#how many siblings parents friends partners lost someone. and this happens every day. Every day

[nalgenes]

i was having so many upset thoughts all day and now i’m tired and the thoughts have kinda faded but i’m still thinking about how much i hate this country

[cursedkeyboard]

PAY ATTENTION ● Older brother Suguru & Younger sibling!Reader

what happens when suguru's cute younger sibling, who'd usually talk his ear off and cling to him, suddenly starts to... do their own thing?

Pairings: Platonic Suguru Geto x Younger sibling!Reader

As we know, Suguru is a rather mature teenager

He carries this air of elegance, always putting on a polite smile and spilling pleasantries past his lips like sweetened lies

But we also know that Suguru can be childish around the right people

So it's not a surprise to anyone close to him that when his younger sibling, you, stops following around like a lost puppy, Suguru immediately starts to sulk

You're only three years younger than Suguru, fourteen to his seventeen

You two always had a close relationship, closer than most siblings tend to have

Suguru loves spending time with you, to him, you're easily the funniest kid he knows

It's hard for him to ever calm down completely since he's constantly stressed with the sorcerer world

But every day when he goes home and you're in the living room or in your room, it's like he can finally breathe

Because before Satoru, you were Suguru's only friend

His little mini-me, partner in crime, best friend

You two clicked and moved like one, so in tune with each other he always marveled at how most siblings tend to hate each other

Of course, the two of you do fight sometimes

Over who gets to take a shower first, who ate the leftovers, who gets to watch what on TV

"Did you use my shampoo?"

"The one you keep hiding from me? Yeah."

"You little– That's expensive."

"That's why I used it, Suguru."

You two are siblings after all, what kind of siblings never fight?

But he never felt the kind of animosity and distrust so many brothers and sisters feel around each other, the kind that made them roll their eyes whenever they even got close to their siblings

To Suguru, you're his little sunshine, someone he'll protect until the day he keels over and dies

Not that he'll ever tell you that

(number one rule of siblingship: Never be too touchy-feely)

So imagine his surprise when the little punk who usually follows his every step, always under his elbow, asking him to hang out or help with homework, stays glued to the phone even when he sits in the same room

Like.... what?

You barely greet him, a half hearted "Hey, you're home." falling from your lips without even looking at him, and he's offended and hurt at the same time

You're fourteen, sure

He knows you'd start pulling away from him now that you have more than a couple of friends, more subjects to study, and... uh..

Puberty

But he thought it'd go away after a bit, that you'd go back to being his cute little sibling once you realized he is so much cooler than the kids your age

He'd walk past your open door multiple times a day after coming home, trying to see if you were going to invite him to hang out

He'd make tea with a mouthwatering fragrance, put on your favorite show, talk to your parents about going to a very trendy and fun place you'd surely want to go with

Damn, at some point he'd probably even talk to Satoru on the phone, loudly, because he knows you're curious about the pretty white haired teen who always teases you whenever he sees you around Suguru's home

But even then, nothing

Nothing at all

Suguru feels like he's watching the baby he helped learn how to walk turn into an adult and leave him behind

And as a big brother, he's upset, a little petty, and worst of all;

Sulky

Of course, Satoru and Shoko definitely notice, because although Suguru is quiet, he's not staying in a corner looking out of the window while listening to sad music and reminiscing quiet

And of course, they both make fun of him when he explains the situation

"And here I thought Gojo was the unreasonable one."

"Hahaha! I– I can't believe! You're sulking because the little brat isn't talking to you?!"

"Shut up, Satoru, and don't call my baby sibling a brat."

"Hah! You're such a loser, Suguru!"

Needless to say, when Suguru comes home and you're still glued to your phone in the living room, he's not in the greatest of moods

You barely look up when he drops his bag on the table

"Welcome back, Susu."

And because no one ever made a law saying Suguru can't act like Satoru sometimes, the teen flops on the couch and hugs a pillow, not answering you

That, you notice

Your brother always talks to you when he comes back home, even when he is all banged up from whatever they do at school

The sight that greets you is... something

Embarrassing, endearing, definitely pathetic for your big brother

Suguru is pouting, looking down at the pillow his strangling to his chest, his knees pulled up to make himself smaller

Not that it works, he's built like a bean pole

His shoulders brush yours, because even though he's mad, he still misses his cute– annoying little sibling

"Suguru?"

...

"Mr. Suguruuuu....?"

...

"Hey, what's wrong?"

He turns his face away, his hair slapping your face, and pushes more of his body against yours

"What the– Dude, you're squashing me! Suguru, what's wrong with you?!"

Suguru still says nothing, silently letting more and more of his weight to lower on top of you until you're smushed against the couch

Once you're a baby sibling pancake, Suguru finally opens his mouth

"So now you're paying attention to me, huh?"

... Huh?

"Huh?"

Suguru huffs, his hair all over your face, body much bigger and heavier than yours not allowing you to move an inch even though you struggle, and squeezes his pillow

"No, it's fine. Go ahead, ignore your big brother all you want. It's not like I helped mom and dad raise you."

"... Are you kiddi–"

"Yeah, keep your eyes glued to your phone, don't need to talk to me or don't hang out with me– actually, don't even look at me at all, since I'm sure you'd much rather look at your phone."

"You're being such a chil–"

"No, no, by all means! It's not like I miss you or anything."

You sighed with some effort, because Suguru is still on top of you and he's not a lightweight, and thump your head against the soft couch

Sure, you know you've been a little distant from your big brother

But, hey, you're fourteen now!

You have your friends and stuff you wanna do without your brother around

And, really, Suguru is a hypocrite

Ever since he started high school he wouldn't stop talking about the white haired cutie

Which you understood, if only visually because Satoru would often call you pint-sized Suguru

But he also spends time with other people!

"You do know I have other friends."

"So I don't matter to you anymore, is that it?"

