power a simple yet formal invitation could hold. However, no matter how much he tried to keep it to himself, his quiet mulling didn’t escape the watchful eyes of his supervisor. One evening, Lilia managed to corner him into a one-on-one conversation.

- What’s bothering you on this fine evening?

- Nothing.

- Oh please, I have seen you sulking whenever you’re on your own, lately.  So, will you tell me? Maybe I can be of help?

- ...

- ...

- It’s about the winter holiday. There’s something I wish to do, but the situation is quite difficult to handle... From an interpersonal perspective.

- Hoho, so you intend to invite someone? Who’s the chosen one, for this to be that prickly for you?

-  ... Bianca Bosconero.

- Bosconero? How is that difficult? The family has been loyal for centuries; shouldn’t a proper invitation be enough for them? Unless... Wasn’t Bianca rumoured to have a rather fragile health? Is it what worries you, you think it’ll be difficult because they wish to preserve their daughter?

As Lilia kept asking questions to have a full picture of the situation, Malleus managed to contain a groan when the rumour regarding Bianca’s health was brought up.  That had been the official explanation for her disappearance both from her home, then from social life as her parents kept her under close watch at the Bosconero Estate. Crimilde and her husband Sigfrido were both known to be cunning and fairly opportunistic, and here was a perfect example of how they had managed to turn a difficult situation to their advantage while hiding everything that could cause public embarrassment, with a single, simple statement. It could even been considered a technical truth, with Bianca’s tendency to blot indeed making her more fragile as far as manipulation of magic was concerned. However, while Lilia had a hunch something may be off based on the help Bianca had asked of him during the previous years, Malleus was fully aware of the untold story – he had witnessed a part of it himself -, and couldn’t help being annoyed whenever that public manipulation was mentioned, despite understanding that the family also refused to have its dirty laundry out in the open. The younger fairy decided to keep quiet and build on his supervisor’s questions to divert the attention a bit.

- Well there is that, and also... Well it’s the Winter celebrations too, and I thought maybe it’d concern them to know their daughter may fall under political scrutiny if we’re seen together...

- Taking the political aspect into consideration, hm? Excellent reflex, Malleus. However, I think it costs nothing to try and go with a formal invitation for her parents. With her background, I expect Bianca to be able to handle the scrutiny, but testing the waters with her family doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Having a chat with her may help you as well... Unless you meant for that to be a surprise?

The last question was asked with that mysterious, knowing look Lilia had a habit of sporting and it brought Malleus back to his first year, a bit after the entrance ceremony, when he had been questioned in regard to his reaction when Bianca joined them near the carriage. Too old to be fooled, Lilia had been wondering how they got to know each other to the point they would react in such a way when meeting up, yet hadn’t been too pressing with his questions. In fact, he seemed quite satisfied with the knowledge that there was someone like that in the prince’s entourage, and that the feeling seemed mutual. Still, scrutiny meant that assumptions could be made, chief among them a more... Permanent alliance between the Crown Prince and a well-born lady from a historical allied household. If that idea was something Malleus knew would happen, he knew it in theory. As soon as he’d start thinking about it, he would feel abnormally nervous. Not that having his life take such a turn with Bianca was the issue – quite the contrary, in fact -, but it reminded him of how young he felt.  He still wanted to enjoy his life a bit before fully taking his official duties.

After having given the matter more consideration, the fairy decided to go with his supervisor’s suggestion and aim for a rather formal invitation destined to Bianca’s family, who would then inform her. Despite her current strained relationship with them – which involved partially cutting ties -, Malleus knew she still kept a minimal contact in order to perform her own official duties as a member of House Bosconero, and having them be in the know first regarding the Winter plans would be the most efficient way to have them accept the whole situation; they could even see it as an honour and push Bianca to be on her best behaviour to leave a good impression – not that she needed to do it, and Malleus trusted her enough to know she could handle herself in a Court setting. But graciously tricking her parents a bit was a necessary first step if he wanted their relationship to fully be of the long term kind.

As expected, Crimilde and Sigfrido informed their daughter of the invitation, and gave an appropriately formal reply in which they gracefully accepted to have her spend some time with their Prince, while expressing their gratefulness at the kind offer. Bianca, however, had a much funnier reaction when the two fairies joined for a nocturnal walk, her cheeks flushed with a barely contained excitement at the idea of finally being able to spend time with Malleus in a more open, official manner.

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When the time came for the students to leave NRC for the Winter holiday, Bianca first spent  the days of the Winter celebrations with her family before leaving the Bosconero Estate for the castle held by the Draconia, with its imposing main building and towers domineering the Valley in a much more imposing manner than the villa of the Bosconero Estate did. If Bianca was quite impressed on her first day in the castle, she did an excellent job at hiding it and managed to adapt so quickly it was almost as if she had always lived there. Malleus knew she would have no trouble following along, but he was fairly taken aback nonetheless; this was clearly the adaptability of someone who’d been used from a young age to cope with all sorts of situations, and Bianca’s independent and observant nature likely helped in that regard.

Among the various activities they enjoyed together, the very first one was to go on a gargoyle tour, as it had been a long time since they last did so. The cold weather and snow seemed to make Bianca strive, rather than shiver – which, all things considered, wasn’t that surprising since blackthorn sloes would ripen with the first frost and its blooming would happen while winter was still on its way. Of course, Bianca didn’t pass the opportunity to poke fun at Malleus for yet again using an innocent young girl as alibi for his walks without guards, to which he replied he’d help her feel balmy if she ever complained about the cold. One afternoon, she even had him with her for an introduction to table top rpgs, and while he merely decided to be a silent witness to the party’s on-going shenanigans online, he had the pleasure to discover a side of Bianca he somehow had never seen before: her hysterical laughter while dealing with the events of the session, which involved invading an outpost of enemy paladins while she played as the rogue half of the Gnomes in a Trench Coat – the other being a warlock.

However, an event that happened on a quiet evening spent in private likely defined the entire holiday and marked a new step in their relationship. Through human eyes, the whole relation may have been moving at the slowest pace, with the smallest steps, yet it was how they wished to move – besides, time was very different from the perspective of a fairy.

Malleus had asked Bianca if she wanted to listen to a little piece for cello he had composed, to finish the evening. The piece still needed to be refined in his opinion, so it would be a private listening in his bedroom, after they shared a glass of Sloe Gin – a traditional winter drink in the Valley, the bottle being one of the presents Bianca had brought with, a gin of the highest quality produced by the Bosconero Estate. Curiosity getting the better of her, she accepted and once they changed into more comfortable outfits, she joined him in his bedroom. It felt strange for Malleus have her there – it was the first time one of them accessed to the other’s most private space, and she openly took a good look of the room, with its shelves full of books, various instruments neatly set and clearly cared for, an ornate fireplace with comfortable seats facing it, and a large bed covered with soft blankets. As he offered her a seat in front of the fireplace, Malleus went towards the window to pull the heavy curtains. It would hide the snow falling outside, but would help keep the room pleasantly warm.

As he sat in front of Bianca, putting himself in the proper position while holding his cello, he took a glance at her and felt a light flush grow on his cheeks; her hair was down in a thick braid and her silk dressing gown shone softly, the foliate patterns on cream and gold looking alive in the dim light. With heedful eyes set on him, he gestured a quick spell to muffle the sounds at the door and keep his creation a secret for a little while longer. Then he started playing, while Bianca was all ears and quietly sipping her glass of Sloe Gin. While words would have trouble getting out when his feelings were involved, music made it much easier for him to fully express himself; so he played with the hope that he could connect with her again. At some point, Bianca sat more comfortably in the large seat and closed her eyes to fully focus on the music. While the way he played tended to be qualified of mysterious, this time there was a more intimate tone to it, like gentle words exchanged in private. And once the last note finished resonating in the room, she opened her eyes again and gave him a smile.

- That was beautiful. Did you create this piece with a duet in mind? It really sounded like it.

- Well, a duet could be arranged indeed... What do you think?

- I’d have to find it in me to sing again, and the notes still stay stuck when I try to do something. Sorry, I can’t do that yet.

- It’s fine; there is no need for you to hurry. Just... Tell me when you’re ready.  Anyway, it’s getting late and –

- Can I stay here?

As he was about to put his cello away and see Bianca off for what was left of the night, Malleus stopped in his track when he heard her question and looked at her in surprise. He had thought about a little show of affection before letting her go back to her room to rest, but he hadn’t expected that sort of move – though he did appreciate the boldness of the request, in typical Bianca fashion. And truth be told, he could see the appeal of spending more time together, even if it was for a single night. Because they were in different dorms and different classes, they didn’t have many occasions to properly keep each other company, and before that... Well, before that they had played a long game of patience. One night was nothing and everything at the same time, so Malleus agreed to her request while putting his cello back on its stand.

When he went to his preferred side of the bed to set for the night and started removing the black wool cardigan he liked to wear during that time of the day, it fully hit him that they would spend their first proper night together. Back when Bianca lived in the wild as a runaway, they only saw each other at night, true... But it was different, since it was during a time when both of them were still fairly active, and he only stayed over for entire nights when she had first been found out by her family – he had judged leaving her to her own devices insensitive and preferred keeping her company as much as he could during that short period. Now, however... Malleus turned his gaze and saw her casually throw her silk evening gown at the foot of the bed before slipping under the blankets, his heart skipping a beat as his eyes fell on her night outfit, a satin top and assorted shorts in a golden fabric and cream lace. Gold really did suit her.

Once under the covers, the two fairies settled closer to each other, and for a few long seconds it felt like their heartbeat was thundering across the room. The tension broke only when Malleus made the first move and gently moved a wild strand of hair away from her face, caressing her cheek from the tip of his fingers. A flush became visible on her face as he did so and he found himself unable to contain an amused smile. Despite her bold nature, Bianca could still be easily flustered by affectionate gestures, yet would seek more every time – something almost immediately proven right when she got closer to him and slipped an arm around his waist, her hand snaking its way up and her fingers gently drawing figures on his back. Malleus felt a pleasant shiver run down his spine under the touch and rose a bit on his elbow to reply with a gentle, first proper goodnight kiss.

----------

When Bianca woke up, the room was dark. The fireplace that had given some light as they fell asleep was now only full of cooled down embers, but from under the covers she couldn’t feel the chill air in the bedroom. The familiar scent of tea, soft spices and winter fire achieved to wake her up and the weight of Malleus’ arm, still wrapped around her, brought her back to the sweet evening they had spent. After he had wished her goodnight, she had settled against him and, while basking in a precious feeling of warmth and protection, she had gently fallen asleep. Now, she was staying in his embrace and enjoying the quiet early morning. The thought of having more peaceful awakenings crossed her mind, yet were promptly followed by all the political implications. Just knowing that they had shared a bed like that would be enough for some to draw wild conclusions and feed a potential scandal. But with cards cleverly played, it would be possible to turn the whole situation to a massive advantage. Still, she wouldn’t allow such things to happen without a proper talk with Malleus. The way he had been behaving around her left no room for doubt in regard to his own feelings, so this part at least wouldn’t be an issue for either of them, and would give them more time to deal with the more practical aspects of their situation.

She felt the dragon fairy stir next to her, and it put her out of her train of thoughts. His voice was still heavy with sleep when he wished her a good morning, and they remained still for a little while longer before Bianca started moving.

- I should go back to my room, I’d like to stretch properly before preparing myself for breakfast.

- You stretch, now? Where did you get that from?

- Vil. Back in first year, I asked him to show me some moves. It’s surprisingly relaxing, you should try!

- The thought that we can still learn such things from humans... How interesting. Would it suit you if we do that tomorrow morning?

- Yes, and wear comfortable clothes that leave room for movement.

- Understood. And now... See you at breakfast.

While they were chatting, Bianca had been busy putting on her silk gown. As she was about step away from the bed, a hand with long, slightly calloused fingers reached out to grab hers. Malleus gave her a smile, a hint of mischief in his eyes, before gently kissing her knuckles. As he did so, she barely had time to register the spell before realising she was back in her bedroom, her hand still up with the ghost sensation of his lips. A burning red coloured her pale cheeks and she hurriedly took a pillow to hide her face in it. He really had no idea of how accidentally charming he could be, did he now?

