#did NOT care and it was PRETTY clear that he still made them legitimate

[depvotee]

i will not stand green team in my house. i swear to god.

[aihoshiino]

chapter 146 thoughts

This chapter (and thus this chapter review) contains discussion of abuse, suicidal ideation and CSA, so if you're not in the headspace for that, skip this one and I'll see you next time.

we are so oshi no back

After last chapter left me fighting for my life to come up with literally anything to say about it, this was one of those chapters where I ended up having more and more to say about it the more I turned it over in my head. It still feels a bit disjointed and has that same issue of ripping through the events of the movie way too fucking fast that the arc as a whole has been having lately but this chapter was such a breath of fresh air I can't bring myself to care.

The chapter itself is more or less split in two, with one half dedicated to 15 Year Lie's in-universe events and the other focusing a bit on Aqua and Kana for, tbh, the first time in way too long. Admittedly, my enthusiasm for 15YL has waned given the reveal of just how much of it is completely made up but like. I'm still gonna over analyze this stuff. Sunk cost fallacy, don't fail me now!!!!

I joke, but the 15YL section of this chapter was legitimately bone chilling. That barrage of cuts following Uehara's attack on Airi…. fuuuuuuuck, man.

Airi herself is pure fucking poison this chapter too and I mean it in the best way. I continue to be incredibly impressed with how OnK understands the motivations of a person like Airi what her abuse of Hikaru is really about. When discussing this in 141, Miyako points out just how often victims of abuse can themselves go on to perpetuate their own pain out of a need to try and regain their dignity, but I think what Airi seeks in her abuse of Hikaru is control. We see how often she wields her power over him while pretending that he has as much agency as she does in their """relationship""" and it's repeated here, too; she throws the results of her own sexual abuse of him in his face as a way of permanently chaining the two of them together, all while tearing down his worth as a person as if to 'prove' he deserves to be trapped in her grasp. I've said before that Akasaka is unsettlingly good at writing toxic mothers but I think Airi has made it pretty clear that Akasaka understands and is thus excellent at writing abuse and abusers in general, and for someone like me who counts that as one of their favourite Themes (tm) in fiction, I feel quite well fed.

The abuse Airi hurls at him is also interesting from a perspective of paralleling Hikaru even further with Ai. We saw snippets of this in 140, of Hikaru characterizing himself as someone desperately trying to construct a version of himself that can be loved by others the same way Ai creates 'Ai of B-Komachi', a version of herself who can give and receive love in the way she thinks her authentic self is unable to. Airi puts this into more explicit words; Hikaru must construct this fake version of himself because there is no 'real' him and thus, he is inherently unlovable. Jesus Christ.

Knowing those words were swimming around in his head, it makes the HKAI scene that follows even more of a gutpunch than it already is. It's the most wonderful kind of miscommunication tragedy - with their respective traumas, there is basically no other way a talk like that could have gone and yet it's agonizing to see it play out. Ai's innocent cruelty in the face of Hikaru's pain and her suffocating smile… the worst part is, while I completely understand why this was so shattering for Hikaru, it's impossible to miss that this was, in a way, an expression of love from Ai; it was honesty, an admission of vulnerability. She herself even says she doesn't want to lie to him. But to Hikaru, what else could that have sounded like but a confirmation of his most godawful fear?

that said. the timeline here is very confusing. this seems to imply hkai were still dating all the way up to the murder-suicide, which seemed to be just before the dome concert but did the breakup really seem that recent during their phone call?? this whole timeline is penised beyond repair.

The art in this chapter in general is incredibly good but something in particular I want to highlight is how much and how often Aqua-as-Hikaru looks like Ai in these panels. I can't put my finger on what it is, but that similarity always makes me feel so warm and sad whenever I see it. For as much as he struggles with his relationship to her, Aqua really is his mother's son through and through.

and. man. what even is there to say about that scene in the rain and everything that follows. I was't sure if the murder/suicide was going to be featured in the movie but even the brief snippet of it that we got and that barrage of scene titles and Kamiki's silent scream… whoof. shit like this makes me really hope we get to see mengo illustrate a horror manga someday because i think she would absolutely kill it.

We cut back to reality to see Aqua reading the script and in perhaps the most interesting swerve in this chapter, we see that he has once again reverted to his double black hoshigans. And uh, am I going to sound like a terrible person if I say I'm really glad for this? LOL.

Obviously I would rather Aqua not be experiencing Suicidal Ideation (Bass Boosted) 24/7, but it's kind of a relief to see that one single conversation wasn't enough to totally shake Aqua out of that headspace. I've talked a lot about how frustrating I find it that 'Ruby finds out Aqua is Gorou' is treated as the finale to her black hoshigan arc and every ongoing thread, internal and external, attached to it was dropped like a rock with no further interrogation. It robbed Ruby of the opportunity for some really important growth and, imo, was just shitty for Kana and Memcho who were treated extremely poorly by her and got no apology for it. I was really worried this would be the case for Aqua as well and that his own dip into that rancid headspace would end on a wet fart which would really sting given just how little insight we've gotten into him this arc. But this chapter makes it clear that while some cracks have started to form in his armor, he's not in the clear just yet.

i mean, even if he was permanently back to one white star, aqua is such a little freak regardless………………………….

What this means in the long term is a little hard to pin down, both because we've had so little insight into Aqua's headspace this arc and because the exact nature of black hoshigan as a symbol has always been a little Calvinballed, but in this context and for Aqua specifically, I think we can read this as his conviction in the messy endgame of his revenge play being shaken up. I, personally, have been reading the black hoshigan as of late as an expression of the sort of futureless despair that can become suicidal ideation, at least for Aqua; since immediately after Ai's death, we have gotten incredibly strong hints that Aqua is suicidal, his guilt-fueled desire to die and his desperate want to experience a happy future at war within him. He more or less explicitly says as such in 106, expressing that this break in their relationship is necessary for Ruby to be able to live on 'after he's gone' - which strongly implies that Aqua's revenge play is intended to end with his death.

Knowing that Ruby is Sarina wasn't quite enough to shake his conviction, but their talk in 143 was. I do think Ruby just giving him some straightforward affirmation was a good starting point but I also can't help but wonder, with the context that his white stars were not indicative of a permanent change, if hearing just how deeply Ruby still relies on 'Gorou's' presence in her life struck a nerve for him. Paraphrasing her from 143, she straight up says Gorou is the one who gives her life meaning. And if that's how it is, what exactly will happen if he's gone again..?

Obviously this is all still speculation because even when I am begging on hand and knee Akasaka is refusing to give us Aqua introspection but at this point I have to make a guess at SOMETHING if i am going to say anything remotely coherent about aqua in this arc, so

ANYWAY!! AQUA AND KANA HAVING A NORMAL ASS CONVERSATION FOR THE FIRST TIME IN GOD KNOWS HOW LONG!!! Ngl, it did give me a bit of a chuckle to see Kana voice the question of whether Aqua was getting too immersed in his role, given that people were accusing her of that back during the first round of the RBKN conflict.

I was also really surprised to see Aqua just outright say that yeah, he is at least flirting with suicidal ideation. Like - that's the first time he's said that out loud, to anybody??? In 143 he voices the less damning but still not great sentiment that he feels guilty for being alive but this is to my knowledge the first time Aqua has expressed his suicidal ideation out loud, let alone to anyone else. And… fuck, man! That's an absolutely terrifying thing to hear a friend say. No wonder Kana reacts like she does.

Because of my powers of Claire-voyance (read: basic pattern recognition and being in fandoms for 15+ years), I'm pretty sure people are going to be Very Mean to Kana about the way she chooses to respond to Aqua here but honestly? Not only did this tough love response feel very IC for her, but the clumsiness of it felt very honest to me. I think a lot of people in fandom lately just want characters to talk like fucking therapists all the time and have the Correct And Unproblematic Response to… well, situations like this. But Kana is an 18 year old girl who has her own share of issues and her friend she knows is dealing with his own huge amount of baggage just casually dropped an "i wanna kms" on her. All things considered, I think she handles it surprisingly well.

Because like… look at what Kana really says to Aqua here. She gives him some of their usual banter to diffuse the tension but then makes herself very clear: she does not want Aqua to hurt himself and makes him promise that he won't. It's clumsy and rough in the way Kana often is, but I think the important part - her sincere care for Aqua as her friend - really does shine through.

also cute that other people caught: Kana squishing Aqua's face seems to be an intentional callback to one of their on-stage interactions in Tokyo Blade, right down to Aqua making a identical scrunchyface to Kana. Extremely cute. I love it when Aqua is cute <3

Kana also being a person able to shake Aqua out of his black hoshigans also leans into something I've been hoping is going to pay off for a while now; the idea that Aqua's salvation is not going to come from any one, singular character but from the many different people who Aqua has built relationships with coming together when he needs them to support him. One of the things OnK has continually highlighted is the way isolation and lacking support systems warp and damage people's mental health and I think it would play excellently into that theme to have Aqua's support net, so to speak, to be wide enough to catch him no matter where he falls.

the product placement was very stupid but i did laugh pretty hard at it and then immediately go buy myself some potato chips so i guess it worked. genius mangaka aka akasaka.

All jokes aside, the note their talk ended off on was so lovely too. Aqua being honest enough to admit that being with Kana is fun and Kana getting all dokidoki and then quietly admitting she feels the same when she's alone… cute! But more than that, it highlights something about the AQKN dynamic I think is really important, regardless of whether their relationship is romantic, platonic, in laws, mlm/wlw hostility or whatever else; Kana is his friend and he can just be a normal boy and have normal fun with her without any ulterior motives. It's something Aqua doesn't really have in any of his other relationships so getting a reminder of that and what it means to Aqua was really good.

honestly i think i am just so starved of nice things happening to my son that seeing him opening up to one of his friends and admitting he has fun (HIS LAUGH!!!!!!) was like a shot of heavenly ambrosia for me. please can hoshino aqua have just one nice day.

OR UH… BASED ON THAT LAST PAGE…. PROBABLY NOT ANYTIME SOON….!!!

this is what i mean about this chapter giving me 5000000 things to talk about. kamiki is TALKING TO RUBY IN THE FLESH FOR THE FIRST TIME and i almost completely forgor.

why is he dressed like a dad about to take her out on a fishing trip, though

Ruby looks unusually solemn while she's praying, which is interesting. She's been pretty bright and high energy since 141ish so I'm curious what has her looking so comparatively dour. She's praying at a shrine, too, which means there's probably something on her mind. Nik (@akane-kurokawa) theorized that she's anxious about the upcoming scenes in the movie (LIKE, YOU KNOW, HER MOM'S DEATH) and until we get further insight on that, that's what I'm gonna assume too.

putting aside how Shrimptresting it is that Kamiki turned up out of nowhere like that, I can't help but note a certain horrible parallel between Uehara meeting young Hikaru in the rain with a black umbrella and Kamiki doing the same for his daughter…

cannot wait for that entire talk to get offscreened. lol.

break next week……………………………

[chaifootsteps]

One of the main reasons why Sir Pentious getting to Heaven felt so underwhelming and unwarranted to me is that HH paints it as Charlie's redemption theory being valid and true and her methods actually working

When she barely did anything to help Sir Pentious as the show barely showed us what Charlie's methods are beyond that trust fall bit you can see in summer camps

It doesn't help that redemption is about correcting the wrongs of the past after fully admitting you were at fault when you did them and feeling legitimately regretful that you committed those wrong acts

... We still don't know what Sir Pentious did in his past to end up in Hell. We as an audience know JACK about his backstory and I don't think the cast knows anything about it either

By all means, SP might have gotten to Heaven for doing things that had nothing to do with his mistakes back when he was alive. If that's the case, then not only is Charlie's redemption theory false as what happened with SP has nothing to do with redemption, her methods to reach Heaven are pretty basic and already standardized which brings the potential for the show down to zero. The premise got shot with this finale twist as it's pretty clear Charlie's methods at her Hotel are formulaic and don't depend on the sinners' past wrongs

You know what could have been a good concept ? Have Charlie show SP's progress to the Council of Angels through the globe instead of Angel Dust's only for them to ponder about it and see rather positive on the matter, Sera included, before saying: "As final trial, we will bring them here and have them be his judges."

The doors open and a dozen angels walk in having seemingly been summoned

The Council motions to the globe: "You have been called today to make an important decision. We would like you to first observe this fully then answer a simple question."

The angels do that, they watch the entire reel of everything SP did while under Charlie's care, with Charlie nervously anticipating their answer

The Council: "Now for the question: From all that you've seen,

Would you consider this man worthy of redemption and as such ready to join this side of the Afterlife?"

Many of the angels are just dumbfounded at hearing this, a bunch just storm off and others look scared at the thought.

What remained decide between each other before whispering the answer to Sera

Sera then declares simply: "The Jury have made their decision :

Sir Pentious hasn't done what it takes for his soul to be redeemed and accepted into Heaven."

Charlie: "What? Why not? Not that I have anything against your Jury but what power do they have to decide that you lack for this decision?"