"No, I'm just not gonna hang out with you all the time!"

"Well, you haven't been hanging out with me at all."

"Urgh!"

"Yeah, urgh."

God, you really wish more people knew about how pouty and clingy your big bro can get

Maybe they'd stop thinking he was this mature and chill guy

You groan against the couch and your brother presses his back down, pushing the air out of your lungs

"You're so annoying!"

"You used to say you wanted to be just like me when you grew up."

This guy...

You sigh, relaxing and surrendering

You're supposed to meet up your friends this weekend to watch a movie, but two of them can't make it so everyone gave up on it

Might as well use the opportunity

"Fine– I'm sorry, okay? Do– Do you wanna watch a movie this weekend? The one that just came out?"

Suguru stops for a second, letting some of his weight off of you and allowing you to breathe properly

He mutters the name of the movie and you confirm it

"Hmm..."

You can hear the smile on his face and you scoff, the exact same smile pulling at your lips too

"If you promise you'll pay more attention to your neglected older brother, then yeah."

Oh, you so want to take it back

But then again, now that he brought it up, you also miss him

If only a little

Like, a smidge

"Fine, I won't ignore you anymore. Happy?"

Suguru took a moment to answer before turning around to press a loud and gross older brother kiss on the back of your head

Now you have to take a shower

"Very happy."

He sounds smug and satisfied, finally a little more relaxed

He really did miss you so much

You're his baby, okay? Growing up too fast will only give him heartaches

And now Suguru can tell Satoru that you don't hate him

Everyone wins

...

"Hey, can you get off now?"

"Hmmm, no, I'm comfortable."

"Well, I'm not! Get off, Suguru!"

"Don't feel like it."

"Suguru!"

[punzieeeee]

Name: Rapunzel Corona Age: Twenty-four Occupation: Artist Sexuality: Unsure Pronouns: She/Her Currently Playing: Today Was A Fairytale by Taylor Swift Big Three: Gemini sun, Pisces moon, Taurus rising

Headcanons:

Though she didn’t know it until very recently, Rapunzel grew up with a mother who hadn’t actually been her mother, in a tower in the Echo Isle woods. Most of the time, she was fairly content with her simple life and just her mother as companionship, but there had always been something digging at Rapunzel, wanting more. Every day seemed to hold the same thing for her: chores, hobbies, and singing to her mother a song that she was taught as soon as she could sing. Though she didn’t know much about the outside world, she could see lanterns every year in the sky on her birthday, and the lanterns were what gave her hope for more since the first time she could remember seeing them.

Everything changed when a man came into the tower one day and Rapunzel somehow persuaded him to take her with him to go see the very lanterns she had been dreaming of. Flynn Rider turned her life upside down, and for the better. It was after they saw the lanterns that Rapunzel discovered she was the lost princess of a small part of Echo Isle, named Corona, and that she had been living with a stranger her whole life. Though it took Flynn, revealed to be Eugene Fitzherbert, almost dying to escape, she saved him with the magic of the healing flower and managed to get her “mother” arrested. Now, Rapunzel has reunited with her family, but lives with Flynn and her best friend who works for her parents, Cass. 

With a lot of free time, Rapunzel has picked up on a lot of hobbies and unusual skills that come in handy sometimes. She’s a fantastic baker, knows how to play just about every instrument in an orchestra, and even knows how to make her own clothes. The only things she really struggles with are technology and human interaction. She’s a little awkward, but tries her best. Her mother didn’t allow any media outside of books to enter the tower, thus leaving her pretty inept when it comes to modern technology, but she’s trying her best. 

Rapunzel wished for a lot of things when she was younger, but the two things she wanted the most were a sibling and a father. She never understood why her mother didn’t have a husband, or, at the very least, a partner, to help raise her. The bond between Rapunzel and her mother was strong growing up, but she always dreamed of having someone else around to make life a little less lonely.

Hence, Pascal is still  the brother she never had. He was the best company to have when her mother went on long journeys to get food and supplies. Pascal discovered the tower one day when the two were just kids, and Rapunzel let him up. He’s the only one who knows Rapunzel’s dreams, her desires, her every day struggles, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s just thankful that her wish for companionship came true.

The lanterns had to be magical, or so she believes. Rapunzel wished one year on her birthday for someone like Pascal to come along, and a few weeks later, there he was. The same thing happened when she wished for adventure, and in came Flynn Rider. She knows magic is real, and those lanterns have to hold some kind of it.

Rapunzel likes to live each day like it’s her last, mostly because it might very well be. She’s terrified that, one day, her mother will leave jail and her entire world will turn upside down. Rapunzel knows it’s not something to worry about now, and that she shouldn’t live life too cautiously, but the thought sometimes pops into her mind and she can’t seem to shake it. 

Since she hasn’t been many places in Echo Isle (or on the planet, for that matter), painting is Rapunzel’s way of visiting places she’s only dreamed of. She loves to paint places as they’re described in books. Now, she’s been trying to focus on painting places that Eugene and Cassandra have been, hoping she’ll make it there someday.

Rapunzel adores Cassandra more than anything, and she’s really one of the only true friends she has. She appreciates Cass telling things to her straight, especially when she’s lived such a sheltered life. She’s almost like a mix between a sister and Rapunzel’s guide to living life outside the tower.

At first, Rapunzel was afraid that it would be weird, living with Eugene and Cass, but they’ve become her family. At least, that’s what it feels like, for now. She kind of has this weird feeling whenever she’s around Eugene that she can’t seem to shake, like butterflies in her stomach that make her even more flustered than she usually is. Rapunzel doesn’t want to mess with the dynamic, though, and she’s not even sure how she would go about telling the guy she’s living with that she likes him. If things went wrong, she’d have to live with her parents, who she loves more than anything, but independence is kind of nice, too.