----------

Once he had sent Bianca directly to her bedroom with a spell, Malleus rolled over and took a deep breath. He could still feel her scent, sweet grass and fresh flowers, still feel her pleasantly cool skin, a curious effect likely due to her being bound to a tree. The very first step of his plan was still in motion, so he wouldn’t scream victory yet – however, the result was clearly boding well for them and it pleased him greatly. His thoughts went yet again towards her, in her golden top and shorts, with her hand drawing circles on his back and her ever so soft lips. This in turn made him jump from his bed and run to his private bathroom for a good shower.

----------

Addendum: about fairies and sleep, I had asked about it on Discord. What little the canon informations gave us so far is basically: Malleus wanders around at night, Lilia plays games all night (and went for a nice early morning walk when the game was in maintenance - see Vil’s PE card). Now my question was, “do fairies need to sleep”, because no matter how powerful and ancient you are, there’s a point during the day where you’d need to rest your body and brain a bit, right? So I decided to go for something along the lines of the Elves in DnD, who don’t need sleep in itself but practice a trance for 4 hours to rest and focus on their memories in order to not lose themselves to time (DnD Elves can live up to 750 years). So I wouldn’t consider the night Bianca and Malleus spent as a proper full night the way humans do, but as something maybe shorter and more akin to the DnD concept aforementionned. I tried to integrate it in a way that feels natural from a character’s POV and vague enough to leave room for more canon informations to fit in (if we ever get that lol). 

[revenge-of-the-shit]

Sneak Peak - Disconnected Conduit, Chapter 14

BECAUSE it is taking me too long to finish this fucking chapter, here’s a sneak peek because y’all deserve it. I’ve posted part of this sneak peek before, but here’s some new content. Unbeta’d. 

Then.

The trees of Dathomir cast long shadows with their branches. They stretch across the sky in a haphazard pattern, forming a jagged canopy that looms high over their heads. 

The moment Ahsoka steps off the ship, the branches twitch, stretching ever so slightly to turn towards her with reaching, spidery fingers. She smiles. Of course they’re reaching towards her - she’s Light. She’s life. 

Behind her, her masters step off the ship as well. Anakin’s body merges with each shadow cast by the branches, making his body look half-formed at best, a strange, twisted caricature of a half-human. It doesn’t really look like he’s walking - Ahsoka thinks his movements look far too smooth for that. Humans always have a certain way of walking - there’s always a slight up-down motion of their bodies every time their feet strike the ground. But with Anakin, there isn’t even the slightest bit of that. Just a strange, continuous forward motion.

If she looks at his face, she thinks that it would scare most people with how it only looks half-formed, like a body with pale skin and a mouth slashing through its cheeks with his head half-bashed in, only his head isn’t really bashed in - it’s just partially formed of incorporeal shadow. 

As for Obi-Wan, the part of Ahsoka that’s still a regular Togruta thinks it’s almost humorous how he seems to glide rather than walk, his legs completely dissolved into a blue-green mist that occasionally swirls to form a semblance of human legs before coalescing into a shapeless cloud again. 

It would be funny if it didn’t look so wrong. Her masters don’t look human at all. 

And she doesn’t care. She’s not afraid - she accepts it, because she knows she doesn’t look Togruta at all. She knows that when they look at her, they see something that’s not right.

“You look upset,” Anakin tells Obi-Wan. His voice sounds all strange, as if his normal voice is layered with the voice of the Son and something else, except Ahsoka can’t quite catch those other sounds. They’re there, but they’re just at the edge of her hearing, making it easy for her to think that she’s imagined it. 

Obi-Wan is looking downwards, frowning at the mist which should be making up his legs, but aren’t. “Well, I do seem to have an unfortunate amount of trouble remembering what a normal body should feel like.”

Anakin laughs, and so does Ahsoka. Anakin’s laugh is sharp and harsh and a tad too cold to sound like him. “It’s alright, Master,” Anakin teases. “The fading memory comes with the age.” 

“Yeah. You’re getting old, Master Kenobi,” Ahsoka adds, and both she and Anakin laugh again when Obi-Wan turns to her with a betrayed look. 

“Of all the padawans to be saddled with, it had to be you two,” he grumbles, and Anakin slings an arm of shadow around Obi-Wan’s half-dissolved shoulders. It works, strangely, the shadow mingling with the blue-green to turn it into a muddled colour where they make contact. 

“Admit it, you wouldn’t know what to do without us.” Anakin’s smile is too wide, his teeth too sharp and gleaming, yet Obi-Wan looks at it, completely unfazed, with the same amount of fond exasperation as he always does. “Right, Snips?”

“Of course,” Ahsoka laughs again, and a part of her marvels at how it sounds entirely unlike her. The laughter rings like bells across the forest, making the trees shift as they straighten at the sound. 

It’s not her laughter. It sounds absolutely nothing like her, and it should scare her. 

It doesn’t. 

--

The walk to the Nightsister coven is a short one. They spend half of it bantering as if there’s nothing amiss, the other half in a contemplative silence. While his padawans are bickering, Obi-Wan takes a moment to observe the changes within them as well as the ones within himself. Clearly, the Force on Dathomir has affected them in some way, uncovering their… true presences, for lack of better term. 

He wonders how the Nightsisters will receive them. He wonders if Asajj Ventress will be there, and he takes a moment to savor her potential reaction. 

“Master Kenobi?”

Ahsoka’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts. He glances at her quizzically, and she looks pointedly at his torso. He looks down. 

“Ah.” He looks back up, and carefully moves to the side. He’d been half-inside a tree and he hadn’t noticed. “Thank you.”

“That’s the fourth tree you’ve walked through,” Anakin notes. He says it almost casually, as if it’s something that’s perfectly normal. He raises his hand, pointing towards some of the low-hanging pods which are strung up on the branches of the trees up ahead. “I wouldn’t want to walk through those if I were you.” 

Obi-Wan dips his head. “Of course not.”

He knows what’s in the pods. The information in the Temple archives had detailed how all deceased Nightsisters were buried in such pods near the coven. What’s more, though many of them are long dead - perhaps centuries old, even - he can still sense the way the Force moves through them, sickly and slowly and with a carefully manipulated coldness. The thought of him passing unknowingly through the graves of the dead sisters not only makes him shudder - it makes him feel guilty. It would be very disrespectful, after all - it is one thing to walk over someone’s grave, and another to walk straight through it. 

They pass through the pods in silence, respectfully keeping a distance.

Something twitches at the edge of his vision. He looks sharply and sees nothing there, but a slight chill runs through his back. After they've passed the fifth pod, he speaks out. "The pods should be filled with bodies." 

Anakin raises an eyebrow. "They are."

They walk past another pod, and Obi-Wan's reason for speaking becomes clear when something inside the pod twitches and nudges the linens in an attempt to move closer to them. The lining of the pods do not break, but Obi-Wan is certain that there are bodies inside there that are moving. 

"It's because of me," Ahsoka says nonchalantly. They turn to face her. The unnatural glow coming from her skin bathes the area around them with a white-gold hue, making her difficult to look at directly. “The Light is waking them up. I’m not pushing enough energy to fully awaken them, but it’s enough to make them move a little.” 

She looks completely unfazed at the prospect of accidentally making the dead reawaken. 

(Through their training bond, Obi-Wan can sense that she really isn’t afraid at all, and it makes him worry. It’s not right. She doesn’t even seem interested - just too calm. Too serene. Too peaceful.)

A sudden spike of fear, carefully controlled but present, alerts Obi-Wan to several presences ahead. He turns to the entrance of the coven to see Mother Talzin and a couple of sisters flanking her only a short ways away. One of the sisters is robed in red; the other in black, with two familiar twin lightsabers at her belt. 

Asajj Ventress. 

Behind Obi-Wan, he senses Ahsoka’s emotions darken in a protective, vengeful anger just as he hears Anakin growl “Ventress” in a threatening tone. Before they can move, Obi-Wan throws out a hand, holding them back with the blue-green mist. 

“Let us not be hasty,” he quietly reminds them. Ahsoka complies immediately, her anger dissipating back into the strange calmness, whereas Anakin pushes against the blue-green mist for a few moments before he, too, relents. “The Council has agreed to leave her alone only on this planet provided that she does not attack us. And I sense no malice from her.” 

There definitely isn’t any malice at all. Instead, as they approach, though Ventress’ face is hidden by a cloth mask, Obi-Wan can sense the sharp fear that murmurs around her in the Force. When he and his padawans finally arrive at an acceptable distance to speak with the Nightsisters, Mother Talzin bows low, bending at the waist, while the two sisters at her side drop to their knees. 

“Great Ones,” she greets, “you honor us with your presence.” 

In the Force, Obi-Wan can sense Anakin’s glee at Ventress’ terror and deference. 

“It is the Will of the Force that we were the Jedi who were sent to aid you in defending your home,” Obi-Wan says in return. He pushes aside feelings of discomfort at their submission - as a general, he knows well enough when to use an advantage if necessary. “You may rise.” 

The Nightsisters straighten up and stand. Only Mother Talzin dares to meet Obi-Wan’s eyes. “We do not have much time. Your arrival has strengthened our magicks and our abilities of divination.” Her eyes wander to Ahsoka’s form, then to behind her back, where the wings of white-gold shimmer, nearly invisible to the naked eye. Talzin’s eyes then flicker to Anakin. “Dooku wishes to pull another trick. His attack will arrive one week earlier than anticipated - we have but two rotations to prepare.”

Anakin smirks, the expression horrifying on a face where the mouth stretches from ear to ear. “Good,” he laughs, and the Nightsisters flinch at the sharp edge of his tone. “I don’t like waiting.” 

Mother Talzin smiles then, and Obi-Wan is strongly reminded of why she is the clan Mother. Even Ventress, a powerful Force user in her own right, pales in comparison to the power he senses in Talzin. As if sensing his thoughts, Talzin turns to him, a grateful smile on her lips with a hardened glint in her eyes. “Your very presence will aid us greatly in our fight against Dooku’s minions,” she says, and had Obi-Wan still been fully human, he would have shuddered. 

But he’s not. So instead he offers her a smile, and they make their way inside to begin preparations.

[booksbookandmorebooks]

Things i didn't like about the little women 2019 movie.

Hello my lovelies! I am back today with my second part of my previous little women review, this section as you could probably tell is based around all the issues I had with the movie, but I do want to put a little disclaimer. I am sure some of my points will have explanations if not, more detail about the points I will be making but due to the fact I haven't read much of the book I am looking at this with no previous knowledge and just the information and story I was provided with from the film, I also want to make clear majority of these issues are with the story not the actual movie creation and direction. So with that in mind, please be kind and lets dive in!

Laurie's character development.

Now before I start I want to make it clear, I liked the character of Laurie initially, the first few scenes we see him in he is fun loving, carefree and just a big kid. We see him absolutely flourish within the girls company but yet the huge 180 in his over all character was a little alien to me and left me feeling very confused and if I'm honest, a little irritated. His demeanour in the second half of the movie is so very different. We see him change from his childish self to this very self absorbed and self destructive person, for example when we attends the ball and sees Amy, he is sloppily dressed, drunk and extremely ill mannered, completely disregarding the stress and repercussions that this situation will later cause Amy. Which is so contradictory to his earlier caring nature we grew to love. 

Another prime example is again, when he approaches Amy in the gardens when she is sketching, he comes across so egotistical and smarmy. Almost expecting Amy when faced with his advances to fall to her knees and become so grateful he has even graced her by seeing her in a romantic light. Which is a disgusting trait in any male or female character. Are we expected to believe that years later, Jo's rejection is still playing so heavily in his mind it has caused him to spiral? We have all faced breakups, rejections and unrequited love and while yes they are hard to deal with and can see, soul destroy at he time we inevitably move on and learn from them which Laurie clearly hasn't. Which leads me to my next point.