Sera: "The Jury overseeing your Sir Pentious is made up of every soul he has wronged in his past. You have to understand: They have fairly earned their Afterlife regardless of what awful and unjust things he has done to them. To have us decide ourselves if he can join them up here after all the wrongs he has done to them in the living would be unfair; as such the final decision is theirs. If they see his new ways as a true change on his part and choose to forgive him, he would have indeed earned his place in Heaven.

This wasn't the case today."

I want this so much. I want Hazbin to be in the hands of someone mature enough to actually write this.

[antianakin]

You know what I despise just as much as Imperial apologists? Separatist apologists. People claim that the CIS did nothing wrong, that they were the "real heroes of the Clone Wars", that their benevolent movement was hijacked by evil people, but in reality, the CIS was intentionally designed to be an evil force by evil people. Sure, there were some "good" folks on the Separatists' side, but in the end, they CHOSE to align themselves with some of the most despicable people in the galaxy. Also, they tend to forget that the CIS was created by Sith as a means of weakning the Jedi Order.

While I certainly don't think the Separatists were heroes of any kind, I don't think that the actual politicians in the CIS were intentionally aligning themselves with people they believed to be despicable. It's made pretty clear in "Heroes on Both Sides" that the CIS parliament seems to have no clue that their whole army is being led by the corporate alliance. They call out that the whole point behind the CIS was to free themselves from being connected to the corporate alliance the way the Republic is, and they believe that they've SUCCEEDED at that. So it's less that they've intentionally aligned themselves with evil people doing evil things so much as they were completely and utterly duped and manipulated into a position where they've ended up unknowingly supporting the very evil they claim to be against.

What I WILL say about the Separatist politicians though is that every single one of them that we're shown seems to be very willfully ignorant. When Mina meets with Padme, she refuses to hear a bad word against Dooku, even though presumably Padme could say a lot of things about how Dooku allowed her to be nearly executed on Geonosis simply because she wouldn't join the CIS. And after Mina's assassinated, Lux tries to speak to some of the Separatist politicians who gathered for a peace summit to tell them that Dooku killed his mother and he's shot down cold for lying about it and then thrown out of the building. Mina and the other Separatists have been manipulated SO HARD into believing in Dooku and his promises that they can't believe anything or anyone that goes against what he says, even when it's someone they consider a friend or the child of one of their own.

That willful ignorance moves them far away from being "heroes" of any kind for me. I can appreciate that they had legitimate grievances against the Republic, that they believed they were doing what was right for their people, and that there was a lot of things that were clearly hidden from them. So they're by no means the ones most at fault for the war. But they SHOULD'VE been more willing to accept that Dooku (and by extension themselves and the entire Separatist movement) was not perfect when told or shown evidence by people they claimed to trust.

The other mark against the Separatists is that the King of Onderon that we're introduced to in season 5 is HORRIFIC. The guy who is explicitly said to be the new Separatist leader is terrible and the people hate him and much prefer the old King (who, by implication, was presumably more pro-Republic or at least served primarily back when Onderon was still a member of the Republic). And this was MINA'S PLANET. Mina is not someone who is represented as just some stupid vapid politician, she's supposed to be smart and kind, she's Padme's mentor. She's supposed to be someone who truly CARES, but her people are suffering under a Separatist installed ruler and there's no mention of that at all during her one episode. There's no indication that she was even aware or paying attention to it. So long as the war never made it to her planet, she seems to have been looking the other way. And we can probably assume similar stuff is happening on the other Separatist planets, too, that Separatist rulers have been installed who are willing to basically let Dooku and the Corporate Alliance do whatever they want with no regard for how it'll impact the actual people. And Dooku is going to be able to continue to manipulate and blind the Separatist politicians into not realizing what's going on or believing that this is just a temporary necessary evil of some kind.

The major advantage the Republic Senate has for me is that there IS at least a small group of people (small being relative, there's so many politicians in the Senate that a group of 2000 people is considered small) who DO recognize what's going on in their own government, and who are actively fighting against the corruption they can see and acknowledge. They don't believe their system is PERFECT, but they believe that it's still the best system available and worth fighting to make it BETTER and remove the people keeping it corrupt. The CIS doesn't have that. Every single person is so willfully ignorant to everything that they can't have people like Padme or Bail or Mon Mothma who can see the problems in their own government and actively work to make it better from the inside. And this just makes the Separatist politicians unknowingly part of the problem they don't even realize exists (or aren't willing to admit exists), which means that their people are just going to keep suffering while their elected representatives sit on their high horses and do nothing.

So I don't think they're EVIL, but they're not heroes either. Much like Anakin, they're manipulated by someone they should be able to trust and who presents himself as someone trustworthy, and they're not mindful enough to recognize the truth behind what they've gotten involved in or humble enough to listen when someone tries to make them aware of it. So yes, it was an evil force designed by evil people with the explicit purpose of weakening the Jedi AND the Republic enough for Palpatine to maneuver himself into power, but I don't for a MOMENT believe that the actual politicians involved in the CIS ever realize that until it's far too late. As far as they're concerned, it IS a benevolent movement and if they ever realize the truth of it in the aftermath of the war, then from their perspective it probably DID get hijacked by evil people. The Separatists are, in many ways, a tragic story. They SHOULD'VE been a good thing, they should've been a group of people genuinely working to try to create a new, better system for their people. They had the best of intentions, but much like Anakin, it's mostly just paving the road to hell.

I'd love more fics that look at the Rebellion era where you get both Republic and Separatist people having to work together and instead of the Separatists being all high and mighty about how THEY always knew the Republic was corrupt and everyone else was just too naive, there's some people who point out that the Separatist movement was literally run by the corporate alliance, that their entire ARMY was being run by the Techno Union and Trade Federation, that the Separatists were CLEARLY getting tax benefits from the Banking Clan that the Republic was NOT getting. I'd love more acknowledgement that yes, the Republic was corrupt, but that there were a LOT of people who knew that and were working to fix that problem, but that the Separatist movement wasn't some perfect idyllic government that didn't do anything wrong ever in their lives, either. The Separatist army did a lot of really fucking heinous shit to people and I'd love more Republic Rebels throwing that back at all those Separatist Rebel characters who get so high and mighty about knowing the Republic was corrupt. Like sure, great, you knew the Republic was corrupt, so did a LOT of people, many of whom were working to actually DO something about it. Come back to me when you're able to tell me you knew YOUR government was corrupt, too, then we can talk.

[hoppityhopster23]

Facts about Frederick VI that live rent free in my head (that I simply must share) ft. a super sleepy Hopster

One of my current interests is a Danish King by the name of Frederick VI. I'm currently really tired, but really wanting to post about him. so this wont be as organized as i normally do. i'll try to avoid making it a wall of words, but this is probably going to be a word vomit.

Family/Romantic Life

this guy was a pretty caring dad, and I love that for him. This man fathered. generally a great dad. dare I say the epitome of a good dad from the time. especially given his less-than-good start in life.

his romantic life was one hell of a ride. like- he had a long-time mistress (of like- 30 years) with whom he would have an affair. but, during the Congress of Vienna, he cheated on both his wife and his long-time mistress with another woman. his mistress, Rikke, then cheated on him. That led to ever more soap opera-like stuff happening.

Man not only had legitimate (2) and illegitimate (5?) kids but took on another nine kids. Well, some of them were adults at the time, but still. basically, when his brother-in-law (a duke) died, he and a friend of said duke became the legal guardians of said kiddos. and from the sounds of it, it wasn't just throwing money at them. he actually interacted with them to a certain extent.

to piggyback on no. 3, he had agreed with his sister-in-law that one of the boys, Christian, would go to Copenhagen and attend the land cadet academy. Christian would go to Copenhagen one year after the decision. he didn't live with the monarch but did spend a fair amount of time with them. it is said the king was fond of him. unbeknownst to all of them, Christian would turn out to be Christian IX, the father-in-law of Europe.

he was a parsimonious guy, at least when it came to himself. he would wear his clothing until they were worn out. only then did he get a new one? two of his desks, both his personal one and the one for his aide are simplistic, and so are his things in general. even his rolling chair- which is in Fredericksborg castle, is worn out looking. hell- what I'm pretty sure was his own bed was nothing but an Iron camp bed! granted, he only spent a few days a week in it, as he was staying with his mistress. or his wife.

regarding his mistresses, he took really good care of them. I'm only uncertain about one- which is the French one he had at some point, which did produce a daughter. For the other two, however, it's pretty clear. the one woman he met in Vienna, Caroline Seufert, was granted a large pension from him. his long-time mistress, Rikke Dannemand, was given an apartment near him, and enough money to live a bourgeoise life. That was a far cry from Rikke's former life in Nyboder. My only problem with this was the sheer age gap between them. with Rikke, there was a 22-year age gap. with Seufert, it was 29 years. both women were under twenty when all of this started.

Political

he tended to not threaten people's lives. there was a case where one of the members of the chancellery, Anders Sandø Ørsted, who was a prominent critic of Frederick, and would often write about such criticisms. instead of exiling, punishing, or hell- even executing the guy, he just gave him the choice of his job or his pen. Ørsted chose his job.

was a gruff man (likely due to his upbringing) but quite generous with his people. notably, some of the most realistic small gifts I've seen in assorted Danish museums were given by him. For example, there is a little golden snuff box sitting in the National Museum of Denmark that he had given to somebody as a reward. It is small, intricate, and made of gold. but most of all, it was usable.

His reaction to the July Revolution was good. the November after it, constitutions were made for Schleswig and the Kingdom of Denmark- but the absolute monarchy was still in place. on top of that, 4 Advisory assemblies were created. One for each major region of Denmark. this was a very primitive version of what was desired (and what would come not long after) as the king still appointed a number of the members, and only 3% of the population got the right to vote.

He tended to overwork himself. sometimes until he got sick (like during the Vienna congress). he died still working. he also had the belief that no matter was too small for the king. this meant that he stuck his nose into a lot of paperwork he didn't necessarily need to worry about. this tended to elongate the completion of paperwork, but it did make him more aware of what was going on in the country, so there was some benefit.

Other

he built one of the finest gardens I have ever strolled in in Copenhagen. If you are on any servers with me, there's a 99% chance you've seen the pictures.

It's obvious that his strongest gene was his hair. In every portrait I've seen of his children, they're blonde. like- super blonde.

The man was stubborn as hell, not wanting to change too much. this tended to rear its ugly head from time to time, but he wasn't too stubborn to not kind of acknowledge his mistakes.

that was a word vomit... I do apologize. but thats all my sleepy brain can think of. I'll likely have more when i wake up tomorrow. and if i actually find the time, I can go into more detail. I just need to check the copyrights on a few of the books i have.

[atopvisenyashill]

Since I can't seem to figure out how to repost your tags- I am going to say that Arthur Dayne didn't think Ned Stark would hurt baby Jon simply for the reason he was at the Tower of Joy instead of hightailing it to Starfall with baby and the wetnurse Wylla in tow. Once Jon was born, the need to stay at the tower was defunct. Lyanna dying or not, had bluntly served her purpose. The fate of Rhaenys and Aegon made it crystal clear that any one with dragon blood was in danger from the new regime. Doubly so for a child of Rhaegar and Lyanna. If Arthur was really concern about the baby rather than his own personal honor, his purpose would be to get on a fast ship to reunite with the exiled Targaryens or pulling a Jon Con and raising the baby himself in secret. But that isn't as neat a ending as dying in battle serving an oath to a dead man.

Oh yeah, I was kinda writing off the cuff there bc i’m very tired today lmao BUT

I have seen the main argument for a more sympathetic look at Arthur, Oswell, and Gerold is that they feared for Jon’s life, and likely had some sort of affection for Jon and Lyanna. That is something I can absolutely believe - like you said, the brutal murder of Rhaenys and Aegon is more than enough evidence that Jon is not safe in Westeros. I can certainly understand why, even with the best of intentions, the Kingsguard would be wary of Ned. Even if Ned holds no anger at Lyanna, he could hold plenty towards baby Jon or transfer his anger at Rhaegar to baby Jon. It’s a real risk in attempting to confront the man seen as the number two face of this rebellion with the son of his number one enemy.

But I think from the surrounding events, what most likely was happening was that Rhaegar did not take the rebllion nor his father’s madness as seriously as he should have until after the Sack (I know Jaime and Barristan mention Rhaegar planning beforehand to get rid of his father, but like, clearly it wasn’t that much of a priority considering he abandons whatever plans he made at Harrenhal to chase after, kidnap, and impregnate Lyanna while the realm burned around him SO!). IF he married Lyanna, it was likely after he found out Elia and their children had been murdered, and he was probably panicked over the situation in KL, his alliance with Dorne, and what this means for his prophecy (a far cry from the happy little scene we get in the show), and did it to legitimize what he thinks is baby Visenya as a sort of last resort, but did not ever believe he was going to lose the Battle of the Trident. We have no idea what information was getting to Rhaegar prior to Oswell coming to fetch him, and no idea what Oswell told Rhaegar, or if Rhaegar was even in a proper state of mind to comprehend it. When Rhaegar goes to fight Robert, for all we know, he has no earthly idea that he and his father have lost basically all of Westeros except Dorne and ONLY because of Elia. Personally, I think it’s likely that it’s not until he shows up to command the Dornish forces that he realizes just how fucked he is. The Kingsguard probably felt the same, and when they got word Rhaegar died, just fully gave up, condemning themselves, Lyanna, and maybe even the baby to death alongside their fallen Great King Who Should Have Been, Rhaegar.