Her hair is down to the floor, but she likes to braid it often to have it to her thigh. It makes it more manageable for everyday wear. She cut off a small piece of it when she was younger, and it shriveled and turn to brown. Rapunzel wants to keep her magic, but the hair does get annoying.

[buckystevelove]

My Brightest Star

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Word count: 2708

Warning: ANGST and fluff

A/N: This is my longest work. Please leave comments. Ask, submissions and requests are open.

A week, that’s how long has passed since Bucky’s world felt apart. He should have known, his whole life has been full of tragedy, one after the other. He had 7 years of happiness and peace, he will have to come to terms with the fact that maybe those years would be the only ones in his long and sad life that he would known what real and complete happiness really is.

He met you 7 years ago in a coffee shop, you accidentally tripped and spilled all your coffee in him. You apologized over and over again, Bucky couldn’t care less about the hot drink splatted all over his body, he was so enthralled over the beautiful woman standing in front of him, for years he thought that he would never get love, but you managed to prove him wrong. He claims that it was love at first sight, he simply knew that you were his soul mate.  

After the incident, you bought his coffee as a symbol of forgiveness, though he really didn’t care. You exchanged names and phone numbers. Just a few hours later you received a massage from Bucky, inviting you to go for dinner the next day. Soon, one date turn to seeing each other every time you could. You felt for him, and hard. Eventually you met all of his friends, you became a great friend with Wanda and Nat. They would invite you to all the girl nights they had. You got along with Sam, always joking around and making pranks, same with Tony. You also became best friend with Steve, you had a strong relationship with him besides yours with Bucky. You too were like siblings, he always claimed that you were his little sister, and warned Bucky never harm you, or he would have to face the consequences.

Nobody was surprise nor bother when you moved to the compound with Bucky. Everyone was super exited to have you closer, that made Bucky a bit jealous.

You and Bucky were attached to the hip. One year into your relationship, he knew that he was going to marry you, you were going to be the mother of his children. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with you. You were the one, so he asked you to marry him.

It was so beautiful, he took you on a trip to the museum, your favorite place to spend the time. When you were in the sculptures room the kneeled and said; “YN, since the moment I saw you I knew that you were the one, I knew that I was going to marry you, and all you have done is prove me right. You are the love of my life, my partner, my best friend I can no longer imagine a future in which you are not in it, because YOU are my FUTURE. You have been the light at the end of the tunnel, you have brought me happiness, love I thought I no longer deserved after all the awful things I had done, you helped name realized who the real James Buchanan Barnes is, and who I want him to be. I want to be your husband because I love you so much. You are my entire world YN. So, would you marry me?”

At the end of his speech both of you had tears in your checks, you throw yourself over him and said yes over and over again, you were beaming.

6 months after that, many hours of planning and cake tasting, you and Bucky had the most beautiful fall wedding. It was perfect. Your family and the team was there, everyone was so happy for the two of you.

When the time to say the vowels came you couldn’t be more thrilled, you have been writing them for so long.

“James Buchanan Barnes, you are the love of my life. You have been the one who has taught me what love really is, what it is like to love someone with every single atom in my body. You have taught me what is like to be completely and uoughterly happy, that is how I feel when ever I am with you. James, when we met you told me that you only saw yourself as a monster, as the vilan of many people’s lives, but baby, you are my knight in shining armor, you are absolutely everything to me. You are the brightest star in my universe, the one and only. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I want to tell you and show you how much I love you every day, I want you to feel how much I love you even after we are death. I want to keep loving you and choosing you a hundred of lives after this. Because Bucky, MY LOVE FOR YOU WILL NEVER END.”

At the end both of you were crying, among many other of your guests.

Your honeymoon was perfect. Tony paid the two of you a 3 weeks trip around Europe. Nine months later, you had your gorgeous daughter, Rebecca. She looked exactly like you, but her eyes, she had the most beautiful blue eyes just like her father. The three of you were the definition of a perfect family, you and Bucky did ocationaly fight like all healthy couples do, but your life was great. Your house was so full of love and happiness.

Bucky was so thankful to you, you had given him all he could ever dreamed for in life and more.

The three of you spent all the time you could together, you went to the park and had movie nights, went of family trips and spent lazy Sunday mornings in bed together. You wanted Becca to feel and understand what a loving home was, since you didn’t had one. You wanted her to feel the love you and Bucky had for her.

“Becca, Bucky, you two know you are the most important people in my life right. I love the two of you so so much. You are the ones that make me happy. You are my greatest treasures.” You said to your husband and 5 year old daughter one afternoon, while cuddling in the couch together.

“I love you too mommy, you too daddy. You are the best parents in the world, thank you.” She said kissing yours and Bucky’s face, making you giggle.

“You dolls are my everything. I love you.” He said before attacking the two of you with tickles, and whispering to your ear. “Thanks doll, for all this.”

The day had started like any other Tuesday would, you woke up after your alarm. Waking up Bucky with kisses and loving touches, after he woke up he heads to shower while you got Becca ready. Once the two of them were dressed, Bucky went to the kitchen to make breakfast wihle you got ready. The three of you ate together, you heard how Becca´s best friend was going to have a party next Saturday and you needed to buy her a present. You decided to go to the mall with her after classes and maybe have a girl’s day and do you nails. That made her smile so bright, which was what you loved the most about your life, that it was full of happiness.

After eating, you said goodbye to Bucky and Rebecca, he was going to take her to school and then go to the Avengers compound to train some new recruits, while you went to your office.

Bucky’s day went normal, as any other day would go, he did some training and hanged out with Sam and Steve. When 4pm came around the received a call from Becca´s school, her teacher told him that she was still there. You never came pick her up, he didn´t know why you were late. You always told him if your meeting was going to be longer so someone would pick your daughter from school.

“Sorry man.” He told Steve at the middle of the meeting. “Apparently YN never went to pick Rebecca from school she is there by herself, I really need to go. I also need to see what happened to YN. She is not picking up her phone.” Bucky said standing up from his chair.