Amy.

Yes, Amy hands down is my favourite character as I see her as the most layered out of all the girls but the story line with Laurie just frustrated my inner independent woman.

Going back to the garden scene with her and Laurie, we see her completely tear him down, we see her show him strength regardless of how hard it was for her to contain her feelings, feeling which we are told have been building for years, we see her explain to him the hurt and offence he has caused her while confessing his so called feelings to her because when you think of it from her point of view, she has had feelings for him from a very young age, but has accepted that is her burden to carry and that she has no hand in his feelings for Jo which is a hard situation but is out of her control and sadly, is out of his. A typical and heart breaking case of unrequited love. so really there is no blame and no insult shared, yet when Jo rejects him he decides that Amy is his next best shot and he begins to play on his knowledge of her feelings for him and use this to his own personal advantage by manipulating her feelings and falling back onto plan B. 

All of this she is aware of an refuses to subject her self to such degrading actions, which is something we rarely see happen in movies, and had me really feeling for her. Stuck in a hard place of heart break and inner strength BUT hard cut to the ending of the movie, we find that she had disregarded all those facts and feelings by giving into Laurie and we learn they have in fact married. Which just left me very shocked and disappointed in her. I expected this from Laurie but not Amy.

Laurie's confession.

Now this, this scene hurt my heart and angered my soul for many reasons. When Laurie informs Jo of his marriage my heart broke for her, because he did it in such a heartless way, which in turn solidified my belief that Laurie's intentions were to hurt Jo in this scene and that was all that was behind it. When you really look at it, you can say he didn't know of Jo’s feelings towards him, but why then tell her he will always have feelings for her, because if he genuinely believed that he wouldn't have felt the need to soften the blow by confessing that. It makes no sense! He continues to tell her his love for Amy is very different, that's it's real love, not puppy love. Knowing of their past, and knowing the intense relationship romantic or not his delivery boarders on nasty in it's careless delivery. 

Yes, I am aware Jo made it clear she had no romantic feelings for Laurie but It was so very obvious that Jo was just scared, she was scared of loosing who she was to a man so much so that she rejected him and if he really knew her as well as I know he did he could see the situation for what it really was, a scared young girl pressured into making a decision that she felt would change not only her life but herself. He could always see through her lies, so why not now? No. Laurie was hurt by her rejection and whether it was subconsciously or not, he wanted to tell her the news see her reaction and hurt her the way she hurt him.

Have you ever made a joke about something to someone and they pretend they're fine with it but really you know it's caused offence or upset because they keep referring to it and bringing it up? Yeah, well Laurie brings up his past relationship with Jo two three times in the space of about five minutes, in front of a variety of people which include his wife. Not only does that show he has not moved on as he so clearly claims, but that again he disregards his wife's feelings and upset through this specific comment.

The timing of said confession.

Can we also take a second to talk about the god damn timing?! He decides to tell her, on the day of her sister funeral, are you joking?! How entitled do you have to be to think your new marriage takes precedence over the death of a person and not just anyone, a close friend and sister of you, your wife and your life long friends. if i have by chance got my timelines messed up please correct me because this was just a shock to me when watching.

Now don't worry, I'm going to stop ripping these characters apart now and move on to one other issue I had. I know all of these will most probably be a little controversial and I remind you, this is just an opinion post so please be respectful, but...

Jo and Friedrich Bhaer.

While I am of the opinion Jo and Laurie should of been together, I promise in spite of the beginning of this post I'm not bitter about it. But this was another match I wasn't feeling. I understand that relationships aren't perfect, and sometime you can't force what may appear to be the perfect and ideal match but these two were a bit of stretch.

The fact that this was the man who was supposed to change Jo’s mind about marriage(something her unofficial childhood sweetheart couldn't manage)and he had about as much chemistry with our girl as I have with my current diet was just straight up disappointing. I mean, Something's just aren't meant to be and this, is one of them. Throughout the movie, their relationship seemed strained, and not in the cute love hate cliche we see a lot of, but In a very fractured and unhealthy way. The whole thing I felt was a stretch, there is no time spent developing their relationship apart from an exchange of a few minor looks between the two of what I'm assuming is supposed demonstrate some type of affection and longing. Eye roll. 

I am aware the movie does make fun of this ending and mock its absurdity due to the way it portrays the publishers pushing for a perfect if not cliche romantic ending and while I do appreciate that that initial forced ending is something I just couldn't get over and had to include.

And that my friends, are all the issues I had with little women. Although, regardless of these issues I still did love this movie with my whole heart and the affection I felt for this film completely over shadows this negativity. No movie or story will be perfect. Movies and books are so personal and everyone will have a difference of opinions which is what I love about them so please let me know your thoughts below. Until next time have a fantastic week!

Over all rating : 8.5/10.

Love, love, love love.

[batfamquotes]

LMAO I forgot there are people who don’t know that talia al-ghul had sex with jason todd

that’s like people not knowing nightwing once kissed catwoman

this came up because https://shewhotellsstories.tumblr.com reblogged this

https://incorrectbatfamiliaquotes.tumblr.com/post/180702420910/jason-todd-i-hadnt-felt-that-messed-up-mentally

and their tags were basically asking did talia commit a statutory rape upon jason

and I realized wow people really don’t know that story and have zero context.

so I want to clarify just what happened between talia and jason 

for the record, I’m not justifying what happens, I’m just explaining the events as they occurred. 

(warning: this gets long)

SO! 

in red hood the lost days we’re shown what jason todd was doing in between getting resurrected, crawling out of his grave, and terrorizing batman when he comes back to gotham as red hood.

where was he?

with talia al-ghul

what was he doing?

getting training from the best teachers she picked out for him

and then killing the ones who turned out to be morally corrupt.

after crawling out of his grave, jason spent 5 months wandering around, then hospitalized, then back to wandering the streets before the al-ghuls found him and brought him to one of their compounds

then after a year of trying and failing to figure out how he came back from the dead, ra’s deemed jason a lost cause. jason had shown that he was a master combatant but he wasn’t all there, not mentally. now this could be because of the obvious trauma he’d been through, and an effect of being resurrected & being described as half dead. it’s very possible he had brain damage, and probably never would have recovered completely or maybe he would have, over a period of several years.

but talia didn’t have that option. ra’s forbid her to tell batman that his son was in her care and custody. and he decided that jason would leave them and be cared for in secret, since in his eyes he wasn’t improving. 

so talia sped up the process. she shoved jason into her father’s lazarus pit, gave him a survival kit, and helped him escape the al-ghul compound.

why? why do all this? well it’s implied that talia hoped to restore jason to the boy he once was, then she’d return him to batman who would be grateful in kind and love talia back.

but it’s pointed out that the chances of that happening aren’t high, and that the longer talia kept jason from bruce, the more likely it would be that bruce would be angry with her for keeping his son from him and not letting him know jason was alive.

after the dip in the lazarus pit, jason’s mental faculties are back to working order, and the pits healing factor works on his body as well, giving him a very late growth spurt.

it’s believed the lazarus pit made jason go “crazy” when he went on his vengeance driven kill spree but all it did for him mentally was undo his brain damage, throughout lost days and under the red hood jason’s got a clear moral stance and is driven by anger. yes he’s violent, but he’s coherent.

after reconnecting with talia, jason tells her he wants to kill batman for not avenging him and asks for her help, which she gives, while also stalling him by insisting he gain training in a variety of fields.

which he does. he’s an incredibly fast learner.

during that time, talia helps jason financially, paying for his livelihood and his teachers that she picks out for him

as his goals change, during the story he meets with talia on several occasions, telling her of his progress and plans. she’s a major part of his life, but he’s left to his own devices.

at the end of the series, talia tells jason that her father is dead by batman’s hand, and encourages him to gain vengeance on bruce, for slights made against him and her.

she then pulls jason towards her, and kisses him. he kisses her back, they fall to the bed, making out, and they have sex.

since up until that point jason had been focusing on training, and no mention of any love interests are made, there’s no reason to think he would have had penetrative sex before this, so it’s pretty clear that talia takes jason’s virginity. and yes, virginity is a social construct but for the narrative’s sake let’s call it what it is.

now, when jason comes back from the dead, it’s 6 months after he’s been buried.

at that point, jason was 15

in red hood the lost days it’s clear that a couple years pass between talia helping jason escape, his training, and the time they have sex.

so the timeline is, 15-16, being taken care of by talia, going on the run, deciding to murder batman

16-17, training from different teachers, learning new skills batman hadn’t taught him

18, giving up on murdering batman, and choosing to enact revenge instead, then talia takes his virginity

(for reference, he’s two years older than tim drake who was 16 when jason came back to gotham in under the red hood, so at the end of lost days jason is 18)

here is jason with talia in issue 1

look at how small and tiny he is. just like the malnourished robin he once was. he’s 15 at this point.

this is them in issue 2

he’s clearly older here, but not by much, he’s at least 16.

and here they are in issue 3, you can see jason’s aging, he’s either still 16 or he’s 17

and in issue 4, he’s either a late 17 or an early 18 here at this point in the story.

sidenote, jason with long hair and scruff is a LOOK!

and this is the Moment where they have sex in issue 6 when jason is 18

and the aftermath

I’m pretty sure that’s a condom wrapper next to the phone.

compare jason in issue 1 to issue 6. he goes from a teen to an adult, and the transitions are obvious.

NOW

let’s get into the why.

it’s clear that talia is most likely using jason to get at bruce, but along the way she grows to care for jason.

it should be noted that at that point jason is still emotionally a mess from everything, and talia is dealing with her father’s death, so they’re two compromised individuals seeking comfort in one another. it’s cathartic. but that doesn’t make it healthy. 

from the ages of 15 to 18 talia is jason’s primary caretaker. she doesn’t raise him, she’s not his mother, not biologically, legally, or technically. but she is a mother figure to him.

and talia is significantly older than jason, being in either her late 20s or early 30s

they aren’t unaware of their connection through batman, talia being his ex and jason being his adopted son

basically their having sex is a literal and figurative way of saying ‘screw you’ to the man

so their connection through bruce, age difference, power imbalanced relationship in the lost days story line, and their emotionally vulnerable states means that their having sex is unhealthy and it’s meant to be seen that way, it’s not supposed to be “hot” or good.

talia throughout the story manipulates jason into being the type of man bruce refuses to be, one who kills without hesitation.

but I wouldn’t say she takes advantage of him, not in the way you’d assume.

this isn’t a grooming situation, talia manipulates jason emotionally but not sexually. it’s messed up, we’re not contesting that

however, we will say that jason todd is legally an adult when talia has sex with him and it’s clear that it’s consensual on both their parts

jason’s not in a good head space when it happens but he is an adult physically, mentally and emotionally. 

it’s not statutory rape or incestuous, but it is very very messed up.

the closest comparison I can make is, imagine during stephanie brown’s batgirl run when she was an 18 year old college student and wasn’t dating tim drake at the time, if bruce wayne found himself attracted to her and had sex with stephanie brown in spite of her being his son’s ex girlfriend who tim obviously was still in love with and would never be over, bruce being significantly older than stephanie, not acting as a father figure towards her, but a mentor of sorts over the years, and bruce knowing stephanie since she was a 14 year old teenage girl. illegal? no. messed up? very.

I’m aware an 18 year old jason’s not going to have the same maturity level as someone older, he’s still growing, but that’s not the point here.

it’s consensual and legal sure

but it’s also unhealthy and messed up for the reasons listed above

it’s interesting, that jason wanting to find his biological mother was the major catalyst that drove him to the events that led to his death, and after he rose from the dead he found a mother figure in talia

[deathlyharlows]

delphinium + lizzie

delphinium: school rivals au + @geminislegacynote: you get a hogwarts au too because apparently, i don’t know how normal school rivalry works. ( also, i’m twitching the ages– students get their letter at 13-14 yolo )warnings: death, war, same ol’. 