Because otherwise, like, what are they even still doing at the tower. They wave off Rhaella and Viserys but if what they wanted was to actually protect the last of Rhaegar’s blood, they should have been trying to link up with Rhaella!! Feels pretty relevant that Rhaella know Rhaegar has another potential heir but they just sit around at the Tower instead for WEEKS after the Trident. It only seems nonsensical on the surface; Willem Darry had not yet given up, had two terrified, very small children suddenly in his care, and did his absolute best to try to take care of them. He has more honor in his pinky toe than either of the those three who saw a 16 year old and a newborn in dire need of help and went “rhaegar was wrong and there’s no use in trying anymore” and rolled over and died. Same for JonCon raising a child that is not his; what those two do is put the life of a child before any other intangible oaths or ideals, acting quickly and decisively under really stressful circumstances. Contrast to the Tower of Joy, where Lyanna doesn’t even have a Maester present to help deliver the baby.

So yeah, I do think it’s likely they worried Ned was a danger, and had some sort of fondness for Lyanna and baby Jon. Doesn’t mean they made the right decisions, or that their affection and fear ultimately mattered in the grand scheme of things. It’s tragic sure, but far more tragic is that they never turned to the dying teenager in their care and ask what her opinion was on how her final days should go.

[bohemian-nights]

Thoughts on Sara Snow?

I’m mostly going to be focusing on Sara Snow in the context of the show because there is too much in the books about her(all we know is she’s the bastard sister of Cregan Stark) to do any real in-depth analysis of her character.

Let me start by stating that I do believe she’s real, I don’t hate her, and I believe she does serve a purpose(more on this later), but in show context, I understand why some fans don’t want her included.

(By some fans I mean Black women cause those are the only fans I see that have a legitimate concern with her inclusion).

This show(and GOT cause I haven’t forgotten what you guys did to Missandei either🙃) has an abysmal track record when it comes to Blackish women. They are all treated like disposable props for white characters(which is a common trope in media)and aren't allowed to be full characters.

So the optics of having Baela being “left” for a white girl* coming off the heels of what happened to Laena just looks bad.

*I think Sara should be played by a mixed actress, which would take care of the image problem, but it’s pretty clear that if she’s being included she’s probably going to be played by a white girl.

That being said, there are ways in which they can include Sara without it being disrespectful or making it seem like Baela has been slighted in some way.

We have to keep in mind that Jace dies pretty soon into the Dance, he’s weak asf(sorry to any Jace fans but your fave is lame in HOTD), and he and Baela never marry let alone have children. He’s her stepbrother/cousin, but he’s just a blip in her life. He is not her endgame.

That role belongs to the lord in training of f*ckboy’s Alyn Velaryon. He is the one who she married and had children with. He’s her destiny, not Jace.

If they focus on these guys' relationship and have Alyn actively chasing after Baela and Baela is more receptive to him we can avoid her being the jilted would-be girlfriend who doesn’t measure up. Remember Baela and Jace do not know each other well. Unlike in the books, they weren’t raised together and they’ve only presumably met a handful of times since Baela was raised on Driftmark with Granny.

I doubt she’s that attached to Jace so it would be easy enough showing her getting swept up in Alyn(he’s Corlys 2.0 he should be very charming) to the point where she doesn’t really care wherever Jace goes or whoever he is with.

Back to Sara Snow. I know a lot of fans like to say she’s irrelevant, but there are very few truly irrelevant characters(cough Corwyn Cornbread cough Lasagna Radish), during the Dance and Sara isn’t one of them. She has a purpose and that purpose is to be to Jace what Nettles and Alys are to Daemon and Aemond.

Yes, Jace is a bastard, but he’s still a (half) Targaryen bastard. He’s a prince. There is a certain level of respect he is given when even the maesters see him. We see this respect come into play when it comes to Sara Snow.

Like with Nettles and Alys, Jace is thought to be too good for Sara. The maesters(and Mushroom) hurl a bunch of sexist, xenophobic, and classist language her way, calling her half-wild, an unwashed northern bastard, a wolf girl, and a creature.

The maesters do not believe she exists, but they then say that if she did she wasn’t used as anything more than a roll in the hay. A chance for the Prince of Dragonstone to sow his wild oats before he went back to his high-born Valyrian betrothed Baela.

I feel like the point of the Dance is to show the folly in the pride, prejudice, and greed of House Targaryen as well as the other noble houses in general. Sara shows this.

Finally, I’d like to note that most of the outrage regarding Sara Snow being included is being made by the same people who ship Jace with Cregan(cause I guess two men sleeping together doesn’t count as cheating 🙃) or Nettles😒

I’ve already explained why this is, but it’s being done by Dumbnyra stans to “keep” Nettles away from Daemon.

This is less about racism or Baela being shafted and more about just not wanting Sara included.

Honestly, even if Baela was white like her book!counterpart I could still see people arguing against Sara’s inclusion citing that you are trying to take away from gay representation(even though there is nothing to indicate Jace is gay) or an interracial romance(lol again they don’t want Dettles to happen and will use whatever at their disposal to “stop” it).

Sara Snow would be a great inclusion to the show, but time will tell if she’ll be included at all🤷🏽‍♀️

[azure-firecracker]

ATLA Live Action Episode 7: Overall Thoughts.

Right so this episode was a mixed bag for me. On paper I should have loved it: it’s two big moments are Azula/Katara scenes and they parallel each other. Those are my two favorite characters and I love exploring how they mirror one another. But the actual execution of some of the scenes was…lacking.

Okay I legitimately forgot that Zhao tried to blow up Zuko’s boat in the original and it was funny bc I was reacting like it was something new this show did…nope lmao. Speaking of Zhao, I feel like this show can’t really decide what they want him to be. In the OG it was pretty clear: he was an asshole with lots of resources and therefore a threat, but he was also cocky and delusional and not very good at his job. Here I feel like this show is flip flopping between having him be legitimately threatening or a delusional idiot. Both are fine choices individually and honestly I don’t really care what they do since it’s not like he was a main character in the OG, but they do need to pick one. Like, objectively, from a writing standpoint.

I know some people disliked the changes to Yue and Sokka’s relationship, but I thought they were cute. I liked that they used the extended time at the North Pole pre-attack to flesh out their relationship more and give them some more bonding moments. It makes me buy into them more (I was never a love at first sight girlie). I agree that Yue’s character in the original was a really well written example of the good and bad things that come with being as loyal/dutiful as she is and that is missing here. But unlike our main cast, if you look at her without the lens of the original, she’s still a fleshed out, decently written character. I think she works (except for her hair of course).

Sokka on the other hand…I like that they’re allowing him to express his insecurities and trying to give him an arc, but I didn’t like Yue saying his heart was the most important thing about him. It’s such a generic line, and out of all of our main cast, it seems to suit him the least. It made it feel like they’re trying to give the whole main trio the same arc, which I…did not appreciate. But he does have good chemistry with Yue.

Speaking of generic arcs for the main trio…dear god I hate what they’re doing with Aang. It’s not offensive but it’s so overdone. Every fantasy protagonist in history has this conflict, and while it works for an episode of a cartoon, it does not work as Aang’s central conflict. Gordon’s doing his best with his lines, but I get bored watching his scenes. Also I didn’t love the stuff with Kuruk. Stay away from the Korra Spirit World stuff. Y’all can’t handle the material you have.

Okay onto my main girlies:

Azula’s arc definitely goes into the “it’s a different choice from the original but it works on its own category.” If you don’t compare her to OG Azula, these writing choices make sense. They work, and they go hand in hand with how this new Ozai is different from OG Ozai. OG Ozai really didn’t seem to care about his kids. They were tools in his play for power. We never got the sense that he’d really thought about either of them succeeding him, and or that he’d ever thought about his own death. This Ozai seems to be trying to turn both Azula and Zuko into younger versions of him (as we saw in the Agni Kai last episode), and he brings up the “heir to the throne” title a lot. This means he wants his kids to have a fighting spirit, a drive. It makes Azula’s defiance all the more twisted because it’s supposed to be this empowering moment for her…but really it’s exactly what Ozai wants. It’s objectively really good writing, and both Lizzy Yu and Daniel Dae Kim do a great job acting it out. At the same time, I feel a little loss of OG Azula. OG Azula was so busy fighting for Ozai’s love, being perfect, that she never had time to think about what she wanted because she was so stifled in the “golden child” role. That’s a type of abuse we don’t see depicted a lot in media, and I do wish the live action show had taken up that challenge. On the other hand, the arc we got was objectively good and I’m not sure they could have handled that subtlety. Overall, my feelings on these scenes are mostly good with some doubts in there. It does make me wonder what they’re going to do now that we know we’re getting a Book 3. Azula’s original Book 3 stuff with Ozai really wouldn’t work now that she’s already become so defiant.

Okay my girl Katara: FINALLY she got an episode to shine rather than being a side piece for Aang or Sokka’s arcs! Funny that all the filler episodes they cut were the Katara centric ones…but I digress. I understand not wanting to cut the stuff with NWT sexism, and I DON’T THINK THEY SHOULD HAVE. But with all their worries about Sokka’s sexism not translating well to a live action, they should have considered the fact that such heavy handed sexism might come off as cartoonish in a live action format. Most real sexism is more subtle, albeit just as frustrating and wrong, and I’m sad the show passed up their opportunity to portray that. I did like that Katara finally got to show both her anger and her hope. I felt like this was the first episode where she really felt in character. While some characters work while being different from the original (mostly FN characters), Katara’s changes made her an objectively more hollow character, so seeing sparks of OG Katara was awesome! She still felt a little flat, but it’s definitely a HUGE step in the right direction. (And Kiawentiio did awesome. Glad she’s finally getting to showcase her range). The end of the Katara/Pakku fight was a little weird but I’ll let it slide because she had that AWESOME line to Aang where she was like (I’m not going to get this exactly) “Fighting is my decision, not you or Pakku’s or anyone else’s.” I was CHEERING! This is the Katara we need more of.

I know I was largely critical in this review, but I really enjoyed this episode. This episode really solidified my belief that you have to think of these characters as totally new people. Different choices are being made, and that’s okay as long as they’re still good characters with ties to the original. Sometimes it works (Azula, Yue) and sometimes it doesn’t (main trio) but if you can enjoy it when it works, you’ll enjoy the whole show a lot more.

I’ll give this one an 8.5/10. Kind of the opposite of the last episode. With that one, there weren’t any great new choices they made (most of the best moments were straight out of the cartoon), but there was also nothing I really disliked. This episode made some great new choices that I thought were interesting and took some steps towards fixing some of the characters they butchered, but there was some stuff in here that I actively disliked (namely Aang and Zhao).

[alicentflorent]

it’s interesting how the only person to show remorse after the altercation is alicent. don’t get me wrong i like rhaenyra, but we don’t hear about her feeling bad for implying she wants aemond tortured nor does viserys seem to regret insinuating that he would cut out his own children’s tongues meanwhile alicent very clearly felt guilty for the way she behaved and that she harmed rhaenyra. if the show wants me to root for team black they are doing a poor job because ever other character is more sympathetic than they are in my opinion.

I never thought of it like that but you’re right. Alicent was in the wrong trying to cut out a little boys eye and accidentally injuring Rhaenyra in her rage but she obviously felt genuine remorse even though her father praised her for it and framed it as some great thing she did (and we know she craves her fathers love and approval).

Viserys made me sick when he said he would cut out the tongues of anyone who doubted the legitimacy of his grandchildren. I get wanting to defend his family but he said it in response to his YOUNG CHILDREN calling them bastards in a typical child argument way and it should of been clear to him that they heard rumours growing up and wouldn’t understand that calling another child a bastard would be treason. He only cares about Rhaenyra and her children not the kids he made Alicent birth for him and it shows. He didn’t show any concern over what happened to aegon, he only got angry. Those poor kids never experienced love from their own father.

Rhaenyra has been one of my favourites in this show and I know she is supposed to get more harsh and ruthless but insisting that a child, let alone her own brother, should be tortured to find out where he overheard a true rumour about her children’s parentage is still gross. Like you said, she doesn’t feel remorseful about this from what we see. She also doesn’t seem to feel bad that her son has permanently mutilated and blinded another child in one eye. Even if it is in self defense it is not good that the fight escalated to that point. You’d think she would have spoken to Luke about it, Luke seems like a good boy and could be traumatised by the fact that he caused an injury that severe. Given how we’ve seen Rhaenyra be a good mother you’d think she would also talk to her boys, who by the way are still grieving Harwin, not to let violence escalate that far or talk to them about maybe practicing self defence that won’t cause severe injury.

