#but the thing is that. uh. someone in particular learns of her existence and is *very* interested

[thebleedingeffect]

You see, I think the backstory for my self insert just got alot more fucked up,

[fbfh]

curiosity is a wonderful thing - ch. 6

wc: 2.8k

genre: slowburn, best friends to lovers, painful tooth rotting fluff

pairing: Audrey x Ben, eventual Ben x daughter of alice!reader

warnings: ben's deeply repressed feelings looming ominously in the distance, audrey being an absolute bitch but what's new, op fixing the lore with nail glue and packing tape, Evie is a fucking icon as always

summary: After a long day fighting your way through a mountain of paperwork, you find yourself unable to sleep. Sneaking into ben's room always does the trick. Mal can't find a love spell in her spell book, but she finds something that should work almost as well.

song recs: spring fever - sub urban

a/n: the one thing that pisses me off is that there is no canonical use of love spells in the disney universe outside of descendants. they literally don't exist. genie says no making someone fall in love with someone else. you'd think they would know their own lore /lh

anyway fangz to cici as always (i am so sorry about buggy) and also as always, an optional fit for your viewing pleasure

tags @yesv01 @magcon7280 @hopefullhearts @thatawkwardlittlefangirl  @sunshineangel-reads @strawberry-cake1 @dustyinkpages @kiara7777

You spend the next several hours by Ben’s side as you bounce between various meetings, and of course, your etiquette lessons that you’ve been attending since you were no older than a twizzleroot blossom.  They're not really etiquette lessons, not anymore. They were when you were young, you would attend a few times a week with all the other kids your age. You’d learn how to drink tea, how to write thank you notes, and all the other things you need to know to feel comfortable in royal high society settings. By the end of middle school, most of your peers were no longer in attendance. 

You and Ben, however, used the opportunity to learn about more and more of the nuanced aspects of politics, social graces, and media training. Your parents were both glad for this, and since you seemed on track to be real politicians and not just socialites, it was a perfect fit. However, saying that you have to go to your class for advanced political studies, world history, social graces, and media training is a little too clunky for your taste. You and Ben never grew out of calling them etiquette lessons, so the name stuck to this day.

On this day in particular, you now find yourself sitting next to Ben at a large table in one of the many makeshift conference rooms on campus. You’ve been in and out of meetings and lessons and debriefings about the Isle kids’ arrival, and now you’ve finally made it nearly to the end of your to do list. Ben insisted you didn’t need to stay late with him to do all this paperwork, but you insisted equally as much that you wouldn’t dream of leaving him to do it all himself. Now as Ben skims the monotonous text, signing on lines and initialing boxes, you dig through a seemingly endless database of forms, trying to find the right one. 

You bounce increasingly obscure form titles back and forth for a few minutes. After coming up with nothing, Ben lets out an amiable laugh. He should have expected something that seems straightforward would take at least ten times as long as it should. That’s government for you, that’s what his dad would say. A knock at the door draws both your attention, and Jane pokes her head in awkwardly. She tucks a section of her dark blunt bob behind her ear, then speaks nervously. 

“Uh, hi. My mom sent me,” she says in a quiet, hesitant voice. “She said she’s going to be about half an hour late. There was a problem with some ducks in the forest, or something?” 

Ben smiles at her politely.

“Thanks, Jane.” Ben says politely. Jane nods and leaves quickly, fussing with her short hair. You let out a puff of air from between your lips.

“Even more delays…” you murmur, clicking onto page 23 out of 66 of forms to look through. “How fun.”

Ben chuckles, agreeing as he stands up to stretch his legs. He walks around for a moment, and turns on an extra lamp. It’s starting to get dark out, and the last thing either of you need right now is eye strain. Wait, it’s already getting dark out? He stops in his tracks.

“Shit.” He mutters, reaching for his phone on the table. He completely forgot about dinner with Audrey, but he has to find these forms and get them filled out tonight. You try not to look like you're listening too closely as the phone rings, but Audrey’s voice is quite hard to ignore. Before he can greet her, she’s already demanding to know where he is and why he’s late.

“No, no. I- I didn’t forget. I… well… uh, no. It’s-” Ben rambles around Audrey’s interjections. He gets up, pacing around a little, and walking across the room away from you. He doesn’t want you to have to hear this. 

“We’re just running behind. No- No! I would never intentionally… stand you up… I-” 

“Right!” Audrey snaps on the other end, forcing a smile. “Well then. Maybe we should just cancel!” 

“Wh- uh, okay. I- I’ll make it up to you. We can… uh, later this week? We’ll - before the next tourney meet? I…” 

Ben sighs and pulls his phone away, looking at the screen. Call ended. He walks back over to the table, sitting down to continue trudging through the task at hand. You wordlessly slide a teacup over toward him, the colorful porcelain filled with warm chai, perfectly sweetened. He cracks a smile, and accepts the cup. 

“Thanks, bunny.” He says quietly. You hum warmly in response. You settle back into your comfortable silence, trudging through forms and digging through documents. As you sit across from each other, the pile of completed paperwork steadily grows taller. Hours pass, and you don’t realize how late it is until you’re finally ready to call it quits for tonight. You stumble through your bedtime routine, grateful that you have your muscle memory to carry you through. As soon as your head hits your soft pillow… nothing happens. You toss and turn for a few minutes, trying to get comfortable, then let out an irritated sigh. You managed to get through such a long day and mountains of paperwork, and you still can’t sleep. 

In the opposite wing of the dorms, Ben has no trouble winding down. He’s cozy in his silky royal blue and daffodil yellow sheets, and he’s satisfied with a long day of hard, productive work. He lets out a soft breath, feeling himself teetering on the brink of sleep. Then he hears his door creak open. Soft, muffled footsteps creep across the wood floor, then grow silent as they meet the expansive carpet covering the majority of the floor. He doesn’t move, doesn’t open his eyes, but he can feel someone crouching next to his bed. 

“...Ben?”

He cracks a smile at the sound of your voice, how quiet and tiny you sound in the lateness of the night. You smile a little too when you see him fighting a little grin. After a moment, he answers. 

“Yes bunny?”

“Are you asleep?” You ask carefully. You wait in the darkness for him to answer. 

“Yes.” 

You smile at his sarcastic response, letting out a little breathy giggle through your nose. You kick off your bunny slippers - complete with little tophats - and crawl into bed next to Ben. He’s already scooching over and lifting up the blankets for you, pulling them over your shoulders the way he knows you like. 

He doesn’t need to ask if you couldn’t sleep, he already knows you couldn’t. You’ve been doing this, sneaking in for sleepovers when insomnia gets the best of you, for as long as he can remember. Something about his presence comforts you, relaxes you through even the longest, most never ending nights. No matter how tired he is, he’s always happy to be there for you on nights like tonight, he’s always happy to keep you warm and talk you to sleep. 

And that’s just what he does. He lets you lead the conversation, rambling about whatever springs to mind, emptying out your brain so you can rest. He’d like to think he knows you pretty well by now. He knows just what to do to help you settle down, to give you the best chance of having a restful night. It’s no surprise to him that you mostly seem to be thinking about the Isle kids. 

“I mean, this is real. Our actions mean they get a chance at a better life.” You mutter drowsily. Your cheek is squished against his pillow and your words are heavy with fatigue. Ben can’t help but think it makes your Wonderland accent that much… cuter. 

“Yeah,” He agrees. He traces his hand along your back soothingly. He glances down and notices you’re wearing the white button down shirt you sometimes wear as a pajama top. He asked you about it once, and you said it made you think of him. He smiles a little as he settles back into his pillows.

“I just hope they’ll be able to assimilate well.” You say, a tone of worry now present in your words. “The only thing worse than doing nothing would be having their decisions made for them because of social pressure…” 

“We’ll keep a close eye out for that.” Ben says. His voice is husky and drowsy. It fills you with warmth, with an appreciation for him and the way he stays up with you even though you know how tired he must be. You nod a little, then find yourself rambling again. 

“I just wish there was a way to guarantee that they felt welcome and not… ostracized.” You mumble. You inch closer to him, snuggling into his warm chest and listening to his soothing heartbeat. It speeds up almost imperceptibly as you do.

“Make sure they know that we know them as people. As individuals, and not just…” You continue, cutting yourself off with a yawn. You stretch a little as you do, then curl back up. Ben looks down at you, smiling a little at how sweet you are, at how clingy you get when you’re sleepy. 

“As the children of their parents…” You finish. Ben hums in agreement. He notices how heavy your eyes are getting, how your speech is slowing, how the flow of your thoughts have gone from a fully blasting garden hose to a subtly dripping kitchen sink. You’re about to fall asleep, which means he can let himself sleep too. He couldn’t have gone to bed before now if he wanted to. If he knows you can’t sleep, he won’t be able to either. But feeling your soft breaths across his skin, feeling the way your chest rises and falls as his hand lays comfortingly on your side, knowing that you’re warm and safe here, with him… Ben feels more relaxed than he has in a long time. Probably since… the last time you couldn’t sleep. 

Sometimes when it’s just the two of you like this, all drowsy and late at night, in the moments before he falls asleep, Ben sometimes gets… weird thoughts. Weird, random, impulsive thoughts that are not at all like him. Totally out of left field stuff, like… wanting to kiss you. Like, really, really wanting to kiss you. Sometimes that turns into wanting to hold you, too. And not like this, not holding you platonically, like a best friend, but… holding you a different way. Maybe wanting to hold you tight in his arms, and lay you down in his big, silky bed, and… 

Ben squeezes his eyes shut tight for a moment before relaxing his face. He puts a manual stop to that train of thought, absolutely refusing to let it continue anymore. He won’t entertain it, he won’t let it heat up his cheeks anymore. He doesn’t like thinking things like that about anyone, and he certainly won’t let himself think anything like that about you. He sighs softly. These crazy thoughts will be gone by the morning. They always are. They have to be. 

Besides, it’s so late, he won’t even remember this by the time he wakes up. That’s what he always tells himself. The last thing he would never admit to anyone - not even to himself - surfaces right before he falls asleep. It must be the late hour, where everything vulnerable feels completely abstract and intangible, but he thinks it’s a lot easier to stop himself from thinking those things about Audrey than it is to stop thinking those things about you. 

While you and Ben drift off to sleep, safe and sound in each other’s arms, someone else is wide awake. Sitting in the dorm she shares with Evie, Mal sits on her bed, scouring her spell book exactly like she’s been doing since Ben left earlier that afternoon. After hours of hitting brick wall after brick wall, Mal is met with the back cover of the book. Again. She lets out a frustrated noise, and flips back to the beginning.

“There’s not a single love spell in this whole fucking book!” She exclaims. She looks over the first few pages, reading them more closely in hopes that she somehow missed something. Evie sits across the room in front of a lit up mirror, plucking meticulously at her eyebrows. 

“Are we…” She winces, then inspects her skin and eyebrows again. “Are we sure we need a love spell?” 

Mal rolls her eyes at the question. Yes, obviously they need a love spell. Evie is oblivious to her irritation, and continues thinking out loud around her careful use of the sharp tweezers in her hand. 

“I could… just work my charm on him. All it would take is one look into my…” Another wince. “Hypnotizing eyes, and he’d be wrapped around my finger.”

She leans back, taking a final look at her work, more satisfied with her appearance now. 

“I mean, he’s not really my type, but…” she shrugs, and looks at Mal, waiting for some kind of reaction from her. Mal doesn’t look up at Evie’s eyebrows, she just keeps digging through her book and ignoring the sound of Carlos and Jay playing videogames.

“No, we need a spell. This has to work. It has to be foolproof.” 

Evie grabs a jade roller and some hydrating gel. She still can’t believe how amazing the makeup and the skincare in Auradon is. She hasn’t seen one half wilted aloe plant, and this gel is infused with roses from Aurora’s moors, glacier water from Arendelle, and caviar fished from the Caribbean. She can’t wait to get her hands on a decent blush, and a lip liner that doesn’t double as eyeliner and an eyebrow pencil. 

Evie notices the scowl on Mal’s face as she hunches over the spell book. Normally she would scold Mal for making faces that will give her wrinkles, but now that she has her hands on retinol, hyaluronic acid, and hydrocolloid patches, she can fix any stress wrinkles Mal brings upon herself. After what feels like an eternity of searching the same pages over and over, something catches Mal’s eye, causing her to stop in her tracks. It’s more of her mothers rambling annotations and scrawled notes, this time on the topic of hypnosis. 