                                  “scared, saltzman?”                                                                                                             “you wish.”

albus dumbledore was a wise and benevolent man. always finding value even in the most wretched of people. it was this what sometimes blinded him. it was this, what made him commit not one, or two, but three mistakes. 

he’d gotten a lead to a dingy muggle foster home, ever since three kids arrived there. weird things had been happening. none of the caretakers knew what to make out of them, they had tried anything– as much as calling a priest to try and expel the DEVIL out of the two girls and the boy. it wasn’t every day that three magical children found their destiny to be abandoned or sent away for whatever reasons.  dumbledore decided to ‘adopt’ them. signed the papers and the muggles never knew anything about any of them again. they were more than relieved to get rid of them.

 “elsey, ever.”                       “SLYTHERIN!”“mara, scarlett.”                          “SLYTHERIN!”“valentine, harlow.”                         “SLYTHERIN!”

“fear not, minerva. i have great faith in their talent.” mcgonagall trusted the headmaster, that’s why he was the one in charge, but when the three new students get sorted in the same house not even had the hat touched a single hair on their head. it left a bitter taste on her tongue. ( she feared a repeat of a prior slytherin student. )

dumbledore wasn’t wrong, the three slytherins caught up at an alarming speed to the rest of the students that had been raised surrounded by magic. the slytherin house had never been stronger, but it was one thing what professors saw, and another what students lived. while they were talented, they also quickly made a name for themselves even among upper students– one warning: BE CAREFUL.  

–

it was lizzie saltzman’s first year at hogwarts. something she’d be looking forward to since the moment she could grab her mother’s wand and turn a whistle into a clock that could sing you the time. the blonde twin already had her life planned, she’d go to hogwarts become a ravenclaw like her father, join the quidditch team on her second year to become the captain and seeker like her mother, meet a cute boy, win the house cup all of her years and… okay, maybe not all of her life but at least the next seven years.     

this new year would be the first chapter of a great story in lizzie’s book. ( or so she thought. )

–

“FOUND THEM.” harlow announced as she barged in the common room where v and scarlett played a game of wizard’s chess. ( a game that was spiced up by making bets ) the winner of that match wouldn't be known as harlow threw a small stack of papers on top of the board making some pieces fly, “the newbies.”

it was the second year they took advantage of the first graders, either intimidating, manipulating or striking deals so to have them wrapped around their fingers. if the students in question were smart, they accepted the olive branch extended in their direction. if not– their life became nightmares. to say the three were the definition of bullies was an understatement. 

“i call dibs on the saltzmans,” the blonde called to the other two that had already grabbed the list to look over the names. the family was basically royalty, both in money and blood. not to mention their family background was a bit of a SCANDAL ( for small minds ). their mother getting murdered by their uncle when she was pregnant with them, and magically transferred to a family friend. harlow would consider their family dinners to be quite a ride. because that wasn’t all… 

“isn’t it odd their sister doesn’t share a name with them?” 

the question earned her a blank stare. “you really ask that, harlow. when your girlfriend doesn’t share a name with her brother either?” fair point. not like she’d give in to that. “isn’t it time you go kiss your boyfriend goodnight?” 

“THE boyfriend.” 

“well, someone’s still clearly in denial.” 

“only you two troll heads take up a bet on charming your way into someone’s pants but end up falling in love before that even happens.”

it was during their second year that they challenged each other, whoever held the pretense the longest, was the winner. harlow was the first one to come clean during halloween. claudia didn’t talk to her the rest of the year. ( things were just now starting to pick up. ) scarlett got bored too quickly, smashed the gryffindors heart to pieces so badly the boy had to transfer to durmstrang. whereas v… he’d say he was the real winner, but both girls knew that for him, it wasn’t a game anymore. or else why would he continue to see the hufflepuff when no one was playing anymore? 

–

some people think the rivalry between harlow and lizzie started the very first-day lizzie stepped into hogwarts… 

it was easy to tell apart muggleborns and even some half-bloods from the rest. lizzie wasn’t one to look around with wides eyes at the magical candle or the talking giant toads. she felt at home as she was grouped with the others waiting for her name to be called. however, it wasn’t the voice of mcgonagall the one who did that first. 

“lizzie saltzman.” the girl in question turned to look at the source, a blonde girl with a confident smirk on her face. was she supposed to know who she was? “i’m harlow.” she introduced her name there. “harlow valentine.” nope, didn’t ring a single bell. “you’ve come to know some of us are better than others, saltzman. you don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort.” she continued, almost looking over at the others with contempt before looking back at lizzie and widening her smirk. ( was that supposed to make her look friendly? ) “i can help you there.” harlow extended her hand in the first grader’s direction, expecting for her to shake it in acceptance. what harlow didn’t know however, was that lizzie wasn’t as superficial as she pegged her as. besides, she already had friends on her own. and this girl? lizzie scoffed, was she serious?  “i think i can tell the wrong sort for myself.”

harlow wasn’t expecting that, and what followed? the snickers of the others on the group didn’t help at all. ( she would not allow a bunch of first graders to laugh at her. ) she dropped her hand, and her face lost all fake politeness. her lips parted to say something else, but there was a firm tap on her shoulder. “to your seat, valentine.” harlow took one last look in lizzie’s direction before walking away. 

“can you believe her?” she scoffed looking back at josie who met her with a worried expression and hope who looked like she was ready for this school year to be over. the sorting ceremony started and names started to get called with each house eagerly cheering for their new students. the gryffindors almost roared when hope got sorted, and after a few more names were called– 

“saltzman, elizabeth.” lizzie sat on the chair, almost feeling giddy as the hat started talking out loud, as it listed her qualities she let her eyes wander from josie on the group of students in front of her to the ravenclaw table, expecting for it’s name to be called when– “SLYTHERIN!”

her head moved so fast to the slytherin table it almost gave her whiplash. no, no, no, no. there must be a mistake. slytherin? …at least it wasn’t hufflepuff. she sat on the table and a few minutes later, josie was sitting beside her. okay, it was just a tiny dent in her plan, she could make it work as a slytherin. 

a note reached her hands– SHOULD’VE TAKEN THE OFFER. looking up, and some seats away sat none other than the girl from earlier. 

…huffepuff didn’t sound so bad right now. 

–

it took the initial shock from fading away, that both twins were sorted into slytherin– but lizzie found to fit in just right. some of her classmates talked about and to her on how she had stood up to one of the three slytherin bullies. lizzie found harlow to be CHILDISH ( and creepy ) just throwing glares at her and smirking from the other side of the room. what the hell was she smirking for? 

she’d come to know that the three of them had been taken from the system and terrorized half of the student body just for fun while putting a nice face for the professors. ( all backstories provided by a nervous-looking curly-haired hufflepuff boy who had smitten none other than hope mikaelson. ) “what are you, their fan or something?” 

“lizzie.” 

“i’m just asking.” 

“no, i, uh… nearly avoided getting wedgies at foster care. i don’t think they even know who i am.” 

“what’s your name again, gizmo?”

–

…some others think it was the next year. 

so far, only slytherins knew of how little lizzie saltzman and harlow valentine could stand each other. it had almost cost them the house cup for the first time in three years after they continued to make their house lose points. it mostly consisted of bickering during class and stupid pranks harlow decided to play on lizzie. 

it wasn’t until the quidditch team was accepting new members that it happened. madam hooch had suggested lizzie to try out for seeker which couldn’t thrill her more, she had made a comment on how her house seeker was better suited for beater. she wasn’t wrong… because the slytherin seeker was no other than harlow. 

“what are you doing here?”  the older blonde practically sneered at seeing lizzie arrive at the pitch all geared up. “what does it look like i’m doing? i heard our team’s seeker needs to be replaced with a better one.” harlow wasn’t having it. 

the tryouts happened, both girls were really good, but not even harlow’s confundo spells or the ‘accidental’ bludger sent in lizzie’s direction after having snatched a bat from v’s hand could’ve stopped what made the hatred between girls more obvious– word got around quickly at school. lizzie saltzman was the new seeker. 

– 

“it smells like butterbeer in here,” scarlett wrinkled her nose as she walked into the slytherin common room. it was almost empty, most students left for the holidays but not them. the three teenagers had lived in the castle ( and it’s surroundings ) since they got there six years ago. “has any of you been fucking?” 

“don’t look at me. aster left for christmas, something about his father finally showing his face.” by his tone, v was less than amused by that. a bertie botts bean thrown at harlow to get her attention, making her fake innocent face break out into a smirk. “speaking of,” scarlett started her taunt, “how does it feel knowing you and lizzie are almost sisters now?” 

it seemed like a cherry on top when after all of that, lizzie started dating claudia’s brother. and the boy was eager enough to PROPOSE to her the next year. harlow scoffed and popped the bean into her mouth, the coppery flavor invading her tongue as she bit the candy. BLOOD. “there are bigger plans than lizzie saltzman, right now.” 

–

“i’m telling you, there’s something clearly off with those psychos.” lizzie commented from behind her hot chocolate. “more than usual.” since beginning the new school year, stranger things were starting to happen. students randomly getting injured or missing, only to appear after a couple of days with no recollection of what happened. dark magic invading the school, and maybe dumbledore wasn’t saying anything, but she knew hogwarts wasn’t safe anymore. 

“ i know what i saw, she had this tattoo on her arm and–” an interruption soon following, “maybe you’re in love with her, lizzie.” penelope park teased from her seat next to josie, the slytherin had aways found more interest in the brunette twin than whatever child’s play her housemates had going all these years. “shove it, satan.” 

“what do you mean?” landon finally asked in confusion looking between the girls. josie and hope sighed. “lizzie is under the impression harlow valentine is now a death eater.” 

“this is their last year,” william reassured her, “one more year, and then they’ll be gone forever.”

–

that year, a friendly dueling tournament was held. something about promoting talent and good sportsmanship. the house, gender, or age didn’t matter– everyone was fair game. as the days passed the duels were becoming harder for some, even a few students ended up getting injured ( minor cuts or bruises ) but no one was ready for the final day.

it had been the talk of the week, how the final duel was between harlow valentine and lizzie saltzman. bets were getting raised; who would win? who would get burnt hair? and jokingly… who would die? 

“remember, girls. this is a friendly duel. use your skills and wit. may the best witch win.” the professor reminded them as both slytherins stood face by face. in that moment, all that mattered was winning. lizzie wanted to wipe that look from harlow’s face. harlow wanted to break lizzie’s face. “wands at the ready!”

“scared, saltzman?”

“you wish.”

as they showed their wands and starting walking away from each other in the direction they were supposed to stand. the public started counting– 

“ONE! TWO!”

“EVERTE STATUM.” harlow threw the spell before its time, effectively hitting lizzie and sending her flying through the air to hit the wall. people in the room gasped, and there was one cackle. v had predicted harlow wouldn’t wait the count. 

after getting back the air that had gotten knocked out from lizzie’s breath, she quickly got up to see harlow proudly chuckling. she’ll give her something to laugh about. “RICTUSEMPRA.”

harlow wasn’t fast enough to block out the spell that had the same effect as lizzie’s– except once she hit the ground, she couldn’t help the urge to laugh uncontrollably, so much and so hard it hurt. the laugh became pained and unhinged. just like harlow’s face once she picked herself up, this was just getting started. 

both girls fought as best as they could, they were brilliant after all. though in the end, there wasn’t any winner… “SECTUSEMPRA.” 

( that day, william flynn in all his gryffindor glory confronted harlow for what she did. the slytherin sent him to the hospital wing to accompany his fiancée by breaking a couple of ribs. claudia broke up things for good the next day. ) 

who did harlow blame for this? no other than lizzie saltzman. 

–

harlow had claimed she read about that spell in a book, not having idea that it was a curse or what it did. her pretense was so good, she wasn’t expelled for that. ( to the disgruntlement of a lot of students. ) but she was in detention for the remaining six months because of that and for what she did to will later that day. 

lizzie recovered completely a week later after the attack. 

a month later, harlow disappeared. followed by scarlett, and then v. all within the same week. 

