#dragged into a personal revenge plot without his knowing

[tatonslice]

ive complained about it several times and i will continue to complain about it until the end of time but it absolutely baffles me how badly morikaze got fucked up by the writers

[joequiinn]

The Dos & Don'ts of Fake Dating | E.M. x reader | pt. 2

[chap one] | [all chapters here] | [chap three]

summary: You propose a crazy idea to the resident freak of Hawkins, Eddie Munson. But maybe he was even crazier for agreeing to it…

notes & tropes: fem reader, faking dating, opposites attract, bratty rich bitch reader, minor revenge plot, not-quite-enemies-to-lovers

a/n: Oooh I'm excited for this chapter! Would love to hear what everyone thinks about Eddie's characterization! And, after editing this chapter about half a dozen times, I feel like I'm still just not quite conveying the motivations of the character well, so let me know if her thoughts/feelings could be more clear!

taglist: @daisyridleyss @munsonssweets @marrowfrog00 @lotrefcp @rach5ive

wc: 4.0k

Chapter Two

Getting away on Sunday afternoon to meet Eddie was easy. You’d celebrated your birthday on Saturday, with your friends dragging you along on plans that they put together weeks in advance before you returned home for a far too formal dinner with your parents. You probably could have - and should have - been more excited considering that you were toasting your legal adulthood, but if anything, it just stirred even more desire for change and rebellion in you. What good was being a legal adult if you were still trapped in high school, if you were still just following the status quo?

You told your parents as you were leaving the house that afternoon that you were going to the ice rink - your dad grunted in acknowledgement, too caught up in his reading to really hear you, and your mom commended you for how dedicated you were to skating. To both responses, you rolled your eyes, leaving without saying goodbye.

You knew exactly which picnic table Eddie referred to in his note, as you weren’t the first person to meet him there for a drug deal, nor would you be the last. It was a well-known spot for students to meet with the metalhead - although it seemed like no one actually talked about it, probably because they themselves didn’t want to admit to any interaction with him, somehow everyone knew exactly where Eddie made his deals.

There were trails running through a lot of the forest that made it easy to find your destination; you left your car on a neighborhood street not far from the school, and trekked your way into the woods. It was still pretty in late September - leaves weren’t falling to the ground quite yet, and the sounds of wildlife could still be heard up in the trees and low on the ground. Not that you were one to appreciate nature much at all. But it was hard not to at least notice it as you walked quietly along the trail, going over exactly how you might propose this crazy idea of yours while trying your best not to trip over rocks or step in mud puddles.

When you arrived at the picnic area, Eddie was nowhere to be found, which was actually a relief to you. It gave you more time to think, to calm down and find the best means of conveying this idea to him. You felt stupid, having this strange and foreign anxiety in your chest, but it couldn’t be helped. Best you could do was relax and put on a cool face whenever the delinquent did finally show up.

You were about to sit at the picnic table, but quickly decided against it once you took a closer look at the rotting wood - it was disgusting and dirty, and you weren’t going to risk ruining one of your favorite skirts or catching some nasty disease. So, instead, you paced, keeping your mind busy as you waited, taking in your surroundings with an air of boredom as the hour hit 4 and you were still here alone. Eddie better show, or you weren’t going to be happy.

Eventually, the sound of footsteps crunching on twigs and brush caused you to look around, not quite sure which direction the sound was coming from at first. But it didn’t take long for you to spot Eddie hiking his way to you, surprised amusement on his face as he approached. He cocked his head, lips tugged back in a grin, as your heart skipped nervously; god, you felt so stupid being edgy like this, it was so unwarranted.

“Well, well…” He drawled, crossing his arms as he walked closer to you, “I’ve seen a lot, but the ice princess wants something from me? Now I really have seen everything.”

The way he said “ice princess” was jarring, almost as if it was both an insult and an inarguable fact. Yes, you’d heard people call you that before, but never with the gusto that Eddie Munson added to it - you briefly wondered if the nickname was more common than you originally thought, and then you wondered who it was that first came up with it. Was it Eddie? No, if anything it was probably someone in your own circle that started that stupid nickname, maybe even Duncan - you didn’t think Eddie cared enough to come up with a nickname for some popular kid who he’d never even spoken to before.

It’s as if his use of the derogatory nickname immediately reminded you that there was no reason to be nervous, because you could feel your usually cool demeanor coming back to you.

“Don’t cream your pants, Munson.” You replied bluntly, crossing your arms as if to mimic Eddie’s posture. His brows went up in surprise - it briefly crossed your mind that he might not have known what your voice sounded like, let alone how you talked. Well, now he knew.

Eddie tilted his head down slightly as if speaking to you conspiratorially, “I wasn’t expecting a chick like you to be so vulgar.”

You rolled your eyes. Okay, maybe this discussion would be more challenging than you had anticipated. Having never actually interacted with Eddie before today, you couldn’t have predicted what your dynamic together would be. From what you could tell after only this one minute of interacting, your personalities were bound to clash, making your impossible plan all the more impossible.

“I guess I’m full of surprises.” You replied plainly, your tone disinterested. Without thinking, you leaned your rear on the picnic table, but quickly jumped away when you remembered how dirty it was, an affronted sound escaping your lips. As you tried to wipe dirt from your ass, Eddie chuckled. To that, you shot him a cold glare.

“Alright, what are you looking for, princess?” Eddie asked while sitting on the filthy bench - that felt intentional, as if he was mocking your disgust at the grime and muck on the table, “Ask and you shall receive.”

You raised a critical brow at his theatrical tone, at the way he said ‘princess,’ at his entire demeanor. Yup, this was going to be impossible. You were certain that your judgmental expression was clear as day, because you could see the cogs turning behind Eddie’s eyes, how he was analyzing you just as much as you were him.

You stared at him with your arms crossed, your hip jutting out to the side as you briefly considered him, considered what you wanted to ask of him. You made a bit of a harsh face as you responded, “That’s a bold claim, considering that you don’t know what I’m going to ask.”

You met Eddie’s dark eyes as if to make a point, his brow furrowing in curious response. His gaze was mocking as he held your stare, “You think anything you ask for will shock me? Snobby rich kids always want the same stuff.”

“‘Snobby?’” You nearly snapped, glaring smally in offense. To that, Eddie pointed his hand at the empty bench across from him, a defiant look on his face.

“Take a seat then.” He challenged, the corner of his mouth curling up. You make another grossed out face, to which he gives a half-hearted shrug, giving him all the confirmation that he needed, “That’s what I thought.”

You scoffed, turning your back while grumbling, “God, I knew this was a stupid idea…”

You started to walk off in annoyance, trying your best not to trip over rocks or sticks in your haste, but only made it a few steps before Eddie called after you, “Wait, wait, come back…”

You spun back around, but remained planted where you stood, raising an eyebrow and crossing your arms as if prompting him to continue, to grovel and earn your trust.

“I’m just joking,” Eddie raised his hands in a lazy surender, his face growing surprisingly sincere after a moment, although that sincerity was also laced with a hint of judgment, “What are you gonna ask for, then?”

He’s patient, watching you as you deliberate what to do. Was it worth it? Did you really need Eddie to make this plan work? Should you call this off while you still had the chance?

No. This plan was stupid as all hell, but you were going to do it. With a determined little stomp of your foot - Eddie smirking in amusement at the mildly childish action - you approached the picnic table, bracing your hands against it as you tried to ignore the feeling of dirt getting under your nails.

“If you laugh at me, I’ll ruin you.” You threatened while meeting his eyes. Again, Eddie grinned, but he otherwise kept his mouth shut, which seemed to be his way of agreeing to your terms, “I don’t need drugs, I need a favor. It’s gonna sound… honestly ridiculous.”

“Okay…” Eddie leaned forward so that your faces were only a foot apart; his expression was one of neutral attentiveness, however, you could see the sparkle of intrigue in his eyes. You don’t pull back from the close proximity he created, studying one another’s faces; it felt strange to be observed by him so closely, as Eddie had a way of scrutinizing you that felt different from those you knew, different from the way people normally looked at you. You tried to find the best way of proposing your dumb idea, but nothing would make your request sound less crazy than it already is.

Finally, you gave up with a sigh and just blurted it out, “I need you to date me.”

Despite your earlier threat, an unexpected bark of a laugh jumped out of Eddie’s mouth. He raised his fist in front of his lips and pretended to cough, as if that would do anything to hide his very clear amusement. Your eyes widened in intense warning. To his credit, Eddie composed himself quickly, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, although you could still see a little twitch at the corner of his mouth.

“Can you repeat that for me?” He prompts, fighting off his laughter and confusion.

Again, you roll your eyes - god, you were going to be doing that a lot with this guy, weren’t you? You were already getting tired of it.

“I don’t want to actually date you,” You said as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world, “Just pretend. You know, like one of your dumb games.”

Eddie’s eyes darkened a little at the insult, but instead of retaliating he simply pulled back, putting a bit of distance between you. He looks you up and down in consideration, his mind racing to understand your unexpected request.

“Care to elaborate?” He questioned, his tone mildly critical.

You purse your lips in annoyance as you consider where to start, eyeing Eddie closely - how the hell did you explain to someone that you wanted them to be your fake boyfriend? You sighed, pulling back from the table, starting to walk in a slow circle around it. The motion was vaguely like skating around a rink, so in an odd way it helped you think.

“I hate literally everything about my life,” You paused, half expecting Eddie to mock your pathetic woes, but he remained silent, “It’s my senior year and I’m only now realizing that nothing in my life is up to me, that I don’t have any control over anything - everything is decided by someone else. And I’m fucking tired of it.”

You could see mild surprise on Eddie’s face, and you wondered if it was because of your foul language - it always seemed to surprise people to hear the way you could talk considering how nice and well-behaved you appeared, although you’d always been anything but.

You continued, “I want to do something stupid, something that’ll piss off my parents, that’ll get everyone to stop treating me like some untouchable, perfect princess.” You chose the word deliberately, looking Eddie dead in the eye, “And what stupider than to date Eddie freaking Munson?”

Now, it was Eddie’s turn to look somewhat offended, “Gee, thanks.”

Maybe it wasn’t the most effective tactic to keep insulting the man you were trying to bribe, but you just couldn’t seem to help yourself. You didn’t exactly know how to be nice to anyone. Eddie’s eyes considered you for a moment before something of a mean look flickered across his face.

“This has something to do with that boyfriend of yours, doesn’t it? What, you break up or something?” And then an almost mirthful realization flashed across his eyes, obviously seeing some change in your demeanor that you didn’t intend for him to notice, “Ooh, I get it. He broke up with you, didn’t he? You trying to win him back?”

You brace yourself against the table again as you glare at him, but otherwise you maintain your composure, your tone condescending and mean as you reply, “I do not want him back. He could drive off a bridge for all I care. I want to get under his skin. I want to get under everyone’s skin.”

You could tell that Eddie didn’t get it - he still didn’t understand why you needed his help in this ridiculous plan of yours, and he didn’t understand why you were feeling the way you did. With a sigh, you try to calm down and unclench your tight jaw.

“Look, Munson,” You caved in and stiffly took a seat on the opposite bench as if to bolster your argument, to make him take you a little more seriously, “I know it sounds crazy, but I just know nothing else will work.”

“And how do you know that?” He urged - you couldn’t tell if he thought you were an idiot or if he was actually interested in hearing you out.

You stared at Eddie for a long moment, trying to find the easiest way to make him understand. He stared back, again showing far more patience than you would have expected from him, especially with the likes of you. As you study his face in thought, you finally sigh, shaking your head as you look away with a vague annoyance set on your features.

“I don’t actually know, okay?” You start, eyeing him out of the corner of your eye for a few moments, “What I want is complete and utter… social suicide. To just stop worrying about my reputation or what people think. I’m sick and tired of expectations and status quos and doing what I’m told or what people expect. I want to piss everyone off. I want to piss Duncan off. I just… it feels like I need to change, you know?”

“Nope, I have no idea what you mean.” Eddie says plainly, and as you glare at him, you realize he’s joking once he finally cracks a smile. His eyes are surprisingly kind as he leans forward on his elbows, parroting your words, “When have I ever subscribed to expectations and status quos and doing what I’m told?”

At that rhetorical response, your face relaxed for the first time this entire conversation. Hell, you even felt a mild excitement wash over you as you consider what his words were implying, “So… you’ll do it?”

Eddie makes a face as if he’s still mulling over the idea, still trying to figure out what exactly your motivations were, “I mean, you’re bratty and rude and this plan is kind of stupid, but I might do it.”

“Might?” You ask, trying not to sound too pushy or annoyed by his casual insults. If this was going to happen, you both had to learn to stop prodding at each other like this, learn to stop picking on each other just because you could. That might prove to be the most challenging part of all of this, though.

Eddie smirks, rising back to his feet as he contemplates, “What do I get out of this? And don’t say money - that’ll make me feel like a prostitute.”

As you pulled a face, Eddie grinned at his own comment, obviously finding that idea amusing in some way. And like a teenage mimicry of a business person, you sat up straighter, looking at him plainly as you presented your offer, “No, but I do have one idea. But if you think of something better…?”

Eddie nods in confirmation, urging you to continue.

“Well, my uncle’s a cop--”

At that, Eddie chuckles abruptly while cutting you off, “Oh, trust me, I know exactly who your uncle is.”

Aside from shooting him a small look, you continue as if he hadn’t said anything, focused on getting this plan hatched, “I think I can help you. You can’t get in trouble with them anymore if I’m the one taking the fall.”

Eddie’s brows rose in surprise at your words, his arms crossing as he studied you, “What, you think your pretty little ass can handle a night in lock up?”

“No, genius,” You roll your eyes for what felt like the hundredth time, “If it falls on me, there will be no jail, no arrest, nothing. The minute I tell someone who my uncle is, they won’t even think about putting a hand on me, that would be stupid. I’m effectively untouchable.”

Eddie nods, rubbing his chin, “But doesn’t that go out the window if you commit… What did you call it? ‘Social suicide?’”

You shrug, “Maybe. Maybe not. But I can probably keep them off your ass for the rest of the school year so long as you don’t do something too stupid.”