Hypnosis can be useful as long as you’re stealthy with it. Jafar got sloppy, he kept hypnotizing that stupid sultan over and over, not bothering to use hypnosis for it’s true purpose - a means to an end. If you’re an evil genius like I am, and you use hypnosis sparingly, no one will be the wiser. Don’t get me started on that oversized calamari - Ursula has to be the best example of what not to do when you’re hypnotizing a bonehead prince to make him think he’s in love with you. Something as easily breakable as a necklace? Please. Besides, everyone knows the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. 

Her mother’s scratchy handwriting goes on for a while, some anecdote about her and Mal’s father, something she’d rather not read. Ever. She thinks back to what Evie said about wrapping Ben around her finger, and in one desperately needed moment of clarity, everything falls into place. A plan begins to form in her mind. 

“This… this could work.” She says. Those three, quietly spoken words get the attention of everyone in the room. Evie sets down her gua sha stone, and Carlos pauses their videogame. They all walk over, hesitant and eager to hear what Mal figured out. Mal lets out a laugh of disbelief. It seems so simple now, she wonders why she didn’t think of it sooner. She can just hypnotize Ben into falling in love with her. She can trick him into thinking that he loves Mal more than he’s ever loved Audrey, then - boom! Front row seats to coronation, which means front row seats to stealing the wand out from under their noses. 

While Mal silently hashes out the details so she can tell her friends, Evie inspects her cuticles. She really should push them back. She stands up, grabbing a cuticle pusher and an orange wood stick from her pencil cup before making her way back over to Mal’s bed. As the three of them wait with bated breath, Mal looks over the hypnosis spell again and again. After a few moments, she tucks a piece of paper between the pages, marking her spell to reference later. She slams the book shut, and looks up at her friends.

“Come on guys. Let’s go bake some cookies.”

[mightyflamethrower]

25 reasons Trump won’t pay a dime to E. Jean Carroll

That eye-popping $83 million judgment will not survive an appeal. A proper settlement would subtract at least $82,972,000.

In 2019, a strange woman named E. Jean Carroll accused Donald Trump of raping her in a changing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Midtown Manhattan. Trump called her crazy, and a jury found him liable for both sexually abusing her and defaming her with the “crazy” talk. Last week, a New York jury decided Carroll deserves $83 million for defamation.

Here are 25 reasons why that’s nuts.

1) Carroll has said rape is “sexy”

She backs up this insane statement with, “Think of the fantasies” (which my wife and I can’t stop saying to each other). For the record, having someone forcibly violate you against your will is the exact opposite of “sexy.”

2) She’s already bragging about shopping sprees

Remember in “Goodfellas” when that idiot shows up at the party with his wife wearing a $20,000 fur coat and De Niro tells him to “bring it back”? When you run a scam, you need to lay low for a while. Carroll, conversely, is making appearances on national television telling Rachel Maddow she’s going to buy her a “penthouse in Paris” as well as fishing gear and a motorcycle for her counsel (could she pick weirder presents?). Her lawyer awkwardly murmured, “Uh, that’s a joke.”

Yeah, this whole thing is a joke.

3) The scenario she described came from her favorite TV show

She is a self-described “Law & Order” fan, and there is an episode wherein a man muscles his way into a changing room at Bergdorf Goodman and sexually molests a woman. This is likely where she got the idea. She’s also a big fan of “The Apprentice.” Would you like to watch your rapist on TV?

4) She didn’t want to press criminal charges

Being on the cover of New York magazine is one thing, but taking your BS story into an actual courtroom is a whole other level of fraud. When Bill de Blasio said he would change the law to make the case admissible, Carroll kept awkwardly repeating, “The experts told me … the time has passed.”

5) They changed the law

The case had no merit because the statute of limitations on civil action had passed. So what happened? The New York State Legislature changed the law. Is there anything that screams “witch hunt” more than that? What are we, Zimbabwe?

6) The man who backed the lawsuit is a major DNC donor

Leftist activist billionaire Reid Hoffman is the money behind this operation. His motive is obviously to bankrupt Trump so he can’t run again. Carroll denied this at first because she’s a liar, but her lawyer was forced to come clean.

7) The whole thing was George Conway’s idea, apparently

Though she denies it, it’s clear this entire plan was concocted by “conservative lawyer” Conway at a radical leftist cocktail party in Manhattan.

8) Carroll’s lawyer is desperate to fix her reputation as a rape-enabler

Roberta Kaplan was supposed to champion victims of sexual assault with her #TimesUp movement, but she used it instead to run cover for perverts such as Andrew Cuomo. She got caught and she got fired. Her comeback included representing Ashley Biden (A Biden lawyer going after Trump? Is anyone surprised?), but this case could permanently rescue her Google results.

9) Carroll’s dress didn’t exist back then

Carroll said the rape happened in the early 1990s. We just learned the particular dress she said she was allegedly wearing did not exist at the time.

10) She cannot remember when the rape happened

We’re not talking about the exact date. She can’t tell us if it was 1993 or 1995.

11) She won’t let anyone test her coat for DNA

Carroll calls the dress her “bad luck dress” and told CNN she will never make a talisman out of it — as though the idea had occurred to anyone. Why did she keep it around? This could be the left’s Monica Lewinsky dress, but she refuses to let anyone analyze it.

12) She doesn’t know if Trump ejaculated

I don’t know if anyone reading this has engaged in sexual intercourse, but evidence of the male orgasm is almost impossible to hide.

13) She is a serial accuser

Despite being a 3.5, she has claimed men have sexually assaulted her at least a half-dozen times. This isn’t proof of Trump’s innocence in and of itself, but it becomes relevant when surrounded by 24 other points.

14) She said it wasn’t sexual

Carroll has said pretty much everything that you could say about this encounter, from “it was not sexual” to “it was the definition of rape.” She said she would not press charges, however, because it would trivialize the experience of illegal aliens who are being “raped around the clock.”

15) She’s not his type

Trump is into elegant Slavs. This woman is like that hysterical chicken lady from “The Kids in the Hall.”

16) The judge and Carroll’s lawyer are pals

We’re told Judge Lewis Kaplan was Roberta Kaplan’s (no relation) mentor back when they both worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Roberta Kaplan denies this, but it can’t be denied they worked at the same firm at the same time. That alone is a conflict of interest.

17) Carroll didn’t talk to anyone about the alleged assault, until she did

If a woman is sexually assaulted, she is morally obligated to report it immediately, so the rapist doesn’t do it again. Carroll did not do this. What’s more, she didn’t talk to any of her friends about it. At least not at first. This is peculiar behavior for a blabbermouth.

18) Even if it’s all true, the settlement would be tiny

Carroll alleged that Trump cost her a columnist job at Elle, but the magazine made it clear it ended her contract as an advice columnist based on nothing more than lack of interest. But let’s assume Elle fired her because Trump wrote a mean tweet. A good price for an advice column would be a couple of hundred bucks per piece. That’s $2,000 a year for Elle. Assuming Carroll lives as long as “Dear Abby” columnist Pauline Esther Friedman, who died at 94, that would be a whopping total of $28,000 (Carroll is 80).

So, we’re off by about $82,972,000.

19) She said women “love” being abducted

She told Charlie Rose (remember him?) in 1995 that women love the idea of a caveman knocking them unconscious with a club and then dragging them — by their hair — back to the cave. I’m no feminist, but I’m pretty sure the cerebral contusions from this kind of violence are not a turn-on.

20) She said it wasn’t a big deal

“I’m a mature woman,” she said. “I can handle it.” OK, then why does she need $83 million to recover? That’s four times the amount of money you get when your kid is decapitated.

21) She lives in a Mouse House

Anyone who doubts this lady’s mental state needs to check out her house. She calls it “The Mouse House” because it’s infested with rodents (to whom she has given individual names, such as “Terbrusky”). She has painted the trees blue. She has printed out 27 years of advice column questions and stacked them all over the place. Yes, writers can be weird. But it is impossible to look at her place and not think, “This is nuts.”

22) She is a hoarder

Hoarding is a mental disorder. You can’t sue someone for calling you “crazy” if you have a mental disorder.

23) Her cat is called “Vagina” — seriously

E. Jean Carroll is obsessed with sex and her vagina. She said she lives in the woods because if she lived in the city, she’d have 16 boyfriends. She’s 80, remember?

Her dog “Tits” has blue hair, and her cat is named “Vagina.” The left-wing media thinks this is irrelevant. “Among the stranger complaints made by the former president … was that the jury wasn’t informed about the name of his accuser’s cat: Vagina T. Fireball.” Uh, when the charge is “calling a sane woman crazy,” Vagina T. Fireball matters.

24) She writes notes to herself

Wait, doesn’t everyone do that? Not like this. “The Mouse House” is festooned with bizarre messages. Her microwave says, “Burn Baby Burn.” Her bookshelf says, “Always amused never angry.” And, in a moment of deranged honesty, she taped a note to a lamp that says, “Hold your nerve. Pursue your radical options to the bitter END!”

25) Carroll said she wanted to “rape” Trump

Apparently, she thought having rough sex with him in the changing room would make for a “funny story.” (Wait, I thought she didn’t tell anyone about what happened to her out of fear.) She also suggested she’d do it for $17,000 if he was unable to speak. Sounds awfully rapey, doesn’t it?

Anyone who takes this case seriously and doesn’t see E. Jean Carroll as a complete basket case is a complete basket case.

[fanfics4all]

Pure-Blood Potter: Chapter 21

Request: Yes / No  This was requested by @loxbbg​

Requests are closed <3 Have a nice day/night

Draco Malfoy x Fem!Potter!Reader (Eventually)

James Potter x OC Arabella Renaud

Harry Potter x Half-sister!Reader

Word count: 3105

Warnings: Mentions of depression

Y/N: Your Name 

Y/N/N: Your Nickname

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY WORK, I WORK HARD ON MY FICS AND IT’S NOT COOL TO STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK! 

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(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

I walked into Defence Against the Dark Arts and all the desks were gone. Everyone’s things were off to the side and they were standing around. There was a large wardrobe towards the front of the classroom and I was confused. 

“Y/N!” I looked over and saw Harry waving me over to him and Ron. I walked over and smiled at the two. 

“Are you alright?” Harry asked and I nodded. 

“I’m fine.” I said and the two didn’t look convinced. 

“So, do you know what we’re learning today?” I asked, quickly changing the subject. 

“No idea, but could be anything in this bloody class.” Ron said and I giggled slightly. The cabinet started shaking and everyone went quiet. We all looked at the wardrobe, some whispered wondering what could be inside. 

“Intriguing, isn’t it?” Professor Lupin said from behind us. 

“Would anyone like to venture a guess as to what is inside?” He asked as he made his way to the front. 

“That’s a boggart, that is.” Dean answered. 

“Very good, Mr. Thomas.” He said and my eyes went sightly wide. The wardrobe shook again and a few of us jumped slightly. 

“Now, can anybody tell me what a boggart looks like?” Professor Lupin asked. 

“No one knows.” Hermione said and we looked at her confused. She most definitely wasn’t next to us before. 

“When’d she get here?” Ron asked. 

“Boggarts are shape-shifters They take the shape of whatever a particular person fears the most. That’s what makes them so…” 

“So terrifying. Yes. Yes, yes, yes.” Professor Lupin finished her sentence. The cabinet continued to shake as he made his way next to it. 

“Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a boggart.” He continued and the shaking got a bit more intense. I jumped back slightly and Harry placed his hand on my arm. I gave him a small smile, which he returned. 

“Let’s practice it now. Uh, without wands, please.” Professor Lupin said. 

“After me, Riddikulus!” He said. 

“Riddikulus!” We all repeated. 

“Very good. A little louder and very clear. Listen, Riddukulus!” Professor Lupin pronounced the spell clearer and louder. 

“Riddikulus!” We all said louder than before. 

“This class is ridiculous.” I heard Draco mutter. I looked over at him and he sent me a small smile. I smiled back at him and noticed Pasny wasn’t standing next to him like she usually would. 

“Very good! Well, so much for the easy part.” Professor Lupin said and I turned back to face him. 

“You see, the incantion alone is not enough. What really finished a boggart is… laughter. You need to force it to assume a shape you find truly amusing. Let me explain. Uh, Neville.” He picked out. 

“Will you join me, please?” He asked. The wardrobe shook again and Neville looked truely scared. 

“Come on. Don’t be shy. Come on. Come on.” Professor Lupin gently coaxed him to the front of the group. 

“Hello. Neville, what frightens you most of all?” He asked the boy gently. Neville mumbled his answer under his breath, poor boy probably doesn’t want to get made fun of. 

“Sorry?” Professor Lupin asked. 

“Professor Snape.” Neville answered louder and clearer this time. Some students started to laugh and I rolled my eyes at them. 