Anyways this is going off topic but although I thought the knife scene was well written and showed us spilled truth tea on who the adult caharacters really are. I was ultimately disappointed in the way Nyra was written in this episode overall. I felt like a lot of her character revolves around her relationship with demon here. From talking about how he left her alone and she needed him with her (she had other people who loved her and was strong and capable in her own right) and I mean you could argue that this is to show how the relationship isn’t healthy and young Rhaenyra has been groomed into an unhealthy attachment but the scene was written as romantic and followed with a sex scene (which went on the same time their kids were sneaking out and getting into a pretty dangerous fight) and then after the events of that night her next priority is figuring out a way to marry demon and create some true targaryen legitimate heirs. She is okay with faking Laenors death and marrying daemon right after without considering how it will impact all four kids and how faking laenors death means the boys will lose another father a couple of weeks after they lost Harwin and be re-traumatised. Even if they’ve been told he is alive they’d be feeling so betrayed by both parents for doing such a thing. Demon is gonna be her downfall, he has a hold on her and brings out her worse and I hope the show doesn’t try to #powercouple them.

I agree about team black and I’m hoping that the reason we don’t find them rootable is because we aren’t supposed to. I like and hate certain members of both teams but I think they’re both bad and I am hoping the show makes both teams morally grey instead of going with the whole good guys vs bad guys because this is an asoiaf story not a marvel movie.

[bdslab]

ok so i know the reason benny never really gets in trouble with his parents for disappearing off the face of the earth for like a week+ every now and then is because he doesn't have any parents, but what about school? missing classes in elementary school isn't that bad but surely they like at least care right? Are the various adults in his life just signing permission slips like "yea benny was with me, don't worry about it" wait actually dussiflard was forced to write a letter to his own landlord saying benny was with him when the red taxis tried to make them both disappear so like maybe that's legitimately all the schools need idfk what elementary school absence policies were like in 1960s europe so i guess that's maybe just legitimately it "Sorry Benny was gone for a month from school he was helping my circus company for a while" "Sorry Benny was gone for a week, he was helping me catch my evil robot" The adults in his life don't believe he has super strength but do they understand how fucking absurd his life is anyway? Have any of them stopped to think "hey, maybe we're letting this child take on too much and shouldn't let him tag along even if he insists" I'm willing to give Uncle Placid a pass because his job is literally being a body guard and being surrounded by danger. He also has made it pretty clear that his life is Not stable enough for him to take care of benny and he often tries his best to make sure benny stays out of it Honestly I give Bodoni a pass too now that i think about it… He honestly did his fuckin best for this kid who wanted to help and gave him a ton of support. The blackmail thing isn't really something he could've forseen. Vladlavodka and Dussiflard, both of which go "oh damn benny there's stuff that might be incredibly dangerous going on" and then just- let him tag along when he shows up??? Like from a reader standpoint i know there's not much they can do to stop him but at least try? HE'S A KID Benny: Don't worry, your evil robot wont hurt me, she likes me! Vladlavodka: Those facts check, sure I'll let the 8 year old come deal with the ppl with guns with me. What could possibly go wrong! Benny: Also Im very strong Vladlavodka: You're not but it's still fine to bring you

[solar-sunnyside-up]

Im pretty sure thats the post that other anon was talking about. They didn't put it real well but they are kinda right.

Things are not as they were. Unless major reform is enacted a third party will never win in the usa. Not as it is. And any hope of reform will disappear if we get another red prez. Between gerrymandering and the electoral college and the pearl clutching moderates who get scared of progressives, to Republicans with no morals who will 100% vote red without hesitation. We effectively only have 2 parties. At least for now.

A Republican candidate hasn't won the popular vote in decades yet they somehow keep running things.

Everyone I know is scared. Scared this will be our last election next year. But no one is more scared than the disabled. We are terrified. Theres a lot of chatter from the right about "dealing" with us and other "freeloaders" we are legitimately scared for our lives.

Protest votes is what gave us that disaster in 2016 and why roe vs wade is gone now. If they win again they are going to push the rest of their agenda through. These posts about refusing to vote or voting third party are exactly like they were in 2016. We've been down this road once already.

If given the choice of neglect vs active homicidal intent we all have at least a chance to survive neglect.

And neglect gives us time to do something. Work locally. Try and push for reform. It's horrible but it's what we have. And for most disabled it's ALL we have. We can't run, other countries won't take us.

I've even seen some scream about revolution but with zero plans for us. What will their revolution do with us? Will we still have our medical access? Will we still be taken care of? Or will the wheels of the revolution be greased with our blood?

K so this is a lot for first in the morning, and I'm glad that someone has explained it a bit more detail bc I cannot stress this enough IM CANADIAN we live with a mutli party system. We, like most of democracies in the world, function with multiple parties at play. And tbh? They still use "splitting the vote is dangerous" talking point here. Here, it's used to prevent ppl from voting for actual reform in government. It's used to say "Green party will never win in they're trying to do rent caps and UBI!" Despite these being popular standing points with many many ppl and honestly the only reason ppl haven't voted them in is bc of this fear tactic. And yet this year, they've come in 3rd place if not 1st in several towns, cities, and providences. They've made headway, and also a lot of liberal ideals and NDP talking points are just old green party ones so ppl want those policies. But if it wasn't for those tree huggers 10 yrs ago fighting, and losing and being made fun of, as a seperate party and forcing them to move that direction they never would.

And let's be clear, Trump won bc of electoral collage he did not win popular vote in 2016 you where overruled the vote didnt matter. Just like Bush did against Al Gore in 2000

That doesn't mean its hopeless or that you shluldnt vote particularlly on local levels. More ppl then ever in history are voting!! Turn outs are the highest they've been since 1950s!! (Also the last peak in union reforms btw) It's scary flipping parties, you might loose to Democrats or Republicans. It will be horrible. But yall are on the cusp of a civil war and fascism anyway, as an outsider who should hold little say over what you choose in this election, I'd still endorse the 3rd party. idk yall your system seems fucked and legit doesn't seem to care how you vote so scare them into using your vote for someone else and make them admit they're not actually counting your votes.

If there's so many ppl like a different policy and candidate it forms another party then you NEED a different party to have a voice anyway. Even if it's in defeat it must exist and I'll happily be on the loosing side.

These are talking points that are used to stagnate progress and to (rightfully) scare ppl into voting for someone they don't like. So if it scares you too much, i wont be upset with however you vote. Its yours. It's scary out here no matter the outcome rn. But I can't let myself be shaken when there is hope and I will personally work for that hope so it's no longer a scary option for those who can't afford the choice.

[ciaossu-imagines]

Hi. I recently discovered your blog and I love it. The HOMRA playing Monopoly headcanons made me chuckle a few times, especially since I could perfectly imagine it all happening. If it’s not too much trouble, could you do some headcanons for Bandō helping his s/o through their period symptoms? Like mainly pain and feeling really down for no reason. It’s just tiring for them because they know they can’t do anything about it, so some comfort could be nice. Thanks in advance and have a wonderful day.

Aww, that’s really sweet of you to say, anon dear! Thank you for the compliment and the cute ask! Periods can be killer and I love imagining these types of situations happening because it should be one of those common-place and cutely domestic things that are happening in every relationship where one (or both) members get their periods! I hope you’ll enjoy the headcanons!

Bando knows nothing about periods when he first starts dating his partner, especially since I think it’ll likely be his first serious partner. He’s so ignorant of what’s going on when his partner and the mood swings or the sad moments they have are really going to fuck with him. He’ll end up taking it really personally at first. Did he do something? Are they sad because of him? What did he do; just tell him so he can fix it…

His partner will really have to be very clear to him what’s going on, explaining that they’re on their period and they’re in pain so they’re a little cranky or they’re feeling really sad and that this happens a lot with their periods and it’s nothing he had done to cause it. But he still doesn’t really understand.

And that not understanding kind of really affects Bando because I think he’s the kind of person who hates being ignorant about anything, especially when it comes to his partner because he’ll want to be able to know and understand everything when it comes to them because they are a pretty big part of his life and other than HOMRA, will be the thing he cares about the most and having that understanding and that bond will really matter to him.

But he has a lot of pride as well and he’s definitely going to play off his overreaction to it all as just a joke or no big deal and he’ll pretend he understands it all completely. But, legitimately, he pretends but then I can definitely see Bando going home and spending the full night googling stuff like ‘period sad’, ‘period pain’, ‘how to stop period’, ‘how to get rid of period pain’, ‘how to make girlfriend happy on period’, and, just because he’ll kind of be really interested in this particular thing, ‘can you have sex on period’ and ‘will sex help period pain’.

Could he just ask his partner what would make them feel better on their period? Of course! But is he going to do that? Fuck no. It’d be admitting he didn’t know what to do and Bando really wants his partner to kind of admire him and think of him as someone who can solve any problem.

He takes so many notes and tries everything he can think of to help his partner with their period. He’s trying every trick or tip he read on the internet, with varying success, and he’s so lost whenever one of them doesn’t work because the internet told him it would so why isn’t this working? Why doesn’t his partner feel better? He’s just so nervous and so stressed out those first couple of months until he figures out exactly what makes his partner feel better when they’re on their period.

Once he knows, and if his partner is at all regular in their cycles, he definitely starts getting all the things he knows they’ll want ready the week before their period is supposed to start.

He’d be so down for cuddling during his partner’s period if that helps them at all and he’d try to make them feel better with compliments but he’s so, so incredibly awkward with his words so his compliments come out making zero sense or kind of sound not at all like compliments so his partner will have to really understand who Bando is and the intentions behind the words.

As much as he tries to be a good guy to a partner who’s on their period, I still feel like he wouldn’t want to go out and buy his partner’s tampons or pads because he finds it really embarrassing and a little emasculating, even though he knows logically that it’s not. But if he is ever forced to do so, you know Bando is that jackass calling or texting his partner, being all ‘so what size pussy do you have? Like is it regular, super, what?’. He really does not get the markings on all these boxes. Is this some sort of secret language that all menstruating individuals have?? Because it’s all Greek to him.

Also, he will very much kind of freak out if his partner leaves a bloody pad or tampon in the garbage without wrapping it because that kind of thing will kind of gross him out, though he gets better at being less grossed out the longer he’s with a partner. Still will always low-key gross him out though.

[crystalelemental]

I wanted to try Psychic-focused clear, and if the choices made are any indication, I am an idiot.

General Overview I tend to invest very heavily into Psychic types. It is my favorite type, after all. So with Meloetta and another way to really push Psychic-type damage, I figured this would be a good chance to take a look at clearing an all-Psychic CS. Especially since one stage had a Psychic weakness, so there's at least one safe pick.

As you may be able to tell, though, I am a moron. No NC Bede? No SS Dawn? What was I doing? Apparently I just forgot how many Psychic supports actually exist, and how many of them are legitimately good. Decisively better situation than Fire and Electric based on recent High Score shenanigans, I'd say. We also managed to avoid using all the Psychic offensive pairs. No Giovanni, and somehow no Olympia. Kinda crazy.

That said, Psychic still has some pretty severe troubles, as we'll get in to shortly. Interestingly on the offensive side. It has some alright options, but they're not exactly stellar either, in their own ways. There's some talk on Reddit about "Would Sinnoh NCs be Lake Trio?" and how we already have three Psychic Master Fair pairs, so it's not all that exciting an option, but also listen. Psychic deserves that.

Vs. Hala In my head, this was meant to be about Reflect curbing damage so Lusamine and Lana could slap things apart. This, however, ran into numerous issues. First, off-type, with a field effect in play? Sabrina folds really easily, even with Reflect up. It's super embarrassing. The other, much more substantial issue is that Psychic lacks for good single-target damage. Lana and Lusamine have great 3v3 pressure, they easily remove sides. But their damage to center is often severely lacking, which creates massive problems in the endgame. Truth be told, this wouldn't be such a huge issue if Lusamine didn't lock a major sync multiplier to on-type. But because she did, her nuke often lacks presence. Eventually, the Support EX Role will salvage a lot for her, but it's a similar case to Anni Lillie, where the limitations foisted upon her at the time are coming back to haunt her, and nothing short of a grid expansion is going to salvage it.

Vs. Olivia SS Steven is largely considered better SS Lusamine, because he has an explosive sync roughly twice as strong as hers, that also gets AoE, and better single-target damage, with Protect to halve sync damage for a reliable save. So people are correct. The problem is that this sometimes makes me think he's roughly invincible, when gauges are a massive problem for him as much as with Lusamine. I also used a stupid core. I wanted the flinch rate to save us, and it definitely did, but not as reliably as you'd hope. Still, a win's a win, I suppose.

Vs. Acerola Off-type 3k meta has officially pushed offensive parameters far enough that even at -6 in both offenses, their sync will OHKO the entire team. Absolutely outrageous. Mesprit's Reflect turns it into a clean survive, but the finisher against the sides is questionable. It's a blessing it's a single-target attack from Mimikyu, but it's rough. Two single-target options also doesn't do the best work overall. I had to be really careful with how May used her attacks to get things where I wanted them.