( dumbledore should’ve predicted that. he should’ve kept an eye closer on them. )

the three of them came back before the school year finished. accompanied by a thousand of death eaters that soon invaded hogwarts. there was death and pain in every corner. friends and family lost. after that day, everyone had lost someone– just like how they had found friends in the most unexpected of places, but their lives were changed forever. 

–

“scared, saltzman?”                                                                                                             “you wish.”

                     “AVADA KEDAVRA!”  “EXPELLIARMUS!”

[nemossubmarine]

Warhammer 40k: Wrath & Glory RP #28

Back with the next session. Under cut again.

Relating to a conversation from last time, Saef and Gimlet have a little chat (where, not sure, there was confusion). Saef says that speaking of not telling Gorm about the whole accidental demons, he would like that the subject of him being a psyker would not be brought up at all. Saef’s a bit worried about pulling attention to himself, as he has these two kiddos (Theo and Rat) to care for. Gimlet thinks that’s probably a sound idea. Rat comes by and complains about not getting to see Theo, and then goes away, since she was clearly interrupting something. Saef says he has a favor to ask of Gimlet. Namely that if something happens to Saef, could Gimlet make sure Theo and Rat will be okay? Gimlet asks what about Vivek. Saef says Vivek is an adult and probably doesn’t need to be cared for. Gimlet clarifies that Vivek seems to be better at adulting(?). Saef says that Vivek is not exactly in a place to keep people safe what with being a criminal and all. Gimlet agrees, even though he says that obviously first thing is to make sure nothing happens to Saef. He asks how Saef felt about the whole Elysium debacle re: his powers. Saef says it kinda high-lighted his need for more education and meditation and all that.

Saef asks Inpax’ permission for him and Rat to go see Eden and Theo. Inpax gives a go-ahead, though says Eden isn’t probably very talkative. What she means by that becomes obvious as to what Inpax meant, as Eden appears to be missing his jaw. Saef asks him to give thumbs up and down as answers to questions. First is, is Theo doing alright? Thumbs up. Is Eden doing alright? Thumbs up and down. Rat and Saef stay with the duo for a while, Rat chatting with Theo. Saef catches Vivek in his room and asks if Vivek knows if Eden is alright. Vivek says as far as he knows, Eden is fine, and fails to elaborate.

Gimlet goes to visit Inpax, who appears busy as she always is. Gimlet also notices that she is on edge, nerves frayed all that. Gimlet tells Inpax about the procedure that Eden had offered him, and asks her opinion on it. She says if Gimlet trusts the robot enough to do so, why not (it appears to not have failed any surgeries so far), though it might be better if they knew for certain what was up with the robot. Gimlet says he’s on it. After Gimlet has left, he goes and gets some chocolates for Inpax.

Our group has reached the ship New Dawn in orbit of planet Ostara and so they beam aboard to meet Captain Elucia Vhane. After introductions she asks whether Gorm is the commanding officer of this party, Gorm says he’s usually only responsible for his own actions, but sure, for this mission. Elucia Vhane notices Vivek, and motions him to join her AdMech officer, which he does, to do something(?). Elucia Vhane explains the situation a bit, she has been searching and claiming planets for the Imperium on behalf of Lord Commander Guilliman. Ostara appeared to be a good planet for their purposes, just needed bit of clearing up so a group of settlers plus AdMechs were left on the planet to do just that. Except now it appears that they have all gone all Chaos Cultist, which is not a message Elucia Vhane is too keen to forward to Lord Commander Guilliman, so let’s deal with this. Gorm asks if there’s anything she has that might have a scent for the Wolves to follow. Elucia Vhane mentions that one of her contacts managed to down a Chaos Space Marine (not a Wolf), and would probably still have some remnants of that. But for that, better go meet the contacts. Elucia Vhane asks if our heroes are okay with some eldar. In this case yes. Elucia Vhane says she doesn’t much trust xenos herself, but in this case, she has deemed their motives to align with the Imperium’s.

As they are getting to meeting with the xenos, Alex pops up. Apparently he has been ordered to go check out the xenos as well, so he joins our heroes, as Elucia Vhane leads them to an amphitheater.

Our heroes settle down for a show, and what a show it is. It starts with a man in smiling mask appearing on stage and beginning to tell a tale of invasion by the Thousand Sons, led by Ahzek Ahriman sieging a place of forbidden knowledge, defended by masked xenos (aka Harlequins). For some reason the blight of the defenders on the stage really affects a lot of the audience, Gorm and Gimlet included. Saef has sensed that someone is attempting to manipulate the emotions of the people in the audience. The defenders fight a losing battle, until in the final moment, the smiling man joins the fray, approaching Ahriman and introducing himself as Cegorach, the Great Fool. There’s a whole rhyming thing that I shan’t repeat, but the prize that Ahriman seeks is snatched from him; ”For the greatest joke ever played, is played on fate”. Before he can do anything, he is called back by his master the Crimson King, to attack Fenris (the Siege of Fenris, happened about 70 years prior). This is the end of the play.

The reactions are mixed, Gimlet seems touched, Saef is non-plussed (he mentions the attempt at manipulation), Gorm is very angry, saying he doesn’t need to see this, what are these xenos trying to accomplish. Elucia Vhane asks if our heroes would like to meet the Harlequins to ask that themselves. Gorm says he won’t meet them without them apologizing. Elucia Vhane goes to relay the critique. The Harlequins’ response is apparently ”sry you got sad at our attempt to show a common enemy” or along those lines. But our heroes go and meet them anyway. Alex asks if he can join the group, and Gorm says alright, even if he doesn’t look too happy, but Elucia Vhane puts her foot down and says Inquisition with her contacts is a no go.

They go to meet the Harlequins, who are a type of Eldar, led by the man in the smiling mask (known henceforth as the Clown, as Gorm so charmingly calls him, as his name was never learned). Saef notices that all of the Harlequins, except one, dressed in a skeleton mask, have similar crystals affixed to their armor as Ahram had. The Harlequins explain that the play was to illustrate the goals of the followers of Tzeentch, as Knut has apparently become one, to reach the Black Library, the home of the Harlequins, and the biggest depository of Chaos Knowledge in the world. The Harlequins managed to stop the ritual, but something has happened on the planet already, as the Harlequins are unable to return back to the Webways, a space between realspace and warp where the Library exists. Thus robbed of their big advantages, they’ll have to relay on the Imperium’s assistance. The Clown asks if the Wolves would like to see the leader of Chaos guys, aka Knut. Gorm says sure and one of the Harlequins steps out, and deploys a hologram, her appearance changing to that of a man in Space Wolf’s armor. It looks like Knut alright, although Gorm comments that he appears not to have aged well, as his hair has turned grey. His armor is covered in runes, half Chaos, half Fenrisian, and the Fenrisian runes Gorm recognizes as mostly saying ”lies / falsehood”. He also wields a similar staff to the Thousand Sons. Gorm says he’s seen enough, and the Harlequin returns to her normal form.

Elucia Vhane starts ushering our folks away and now I don’t quite remember how it came up, but the leader of the Harlequins asks after the Mechanicus. Turns out, that while it was Captain Vhane who requested Vivek’s presence, it was because of a thing the Harlequins’ Seer had seen, namely that Nurgle’s rot would overtake her ship, if she didn’t manage to find a Mechanicus who traveled (travels, will travel) with our heroes, ”a man who is three men”. And Elucia Vhane may not trust xenos, but that risk is too much for her to take.

After learning this our heroes decide a momentary conference outside the room is in order. So what about this thing that may or may not happen in the future? Even Gorm seems to think that her attempting to look for the man who is three men isn’t a bad idea. So could it be Vivek? Technically, he does have parts of Eden in him, so that’s two men (if Eden is considered a man, and who even knows with xenos seers). But no math can get Vivek into three men (especially since Kuru is with Gorm). Since this man also might be in the future, it looks like Elucia Vhane has the wrong man. So what should they do with Vivek? Leaving him behind on Santa Maria doesn’t sound like a good idea, what with Inpax around.  Gimlet says that Uffe knows Vivek the best, to which Uffe says ”I do?”, and then says that maybe they just need to ask him what he wants, but probably taking Vivek along for the ride is for the best.

After that, our heroes turn to talk about the mission at hand, mainly Gimlet asking about Knut and Gorm saying he is very angry about what Knut has become. Knut has in Gorm’s opinion mixed himself with some powerful shit he doesn’t quite understand. (Gimlet asks the same question from Uffe, who isn’t as keen to elaborate). Uffe does mention he is a bit worried what became of Ivar, who was with Knut back when. Gimlet asks about when Ivar and Knut parted from the pack. Gorm says he doesn’t know, as he was exiled. Then Gorm asks Uffe if it’s alright to tell, and Uffe says he may not really know or trust Gimlet and Saef, but he trusts Gorm who trusts them. So Gorm tells Saef and Gimlet about Olaf, about his influence on the pack, and finally about Gorm accidentally killing him and being exiled. So is there anyone left after Ivar and Knut? Gimlet asks. Yes, Rolf, and Gorm is still hopeful about him, that they’ll reunion will be a hug and not a battle. (though Gimlet and Saef can pick out from Uffe’s eyes, that he doesn’t quite agree, though he says nothing). Gimlet does try to interrogate Uffe about his feelings on the pack and also his experiences with the pack, but even Gorm knows to say that’s too personal for Uffe to answer. Our heroes decide it’s time to get a move on with the hunting.

They get back to the Harlequins and Elucia Vhane and agree to start with going down to the planet and checking out the ritual site. Elucia Vhane goes to find Vivek, while the rest decide to go meet up the Inquisitors on board (there’s apparently two). Gimlet seems hesitant about going to meet Inquisitors, and even when Gorm points out that he’s the guy who’d know what to ask of them, he refuses to join, saying he’ll wait outside, and could they ask Alex to join him at some point. Uffe decides to stay behind with Gimlet.

Saef and Gorm go meet the Inquisitors, mostly Inquisitor Corrida, who is more than glad to part with some information regarding the Harlequins (they are assassin-actors, mostly go around performing plays on Slaneesh’s birth, they are able to walk into Webways (space between realspace and warp) at will) and who to kill first if they get that far (Death  Jester first, then the Troupe Master). Saef asks what differentiates the Death Jester from the other Harlequins, and Corrida tells that they are unusually cruel kind of Harlequin who believe they are without soul. Corrida also introduces their partner, Inquisitor Engarde, of Ordo Xenos as well. Inquisitor Engarde asks our heroes to provide him with any samples of xenos weapons and armor Engarde would be most thankful. As they are leaving Gorm asks if he may borrow Alex for a personal matter, which Corrida gives permission.

Uffe and Gimlet stand in the hallway in complete silence, before Uffe, surprisingly enough, breaks it. He mentions that Gorm appears to like and trust Gimlet, and that’s all fine and dandy. Gimlet asks what’s Uffe’s relationship with Gorm, and Uffe says Gorm’s a friend and his only packmate. Uffe warns that Gimlet should be careful about what he asks of Gorm, because Gorm may talk more than he truly wishes to. Gimlet doesn’t really catch Uffe’s drift, saying he isn’t pressuring Gorm to talk, and he isn’t going to tattle. Uffe clarifies that he has noticed how scared of Inquisition Gimlet is, and it’s probably for a reason, and if the Inquisition ever catches Gimlet, they will make him talk whether Gimlet wants to or not. That is the end of this conversation, and the two are silent until Gorm and Saef return with Alex.

Alex looks quite deflated when he notices Gimlet, and the two have a whispered conversation in which Gimlet makes clear that Gorm wasn’t inviting him over to sleep with him, because Gorm is together with Uffe, maybe? Gorm overhears some of this and demands to know what’s up. Uffe clarifies to Gorm that Alex had hoped to ”bed him”. Gorm says thanks, but no thanks (Uffe also says no thanks, when asked), but if he ever feels like wanting to do that, he’ll keep Alex’ offer in mind.