“Professor Snape? Yes…” Professor Lupin also chuckled slightly. 

“Frightens all. And I believe you live with your grandmother.” He said. 

“Y-Yes, but I don’t want that boggart to turn into her either.” Neville answered and the students laughed again. 

“No.” Professor Lupin shook his head and looked back at the shaking wardrobe. 

“It won’t.” He added. 

“I want you to picture her clothes- only her clothes- very clearly, in your mind.” He said. 

“She carries a red handbag.” Neville started, but the professor shook his head. 

“We don’t need to hear. As long as you see it, we’ll see it. Now, when I open that wardrobe, here’s what I want you to do. Excuse me.” Professor Lupin said and walked night next to Neville. He whispered something in his ear and Neville looked at him in shock. 

“Can you do that?” Professor Lupin asked. The cabinet shook again and the Professor started taking out his wand. 

“Yes. Wand at the ready.” He said and Neville held his up. 

“One… two… three.” He said and unlocked the wardrobe. The door creecked open and Professor Snape walked out, looking as angry as ever. 

“Think, Neville, think.” Professor Lupin encouraged. The door shut behind the creature and he was standing in front of Neville. 

“Riddikulus!” Neville shouted and pointed his wand at the fake Professor Snape. He quickly was put in some old woman clothes that looked ridiculous. Everyone, including Professor Lupin started laughing at the boggart. 

“Wonderful, Neville! Wonderful! Incredible. Okay. To the back Neville. Everyone form a line!” Professor Lupin said. Everyone quickly started getting into a line and pushed and shoved each other. 

“Form a line! I want everyone to picture the thing they fear the very most and turn it into something… funny.” He said as he put on some music. 

“Next! Ron!” He said and Ron stepped up. 

“Concintrate. Face your fear. Be brave!” Professor Lupin said. Ron’s boggart turned into a giant spider. Ron whimpered and he pulled out his wand. 

“Come on, wand at the ready, Ron. Wand at the ready.” Professor Lupin said. He finally pulled it out of his robe and pointed it at the boggart. 

“Riddikulus!” He said and the spider was now wearing rollerskates. Everyone started to laugh as the spider struggled at stand up. 

“Yes! You see? Very good! Very good! Marvelous! Absolutely very, very enjoyable. Parvati! Next! Parvati.” Professor Lupin said as he laughed along with us. 

Parvati’s fear was a giant snake. She turned her boggart into a jack-in-the-box, which was quite funny looking. I was up next and I took a deep breath. I knew what my fear was and I really didn’t want to face it. I didn’t want anyone to see it. I didn’t want Harry to see it. I stepped up to the jack-in-the-box and watched it turn into my Father. Everyone was deadly silent as he took a step closer to me. 

“Why would I ever love you when you were just to get my parents off my back? You were only born to restore your Mother’s statue. I left to the family I truely loved, Harry will always mean more to me than you. A muggle-born will always mean more to me than you. You are nothing to me. Just a means to an end.” The boggart hissed at me. I felt tears well in my eyes and I didn’t even try to hold them back. Hearing my Father, my true Father say such things to me when I never really knew him broke my heart. I felt small and worthless. I felt someone pull me back slightly and looked up to see Harry now stood in front of me. The boggart quickly turned into a dementor and Harry stood just as frozen as I was. It was coming closer to the both of us and Professor Lupin quickly slid in front of Harry. 

“Here!” He shouted. His boggart turned into the full moon behind some clouds. 

“Riddikulus!” He said and the moon turned into a balloon. He opened the wardrobe and the boggart was now locked behind the door once again. 

“Right, well, sorry about that. Uh, that’s enough for today.” He said, Harry and I were both still frozen in place. I still had tears running down my face and I felt awful. 

“If you’d all like to collect your books from the back of the class, that’s the end of the lesson. Thank you.” He said and the students groaned, but gathered their things anyway. 

“Sorry, sorry, go on. You can have too much of a good thing.” He said. Once most of the students were already out of the classroom I snapped out of my frozen state. I quickly gathered my things and tried to wipe the tears that were still falling. 

“Love, are you alright?” Draco asked, gently grabbing my arm. I hid my face behind my hair and nodded. 

“F-Fine, Draco…” I whispered. Draco grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. He looked so worried and gently wiped a tear that was near his thumb. 

“Talk to me, love.” He whispered and I pulled away. 

“I-I said I was f-fine…” I sniffled.

“Miss. Potter, would you mind joining me in my office?” Professor Lupin asked, before Draco could say anything. I looked up and him and nodded. 

“Meet me in the common room as soon as you’re finished with him.” Draco said, making me look at him again. I could tell he wouldn’t take no for an answer and I smiled slightly, he was acting like my Draco again. 

“O-Okay…” I whispered. He sighed and gently kissed my forehead. I blushed slightly and followed Professor Lupin into his office. 

“Would you like a cup of tea?” He asked as he motioned for me to take a seat. I gave a small nod and he smiled at me. He silently made us each a up and took a seat behind his desk. 

“I’m not sure if your Mother told you about me and your Father, but-” 

“You were friends with my Father. You, Black, which I’m guessing is Sirius Black, Pettigrew, and my Father always got into trouble.” I said and he nodded with a small smile. 

“Mother said you were the most responsible one.” I said and he laughed. 

“That’s true, James, and Sirius specifically were always getting into trouble. They loved playing tricks on people and I tried to keep them in line, but I partaked as well.” He said with a fond smile. He gently shook his head and lent forward on his desk. 

“I’d like you to know that your Father would never say anything the boggart said to you.” I said and I felt a tear escape my left eye. 

“Y/N, when your Father told us that Arabella was pregnate with you, he was so happy and excited. We were all equally happy for him, but then he told us that he’d never be able to see you. I’ve never seen James so heartbroken in his life.” He said and I nodded. 

“I know… Mother gave me the letter he wrote…” I whispered. 

“Then you must know that James would absolutely never say any of those things to you. He loved you more than you could possibly know and he very much wanted to meet you.” Professor Lupin said and gently placed his hand over mine. 

“He said that in the letter…” I said and let the tears fall. 

“James wanted to be apart of your life so badly, Y/N. Lilly was hoping that Arabella would give in a let him see you. Your Mother was trying to protect you.” He said and I looked into Professor Lupin’s eyes. 

“Did he truely want to see me?” I asked, my voice quiet because I felt like I was about to break. 

“I promise you, he wanted to see you more than anything.” He answered and I smiled a bit. 

“Thank you, Professor.” I said and wiped my tears away. 

“Of course, my dear. My door is always open if you need to talk.” He said and I smiled a bit brighter. 

“D-Do you think you could tell me about my Father one day?” I asked and he smiled at me. 

“I would love to, dear.” He said and I smiled brightly. 

“Really? Mother’s told me some things, but I knew they weren’t friends in school.” I said and he chuckled. 

“Oh no, but James never really bothered her, Sirius on the other hand…” He laughed and shook his head. 

“How can you talk so fondly about a man that escaped Azkaban?” I asked, confused. 

“It’s a long story, that I’m sure you’ll find out about at a later date.” He said with a sigh and stood up. 

“Right, well I have another class in a few and I’m sure you have classes you need to get to.” He said with a smile. I nodded and stood up. He opened the door for me and I smiled at him. 

“Thank you again, Professor, I needed to hear that.” I said and he smiled fondly at me. 

“No need to thank me, Y/N.” He said and I left his office. 

I held my books to my chest and smiled slightly to myself. Professor Lupin really did know how to make me feel better, unless he put something in that tea, but I doubt he’d do that. I can see why my Father was friends with him. I walked through the halls and down to the dungeons. I felt my stomach tighten slightly as I made it closer to the Slytherin common room. They all saw me crying. They all heard what the boggart said to me… I quickly dropped my head and hopped that they weren’t just sitting around the common room. I mumbled the password and the wall opened up. I made my way into the room and saw them all sitting around. Draco and Pansy were sitting next to each other, Blaise was sitting on one of the lone chairs, Vincent and Gregory were sitting on the couch opposite Draco and Pansy. Of course they were all sitting there waiting… I quickly looked down and tried to make my way to the girl’s dorms without being noticed. 

“Y/N! Come hang out with us.” Pansy called and I froze in place. 

“Actually I have a lot of studying to do and I’m feeling a bit tired… I’m just gonna go up to the dorm.” I said with a small smile. I turned to go towards the stairs again, but Pansy made her way quickly in front of me. 

“You’ve hardly hung out with us anymore.” She said with her arms crossed and a frown. 

“I’ve just been busy with classes.” I lied. Pansy narrowed her eyes and pointed at me. 

“But you have time to hang out with those bloody Gryffindors and that stupid Hufflepuff of yours?” She asked as she poked my chest. 

“Pansy, lay off.” Blaise said. 

“Why are you always coming to her rescue? She’s been ignoring us!” Pansy said, glaring at Blaise. 

“I’m not rescuing her.” Blaise rolled his eyes. 

“Maybe she’s ignoring us because you and Malfoy are ignoring her.” Gregory said and Pansy turned her glare to him. 

“Excuse me? Draco and I aren’t ignoring her, she’s ignoring us!” Pansy hissed. 

“You two are too obsessed with each other to even notice she’s hurting.” Blaise said and my eyes widened. 

“Hurting? I know when she’s hurting.” Draco growled at him. 

“Oh really? Is that why you ignored her all through her birthday party and didn’t notice that her little Hufflepuff broke up with her that night?” Blaise asked with a raise of his brow. “Blaise!” I hissed. Draco’s head shot over to me and I quickly looked down. I felt the tears returning and I really didn’t want to be here anymore… I heard footsteps coming closer and they lifted my head up to face them. Draco looked at me, searching my eyes to see if Blaise was telling the truth or not. 

“Is it true?” He whispered. 

“Draco…” I whispered and let a tear fall. 

“Did that bloody idiot break up with you on your birthday?” He asked with a growl. 

“Yes…” I answered quietly. I saw Draco tense and he grabbed my hand. He pulled me with him to his dorm room and shut the door. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked, not facing me. 

“I-I wanted to…” I answered. 

“Then why didn’t you!? I’m you’re best friend, Y/N! Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” He shouted and I looked at him with wide eyes. He looked angry, upset, and hurt all at once. 

“Beacuse you were with your new bloody girlfriend! You and Pansy have been all over each other since my birthday! I was so excited to spend time with you at my party, but you were all over her! I came back in after he broke up with me and you were with her! Blaise was there and he’s the one that made my birthday better. He’s the one that helped me forget about it for the night. All because my blood best friend was busy with his new girlfriend!” I shouted at him and he looked at me with wide eyes. The two of us were quiet and I turned around, I couldn’t look at him right now. I heard Draco walk closer to me and gently placed a hand on my shoulder. He turned me to look at him and he looked so sad and guilty. He gently wiped away my tears. 

“Pansy and I aren’t dating.” He said and I furrowed my brows at him. 

“W-What?” I asked. 

“It was her stupid idea and I was an idiot to think it would work.” He said and I was even more confused. 

“What are you talking about?” I asked. Draco sighed and caressed my cheek. 

“Pansy said if we pretended to date then you would get jealous and you’d break up with that stupid Hufflepuff.” He answered and my eyes widened slightly. 

“W-Why would you want me to be jealous?” I whispered. 

“Because I was losing you to those stupid Gryffindores and that bloody Hufflepuff, and I… I wanted my Y/N back.” He said, slightly hesitant. 

“I felt like I was losing you, Dray…” I said, choosing to ignore his hesitation for now. 

“I’m so sorry, love. I should have been there for you…” He said, resting his forehead on mine. I hugged him tightly and took a deep breath. His smell is still so comforting to me. 

“Please come back to me, love.” He whispered. 

“You’ve always had me, Dray…” I whispered back. Draco clung to me tightly. We stayed like that for a moment before moving to lay on his bed. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked and I shook my head. 

“I’m bloody exhausted, Dray, can we just lay here, please?” I asked and he smiled. 

“Of course, love, whatever you want.” He said and kissed my forehead. I smiled and snuggled into him. This is just what I needed. I felt my eyes slowly start to close and felt the most relaxed I’ve felt in months. I guess I just needed my Draco back.