“You want to date me until graduation?” Eddie makes a dramatic show of placing his hand to his chest as if he’s flattered.

“Jesus…” You mutter to yourself with a sigh, “We’ll see where it goes.”

Eddie, again, nodded while humming in consideration. You sat quietly, waiting for him to add something to the conversation. You could tell that he was drawing it out, though, milking the moment just for the hell of it, to put you on edge. Suddenly, he slaps his hand down firmly on the table, causing you to jump in your seat.

“We have a deal.” His eyes glint as he smirks at you, “We play happy little couple, we destroy your reputation, piss off all your friends, and you keep me out of trouble. What could possibly go wrong?”

It suddenly felt like he jinxed everything by saying that, ruined it before you could even begin, but you ignored that feeling as you gave him a slight smile, actually pleased with how the conversation had gone. Of course, there was still that strange sense of disbelief at the entire situation - it was the most ridiculous thing you’d ever thought of or done, but that also made it kind of exhilarating in its odd way.

Eddie walked around the table, leisurely sliding onto the bench beside you, intentionally leaning over to bump your shoulder playfully. It was unexpected, causing you to make a slight face at him, but that only seemed to amuse him more.

“Look, princess, you gotta start being nicer to me if you want to convince anyone that we’re a couple.” Although his tone was teasing, you knew what Eddie said was true. Even you, known for your bitchiness, couldn’t be too mean to the man that you were supposedly dating, especially if you wanted to get under Duncan’s skin - the nicer you were to Eddie, the more it would annoy Duncan that you were never that nice to him.

“Fine.” You say plainly, looking him in the eye, “If that’s the case, no more ‘princess.’”

Eddie made a teasing face, “Then what do I call you? It would look strange if your boyfriend didn’t have any pet names for you, right?”

You sighed, but he did make a good point - it made you realize that you needed to lay out some ground rules for this whole fake dating thing, something that you hadn’t accounted for during your planning stage.

“When we’re around other people, just call me something nice. I don’t care what it is.”

Eddie’s playful expression was still in place, “Oh, you’ll regret that…”

You rolled your eyes, and yet this time the corner of your mouth pulled up into an amused grin despite yourself, “Just be nice to me and I’ll be nice to you. Can’t be too hard, right? And don’t touch me unless it’s in front of people.”

You looked him up and down critically with that comment. It's not that you were worried about him being gross or anything like that, you just hated people touching you unnecessarily.

“Any other commands, my liege?”

“What, you want me to write this down for you or something?”

Eddie pretended to consider the idea, “If only I knew how to read, princess.”

You made a face, knowing that Eddie kept calling you that dumb nickname quite intentionally, that he kept testing you with deliberate aim. Trying to resist rising to the tempting bait, you continued explaining the dos and don’ts of fake dating. 

“Okay,” You started, raising your pointer finger. Eddie made a show of paying close attention, surely just to mock you, as you raised another finger with each new rule you stated, “One: we have to try to be nice to each other. Two: no unnecessary touching if no one’s around. Three: we have to spend a lot of time together, like, not just at school - we have to go out sometimes, especially to places where people will see us. Four: we have to be extra obnoxious when Duncan’s around. Five: … I’m in charge.”

At the last instruction, Eddie laughed right in your face, “You’re in charge? I thought this was a relationship, not a dictatorship.”

You had a response ready to leave your lips, but you let it go - practice for the inevitable niceties to come, you supposed. Eddie studied you for a moment while half smiling, seemingly aware that you were doing your best to bite your tongue.

“Alright, alright, you’re in charge…” He rose to his feet, which seemed to signal that the conversation was coming to an end, “So, what, starting tomorrow I’m your boyfriend?”

“I mean… Should we build up to it first?” The question sounded ridiculous, you knew it sounded juvenile and naive in its way, but it had to be asked. And yet again, Eddie chuckled.

“Sure, we’ll ‘build up to it.’” His tone was teasing, but not quite so mean as before. Eddie studied the look on your face, trying to learn how to read you considering the amount of time you were surely about to start spending together, “Don’t worry, princess, I’ve got this in the bag. Relinquish some of that control a little, okay?”

He slowly began to walk backwards towards the trail, waiting for you to join him, so you stood to walk alongside him. You almost neurotically began dusting yourself, trying in vain to get the dirt and the mud and the dead leaves off of your skirt, out from under your nails.

You caught up to Eddie easily enough, continuing to pick at your well manicured nails, “I’m serious, Munson, please don’t fuck this up.”

Eddie threw his arm around your shoulder, once again disregarding one of your rules without a single care. He looked down at you with a teasing look on his face, confirming that he did that on purpose, confirming that he was sure to keep doing it on purpose, “Relax. I’ll flirt with you tomorrow, I’ll flirt some more throughout the week, I’ll start hanging around your locker or talking to you at lunch, and then by the end of the week I’ll ask you on a date. Deal?”

You stared into Eddie’s eyes a moment before lifting his arm off your shoulders, stepping just out of reach with a mild sneer on your lips, “Okay, deal.”

His smile is wide as he walks alongside you back to your cars. This was going to be one hell of a time, and he, frankly, was all too curious to see how it would turn out.

[icantspellthings]

The thing that I really like about The Boys as a show is that there is no *truly* evil characters, there is nobody so irredeemable and 100% an evil asshole piece of shit for the sake of being one (well except stormfront but we're ignoring her).

Like with A-train at first when we met him, he was this fame obsessed adrenaline junkie who is only focused on winning/being number one and his popularity. He literally killed Robin and was totally set up to be the "main bad guy". But as the series went on, we actually see his character fleshed out more. There are nuances to his actions that yes were done out of selfishness, but if you looked at it from his perspective he is nothing without the Seven, he is nothing without his fame and money, he wants so desperately to not fall into poverty and irrelevancy anymore that he would fight tooth and nail just to maintain statusquo. And we start to see he realises the consequences of his actions whis brother got hurt and he apologised to hughie. Does it makes A-train a "Good" person? No but it certainly makes him a more sympathetic character.

Other characters, too, like The Deep who is a fucking rapist who you are primed to HATE right from the start for what he did to Annie. But as time goes on, your hate starts to lessen and transform into pity. At his core, Kevin is pathetic, insecure, and quite frankly a very idiotic and gullible man. He sexually assults other to gain power over them, does this make his actions justifiable, No. But it does make his actions understandable. He isn't a good person but he's a good *character* because he isn't just this 100% evil caricature of a person, he has nuances and contradictions and sometimes even sympathetic moments.

I could go on and on and on about the other characters in The Seven or even all the other minor villains. How they're actually fleshed out characters instead of just one dimensional villains. And also the inverness of the good guys not being saintly, can never do wrongers, always doing the right thing. They're the protagonists, but that doesn't make them perfect people. Case in point with butcher!!! And how he drags hughie down to his level of "doing anything for the mission." The way butcher uses MMs obsession against him to literally drag him back into his revenge plot despite the fact that MM just wants to live a normal life with his daughter and literally had ro rebuild his life from nothing 3 times! Now thanks to butcher, the man is a grade A CUNT who manipulates the people around him for his own gains! Yeah it's "for the greater good" but it's still not a nice way to treat your friends

Hell even fucking annie who the show sets up as this pure saintly paragon of goodness and kindness fucks up. Half the time she doesn't know what the fuck she is even doing just stumbling along trying to do what she thinks is best. Hell most of the time her plans doesn't work out or activity makes things worse! AND THATS OKAY!

BECAUSE I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH! because they're so painfully human, they make mistakes, they try to seek forgiveness but somethings can't be forgiven. They try their best but somtimes it makes things worse. They have a characters arc but then will walk back 20 steps until they become even worse because its the essence of what being human means! We all make mistakes, progress isn't linear. Sometimes, you take 1 step forward and then 40 steps back until all improvements are undone and you're back at the same point possibly even worse of. But you keep trudging forward because you're alive and you're human and the least you can do is wake up another day and try your damnest.

Its what I love so much about this show, everyone is SO SO SO painfully human.

[linkspooky]

I got to say. I really love your OC Lio within your atla fanfic. And that is saying a lot for I never been a fan of OCs within fanfics. I do wonder what was your inspiration for writing them

I'm glad you like Lio my OC from THIS ATLA FIC.

Well what inspired Lio was reading the search years ago and seeing Azula run off into a forest and Zuko not trying to go after her and help his sister when she's clearly mentally breaking down. Then just, not really looking for her by the time that Smoke and Shadow comes around.

The idea of Lio sprung for that, what if because Zuko didn't go after her someone else found Azula when she was at her lowest point in her life. What if when Zuko wasn't there for her, someone else was. What if this person wasn't a good influence, but was a predator lurking in the woods, and someone who couldn't be trusted and never wore their genuine face. Someone now attached to Azula who has an agenda of their own. It's like a plot consequence for Zuko never lifting a finger to help his sister.

The character they're based on the most is Yun from The Rise / Shadow of Kyoshi. In particular they're based off of my massive disappointment for how his character was handled. So excuse me while this post turns into a rant.

Rise of Kyoshi introduces a character known as Yun, the false avatar. A character who was taken off the streets and led by Kuruk's companions to believe he was the next avatar because they couldn't find Kyoshi in time. The earthbender's usual divining method for finding the avatar wasn't working and they essentially took a random nameless street kid on a hunch and prayed it would work.

They then put Yun through what could only be described as Zoldyck training if you've ever read Hunter x Hunter. He was forced to swallow poisons and stay up sick for nights on end so he'd be immune to all of them. He was forced to try to learn firebending by standing on hot coals, or training on spiked caltrops that permanently scarred his feet. His teachers horribly abused him, then frequently called him lazy for not being able to bend fire, because he you know... wasn't the avatar.

He does his best to put up with abusive training for years because he wants to help the world, and then he finds out that he wasn't the avatar. The way he finds out is that his master asks a spirit which one is the avatar him or Kyoshi, the spirit picks Kyoshi, then he's like "If you don't need Yun anymore, then I'll just eat him."

He's then dragged to the spirit world, and has to fight off a spirit named Father Glow Worm for days and then EAT him in order to escape the spirit world. He asks for a drink of water from a nearby village and not a single person helps him, and one throws the water on the ground and tells him to waterbend it. So Yun has his Geto moment and kills everyone around him.

Then, in Shadow of Kyoshi (this all happened in Rise of Kyoshi and is told to us in flashbacks of Shadow) Yun enacts a scheme to kill every single one of his abusers for revenge. His abusers who I remind you are not good people. Rangi's mom had the most student deaths by Ag Ni Kai when she was head of the Royal Fire Nation Academy for Girls and also probably killed her sister in order to get the position. The same woman that made Yun dance around on caltropped spikes and called him lazy when he showed the SLIGHTEST hesitation.

Now my point isn't that Yun deserved to get his revenge. Revenge bad. Of course revenge is bad. But Avatar somehow, while being the pro-redemption and pro-forgiveness show always manages to screw up the "revenge bad" message. I think it can be summarized in the way both Jet and Hama are treated in their respective plotlines. The feelings of the abusers (in this case the colonizing fire nation) are put in prioirity over the feelings of the victims. Even though the violence they commit is in retaliation to violence that was done of them first. Avatar only stops the question of "violence bad" without addressing where the source of the violence came from.

They also put down both victims with violence instead of trying to find a third way to stop this cycle of violence by reaching out an healing an abuse victim instead. Like, violence is bad, unless a protagonist is using it I guess.

There's no real substance to these anti-revenge messages. They're not overcoming the cycle of revenge. They're just failing to save victims with no plot consequences because they're not main characters.

Anyway, back to Yun. As I said, the feelings of Yun's abusers, particularly Rangi's mother are prioritized over the feelings of Yun the victim. Even though everything thing that Yun does is in retaliation to years of child abuse he suffered under them. Yun's abuser gets the chance to apologize and atone but not Yun himself. All because Yun wants to murder his abusers, which you know child abuse and torture is forgivable but not an abuse victim being angry and showing that anger in ways that aren't approved of by the good guys TM!

All Kyoshi can say to Yun in the end essentially is "let it go." Like, god the whole monologue sucks let me take a moment to transcribe it.

"It's time to let go." Kyoshi lowered her hands. "Whether you kill me here today or not, you have to let go of what happened." "And it didn't brting me peace. It was wrong that you were lied to, Yun. It was wrong for Jainzhu to do what he did, but he's gone. Whatever pain and anger you have left - you have to live with it. You can't put it on anyone else."

Actually, yes Kyoshi he can put it on someone else. An entire group of adults collectively abused him for like years on end and you're defending one of them because she's your girlfriend's mom, and prioritizing her feelings of the hurting victim right in front of you.

Also, Kyoshi ends the plotline by murdering Yun. Which you know, once again, violence is bad, revenge is bad, unless it's a protagonist doing it. Kyoshi preaches how you can't end the cycle of revenge with murder and then proceeds to end it with murder.

So basically after the narrative sides with Yun's abusers and Kyoshi shows no empathy for Yun, the narrative goes on to further imply Yun never really loved kyoshi because he only loved her when she was underneath him not her own powerful avatar. Like you can't just have Yun experience negative character arc due to trauma you've got to imply they were bad all along.

I do like revenge stories where the victim dies. However, they have to be tragedies for the main characters, or be used to show the flaws of the main character. Ciel / Noel in Tsukihime is a fantastic example of what could have been done with Yun's character. The TLDR: version of tha tpost is Ciel's treatment is Noel is MEANT to make her look like a bad person. To show that Ciel may be a hero but falls short as a person. Kyoshi isn't MEANT to look like a terrible friend but that's how she comes off.

Sorry, this turned into a Rant. Lio is basically my attempt to do Yun again with several aspects of their character. The child abuse. The clown / jokester personality. The gentle nature turned violent. The feeling that Lio is "Nameless" or a "Mask Maker" rather than a person. That they're worth nothing unless they play a role that was given to them, in this case protecting a royal family member. Their charisma, and their intelligence as a schemer and a tricskter. The connection to the spirits. All of it, but without horribly murdering the victim and redeeming the abuser at the same time. An attempt to redo Yun's tragedy but without blaming the victim.