“Sure pal, everything good with her?” Steve said a bit worry, he didn´t want his best friend to be in panic.

“I hope so.” He said walking to the door, but before he could reach it his phone rang again.

Steve just stood there, and watched how the color of his best friends face went completely white, then Bucky’s knees failed and he felt to the floor. Tears running down his cheeks, his face was shaking. He was wordless. Sentences couldn´t form in his mouth. Steve was next to him in second, he took the phone from his hand.

That when he heard him scream, he screamed as if he was dying, painful and horrible screams.

“Excuse me.” Steve said through the phone. “This is Steve Rogers. What happened?” He asked, though he already had an idea of what had happened.

“I am so sorry Sir, but I regret to inform you that Mrs. Barnes had a car accident today. She arrived to the New York Presbyterian Hospital at 2:36pm, she immediately went to surgery. She didn´t make it, she was called at 3:49pm. I am so sorry, but we need her husband to come.”

Steve hanged up the phone, he had tears in his eyes, he was about to cry. He had lost his best friend, but he needed to be strong for the man that was like a brother to him, to his nice.

Bucky was in the floor, sobbing and screaming. He went and called for Nat. She enter and saw the state in which Bucky was, then she saw the tears in Steve´s eyes.

“What happened?” She asked in panic.

“I… he…N-Nat” he mumbled between sobs. “Can you please look for Rebecca at school? Please.”

Nat realized, she immediately shook her head in disbelieve, “no, no, no,”

“Nat, please. Someone needs to be with her.” Steve managed to say. She wiped her tears and left the room.

Steve was in the floor hugging his best friend while he cried his eyes out, he was no longer screaming.

“I am sorry buddy, I am so sorry.” He said to his friend. “I know how you feel, just let it all out. But later you need to be strong for your daughter. She just lost her mother, she will need her dad. She needs you to be there for her, but now. I am here for you.”

“Not her, please not her. She is perfect Steve, I can’t, I love her, we can’t lose her.” He sobbed and screamed. “We were supposed to spend the rest of our lives together, the two of us.”

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When he calmed down, they went to the hospital. A drunk driver had crashed against your car in a traffic light. He died immediately.

Becca slept in Nat´s room. Bucky slept in his old room in the compound, he couldn’t go to your home. Too many memories. He couldn’t face his daughter, he would broke in front of her, he needed to be strong. He cried himself to sleep that day.

He next day was awful, he needed to explain to her 5 year old baby, that her mother would never hug her again. He couldn’t even began to comprehend that.

“Becca, baby. I need to talk to you.” He said the next morning the compounds living room, all  the other Avengers were in the hospital helping Bucky prepare every detail for the funeral, Steve was the only one there, next to Bucky and Becca. In case either of them needed him.

“Daddy, why did we slept here?” She asked frowning her eyebrows, just like her dad. “Where is mommy? We were supposed to have a girl´s day yesterday.”

That made Bucky tear a few tears which he rapidly cleaned.

“Babydoll, its because…” Bucky mad a pause and looked through the windows. “Mommy had an accident, and she will never come again.”

Becca made a confused face.

“Why? Can´t you just put her a bad-aid like you do to me when I have accident?” She asked in all her innocence, which made Bucky’s strength fall. He quickly enveloped her in his arms.

“That is the thing baby, she had a big accident, she is gone.” He started to sob again, so did Steve.

Becca began to stroke her father’s hair. “We will see her daddy, someday, but I am really going to miss her.” She started to cry and hug her dad.

“I want my mommy, dad.”

“So do I honey.”

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The funeral was beautiful, full with YN´s family and friends. They all told beautiful stories and tried to remember the amazing person YN was. Bucky couldn’t talk, he had so many things to say, none of them were for this people to hear, they were for his love.

A week had passed since you awful dead, Bucky stayed at the compound, he couldn’t go home, he also needed help with Becca. He could barely managed to take care of himself.

He was in his bed, looking at the celling, numb. He know the needed to stand up and shower, he needed to get up and care of his baby, but she was the carbon copy of you. It was like looking at you, it hurt, it really hurt. Lying there he heard some knocking at his door. Then Steve came..

“Hey pal, the lawyer came today, he left the will and this letter. She wrote it you when you guys had Rebecca.”

“Thanks, just leave it there.” He said gesturing to his night stand.

When Steve left he got up and grabbed the letter, it had his name in your beautiful calligraphy.

Bucky,

My love, I hope that you never have to open this letter, but if you do, I want you to know that you made me the happiest woman alive. In all the galaxies we know that exist, in all the universe that may. I was the happiest, all thanks to you. You teached me what the meaning for being alive really meant, you showed me so many incredible and beautiful things, and you gave me our most amazing gift, our daughter Rebecca, she is the tangible evidence of our love.

If the time in which you have to open this letter comes, know that you did everything you could. Under any circumstances think that this was your fault, it wasn´t.

I love you so much Bucky, you have really no idea, and I know you loved me just as much, that is why I am asking you one last favor.

Please don´t close yourself, don´t let yourself return to the man you were before be met, not that he was any less amazing, but he was lonely. I want you to continue living your life to the fullest. I know I can´t ask you to not miss me or forget me, I don’t want that. I want you to remember my memory and cherish it. I want you to show all then wonders of the world to sweet Becca. Please never let her forget that she was the most important person in my life besides you.

I want the two of you to continue to love, and let yourselves be love. I love you with all my heart, and every single atom in my body.

          Don’t forget me my brightest star, YN.

After reading that Bucky cleaned his cheeks.

“I will always love you.” He kissed the letter and placed it in his nightstand. He got up and went to find his daughter.

“I love you baby, and so did you mother. You are our greatest creations.” He no longer had you here, so he was going to spend all his breathing moments showing her how much he loved her, he was the only part left in this world of YN, and she was that greatest gift she could have left him.