Tag list: @psamathegoesrawr @kkmstblog @nox-ceur @nighttimemoonlover @aactuaaltraash @solacestyles @smoooore @wonderstruks @les-bio-lie @tashy-bear @ashwarren32 @hollie-blogs-blog1 @lover-of-books-and-tea @nerdygaloresposts @teenwolfbitches28 @genius2050 @drw0301bieber @lady-of-lies @ravenmoore14 @ravenempress101 @cillianchamp @rowanthomasknapp @rachelxwayne @ready-4-fanfiction @in-slytherin-we-trust @accio-rogers @sambucky8 @bruisedfists-and-splitlips @answer-the-sirens @andreasworlsboring101 @vanessa-kom-skaikru @impulse-anchor @psamathegoesrawr @nighttimemoonlover @liz-owl @dracoswhvre​

[hismercytomyjustice]

Today’s therapy session went a little like this…

Therapist: You have to feel and acknowledge your feelings.

Me: no, 💖

But in all seriousness… Yet again found myself being like “Yay, the OCD spirals have been almost nonexistent lately!”

Only to, in the middle of talking to her about something, realize “…oh shit, my drive for perfectionism is another OCD spiral isn’t it..?”

My Therapist: ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

GODDAMMIT.

But I also found out last week (when I finally saw a psychiatrist at my therapist and doctor’s behest) that the typical dose for OCD of my current meds is 2-3x higher than what I’ve been on for the past like two years. Apparently that dose was more suited to “generalized anxiety” and not, in fact, for “OCD brain ghosts.”

So that’s getting bumped up. And my Adderall is probably going to get bumped up too. It hasn’t been doing much for me for a while now and I’m on a really low dose for it.

The psychiatrist also said we need to figure out whether or not I have autism because that’s going to greatly impact what she prescribes. Basically she wants to help me rather than medicate my brain into submission lol. Which I def appreciate!

I also met with the autism specialist my therapist recommended (whaaaat having OCD means you’re more likely to have autism???) who kept asking me things and was just giving me very “uh huh” looks the whole time accompanied by “Yes, that’s an autistic trait. That too. And that.”

But like, she’s asking me questions to sort out stuff like special interests and I’m just like what qualifies as a special interest and not a hyperfixation or a normal amount of interest? What is a normal amount of interest?

Same with questions like “are you a picky eater.” Like, what does that mean? By whose standards? What is the scale we’re working with here?

It does not help that a good chunk of my family and friends bare minimum at least have ADHD. Because I’m sitting there comparing myself to them and I’m pretty sure it’s a bit of a “Spiders Georg” situation.

Like…what is a normal amount of research when it comes to things you’re interested in? Because I don’t know everything about Mount Everest. But for like a month or so there, I was trying to learn everything I could about it. Wouldn’t that be a hyperfixation then? But I only eased up because I wasn’t coming across much in the way of new info, so IDK.

Same for like…what is considered a normal amount of liking a particular piece of media? Doesn’t everyone have stuff they enjoy and want to learn more about? And like…there are plenty of people who know more about POTO than I do. Not among my immediate friends and family, but I’ve seen them out on the internet. I know they exist.

What’s an ADHD level of sensory issues vs an autism level? And what’s an OCD level of liking things to be the same way vs an autism level? (╯°□°）╯

She can’t give me a formal diagnosis, as she does more like…autistic life coaching, but she did say she has someone she recommends for full blown testing if I want to get a second opinion, so that’s something I can consider.

It would just be the bee’s knees if my OCD didn’t keep sending me into spirals over this. I have had multiple qualified people tell me I probably have it now, and the ONE person who I got an actual assessment from (who never met me because she was just the assessor’s supervisor) is the only one who’s like “eh, not enough.”

Which just keeps sending me in “it’s not autism, it’s just the perfect combo of OCD and ADHD to make people think you have autism” loops.

God it’s so fucking annoying being in my brain sometimes.

Most times.

All the time.

But hopefully over the next few weeks I can get a solid answer on that front one way or another so I can stop ruminating on it. Whaaat reassurance seeking behavior??? In this economy?!

[catchyhuh]

Well part 6 made it obvious that besides French and Japanese Lupin can talk at least in English, Italian, Russian, Spanish, German, Turkish, Korean and Dutch (gosh, he's good, I'm jelly).

What languages do the others know? I have some headcanons about Goe, but I'm curious about your ones!

well, the short of it, for all of em really, is: “do i need to learn this language to continue living for the next month? yes? ok let’s learn some conjugation.” so it’s less about which specific languages and just HOW many they know so much as how do they go about the process of learning/how do they USE the language once they’ve learned it so. IT’S A LOT

and uh also they all tend to default to japanese but you probably knew that LET’S GET INTO THE LOT

jigen:

jigen knows the least out of all of them, mostly because he. does not talk to many people. he’s an unintentional perfectionist about it in just that one sense; if he’s communicating, he wants to be SURE he’s understood, no room for misunderstanding

of course, that doesn’t mean he’s a slouch. i’m sure he can still speak, listen to, read AND write at least ten more languages than you and i can, minimum. BUT STILL, he just doesn’t want any room for misinterpretation, none whatsoever. so usually, he lets someone else do the talking, or he attempts to get by with whatever he and the other party can understand. it’s kind of funny because his stubbornness with this means a lot of times the gang will purposefully leave him to flounder, because THAT’S WHAT HE GETS FOR NOT WANTING TO REMEMBER SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS “no ice in my drink please”

because of this, he’s most proficient in READING in other languages. there’s no need for input on his end, and he can get a hang of sentence structure AND the words themselves, so there’s no embarrassment later. so particular about these things

fujiko:

the only one who can speak a language better than she can understand it being spoken to her. like jigen, she mostly learns by just reading it, (sometimes by rereading a book she already knows, so she already has an easy guide to go off of) so trying to decipher someone TALK talking at a conversational speed is. a different beast

uses the whole multilingual thing as more of a novelty than a necessity. like it’s a party trick to her. like she's a translation dictionary in the flesh! ask her how to say purple in danish! wanna know the word for cookie in malay? if you want to know how to say “penis” in 30 languages, fujiko will frown and go “c’mon. grow up." ...but she'll still answer since it’s actually still just ‘penis’ in like five different languages anyway,

this is mostly because she weaponizes the “you don’t think i can understand x language, but yes, i can, and i can hear you calling me stupid while i’m standing right fucking next to you. you will regret this in time”

goemon:

absorbs foreign languages the fastest, which is hilarious because he’s always the most stubborn about wanting to just speak his first language. i mean it’s goemon, you probably saw this coming! 

has since softened on the concept, not because of a “loosening of his personal principles,” but rather, he saw how damn DIFFICULT it made things for the average person he interacts with for two seconds of his life. it was initially easy to hold onto it, until he saw the poor waitress grin apologetically and say she was so sorry she didn’t understand. then he softened. a BIT. if you know even a smidge of japanese he’s expecting it from you. 

wore a t-shirt that said COOL GUY in big, obnoxiously american letters once for a disguise. burnt it when the operation was over. lupin has five pictures of it. goemon allows the records to exist because he is, objectively, a COOL GUY

zenigata:

the funny thing is you’d ask him about it and he’d get kind of sheepish. like, yeah, he knows (he pauses to count on his fingers for a second) 23 languages but he’s not REALLY good at most of them it’s just like a thing for WORK it’s not like he’s REALLY got them down--

again, it’s the fault of that freakish hypercompetence that comes up for rule of funny. if he’s just getting off the plane and he realizes he’s left his gloves at home and is desperately trying to find a pair, no, he can’t get through in the slightest. but if it’s LUPIN involved, oh buddy if there is an ELEMENT of DANGER AND/OR LUPIN, he just breaks out entire sentences with almost perfect pronunciation and everything, to the point the other people in the room wonder if he was faking his issues earlier. and the answer is no, he wasn’t, he just didn’t have the proper motivation. NOW he does, and NOW he can speak fucking perfect indonesian, just because!

also kind of sort of treats it as a party trick the way lupin and fujiko do if he’s in a good enough mood (but you actually do get hints of that in the show, like that one little part 3 bit!) so that’s fun

[lcnelyghost]

Hey if u don't mind, can u pls do an imagine with jpm where the reader is gen z and sometimes James has trouble relating to her/ him/them but he still tries? And also pls pls pls a part two of introducing James to modern music

Ps, ur writing is fucking incredible, and ur one of my fav tumblr blogs, take care sweets :) <3

yk, that last little comment really made me smile. i’m glad to know my writing actually interests people! thank you sm lovely <3

the fascination of our modern world//jpm

pairings; james patrick march, female reader

rating; pg!

warnings; none <3

Oh, where could you even begin here. Let’s just say, having a boyfriend from the 1920’s was occasionally difficult at times. Even though he had a thirst for taking the lives of the innocent, James was a total gem. A gentleman who would spoil you and give you everything he had. Everything you wanted!

But.. the poor dear had a hard time understanding how the modern world worked. He found it incredibly uncomfortable. Certainly quite confusing in many ways, though Mr March found a way to avoid being included in anything that involved this generation. That was until he met you.

Now, James was left to face the supposed joys of finding out about even more sources and objects that now existed in this world. If it meant trying to understand more about you, he’d clearly have to go right in and start learning.

***

“Darling?” James called. He could faintly hear someone singing softly in the sitting room of his suite.

Inspecting this odd noise, James proceeded to enter the sitting room, just in time to see you with you’re back turned whilst singing within the dead silence.

Mr March was quite confused that you were just randomly singing to no tune in particular. No music was playing, so he chuckled quite a bit at this current sight.

“Last Christmas, I gave you my heart. But the very next day.. you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears! I’ll give it to someone special!” You sang with glee, you’re back still turned to you’re ghostly lover.

James smiled in awe but slowly made his way over to you and tapped you’re shoulder. He immediately flew back when you jumped in surprised, going on to giggle at his reaction.

“James! You gave me quite the fright. Is something wrong?” You asked.

James slowly shook his head. “No, no. Not at all my love. Just.. erm.. remember the record player I own?”

You furrowed you’re brows and looked at him funny, pausing the song on you’re phone as it was still blaring through the AirPods a tad bit too loud in you’re ears.

“Yes?”

“Well, i’m sure you are quite aware that you’re more than welcome to use it for some of the albums that belong to you. Don’t feel that you have to sing to yourself rather than the actual piece of music, dear. I know we all like a bit of singing to ourselves sometimes. But it’s better to join whoever may be singing in the song we like.”

You laughed at his slight confusion. “Oh James, you’re such a sweetheart. But I wasn’t singing to myself in pure silence..”

“You weren’t?”

“No. I was listening to my music through these,” You took the AirPods out of you’re ears and went on to present them to him.

He stared at them curiously, taking one of the small white speakers into his own hand. He inspected it before giving the AirPod back to you.

“Ah yes.. these are uh, something that connects to one of you’re electrical devices?”

You nodded and placed both of them in his ears, going back onto you’re phone and playing the song you were last listening to.

A grin began to spread across his face as he slowly tapped his right foot to the beat of the song.

“My my! This is quite the invention!” James beamed, his body now swaying slowly to the smooth sound of music.

You both laughed and you’re heart practically melted at his joy. Now usually, things like these utterly disgusted Mr March. He’d most likely say it was too loud for his ears or it hurt him. But perhaps now, you’re partner wouldn’t be so quick to judge.

***

“So, what do you fancy watching?” You asked James, searching on Netflix and Disney+ as you cuddled into you’re boyfriend further.

The two of you were comfortably sat in bed in you’re pyjamas. You’d taken James to bed a little earlier tonight, explaining to him that you wanted a ‘movie night’ or so you called it.

“Hmm, i’ll let you decide dear. Just maybe something that fits both of our tastes.” He said, twirling you’re hair around with his finger.

“Oo! How about Twilight?”

“Sorry?”

You giggled slightly. “Twilight. It’s a romantic movie. It’s about a vampire who falls in love with a human in high-school. And it becomes his job to protect her. He sort of stalks her a bit though. There’s also wolves in it! Maybe we could watch the full franchise!!”

James blinked at you, not knowing what to say. He eventually sighed and told you to put it on if that’s what you wanted.

Half way through you guys watching the full saga, James became bored and was just cringing at how there was too much going on. Far, far too much for his liking.

“Dearest, I think it’s time for me to settle down for the night.” He stated, faking a yawn and excusing himself.

“Aw, ok! We can finish it tomorrow.” You smiled sweetly, James only just smiled back before kissing you goodnight and rolling over. His smile fell shortly after he’d realised he actually had to finish these lot of movies tomorrow night.

***

“Mm, i’m feeling a bit peckish. Maybe we should have lunch now?” You said to you’re lover, rubbing you’re stomach as it growled loudly with hunger.

“Yes, I was getting ready to ask you that actually. Wait- where is Miss Evers?” James searched around the place but didn’t manage to find his loyal laundress, (and chef for that matter)

“I told her to go to the bar and enjoy herself for the afternoon. Don’t worry though. I’ll order us something in.” You pulled out you’re phone and went into Just Eat.