Lio is also based off of Azula herself, and to a lesser extent Zuko. Like Azula, they value loyalty above all else. They show extreme loyalty to others while expecting other people to show that exact loyalty in return. They'll also resort to emotional manipulation to control people because they can't handle even the idea of rejection. Lio is clever, and a good liar, and is one of the few people who can mouth off to Azula without fear. In fact, Azula enjoys trading insults with Lio because literally no one else is able to talk to her that way. Like, it's fun for both of them to just sit there and think of comebacks and they both due it in place of actually talking to each toher about feelings because they're both fake people who like to put on masks and tell lies to hide their identity.

One more inspiration for Lio is Hak from Akatsuki no Yona or rather my problems with Haks' character. This is going to be less of a rant because the rest of the series is great. Hak is always a character I wanted to like, but the more he became a love interest the less I liked him because the plot began to ignore his glaring flaws. Basically, the difference between Soo Won and Hak, is Hak is someone who is a knight, he is loyal to one individual. He would put one person's life over the entire country. He might be the ideal knight, the best there is, but he really doesn't care about things on a grand scale. He judges things on how they affect Yona, and how people are kind or not to Yona. He didn't care about if King Il was a terrible king or people in the kingdom suffered because he was personally loyal to King Il. Whereas Soo Won will make decisions to screw over his friends and sacrifice himself as well, but for a greater good.

The plot goes into detail showing the flaws of Soo Won's decision making, that by being too willing to sacrifice people he didn't see things coming like Yona's growth into an eventual leader, or that he could have from the beginning tried to think of a way with less sacrifices if he hadn't underestimated both Hak and Yona's growth and tried to do everything by himself. Essentially he treated his two best friends as gameboard pieces but they showed him all along they were his equals and he was wrong for objectifying them and nto considering their feelings.

However, the show doesn't nearly go into Hak's flaws. After like a hundred chapters or so he basically just becomes the perfect boyfriend. So, Lio's inspiration was what if I take Hak's personality to the extreme. What if Hak was so obsessed with Yona because he was like REALLY WEIRD ABOUT IT. What if Hak's entire personality was being Yona's bodyguard / boyfriend and he had no sense of self outside of that? What if that was exactly his flaw, he's Yona's bodyguard and nothing else and therefore cannot exist without her. What if Hak's love for Yona was a FLAW?

So basically Lio is like Hak if Hak were a TOTAL FREAK about things.

[thecluelessdoctor]

How would you write/rewrite Exes and Oohs? Aka. episode that exposes Moxxie's mafia backstory.

OH HELL YES OK

First let's start with what's wrong with the episode.

My major problem was that again, tone was terrible. It wanted a imitating tone anytime crimson was in screen, but it made him a fucking joke.

Chaz also felt lazy, like I don't mind a character that only cares about dicking down, its hell after all, but chaz felt like a terrible plot element for drama, especially because they made him be the ex of both Moxxie and Millie, which is just crappy. And how would Millie and Chaz meet?? We have no evidence Millie left wrath before joining IMP, same with Chaz. Chaz in general just didn't need to exist

So, how would I fix the episode?

It's not a bad episode, but it isn't good either. And for once backstory doesn't feel forced because Moxxie has been shown to be incredibly good with weapons, and know alot about them, so it kinda makes sense we was once apart of a mob.

Anyway

Rewriting the episode

The episode will begin the same, I.M.P getting a call to go to greed. Moxxie seems uncomfortable with the idea, but they go anyway.

They end up at crimson's place, crimson not being there, but they are instead greeted by someone of the mob who only refers to crimson as Boss. Moxxie recognizes the place instantly, and attempts to back down. Blitz being blitz, makes him go anyway.

The mob person brings them to a meeting room, with very little lighting other than the green light through the cracks though the curtain, a dark figure sitting behind a desk, a plume of smoke making it even harder to see who it was.

Moxxie seems almost scared as the trio is shoved in, and the door shuts behind them. Crimson, the figure behind the desk talks to them about why they are really there. He's very blunt and says he wants Moxxie.

Blitz objects, saying mox is one of his best employees. Crimson obviously isn't happy with this answer, and with a snap both Blitz and Millie are dragged out, leaving Moxxie in the room with Crimson.

The curtains are opened, allowing Moxxie to see crimson.

Crimson talks about what Moxxie cost the mob when he got caught, and then completely left the Mob for some cheap job. The mob was on Mammon's wanted his, and Moxxie was going to pay. Moxxie retaliates, threatening crimson. Crimson is unamused, and has Moxxie dragged away, and locked into a room separated from Millie and Blitz

Cut to Millie and blitz, who are in two separate rooms, stripped of any and all weapons. Blitz is trying to think of a way out. They couldn't get through the door, with it being locked and plenty of gangsters outside, that wasn't a option. The window wasn't a option from them either seeing how they were on the 2nd or 3rd story. Millie is in despair, desperately trying to break out.

Cut back to moxxie, who's on a first floor room, locked in, without any weapons. Luckily the person who through him in there didn't check for the window being locked or barred.

Moxxie escaped through the window, sneaking around outside. Luckily not to many gangsters were out. He had to find a way to get Millie and blitz out

Que him being caught, and completely bad ass fight scene because he deserves it. He takes the weapons off the Hellborne gangster. Now he had a way.

He had two guns, both full, and four mags, and a knife. He found another unlocked window that didn't lead to a room, and he broke back in, checking as many doors as he could.

He manages to find Blitz's room, and shoots the lock, alerting gangsters in the building. He gives a gun to blitz, as well as a mag. Que bad ass fighting scene

They manage to find Millie in the fit of battle. Moxxie tosses Millie the knife and more fighting.

They make their way out of the mansion, but not with our a encounter with crimson, who shoots Moxxie in the arm and horn. Very painful

Crimson claims he will get his revenge, planning to shoot Moxxie fatally, before blitz shoots him. Not accurately, but good enough to wound crimson enough to retreat. They steal a car, and attempt to get to the nearest hospital.

The episode ends with moxxie in a hospital with Millie beside him, asleep.

outro

THE END

Naming this episode 'Close Call'

[plumbogs]

I'm procrastinating. So I decided to crunch some numbers yay.

Specifically the numbers of word counts of the highest-word count same-gender ships in the AO3 sims tag. The only criteria is a minimum of 10,000 words, because there's a number of crackships with 300 word one shots. I didn't mess with non-sims 2 ships because I'm not entirely sure which characters are premade or not and I already dumped enough time into it. I also didn't feel like dragging through the sheer number of m/f ships.

I didn't sort through in any way to confirm if the ship was just in passing mention or if it was the primary focal point, so the numbers are going to be bent if there's one giant fic that mentions it briefly. This is just a flaw in AO3's tagging system though. This is also not a good figure for total fandom interest in a ship, because there's no accounting for fanart, gameplay, or the hundreds of other ways people interact with it. Or for cases where One person is especially fucking insane and boosts those numbers single-handedly (hi).

so. anyway. here's the top gay count from highest to least word count:

422,182 - Pascal Curious/Nervous Subject: nobody is surprised. of course THE sims 2 m/m ship is the highest rank. we know this. they're a good couple though. they win being gay, they win being alien dads, they win it all. everyone cheer and clap.

127,405 - Tank Grunt/Johnny Smith: sims 2 toxic yaoi... unbelievably there were no results for almeric/tank which kinda surprised me. nobody's written for them. however, people love a good enemies-to-lovers and overcoming alien racism (or not). love wins!

98,498 - Alexander Goth/Beau Broke: who the fuck did this (hi). why would they do this.

78,273 - Johnny/Ripp/Ophelia: Because of the nature of this, it is hard to actually figure out Johnny/Ripp plus this without doing a lot of trying to exclude because they're often tagged together. So I just counted the whole JRO. Either way they're popular. poly win!

45,078 - Tybalt Capp/Mercutio Monty: toxic ship number two. It has a lot of one-shots under its belt. Veronaville in general suffers from being one of the less popular basegame hoods, so I think tycutio gets slept on for that reason.

14,736 - Cassandra Goth/Mary Sue Pleasant: god forbid women do anything... we finally get f/f ships in the count now. I like the idea of Cass/Mary Sue quite a lot even if I never do much with it. there's protential for some pretty cool revenge plots.

10,234 - Brandi Broke/Dina Caliente: if they didn't hit the 10k word minimum I would have started screaming and throwing up and intervening. love wins though. I still need to intervene, probably. one day.

I guess the biggest conclusions to pull are that gay people love strangetown (we knew this). okay cool i have done enough

[the-down-upside-finch]

I was thinking about my characters recently and I got worried for a bit that one of my stoic characters wouldn't get mad at anything! Then I realized, "Nah, there are SOME select situations.." It was really fun!

SO! Pick a character of your choice (probably a more put-together character but it doesn't have to be!) and think about their Anger TM.

What would make them mad but would also be really funny and amusing to them?

What would send them into a wild rage? A tirade? Violence, if they're so inclined?

What would make them the kind of cold anger that would lead to months of plotting revenge?

What would make them "not mad, just disappointed"?

No pressure but I thought it'd be cool to pass the prompt around!

OH I LOVE THIS Thank you!!!

Because I've been hyperfixating on my new WIP as of late, I'm gonna do this for the main/more important characters in Feather Candles, which I'm going to put most of under a cut because I already know this is going to get very long haha

(Also I apologize for my awful formatting but this was just how my brain wanted these listed out)

Mad, but it's also funny:

Lark - This is an emotion specifically for when his sisters complain about his "bad habits," if they can be called that. "Can you please stop rolling up your sleeves? It's so obvious you're showing off." "I was actually just making sure I don't drag them through the food on the table but whatever." - Also whenever people ask why he's not courting anyone yet, he's just kind of like, "Hey I'm grieving the death of the person that was basically married to me. Can you leave me alone????" ~

Milo - If she accidentally trips on something/runs into something and someone says, "By the way, there's a chair right there," (or whatever it is), she will get mad, but she also has to laugh because it is kind of funny, despite it being at her own expense. There's more anger than amusement, but she'll still laugh a bit. ~

Peregrine - "You're way too young for/to be doing [X]!" Oh boy. This man is about to burst out laughing at your ignorance. The "anger" burning under his amusement is at the fact that someone is saying that without knowing just what he's been through. Sure, he's young—but he's had way too much life experience already. - This is also the emotion for when people tell him he's gonna die young because his magician's mark appeared when he was only six years old. He laughs with some bitterness because "Do you even know anything about how magic works?" But he's also a little peeved because he hates being reminded that yeah, this might actually be true. ~

El - This is his reaction to people making jokes about his lost memories. He knows it's a joke and can't help but laugh. He also is really stressed out that he can't remember who he was in service to or why he wields a sword. - This is also his reaction for people that poke fun at his body shape/build. He's just a tiny bit mad that someone would make a comment about his height/weight, but he laughs because he's well-aware that he could snap them in half like a twig.

Wild rage (and maybe violence):

Lark: - If someone dares to insult Brant's memory, that person is about to regret opening their mouth. (The duke of Halisin is probably not coming back to the dining hall any time soon, that's for sure.) - Likewise, if someone even hints at insulting either of his sisters, you can bet this man is about to break some bones. ~

Milo - She almost never reaches this point because if she ever reaches this level of emotion, she's more likely to get upset and start crying (and this is still extremely unlikely) than to feel true rage, but if you do something that betrays her trust, she'll start heading in the direction of screaming, "How could you do something like that?!" at you. ~

Peregrine - If someone hurts a person he cares about, you better believe he's slamming his tome as hard as he can against that someone's face. This is basically the only thing that will get him to snap because "Violence begets violence" or whatever, but he's actually got pretty good restraint when it comes to violence. Like, this man could easily just magically explode someone with lightning, but he'll choose to hit you with his tome. - His anger for not realizing something "obvious" (hindsight is 20/20 vibes) also falls into this category. Even if he's the first to make the realization, he'll still fly off the handle at the fact that he didn't figure it out sooner. Not in a physically violent way, but this is basically the only other time you'll hear him yelling and see actual rage in his eyes. ~

El - Do not hurt this man's friends. He will challenge you to a fight that you will not emerge from unscathed. - Do not insult this man's values. He will challenge you to a duel that you will not win.

Cold anger (with potential revenge):

Lark - This is how he feels in regard to that assassin that killed Brant. Dark, cold anger that will not leave him until he's avenged his friend—at whatever cost. ~

Milo - Someone insulting her abilities on the basis of something completely unrelated (like her sight). She won't necessarily plot revenge, but she might not speak to you again until you thoroughly apologize. ~

Peregrine - Nothing you do to him personally will get this man to feel this way. But if you do something to someone he cares about, you can bet that he's got a list in his mind of your personal weakness that he can exploit when it will hurt most. (But whether or not he's actually able to carry out revenge is a different story. His heart is too gentle for that sort of thing.) ~

El - Cold/lingering anger just isn't really his style. He'd rather get things off his chest so it's not bothering him—and maybe just have a fight to settle whatever it is that he's mad about.

Not mad, just disappointed:

Lark - Oh my sweet summer child. This poor broken boy. (I mean he's like twenty-eight years old but REGARDLESS) This is the "anger" he carries for himself, and himself alone. Everything that happened is all his fault, and he should have prevented all the bad things. (He fully believes that he's the reason that Brant died and that he could have saved him somehow.) - Also (we're not gonna get deep into this but) he's got this mentality that he's a disappointment to the queendom for being born a son to a queen. He does all the boring/useless tasks that his sisters don't have time for, and he's basically given free rein at all times to just leave the castle and wander around. (Seriously, how else is he supposed to feel after realizing that there was an assassin after him but they didn't increase reinforcements??) Like, he's not mad he was born in his situation, and maybe not even quite disappointed, but it's basically that. ~

Milo - Really stupid mistakes (especially where people got hurt) that could have been easily avoided. She's a tactician. Most of this disappointment is directed at herself. ~

Peregrine - Kind of odd(?), but this is kind of his attitude about threats and/or violence. Like, if there's a situation where someone is engaging in unwarranted violence (towards himself or someone else), he'll just sadly shake his head at them. "Are you trying to provoke me into fighting back? I could kill you with a simple wave of my hand, but you know I won't, so you're taking advantage of that. It's a bit pathetic, don't you think?" (No, this isn't in the "I'm trying to get under your skin" voice, this is the "I truly believe you are a good person and are capable of being better" voice.) ~

El - This is how he feels about Peregrine's unwillingness to "stand up for himself" (because what else are you supposed to call it when a man barely reacts to slurs being yelled at him???), as well as verbal violence in general. He finds it disappointing when people talk big and only talk big. If they can't even fistfight for what they're getting so worked up about, then why are they getting worked up about it? (Don't worry about El, he's fine.)