He would continue to love you long after you are gone. For ever, til the end of times.

——————————————————————————

A/N: I cried so hard writing this. I am so sorry, but I hope you like it. I really appreciate feedback.

[gazpachoandbooks]

Here's a little rant. I love thinking about Arya with her siblings because literally any pair of them is perfect:

Arya and Jon: they literally share neurons, easily the smartest people in the room, GRRM hasn't let them attend a council together yet because he knows they'd be too powerful. BUT at the same time they can literally make the worst decisions ever and the other will disagree AND somehow support them at the same time, no questions asked. If Arya had been there when Jon sent all his friends away because Lord Commanders Can't Have Feelings she would have privately smacked him in the head with a roll of parchment, but if anyone else asked she would puff out her chest and tell them off in seven languages. If Jon had been there when Arya kept circling trees in the Riverlands because of her Moth Only Grows On One Side theory he wouldn't have stopped complaining and teasing her the entire time, but if anyone else had made a comment he would have had Ghost following them menacingly for days. They are each other's favourite person in the whole world and I can't wait to see them being badasses together

Arya and Sansa: the "we used to hate each other but now I can't imagine facing this without you" trope. The "we were raised to believe we were too different to ever get along and I've only realised how much I love you when it's too late". The "bickering goes from frustrated to fond". The "sisters by chance but friends by choice". The "I can't stand you but I can't stand the thought of anything happening to you". The "I didn't realise how much I need you by my side until you weren't there". So little content yet, but so many possibilities for the future

Arya and Bran: THESE TWO. THESE TWO. The hearts of pure gold these two have. How many times do you think they would have allowed the other to feel worthless if they'd been there? If Bran had heard Arya saying their mother might not want her back? If Arya had heard Bran calling himself broken? They would have shut that down before the other could even finish the sentence. These kids who lost everything. Someone should have been taking care of them, but it will be alright, because they're going to meet again and you can bet they're going to take care of each other. But also. BUT ALSO. The sheer power these two irradiate. They're the forgotten ones, the underestimated and overlooked, the ones left for dead, the ones NO ONE WILL SEE COMING. And if they work together? Their middle-sibling-partner-in-crime energy is about to take on a WHOLE new level when they come back and literally no one is prepared for it. Least of all me

Arya and Rickon: my head has mixed the Mother Hen Arya energy and the Abandoned Baby Rickon energy and I haven't been able to produce a single coherent thought since. They share so MUCH. No one is going to be able to understand Rickon's impulsiveness and restlessness like Arya. Rickon speaks in the Old Tongue when he's angry to build a wall between him and everyone else? Watch my polyglot baby girl learn Skagosi in weeks to tear that wall down brick by brick. Watch her make sure he gets the childhood that was taken from his siblings. Watch her tell him stories about their parents, about Robb, watch her take him to the Godswood and their mother's little sept and the crypts to speak to them, to make sure he knows he was loved, that they fought to get back to him, that they are a part of him too, even when he can barely remember what they looked like. Watch him follow her around everywhere, hanging to her every word. Watch him learn Water Dancing movements before any Westerosi technique because it's what his Big Sister does and it is therefore the Coolest Thing In The World, watch him climb into her bed whenever he has a nightmare, watch him grow up tall and proud and kind, watch him smile wider and more freely than any of the starklings because my girl made sure of it

Also this is my post and I do what I want, so:

Arya and Theon: the horrors they have seen. They've both been held prisoners by monsters. They both convince themselves that the person they were is gone, that their name is forbidden even in their own minds, that they've crossed too many lines to ever be worthy of love again. They could understand each other so well and it lives in my head rent-free. What I would give to see them become friends as they heal, and afterwards. Give me Arya visiting Pyke and falling immediately in love with Asha, give me Asha trying to hate the daughter of the man who took so much from her family but finding it impossible, give me them becoming thick as thieves and Theon regretting ever introducing them to one another. Give me Arya holding Theon's hand while he talks to Alannys, give me Dagmer Cleftjaw and everyone in his ship taken aback by how much they care about this tiny, badmouthed, caring girl who was supposed to be their enemy. Give me them whispering to one another that maybe they understand their Prince's protectiveness of the Starks, if they're all like her. Give me Theon teaching her how to finger dance because she will try it whether he likes it or not and at least this way there is someone trying to keep her from accidentally stabbing herself. Give me Arya being the first to pull a laugh from Theon, and always being able to do so from then onwards. Give me them becoming a chaotic duo, sharing dirty jokes and cursing loudly and getting into trouble every time they're together, but it's fine because it's the good kind of trouble now, the hide-under-the-table-before-they-find-us and the laugh-until-your-belly-aches-whenever-you-remember-it kind, and it's so damn good to feel that way again

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

[mypoisonedvine]

Dishonorable Discharge | dark!Bucky Barnes x sister!reader

please please please do not read or interact if this content would be triggering or upsetting for you in any way.  i do not condone the topics or behaviors that i write about.

summary: you and your brother were always thick as thieves, even if you weren’t technically related.  you weren’t ready for him to leave to go off to war, but you were even less prepared for the shell of him that would return.

warnings: noncon smut, sibling incest (I mean she’s adopted but still), breeding kink, innocence kink, loss of virginity, mention of hypothetical underage activity?? idk how to tag that but everyone in this story is 18+!

word count: 3.6k

tagging @lestersglitterglue​ cause they asked real nice!

Even though you were adopted, people always said that you and Bucky had a family resemblance.  It wasn't your respective appearances per se, but rather the way your eyes both sparkled.  Your parents sometimes joked that the two of you were more brother and sister than most brothers and sisters were— and they were right: even with the age gap, often the two of you felt like twins.  It was hard to imagine that your biological parents could've kept you and that you never would've known him... it felt like he had always been your brother, your best friend, your partner in crime; your Jamie.