“Darling, I thought you said you gave her the afternoon off. How are we meant to request to her what we would like if she’s gone?” He frowned.

“I know, that’s why I said I would order it in.”

James frowned ever more. “I don’t understand.”

You sat down beside him, showing him what app you were currently in.

“Look, this app allows me to order food to the Cortez. I can text Liz to bring it up to us and that’ll be our lunch for the day.” You told him. He looked shocked and wildly fascinated at the same time.

“So.. you are able to get someone to professionally make us something to eat and they are willing to deliver it right here to the Cortez?”

“Yup.”

“Oh Darling.. when I said I had a huge dislike for the modern world.. I don’t think I meant it quite literally at all..”

***

hope y’all enjoyed this little imagine! it was quite fun to make actually :)

taglist: @v-love @cabin10hufflepuff

[plain-as-pandemonium]

What do you think was going through Bedelia's head during the Antipasto bathtub scene? Just curious how you interpret it!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I WANT TO KISS YOU ON THE MOUTH FOR SENDING THIS! I've been turning this ask over in my mind for several happy days because it fills me with GLEE, I tell you.

What is going through Bedelia's mind in this moment: What a glorious puzzle-box of a question! The short answer is SO MUCH OMG. Rewatching this scene, and the surrounding scenes, so as to gather my thoughts for this ask, I am truly astonished at how much emotion and conflict and strategy they managed to convey in a few short cuts. Gillian Anderson is genuinely a master of her craft, her portrayal of Bedelia is so nuanced.

The thing is, that bathtub scene in Antipasto has to be placed into context with what happens immediately before it, and what we learn immediately after. Let me talk this through:

i. immediately before

We see Bedelia preparing for her bath, beginning when she asks Hannibal to unzip her dress. She's inviting this intimacy as she a) takes him to task for showing off at his office gala, b) as the two of them discuss the murder he committed in order to get hired for his current job and c) as she coolly asks whether he plans to kill another of his colleagues.

The last thing she says before wordlessly dismissing Hanners is,

"I still believe I am in conscious control of my actions. Given your history, that's a good day."

It's key that she does not seem at all distressed during this discussion. She is willing to undress in front of Hannibal, but she also wants to be alone with her thoughts, and he respects that. That's important context for what's on her mind as she has her bath.

ii. the bath itself

As she sits in the bath, her expression is serious but not anxious, not frightened. We see her open her eyes, watch the steady drip of the faucet while someone is murdering a violin and banging a piano in the background. The shot from above makes it seem like she dropped a goth-ass bath bomb in that water because it is B L A C K. Then she slips beneath the surface and sinks into that blackness, dropping slowly into a fathomless ocean as a riot of bubbles obscures her figure from above.

Then she pops out of the water gasping, as if she's held her breath as long as possible, as if something has startled her. This is the first crack we see in her composure, and it is self-induced. Interesting, right?

iii. immediately after

The first thing we see following the bathtub scene, we see Bedelia (in flashback) sitting in an interrogation room with Jack Crawford telling him,

"If you think you're about to catch Hannibal, it's because he wants you to think that. Don't fool yourself into thinking he's not in control of what's happening."

iv. my thoughts

I've spent way too much time considering Bedelia's mental state during her time in Florence, for uh, various fic-writing purposes. The main thing on her mind during that particular bath scene, I think, is ... conflict.

She has gone to Europe with Hanners willingly. (Though, let's be honest, what were her options, realistically?) Unlike most other characters on this show throughout Seasons 1 and 2, Bedelia knows exactly who she is dealing with and what he is capable of, and the first 20 mins of Antipasto show that pretty clearly.

S3 shows us that Bedelia--who is otherwise so careful, so measured in her actions, so tightly controlled--has a history of taking absolutely batshit insane risks. In that context, her choosing to go with Hannibal makes more sense. Does that mean she feels 100% comfortable and confident in her decision?

FUCK NO

In going to Italy with Hannibal, Bedelia is performing a high-wire act with no safety net. No one knows where she is, by design. No one else is coming to save her if things go sideways. She knows she is in danger. A degree of trust exists between her and Hannibal, a willing vulnerability in the way they behave towards each other (for instance, they're both surprisingly comfortable being physically naked around each other), and yet Bedelia--better than anyone--knows Hannibal, knows his quirks, knows how very unpredictable he can be.

And yet she is very much in control of herself around him. Whatever she's got herself into, she knows she can navigate her way out of it.

That bath, to me, represents a moment of doubt. An "oh shit, can I really pull this off?" moment. It's important that she has this moment when she is alone. She doesn't let him see it.

But the doubt is what makes the venture worthwhile for Bedelia. She likes putting herself in dangerous situations to see if she can handle it, to see if she can come out on top. It's a thrill for her, and something I absolutely LOVE about her character. She is there to learn all she can, for her own edification, and to see how far she can push her own (and Hannibal's) boundaries.

If there were no risk, there would be no reward.

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

You know what I want to see a lot more of? Cultural meshing or whatever the hell you call it. I want to see how human and na'vi culture (among other things) could be learned and respected by both sides. For so long, all the Na'vi have really experienced is the war side of humans, and though I agree that we as a species can be pieces of shit (especially to our planet, etc) I also want to see the highlighting of all of the culture and stuff we've created over the thousands of years we've existed. I want someone to continue what Grace started and could have continued to grow until it flourished if it weren't for that fateful day.

I want to see two friends, one human and one na'vi, speaking to eachother. Only the human is a language nerd/polyglot and is enthusiastically trying to find out everything they can about the Na'vi language and its various dialects while at the same time excitedly introducing their na'vi friend to words in not just English but Spanish, Greek, etc. They're so excited to be teaching their Na'vi friend English while at the same time learning Na'vi and showing them all the cool language families back on Earth. I want them to explain the concept of a dead language, how things can fade with time, how without our ancestors voices there is a constant shift generation after generation, slow but sure. ("Oh, so you guys say herwìva! That's so cool, we call them snowflakes in English. Oh, and look: in French they're called flocon de neige.")

I want to see a bright-eyed young religion/other enthusiast chatting away about Eywa and all of the Na'vi stories all the while having no problem showing their na'vi friend the absolutely ridiculous amount of books on mythology, demonology, christianity, and all that other stuff. Folklore, fairytales, you name it! ("Yeah, and then Zues banged another lady! I know, he never learns!")

I want some random tree-lover fighting for what little trees are still left on Earth to get so excited that he makes entire slideshows about all of the trees they had back on Earth and are fighting to bring back and what so many of them symbolize, etc. ("What's that? Oh, no, you can't really build a home inside a redwood tree. Uh. . . maybe a treehouse? Wait, you guys don't have treehouses? Omg we have to build one! We'll only use fallen branches, I promise! Pretty please!")

I want to see a poet or writer roll up onto Pandora with their ungodly amount of literature who loves reading to the na'vi children and teaching them how to write fun little poems, etc, all while at the same time paying close attention to the na'vi stories and writing them down, compiling them and even memorizing some of them to connect more with her students. ("I am sam, am I am, do you like green eggs and ham?" "And then the brave Entu snook up behind the might Toruk. . ."

I want games of London bridge and ring-around-the-rosie played right alongside traditional na'vi child games, young children connecting with young na'vi. ("And then you bring your arms down around him and boom! He's out!" "Ooh, what's that you're doing? I wanna try! Do all na'vi play this game?")

I want fun cooking/food classes where they alternate between learning about na'vi food culture and human food culture and they get to truly see how rich the na'vi food culture is while at the same time seeing the same thing about people on Earth. ("I promise you, ice cream is man's best fucking invention ever! And there's so many different kinds and so many different ways of making it, too! Hey, what do you guys do for dessert? Are they fruit based?")

I want trips to places like the beach where a sweet instructor brings pictures of beaches on Earth in the past and shows the others where crabs would have been or some other oceanic shit all while the na'vi instructor teaches them about Pandora's beaches. (no reason in particular for this one, I've just been wanting to go to the beach recently 🤷)

I want people who rode horses (both for equestrian sports and pleasure) to be in awe of the pa'li and to show the na'vi various different moves, games, etc, that they did on their horses via pa'li through things such as videos, pictures, all that fun stuff. ("And this right here is called puissance. You have no idea how long me and my horse had to train to make it safely over that jump!")

I want humans explaining the sheer amount of effort it takes in bonding with an animal. Months, years. And even then you can never be too sure. There is no tsaheylu, no "becoming one". We have to work hard, so hard, for every skill. Every trick. Everything. And even when all is done, there is always the chance of miscommunication. Of you making one wrong move and a horse you've known since you were four bucking you off, or your dog biting you if not trained properly. We are never one, always separate, no matter how close we get. Understanding only goes so deep, and yet we take risks day in and day out because we love our dogs and horses and any other animal we may have conflicts with.

I want humans explaining the fear. And yes, everyone feels fear (especially when colonial idiots pull up *cough* Quaritch *cough*), but for humans? It has always been a constant. There is no Eywa. Our perception of everything is completely different from a na'vi, who spends their whole life connected to their planet. We are alone in our minds, in our perception. When we die, there is only death. Our ancestors are lost in the wind. We are each left to interpret everything in the ways we know how, and we are so weak. Killed so easily. Everything is a threat. The ocean, a tree, animals, mountains, nature. Everything that gives us life takes it away, only there is no Eywa telling us that it is alright. That there is balance. For us, there is just panic and pain and fear, as we are attacked from all sides, begging for answers we'll never get. So we protect ourselves in the only ways we know how. Houses. Machines. And the fear, over time, our justification. (Not sure if what I'm trying to say made any sense at all lol.)

And I want na'vi taking this in, not forgiving us for our wrongdoings (because we have no right to ask that of them) but for them to just see us the way they claim to see so much. For them to see us and us to see them and for there to be understanding. No "demons". No "savages". Because that's not how it is. It's just two different mindsets brought on by two very different planets.

But what I want most of all?

A slushy tbh. Gonna go drive to my local 7/11 now. That's enough depression for one day.

Wow what a very emotional ask! I really love this! My favorite human things that fics tend to have Jake bring to the Omaticaya are small but meaningful I think. Curse words, photos and videos, children's games (the marking their height on the wood!!), high fives and pinky swears, flipping people off, books, and slang for sure.

In regards to most of this I think Norm is your GUY. I refuse to believe he doesn't teach his 50 million adopted children to read and write along with history and culture and biology, Earth and Pandora. The rest of the village kids TOTALLY get in on these lessons they all want to learn, they get jealous of their friends. Norm taking over and restructuring Grace's school is my FAVORITE headcanon, I love the idea that Spider joins him in lessons after he gets older if he never gets an avatar or gets Eywa blessed.

[lightning-chicken]

Unfamiliar, Familiar Dances

(tags from this post, via @finn-m-corvex)

i like how you think, finn! in fact, i liked it so much that i went ahead and wrote this:

(set during s13 ep1, ao3 version here)

“What? What happened? Someone’s located the Teapot of Tyrahn? Uh, Pythor’s back? My father’s been found? What?”

The postman only chuckled in response to Lloyd’s questions. “Heh, you got an invitation. To Shintaro!” 

“Shintaro?” Lloyd echoed.

“Mm-hmm, the Ivory City!” Satisfaction and pride at a job well done beamed from the postman. “You don’t deliver one of these every day. No siree.”

As the others chattered away, Nya glanced at Jay to gauge how much of Lloyd’s anxious speculation he picked up.

Someone’s located the Teapot of Tyrahn?

The only reason why the rest of the ninja knew that particular object existed was because of a precaution. Neither Nya nor Jay had been keen on the idea of revealing the alternate turn of events that had upended their lives; though it would’ve been nice to lift some of the burden off of their chests, the questions and confusion that would follow would be too much to deal with. Just the idea of an alternate timeline would concern the other ninja, and that wasn’t even including everything that happened during it. FSM, how would Kai react if he found out she’d—

Not now, Nya.

Through an unspoken agreement, Nya and Jay had decided to keep those events to themselves. Small details, like the Teapot of Tyrahn, could be mentioned in passing as objects of interest, but nothing more than that. Everything else—all of the festering guilt and old hopes and moments that Nya pretended didn’t bother her—got shoved away in that little locked box where Nya kept all the essential, pointless things that got in the way. 

(She knew it was one of her old, bad habits, and she was working on prying that lock open and dealing with every little thing one at a time, but sometimes it was simply so much easier to deal with things later. If laterever came around.)

If they ever needed to talk about it, they could talk to each other.