OKAY YEAH THAT WAS A LOT But that was fun! Thank you for this prompt, I enjoyed it a lot!

Also I'mma tag @my-cursed-prince because hey friendo wanna see some goofy character stuff???

[memorydragon]

If you're thinking Mem, you haven't spoken this much in years! What's wrong with you!?

Po Yun and Tun Hai are what's wrong with me. And if no one else is going to be shouting to the void about it, I will do it myself. (You should be glad that the majority of Huai Shang's novels are a flat out hard no for me, otherwise you'd probably never hear the end of it)

Misconceptions get a bad rep in plot, largely due to people hating on when misconceptions are done poorly. This happens quite a lot, because the misconceptions draw on for too long and honestly, just talk to each other. Swallowing the Seas starts with misconceptions, but honestly, I thought it was done really well.

For starters, the misconceptions start from things that are in character. Wu Yu has been in the South City Sub-bureau for two months prior to the start of the start of the action. During that time, he worked the bare minimum, made no real contributions, and was there because one of the higher ups said he's on the team.

Bu Chonghua, one of the youngest Captains in Criminal Investigation sees this guy who got in through the back door and immediately hates him. Bu Chonghua may have come from an illustrious background, but he also worked really fucking hard to get where he is. He worked that hard because he watched as his parents were murdered in front of him when he was nine years old, and he's been told he had to live to get revenge and take down the drug lord who ordered the hit. He sees the murder victims who come across his desk as people who are still waiting for justice, just like he is, and he'll be damned if they don't get it, no matter what the personal cost to himself.

So when this guy is put on his team without warning, and he's told to play nice with the new guy because the top brass want him there, Bu Chonghua is ready to pick every single fight until Wu Yu finally gives up and leaves. He has no time for someone who just wants a paycheck from the government. The only ones who can keep someone from murdering a second or third victim is them, and Wu Yu isn't cutting it.

What he doesn't know is that Wu Yu is essentially in Witness Protection, because the higher ups thought it was a brilliant idea not to tell anyone. Wu Yu faked his results in therapy because he assumed it was something he needed a good grade in (Listen, I'm really fucked up over the fact that Wu Yu had never heard of the term ptsd until Bu Chonghua explains it and brutally shuts down any talk of someone with ptsd being weak or crazy. They never thought to explain it to him. As someone who has watched the government do fuck all for someone in my family, even knowing it wasn't all their fault, it hits hard). That he spent twelve years undercover, ten of which were when he was abandoned by everyone his superiors, while he was on the front lines and still doing the one person who mattered to him's his damned job, infiltrating drug rings, finally getting to the top. That when he was finally pulled out, the one person who knew what he'd done and held his future in his hands jumped to his death before giving Wu Yu the credit.

When Bu Chonghua realizes Wu Yu is inexplicably in intense physical pain, he spends half the day trying to force Wu Yu to admit it, then drags him to the hospital and pays the bill and starts to notice that Wu Yu is constantly on guard of something, even if he doesn't know what. He observes more, stops picking fights and takes a knife that should have gone through Wu Yu's head with his shoulder. He resents that Wu Yu sees him as the same sort of person who would sacrifice their agent to make the arrest, but he resents that Wu Yu is apparently so disgusted with him that he won't eat anything Bu Chonghua has touched, but he's backed off and will bide his time to prove it. He's no longer picking fights, instead looking out for Wu Yu, telling him not to fight the victim's family in front of cameras and hiding the knife with Wu Yu's finger prints (no, really, is it Coproganda when oh my fucking god, if this weren't fiction there are So Many Things Wrong with this. I mean obviously it's coproganda because this is considered helping the protag, but hi, I did not need more reasons to be terrified of the police here) because he's going to prove it.

Wu Yu just wants enough money to retire from the world and never interact with anyone again. He has not integrated in the society that never wanted him, though he knows how to keep his head down and pretend because he's been undercover for so long, what's a few more years? He enters illegal boxing rings to get more money, fights absolutely brutally to win, because he's still on the front lines even when he's supposed to be 'safe' and 'home'. He's never had 'home' so he doesn't recognize it. He recognizes drugs, because he's been a dealer since he was child. He hates drugs because he has no other way to survive. He hates cops, because he's been on the other side for too long and knows how terrible they are.

So when he sees Bu Chonghua, an elite who has enough money to do whatever he wants, who went to good schools and never had to worry about anything, Wu Yu hates him. He sees the arrogance and pride that comes from someone who has never wanted for anything, has never had to struggle for anything. He knows how hollow words like 'justice' and 'honor' are and sees Bu Chonghua as everything he's ever wanted but could never have.

What he doesn't know is that Bu Chonghua is the child he risked his life to save when he was trying to illegally cross the border, the child that he gave up his chance at a new life for, because he over heard how the drug dealers were taking a detour to torture and kill a couple of cops to find out the identity of the undercover agent who hurt their boss. That even though he ran as fast as he could to warn them, all he managed to do was drag the child into the closet and restrain him as his parents are shot in front of him, let the nine year old bite his palm hard enough to draw blood to keep him from crying out. That Bu Chonghua is the child he dragged out of the house the drug dealers set on fire and ran with desperately until the kid couldn't run anymore. How he was only a year or two older than the kid who just wanted to go back and be with his parents, but he tells him that he has to live to get revenge. And as he leaves his blood on the boy's cheek before he hides the kid and bolts off to lead the drug dealers away, never to be part of that life again. He doesn't know how that small moment will do what the man who didn't jump off the roof could not.

He doesn't know how Bu Chonghua will literally walk through fire and water to get to him, because he's been chasing after Wu Yu for twenty years, and no matter how dangerous it is, he'll come to find him. That Bu Chonghua refuses to accept this fate, and will tell the officer that the person dying in the fire is under his command, and he willingly chooses die as well, because that's called Devotion. (If you're asking, Mem, are you okay? No, I'm fucking no where near okay, that's called devotion and I'm a perfectly acceptable level of unhinged about that, thank you very much)

But he sees Bu Chonghua taking the knife for him, and he reconsiders. He can barely understand why Bu Chonghua is being so gentle with him when he's dry heaving because there's nothing left in his stomach because he can't handle even the smallest taste of meat and he's thrown up on his Captain's shirt, but Bu Chonghua just tells him the story of his dumbass cousin (Yan Xie, why are you like that. -_-;;) and makes him laugh instead of yelling. And it's hard to get over his natural prejudices, but he marks Bu Chonghua as a 'safe' person. Is this what 'home' is?

Then Wu Yu sees Bu Chonghua as someone who is perfect and shouldn't be dragged down. Then Bu Chonghua dirties his own hands which are already unclean, because he's been following after Wu Yu for so long without even realizing it so that the most perfect person to him will stop putting him on a pedestal.

The misunderstandings and misconceptions build and fall like sandcastles in the waves, standing strong because they were shaped by who they both are, but crumbling once they finally see the other person.

And if you're waiting for me to be less unhinged about this gay coproganda, you've still got a while to wait, sorry not sorry.

[cadrenebula]

Prompt #26: Last

"Come onnnnn, Arry! I heard rumors that there was going to be a merchant pass through here soon! They're supposed to sell silks in par with what we can find back home!" The female voice was definitely adult and seemed to dance with an airy mischief.

Aryn couldn't have bolt any faster to get ready at those words from his sibling. While his main skills might have been with delicate metal work, he sure as hells wouldn't pass up fine silk. Ely would gladly help him make whatever silk he bought into something gorgeous. Just like he'd do whatever fine metal work she needed for clothes or jewelry.

Though Ely was probably dragging him along to partly be her impulse control on the spending. Plus they hadn't spent much time together lately. He did miss time with his sister. But if she even told him he needed exercise, he was going to box her ears. He got plenty of exercise. Not all of it the way she expected though.

Together they went off to see if they could find this merchant before any of those Ul'dahan nobles snapped up the last of the material. Aryn was already plotting what he'd ask Ely for help making with the silk. He just hadn't been expecting for this trip to take the turn it did. All he'd wanted was some soft silk for fabulous clothes.

Instead he got a run in with his parents.

He loved his parents. He really did. They were wonderfully loving his whole childhood. Mother had taught him well with the Sage arts she had learned in Old Sharlayan in her youth. He'd never wanted for anything growing up. Well besides more children his own age to spend time with. So it was easy to smile warmly at him.

But his sister... There was no way she'd miss the uneasy under currents to his mood. Those small twinges of sadness and hurt. The last time he'd actually gotten to see his parents in person was the day he'd left for the Blue Moon Troupe. They had let him go without any yelling or demanding. It had been a more quiet disappointment as they did try to calmly talk him out of the idea at first. Even if they let him live his life the way he wanted, he knew they'd been disappointed in his choice.

"Mother. Father. It's so wonderful to see you again." Still he greeted them with warmth and happiness. Ely just smiled prettily at them from where she draped herself over his shoulders. Oh no... He recognized that look on her face. The Aggressive Kindness tactic...

"Hi! You must be Arry's birth family! It's so nice to meet you finally, Arry's told me sooooo much about you!" The Exclamation Marks were practically audible.

Aryn resisted the urge to groan and roll his eyes as he side eyed his sister. Affectionately. He would get even with her later for this. Something very mild revenge wise though. Only because he knew she meant well and couldn't have missed his emotions. Oh the fun of having an empath for a sibling. "Ely... These are my parents, Ellen and Leeja."

"Oh! But this is the first time you're seeing Arry since the last time he left your caravan, right?"

Aryn tried to gently elbow her for her aggressive kindness. He'd noticed the slight confusion on his parents faces before mother offered an awkward smile at them. Even if he hadn't seen his parents in years, he'd kept in touch with letters via the moogles.

She catches the elbow and pats it gently, maintaining Eye Contact with one of his parents. "I'm Ely! And I don't suppose you know anything about me at all. My family group fostered Arry when he joined the Troupe."

His parents invited them back to the caravan for drinks. Of course he could tell his parents were unsure how to handle the aggressive kindness Ely was putting on display. But Aryn is her brother and she will fight the Gods and Behemoths if she has to for him. Hopefully the four of them would survive drinks and a small talk though without any arguments. Or more quiet disappointment. He really hated the quiet disappointment rather than the verbal. Hopefully this wouldn't be the last time talking with his parents.

[e-m-p-error]

🎶

Send 🎶 and I will pick out a song from my playlist that I think would suit our muse’s dynamic

[ Valentino ]

Okay, so, Val has a playlist that is currently at 932 songs long so if I can't find songs for everyone's dynamic then I don't know what I'm going to do. I kind of decided on a few, because I have nothing better to do. I'm gonna do one that fits them currently, one that I'd like to possibly plot for, and one that I think Valentino would listen to and think of him.

Song That Fits Them Currently:

Currently, Val thinks it's fun to play with Trevor. Simply for the thrill of it, he wants to see how far he can push him if he can fuck his life up, and how he can do it. He's an evil slut and Lola really was a gateway drug for me to this kind of character. Also, help Gwen Verdon, My Beloved.

A little brains, a little talent With an emphasis on the latter You've gotta know just what to say and how to say it You've gotta know what game to play And how to play it You gotta stack those decks with a coupl'a extra Aces And this queen has her aces In all the right places

Song I Would Like To Plot For:

Valentino is the KING of taking things personally and making a huge deal out of nothing. When things feel too calm he reacts by violently causing problems. He is terrified of being alone, but he is terrified of being too close to anyone. He consistently makes problems for himself when he doesn't need to, especially with Vox. I like the idea that maybe Trevor gets the brunt of it enough that he tries to help. Val's got an undiagnosed personality disorder, among other things, and I think it would be fun to play with.

Now we've come to this fork in the road Do you wish that your words felt more innocent? Do they ever get caught in your throat? Are you choking on them at least a little bit?

We haven't forgotten how you so fucked up Becoming undue, you spilling your guts Aren't you tired of putting a show on? Burn out the crowd there, look for a new one (Look for a new one)

Is it too late to call it out? When you're talking in circles now It's always about you somehow 'Cause you love how your sorrows sound Love wearing your sad crown

A world we can live without The dead weight you drag around Take the sickness and cut it out, before it's too late

Song Valentino Listens To To Think Of Trevor:

To be absolutely fair, this is a song that Val just really likes. He thinks of many of the people he plays with when he hears this song. He has to consistently boost his own ego to stay in control of himself even a little bit and his God Complex is pretty massive.

You think you're safe, That's your first mistake You should be afraid I wanna see you break I'll tear out your throat, Murder she wrote Carve out your carcass

I say grace, right to your face I say it quick, I want the taste It's not revenge, it's more like fate I won't hesitate

Bite your head off Praying mantis, I'm a god Carve a new notch, as you beg for me to stop Take advantage 'till you're caught, that's the plot Make the blade drop, as you beg for me to stop

I'll bite your head off, yeah Bite your head off, yeah I'm a god

[saezurufeels]

Chapter 49 & 50 - Thoughts and Predictions 💕

Hi!! The title is pretty self-explanatory. I really loved these chapters, especially chapter 50. Lots of ✨realizashuns✨ plus, If you give me fun little locations, unexpected character encounters AND unprompted drama…you’ve sold me. Anyways, my reaction is below and as always, my thoughts are subjective and sometimes speculative, especially on chapter 50.