Vs. Kahili The on-type fight. Will hit zero flinches with his 60% rate. Absolute clown behavior from this trio.

Vs. Kukui Okay, so! I did not remember Kukui debuffs Sp Atk by -2. That's not great. Meloetta also decided that no, she would not be providing any Sp Atk boosts with her Buddy move. Unfortunate. So this was incredibly slow going overall.

Meloetta is interesting. Under HP parameters, she gets a lot of moves up next stacks going, and takes incredibly little with the defense boosting grid. Bianca's gradual healing with Curative Confusion gets Meloetta a lot of extra healing in, and lets her sustain reasonably well. If she rolls evasion from Buddy move, you can get into some really goofy shenanigans. But, as anticipated, she's heavily reliant on the RNG of that buddy move. DPS from both allies was not exactly stellar, because Sp Atk remained so low. Meloetta also has to pop her trainer move early to manage the gauge of slow options like Caitlin and Bianca. It's overall not an exceptionally great time, and gets really dicey when Kukui starts spamming Iron Tail, but she does manage the fight reasonably well. I think this was a particularly brutal counterpick stage, with the -2 Sp Atk on entry and +1 Sp Def each attack from Kukui really minimizing the impact she could have. The fact that Caitlin and Bianca, of all combos, still won, is impressive. She's definitely keeping up.

Final Thoughts For a run that completely messed up on basically every front, this still went pretty well. Harder CS difficulties would not be as kind, but I'm admittedly a little surprised they pulled even this off. 3k meta is particularly hostile toward off-type approaches, and you can feel the difficulty from the old 2.5k meta for sure.

[cherienymphe]

Gangsta’s Paradise (Michael Gray x Reader)

WARNINGS: DUB-CON BORDERLINE NON-CON, blackmail, loss of virginity, (for the sake of this fic let’s pretend that Finn Cole is taller than what he is okay)

! DNI IF THIS OFFENDS YOU !

➥ divider by @firefly-graphics

summary: an agreement with the Peaky Blinders is almost a done deal...until you catch the eye of Michael Gray. You’re suddenly thrust into the equation, and your father must decide between losing everything or losing you.

~

Soft lips brushed over your bare shoulder, even softer hands guiding the strap of your slip down your arm, fingers dancing along your skin. Despite the cold weather outside, your room was sweltering, and you pinned it onto the man behind you...the man who was currently unwrapping you like a gift. With fear coursing through your frame, you realized that in a way, you were a gift. A pretty little gift given to the big bad gangster in exchange for resources and protection and whatever else your family needed.

Your eyes fell closed, and you thought back to the day where your father’s desperation had first begun. Desperation that you had ultimately underestimated.

You had been nervous as you tended to the dishes that day, glancing at the clock every now and then. Cleaning and tidying up was how you coped, how you attempted to calm yourself. It normally worked, but today was an exception. Looking around, you realized that there was nothing else to clean, and with a sigh, you leaned against the wall, biting your lip.

The rest of the family had gone to Birmingham. They’d gone to handle...business, and you being the only girl in the family since your mom died, you weren’t allowed to have a hand in the business. It had been a great deal of bitterness for you for years, ever since you were old enough to understand what was really going on, but now you had gradually accepted your father’s reasoning.

Your father and brother and uncles had left early, taking some of their best men with them. You knew they only did that for serious matters, and you had been worried ever since you saw them leave. You had scrubbed the house from top to bottom, and now you had nothing to do but wait. It was fortunate that you didn’t have to wait for much longer, hearing several cars come down the driveway.

No one greeted you when you opened the door, faces pinched and sullen, and you knew then that things didn’t go as expected. The only one to acknowledge you was your father, the older man pressing a quick kiss to your forehead before trudging inside with the rest. You swallowed, conflicted on whether or not you should say anything, but your worry got the best of you.

“How did it go?”

Before your father could answer, you heard your brother slam his hand into the wall, the pictures shaking from the force.

“Peaky fucking Blinders,” he spat, and your blood ran cold.

Your eyes met your father’s, and he gave you a look as if to say leave it alone, but you were in shock. You had never imagined that your family would start doing business with the likes of them. Everyone had heard of them, knew who they were and what they did, and the thought of your family being involved with them in any way was a terrifying one.

Everything those men touched turned to poison

“Father,” you had chided as soon as you walked into his office moments later.

From behind his desk, he held a hand up, the other pressed to his forehead as he sighed.

“Not now, Y/N,” he said, sounding tired.

“You promised that things would be different,” you whispered, ignoring his words. “You told me that we would start becoming legitimate, legal. That we’d start doing things right.”

“Y/N-.”

“You promised.”

He slammed his hand down onto the wood, making you wince.

“They’ve got their hand in every cookie jar that matters. Thomas Shelby is a political man, now-.”

You cut him off with a scoff, folding your arms over your chest.

“Only a fool would get mixed up with the likes of them.”

He shot you a scathing look, and you swallowed, looking away with a sigh.

“We need their influence, their resources...their allyship.”

Your eyes widened at this, realizing that your father intended for much more than a one time business deal.

“You can’t be serious,” you murmured.

He didn’t respond right away, simply heaving a sigh before turning his attention to the paperwork before him.

“I will do my best to keep you away from all this, but prepare yourself for seeing a lot more of them, eh?”

He didn’t say anything more, and when it became apparent that that was the end of the discussion, you turned and left. You could hear your brothers and uncles murmuring in the kitchen, going over the day’s events, no doubt, and you made your way upstairs. You never knew exactly what it was that your father sold, but you figured that drugs and alcohol was the gist of it. He’d been in the business for a long time, and he’d made a promise to you that he was going to put a stop to it. That he’d start making money the right way.

Getting mixed up with the Shelbys, the Peaky Blinders, was not the way to go about it.

You understood the appeal though. They had power, resources, influence. With them as an ally, people would think twice about screwing your family over...but was it worth it? Was it worth the increase in violence? Putting the family in the kind of danger you could never even imagine? Was it worth the devastation and death that seemed to follow them like a plague? The answer was simple.

No.

Your father didn’t seem to care about any of that though. Day in and day out, for weeks, you watched your family leave early in the day and return late in the evening, looking more irritated than they did the previous day. It was safe to say that negotiations with the Peaky Blinders was not going as expected. The frustration and annoyance was plain as day on your father’s features, and even though nary a word was uttered to you about anything, you could feel the tension mounting in the air.

The first time you actually met someone of the infamous family, it was a Wednesday. It was a rare day within the past few weeks in which your father was at the house. He had been holed up in his study all day when there was a knock on the door. You had blinked in confusion, trying to recall if your father had mentioned anything about company, but you had only just begun to move when you heard your father’s heavy footsteps traveling down the hallway.

“Stay back.”

Normally you would have argued against him, especially with a tone as harsh as his had been, but something in his voice made you listen. There was something in his eyes, something in the way he walked that made you understand the severity of the situation. You remained in the living room, listening as your father answered the door, unfamiliar voices eventually joining his.

Two men who you’d never seen before joined him in the hallway, standing between the kitchen and living room. You had slowly put your book down, story long forgotten at the sight of the strangers, and your movement caught their attention. Both of them were wearing hats and long coats, but you could still tell that their hair was dark. The lankier of the two was a bit taller, a mustache adorning his face while the other moved a toothpick around between his lips, a faint smirk crawling onto his face at the sight of you.

“Good afternoon, sweetheart,” the taller one greeted, and you quietly returned the greeting.

Your father cleared his throat, visibly uncomfortable.

“Arthur, John...this is my daughter, Y/N. She likes to look after the house when I’m gone.”

It was the truth. After your mother’s death, the house was where you felt most comfortable, and you were more than happy to lock yourself in its walls. Especially while the rest of your family ventured out.

“Darling, this is John and Arthur Shelby. I’ve been doing some business with them, remember?”

You fought the urge to sneer at your father, keeping your gaze on the strangers in your home instead.

“Of course. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” you said with a tense smile.

Knowing you so well, your father could recognize the displeasure on your face, and if the other men before you noticed it too, they didn’t speak on it. You watched as they followed your father upstairs to his study, the younger of the two tipping his hat to you before departing. You remained there for a time before slowly exhaling, turning to make your way outside. You paid no mind to how long they stayed, spending the rest of your day away outside in your garden. Your mother always kept one, and you had done the same since she died.

That was the first of the few times you ran across Arthur and John Shelby. They were the only two that ever came by the house, greeting you with tipped hats and secretive smiles. You had grown somewhat used to their presence and faces, but not enough to be completely comfortable around them. You didn’t meet the rest of them, didn’t meet him, until weeks later.

“What?” you had breathed, staring at your father in disbelief. 

You watched as he rubbed his forehead, face pinched and eyes clouded over, telling you that he disliked this as much as you did.

“You’ll come to the next meeting with us,” he repeated, and you let out a sharp breath.

So you had heard him correctly.

“...why?” you eventually asked, sounding much calmer than you actually were.

“I know you hate them, but those Shelbys do have some morals about them. Things have been rather tense lately. It seems that we just can’t come to an agreement,” he sighed out, leaning against his desk. “...and I fear that things could become...rowdy.”

He didn’t continue, but you were smart enough to guess where this was going. When the realization hit you, your heart dropped, and you stared at your father like he was a stranger. The man you knew, the man your mother had married, would’ve wanted you as far away from any business dealings as possible. Somehow, the very same man was standing before you and suggesting…

“You think my presence at the meeting will make them behave...make them think twice about doing anything...violent,” you murmured, more to yourself than him.

He didn’t respond, but he didn’t need to, and you clenched your jaw.

“...and if it doesn’t-?”

“It will,” he argued.

“...but if it doesn’t…” you repeated with more force. “...then what? What will you do if they bring out the guns and razor blades right there? What will you do if they decide to use me to make you agree to their terms?”

Your father was silent, and you stepped towards him, eyes pleading.

“What will you do then?”

You watched as he straightened, standing to his full height as he looked down his nose at you. It was like you were looking at a completely different person, someone who wasn’t like your father at all. As you eyed him, you could see the stress on his face, the strain in his muscles, the conflict in his eyes. You’d had your suspicions that your family’s business with the Peaky Blinders was more serious than you could’ve imagined, but the toll it was clearly taking on your father confirmed it.

Even if you didn’t agree with what was going on, how your father went about getting what he so clearly needed and wanted, it was obvious that this was important to him. Since the death of your mother, very few things brought your father happiness. Very few things even halfway satisfied him, and hoping that this would, shoulders sagging with defeat, you agreed.

This was how you found yourself seated beside your father at none other than The Garrison. The pub was empty of any patrons or staff, only those important to the meeting present. Thomas Shelby, the man himself, was seated across from your father. He was as intimidating as you always believed he’d be, smooth voice having done nothing to calm you when he introduced himself.

John and Arthur, the two you were familiar with, were on his right while two more men by the name of Isaiah and Finn were on his left. They were one short in comparison to your father, his two brothers, your two brothers, and yourself, but an empty chair told you that one more was on their way. Seeing that the meeting had already begun, you deduced that their tardiness wasn’t a concern. Considering the nature of the meeting, a whole bunch of words that could be summed up into “who controls what”, you envied the mystery person’s absence. 

For minutes now, you had contributed nothing, but then again… That wasn’t your purpose. No, the purpose of your presence was to keep the men in line. Your entire purpose was to play on what few morals the men had, and you fought to hold in a laugh. With every member of your family being armed, you wondered if your father even believed this would work. Too busy stewing over how your father had purposely put you in harm’s way, you didn’t take notice of the pub door opening.

You were only pulled from your thoughts when the sound of footsteps finally registered. Considering that your back was to the door, you couldn’t see their face, and you didn’t want to appear nosey or unprofessional or draw attention to yourself in any way really by turning to look. You only glanced up when he finally came into your line of sight, and you observed him in the same manner that you did all the others.

Something about him reminded you of Thomas, but his features were much softer, not so harsh. However, that made him no less intimidating. He wasn’t sporting a hat, dark hair neatly pushed away from his face, and something about him was different from the rest. On his own, he didn’t look like he belonged with the rest of them, and as Thomas explained that he was their chief accountant, you got the feeling that that was purposely done. He introduced the man as Michael Gray, his cousin, and losing interest once again, you looked away.

You played with your fingers beneath the table, wanting to desperately be anywhere but here. You had a feeling that you’d get your wish very soon, taking note of the change in tone in your father’s voice. He sounded happier, relieved, and you glanced up at him, his relief contagious. As you did so, your eyes briefly connected with that of the newcomer, Michael, and you quickly looked away. Even still, you could feel the weight of his stare, and you reluctantly returned it.

He didn’t look the least bit ashamed at having been caught, bringing his cigarette up to his lips, a thick coil of smoke escaping them moments later. His face was hard to read, and you felt yourself frowning slightly. You blinked, eyes trailing to your brother on your father’s other side, but he seemed invested in the meeting. Everyone seemed to be...everyone but you and the man named Michael.