Gimlet takes Alex aside and the two have a hurried hushed conversation about Lu Yan’s situation, namely what are they going to do about it? Alex is in as much disbelief as Gimlet to the current state of affairs, and he doesn’t really know what to do. Gimlet is worried how long Lu Yan will manage without money, but getting money to her and / or getting her to Gimlet might prove difficult.

Vivek joins the others on the shuttle, complaining about this Uffe asks Vivek if he is sure, and Vivek after brief confusion, says that just because he knows people who know about Nurgle, doesn’t mean he can do anything about Nurgle. This raises the curiosity of our heroes, and Vivek clarifies, that this has come up when Uffe and Vivek were attempting to track down Rolf. Back on Orchard Mountain, Uffe and Vivek noticed that Rolf appeared to be traveling with some AdMechs, AdMechs, who are interested in studying Chaos, one of who is Vivek’s brother. They’ve apparently done some shitty stuff, but are completely legit in the eyes of the Mechanicum. Gimlet says that they met a tech priest on Orchard Mountain named Z47r, and Vivek confirms that that’s indeed his younger brother. Still doesn’t mean he’s in any way responsible for stopping any of this, right? Agreed, says the others. Gimlet decides to go talk with the Harlequins more about this future-seeing business, but more on that next session!

[polar-stars]

ShigeChi ❣️💔💘💗💞🖤 💋💜

❣️ When did your OC first realise they were in love? How did they react to the realisation?

That would include massive spoilers on future arcs, so I can’t get into that ;w;

💔 Has your OC had a bad breakup or nasty ex? If so does this have any affect on their current relationship?

Both of them weren’t in a relationship to begin with

💘 What do they love most about their partner(s)? What do their partner(s) love most about them?

Chieko’s favorite quality of Shigeo’s is his intelligence. We’ll get into this in a bit more detail later on, but part of it is, that Chieko did take a note of the fact that Shigeo is someone she can have an intelligent discussion with from a very early point on. And she just can’t help but feel drawn to that. Shigeo is someone who is actually capable of challenging her in that regard at some times and it does spark great interest and fascination in her. 

Shigeo also greatly appreciates Chieko’s intellect and the fact that she’s someone he can have an actually interesting conversation with. It’s her intelligence paired with her hidden bravery that made her interesting in his eyes from day one on. You see, Shigeo is someone who is dreaded, but then there’s this little girl with not much power backing her up but who’s still unafraid of mouthing off against him…..and….he likes that? Shigeo is used to half of the world following his commands as well as getting whatever he wishes for, so Chieko is a challenge to him. And he enjoys said challenge. At the same time, he genuinely appreciates that she clearly has a spine, even though many refuse to see it, and he actually does want to see her go to greater heights. 

(this was hard to explain, I hope it made sense //lies down)

💗 Describe your OC’s partner(s) from their point of view! What do they really think about them?

omg more POVs

Chieko from Shigeo’s POV

Marui’s brows furrowed, as the green fires in her eyes flared dangerously and warningly up one last time. Then she let out one of her typical huffs and walked past me. I couldn’t help but watch her stomp away, almost like she was some noble lady who felt insulted of being talked to by a guy from the streets. Which in actuality couldn’t be further from the truth. But that was part of what made Marui so, well, interesting. She was smart. Very smart. Much smarter than practically everyone in that idiot-gathering that was my own generation. So many easily-persuaded morons walked the surface of earth nowadays. They were easy to manipulate and of course I took advantage of that. Marui wasn’t one of them. She was someone who was actually capable of disagreeing with me on an argument and laying out the reasons on why I was wrong in her eyes. She wasn’t imitated by my surname or the power in my hand, but would only lift her chin upwards while eying me with those fires in her eyes. She had…so much potential and I couldn’t help but to be intrigued. So little people were as interesting as her and I would love to see her potential in full bloom. And so I only chuckled as she took the turn, her head still high up in the air. I look forward to our next interaction.

Shigeo from Chieko’s POV

I don’t need a diploma to know that Shigeo-senpai was not a good person. “Morals” was not exactly part of his personal dictionary and he took an actual excitement in his evil schemes and strolling through the school with everyone in his radius backing away in fear. He was ruthless, cruel and rude. And this is where the story should be over. But for some reason it wasn’t. I gave my best efforts in attempting to avoid him, but still he managed to find me occasionally and whenever he did, he was always so….smooth, polite and…… gallant. I hated how no matter how hard I tried to suppress it, my legs would occasionally turn to jelly when his sharp eyes fixated me and the blood would occasionally rush into my head when his sweet compliments reached my ears. Focus! He’s a gambler, a dealmaker, a spoiled princeling who was never denied anything in his life. He was capable to tell lies to casually and sweetly, like one would greet their loved one. He was not one to be trusted and I should be smarter than feeling charmed by his sweet nothings. But one part of me just couldn’t help but to be flattered when hearing his praise about things that anyone else in my life fails to notice. It was not fair! Why couldn’t he just be plain terrible? Why did he additionally had to be so eloquent? So witty? So attentive? So clever? So…handsome? Wait what? No I am not attracted to Eizan Shigeo, Head of Totsuki’s little Mini-Mafia and destroyer of dreams and happiness. No way!

💞 What do their respective families think of their relationship?

Oho~ I appreciate this ask, because I don’t think I ever talked about that

Okay so, Nene is actually supportive of this idea. Not instantly, but she will grow  supportive rather quickly. From what she’s seen of Chieko so far, she came across as well-behaved, intelligent and decent, even reminding Nene a little bit of herself in her younger days occasionally with those round glasses of hers, innocence and tendency to hang around with three guys who can be rather idiotic at times. Nene worries about Shigeo a lot (because of BackstoryTM) and she hopes for him to get truly, genuinely happy and she believes that falling in love could help with that. Whenever she saw Shigeo interacting with Chieko, she took note of the fact that Chieko is able to amuse Shigeo in a way that not many can (it’s not some sort off sadistic amusement, it’s a kind of charmed, adoring amusement) and that he genuinely likes her. Etsuya actually got to meet and interact with Chieko a lot more than his wife did. He’s not necessarily enthusiastic about the fact that the girl his son has his eyes on happens to be the daughter of two of the Polar Star Kids, who clearly don’t like him. He’s actually a little bit overwhelmed and confused by this situation time to time (he’s that math meme). However, he does not really dislike Chieko. Additionally, Etsuya also knows about Shigeo’s darker days and he does not in any way want to stand in the way of some happiness for his son. He’s a little annoyed by Shigeo’s constant “It’s business” though (ironically). But yeah, should Shigeo ever start to seriously start pursuing a romantic relationship with Chieko, Etsuya won’t be an obstacle to overcome. 

Now, Yuki and Zenji are a different story. Zenji is generally super overprotective over Chieko and would be wary of any guy making moves on her. But now there’s the fact that it’s Shigeo Eizan who makes moves on her. Who is basically the textbook bad boy and practically has a good bunch of warning signs attached to him. So yeah, Zenji is screeching. He practically considers Shigeo a danger to his daughter and panics when Shigeo is only near Chieko, because he doesn’t fail to notice that Shigeo is perfectly capable of making Chieko blush. Yuki is conflicted. We know how excited she is about everyone else’s love-life after all, so naturally she was also excited about her own daughter’s. She’s the kind off mom who would ask if there’s any hot guys in class when her daughter comes home from her first school day. Yuki was super excited about when Chieko would reach that age where romance would become a topic in her life and she was basically looking forwards to crushes-chats with her daughter. However, the guy that turned out to be her daughter’s crush (Yuki notices, despite Chieko’s denial) is Etsuya Eizan’s son. And Yuki absolutely can’t stand Etsuya Eizan. So yeah, she feels troubled, because she wants to tease her daughter and encourage her onto making moves and all that stuff, but she does not trust Shigeo in the slightest and fears he might be toying with her precious daughter. 

🖤 Have they ever had a really bad argument where they almost broke up?

They will have a rather big argument, but they won’t be a couple at that time. 

💋 Who is the best kisser? (if you’d like write a short smooch scene!)

Shigeo

💜 Give a random fact about their daily life together!

Shigeo tends to gift her macarons, because he picked up that they’re her favorite sweets (next to practically everything with Matcha) but she does not often get to eat them. 

[azure-wolf-227]

Rosebird Week 2019: Day 1

Hi, I’m starting this late because of real-life interfering and this one-shot ended up being harder to write than I expected. This resulted in the following one-shots being delayed as well but I’m working to catch up.

Also, these one-shots will be set in the same universe as the RWBY story that I’m planning and will be considered canon with it.

Day 1: First Meeting

Summer is excited (and nervous) about attending Beacon and meets the most beautiful woman ever.

Meanwhile, Raven wouldn’t admit that the clumsy, hooded girl who crashed into her has lovely eyes.

-----

“Oh my Gods!” Summer Rose glanced out the huge windows excitedly, watching as the airship that she was traveling in approached Beacon Academy, the white-hooded girl’s enthusiasm increasing with each passing second. How could she not be excited? This was the greatest Huntsman Academy in all of Remnant! They only accepted the best of the best, their graduates often going on to become living legends. Heck, even the professors were often legendary Hunters themselves!

A sudden thought struck her. “Oh, my Gods, what if I’m not ready?” the silver-eyed girl frantically whispered to herself as her mind conjured all sorts of nasty scenarios where she ended up either dead or expelled, or worst still, got whoever she would be teamed up with killed or expelled. Unbeknown to Summer, her Aura was reacting to her inner distress, and a small gale blew through the ship. The other future students stared with a mixture of surprise, confusion, and awe as red and white rose petals manifested from the hooded girl’s cloak and swirled around her form on the wind.

Summer was unaware of this as she tried to calm down her anxious thoughts and put her worries to rest with some self-reassurance. ‘It’s fine, everything will be okay. I may haven’t attended a combat school, or any kind of school for that matter and my upbringing wasn’t in any way normal, but my fighting skills were good enough to impress Professor Ozpin into admitting me one year early.’ Her expression turned into one of determination.

‘Besides, Aurore, Ro, Dodger, and Olive also believe in me. I’ve never let them down before and I won’t start doing it now!’

It was then that Summer noticed that all the other passengers had their eyes on her. Wondering what they were all her eyes widened when she noticed the petals fluttering around herself, the accompanying wind now a gentle breeze to match her no longer frantic emotions. Summer blushed a deep red and pulled up her hood to hide her face, her mortification increasing as the majority of those watching recovered from their shock and chuckled, except for one tall, muscular blond guy who gave Summer a look of sympathy.  Luckily, her embarrassment didn’t last long as the ship finally docks, and the students can disembark.

Summer makes a quick escape by manipulating the wind to give herself a boost in speed. Unfortunately, since she had her hood up over her head while her eyes were focused on the ground as to not make eye contact, her field of vision was impaired so it was no surprise that she did not see the dark-haired girl right in her path.

The white-hooded girl squeaked as she crashed into someone, who fortunately was skilled enough to not be plowed over, though her face ended up pressed against a pair of soft, firm masses. Before she could try to figure out what these orbs were, Summer felt a hand grasping the back of her cloak and pulling her away, their strength great enough to even lift her off the ground.

“What are you doing?” The female voice was slightly deep, resounding with strength and annoyance.

Looking up, the first thing that Summer saw were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. They were the color of a red sunset and seemed to almost glow with their own light, boring into her soul with their piercing gaze. It was another moment before Summer stopped focusing on the eyes to take in the rest of the woman’s appearance. Her face was slightly round with a sharp chin, a cute nose and full lips set in an annoyed frown that matched the look of her eyes; her skin was a light color but not as pale as Summer’s, her long ebony hair tied up in a ponytail, styled in a way that it resembled a raven’s plumage; she was very tall with a muscular but curvaceous body, wide hips and a pair of large breasts (and Summer blushed deeper than before as she quickly realized that was what she had faceplanted); she was wearing a black-and-red outfit with samurai-like armor, a sword hanging from her hip. In short, she was the most beautiful woman that Summer had ever encountered.

“Hey! Are you deaf?”