Starting with chapter 49, I find it quite impressive that Doumeki figured out that Kamiya has been reporting his moves to Tsunakawa. His deductive reasoning skills are very good. Seems like Doumeki really doesn’t believe that Tsunakawa trusts him

My guess: Doumeki feels guilty that his loyalty is split between Yashiro and Sakura Group. This is evident by the fact that Doumeki’s appeasing Y’s wish to guard him, while working to find the Kyouseikai members-- his assigned task right now. Remember, Doumeki volunteered Kamiya to guard Yashiro, while he worked to find the guys that kidnapped Niki, but Yashiro decided he wanted Doumeki instead, which D could have refused according to Muraji (”you let the guest do as he wants”). So, Doumeki is working two jobs right now, but one is definitely more personal

Ngl, I wasn’t sure if I could trust Kamiya for a while, but it seems like he is looking out for Doumeki by reminding him of his duties and by assuring Tsunakawa and Muraji that D is doing both jobs without revealing the true nature of D’s personal involvement with Yashiro

In Yashiro’s apartment, Y tells Doumeki not to expect anything from their partnership, which contradicts his earlier deal with Muraji. Doumeki tries to talk about work, but Yashiro has no interest in sharing his plans with him. Yashiro’s motives are still not clear. He’s acting like he’s after the money that Kido stole and gave to Yamakawa, while Muraji and Kamiya believe he’s working for Doushinkai, and Doumeki also thinks he’s sharing information with Inami. Knowing Yashiro, I wouldn’t be surprised if in actuality, being aware of Tsunakawa’s risky plot to take revenge, Yashiro joined forces to stay close and protect Doumeki. Obviously this isn’t a shocking theory, but if/when the truth comes out, it might be an important revelation to Doumeki (if he doesn’t already suspect it)

Yashiro uses some funny word-play to see how Doumeki will react. As it turns out, expressions are still not Doumeki’s strong suit, which amuses Yashiro. Even though their different ways of communicating creates challenges in their relationship, it’s also a place for humour and lightheartedness. Oh the nostalgia

I notice Y also giving D some sultry, half-lidded looks. He’s being nice and a little seductive. This is a change from his previous snappiness (justified). Yashiro is warming up to Doumeki’s presence, especially since his awareness shift in chapter 47

Doumeki picks up on Yashiro’s change immediately.

Like a good host, Yashiro offers the bed to Doumeki while he rests on the couch, but not before remarking that he’s been “dragged” around all day by a certain someone. Y can’t just be sweet, he’s gotta add some spice

But Yashiro didn’t count on the fact that he’s talking to the same guy that slept criss-cross applesauce on the floor the last time Yashiro used the couch 4 years ago, so he’s certainly not going to use the bed now

So anyway, Doumeki carries him to the bed, they lock eyes, Yashiro is splayed out underneath Doumeki in the sexiest way possible. Doumeki begins to touch him, cause, of course he would

.

Chapter 50

Yashiro tells D to get off of him, but Doumeki refuses, saying Yashiro wanted this because he chose him. Yashiro responds by saying that’s not true, he’s only “fine” with Doumeki over Kamiya, and there is a difference between wanting and settling. Again, their different communication styles are clashing. Yashiro uses his semantic skills in battle, but Doumeki’s ability to read emotions, hidden intentions, deep desires, etc. is a weapon of its own. He often calls Yashiro’s bluff, and it’s an impressive skill that not many can use against Yashiro, because not many have the knowledge and confidence to go against Yashiro like that. That’s probably why Doumeki says to him: “I know you to some extent/I know you in my own way.” I mean, if we’re being honest, Doumeki (and maybe Misumi) is probably the only person that ever truly knew Yashiro, but anyways

Then Doumeki pleasures Yashiro and Yashiro gives him that erotic look, and you know EXACTLY which one I’m talking about.. even Doumeki seems to blush in that moment.. it’s the only instance of D becoming even slightly flustered in this chapter.

Doumeki insinuates that Yashiro has a lustful body, and I can’t really be sure what Yashiro says back to him, but it could be important..we’ll just have to wait until we get some matching translations. Doumeki still has no clue that Yashiro is/was impotent, and Yashiro hasn’t told him yet.. at least not directly. Again, depending on the translation, it’s possible Y may have dropped a hint about his impotence/attraction to D after he came. If that is the case, it seems Doumeki missed the clue because he was distracted by Yashiro’s rope burns. This also wouldn’t be the first time Yashiro became honest in the heat of the moment.. and this little confession would be pretty big. I wonder if Doumeki will recall this interaction later in the story, since I think this matter is important. There’s no way to separate the issue of sex from this story’s resolution. I’ll explain in detail further down.

I think Doumeki ties Yashiro’s hands after Yashiro wasn’t able to respond to Doumeki’s question of whether he wants it rough or gentle

So what do we make of this whole situation? I definitely think it’s complicated and there are multiple things going on with Yashiro and Doumeki. I’ll start with Yashiro:

First, going back to chapter 47, I believe that Yashiro reached a bit of personal enlightenment while having sex with Inami. I already talked about this, so I won’t go into details here, but in short: Y realized that he may actually not be a twisted pervert (recognized he was raped as a child and doesn’t enjoy rough sex with disgusting pigs), thus he also realized that he can’t corrupt Doumeki. In other words, Yashiro no longer feels responsible for Doumeki’s “downfall” into the yakuza. He no longer thinks that he can corrupt Doumeki, because D is “not his guard dog anymore” — he’s his own person that made his own informed decision to join the yakuza and has a life fully separate from Yashiro.

Although Yashiro protested Doumeki’s advances in chapter 50, his overall demeanour seemed a bit more relaxed compared to previous chapters, and I’m just stating facts. I say this because he protested slightly less, there was less verbal sparring and instead more flirting/sensual glances, and most importantly Yashiro MAY have admitted that he only gets aroused by Doumeki (somebody confirm this pls). I believe that Yashiro is more accepting of Doumeki, because he is more accepting of himself. Realizing that his body no longer responds to violence, or craves rough, anonymous sex with men but instead wants only one person— someone that treats him gently— could be doing something positive for Yashiro’s self worth. Remember, Doumeki isn’t being rough with Yashiro, just cold. When he restrains Yashiro, he doesn’t appear to be hurting him. And, Doumeki isn’t using Yashiro to get himself off.. he’s only pleasuring Y. Those differences between Doumeki and Yashiro’s other sex partners are the reason Yashiro’s preferences have changed and the reason he is more open to the idea of having Doumeki around (choosing him to be his guard over Kamiya), so that if something did happen between them, it wouldn’t be the worst thing. This wouldn’t have been conceivable prior to the time skip

Naturally full healing doesn’t happen over night, so Yashiro is still weary about having gentle sex with Doumeki, as he should be. He can’t be sure of how his psyche will react to fully embracing Doumeki, and this sort of healing needs to happen gradually of course, and with full consent. But Doumeki doesn’t know this. So then what is going on with Doumeki:

Firstly, it’s crystal clear now that because of Y and D’s lack of communication, Doumeki is suffering from major misunderstanding. He believes Yashiro can’t live without sex and would do anything to get it. In Tsunawaka’s bathroom, Yashiro told Doumeki point blank that he hasn’t changed. He said it again in chapter 46 and in chapter 49— that he hasn’t changed and he does things for his own convenience. Doumeki even witnesses Yashiro interacting with Inami not once, but twice, and later Y admits to having sex with him. When Kido was caught, Yashiro openly talked about their past sexual encounters, while Doumeki listened.

So when Doumeki asks Yashiro questions like, “do you need a man that badly,” it seems to be a genuine question. Doumeki is essentially asking, “are you pent up right now, do you want sex?” Back in Tsunakawa’s bathroom, Doumeki asked Yashiro if Y can have sex with him. That was also a genuine question. Doumeki wanted to know if Yashiro can see himself having gentle sex. Based off of Yashiro’s response, Doumeki interpreted the answer to be a “no.”

Doumeki’s belief that Yashiro will do it with anyone to relieve his sexual frustration has been proven time and time again. Since Nanahara dropped a bomb on him when he said that Yashiro might not be able to quit sex even if he wanted to, Doumeki seems to have adopted the mentality that Yashiro may never stop seeking out loveless sex. No wonder Doumeki tells Yashiro in chapter 50 that Y has a “lustful body that can’t be helped”

Now Doumeki is stuck between not wanting Yashiro to harm himself by having rough sex with people like Inami and Kido, and also not wanting to overwhelm and harm Yashiro by being too lovey-dovey. Again, during Y and D’s sexual encounters, Doumeki isn’t being physically rough and violent toward Yashiro..he’s “just” being emotionally distant. Loveless, you could say

Personally, I don’t believe that Doumeki planned for any of this to happen. I think he’s taking things as they come and responding in the moment. I think his goal or motive since the time skip is to ensure that Yashiro experiences the least amount of harm possible. It’s in his protective nature to shield the one’s he loves, no matter what. Naturally, Doumeki taking things into his own hands and intervening in Yashiro’s life makes us, the readers, debate the morality of his choices. And I’m glad to see people thinking critically and engaging deeply with the themes of this story.

Ok so if Yashiro is starting to accept Doumeki into his life, then why did he go to Kido at the end of chapter 50? The short answer is: Yashiro acts up when he feels like he’s being left behind. Not to sound repetitive, but setbacks in healing do happen, and Doumeki’s relationship with his supposed girlfriend is a major trigger for Yashiro. It’s not so much that Yashiro is envious of other peoples’ happiness, but rather, he’s fearful of losing something. He’s afraid to lose Doumeki to someone else.

With every new chapter release I like to reread older chapters and to see if I notice new details. With chapter 50 out, it confirms my belief that Yashiro wants Doumeki to admit his feelings, because Yashiro is afraid that the feelings he has for Doumeki are unrequited.

Ever since Yashiro realized his body responds to Doumeki after the incident in Tsunakawa’s bathroom, he’s wanted Doumeki to admit that he also wants Y. Remember chapter 45? Yashiro got so upset that Doumeki wouldn’t admit that he wants to drive Yashiro home for more than work-related reasons that he literally hopped out of the car? Then Yashiro got so worked up when Doumeki insinuated that Y was the only one that “wanted something.” Yashiro was like “you think I want YOU? Watch this” and walked straight up to Inami in front of Doumeki. The fear of being caught in a one-sided love has stayed with Yashiro ever since Kageyama, so it’s no wonder Yashiro doesn’t want to be the first one to admit he is in love— he simply doesn’t want to be abandoned and let down again, like he has been so many times before. Unfortunately for Yashiro, his almost desperate attempt to make Doumeki jealous didn’t go the way he subconsciously may have hoped, because Doumeki thinks Yashrio still craves loveless sex just to satisfy his body. Although Doumeki realized that Yashiro likes tenderness in bed, Y will not be the first one to admit it; thus Doumeki continues to be emotionally distant from Yashiro, in and outside of the bedroom. And round and round we go. Doumeki thinks Yashiro needs to satisfy his sexual urges, yet wants to protect him from violent men, therefore finds a shaky middle-ground by maintaining emotional distance from Yashiro while also taking care of Yashiro’s sexual appetite. On the other end, Yashiro knows his body only wants Doumeki; he doesn’t realize consciously that it’s more than just his body, since he’s also afraid of being abandoned by Doumeki or losing him to someone else, therefore he shields himself by keeping his feelings hidden, which in turn keeps Doumeki in the dark about Yashiro’s changes and real desires.  

If I had to take a guess, I think the solution to this problem lies in Doumeki finding out about Yashiro’s impotence with other sexual partners. This solution would clear Doumeki’s misunderstanding that Yashiro craves loveless sex with strangers and yakuza, and would give him the confidence to try being loving again without fearing that it would drive Yashiro into a corner again. If Doumeki switched his cold personality to a warm, loving, and committed one, Yashiro would realize he doesn’t have to fear loving Doumeki one-sidedly and/or losing Doumeki to someone else. Whether and how Doumeki finds out about Yashiro’s impotence remains to be seen, but I think it’s definitely coming… it’s been teased too much to be left unaddressed. Not to mention that piece of dialogue in chapter 50 where Yashiro may already have admitted it in the heat of the moment. Perhaps Doumeki just needs decipher its meaning.

Nevertheless, I think progress has been made, because in the very least it seems like Yashiro doesn’t fear corrupting Doumeki anymore. The only hurdle left really, although it’s a significant one, is the issue of sex (to be loving or distant/cold) and abandonment (to be honest or closed off).  

And lastly, Yashiro experiences a mental setback when he meets Doumeki’s supposed girlfriend, and tries to have rough sex with Kido to cope with never again being the person Doumeki treats gently. This is the exact reason Yashiro never wanted to meet Doumeki again— to prevent this sort of heartbreak, which I think Yashiro always thought was inevitable.. that Doumeki would eventually leave him.

But, interestingly, Yashiro didn’t go to Inami. He followed Doumeki’s rule that as long as he’s is working with D, he needs to stop seeing Inami and stop exchanging info with him. So, as far as Yashiro knows, Doumeki shouldn’t have any issues if Y slept with Kido, right? Yet, Doumeki showed up out of nowhere, completely unexpected, with a vein popping out of his neck in anger. Yashiro is stunned.

In that moment, I can only assume a million thoughts are racing through Yashiro’s head. Doumeki followed him all the way from the restaurant to stop him from regressing back into his old coping pattern and seems more upset than ever. Remember when Yashiro asked in chapter 45, “what’s it to you?” I’m sure he’s trying to find the answer to that question now. If Doumeki has a girlfriend, why does he care if Yashiro is sleeping with Kido? Is Doumeki upset on Yashiro’s behalf, after Kido just insulted him and pressed his head roughly down his dick? A lot going on here, can’t wait to see what happens next

[thornfield13713]

So, you posted some Obimaul last week, and you're (one of!) my favourite authors, can you do the thing for them? 57 & 69? Please, my crops are dying

With pleasure! This isn’t a ship I’ve talked about much, but I’ve always enjoyed enemies-to-lovers, obsession and general fucked-up-ness, and Obimaul offers all three and the dramatics of Maul dying in Obi-Wan’s arms and at Obi-Wan’s hands.

You’ve given me a challenge to work with, though! I mean, their first meeting in canon wasn’t one they’d forget in a hurry…unless they forgot everything else as well.