When your eyes met his again, it was just in time to watch him lean over, lips at his cousin’s ear as he whispered something to him. His gaze held yours the entire time. You glanced around again, feeling as if there was a meeting within a meeting going on, and you were the only one to notice. Brushing off the unease you felt, you sat back in your chair, eyes on the table. It was hard to ignore the heavy gaze that pinned you to your seat, but you fought to manage.

Especially since it seemed that an agreement was finally being made.

However, that sinking feeling in your chest traveled to your gut, settling there as you watched John move to whisper something to Thomas. The man, the leader of this great gang, paused for the briefest of moments. It happened so quickly, and John was back in his seat as if nothing had happened, and while Thomas’ words did not falter, the way his eyes briefly flickered to you had you straightening in your seat.

Your eyes fell onto the blue-eyed newcomer again, and he took another drag of his cigarette. Every single one of them wore smug expressions, from the first moment you’d been introduced to every individual man, you noticed that they all looked as if they owned the world. Michael Gray was no different, but the way he looked at you made you want to be as far away from here as possible. As more tendrils of smoke left his pink lips, you noted that he didn’t look at you like he just owned the world. He looked at you like he owned you too.

“Everything does seem to be in order, but...there is another matter I think we should discuss,” you heard Thomas Shelby say.

You looked to him, watching as he stood, his family following his lead and your family following theirs. You tightened your coat around you as Thomas gestured for your father to follow him into the back. His absence made you nervous, but you simply stepped closer to your brother as you watched him follow the other man.

“Let’s wait outside,” your brother said, and eager to be out of here, you hastily agreed.

Your other brother remained inside with your uncles while you followed Matthew, the middle child of you three, outside. 

“You alright?” he asked you as soon as you were in the fresh air. “You looked a bit tense in there.”

You watched him light a smoke, and you glanced away.

“The other one...the cousin, Michael… How much do you know about him?”

Matthew shrugged, exhaling.

“Not much. Doesn’t say much at the meetings, mostly handles the money,” he told you.

That did little to ease you.

“Why…?”

You were just about to tell him the reason for your curiosity when the door to The Garrison came flying open. You watched in shock as your father came storming out, your other brother and uncles hot on his tail.

“What’s going on?” Matthew asked, just as alarmed as you were.

Instead of an answer, your father simply grabbed your arm, and yanked you along. You almost tripped over your feet, and you looked at your father like he’d lost his mind. His face was clouded over, eyes thunderous, and you wondered what had happened in such a short time.

“What-?”

“Quiet,” he hissed, sounding the angriest you’d ever heard him, and your eyes widened at this.

“...but-.”

“I said quiet! Get in the car,” he spat.

He didn’t give you a chance to listen, opting for shoving you inside himself. Your foot was barely inside when he slammed the door shut, and you stared at the window in shock. Matthew joined you and your father in the car while the rest piled into the other vehicle. Your confusion only grew as the car roared to life, and you glanced up then to rest your eyes on a familiar face.

He leaned against the door to the pub, a fresh cigarette held between his lips as he lit it. His blue eyes were focused entirely on you, even as the smoke clouded his view and your father began to drive off, he didn’t appear to be interested in anything else but your trembling frame.

You sat at the dining table in shock, listening to the muffled sound of your father’s angry voice that traveled from his study. He was in there with the rest of the family, and he’d been in there for hours. He had barely looked at you when you all came home, heading straight for his office as he ordered the rest of the family inside. There was an unspoken agreement that that did not include you.

Still, the uneasiness from the meeting remained. You could still feel the heated gaze of the blue-eyed man, smell the smoke that drifted from his lips, see the way he watched you as he whispered to John. You could see the way Thomas had looked at you as John whispered to him, and this was what made you press your ear to your father’s study door hours earlier. This was what drove your curiosity to discover just what happened when you and your brother left.

“He wants her,” your father had forced out, sounding like he was going to be sick.

There was a long pause, and you had frowned in confusion.

“Who?” your other brother, Nathaniel, had eventually asked.

“The Gray kid! Polly’s son,” he spat as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “He wants her.”

You could hear your father’s heavy breaths, hear him pacing, and the confirmation that the discussion was about Michael Gray did nothing to quell your confusion. The silence that followed was loud and heavy, something unspoken in the air that you had yet to understand.

“...what?” you heard one of your uncles murmur.

Your father heaved a sigh, sounding much calmer now.

“They are...prepared to meet us more than halfway if we let him have her,” he slowly said. “Everything we’ve been working towards, everything we’ve been yearning for… It could be ours in a matter of hours if we let him have her.”

“No!”

Nathaniel’s voice could be heard before your father even finished.

“Absolutely not-.”

“Nathaniel…”

“You’re not considering this...are you? Father…”

“They’ve given us the day to think it over-.”

“What is there to think about? She’s our sister, your daughter, not some whore on the street,” Matthew interrupted, his words making you freeze.

Bile threatened to spill from your lips as you stared at the door, slowly backing away, their voices becoming less clear as you did so. Your back was pressed to the wall as the truth settled over you, and you suddenly felt foolish for failing to put it together sooner. Your stomach swirled, fear settling into your bones, and before you knew it, your head was in the commode, expelling everything you’d eaten that day. The tears had come shortly after, and that was how Matthew found you hours later, sitting at the table with tears in your eyes.

“I know you heard,” he said, sitting across from you.

You hesitantly looked up at him as he poured a glass of whiskey.

“You never could keep your nose out of things. Told you years ago to stop listening in on father’s conversations-.”

“Well, I’m glad I did this time,” you tearfully spat.

Matthew sighed, sliding the glass towards you.

“I think you deserve it tonight,” he said as you threw him an odd look.

Your shoulders sagged, and you gratefully accepted it, scrunching your face up at the strong taste that hit your tongue. The both of you sat there in silence for a while, listening to your father’s muffled voice, and you took another sip.

“What’s he going to do?”

Your fear must have been evident because his hand rested on yours on the table.

“Hey...he’s not going to agree, alright? He would never…”

You shook your head before he even finished, sniffling as you took another sip.

“I don’t know, Matthew. I don’t know,” you breathed.

Your eyes met his, and he frowned at you.

“These past few months or so… He’s been different, and you know it. He’s made deals before, but it’s different this time. Everything he’s ever wanted is so close. It’s different this time, and you know it, Matthew.”

He didn’t respond, but he didn’t have to. You both knew that it was different this time, and you shuddered to think about what tomorrow would bring.

The next day came and went, much to your relief, and although you were glad that your father didn’t give into the Peaky Blinders, into what they wanted from you...what he wanted from you, it was still an unacknowledged elephant in the room. They still left the house for business, but you didn’t know if it was with the Blinders or not. You shuddered to think of how that conversation went when your father refused their offer. 

You got the feeling that they weren’t used to not getting their way.

It was three nights later, three nights since that fateful meeting in which you’d caught the eye of Michael Gray, that you left your room to get a glass of water. The house was dark and quiet, an unusual sight seeing as at least one brother was usually up late in the kitchen, drinking or having a smoke. That wasn’t the sight that greeted you.

The kitchen was empty of anyone else, and you drank your water slowly. You hoped that things would be better now. You recalled how relieved your father had looked over the past few days, how much softer his features looked, and you desperately hoped that it was because the family was finally on the right track. You made your way back into the hall, glass pressed to your lips, when you paused.

The only light in the living room came from the moon, it’s rays bleeding through the windows and onto the furniture. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to take note of the shape that didn’t belong. The shape of a man. Light flooded the room, and all of your breath left you, glass shattering at your feet.

You stared at him in shock, taking in everything from his neat hair to his shiny dark shoes. He was dressed much like he was the first day you met him, a dark grey almost black looking suit hugging his frame. He leaned back in your father’s chair, nursing a glass of Brandy, and it was then that you realized he’d been here for a while.

“Father!”

It was instinctual now, how your father was the first person you ran to. He didn’t respond, and you called for him again, cutting yourself off when a smirk slowly danced along Michael’s lips. Your mind whirled, and dread filled you.

“What are you doing in my house? Where is my father?”

A small chuckle escaped him, eyes twinkling with mirth as he slowly pulled out a cigarette. 

“What do you think I’m doing here, love?”

Your entire body froze, the implication behind his words clear, and you shook your head. You called for Matthew...then Nathaniel...then your uncles and your father again. The only thing that met you was silence, and your throat felt incredibly thick all of a sudden. The weight of your predicament fully settled over you, and you slowly shook your head.

“No,” you breathed in disbelief. “...no.”

The man before you didn’t respond, simply pressing the cigarette between his lips, reaching in his pockets for a light, no doubt.

“I don’t believe you.”

That was what you said, what your lips formed, but your heart and your head didn’t agree. Something didn’t feel right from the moment you woke up, and a part of you that you desperately wished would shut up did believe him. 

“Do you really think your father would allow anyone into his home without his knowledge or permission?”

You watched him pull a drag, smoke filling the air, and you stumbled back, running for the door. You didn’t hear him behind you, and for that you were relieved, but your relief was short lived. Upon swinging the door open, you were met with the sight of John and Arthur Shelby dawdling in your driveway. They appeared to be having a conversation when you opened the door, their voices abruptly cutting off at your appearance. John simply smirked at you from around the smoke in his mouth, Arthur tipping his hat towards you.

“‘Ello, sweetheart.”

With a shriek, you slammed the door shut in their faces, chest heaving with uneven breaths as the situation fully resonated with you. You stumbled back further into the hallway, and Michael was still in the same place as before, nursing a cigarette as you fought to figure out a way out of this.

“You can’t...you can’t do this,” you eventually murmured, glaring at him.

Michael simply fixed you with an even stare, smoke escaping from his nose, the cigarette dancing between his fingers.

“I’m a Peaky Blinder, love. I can do whatever I want.”

He said it with so much conviction that you knew he believed it, and the longer you stared at him, the more you believed it too. You warily glanced around, telling yourself that you might actually have to fight this man, might have to fight to protect what your father had wrongly given away. Even though part of you denied it, you slowly accepted that Michael was telling the truth. Despite the fact that your family’s business and even lives were at stake, your father had no right to trade away what didn’t belong to him.

Michael’s eyes never left you as you stood there, and you finally looked to him again when he cleared his throat. The cigarette rested between his lips as he slipped out of his jacket, and you swallowed at the dark look in his eyes. He took another drag.

“Before you do...whatever it is that you’re about to do…”

He parted his mouth, the smoke swirling in there for a bit before pressing his lips together, tendrils escaping his nose.

“You should know that I’ve shot men in the head with no hesitation. I drug my blade across a man’s throat once and reveled in the taste of his blood on my lips.”

You flinched, taking a step back.

“When Tommy first tried to scare me away, threaten to send me back to the village in which I grew up… I told him about a well there, that I’d blow it up with dynamite if he made me go back...didn’t care if my hands went with it.”

He finished his cigarette, putting the rest of it out, eyes boring into yours as he slowly exhaled the smoke he’d been holding in.

“I just knew it’d be worth it to see those pretty white bricks all over that pretty village green...and I meant every word of that.”

You didn’t respond, and his blue eyes slowly dragged over every part of you, taking you in from your hair all the way to your bare feet, lingering on the thin nightgown in between.

“It’s something about the violence, you see.”

His words unnerved you, and he continued.

“The violence, the blood...the fight...it does something to me. Gets me excited, all riled up, so please…”

He gestured towards you, eyes glinting with something that made your heart stop.

“Do fight back, hit me even… It’ll just make me want to fuck you that much harder.”

The tears finally skipped down your cheeks, and you stumbled back as he stood to his full height. With a shaky breath, you staggered up the stairs, running to the last room at the end of the hall, a guest room. You were quick to pull the window up, looking down below in worry. It was high up, that was for sure, but the alternative was worse.

Before you could even get a foot out, warm hands pressed into your stomach, pulling you back against a broad chest. A startled scream left your lips, and Michael’s hands traveled to your arms, fingers pressed into your skin as he held you tight. You leaned your head away from him as he pressed his face into your neck, breathing you in.

“Your father made a big mistake bringing you around us, eh?”

You couldn’t will your lips to move, too paralyzed with fear and nerves and anxiety for the unknown. The way he touched you was foreign, the scent that clung to him, a mix of cologne and expensive liquor and cigarettes, was foreign. The creeping sensation that blanketed your body was foreign. All of this was foreign, and more tears pooled within your eyes as the inevitable drew closer.

“He thought you’d keep us in line, keep us on leashes...but ever since I saw you, the only thing I wanted to do was take you like a fucking animal.”

You jerked in his hold, fighting to get away from him, but Michael tsk’d. 

“Let’s not spoil this, hmm? You seem like a good girl...if you catch my drift.”

More tears fell at his words, and he hummed.

“You do. You strike me as a well behaved lady of the house...and you girls like for this to be special, yeah? All gentle and loving,” he slowly mocked as he forced you towards the bed.