You had been awful when he deployed.  You'd sobbed and screamed and beat his chest with your weak little fists.  You'd told him that if he left, you would hate him forever; that if he left, he might as well never come back.

Of course you regretted it once you got older and realized how stupid you were.  But you were only fifteen then, and heartbroken, and too selfish to understand that there were things more important than the promises you'd made to each other as children.  You were so afraid that he wouldn't come back and that you'd lose your only real friend in this world; and, like it often does, that fear turned to anger.  

By the time you were seventeen, you finally stopped crying and tried to make a life for yourself.  You tried to see it all as an opportunity: he'd always been the popular one, meaning you were stuck being known as "Bucky's little sister" rather than as your own person.  Now you could just be you for once— as soon as you figured out who you were without him.

By nineteen, you had lost hope that he would return.  You pretended to be at peace with that.  You pretended not to hate yourself for pushing him away when you needed each other most.  Silently, you thought of him every day; secretly, you went to church every night to pray for him.

It was the sort of neighborhood where you could leave your door unlocked, so you did.  Still, people usually knocked first.  You were wearing a nightgown you only wore around the house because it was much too short and small for you now, but with the hot weather, it was necessary.  You hadn’t expected to hear the door open, so as you nervously peered out from the hall to the foyer, you were beyond surprised at what you saw.

The man in the doorway… he looked familiar.  He was wearing your brother's uniform.  But his eyes were different.  That sparkle you shared was long gone.  And without it, you weren't sure he was your brother anymore.

"Jamie?" you asked, unable to believe what you were seeing.

Recognition crossed his face like he was hearing the name of someone he used to know.

"Jamie," you called again, your voice breaking as you ran to him; you wrapped your arms around his waist and held him tight enough to make up for all the lost time.  "I thought I'd lost you," you sobbed, "oh god, Jamie, I thought you were—"

"Shhhh," he soothed, finally reciprocating the hug as one hand stroked the back of your head.  

"Don't ever leave me again," you begged.  "I can't lose you again."

"I won't go," he promised softly.

And just like that, you were the same little girl who'd clung to his legs and begged him to stay all those years ago, but this time you'd gotten what you always dreamed of.  This time, he wasn’t going to leave.

“You still like your eggs basted?” you asked him with a toothy smile, doing your best to keep things light.  You had so many questions for him but you wanted him to just feel at home first.  You two had always told each other everything, so you figured it wouldn’t be long until he told you what he’d been through in the last several years.

When you turned to receive the answer to your question, though, you found him spaced out in his seat at the dining table, staring off into nothing.  You could tell he was thinking about something just from the way his eyes were glazed over; you could tell he was thinking about something unpleasant from the way his fist was tightened.

"Are you okay?" you asked gently.  Silence.

You left your place by the stove, crossing the kitchen and kneeling down so you were eye-level with him.  Hesitantly, you reached out to brush your hand against his face.  He was certainly older-looking, and stubble dusted his jaw where it met with where his hair had grown out.  You wondered if it was as strange for him to see you and how much you’d aged as it was for you to see him like this.

“Jamie,” you whispered, “come back to me.”

Finally, as your hand cupped his cheek, he turned to look at you.  Even with a face that was hard to recognize at times, the eyes that met yours were undoubtedly your brother’s.  Darker, yes, and clearly tired from everything they’d seen, but as blue and perfect as always.

"When you call me that,” he spoke, eyes scanning your face, “it's like no time has passed at all.  It's like I'm still the same boy I was the day I left."

You swallowed.  "But you aren't, are you?"

He shook his head, just barely.

“Hey, listen to me,” you instructed, getting more serious and refusing to let him break the eye contact.  “It doesn’t matter what you’ve seen, or what you’ve done.  You’re my brother.  You’re my best friend.  You’re my whole world—”

You choked up a little, but kept going.

“—and I’m glad you’re home, okay?”

“Okay,” he agreed, smiling that crooked smirk that made your heart melt every time.

“You still want those eggs?”

He nodded a little.

“Basted?”

“Yeah, basted,” he agreed, turning back to the table as you stood up and returned to the stove.

“Your room’s the same as it was when you left,” you told him as you cracked the first egg into the hot pan.  You were sort of nervous to bring up anything about that, but you thought he might find it comforting.

“I don’t think I’m ready to go in there yet,” he admitted.  

“Stay in my room tonight, then.  It’s almost the same as it was then, too…”

“I’m amazed that bed can still fit you; are you sure we’ll both be able to sleep on it?” he asked.

“Oh, I was gonna give you the bed and make myself a pallet on the floor!” you clarified, wondering how he ever thought the two of you could share a bed; you hadn’t since you were little little-- like, under ten-years-old little.

But when you turned to look at him again, he seemed genuinely disappointed.  "Of course I can't let you sleep on the floor.  You take the bed; I've got a lot of practice with sleeping on the ground anyhow."

That was the last thing you wanted, him reminded of what it was like out there.

"We'll share the bed," you announced.  "If I take off all the plushies and decorative pillows, there might just be room for you."

"Woah woah woah," Bucky raised his arms as if to motion for you to slow down.  "We can't just go evicting Mr. Hoppy!  He's been a full-time resident of your bed for the past twenty years!" 

You both laughed, and it was almost like old times.

"He'd happily move over for you, Jamie."

The two of you brushed your teeth side-by-side in silence; you waited for him to finish his shower while you turned down the sheets, scooping up everything decorative on the bed and tossing it into the chair in the corner.

You choked a little when he stepped into your room with only a towel around his waist, using another to rub his hair dry.

"Don't you have some pyjamas?" you asked awkwardly.  "No matter— I actually have some of the pants you used to wear right here."

You pulled the checkered pants from your closet, and handed them to him as he nodded gratefully; you barely turned around fast enough to look away before he dropped his towel.