…yeah, I could just introduce an earlier meeting, plenty of great fics already have…but I’d hate to copy anyone’s homework and amnesia and identity porn are very much my thing, so I’m just going to springboard off the Rako Hardeen arc and say Obi-Wan takes a bad knock at some point, maybe during the escape from the Box or shortly beforehand, and wakes up with an inconvenient case of global amnesia. Fortunately, memory or no memory, he's still pretty quick on his feet and manages to conceal his loss of memory from the other bounty hunters and from Dooku, while coming up with a rough idea of who the evidence around him suggests he is: Rako Hardeen, the Marksman of Concord Dawn, one of the galaxy's finest bounty hunters...and a bit nearer the top of the list of those now that all but five of them have been wiped out in the Box.

The mission on Naboo goes down a bit differently, without Obi-Wan's help. I mean, I don't think they actually manage to whack Palpatine, because as entertaining as seeing him get dragged around by the ankles by Cad Bane was, the man is still the Sith Master and Revenge of the Sith demonstrates just how deadly he is when backed into a corner. Might've been an option if 'Hardeen' was actually sniping to kill, but...this whole plot was set up by Palpatine, including the non-lethal bullets for the sniper, so no dice there. So, the Jedi manage to rescue the Chancellor, and Eval is arrested, but Cad Bane and 'Rako Hardeen' get away clean and part ways on friendly terms - well, as friendly as Bane ever gets with anyone, anyway - after having a drink together and bemoaning their last employer's unreliability.

Meanwhile, the Jedi question Eval to find out what the fuck happened to their man on the inside, hear about the head injury, and figure out the rest from there. The priority now is to recover Obi-Wan alive and as close to unharmed as they can manage, and restore his memories using the Force. This is made rather more complicated by the fact that 'Hardeen' knows the Jedi are after him for murdering Obi-Wan Kenobi and is pretty motivated to not let them catch up to him.

Around the same time - the four-parter in which Maul returns is directly after the Hardeen arc - Savage Opress is looking for his long-lost brother. The events of 'Brothers' take place more or less unchanged, but the follow-up episode 'Revenge' takes a blow when Savage is forced to reveal to Maul that...yeah, Kenobi is dead. It was pretty well-publicised, and even Savage, who isn't much for keeping up with the news, got to hear about it. Maul is furious, and devastated - the thought of revenge was all that kept him going on Lotho Minor, and without it he feels...lost. Adrift. So, next-best thing, revenge on the person who killed his hated foe for no better reason than money, robbing Maul of his long-awaited revenge.

It's easier for Maul and Savage to track 'Hardeen' down than it is for the Jedi, mostly because 'Hardeen' does still need to get hired for jobs if he wants to eat. So, they find him at some desolate little cantina on a distant world, and Maul, predictably, goes right for the kill and then stops short because he needs his victim to understand why his psychological stability requires their death. 'Hardeen' thinks fast, and makes a counter-offer: he works off the debt he owes Maul for his vengeance. Maul wants to get set up as a crime lord, right? He wants minions, and power, and respect. And also vengeance, but...look, a lot of people seem to have had strong feelings about Obi-Wan Kenobi. Most of them just don't have a lightsaber to 'Hardeen's' throat. But if this angry zabrak guy and his slightly-less-specifically-pissed-off-at-'Hardeen'-but-still-quite-angry-generally brother want to give him interesting work and protection from the Jedi while thinking he's making up for having killed their...enemy...crush...obsession...something...well, whatever's going on there, he's going to take the win. Of course, he was reckoning without quite so many run-ins with the damned Jedi as a result of all that, but- somehow, they keep getting out unscathed, mainly because Skywalker seems to have lost his nerve about trying to kill 'Hardeen'.

Maul, on the other side, is starting to take first an interest in, then a liking to 'Hardeen'. Sure, he killed Kenobi, thus robbing Maul of his vengeance, but he's reliable, smart and competent, and has built up underworld connections that Maul lacks even just since the job that cost him most of his memory. He's also, Maul discovers during a shared job, Force-sensitive, and willing enough to be taught how to use it even if he doesn't seem overwhelmingly interested in the philosophy of the Dark Side. The 'flirting under fire' aspect is, I suspect, just sort of a constant background radiation, as these two just can't help sniping back and forth at one another, even in the heat of battle.

At some point in all of this, though, things take a turn, and Maul and 'Hardeen' end up...not in bed together, as we now have confirmation that Obi-Wan is ace (thank you, Padawan novel for that and the bi Kenobi confirmation) and Maul has his whole...bisection...situation...but their relationship takes a term for what Maul would bristle and snarl if he heard termed 'the romantic'. It's...rough. For both of them, this is their first serious relationship, and Maul is...Maul. But, against all odds, things start going better.

And then, of course, the Jedi catch up with them, and it's mid-fight when the Kenobi reveal gets dropped and the real fireworks get started.

[ch4tk4t]

Comics Fangirl n°1 - Into the fangirlverse:

Today's review is about "What if? Dark: Spider-Gwen"/2023

Plot by Gerry Conway & Jody Houser

Art by Ramon F Bachs and Dee Cunniffe

Welcome to this first "Comics Fangirl", where i use my fangirl super powers I got by being bit by a radioactive super-fan for good, as with great power, MUST also come great responsibility.

Get ready for a true superhero action thriller, packed to the brim with thrills and chills, twists and turns, more super-vilains than you can shake a web at, and of course, non-stop web-slinging ACTION !

So if you're not aware yet, Gwen Stacy is theorized to be a trans wowan in the latest spider-movie, "Across the Spider-verse". Needless to say, most of the "fan base" is up in arms AGAINST the idea. That, in my humble opinion, is because most of the "spider-fan base" is a bunch of racist incels. I, as a TRUE spider-fan hold the only true true. This is f*cking comics, you f*cking nerds. Cry some more, #Gwenistrans. Now that THAT'S sorted out, moving on to my review.

First off, my eyes bleed every time I have to witness Greg Land's... "art". Motherf*cker can't even find something new to trace over, I feel I've seen this "o-face" a BILLION times already (I'm not being funny here, Greg is KNOWN for tracing over porn 😑)

Spoilers for this comics from here on out, you have been warned. Also, minor spoilers for Ghost-Spider's backstory.

It's one of comics most well known event, but in case you didn't know, the main universe Gwen Stacy died years ago, during a fight between Spider-Man and the green goblin. Only this time, it's Peter that dies, hitting his head as he jumps to save Gwen.

I love this alternate universe, because usually the "What ifs" involve someone acting out of character or something ludicrous happening to set the events into motion. Only this time it's Peter not thinking of his personal safety as he saves the woman of his life (MJ and him start dating after Gwen's death), which is 100% in character.

Gwen discovers Peter's secret identity as she drags his lifeless body from the water. Instinctively, she gets rid of his costume. I love the way she INSTANTLY knows what Peter would've wanted, as I'm sure he wouldn't want any of his ennemies knowing who he was, especially now that he can't protect his loved ones.

Instead of just grieving though, our girl Gwen starts scheming. She's going to take revenge on the green goblin. Only problem, she has no super-powers, and no training. That won't stop her, as she enlists Harry Osborn's help to spring a trap for the gliding menace. What she doesn't tell Harry is that she plans on killing the goblin, using her late father's gun.

She baits Osborn senior by acting like Spider-Man survived their last encounter. When the Goblin falls into her trap, she points the gun at him, ready to shoot.

At the last minute though, she changes her mind, proving once more the love and understanding she has for Parker. Peter wasn't a killer, and she won't become one in his name. So this is the part where my eyes started leaking for some odd reason.

Sadly, Harry, overtaken by grief (and probably overcompensating for missing Pete's funeral) shoots the Goblin in the chest, not aware of his true identity. When Norman dies in front of his son, Harry snaps, telling Gwen he holds her responsible for his father's death, exacerbating her already existing guilt.

This is the start of this Gwen's journey as a spider-person. As far as spider-folks go, that's pretty f*cking metal.

So I want to touch on the fact this is now the second "Spider-Gwen" who fights crime WITHOUT SUPER POWERS. First of all, #SlayQueenYaaas. Secondly, I can't help but read this as a metaphor for Gwen being trans.

In case you didn't know (we can't all be virgins, I understand) Ghost-Spider, mostly know as "Spider-Gwen", also doesn't have super-powers at the moment (at least when the writers actually REMEMBER THAT). She lost them during a story where she compensated using a version of the venom symbiote, which she tames in about one issue, one-upping Peter like no one's business.

I may be over thinking this, but I view that fact as a parallel to her transness. Much like the fact she doesn't have the same "powers" as cis people, she doesn't have the powers most spider-people have, and she has to work twice as hard to achieve the same results as them. Also, Ghost-Spider has no secret identity in her universe, and I couldn't help but see that as a trans thing. You KNOW people IRL would out her the first chance they got. Or maybe that's just me, I don't know.

So in case that wasn't clear, I loved this comic. The plot was good, and I loved the art. If you plan on picking it up (I just spoiled most of the plot, but you do you) consider pirating it, in case you don't know Disney funds war criminals.

I give this comic nuff'said/10

Talk to you later, true believers.

Fangirl out.

[fictionalbasil]

Published my first completed fic! I usually keep editing till I give up but I pushed though

‘Uncle’ Izzy

Izzy’s hidden past gets dragged into light when a mysterious man (trans OC for this fic) visits the Revenge. However it seems like he knows more than just Izzy.

This fic takes place at the end of season 2 episode 5 and definitely branches from canon from there. I wrote this fic plot as if it was a side plot in an episode, mainly following the OC

A small boat approaches straight towards the front of a large ship that has seen better days, what was once beautifully painted deep blue and yellow with the name ‘Revenge’ on the back was now chipped and burned. The creature that had previously adorned the front of the ship was now unrecognizable without its head or legs. A black haired man, except for the pure silver strikes on both sides of his head, dressed in all black with a black leather vest, stands on a small deck behind the defaced figurehead. The man, Izzy Hands, takes a long swig from a large mostly empty alcohol bottle. He is extremely vigilant, as always, even in his current state. Emotional and drunk. He spots the small boat well before it has the chance to get close, he pulls a spyglass out of his pocket, lifts it to his eye which has a red wound healing above it that runs down towards his temple, he lets out a sharp “fuck” as he drops his hands and repockets the spyglass. Instead of killing the person on the boat, he lets them pull up next to the front of the ship. He looks down upon the boat where a shorter younger man, not terribly short but definitely shorter than average, sat. The newly arrived man is a bit fat, holding most of his weight in his belly, butt, and a bit in his hips. His body was shaped like that of a pear with limbs. Izzy talking just loud enough for the man to hear without getting the attention of any of the crew, “what the fuck are you doing here?”

With a warm smile the young man stands up and says, “I’m here to see you, uncle Izzy.”

“Well, piss off,” Izzy spat.

The man drops his smile, taken back, clearly not expecting that kind of answer, “I tracked you down because no one has heard from you in over a month.”

“I have been busy,” Izzy says in his iconic raspy voice, looking away from the man.

“That never stopped you before,” the man inquires.

Izzy remains silent, still not looking at the man.

“Well, I have been busy too. May I come aboard?” Without waiting for Izzy to answer, the man starts to move his boat to the side of the ship. He docks his boat and climbs up onto the empty deck. Looking around he notices the repairs that were done to the vessel, the exceptionally clean floors stood out to him the most.

After a moment, Izzy appears coming through a doorway, his frustration heard clearly by the way his pegleg clicks against the wood floor, and walks straight towards the man. Izzy stands closer to the man than the man is used to. “Leave this ship. Now,” Izzy commands.

The man stares down at the floor to avoid eye contact and notices the details of Izzy’s pegleg. A beautiful prosthetic. He thinks it has just the right amount of gold to make it pop but he wouldn’t dare say that out loud at this moment. Now that the men stood next to each other, it is clear that the younger man is a few inches shorter than Izzy.

Izzy broke the moment of silence, asking flatly, “How did you find me?”

Slightly bothered by Izzy’s unwelcomeness, the unknown man retorts, “What happened to your leg?”

“A shark,” Izzy says, looking off into the distance over the open ocean.

“Aren’t you supposed to be sailing the ocean, not swimming in it,” the man jokes at Izzy.

“How did you find us,” Izzy repeats.

The younger man reaches in his pocket and pulls out a Blackbeard wanted poster, “you might as well have just sent me your coordinates. I knew I’d find you if I was around here long enough,” the man explains as he looks at Izzy as Izzy continues to stare over the calm water, “I just wanted to catch up with you and maybe I could get some rest before going. Please?”

“Fine, you can stay for the night,” Izzy says as he turns his gaze from the sea, “but it can only be for one night.”

“Thank you-”

Izzy cuts the man off before he could finish, “we need to hide you from the crew.”

The two turn to face towards the deck and see a large man with white hair and tattoo stars on the side of his face standing and looking straight at them. “I’m sorry to interrupt, I thought I heard a noise,” the large man says mainly to Izzy, “and I guess I was right. Hey, I’m Wee John.” Wee John reaches his hand forward, offering the man a handshake.

The unknown man lifts up his hand, accepting the handshake, “hello, I’m Lorne. Izzy here is my uncle,” he says with an innocent smile, weakly waving his free hand towards Izzy.

“Shit, I didn’t know Izzy had any family,” Wee John replies.

Izzy grows furious with every passing second.

Lorne glances to look at Izzy's face realizing the mistake he made, he adds, “hey, could you do me a favor and don’t tell anyone I’m here? Especially not your captain.”

Wee John looks down to the floor while replying, “Oh well, you see, usually we try not to keep secrets as a crew. It’s just a general rule,” he says trailing off.

Izzy whispers “fuck” under his breath.

Wee John looks back up at Izzy then he looks over at Lorne then back at Izzy, “‘but for Izzy I guess I could try and make an exception, just this once.”

“Ah! Thank you, Wee John, that means a lot!” Lorne says a little louder than he planned to.

Early the next day, Roach, Lucius, Wee John, and Frenchie are standing on the main deck of the Revenge staring at the small boat that Lorne arrived on, still tied to the side of the ship.