He shoved you onto it, knees pressing down on either side of you soon after, preventing you from going anywhere. Your tears soaked the sheet, and Michael’s fingers ghosted over your skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

“I want you to look at me as I fuck you.”

He gently turned you over onto your back, and you stared up at the man before you. Even in the darkness, you could see the blue of his eyes perfectly. They were bright and filled with a hunger that scared you, a hunger you had never been on the receiving end of before. Michael leaned over you, caging you beneath him as he pressed his forehead to yours, soon followed by his lips.

You’d kissed men before, but they were soft sweet nothings that could barely be called a kiss. You knew that if you wanted to marry well, contribute something of substance to your family, you had to be smart about your actions...your reputation. All of the men, realizing that you weren’t going to give them what they wanted, left. Accepting that your family and reputation came first, they always left, and it hurt every single time. 

But it will be worth it.

That’s what you constantly told yourself. After every heartbreak, every sneer, every harsh insult thrown your way about what a frigid bitch you were, you told yourself that it would be worth it. And yet...here you were...beneath a gangster, having your reputation ripped away from you by a man who stole and murdered and wasn’t decent in any way.

Life was funny.

After slipping out of his shirt, the flimsy material floating somewhere behind him, Michael guided your hands to his chest. Your trembling fingers danced along his taut skin, taking note of an imperfection. An old bullet wound, you deduced. The dark-haired man groaned into your mouth, pressing into you, and you could feel him hard beneath his trousers. The reality of what was about to happen seemed to slink around your neck like a noose, and you didn’t even realize that you’d started panting until Michael’s hand found your neck.

“I-I can’t- I can’t do this-.”

He shushed you, kissing you again.

“Behave...and I’ll be good to you. Breathe,” he urged.

You slowly did as he suggested, squeezing your eyes shut as his other hand pushed the smooth material of your nightgown up your legs. One hand was still on your throat as that same hand traveled to his pants, the sound of his zipper deafening in the quiet room. Your whole body went numb for a moment, ears ringing and vision blurring, and when you finally came back to earth, Michael’s hips were pressing against yours, nothing in between you.

He was speaking to you, you noted.

“...what?” you murmured.

“What’s your name, love?”

You swallowed, quickly darting your tongue out to swipe over your lips.

“Y/N.”

He repeated it, clearly liking the taste of it on his tongue. He nodded at you, drinking you in as he ran his eyes over your face, seemingly committing you to memory before sliding into you with one quick thrust. Your nails pressed into his skin, and he hissed, your own lips parting to let out a pained gasp. Michael held himself above you, a low groan escaping him as his forehead touched yours again.

“You feel fucking amazing,” he whispered, nose bumping against yours.

He held himself there for a long time, just feeling you. You weren’t naïve enough to think he did it for your sake, and you got the feeling that he wanted to drag this out for as long as possible. When he did finally move, your chest arched upwards, unable to handle the unfamiliar feeling. His hand was still on your neck, and you wrapped your hand around his wrist.

The feel of him inside of you was strange. You couldn’t describe it, but you felt full...you felt stretched...and in a way, it felt unnatural, but the heat that festered deep within your stomach said otherwise. One of Michael’s hands was pressed into the bed beside your head, holding himself up so that he could look at you. You remembered his words, and too terrified to disobey, you fought to keep your eyes on him.

His face was strained with concentration, eyes flickering between your face and down to where the two of you connected. The hand that was on your neck slid down to your chest, thumb brushing over a heaving breast before resting on your stomach, pinning you down as he snapped his hips into yours. It was too much for you, too much at once, and your lashes fluttered. 

“Look at me,” he roughly breathed.

“I can’t...I can’t,” you panted, head twisting from side to side.

You could hardly focus on anything other than the way he was thrusting into you, taking you to heights you never knew existed. He called your name then, and you reluctantly met his eyes, the hunger in them making you shudder.

“That’s right. Eyes on me, love. Keep your eyes on me while I fuck you,” he murmured.

The smugness in his voice and face made you frown, a spark of anger in you.

“Do you fuck all of your girls like this? Huh?”

He didn’t respond, pink lips simply curving upwards into a humorous smirk.

“...or am I special because you get to ruin my life and go on with yours?” you shakily spat.

Michael slammed into you then, forcing a choked gasp from you.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. You just focus on milking my cock, hmm?”

You wanted to hit him, spit at him, do anything other than lay there and take his unrelenting thrusts, but your body seized before you could do any of that. Your toes curled and your stomach clenched and your body shook as stars exploded behind your eyes. You hadn’t even realized what a moaning mess you had become until Michael paused just to listen to you, just taking you in with something akin to awe on his face.

You didn't have time to catch your breath before he was chasing his own high, hands pressed into your waist so hard you were sure you’d bruise. Your nails dug into his wrists, choked moans tumbling from your mouth as you clenched around him again, just in time for him to spill into you, releasing a long breath as he did so. You clung to him, tears catching in your lashes as you laid there, mind whirling at what you’d just done.

You flinched, shrinking in on yourself when his lips brushed the corner of your mouth just before pulling out of you. You winced at the action, staring up at the ceiling as you heard him moving about. You turned your head when you heard the strike of a match and watched as he lit himself another cigarette, pants just barely settling on his waist.

“So what happens now?” you finally asked, voice low in the dark room. 

Would your father and brothers come through that door tomorrow, pretending that they hadn’t sold you out? Would they be able to even look at you? Stomach the sight of you? Fresh tears kissed your eyes just as Michael spoke.

“Well…”

He took a pull, exhaling the smoke through his nose as he neared you.

“...I’m going to fuck you at least three more times before the night is over.”

You sat up at this, paying no mind to the pain in between your legs as you stared at him with wide eyes. Without realizing it, you gripped the end of your nightgown, pulling it to your knees as if somehow trying to prevent that very thing from happening.

“What-?”

“...and then I want you to pack a bag. Just some things that’ll last you a few days. I’ll be buying you a whole new lot of clothes anyway.”

“Michael-.”

“You’re my girl, now,” he quietly said, voice firm as he stood over you, free hand playing with the strap of your gown as the other held his cigarette to his lips.

You shook your head, staring up at him in disbelief.

“I...no. My family...they-.”

“Sold you away without a second thought.”

Your heart clenched as he threw that in your face, and you turned away as he reached for you. His fingers pinched your chin, jerking you to face him, and you swallowed. He bent down, staring into your eyes.

“You won’t have to worry about that with us...with me.”

He took one more pull of his cigarette before placing it on the nightstand, tendrils of smoke escaping his nose and mouth just before he pressed his lips to yours, fingers pressing into your skin as he settled between your legs.

~

tags: @cocoamoonmalfoy @trinittyy @ziamslarry-blog @a531a​ @s-u-t​ @sunshinechim-98​ @callmechannel​ @lil-hungryy​ @oneoftheprettynerds​ @scissorkidscult​  @madamerubrum  

[starlitangels]

A Beta Made to Weep

Pups AU. An Alpha Made to Kneel Part 2, technically. brammie_bram on AO3 suggested Gabriel comforting Natty after her injuries and while requests are still technically closed and I don’t want to be flooded with them, I was fascinated by the idea. So here we go. 2.1k words CW: discussion of trauma and traumatic events

—

Natalie came to consciousness hours later, muscles stiff and entire body sore. The skin on either side of her eyes was crusty with tears. A groan of pain escaped her throat before she could even consider stopping it.

A small gasp made its way to her ears. “Natty!” Seconds later, Gabriel’s hand was in hers, squeezing gently. “Are you okay?”

“I assume I’m not dead.”

Gabriel chuckled through tears. “No.”

“I figured. Because if I was, it wouldn’t be your voice as the first I’d hear in Paradise.”

“Brat,” Gabriel accused.

“Jerk.” She peeled her tired eyes open to see her big brother openly crying. His bright green eyes were bloodshot and puffy. He’d been crying for a while. “You look like hell,” she said.

“Look who’s talking,” Gabriel retorted.

Natalie stiffened. Her eyes fell from her brother’s to take in her own body. Someone had changed her into her pajamas. Short summer shorts and a tank top. She was pretty exposed to take inventory.

“Sam did his best,” Gabriel explained quietly. “But vampires only have so much magic they can externalize. He couldn’t heal everything, so he healed the worst stuff first. The scrapes and bruises had to... stay. Though he said he might come back tomorrow and finish you off if you want him to.”

Natalie nodded. A small nod.

She looked wrecked. Almost every inch of exposed skin was bruised. Though they were all in various stages of healing. Cuts littered everywhere else.

She let out a sob.

“Natty...” Gabriel whispered. “What’s wrong?”

She kept crying, furiously wiping her eyes on her blankets. “He tortured me—for three days, Gabe,” she said quietly. “He collared me like—like some—” The sob that wracked her body cut off her words. Gabriel gathered his sister into his arms, tucking her head under his chin and rocking her back and forth. “I couldn’t even open my eyes!” Her whole body was shaking. She threw her arms around Gabriel and clung to him, her fists balled in the back of his shirt.

“I know, Natty. I know,” he whispered. He kept rocking her, holding her as close to him as he could. Her tears were soaking his shirt, and he didn’t care. “You didn’t deserve what that leech did to you. He’s a monster and he’s been put away. You’re safe. You’re home.” Gabriel let his tears fall into his sister’s hair.

Outside Natalie’s window, something loud cracked. Natalie jolted. “Wh-what was that?”

“Dad,” Gabriel replied. “He’s been... pruning... the orange tree for the last two hours.”

“Is he snapping off the branches with his bare hands?” Natalie sounded confused.

Gabriel shuffled slightly, clearing his throat. “Yeah. He has been. You getting kidnapped made him angrier than I’ve ever seen him. I legitimately thought he might tear down a building on his own if he couldn’t find you.” Gabriel tightened his grip on his sister. “He called Uncle Ash ten minutes ago. They’re gonna go for a run in the woods together, I think. Dad... needs to blow off steam.”

“I know the feeling,” Natalie muttered. “If I hadn’t just gone through three days of Hell, I’d probably be calling Micah to meet me in the clearing.”

“No you wouldn’t,” Gabriel said. “You’re... you’re different, now that you’re the beta, Natty. You’re shouldering the responsibility and handling the stress far better than I did when I held the position. But you’re... you’re not leaning on your friends as much anymore. You’re not... looking for emotional support from them like you used to.” He pushed his fingers through his sister’s tangled hair, slowly unknotting some of it.

Natalie sniffed. “I’m the beta. I can’t... the pack is supposed to be able to lean on me—not the other way around.”

Gabriel squeezed her. “That’s not how this works. You’re still human—even if you do have a wolf lurking just beneath the surface.” He scratched lightly behind her left ear, feeling the way her stiff muscles softened. One thing about wolf shifters that Gabriel had noticed—the wolf was barely beneath the surface. And, at the end of the day, dogs came from wolves. Scratching behind a shifter’s ear was a quick way to make them feel better—and Natalie was so wound up that she was particularly susceptible to the calming touch.

“But—”

“Natalie Jean. You don’t have to suffer alone. Micah, Danny, Evelyn, Lily—they’d all be by your side to help you shoulder the weight you’re carrying. I would too, if you’d let me, you stubborn little snot.”

“Gabe—I’m the pack beta. I’m the pillar of strength the pack looks to. I can’t let the pack—even my friends—see me weak. When Danny decloaked in that warehouse... when he saved me from that damn collar... part of me was angry. At the vampire, yes, but also at myself. For ending up in position where Danny saw me like that. Bruised and battered and half-broken—I never wanted him to... to see that... that I can fail.”

“Why?” Gabriel asked softly.

“Because I never have failed around him. Not in any significant way that matters, anyway. Sure I tried to draw because he liked it and I was bad at it—but he’d never seen me like this. He and Micah are my best friends and they know I’d protect them until my final breath but... but this? I wasn’t strong enough to stop that vampire from taking me captive. I wasn’t enough. And how can a little girl who can’t stop one vampire expect to have a pack of wolves older and stronger than her look to her for leadership and strength?”

Gabriel sighed. “Natalie, this wasn’t you failing. This wasn’t you not being enough. Look at your body—” He pulled out of the hug to indicate her skin. “—this is proof that you’re not weak. Those bruises and scrapes—these scars—they show that you are stronger than what tried to hurt you. That vampire doesn’t get to have that kind of power over you. He was over two-hundred-years-old and you survived him. You’re still here and you’re still you. God—I can’t even imagine what it would have been like if it had been me instead of you.” He shook his head and crushed Natalie back into his arms.

Natalie let more tears fall. Imagining Gabriel—sweet, kind, gentle Gabriel—shackled to that warehouse wall and floor the way she’d been... it broke her heart and made rage boil in her blood at the same time. If Gabriel had been the one to be kidnapped instead of her... that vampire wouldn’t be rotting in a Department cell for the rest of his eternity. He would have hit the ground in pieces.

Crack! Another branch broke outside. Natalie winced again.

Gabriel scooped her up in his arms. “C’mon, brat. Let’s get you downstairs so you can get something to eat and a nice tall glass of water, okay?”