"Why do you have these in here anyways?" he asked as you tried to ignore the sounds of the fabric brushing over his bare skin.

"I wear them, sometimes," you admitted, feeling your face get a little warm, "when I miss you."

"Well, I'm here now," he hummed, wrapping his arms around you from the back and pulling you into a hug.  You could feel the warmth of his chest and arms burning right through your silky shift.  You almost wished you had worn something thicker; and yet, somehow, you also wished that there was no fabric in the way at all.  

Slipping under the comforter together, you wondered if it was odd that he was cuddling up to you.  You didn't mind it, since it was the most like the brother you remembered that he'd been all day, but some part of you was worried what people would think if they knew.  

You brushed the thought aside.  Nobody would know anyways.  

He placed a kiss to the top of your head as you basked in how small it made you feel.  "You smell the same as before, sissy."

You used to hate that nickname but now it was beyond welcome.  It reminded you of simpler times.  

"I hope that's a good thing," you replied.

"It's a wonderful thing.  The day your handkerchief stopped smelling like you was the day I thought I would lose all hope," he recalled.

You remembered when he took it; he said he wanted something to remember you by, and you'd responded by telling him to just forget about you because obviously he never loved you at all.

"I was so cruel to you that day," you cringed.  "I hate myself so much for that..."

"Hey, hey," he got your attention with a soft plea, guiding your chin until you were looking up at him with watery eyes.  "You were a kid.  I was, too.  You acted out, it happens."

"But I said things that weren't true, Jamie— awful, terrible things…"

"I never believed them," he assured you with a smile.

"We promised to never lie to each other," you whimpered, "and I broke that promise."

He shook his head.  "It's all in the past now.  Just be honest with me from now on, and I'll keep every promise I made."

You remembered a pinky swear made up in the highest branches of a tree: a promise to never be apart.  He'd broken that one, but maybe he wouldn't do it again.  The thought made your heart flutter.

"Be honest," he instructed you again.  

"Always," you agreed.

"Do you love me?" he asked, so quiet it was barely a whisper.

"O-of course," you answered quickly, stuttering not because of any lack of surety but simply from wondering how he could ever question that.

Slowly, he leaned in and pressed his lips to yours, his thumb and forefinger still holding your chin.  For a brief moment it felt believable as a familial kiss.

But then it didn't.

He began to move his mouth against yours, and instantly you pulled back, looking at him with what you figured must have been an expression of stunned confusion.  "Jamie," you mumbled in disbelief.

"I missed you so much," he purred, seeming to ignore your reluctance.  "Don't break my heart, sissy, I just want a kiss."

"I can't kiss you like that," you shook your head.

"Please?  You have no idea how lonely I've been, how hard it was without you…"

You felt guilty for his pain, and you had always hated to deny him of anything.  The absolute second that you gave him a hesitant nod, he dove right back in, kissing you deeper and harder than before.  His tongue forced its way into your mouth but you couldn't pull back; his arm had somehow gotten to the back of your neck, holding you close to him.

You whimpered with confusion when you felt his other hand moving up your leg and slipping under your nightgown.  He smiled against your lips when his fingertips brushed over your hips and he realized that you weren't wearing undergarments.  You internally cursed yourself for it, even though it was normal not to wear anything underneath a gown like this.  What was abnormal was what he was doing.

"You're so smooth, and soft," he murmured, just barely pulling back from the kiss, "and I know you want me so bad—"

Just as his hand started to move dangerously close to somewhere it was definitely not supposed to be, you reached down and stopped him by grabbing his forearm.  

"D-don't," you managed to stammer out.

"Don't?" he repeated incredulously.  "Well, why not?"

"It's wrong…" you explained weakly.

"Such a good little girl, just like always," he chuckled. "You haven't changed at all.  Except, of course, this incredible body…"

It was much too easy for him to wriggle out of your grip, pulling out from your nightgown only to reach up and roughly grab your breasts through it.  Your face was burning and your gut sank with fear— and yet, there was a paradoxical tingle of arousal burning between your legs.

"You've grown a lot while I was gone," Bucky noticed aloud, groaning softly as he felt you up.  "Almost didn't recognize you when I stepped in.  I saw those gorgeous legs of yours and thought, 'who's the fox and what's she doing in my house?'  Of course, by the time I'd realized it was my kid sister, it was too late."

"It's not too late," you desperately assured, "you can stop now, and we won't tell anybody, and it'll be like nothing ever happened—"

You stopped as he started laughing lowly, shaking his head.  "Sweetheart, I'm not coming back from this, don't you understand?  You were all I thought about while I was gone.  You're the only girl I ever loved."

His hips pressed forward and you gasped when you felt his erection pressing into your thigh.  You bit down on your lip to keep it from quivering; for some reason, you didn't want him to know how scared you were.

"Feel that?" he asked, grinning when you nodded nervously.  "That's how much I love you."

You stammered helplessly as he reached down between your legs again.  

"Time to find out how much you love me," he purred, and you were frozen; paralyzed.  Two of his thick fingers swiped through your folds, gathering the arousal they found there.  "Oh, you love me quite a lot."

"I— I don't—"

"Take this thing off," he demanded suddenly, grabbing your nightgown.  You shook your head.  "I'm not gonna ask you again," he informed you sternly.  "Take it off or I'm gonna rip it off'a you."

You shook your head again, tears flowing freely until you felt wet patches beside your face on your pillow.

Bucky growled and manhandled you onto your back, grabbing at your nightgown and pushing your arms out of the way when they reached up to cover your chest.

He tore through it like it was paper.  "Look at you," he murmured in awe, "all grown up."

"James," you sobbed, "what are you doing?!"

"I'm taking care of you!" he responded, seemingly confused that you would even ask that.  "You're my baby sister; I promised to always take care of you and I meant it."

"This isn't right," you whispered, partially to him but mostly to yourself.