Roach speaks up, “yeah, I really don’t think that was there yesterday.”

“We would have remembered having a boat there, right, guys,” Frenchie questions.

Wee John’s eyes shoot around erratically, “I don’t know, guys, I think we always had a boat there.”

“No, no, this boat was definitely not here yesterday,” Lucius disagrees, waving his pointer finger at the boat, “this doesn't even look like one of our boats. So where did it come from,” he asks mainly to himself.

“I think- I think I remember it clearly now. It has always been there,” Wee John adds nervously.

A raspy voice comes from behind the group, “the owner of that vessel was dealt with so you sorry lot don’t have to worry about it,” the group jumps in surprise, turning to face Izzy, “and now we even got a free boat out of it,” he says with an unsettling smile as he takes a sip from a mostly full alcohol bottle. The group looked at each other and some let out a cautioned chuckle, not knowing if he meant it as a joke or not.

Izzy walks away first, then the rest of the group until it is just Lucius. He pushes his eyebrows together, talking to himself, “yeah maybe or,” he pauses, “you’re hiding something.” He flicks his eyes in the direction of where Izzy walked, “very sus.”

Lucius knows he can’t just follow Izzy around, he would get caught too easily, instead he studies where Izzy comes from and sneaks in after he leaves. For half a day it’s a bust until Izzy leaves out of the kitchen down the hall. Lucius rushes in after it’s clear, he tries to sneak even so Roach is in there preparing for dinner. “Ah! Roach! What- what are you doing here?”

Roach, waving his hand that just so happens to be holding a knife, “I work here.”

“Yeah, of course,” Lucius says, trying to play it cool.

“What are you doing here? Sneaking around.”

“Well actually I’m here because- oh fuck it,” Lucius says dropping his act, “what was Izzy doing in here?”

“Oh, that. Yeah, he has been coming in and getting extra food. It’s a little odd but I think it’s because I have been putting this new spice I got on everything and I think he really enjoys it,” Roach says beaming. He continues to talk about the newly added spice despite Lucius not listening.

“Yeah that's probably it,” Lucius says, trying to be encouraging of his friend but clearly still thinking of Izzy. He leaves the kitchen planning to find where Izzy went next.

Lucius camps out near Izzy’s room and catches him leaving with an empty food tray. After Izzy is out of sight, Lucius jumps up and rushes to the door. Opening it just enough to slip in before quickly shutting it. He turns to look around the dimly lit room when he sees a man. Lucius lets out a scream, as he grabs his chest, “Oh My Fucking God! After regaining his composure and his eyes adjusted to the mostly darkened room, Lucius studies the man’s face. Lucius’s face relaxes, “oh. my. god.” drops out of his mouth, “oh my god. It’s you! Is it you? You look so different.”

The man, who has been quiet up til now, says in a wave of emotions, “fucking hell. Lucius? Yeah, yeah, it’s me. Lorne. You’re a pirate now?”

“It’s a long story but this is too perfect. You have to meet Jim,” Lucius turns his head and shouts loudly, ”Jim come here right the fuck now. Quickly!”

After a moment, Jim rushes in ready, prepared for whatever situation could be so important that would make Lucius shout like that but finds nothing to indicate immediate danger beside the stranger who now was standing with Lucius’s arm around them, ”what is it,” Jim asks through their teeth, irritated by the false emergency.

”This is them! He was my beard. Like I said on that beach forever ago when I found your-,” Lucius waves at his fingers around the lower half of his face.

Lorne speaks up, trying to understand anything that Lucius just said, “What? I was your what?”

While still looking at Jim, Lucius replies to Lorne, “Doesn’t matter, it was a whole thing. I can explain it later.”

Jim stares at the unknown man for awhile then shoots their eyes at Lucius, making an expression as to say, “how the fuck did this person make you look like you were into girls ?”

Lucius takes a half step back from Lorne and turns to look at him. Lorne, the person who has curly sideburns that lead into facial hair stubble from not shaving in a few days, whose shoulders are wide, whose voice is deep and a bit gravelly. “Ok well yes but— hear me out— he didn’t exactly look like this before, he was smoothed faced and his body was.. different. He used to have a very obscenely large pair of breasts.”

Lorne agrees, largely nodding, “yeah, that’s true.”

Wee John rushes into the small room to help with the emergency. He sees Lorne then looks at the other two. He’s stunned stiff, not knowing what to do next. He tries to play off any knowledge of Lorne being on the ship, “who would have guessed there was someone who snuck on board.”

“Well I did so,” Lucius says with copious amounts of sass.

In the dining area, most of the crew, minus Captain Stede, Ed and Izzy, are gathered together. The crew are drinking and smiling, having a good time.

“So, you two are also getting married,” Lorne says, lifting his cup as a cheers gesture, “congratulations!”

“Yes, we are! For real. Unlike our little lavender wedding we had,” Lucius says with the ends of his mouth turned up.

Lorne replies overdramatically, “I get it. You hate lavender. Will you ever let that go?”

“Babe, you didn’t tell me you were married before? When was this?” Pete asks as he holds Lucius’s hand.

“It wasn’t a real wedding. The kids were all talking about who out of us wanted to marry who and Lorne and I just did. not. want. that. So we decided to— granted, we may have taken it a little bit too far but— we decided that the best way to make everyone think we liked each other was to act out getting married. Again, we were kids so it wasn’t in any way an actual wedding but Lorne chose lavender for the color even so I explicitly said I didn’t want that. Not because lavender isn’t a fine color but because I knew he would go overboard with it. Which he did, by the way,” Lucius says pointing for emphasis at nothing in particular.

“Ok well great, now that you’re actually getting married, you can pick any color you want, and have as much of it as you want, so you can forget and move the fuck on from lavender,” Lorne aggressively jokes back.

“Dude, why haven’t you ever told us about your friendship with Lorne before,” Oluwande asks.

Lucius inhales, “We weren’t really ‘friends’ mainly we only hung out when we needed others to think we were together or into each other or whatever. But we didn’t like ‘know’ each other. That sounds bad but- well, he wasn’t the most cheerful kid to say the least,” Lucius pulls a face of regret, “that sounds worse. I meant I didn’t even know he HAD an uncle, let alone that uncle was Izzy. Plus, I only know he was, well, ‘him’ because I happened to run into him the day he started working on some shipment boat or something.” Lucius decides to try to move past his social blunder and adds, “well, anyways, Lorne, you look so good.”

It seems like everyone in the room is painfully aware of Lucius’s awkwardness except for Lorne himself, “Yeah! I’m doing a lot better for myself. Left that hell hole, well obviously you knew that, and I traveled the world. I got to transform myself in my own image. And I really liked getting to travel because I got to meet so many amazing people and hear their stories. However, I did realize I don’t like the trading world as much as I liked listening to others telling me their tales. I loved them so much I even started writing them down. All of them. True stories, fake stories, locals or travelers, first or second hand accounts, it didn’t matter. I love to document them all. So anyways, one day pirates attack, right? And they killed or mutilated most of the crew but me. I don’t know why, maybe because I’m so fucking charismatic, or maybe it’s because they knew I wasn’t a threat because I can’t fight to save anyone’s life, but eitherway they made me their prisoner which I have to admit sucked but I heard even more amazing stories. And this time from pirates. So I sailed with them for a while, got a few of these cool tattoos,” Lorne said, rotating his arm to show the few tattoos across his body that the crew can see, “but then the crew started to fight within themself and, long story semi short, I ended up at a place called, Spanish Jackie’s? Do y’all know that place, it’s on The Republic of Pirates?”

Multiple of the crew answered with a range of agreements, “Yes.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Too well.”

“Love that place.”

“Ok great so I ended up living there for a while as a prisoner in that tiny jail cell in the corner of the room. And yeah, sometimes the customers would be.. rude. You know, trying to stab me, burn me, torture me, make me eat posion— luckily it was just a tomato— you know, the typical. The jail bars helped keep them away. But more importantly, some of them told me the most mind boggling stories. I wrote down books worth of them. Plus, I want to add, Jackie gave me food, water, shelter so a special thank you to her. Also she’s so fucking gorgeous. Anyways, then I got released and was making my way back home by any ship that happened to be going that way that would take me. Through my journey I heard stories about Blackbeard’s crew and the recent events pertaining to the crew. And to my horror, when I finally did make it home there was no new letters from my uncle Izzy so I instantly started tracking Blackbeard’s crimes and,” spilling some of his drink as he throws his hands in the air, smiling ear to ear, “here I am.” Lorne points at Fang, “see, I expected to see Fang here but Lucius- now he was a surprise.”

“Wait now, how do you two know each other?” Frenchie asks, waving his hand indicating he’s talking to Fang and Lorne.

Fang and Lorne look at eachother, Lorne nods to Fang to say he can answer for them, “back in the day, we would dock at this one port town and Izzy would take some time ‘for himself’ which the whole crew all found very odd til one day I accidentally saw him, he was walking away from this kid. I have never seen a kid look so miserable. Down to their core. I mean Miserable. Obviously I thought Izzy did that to them so I went over to apologize. That’s when I learned this kid looked up to Izzy. Calling him uncle and shit. This kid turned to look at me with the most hopeless looking pair of eyes and asked if I was also a pirate. When I said yes, a spark sparked in their eyes. And this kid asked me questions until it got dark. Then whenever we docked in that town we would continue our chats,” Fang said, smiling at the old memories.

“I idealized the thought of becoming a pirate and the freedom it would give me. My home life growing up was shit. That freedom was the only thing holding me onto life,” Lorne says oddly chipper for such a dark sentiment, “but Izzy talked me out of becoming a pirate. Told me I should try to find a way I could be free without all the unnecessary dangers. Which, to be fair, he was right but I’m not about to admit that to his face. However, Fang here, he was the one who helped me learn about my uncle Izzy and how to read between the lines of his stories because, god forbid, uncle Izzy ever shares something about himself or what he’s been through.”

The crew continues to drink. The conversation changes to the crafts Wee John has been making.

Wee John holding two wooden sticks crafted to be pointed on one side each, “so yeah it’s basically a fancy rope knot but it’s not with rope and you wear them.”

Clearly very intrigued by the concept, Lorne says, “that’s so cool!”

“Thank you, I don’t want to give too much away but I may have made some hats for the whole crew,” Wee John says a bit shyly.

The crew members all perk up in excitement. Some ask what color they will get and others ask if they can have theirs now.

Lorne, taking the opportunity of the subject of crafts, turns his eyes to Lucius, “you still draw?”

Lucius quickly pulls his drink from his lips. “Don’t,” he commands.

“Come on babe, don’t be shy. Of course he still does. He’s extremely talented,” Pete says bragging about his talented loved one.

“Oh, I know, he is. I have one of his earliest works,” Lorne smiles a small yet devilish smile, staring right into Lucius’s eyes.

“Stop. I’m serious,” Lucius says in an irritated tone but with a hint of a smile.

“I just wish I knew I was going to run into you, if I did I would have brought it with me.”

“Thank god, he doesn't have it,” Lucius says, aimed at the universe, into his cup.

“Of course I don't have it, I didn’t want to damage it so I hung it up at my bookshop— did I tell you I have a bookshop now? Well I have one and your drawing is right where everyone can see it,” Lorne says not even trying to hide his smile anymore, “but don’t worry Lucius, you signed it so everyone that looks at it knows it’s one of your masterpieces.”

Lucius continues to look at Lorne but speaks towards Pete, “babe.”

“Yeah, babe?” Black Pete answers with a confused expression.

“Do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

“Kill me now.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Pete says, a little caught off guard.

Lorne nods, finishing the last sip of his drink, “oh it can be.”

“It so is,” Lucius says, turning to look at Pete, defeated.

The crew hear someone clearing their throat to get their attention from the doorway to the hall. The room grows cold as everyone turns to see Izzy Hands standing there. His eyes only set on Lorne. “Everyone leave,” everyone including Lorne stands up, “not you.” Lorne sits back down. Izzy only leaves the doorway after clearly stating to the other crew members, “Blackbeard and Stede will not hear of this, under-fucking-stood?”

The rest of the crew agrees as they individually pass by Izzy.

As the last person disappears down the hallway, Izzy spits out the word, “twats,” at the mostly empty room.

Izzy locks his sights back on Lorne but Lorne is the one to break the silence, “Lucius found me. I didn’t-”

“That doesn’t matter,” Izzy says, pausing for a beat in between every sentence. “I told you to keep your head down. That was for your own safety.” He walks over to the seat next to Lorne, sitting facing parallel to him, neither looking at each other anymore, “you know what the previous captain of this ship is capable of,” he says alluding to the long list of crimes committed by Blackbeard but involuntarily his hand tightens around his thigh connected to his prosthetic leg. His words now strained with frustration, “yet you decided to be so foolish as to not stay hidden.”

The room falls completely silent but feels just as loud as it had been moments ago when the whole crew was gathered around drinking.

Lorne broke the silence once again, “The reason I came looking for you was to tell you I am getting married. I met them when traveling home. To see if you had written. They run a small, but gorgeous, bookshop. And they-”

“You can do better,” Izzy said with an edge.

Lorne looks towards the floor while speaking, “you don’t even know them. They really are amazing. You’d hate them. They are so happy— not that they never seen hardship— but, I swear, even on our worst days we make eachother smile, somehow,” Lorne says, smiling like a fool. “I- I even been thinking of joining them running the bookshop, getting away from being at sea,” Lorne's voice anxiously breaks.

Silence.

Lorne continues, “we even put up some of the stories I documented on the shelves. They aren't for sale but people really seem to love them. I have actually been thinking of trying to print some to sell. In the future.” Lorne pauses for a second before adding, “isn’t that nice?”

“You don’t honestly want that,” Izzy dismisses while shaking his head.

Lorne turns to face Izzy despite Izzy still looking away, “I do. I really do. And I know you aren’t really my uncle but I would like— if you want to— I would like it if you were there. Only if you want to be there. You know, when I get married.”