Summer was jolted out of the spell she was under and realized that she had forgotten that the dark beauty had asked her a question. “Oh, sorry.” She mumbled but that seemed to make the other woman angrier.

“Sorry? You almost knocked me into the ground then just stare at me like an idiot and all you have to say is sorry?”

“Um, well…” Summer wasn’t very good at talking to new people and this girl’s attitude was making her more nervous and she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I really didn’t mean to put my face in your boobs!” ‘Idiot! Why did I say that?’

The tall, dark beauty looked at Summer like she couldn’t believe what has just come out of her mouth. The shock was so great that her grip on the back of Summer’s cloak loosed and the smaller girl was dropped back on the ground, who thankfully didn’t fall on her butt. The dark girl just kept staring at Summer with a mixture of annoyance and disbelief.

“Geez Rae, we haven’t been here for a day and you already have girls wanting your goods. I’m so jealous!”

The two women turned to look at the voice’s owner, a young man about their age, his hair, eyes and skin tone the same as the taller girl’s. He was wearing a white shirt that was half tucked in his black slacks and a ratty, red cape draped over his shoulders. Summer could see that he was also a sword user, the handle of his blade visible over his shoulder. And while his appearance was similar the dark woman’s, his face was instead set in a playful, teasing smirk.

While Summer looked at him with curiosity, ‘Rae’ appeared to be more exasperated and annoyed than before. “Shut up, Qrow.” She glared at who was obviously her brother though Qrow seemed unaffected by the burning eyes. “Aw, come on, sis.” teased Qrow. “No need to be embarrassed! You’re very good-looking so it’s not strange that people would want a closer look.”

“Qrow, I’m serious! If you don’t shut up, I’ll kill you!” He just chuckled softly with that teasing smirk, not looking worried at his sister’s death threat.

Summer let out a giggle at she watched the siblings interact, remembering how Ro and Dodger liked to tease Dawn all the time. Her giggles caught the twins’ attention, ‘Rae’ switching her glare to Summer while Qrow chose to introduce herself.

“Hey,” he gave a wave. “Name’s Qrow, and I see that you’ve met my big sister, Raven.”

“I’m Summer, nice to meet you both.” ‘Yay, I’m making friends!’ Qrow nodded. “Likewise,” then his smirk widened as he motioned to his still scowling sister. “And Raven feels the same but she’s too shy to say it.”

“Augh!” shouted Raven exasperatedly and stomped away as Qrow and Summer laughed.

----------

‘Stupid Qrow, can’t go one day without getting on my nerves! One day I’ll finally lose my patience and kill him for real.’ Thought Raven as she stood at the back of the crowd waiting for the opening speech. The crowd gave her spot a wide margin, most likely intimidated by the angry energy that Raven was emanating. Good, she wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone else today.

As she subtly watched the entrance while she quietly seethed, Raven saw her brother and the hooded girl come in. They exchanged a few parting words before the girl headed for a spot closer to the stage while Qrow looked around for a moment until he spotted Raven and headed towards her. Raven glared as he approached but, as always, it was ineffective. Immunity to Raven’s patented death glare was one of the advantages of being related to her.

“Hey, sis,” His greeting was met with angry silence. “Don’t tell me you’re still angry?” Raven’s glare intensified. “Come on, it was just some teasing! Your girlfriend thought it was funny.”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” That managed to break Raven’s silence. “Just some clumsy girl that bumped into me because she wasn’t paying attention. What is she even doing here? She looks like she’s, I don’t know, twelve or something.”

“Sixteen, actually.”

“Really? She was short for her age then. What else did you to talk about?” By this point, Raven’s anger was momentarily put aside as her curiosity was piqued.

“Mostly about our weapons, girl is a bit of a nerd about them and was interested in Harbinger. She then showed me her own and it was really impressive.” Qrow was himself a weapons enthusiast and crafter, so he clearly was happy about talking with someone with similar interests. “She also told that she got early admittance because she impressed the Headmaster.”

Raven’s eyebrow raised, interested. “Really, what did she do? Defeat a Beringle with her bare hands?”

“Don’t know, she said it was personal but that’s beside the point. If she managed to get into Beacon early then she must have some skills, apparent clumsiness aside.”

“Well, whatever we did to get in early doesn’t concern us or our mission, so don’t get too attached since, if she manages to graduate and become a Huntress, we might one day end up having to kill her.”

Qrow’s smirk faded into a frown as he was reminded of their mission. He hadn’t been happy when the Tribe’s leader told them to become students to learn how to counteract Hunters and make the Tribe stronger. Neither had Raven for that matter despite her harsh personality and love of fighting. She did not like killing people without a good reason, but the Leader’s word was the law on the Tribe so Raven resigned herself to completing the mission.

Qrow scoffed. “Whatever, I’m still going to talk to Sum later and no one from the Tribe is her to keep tabs on us, so what they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“Ugh fine!” Raven said exasperatedly, knowing that she couldn’t stop him anyway. “Do what you want! Just don’t start flirting with her.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. She’s not my type anyway, even though she’s cute.” Qrow’s smirk was back as well as the teasing. “So, you don’t have to worry about me stealing your girlfriend.”

“Qrow!” 

But before Raven could try to strangle him, Professor Ozpin cleared his throat to indicate that he was about to give his speech. So, Raven just settled for sending burning glares her brother’s way, but he just answered each of them with a smirk. Finally deciding to just ignore him, Raven focused on Ozpin’s words of ‘encouragement’, though she caught sight of a familiar white cloak near the front.

She found herself blushing as she remembered how the girl crashed into her chest but tried to shove these thoughts into a far corner of her mind as they would only distract her from the mission.

Though she admitted to herself (but to no one else, ESPECIALLY not Qrow), those silver eyes were quite beautiful.

----------

Yeah, I gave Summer Airbending as her Semblance, so I don’t want to hear any complaints! As for the comments about Summer having never gone to school, those are part of the backstory that I gave her for my story and it won’t be revealed until I have it posted. The same goes for the people that Summer mentioned.

Edit: In the part where Summer mentions the people who believe in her, I changed one of the names from 'Dawn' to Aurore (formerly it was Roxie) because I liked it better (and it means 'dawn' anyway).

[writing-radionoises]

fragile ; ch 1

Ochako Uraraka is the leader of the League Of Villains with Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, Eijiro Kirishima, and Shouto Todoroki under her wing, here to purge the world of chaos with more chaos than needed. Three third years at U.A. and one first year decide that needs to change, someone needs to pick out the weakest link, and ironically enough, it's Touya's little brother.

AO3 link

All greatness starts in tragedy, and all tragedy ends in greatness. Himiko Toga and Tomura Shigaraki, age seven abandoned in an orphanage together for their "bad" quirks with only one drive. To survive and become the greatest heroes in the world. This drive brought them together as close friends, and later, they would be adopted together and become brother and sister. Himiko and Tomura Toga. They trained most of their lives, Tomura would offer his blood to Himiko so she could test out her quirk, Himiko would learn acting abilities from Tomura and perform for money, for which she would buy dolls an such for Tomura to practice his quirk on. They were survivors from the beginning, and survival mean competition. And that is where the competition began. Even after being adopted, Himiko continued her acting career. Her talent was recognized in middle school, when she had to take a student's place and decided to do so by using her quirk. She was recognized and put into quirk training classes after school, evoking jealousy in Tomura, an later throwing in rage when she was put into U.A. upon recommendation. There were fights among the Togas, and later, therapy was involved. Years of them tormenting each other every time the other got one upped. And it only continued into U.A. after Tomura was accepted. Yet, Himiko and Tomura were always in the same friends group, like twins. They both seemed close to the first year recommendation student, and they both had interest in the mysterious Todoroki in their class. And that is now it begins, this is how Himiko Toga, Tomura Toga, Touya Todoroki, and Momo Yaoyorozu planned on bringing the villains down. There was a slam of files on the desk from Tomura, Himiko watched Momo jump in surprise. She was young an not used to Tomura's aggressiveness, unlike Himiko who had grown up with Tomura threatening to disintegrating her. Himiko's yellow eyes widened, clicking his tongue, "What's this shit?" "Watch your mouth," Touya mumbled, brushing some of his red hair behind his ear. "Watch yours," Himiko answered, followed by her usual childish giggle so he'd know she was teasing him. Tomura rolled his eyes an scratched his neck, "These are the files on the villains we know of. There was an attack last night and one of them blew up the fucking orphanage we grew up in, took the kids with them, though. Still, fills me with a sense of dread..." Himiko's smile dropped as well as her head when she heard that. "Oh... That sounds horrible," Momo replied, there was concern in her eyes, though Himiko wasn't looking. Her entire three years at the orphanage were flashing before her eyes, and when you looked at Tomura, you could see he was going through the same. Touya broke the silence, "This needs to end, and fast. I guess, if the pro heroes won't do anything... I guess third years are second best." Tomura nodded along, "Todoroki, I'm depending on you to form a plan since you seem to be the only one who common sense here," he said, glaring at Himiko, who rolled her eyes. "At least I come up with pla-" "Togas, pipe down," Touya interrupted, to which both Tomura and Himiko complied. "Well," Momo started, "They've attempted to destroy the league from the outside, before, and there have been no results. I say we use Himiko-san's quirk to our advantage." Touya nodded along, "We need to pick out the weakest link. If we can capture the weakest, Himiko can take their blood an their place, destroy from the inside." Himiko's eyes widened as she clapped along, "I'm sooo down for this!" Tomura rolled his eyes before passing the files around, "Okay, you guys take a look at this shit." "Stop cursing in front of the first year, Toga," Touya responded, taking one of the files into his hands. "Please refrain from talking to me like I'm five," Momo added on, and Tomura chuckled. Himiko opened the file she got, the file for Ochako Uraraka. "'Ochako Uraraka, otherwise known as Uravity, age fifteen.' She's Momo's age..." Himiko started, and she watched Momo lift her head up in interest, "'Her quirk is Zero Gravity, anything she touches she can manipulate the gravity of. She's the leader of the League Of Villains and doesn't appear often. She's known to be more of a backup plan. From what we've seen of her, she's determined and focused.' She would be hard to capture and manipulate." Touya nods, though Momo has a horrified look on her face, "She's my age and she's already a villain..." Tomura pats on her on the back while Touya speaks up, "'Izuku Midoriya, otherwise known as Deku, age fifteen. No known quirk, he seems to be quirkless. Based on his mother, it's known that he was driven off the age due to bullying for being quirkless when he finally snapped. Much like Uravity, he is cold and determined, an always on guard, he's also unusually flexible. He is one of the front line villains,'" the red haired male said, "While being quirkless would be to Himi-chan's advantage, capturing Deku would be difficult, though. Apparently, he shares a connection with everyone in the League, and rumored to be very physically powerful. Possible second choice, though." "Mmm," Himiko said, shrugging then giggling, "You called me Himi-chan..." Touya gives a slight smile, but Momo cuts in. Clearly, she has had enough of Himiko messing around with her older brother figures. "'Katsuki Bakugo, otherwise known as Explosion or Kacchan by Deku. Age sixteen. His quirk is Explosion, he can create explosions from his hands and they get more powerful the more he sweats. He's known to be the protector of the League and especially tends to whisk Frostbite when he gets too panicked in battle. He's rude and stubborn, sometimes even his own teammates don't like him. He's known to yell quite a bit and argue with Deku. Not much is known about his story outside of the fact that he was born an illegitimate child an adopted his aunt, who was later killed in a quirk accident.'" "So, basically he's a bitch," Himiko said, and Tomura scoffed. "You sure are blunt," he said. "You are, too!" "Togas!" Touya interrupted once again, and the siblings hushed up again. Tomura spoke up again, "Guess it's my turn," he said, scratching his neck once again, "Shouto, unknown last name, otherwise known as Frostbite, he's just barely fifteen." Touya perked up, though didn't say anything. "He's Endeavor's killer..." Momo mumbled. "'His quirk is Half Hot and Half Cold, his left side uses fire and his right is ice. He never uses his left for unknown reasons. Shouto is almost never seen on the battleground, likely because he is known to be panicky and anxious. Frostbite is known to always be shaking, and frequently gives himself frostbite from overusing his quirk. Which is often why Explosion comes to his rescue often. It is also known that Frostbite is blind in his left eye.'" "Is there a picture?" Touya asks, and Tomura raises an eyebrow though nods, passing the file over. The ginger looks over the file carefully, his blue eyes wide before he as spoke up, his voice was much louder than usual, so much that it scared Himiko. "That's my little brother, holy shit." There was a noticeable pause in the room, silence that Himiko broke. "Your brother?! Touya, you never told me you had siblings!" Momo was glancing between everyone at the table before she spoke up, "That means... He killed his own father..." Tomura didn't say anything, though Touya eventually threw down the file and began to explain. "It's... It's not as bad as you think, there are things about mine and Shouto's past that are not written on paper that was hidden away, that people probably tried to cover up... My father was abusive. My siblings and I were all born of a quirk marriage, my father bought my mother in order to conceive of child of a perfect split between his quirk and my mother's. Shouto was that child, though when he was born, he was not... Treated well. Enji began training Shouto at age five, he'd beat him until he threw up or passed out, he'd beat my mother in front of him. I... I took some of it, too, when I was young, I was the first child and the first mistake, occasionally he hurt me, too. Still, he'd burn Shouto and force him to use his left side. Mother snapped and poured boiling water over his left eye, so that's why he's blind, mother was put into a mental hospital afterwards. I was cut off from him when he was about seven, so I don't know about anything after that, but I can only guess that after that, it only got worse..." There was silence, though Himiko could hear her brother scratching his neck and biting his lip. "If we have information on him and he's rather anxious, taking him would be rather easy, though it might just break him..." Tomura said. "It might just have to be a chance we're willing to take, Touya," Himiko said, "With your help, I can easily get his personality and maybe, just maaaybeee, we can actually conv-" "Himiko, hush, there's someone nearby," Tomura cut in, and the entire room went silent as Tomura covered his eyes out of instinct, maybe to help him hear better. "Who is it?" Himiko whispered. "I don't know! I can only sense a presence not who it fucking is!" Tomura whisper yelled. "Togas!" Touya whisper yelled back. Himiko's dorm room went silence for another five minutes until Tomura uncovered his eyes and glanced around. "Himiko, I think we have a spy among us."