Not that they did that often.

All the ninja had a particular manner of tiptoeing their way around all the unpleasant things they’d experienced in their years as Ninjago’s protectors. They addressed things by not addressing them at all. Something catastrophic would happen, but nothing would change except for deeper layers under ordinary actions: How are you doings were expressed in breakfast offers, sorrys were layered in lingering hugs, I love yous were lent in borrowed clothes. None of it was ever really said aloud; saying it aloud would be an admission that something was wrong in the first place. Instead, they all attempted to return to the safety of normal. Over the years of grieving and ignoring almost-failures and almost-tragedies, the ninja had perfected this uncomfortably familiar dance. The steps were memorised.

At first, Nya had loathed this dance. The ninja’s determination to awkwardly skirt around any mention of sensitive topics infuriated her to no end. She couldn’t see why they didn’t just get any bothersome feelings out in the open and move on. They were ninja, for FSM’s sake—the city needed a set of strong elemental masters, not a group of damaged teenagers.

Then she learned what dying felt like, and she realised that one was a result of the other.

In all honesty, they’d gotten better at coping with things over the years. Weekly sleepovers were established, with pillow forts and fierce competition over who got to choose the movie for the evening. And when the lights dimmed and eyes lulled closed, sometimes one of them would let slip a disquieting thought that’d been bugging them, and that was okay.

They would be okay.

What wasn’t okay, though, was how Nya and Jay had dealt with the events that had happened but also didn’t happen. At the start, they hadn’t talked about it at all, preferring to pretend that everything was (that they were) normal. 

All that had come crashing down when Nya caught Jay in the middle of a nightmare, tears dripping down his face when she woke him up, both their hearts pounding too fast to ever be considered normal.

Now they had settled into their own version of the dance. Jay was there to grab her hand when he caught it absentmindedly rubbing her chest where the venom had been, or when she stared at a white dress in horrified rapture. In return, Nya was there to soothe him when someone moved in a certain way and he flinched, or when he spiralled into a panic over details that meant nothing to other people but meant so many things to him. And they were both there to check on the other when often-innocent mentions of that timeline caught them unawares.

Like now.

Someone’s located the Teapot of Tyrahn?

Turning to face her yang, Nya studied him for any kind of reaction. Jay—who she would usually catch doing the same thing—didn’t seem to notice. At all. He was fully engaged in the conversation, oohing and ahhing over the fancy envelope along with the other ninja. Maybe he hadn’t heard it?

No, he definitely did. He always did.

Gently grabbing his wrist, Nya steers Jay away from the others. They’re all too busy talking about Shintaro (whatever that was, she wasn’t really paying attention) to pick up Nya’s murmured, “You okay?”

A sweetly bemused smile bloomed on his face; it was an expression he’d been adopting more frequently than usual. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Nya knew Jay. She’d known him through years of winning and losing, through years of fighting and surviving, and through the best and worst years of their lives—in some cases, she could even say she knew too muchabout him. 

(Jay had never quite mastered the art of knowing when some information was too much information.)

She knew about his tendency to ramble when he was nervous, about the way he fidgeted with his fingers when he was flustered, about how his eyes would light up with a blue too bright to be normal when he got an idea. Nya knew what made Jay… well, Jay. 

When Jay spoke, there wasn’t any rush to the words, or forced cheerfulness she’d learned to discern from his usual upbeat tone, or tell-tale tremble under his voice. In short, there were none of the things that usually indicated Jay was hiding something.

None.

Nya didn’t know what worried her more: the possibility that Jay had suddenly gotten very, very good at lying; or the idea that he genuinely didn’t know what she was talking about.

Because the Jay she knew wouldn’t—couldn’t—have been so calm about it.

Of course, there was the possibility that he’d finally moved on from it. They hadn’t had to talk about it for months, after all. Maybe she was the one with the leftover baggage.

Still, Nya couldn’t shake off her lingering doubts.

It didn’t make sense. After they both got trapped inside Prime Empire, and after she… disappeared, she would’ve thought that he’d be more aware of the last time something like that had happened, not less. Even Nya was still frazzled by it; for a moment, she’d been…

Death didn’t feel like it did the first time.

Losing her last life in Prime Empire had been quick. Painless. No permeating chill, no agony of drowning in your own body, no dimming view of the person she’d realised that she’d loved all along.

And she’d come back! 

She was fine.

Everything was fine.

Jay tilted his head, catching her attention. Judging by his quizzical look, she’d been quiet for far too long. Nya gripped his hand and squeezed it, ignoring how it didn’t fit against hers like it used to. “Nothing, nothing. Just making sure you’re alright.”

Jay hummed.

Usually, when Nya shut down his questions like that, he’d give her space at first, but later approach her just to make sure she was okay.  Now, he rejoined the conversation with ease, and she already knew there wasn’t going to be any check-up later.

Inexplicable dread crept up her spine.

Whilst the others started making plans, Kai glanced at Nya for her opinions, only to realise that she wasn’t with the rest of the group anymore. After making his way over to her, he leaned his arm on her shoulder in the older-brotherly way she’d always associated with him. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

Kai must’ve noticed the way her eyes had flicked from him to Jay, because the next thing he asked was, “Do you want me to talk to him for you?”

“What? No. No, he hasn’t done anything.”

And that was the problem. 

But what kind of problem was that?

A coil of unease tightened around her stomach.

“You sure?” Kai didn’t sound convinced. But Kai was sceptical of a lot of things; it was in his nature, since the early days when the Smith family became two instead of four. Maybe it was in her nature, too.

The coil began to unwind.

Maybe Jay really hadn’t heard what Lloyd said. Maybe she was extrapolating things out of control, trying to connect dots that didn’t exist. Maybe she shouldn’t be doubting Jay: her yang, one of the people she cared about most in the world.

“I’m sure.”

Her stupid line of reasoning didn’t make sense anyway. So what if Jay had changed? Everyone did. People got older. Trying to stop it would be futile, and so would be trying to deny it.

What Nya couldn’t deny was the incessant fact that this Jay wasn’t the same person as her old Jay. Somewhere in the middle of the past few years or months (she couldn’t pinpoint it exactly), her Jay had changed.

There was nothing she could do about that.

Even so, she couldn’t help but wonder why.

[ghostmartyr]

“We’ve done everything we can. Now it’s up to Ruby. Whatever happens next, we have to welcome that.” “But what if she isn’t Ruby anymore when she comes back out?” “Maybe... that’s not for us to decide.”

I am trying to think how to put this.

Drawing a direct parallel between Ruby and the Afterans muddles things. The Paper Pleasers are not human. They exist for their purpose, and when that purpose expires, they readily accept that and are eager to move on to the next thing. They want to exist. They want to live. They want to continue.

Ruby drinking the tea is an act of violence against herself. Her loved ones letting go and respecting her choices -- traditionally, that’s a good thing. Jaune’s refusal to do that for the Paper Pleasers is very explicitly a bad thing.

...Except Ruby drinking the tea is an act of violence against herself.

In this particular scenario, motive is immaterial. The tea lands Ruby in the Tree, and as it does with everyone, it gives her a chance to really contemplate what she wants; it’s a safety net that catches her when she takes that leap. I’m not going to rail against her receiving that grace. She deserves a break.

However, right now, I think there’s a vital component of the conversation missing. There is a world of difference between change in the name of bettering yourself and change in the name of destroying yourself. I think the show understands that, but I think there’s also a disconnect between the narrative taking its time and being gentle with Ruby, and her loved ones’ understanding of what’s going on.

Which is not automatically a bad thing.

It’s not.

Really.

The characters can have different experiences and expectations than the audience. That’s fine and perfectly normal.

But uh.

“They came back from the Tree better.”

Hm.

Great?

Good for them?

Like, really fantastic. For them.

I’m having trouble phrasing this.

I guess I’ll be blunt:

I know it’s not a 1:1 thing, but it is awkward as heck to go from a character basically attempting suicide after an episode of being beaten down to that lowest point -- to all their loved ones standing around going, “They have the right to choose a path for themselves.”

Ruby does have that right, and agency as a person that should be respected. If she wants to change -- chooses change -- then who really has the right to disagree with that? Learning to contend with yourself should first and foremost be about yourself, not the other people in your life. Those people are important, yes, but when you’re thinking about you, at some point, it’s got to be about you. It is good to have people in your life see that and respect that.

Only Ruby is seventeen and thinks the world is better off without her, and that she’s failed everything she’s supposed to be, and she’s not enough.

It is jarring to have her loved ones look at a decision she makes in that state of mind and call it something they should accept. Whatever the show intends to do, the last episode is very specific in breaking Ruby down. This is not a choice she makes fully informed and of her own free will with no string attached -- this is a choice she makes because she can’t take it anymore and is looking for any way out.

And again, motive aside, it lands her in a place where she can actually make a more informed decision about her life and where she wants to go. She’s given that option, and it’s a kindness.

Her team is respecting that, but without any true comprehension of what’s going on with her. Which -- again, characters don’t have to be perfect paragons who get everything right and understand the intricacies of a situation they haven’t really been read in on.

But when the audience spends sixteen minutes watching a character being essentially coerced into making a choice, watching their loved ones go all in on respecting that choice is just really, really awkward. Ruby is literally beaten into it by someone who hates her.

I’ll keep saying that WBY+J don’t have to know that, and aren’t responsible for knowing that -- but the audience does know that. It’s fantastic that Ruby’s friends are willing to support her, but at the end of the day, we’re back in the same place.

“We’ve done everything we can. Now it’s up to Ruby.”

That’s the problem.

That is the entire problem.

Ascension and the right to choose it -- that’s not really my interest.

What concerns me is that once again, this is Ruby solving her problems in isolation. This is Ruby coming face to face with her demons alone, while all her loved ones stand back and say whatever she chooses, they’ll have her back.

Which is the same old story.

They trust Ruby.

They love Ruby.

Just leave it to Ruby.

This is her fight, she’s got this.

.

Mental health is hard. I’m just going to say that as a blanket statement, because it is. It’s hard for the person struggling, it’s hard for the people around them to know what they should be doing to help -- there are guidelines that you can sort of follow, but each person is unique, and what helps one person can easily hurt another. It is not easy, and the best thing you can really do is commit to trying.

Even then, no matter how solid your support network is... oftentimes, the major issues are you versus you. Your friends and family can love you all they want, and do it well, but you’re the linchpin. Nothing is going to move forward without you. You’re the responsible one. You hold the power.

It’s a heavy thing to hold. Depression and adjacent problems regularly ask you to do more than you feel like you can as part of treatment. It feels incredibly unfair, and it’s very easy to look at every failure as something deeply wrong with you. Because it’s on you, right? You’re the one who can fix this, so if it’s not getting fixed, that must mean you’re doing something wrong. You’re the problem. You’re always the problem. How the hell do you stop being the problem.

Sometimes you’re just done, and you can’t do anything more.

This is a personal preference, which I guess the show has no obligation to care about, but... You know, we get all of these stories about the power of friendship. We have a gazillion of them. But a lot of the time, it comes back to someone being a Hero. For all the emphasis on friendship, a lot of stories fall into the trap of building up a legend in isolation.

If you want to get meta, in-universe, that’s how Ruby approaches Summer. Summer isn’t just part of her team, or one of many Huntsmen, she’s The Hero. She’s SuperMom, she’s the best, she’s the greatest.

That’s what it means to be a hero, and if you’re not doing that, you’re not worth anything. That’s the trap Ruby’s fallen in.

Which is why, for my personal tastes, I really wish she weren’t going on this journey alone. She has four people who love her right outside, and they’re not participants in the journey. They’re putting their faith in her and trusting whatever choice she makes.

That leaves Ruby alone.

It’s great that the Blacksmith is giving her room to make a choice. It’s great that she’s given a moment to breathe where she can think about making choices.

But the problems that get Ruby to the Tree stem, in a large part, from feeling like everything that weighs her down is entirely dependent on her. She’s the Leader. She has to be better than this. She doesn’t lean on people or share her problems, because she has to be the positive one. She has to be the inspiration to keep them all going.

How Ruby relates to her support network is part of why she’s here.

They’re there for her, they love her, they’ll love her no matter what --

But if Ruby can’t accept that love, she can’t draw any strength from it, and she’s just as alone as she’s been feeling. Of course you’re stuck on your own if you don’t know how to reach out to anyone.

Ruby has a host of baggage, and it’s important for her to learn how to navigate that in a healthier way, in a way that she’s allowed to pick.