Izzy shushes Lorne. In the silence they hear a faint bell jiggle accompanied by footsteps coming from the deck above them moving closer towards the dining area. Within a second, Izzy stands up and forcefully ushers Lorne to a secret door in one of the dining room walls opposite of the kitchen. In a very low whisper, “do not leave this room until I tell you,” he orders Lorne.

Before Lorne could even process Izzy’s command, Izzy closes the door, trapping Lorne in the completely dark room. Lorne can’t tell what’s in the room, if anything. He doesn’t even know where the walls are but he doesn’t want to move in case he accidentally makes a noise. He stands there frozen.

Back in the dining room, Izzy quickly returns to a chair trying to act as if nothing is off. A long haired man with a short salt and pepper beard wearing an all-tan uncomfortable-looking outfit with a belled collar around his neck barrels down the stairs, ‘“Yo Izzy, there’s a huge ship near us so we’re gonna go raid it,” the man, Edward Teach aka Blackbeard, gleefully asks, “you in?”

Izzy empties the cup he had been using to look as if he was sitting for a while then with a thud places the cup back on the table. He stands up and walks right past Ed like he wasn’t even there.

“Ok, rude. You don’t have to be a dick,” Ed says to the empty room, thinking no one could hear him, “but I guess I deserved that,” before going back up the ladder.

Lorne, finally feeling relaxed enough to move, tries to look around. He strains his eyes, compensating to see in the overwhelming darkness. He’s able to make out the walls of the small rectangular shaped room and a bench running across the long side of it. He takes a seat. He hears the familiar sound of battle: swords clashing, guns firing, people dying, while others scream in agonizing pain. He waits. The battle dies down. Still waiting. Waiting for Izzy to return. He grows bored in the small closed off room. But then that boredom starts turning to anxiety as Izzy doesn’t return. Lorne thinks about disobeying his uncle for the second time in one day by finding a way out. His thoughts get interrupted by the hidden door opening. The light flooding the dark room. Lorne turns away from the door, the light too bright to look at. He realizes it isn’t Izzy who walks in.

The person who walks in is Frenchie, a fairly tall man with dark curly hair and a short beard. Frenchie turns into the room after pulling the door closed then upon seeing Lorne jumps back while drawing a dagger from his body. Once he recognizes it is just Lorne, he puts his dagger back. He lets out a faint laugh, “I didn’t see you there. And well I, uh, didn’t know anyone else knew about this place,” he says standing in his naturally semi-awkward manner, “I’ll just leave.”

Lorne quickly stops Frenchie, “no, you can stay. I was just told by Izzy to hide here til he gets back. But he’s not back. Not yet. Do you know if he’s ok?”

“Yeah, yeah. He’s fine. I just saw him on deck with the others,” Frenchie replies, pointing up at the ceiling towards the main deck, “but I can still go if you want. Uh, I’m here to get away from Stede and Ed— well not them— mainly to get away from the noise of that bell. It’s driving me insane. Always ringing.”

Meanwhile in the captain's quarters, Stede and Edward are not —fucking nasty style— doing anything inherently dirty however most of the crew are fooled by the relentless ringing of the bell around Ed’s neck.

In the hidden room, Frenchie turns to leave through the same secret door he came in. Lorne is about to call him back because he doesn’t want to be alone for any longer but before he could Frenchie turns back and sits down next to Lorne, “actually, I have a question. If that’s fine with you, of course?”

“Shoot,” Lorne doesn’t notice that Frenchie flinches a little.

Frenchie quickly moves past his feelings, “how would you get them to stop, doing that. Well not stop ‘doing that.’ It’s not a bad thing. I just don’t want to hear it. But I don't even know how to talk to the others about talking about it with the captain and Blackbeard. We all been pretending we don’t hear them fornicating,” French says when playing with the edge of his sleeve, “what do you think?”

“Oh. Well. Ok. Yeah. Ah, I guess I would say; for one be open. Honest. You can’t just continue to hide it away behind a door, pretending it doesn’t bother you. It will only make it fester. Even if you just open up to one person, that’s a great start,” Lorne says to Frenchie but unbeknownst to both of them Izzy had started listening in on their conversation through the wall.

Izzy opens the hidden door from the dining room, paying no mind to Frenchie, he says to Lorne, “Blackbeard and the Captain are preoccupied at the moment so fuck off back to my room. You are leaving this ship tonight.”

“Yep, ok,” Lorne says getting up, “bye Frenchie lovely to have met you,” they exchange a wave before Lorne walks back to Izzy’s room.

Hundreds of bright stars surround the thin crescent moon shining in the clear sky. Izzy and Lorne are talking next to the railing at the helm on the highest deck of the ship.

Lorne says while facing Izzy, “don’t forget you’re still invited to my wedding.”

Izzy looks out over the calm ocean glistening from the reflections of the sky, “you really care for them?”

“I really do.”

“You think they are serious about you,” Izzy asks with an almost accusatory tone.

“I know they are,” Lorne answers. He couldn’t help but smile when thinking about his soon to be spouse.

In a beat of silence the sound of Ed’s bell rings out from the flooring above the captain’s chamber.

Lorne looks out into the ocean, “I think it’s you that deserves better.” Lorne doesn’t know if he should push the topic but he decides to; speaking softly, he adds, “I remember when you would sing to me because I was crying my fucking eyeballs out,” Lorne exhales deeply, “where is my uncle that had a shred of true— happiness? contentment? I don’t even fucking know— Where did it go? I’m not blaming you. I just hate to see you like this. A husk of your former self. You gave me a reason to continue,” Lorne swallows, trying not to get emotional, “I’m sorry. I just- I just hope you didn’t lose yourself to the shark. Like it took your leg,” Lorne realizes he went too far, tries to reel it in, “I like your leg, by the way, if I didn’t mention it already. It’s really beautiful.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Izzy replies as he rotates his prosthetic leg, “the guy I took it from wasn’t using it anymore, I made sure of that.” The men stand in silent thought as they both stare into the sea. “Are you serious about giving away your life at sea?”

Lorne nods, “you were right. I could find somewhere I belong and people to belong with without the dangers of the sea.”

Izzy turns away from the ocean, turning to face Lorne, “ok. I’ll be there.”

Lorne quickly turns to look at his uncle Izzy, “really?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Izzy says in a low raspy voice as he moves to hug Lorne.

“Goodbye, uncle Izzy,” Lorne says before releasing Izzy from the hug. Lorne walks down the stairs to the main deck. As he crosses the ship to his boat he says goodbye and waves to each of the crew members. A chorus of farewells are said by the crew as Lorne walks by.

“Goodbye, mate,” Archie says as she nods once to Lorne.

“Great to have met you,” says Jim.

“It’s weird having one of these that isn’t a walk of shame,” Wee John says to Oluwande who’s standing next to him.

Frenchie chimes in, “hope to see you again one day.”

Roach holds up a paper wrapped rectangle, “here’s a sandwich of your journey.”

Lorne grabs the sandwich giving the chief a special thanks. Then he walks in front of Fang, they hug as Fang wishes him safe travels home but before stepping out of the embrace Lorne quietly says to Fang, “I heard yall gave uncle Izzy his new leg. Thank you all for that.”

Fang is taken back, “he actually told you that?”

Lorne exhales hard from his nose as if to laugh, “god no. But I know what he meant. Thank you for looking after him.” Fang and Lorne nod to each other as a last goodbye. Lorne climbs into the small boat he arrived on and waves to the crew on the large ship next to him one more time before rowing off.

The sweet moment was cut short by the ringing of Ed’s collar becoming louder and faster pace. The crew stand awkwardly as to pretend to to notice it till Jim snaps, “that’s it! I changed my fucking mind. No more probation. He can take that fucking bell off.”

The ringing stops dead, the crew exchange looks but don’t have time to react before Stede and Edward walk out from the doorway leading to the captain's chamber. Stede, who is the first one through the door, “hey, what is everyone doing up at this hour?”

The crew members stare at the two men until all at once they start saying that Ed’s punishment is over and he doesn’t need to wear the bell anymore. The two captains look at each other, confused by the sudden turn of opinions. Stede raises one of his eyebrows up to relay his confusion to Ed.

Edward turns his head back towards the crew, “Well, it’s up to the crew, what you say goes.”

Stede asks, still shocked, “are you sure? I don’t want anyone to feel pressured into anything too quickly,” he scans the crew's faces, stopping at Lucius, “Lucius, you agreed to this, too?”

“Yes! God yes,” Lucius agrees, grabbing the bridge of his nose with his hand that’s holding a lit cigarette.

Black Pete chimes in, “even I got sick of hearing that fucking bell.”

Ed and Stede both pull a face not understanding what Black Pete is alluding to but Stede decides to move past it, “see Ed, they trust you again already! I told you it wouldn’t take long.”

“If you all say so,” Ed says while lifting his hands to his collar before dropping his hands a bit, “but I have to say I really started to like it,” he wiggles his head side to side to make the bell ring.

“Take it off!” The whole crew shouts.

“Ok, ok, fucking hell, you don’t need to yell,” Ed says widening his eyes in sass as he unclasps his collar. He rolls his neck a few times, finally free from the collar.

The rest of the crew head off to bed, leaving Stede and Ed alone, they return to the captain’s chamber. Stede closes the door behind them, “does that mean we’re co-captains again?”

“I guess so, mate,” Ed replies.

[triviareads]

Unpopular opinion: I think Lord Of Scoundrels is overrated and overhyped

I couldn't say how unpopular your opinion is (though ik it's won a bunch of awards), but I personally really enjoyed Lord of Scoundrels. Here is what worked for me:

I love Jess as a heroine; especially in older historical romances I like a heroine who's hot and she knows it (as opposed to the older ones I've read recently where there's always some variation of "she knew she wasn't beautiful but...."), and nor does she bother very much to hide that she's smarter than most of the men in the room. I liked how Jessica and Dain's attraction is instantaneous as well as their rivalry, and it gets to the point where all of Paris knows about it and attends a ball to witness the fallout (which is GREAT— a very public compromise). And then of course she shoots him (which I wasn't expecting; it's one of those things I wonder if a more current HR author would go as far as to write) and more importantly for me, I loved how Jess is so hellbent upon revenge that she was willing push for charges to be pressed against her so that she can drag Dain's name through the mud in a court of law (public record!). And it's a testament to Dain acknowledging Jess's cleverness when he grimly think that she could imitate all the romantic shit he told her in Italian during trial and all of Paris would know what a simp he is. I also liked that Jess initiates their wedding night (though it was a bit delayed from what I remember) because Dain is soooooo afraid he was gonna break her with his dick.

Here is what didn't work for me:

I do think there is some fetishization of Dain's "ethnic" features, like his darker skin and strong nose (and you can say it's a part of the plot; basically Dain hates those features after being bullied for them, while Jess loves those same features, but there is some language that's fetishize-y from what I remember), as well as the Italian language (it reminds me a lot of the treatment of non-English-as-a-first-language heroes in older Harlequin romances) — I treat it the same way I treat Lisa Kleypas's treatment of Romani characters like Cam Rohan and Kev Merripan; it's not great and I acknowledge it (as someone from outside the culture; I imagine someone from within the culture would feel more strongly), but I still enjoyed the story overall.

I do think that while the fourth act plot where Jessica and Dain (mostly Jess) scheme to get Dain's illegitimate son away from his negligent mother was a good idea in spirit, the plot got a little too convoluted for me... or maybe it was just the way it was written. But I do appreciate the inclusion of an illegitimate child because I find it hard to believe a rake like Dain wouldn't have fathered a child before marriage, and also, more contemporary HR is really squeamish about it, like it takes away from the hero morally-speaking (they can be sluts before they meet the heroine! but only without consequences!), when historically there is a loooong history of wives taking in their husband's illegitimate children.

[samurailoveballadhistory]

Well, I suppose because the other lords already dealt with war stuff, they wanted to make this a different one, but I’m very displeased that it ended with Ieyasu saying “Let me broker you a connection with Nobunaga”. I’m already fed up with the attitude of treating Ieyasu like he’s just another one of Nobunaga’s vassals that has to align everything he does to the Oda.

The story is a mess, because there’s no reason for Ujizane to threaten Ieyasu with alliance to the Hojo. The Imagawa has always had alliance with the Hojo. Sure, maybe there is a need for the Imagawa to re-affirm their alliance now than Yoshimoto is dead, but it’s not really something to flaunt to the Tokugawa.

Also, Ieyasu was the aggressor in some of their encounters. After Shingen broke his alliance with Imagawa, Ieyasu took this opportunity to join arms with Shingen and attack Imagawa territories. It would’ve fit with Ieyasu’s vicious personality in the game to have him enacting revenge on Imagawa in this way, but I don’t know, the writer just chose to depict Ieyasu as still being somewhat traumatised by Yoshimoto I guess?

Eventually, due to conflict with Shingen, Ieyasu agreed to sign a three-way pact with the Hojo and Ujizane in 1569, and I must emphasise that Nobunaga is not involved. This was a disadvantageous pact, and Ujizane’s position was seen as something more like a surrender, with Hojo and Tokugawa being the dominant ones.

I’m sorry for the very ungenerous tone here, but I’ve said that I no longer have patience for this, and I’m irate. Ieyasu is not some poor helpless lord constantly dependant on and/or dragged around by the Oda. He had shaky beginnings, but he made it through and stabilised his rule as lord of Mikawa without Nobunaga holding his hand through it all.

If they really want this poison plot to happen, it could’ve been written to take place when they were signing the treaty. Ujizane could aim to nab both Ieyasu and Hojo (which would probably be Ujiyasu in SLBP universe) at once, and either both dies or Ujiyasu’s sinister fortune telling saved him from the poison and only Ieyasu died. Ieyasu does not need to be involved with whatever deal Ujizane later had with Nobunaga.

Also, this Ujizane portrayal is, well... another one of those cases where I really want to ask “But why, though?”. I suppose they just wanted to follow along the lines of Yoshimoto, who had been very sinister. Ujizane is however mostly known for artistic sense and kemari (a kick ball game for aristocrats). The somewhat dainty Yoshimoto portrayals in other media, such as the older Samurai Warriors titles (before SW5) and Ikemen Sengoku, are actually based on Ujizane rather than Yoshimoto himself.