[jchb32273]

Fictober 2019 - Day 6

Fanfiction - Dragon Age AO3 Link

Dang it, I will get back on track... lol! 

Here is Day 6 

Yes, I’m Aware. Your Point?

~~~~~

Alistair hummed as he set up his new artificial tree in the corner of his condo. Mid-term exams were over, Satinalia was approaching, and Kylara promised to come over and help him decorate his tree before she would head home for the break.

Pity, she can’t stay here in Denerim for the holidays, he thought. But I get to have some time with her before she travels, so I am happy enough for that.

Holidays like this had always been very lonely for Alistair, so in the past, he hadn’t cared much for them. Growing up with Eamon and Isolde Guerrin, Maric’s wife’s relatives, had made them even more so.

He had just finished stringing up the lights on the tree when his phone chirped. With a smile, he flopped down on the couch and opened his text messages. However, it wasn’t from Kylara… it was from his father.

[14:22] I need you to come to my office.

                                                                                                           Why? [14:22]

[14:23] You don’t question me. I need you here, now.

                                                            But I have someone coming over… [14:24]

[14:24] Then you’d best call them and cancel. I don’t know how long this will take.

Alistair slapped the phone down on his couch. Damn you, Maric. He took a few deep breaths then picked the phone back up.

                                                      Fine. Give me 20 minutes. I’ll be there. [14:26]

[14:27] Fifteen.

Alistair closed the text message app. He stared at his brightly lit tree, the boxes of decorations, and tinsel. He sighed. Then he reopened the app.

[14:30] Hey, Kylara… Maric has called me into his office and I don’t know how long I might be held hostage there…

 Do you want to reschedule? I don’t leave until tomorrow afternoon. [14:31]

[14:31] No… I still want to see you today. I want to make the most of our time together before you leave. Maybe I can find some way to… ugh… butter him up… so I can get back here asap.

                    All right. Please don’t get into trouble with him over me. [14:32]

[14:32] I promise I’ll be on my best behavior. 😉

                                                         Text me when you get back home. [14:33]

[14:33] I will. ❤️

He closed the app, shoved his phone into his pocket, grabbed his car keys, and ran out of the condo.

As he drove towards Maric’s office, he started thinking back on his unorthodox upbringing.

His earliest memories were of his various nannies. Eamon was always too busy… and Isolde? For reasons that had never been explained, she just seemed to hate Alistair from day one. When they both decided to send him away to a private boarding school, Alistair thought he would finally be free… but the school’s restrictions had been even tougher than living at the Guerrin’s mansion. Alistair had managed to make one friend his entire time there.

Boarding school had been dull and Alistair a quiet boy. He tried pulling pranks and making a few jokes in the early years there, but no one found him funny… just annoying. So he threw himself into his studies – and quickly excelled at them – probably because there hadn’t been much else to do. Once he’d graduated, Eamon told him to apply for college, so Alistair did just that… choosing a school far from Redcliffe and the Guerrins.

College brought Alistair out of his shell. He continued to excel at his studies, but he took the time to make friends and become very active on campus. He was also glad when Cullen – his one friend growing up – had applied and was accepted to Denerim University the following year.

Then, out of the blue, it seemed, Alistair received a letter from a man claiming to be his father. He was summoned – he would have said ‘invited’, but that was too nice of a word for the situation – to Maric’s office.

He got to meet his half-brother, Cailan, that day… who accepted and welcomed him as though they had grown up together. It was hard to dislike Cailan, he just had the kind of personality that made him get along with everyone.

Maric, however, was anything but warm and welcoming. He basically told Alistair that he had been the one paying for all of his education… and he would continue to do so as long as Alistair kept top grades.

Alistair had no problem with that part. He liked his school and classes very much. He still wasn’t sure what he wanted to major in… even though he was already in his third year. For the moment, he wanted to keep his options open.

So he had his schooling, he had his band, and he had his friends. He was happy… for the most part. The one thing that he wanted above all else however… was love. He didn’t have it growing up since the Guerrins pretty much ignored him. His nannies had cared for him, but he really couldn’t call that love. Cailan was cool for a half-brother he’d known for only a year. He liked him, but that was as far as it went. Maric was his father, but he was cold and distant. He often wondered who his mother had been. Had she loved him at all? Why had she not been there for him? Was she even alive?

He’d asked Maric once, but the man refused to talk about it.

He thought he’d finally found love when he dated Ellie Cousland. Maric had introduced her as the daughter of Lord Bryce Cousland at one of his famous parties. She was thin, blonde, and beautiful. Alistair had been very taken with her in the beginning… but after they began dating, her true personality began to emerge. She was cold, calculating, and she loved manipulating people to her own advantage.

Alistair let it slide for a time, but it slowly began to wear him down. They began to fight more often than not… but what finally broke him was when he found out she was cheating on him with another man.

He ended the relationship, right then and there. Ellie tried to wheedle her way back in, but Alistair didn’t budge on it.

Then he met Kylara. Quite by accident, too. He had just finished a set with his band at his All Souls/Halloween Bash (which he had decided to throw to help get Ellie off his mind) when his friend Cullen had told him about another friend of his that might have gotten hurt accidentally. He had gone outside to see if the girl was okay… and his life changed.

Kylara was nothing like Ellie. She was quiet, reserved, sweet and smart… but at the same time, not afraid to speak her mind at times. He did feel a little sorry for her at first since others seemed to tease and ridicule her, but Alistair quickly found that he enjoyed her company. Her intellect challenged him and he found he could talk to her with just about anything.

Then there was the disastrous dinner party at Maric’s where she felt that maybe they were too different to be friends.

They were different, but it was these differences that made him realize that there was something really special about her.

Then they had shared their first kiss.

He had initiated it, yes, but Kylara clearly had enjoyed it. They went out together later that evening to a movie… where their lips met more than their eyes were on the screen.

They were only two weeks into this new relationship and Alistair found he cherished every minute of it. A smile broke on his face as he pulled into the parking lot of Maric’s office. I don’t know if this is love… but I am happy. Happier than I have ever been this last year.

He still had a grin on his face when he walked into Maric’s office.

“You’re late.”

Alistair’s smile faded. He glanced at his watch, then half-jokingly said, “Can I blame it on the traffic?”

“No, you may not.” Maric frowned. “When you are running a business, punctuality is key. Early is on-time…”

“…and on-time is late,” Alistair recited along. “Yes, I’m aware. Your point?”

“My point is that I asked you to be here at a specific time and you were not. You waltz in here with a silly grin on your face and jokes on your lips. I am surprised that this lackadaisical attitude of yours hasn’t gotten you in trouble at school already. You are about to be a senior and you still haven’t decided on your major? How do you think you will be able to contribute to society when you just float-along in this manner?”

“Is this all you called me in for? To lecture me?” Alistair almost growled. “You could have just as easily called me on the phone for that…”

“Watch your tone with me, young man. I am your father and I still have control over your life.”

Alistair was seething inside. He wanted to yell, scream, berate… tell Maric just what he really thought of him, but then Kylara popped into his mind, acting like a balm to his frustration. He swallowed his anger and then in a calmer tone said, “I am sorry… father. It’s just… I was looking forward to spending some time with one of my friends before they left for the holidays.”

“Who?” Maric asked, suspicious. “A girl?”

“I think I can answer that question for you, sir,” Zevran suddenly spoke, making Alistair jump. He hadn’t even seen the elf in the office when he’s first arrived. Zevran moved in swiftly and plucked Alistair’s phone right out of his pocket.

“Hey! Give me back my phone, Zevran! This is none of your business!”

“It is when your father pays me,” Zevran smirked. “Now let me see…” He studied Alistair’s lock screen for a moment, then quickly drew his finger in a pattern across it. “Here we go, sir. Unlocked. Now let us see just who your son is so anxious to see. Hmm, quite a few calls to this one number… and many of them late at night too. Ooh…”

Alistair was sick to his stomach. Maric had hired Zevran to spy on him? “Please,” he begged. “Just give me back my phone.”

“All in good time, friend.” A few taps and then, “Here we go, texts.” Zevran then nodded. “It is as you feared, sir. He is still in contact with her… and it seems to be getting more serious.” He showed Maric the latest text.

Maric’s face turned red as he glanced at the messages. “Hmm… I am ‘holding you hostage’? You want to ‘butter me up’? Just what is going on between you and this girl, Kylara?”

“Nothing! We are friends! That’s it!”

“Ah, ah… don’t lie to your dear father,” Zevran cooed. To Maric he then said, I think this will speak for itself.” He tapped the phone and a message began to play on the speaker.

“Ali, I really miss you. I know I’ll get to see you again in a few hours, but I can’t help but remember your last kiss to me. So soft… so tender… You really are amazing at them, you know? No one has made me feel the way you make me feel… loved… special…”

“Turn it off. I’ve heard enough!” Maric fumed. To Alistair, he then said, “I thought I told you the day after the dinner that she was not appropriate for you! She is a nobody! A commoner! I expect you to pick someone more refined, proper! Girls like her only go after you because you have money, influence… power! Gold diggers. Money-grubbers… all of them!”

“Kylara isn’t like that! She is sweet, innocent. She likes me for who I am, not because I have money!”

“Don’t be naïve!” Maric yelled. “You will break it off with her, or so help me, I’ll…”

“What?! Write me off again as you did twenty and one years ago when I was born?! Oh, how that will hurt! Not having a ‘father’ like you in my life! Well, you know what? I did just fine without you then, and I can do just fine without you now!” Alistair turned and stormed out of the office.

Maric went to the window and looked down. He saw Alistair jump into his car and drive off.

“He’s going to be a trouble-maker, that one,” Zevran mused.

Maric sighed. “Tell me something I don’t know.”