But a truly significant part of that baggage comes from not allowing anyone else to help her carry it. Putting her by herself, leaving her to figure out how to move forward in isolation --

One of the lessons Ruby needs to internalize is that it doesn’t always have to be on her. She’s halfway there. She knows enough that she’s starting to balk at the concept of it being all on her, as seen in her rant. She resents the weight, and wishes it weren’t there. The second part of that is realizing it doesn’t have to be. Realizing that she can share the burden, and that the fate of the world is not all about her and her choices. She has a team.

Leaving her to figure that out alone weakens the entire vibe. “You have people to lean on if it gets too hard -- but while it’s harder than it’s ever been, your only source of companionship is a kindhearted being who you might never see again. It still falls completely on you.” Even if the ultimate takeaway is that Ruby does have a support network, and she can treat them as one, the narrative has them shoved all slightly to the left because this is Ruby’s Problem to work out.

That can’t last forever. That’s why we’re here.

It’s -- not a simple road, to be fair. As I said above, sometimes in mental health, it really is just about you. There are things that you’re stuck learning and growing through alone. But everyone deserves a hand to hold while that’s happening, and it’s really disappointing to me that Ruby isn’t given one (the Blacksmith is kind, and gentle, but also a complete stranger). Instead of pushing her friends into the journey with her, the story seems more focused on letting Ruby make her own choices by herself.

And heck, just saying that, it’s like “well yes, people should be allowed to do that??? respect their agency regarding their own life??”

But no one should have to be alone while they grapple with their demons, and it just hits me wrong that the story has written WBY+J’s version of being there for Ruby as a distant promise -- of waiting for her to sort things out -- more than being in the trenches with her.

Luckily, Jaune just added to Weiss’ long history of fire crimes, so --

I don’t know. I am hoping that Jaune can pass on some of the compassion that he received this episode to Ruby, because that would help settle my dissatisfaction a lot, but for right now, I don’t love the approach.

[alciefromwonderland]

Hey, so uh!

I wrote a little one act play sort of thing. I'll have it under the cut if anyone wants to read!

Amelia - a woman in her mid 20's

Danny - a man in his mid-late 20's

[The scene opens on Amelia standing before a gravestone, a small bundle of flowers on top. The stage is almost completely bare otherwise. It is a cold winter's day in a cemetery. Amelia stares down at the grave, a look of sadness and contemplation on her face. She is wearing a sleeveless dress and rubs her arms absentmindedly.]

[Danny enters. He is dressed in a black suit and white button up shirt. Neither of them is dressed for the weather, but Danny seems far less bothered by it. He approaches Amelia who glances at him before turning back to the grave.]

Danny: Did you know him?

[Pause.]

Amelia, shaking her head: ...I don't think so.

Danny: (laughs) Don't think so? You're not sure?

[Pause. Amelia shifts uncomfortably.]

Amelia: ...I don't think I knew him.

[Beat. They both look quietly at the grave.]

Amelia: Did you?

Danny: Mm... [Pause. He contemplates his answer for a moment.] Not really. Heard about him, though.

Amelia: Yeah?

Danny: Yeah. Nothing too special or impressive or big, exciting news or anything. I mean, you can find it in the papers, but it's just because you know...they gotta report on all the deaths and everything.

Amelia: Nothing special? He was...what? Didn't even make it to 30. How does someone die that young and it's just discounted as "nothing special"?

Danny: Well, no, I just mean like...he wasn't involved in anything crazy. Just...one of those stupid kids who tried to go swimming before they should've.

[Pause. Amelia nods slowly. It's getting cold. She bunches her shoulders for a moment. Danny looks her over, realizing that she doesn't have a jacket.]

Danny: Here... [Reaches for the buttons on his suit jacket, hesitates, and drops his hands back to his sides.] Uh...listen. You should probably get back home soon. It's way too cold out here for something like that. [He gestures to her dress.] I mean...look, if you're here to see someone in particular, I can maybe help you find them.

Amelia: No, I'm... [Pause. She shakes her head.] I don't know why I'm here.

[Danny looks at her for a moment, a mix of concern and pity on his face.]

Danny: Okay...well...people don't usually come here without reason. I mean...you know, they come to see someone. They come to just enjoy the quiet. They come to learn or pay respects or to mourn. I mean...did something happen or...?

[Amelia shifts uncomfortably. She doesn't look up at him. He's a stranger and she's not sure what she should tell him, if anything. But he seems willing to listen and that's enough for her to start.]

Amelia: ...everyone I know is gone.

Danny, shocked: G...gone? Like...?

Amelia: No! No, they're not dead. They're just... [Pause.] I don't know who they are anymore.

[During this speech, Amelia slowly turns to Danny without realizing, only coming to her attention when she's looking into his eyes.]

Amelia: I don't...talk to them as often anymore. You know, we...we get busy. We all do. And that's fine. But it's...I mean, whenever I do try to catch up with them, it's like...like they're slowly fading away. Emmy...Emily...wants to be called her actual name now because nicknames are silly and childish. Chris has changed majors five times now and I just...I can't keep up. I thought Sarah and Cindy were engaged - but now she's seeing Gary? I - I haven't even spoken to Gary since we were kids, so I can't even imagine what he is doing, what he likes, who he is - but the...the people they used to be...the people I am friends with, they just...they don't exist anymore. I'm just friends with a bunch of ghosts.

[She realizes she's been staring at him, rambling. She looks down at the ground, pulling her arms in closer.]

Amelia: I'm sorry. [She shakes her head, muttering] So dramatic...

Danny: Hey... don't say that. It's not dramatic.

Amelia: But it is. I mean...I don't know why I'm so upset. They're still around. They're not *dead*, they're just... different.

Danny: Really different, sounds like.

Amelia, nodding slightly and gesturing to the grave: ...feel like I know Daniel here as much as I know...whoever Emily is.

Danny: Well...I dunno about that.

Amelia, shaking her head: (Speaking quickly and shakily) Well, I do. I thought it was just little things at first, but I... there's nothing left. We don't work in the same place. We're not part of the same clubs. Most of us don't live anywhere near each other anymore. I try to invite them over for things that it turns out they don't even enjoy anymore. I...I don't...know them anymore. I don't know if I ever did. I... they're gone. The people I loved are all gone.

[Danny nods. He has things he wants to say, but he doesn't want to burden her more. She's shivering.]

Danny: Tell you what...I'll be here tomorrow. We can talk more...when you come back with a coat and maybe some mittens, okay? I don't want you to freeze out here.

Amelia: ...maybe I do.

[Pause.]

Danny: Sorry, maybe...?

Amelia: Maybe I do. Want to freeze. I live with ghosts anyway. Maybe...maybe I should just join them. [laughs bitterly] I still...still try to bond with them sometimes. Even when they aren't there? I just...pretend they are. I watch our old favorite shows and play the games and keep up with our old bookclub series and I tell myself that I'm not alone, but...

[Danny pauses. He starts to reach out for her. She turns to look at him. She looks desperate and terrified. He drops his hand.]

Danny: My brother died when we were kids. Stayed out in the cold too long. Mom didn't know he was out there. Everyone kinda figured...you know...neglectful mom, couldn't be bothered to take care of her kid... (shrugs) She wouldn't be bothered. But she was.

[He gestures into the distance.]

Danny: The one with the flowers and the little toy car is his. She comes down and replaces the flowers every couple weeks and brings a new car when the one there already gets broken or rusted or lost. She keeps up with birthdays and Christmas and...hell, she went to all the soccer games he would've been in. Cheered for his team and...hung the victory pictures on the fridge as if he were in 'em.

[Pause.]

Danny: I think more people live with ghosts than we realize sometimes.

Amelia: It's different when they're still alive. I can't come here to mourn or...bring gifts.

Danny: No, but...

[He hesitates. He's not sure if he's about to say the right thing.]

Danny: What if you come here to make new friends?

Amelia, laughing: In a graveyard?

Danny, shrugging: You met me here, didn't you?

[Amelia smiles.]

Amelia: ...you said you'll be here tomorrow?

Danny: I will.

[Amelia looks up from the grave to Danny. After a moment, she looks over to the side where Danny had pointed out his brother's grave.]

Amelia, turning back to Danny: Same time?

Danny, smiling: With a jacket next time.

Amelia, smiling: And mittens. I'm Amelia.

Danny: Danny.

[Amelia smiles and briefly looks down at the grave with a curious look. She turns back to Danny.]

Amelia: Well...I'll see you tomorrow, Danny.

Danny: See you tomorrow.

[Exit Amelia.]

[Danny looks at the grave and approaches it. He rests his hand on the slide, sliding it up towards the flowers. His hand stops just before he touches them. He sighs.]

[Lights down. End scene.]

[dragon-wisteria]

1, 19, and 61 for the Laurelin lore?? 👀

1. what drives them? what’s their ultimate goal?

On an abstract level she wants to gain a fully-rounded understanding of history and lore by engaging with people from other cultures. On a more concrete/immediate level she wants to throw enough wrenches in the witch-king's shenanigans that all the people she cares about can be as safe as possible.

19. what sparks genuine, unadulterated rage in them?

So far a frequent 'berserk-button' of sorts is just. Her friends/innocents being in serious danger. But I wouldn't say it's ever reached 'unadulterated rage' levels so far.

I guess maybe something like child-murder would do it. Or perhaps someone dying right in front of her.

61. is there an in-game moment of theirs you think about and just laugh?

So I'll preface this story by explaining that The One Ring has a mechanic called Shadow. You gain Shadow from stuff like trauma, encounters with ghosts, or messing around with cursed magical items. If you get too much Shadow you have a bout of madness, Boromir style. Shadow is extra bad for Elves b/c its harder for them to get rid of.

Anyway, after one of the other pcs (a hobbit) experienced some weird ghost stuff during an adventure, we went to ask a knowledgable npc what all that was about. He searches through his books, reads a particular book, has a long horrified pause, and goes 'oh hahaha don't worry about it. You don't need to know what that was about. Just ghosts. Nothing to worry about.'

Obviously that's both unhelpful and super suspicious, so I go 'hey gm can I take note of what book he read? Uh huh. Great.'

(note that I am 100% aware that learning about evil stuff can give shadow points, because it had happened before. but both me and Laurelin like to Know Things)

As soon as the npc goes to sleep, Laurelin and the hobbit do some snooping and Laurelin looks in the book.

GM: okay the book says that was almost certainly the actual Witch King. And now he knows that you exist and is probably hunting you. Obviously this knowledge is disturbing and you take a whole load of Shadow points.

THEN, the hobbit pc goes 'hey so what was in the book?'

Laurelin: oh hahaha don't worry about it. (this is unconvincing. the hobbit also looks in the book. He also gets Shadow, and also freaks out, tells the rest of the party about it and they also get Shadow. The npc wakes up and is annoyed with the lot of us. oops)

And anyway that's what this meme was about:

[bitchingintothevoid1919]

To learn that there was a pretty thriving queer scene in my old high school that I didn't even know about... it makes me feel a sort of grief for, like. what could have been. missed opportunities. I mean, in hindsight yeah it probably wasn't a bunch of straight allies organising the annual wear it purple day. but i never imagined that there were so many of us. and i will never know that feeling of community.

At that age I was probably way too deeply closeted and/or caught up on my feelings for one particular girl in my grade to consider orientation in a broader sense. so maybe I wouldn't have done anything even if I had known.

But i knew of precisely 2 girls who came out as queer. Which is better than zero I suppose, but it's still so isolating. Don't they say 10% of the population is queer or something like that? Imagine if I knew there were not 2, but 15 others. And that'd just be out of those in my grade. Would I have felt less alone?

I remember feeling so overdramatic. like, oh well I know I'm only 16 so I'm probably just being a teenage angstlord. (thanks internet. I will kill all of you who put that idea in my head) But looking back on it with an adult lens it's like. classic isolated queer kid experience. but gentler I guess because people were generally supportive or at least not openly hostile.

I didn't feel like I could come out to anyone anyway. everyone who I was close to had made at least one offhanded remark that made me not trust them. even if they didn't mean it, even if they'd grown since then. whether it was "I don't mind lesbians but I just don't want them hitting on me!" or "it's weird how all-girl schools turn people gay" or "it's ok, you're probably not gay, you're probably just having a homosexual experience" (wHATEVER THE FUCK THAT MEANS).

I don't know where im going with this. those are annoying memories, especially the last one, which I'm hoping I'm misremembering a little. i hoping I misremembered the reassurance part. there there, do not worry too much, it's probably just a phase. that was the worst thing to hear. In her position though, what would I have said? if someone told me that they "didn't know" if they were gay? ....uh probably "me too buddy" if I'm being honest. But I digress.