Natalie nodded tiredly.

—

Caelum watched Gabriel carry Natalie out of her room, stealing out after them quietly. So many knots, so many knots, so many knots... the words swirled around his head. The knots in the whole Shaw household were tight right now. Natty and Davey’s worst of all.

And Caelum hadn’t been able to help them for three days. He’d tried—oh goodness, he’d tried—but that vampire had some of ward blocking Caelum from feeling her and being able to track her down. Caelum had been scrambling, trying to help Davey find her. Even Delphinus and Gavin hadn’t come up with any viable solution to find her when he’d reached out to ask for help.

Having her back had been a great relief—but now he had to deal with the aftermath of her capture. All those knots would take weeks to untie. Even then, she might never be the same...

No, Caelum insisted to himself. Natty is stronger than that. She’ll heal and she’ll recover. You just gotta give her some time.

He nodded in determination as he followed Gabriel and Natalie down the stairs.

A familiar aura approached the house.

—

Knock-knock!

Gabriel set Natalie on the sofa and glanced over his shoulder toward the front door. “That’s probably Uncle Ash,” he said. “I’ll get it.” He crossed the living room and opened the door.

“Hey, little man!” Asher greeted. The same greeting he always gave Gabriel, even after Gabriel shot past him and ended up three inches taller than him. “Where’s your dad?”

“Out back. Pruning the orange tree,” Gabriel said. Asher chuckled.

“Figures. How’s the big guy doing?”

Gabriel glanced toward the back of the house as another crack resounded. “Maybe it’s best not to ask questions you already know the answer to,” he said quietly.

Asher sighed. “Yeah. You’re probably right.”

Gabriel opened the front door wider, inviting Asher inside. “C’mon in. You can go talk to him for yourself.”

Asher stepped over the threshold and immediately caught sight of Natalie. “Hey sweet girl,” he said cheerily. “Good to see you up and about.” His amber eyes didn’t miss a single cut or bruise on her skin, but to his credit he tried to make it look like he wasn’t cataloguing her injuries.

Natalie gave him a wave. “Hey Uncle Ash,” she replied.

Asher ruffled her already-messy hair, planted a kiss on the top of her head with a dramatic, “Mwah!” and moved to head to the back of the house. “Let your brother take care of you, kiddo!” he called as he ducked toward the backdoor.

Natalie just grunted. 

Asher laughed. “You sound like your dad!” he announced.

Natalie rolled her eyes as the backdoor opened and shut behind him.

Gabriel sat beside Natalie on the couch. “Natty?”

“Mm?”

“Would you... consider... seeing someone? About this trauma? There are therapists that the Department has...” he trailed off as the look on Natalie’s face turned unreadable. He took a deep breath. “I just... I think it would be good for you.”

“I’ll think about it, Gabe. I promise,” Natalie muttered. “Can... can you help me get up so I can go to the kitchen? I just want some water and a snack.”

“I’ll go get you both. Just stay here where it’s more comfortable.” He got up and left the room.

—

“Baby girl?” I asked quietly, emerging from the office to find Natalie sitting on the couch. God, she looked like a mess. Her long, thick hair was tangled. Her eyes were hooded. Every exposed inch of skin was marred in some way. Seeing my daughter, my baby, look beaten into the ground broke my heart.

She gave me what must have been an attempt at a reassuring smile. But it came across as a grimace. There was still blood on her teeth. “Hi,” she said tiredly.

“Can I sit by you?” I asked.

She nodded. I seated myself beside her, reaching out as though to put a hand on her arm, but I let it fall to my own lap when I saw the scratches and bruises up close. I heard her sigh of disappointment. So I gathered her into a hug against my chest. She’d capped out at 5′4″—more than a foot shorter than her brother—and still felt like my little baby girl when I held her close. Even if her athletic build didn’t leave her as soft and squishy as she’d been as a pudgy little baby.

“How do you feel?” I tried gently.

“Like hell,” she muttered into my chest. “But I’ll be okay. Eventually.”

“I know you will, baby. You’re tough as nails.”

She smiled weakly. “Thanks.”

Gabriel reappeared with a glass of water and a bowl of goldfish crackers. Natalie’s favorite. Her comfort snack since she was a little girl. “Here ya go, brat,” he said.

“Thanks, jerk,” she replied.

At that moment, the backdoor opened and shut again. Ash and Davey appeared in the living room a moment later. “We’re going on a run, angel,” Davey said to me, bending down to kiss me. I accepted the kiss gratefully. As he pulled away, he popped another one on Natalie’s hair. “Get some more rest, baby girl.” His voice was soft. “We’ll be back later.”

“Bye Dad,” Gabriel and Natalie chorused in sync—in almost the exact same intonation.

Davey smiled at me, then Gabriel, then the top of Natalie’s head where she was still snuggled up against me, and looked to Ash. “Let’s go.”

Asher nodded and they ducked out the front door.

I rocked Natalie back and forth. “It’s gonna be okay, baby. I promise.”

She sniffed. “I know,” she muttered. “Thank you. I’m... glad... to be home.”

“And we’re happy you’re back, baby girl,” I replied.

[unoriginalmess]

Untitled Feralnette Fic Ch. 1

Hiya there anyone who happens upon this first chapter of this fic. I would like to start out by saying that this is my first fanfic ever. I've been wanting to write a fic for the miraculous fandom for a while but I haven't had any inspiration until I stumbled upon this glorious AU created by @bigfatbreak. I highly suggest checking out all of their posts about this au because they are hilarious and genius and about 100 other amazing adjectives that could be used to describe them and their posts. Anyways enough with my rant and let's get on with the fic. ⚠️Slight angst⚠️ ⚠️Swearing⚠️

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When Marinette got home after her and Luka's breakup, all she could do was cry. She wanted to be with him, but her Ladybug duties came first. If lying is a deal breaker for him, then maybe it was best that they ended it now while their relationship was still in its early stages. Still, she couldn't help but feel the loss of her first relationship. She ended up crying for a whole entire day. She just hoped that Hawkmoth(or Shadowmoth or whatever the fuck he wanted to be referred to as this week) wasn't feeling particularly akuma-y today, because she didn't know if she could bottle up all these feelings, even though the world is relying on her ability to do so.

Ugggghhh!! It has been exhausting having to be "happy and perfect Marinette" and "happy and perfect Ladybug" All. The. Time. She's also pretty sure that Hawkmoth had discovered the similarities in her personality as Marinette to Ladybug, and that's why she's been targeted by multiple akumas lately. She has had to have her emotions under control even more than usual. If only there was a way to get Hawkmoth to stop targeting her. Maybe she should just not give a fuck anymore. Haha as if! It couldn't be that easy! Could it?

The more she thinks about it the more it starts to make sense. If she just let herself go completely crazy as Marinette, she would be killing like 10 birds with one stone. She would get hawkmoth off of her trail, she wouldn't have to deal with having to hide her emotions all of the time, she wouldn't have to deal with the added stress of maintaining her perfect persona, she wouldn't have to deal with the stress of Lila's lies taking her friends away if she didn't have friends in the first place, and so much more stress would be taken off of her plate! It was perfect! It might hurt a little at first, but it's for the best in the end. She spent that night planning out her outfit for tomorrow, doing her homework, and going to sleep knowing that, in the morning, François Dupont isn't gonna know what hit them.

....

Adrien Agreste had been having a rough week. He had been abandoned on patrol by ladybug, been broken up with by his girlfriend, and was feeling completely and utterly alone. He knows that his lady has been feeling overwhelmed by her guardian duties lately, and that he 100% deserved that verbal lasting that kagami had given him but he couldn't help but feel this way. He was also feeling guilty about lying to kagami and leading her on for so long. After she broke up with him he took some time to assess his feelings for her and realized that he had more of an admiration for her than an infatuation. He definitely didn't feel the same way about her that she felt about him. She told him that she LOVED HIM, and he was so distracted (blinded) by ladybug that he didn't even process her confession. So, he was looking forward to Sunday morning. He cleared his schedule and on that beautiful Sunday morning, he did what he is only allowed to do on very rare occasions: sleep in. Or at least... thats what he had planned on doing.

When Nathalie had knocked on his door that morning Adrien was not in a good mood. He vaguely heard her say something about father wanting him downstairs in some amount of time for something involving a business partners child and some other robotic sounding words that his half asleep brain couldn't process completely.

"I have a cleared schedule this morning, Nathalie. What could father possibly want me for that is more important than my precious sleep?" He asked snappily.

"Your father wants you downstairs to welcome the new guest that will be living in the house for the rest of the school year. You have 15 minutes to make yourself look presentable and I suggest leaving the attitude upstairs," she half informed/half reprimanded him. As she walked away, Adrien reluctantly rose from his nice warm bed and went to go get ready with only one thought racing through his mind: Who could possibly be staying with them?

....

Felix Culpa was not looking forward to living at the Agreste mansion for the rest of the school year, but for their parents' sake they would do what they had to. It wasn't all for their parents either, they were also concerned about the strange "dissapearance" of Emilie (who was his aunt in all ways except blood relation) and about the treatment of Adrien since said "disappearance".

You see, Felix Culpa is the heir to the Culpa Fabric Empire. The Culpas have been the sole fabric supplier of the Agreste brand since the very beginning. Felix's mom Diana was best friends with Emilie since their college days. Diana and Emilie made the deal with the two brands because as best friends who are both involved in the same industry, it just made sense to have a business relationship with each other. Diana never really cared for Gabriel as a person, but she could tell that he loved Emilie more than anyone else in the world so she could tolerate him for the sake of her best friend.

When Emilie went missing, Diana was absolutely devastated and tried anything she could to find her. She invested in missing person ads as large as billboards, organized search teams, tried to aid the police in their search for her in any way she could, but there was no leads, no legitimate calls to the number on the billboards, and the search team came up empty handed. While she was doing all of this to try to find her, she couldn't help but be furious over the fact that Gabriel was doing nothing to help in the search. All he did was hole himself up in his oversized mansion and call it a day.

The last straw for Diana was when Gabriel tried to use the "grieving my wife" excuse to try to abuse their business arrangement. That day, she told him that the Culpa brand would no longer be associated with the Agreste brand and that after the new collection is released, he would need to find a new fabric supplier. She knew that the Agreste brand would take a huge hit from having sub-par fabric, but she never thought that Gabriel would try to make up for that fact by using Adrien as a walking mannequin and locking him up in the desolate prison that he calls a home. As soon as she realized that he was doing this she scrambled to find a solution.

That is how Felix ended up here, standing in front of the mansion they would be living in for the next 9 months in exchange for Gabriel getting back into the Culpa brand's good graces. Don't get them wrong, they were excited about being able to be in Paris, home of the most innovative fashion pieces in the world, and about being able to see their honorary cousin Adrien (who wasn't half bad to be around despite him having no backbone whatsoever when it came to anything involving his father) but dealing with Mr. Agreste was definitely one of the low points of this arrangement.

They decided to just get it over with and knocked on the door. It was opened by the man that their cousin affectionately referred to as Gorilla. They nodded a thank you to the man, remembering that he was a man of few words, and proceeded to the bottom of the staircase. Mr. Agreste stood at the top with a very tired looking Adrien a few steps down. Felix wasn't even slightly surprised that this is where he chooses to welcome his guests, looking down on people must give him some sort of power trip or something. It's almost as if he heard the phrase "It's over, Anakin, I have the high ground," and made that his own personal motto. Whatever, let him have the feeling of false power if he wanted it, Felix knows that they have all the power in this situation and they're sure that Gabriel knows it as well.

"Hello Felix," Mr. Agreste greeted them with the same amount of warmth in his voice as liquid nitrogen, "while you are staying in this house you will abide by my rules. Adrien will inform you of them and show you to your room. You will attend school with him in the morning and I'm sure that you already know that you must represent not only the Culpa brand, but also the Agreste as well. I will be in my office working, do not disturb me. Contact Nathalie with any questions that cannot be answered by Adrien." He finished his spiel and left to what Felix assumed was his office space.

"Hello Felix!" Adrien greeted him with as much enthusiasm as he could muster in his sleepy state. "Come with me and I'll show you to your room."

Adrien led Felix to their room and listed all of the rules of the household that they were expected to follow. And... wow. Felix could not believe that their cousin had to live like this. The only social interaction this kid gets is at school and fencing? Pre-approved outings only with people determined socially acceptable by Gabriel? And if he gets even one "B" he isn't even going to be allowed to go to school at all? Felix knew that the living situation was bad for Adrien but know the only question running through their head was: What did they get themselves into??

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And... thats it for chapter 1! Mostly background info at this point, but next chapter will be the class' reaction to feralnette and felinette meeting for the first time. I just want to say thanks again to @bigfatbreak for giving me the inspiration to write a fic for the first time ever. Feel free to leave constructive criticism, I'm always looking to improve, especially at writing since this is my first time posting anything I've written online, so I want to get better so that I can make better content for you guys, gals, and non-binary pals. If anyone wants to be tagged just let me know and I'll make a tag list for ya. :)