Anyway the past is the past, what can be done about it. Just grieve a little. Not even for like. ohh I coulda had a gf in high school! (tho that would've been a bonus), more for friendship, solidarity, community, being less isolated, not feeling like I was just being stupid

Cos y'know the 2 girlies who publicly came out? I could never be them. And I'm sure most people couldn't be them either. That takes a lot of bravery and self confidence which I lack severely.

If there was a thriving queer scene, and I was a poor lonely closeted kiddo, ... i wonder how many others were like me. who else was coming to terms with themselves but couldn't dare speak a word.

I hope you're all living true and happy

eta: ok I reread the convo with my friend that sparked this whole thing and. idek if there even was a "thriving scene" as such. maybe I'm lamenting something that never really existed, at least not in the way I had imagined

[worldly-diversity]

@armycfones​ ○ 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕤𝕜𝕖𝕕 𝕙𝕠𝕡𝕖 ○

          ⤷  『  ❝  i know you’ve always got my back.  ❞  』

He might not always feel exactly like he's up to the task, but the words still mean a lot, especially coming from someone like Lightning, who he admires and looks up to and who had gone out of her way to give him some guidance when he'd needed it, even if she'd been struggling a lot herself at the time and it had coloured the advice she'd given him.

Nevertheless, he'd taken the life lessons to heart and while he was still scared most of the time with all the crazy things going on around them all, having everyone there to watch out for each other and being able to return the favour had a lot more value than someone just standing by and watching might think. He's an active participant and not just some victim of circumstance, and there's power in that. Uh, somehow, anyway.

"Uh, yeah. Of course, Light. And… Thanks for always having mine, too."

Sure, he can't wait to see the back end of this particular nightmare, but nevertheless he still wouldn't want to give up all the experiences he's had and the friends he's made or the things he's learned in exchange from that kind of pain-free existence he'd known before.

Does that mean he doesn't wish he could go back sometimes? Of course not. He misses his mother dearly and everything's complicated and everyone is hurting one way or another, but he can't turn back time or find some way to bring her back to life, so this is what he's got and he'll do his best with that.

It'll have to be enough, it's all he's got after all.

.

[wallflowerimagines]

Hi! if your not busy or backed up could you do the four lords( and possibly the dimitrescu daughters totally cool if you dont) helping a s/o who's stressed about starting college

I'm cracking my knuckles right now. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!

Warning: Some unhealthy behaviors? You call these dorks out on it though.

Alcina Dimitrescu

Initially, you're stoked! College is a big deal for anyone at any age, and you're thrilled to check off this box on your list of accomplishments. It's a big deal!

A...really, really big deal...

Your internal monologue becomes a mess of "Oh god, oh fuck, oh no", on loop, ad infinitum. There's a lot to consider here, and with every new thought you just get even more stressed.

The minute Alcina sees you in this state, she pulls you in for a hug, plays with your hair, and talks you through your feelings. Do you really want to go to college, or do you feel forced into it? Are you worried about the distance? The amount of work? Do you want her to hire tutors instead?

She very much takes a logical, structured approach to addressing your worries. If it's a problem with paperwork, she can have someone handle it for you. If it's general stress she very efficiently talks you through your feelings. If there's someone in particular that's making you feel this stressed, they'll just disappear. No muss, no fuss.

Alcina dissects any possible reasoning you might have to be pressured until it's such a non-issue you feel almost silly for being panicked at all.

Still, she promises to call you every day, if you need her. Honestly, she expects you to call as often as possible, because she's going to miss you like crazy. But she will always be there for you, Darling. Don't you ever worry about that.

Donna Beneviento

College? You're leaving? 🥺

Donna's not trying to guilt you, but the thought of being away from you for an extended period of time is extremely stressful. It's not quite separation anxiety, but it's close.

Something might happen to you if you're away from the Manor for too long! What if you need help and she can't get to you? What if someone tries to hurt you? Donna might be sheltered, but she's heard things about what happens at Colleges, and not all of it is good.

Considering the fact you're also stressed about this situation, it's not a great combination. Both of you are very emotional at the moment, so there's a likelihood that this might cause one or both of you to have a little breakdown.

Instead of your normal fun, relaxing nights together, the lead up to your departure gives your nights a different atmosphere. You're on the floor of the sitting room, sifting through paperwork with a devastated look on your face, while Donna is nearby and trying hard to pretend this isn't happening.

One of you is going to break first, and the confrontation is not going to be pretty or easy. It's a build up of a bunch of emotion, and both of you just sob while holding each other tightly. You vent your worries to Donna, and she explains her concerns to you, and while you guys might not solve all of those dilemmas in one night, both of you do feel better after having explained your anxieties to each other. Communication is key for this to work out, and both of you need comforting.

Donna winds up building you a brand new doll with a piece of her Cadou in it. It's a new member of the family, specifically crafted to keep an eye on you and help you two communicate over long distances. If something goes wrong, or you two miss each other so badly you can't stand it anymore, you two talk through this new friend and immediately feel connected. The distance doesn't feel so great anymore <3

Salvatore Moreau

HYPED! (Devastated)

Moreau adores you, and he is so, so happy you're going to go pursue your dreams. He can't wait to hear about all the things you've experienced, all the people you meet...

You're going to make tons of new friends, he just knows it!

(You're going to meet someone else, someone better, and you're going to leave him. He just knows it. )

Moreau will never tell you how he really feels about you leaving. You could have a full blown panic attack, and he will hold you close, comfort you, reassure you, and do his absolute best to make you feel better. Meanwhile he is absolutely trying to bury the fact that he thinks you're going to meet your perfect partner at college, abandon him, and live your own version of happily ever after.

It might sound silly to you, but it's a genuine concern for him. He's a monster, and you're about to leave to spend time with a bunch of normal people. As he holds you close and convinces you that the things you're stressed about are easily solvable and are tasks that he could help you with, internally he's absolutely convinced that once you leave, you're going to find your soulmate on campus.

The last thing he wants to do is add to your stress, so unless you can read him well, it's likely you'll never know how worried he is. He's so focused on comforting you and making sure you feel confident enough to handle your next adventure that his own worries take a backseat.

He'll be less concerned if you call him and tell him about your day. It reassures him that you love him, even from afar, and his own stress dissolves when you start to ramble about how much you miss him. 💕

Karl Heisenberg

It's cute that you think you're leaving him behind.

You two are a team, did you seriously expect that he'd be alright with you leaving? With you trying to go to a campus where he can't get to you if something goes wrong?

Heisenberg reacts like an upset pet or a clingy child when it comes to the idea of you leaving for college. He knows it's not forever, and he knows you're coming back--that's not his problem.

His problem is the fact that you're leaving at all.

You two are partners-- a perfect match. He's had this idea in his head ever since you both became a couple that the two of you would hardly ever be apart. Now that you're going to be out of his sight for longer than a week? It's preemptively triggering separation anxiety. He's not happy.

He genuinely tries to get you to take exclusively online courses if you aren't already, just so that you stay with him.

He's so consumed by the concept that you'll be away from him that it takes a while for it to click that, uh, this attitude of his? Not helpful.

You're twice as stressed as you were before, and now you're also angry at Heisenberg for pulling all of this childish nonsense. You love him, but he's being an incredibly insensitive dumbass, and you've got to call him on it.

Phones exist. Skype exists. Hell, the two of you can write letters to each other if you want. It's not like he won't ever get to talk to you! All he's doing is adding to your stress and making you feel worse about a big decision that you've already made, and that's not okay! If he's supposed to be your "perfect match", why isn't he being more supportive?

That snaps him right out of it. While Karl still sulks a bit, he puts on his big boy pants and gives you a proper apology.

Once he's got his head on straight, he's very good at helping you through your worries. Heisenberg will massage your shoulders, talk you through any paperwork you might be having trouble with, and helps you triple check your to-do list. He loves you, and always wants to help, but sometimes he gets carried away.

Just...promise to visit often, alright? He's gonna miss you. 💕

Bela Dimitrescu

Jealous. As. Hell.

She doesn't openly make it obvious, but you know her. You know Bela's little mannerisms and tells, and it's obvious to you that the eldest daughter of the Dimitrescu clan wants to go to college along with you. Unfortunately, due to the fact that she can't easily travel, she can't come along.

It's... not a great situation, considering you're so stressed. You're worried about admissions, being accepted into the classes you need, your curriculum, but Bela doesn't try to comfort you. Instead, she sulks in the background.

Eventually, this blows up between the both of you. You're upset and angry that Bela isn't being more supportive, and Bela is angry that you're the one who gets such an incredible opportunity to leave and explore the world while she's stuck in Dimitrescu Castle.

Why are you stressed? It's an amazing opportunity, it doesn't make sense that you're so worried!

...She's so harsh about it that you might start crying, at which point Bela realizes that she might have fucked up. The last thing she wants to do is hurt your feelings, so she'll pull you into a hug and immediately babble apologies until she's blue in the face.

Once you calm down, you're going to have to explain that just because it looks and sounds fun, College does have challenges of its own. The idea that you get to go learn all sorts of things isn't sunshine and roses--there's a lot of pressure to do well.

Bela is a little quiet after that, but you notice she's much more supportive. She starts to treat your worries more seriously, and even will go to Alcina to try to get some advice on how to help you.

She's still a little envious, but she hides it better now. The last thing that Bela wants to do is stress you out right before you leave. She loves you, and wants your last memories before you go to be positive and something happy that you can look back on when you're away.

Cassandra Dimitrescu

Thrilled for you!

College sounds so exciting! She honestly desperately wants to go with you, but due to the composition of her body, she can't exactly leave the Castle.

She winds up asking you all sorts of questions, following you through the hallways, wondering how you feel about leaving to a brand new place, with brand new people, all of the classes you're going to take....

...It really doesn't help with the anxiety. Cassandra won't leave you alone, and is so fixated on asking you all these questions that it actually makes you worry about things that you hadn't even considered before. What if you hate your Major? What if your professors turn out to be terrible?

Instead of your cheerful responses from before, you start to shut down at all of the questions. Cassandra quickly cues into the fact that something is wrong, and when she asks, all of your worries come pouring out.

Immediately, she pulls you into a hug and apologizes. She didn't mean to stress you out at all, she just wanted to share the experience with you!

Once the two of you clear the air, though? She cracks her knuckles and goes full bookworm.

Cassandra's...not great at staying focused, but she does have a few tips and tricks that she shares with you if it helps.

She also is really great at finding resources that might help you out. Despite her issues focusing on anything other than non-fiction, she does know her way around a library, and will pull any and all reference texts about what you might be studying while you're away.

By the time you're ready to leave Castle Dimitrescu, you've got two years worth of knowledge packed into your head, an optimally organized suitcase, and a lingering kiss from your girlfriend that makes it hard to worry about anything else 💕💕💕

Daniela Dimitrescu

...doesn't handle it well at all.

Daniela doesn't want you to leave. It doesn't matter the situation, it doesn't matter what the context is, you're her partner in crime and she refuses to let you go.

In fact, she tries to sabotage your efforts to leave.

It starts small. Your suitcases mysteriously unpack themselves in the middle of the night. Important papers keep going missing, and you have to reprint a lot of documentation. Your phone disappears for hours at a time.

When all you do is grumble and fix what she's messed with, she gets angrier and escalates. Your laptop goes missing. Your textbooks disappear. You start to question where you left your keys, because they seem to move around the room without your input.

Meanwhile, Daniela is being passive aggressive any time you bring up college. She refuses to talk about it at all with you, and acts like you're not even leaving.

It all comes to a head one day when you burst into tears from all the added stress. This is so, so important to you, and not only are you not getting any help or comfort from your partner, but all of your stuff is going missing!

Daniela immediately feels terrible. As much as she didn't want you to go, the last thing she ever wanted to do was make you cry.

She's not super emotionally mature, so while she comforts you, she has a group of flies separate from the rest and bring back all of your things. You figure it out an call her on it, but she actually looks on the verge of tears herself as she explains to you why she did it. She's so, so sorry, but she doesn't want you to go! She loves you!

You two have a long talk about why this isn't cute, funny or acceptable, no matter her feelings. You might even bring Alcina in on it, just in case. Still, the two of you do work through it, and while Daniela isn't the best with helping with general prep, puts 100% into keeping your mood high.

With time, she finds herself... well not okay with it, but she can now tolerate the idea. As long as you talk to her every day!

(And yes, she calls you multiple times a day when you're gone. Alcina eventually caves and gets her a phone, just so she isn't constantly using the line that Mother Miranda uses to check up on the Castle. The two of you talk so often you barely even have time to miss her💕)