"This is the only thing that's right," Bucky disagreed, leaning down a little to hover over you as he began to push his pants down.

You recoiled when you saw his cock; you hadn't seen one before, except in drawings.  They hadn’t prepared you for this.  His looked big, red at the tip like it was angry; leaking and throbbing like it was desperate.

"You a virgin, sissy?" he asked in a way that made it hard to tell if he was being genuine or mocking you.

You nodded; you'd promised to be honest, after all.

"You were saving yourself for me," he informed you, and before you could deny it, he continued, saying everything like it was obvious fact.  "You knew you needed me. You knew you'd only be satisfied by your big brother's cock."

You shook your head as tears welled in your eyes, your protests muffled as he roughly kissed you again.  You tried to push him away but he was like marble, hard and unyielding.  You felt his sex sliding over yours and it made you feel dizzy and a little nauseous.

"You know how long I've dreamed of being inside you?" he asked darkly, his lips brushing against your ear.  "You know how long I've wanted to get a taste of this perfect little cunt?  I'll give you a hint: it was before I left."

He ignored your sobs of fear and cries of pain, and pushed his hips forward; he groaned as his cock forced your walls to part, and you felt like the wind had been knocked out of you.

"Oh god," he moaned weakly when he bottomed out, "oh my fucking god… you feel so perfect, sissy.  You feel so fucking good, I swear I could come right now.  I could fill you up—" he pulled back out most of the way and shuddered— "right fucking now."

"N-no, Jamie," you sobbed, "you have to pull out, you can't come inside!"

"Why not?" he pouted, slamming into you so hard that you were forced to choke out your cry of pain.  "I think you want it.  I think I deserve it.  I could get you pregnant and then you'd be mine forever."

"No!" you sobbed.  "Please, you can't!"

"I can," he assured you coldly through his teeth, his arm wrapping around your neck to hold you steady as he fucked into you.  "I can, little girl, and I'm gonna."

Tears streamed down your face, even as you let yourself admit that your brother's movements inside you did feel… intriguing, to say the least.  He buried his face into your neck, fucking you deep but slow.  You'd never felt so full before; you wrapped your legs around his hips before you could stop yourself.

"Fuck," he groaned, "you want me so damn bad, don't you?  You always wanted me.  I remember how you got so jealous when I lost it to Betsy Miller."

As sick as it was, you had; and even now, imagining him doing this with her made your stomach twist.

"You want me all to yourself, don't you, sissy?"

Shamefully, you nodded.

"Aw, it's okay," he soothed.  "You've got me, sis.  'M never gonna leave ya.  We're gonna be together forever, just like we always said."

That was all you'd ever wanted.  Why did it sound so terrifying now?

"I can feel you squeezin' me, babydoll.  I know you wanna come all over my cock," he taunted.

"N-no," you stumbled over your denial, but pleasure was searing through you faster than you could handle it.

"Beg me to fill up this little pussy," he instructed as his eyes got darker and a hand wrapped around your throat.  "Beg or you don't get to breathe."

"Please," you moaned through your tears, "please, fill up my— my little pussy…"

"Yeah?  You want my come?"

He started thrusting faster and you could feel the way your arousal had spread to coat both his thighs and yours; why was your body so responsive?

"Please, Jamie, I want your come," you repeated.  "I need it…"

"I know you do," he snarled, looking down at you with half-lidded eyes.  "I know you do, baby, I know you need my come."

"Please…" you repeated one last time, the word coming out choked and weak as you felt your own orgasm starting to crash into you, your whole body tightening involuntarily.

"Fuck, I can feel you coming— 'm close, sissy, I'm not gonna last much— oh fuck—!"

His hips stuttered to a stop and you winced as you felt him flexing inside you, pumping his load into you for what felt like ages.

He collapsed on top of you with a sigh and a smile.  "I wanted to last longer, even jerked off in the shower to try to take the edge off but… you just felt too good."

You were silent and still beneath him as he rambled, kissing away your tears between each word.

"I'll take better care of you next time, sis, don't worry.  Wanna make you come with just my tongue," he announced excitedly.  "But that'll wait until tomorrow.  Tonight you just relax, and don't move too much so I can stay inside you.  It's the only way I'm gonna be able to sleep."

He hugged you all night, drifting off even while you were wide awake and staring at the ceiling.

You were horrified at what your brother had become, and at what he had done to you.  But that wasn't what kept you awake.  No, you couldn't sleep because you were too busy trying to deny how much you had enjoyed it.

[captnjacksparrow]

if you had to rank your fav naruto characters how would it go? love your blog btw!!

Hmmm... Complicated ask, anon.😂

[My personal life would be splashed here and there. Please bear with me]

Before 5 months, if you asked me about Naruto, my response would be ‘What the fuck is that?’. I absolutely had no idea such a treasure existed. For me, it started out like a blockbuster movie for the sheer variety of fights and the resulting emotions it brought within me. 

However, there was a point I stopped and thought, ‘Wait a fucking second. This resembles my family dynamics. This person is speaking the exact same lines I spoke to my parents few years ago. This person’s situation resembles mine. Did this creator a time traveler?’. Naruto is the only piece of media that gave me such feel. Am not even exaggerating, believe me. 

I really liked so many characters very much but am going to try my best to list just 10. 

The only characters I hate in this series are Danzo, Sakura and Hinata in no particular order. Meaning, I absolutely cannot see any positives in them. They are crassy, cringey and completely detestable.

FAVOURITE NARUTO CHARACTERS

10. Killer Bee

HaHaHa :-) Just seeing this character makes me smile and light-hearted.

It’s a pity that he is the only character who don’t belong to Konoha in my Top 10 rankings who was developed well apart from Gaara.

I loved him from Frame 1 onwards and I sincerely wished Team Taka should be packed up with their ass beaten up mercilessly. And that’s what happened.

Despite being a Jinchurikki, he never bothered to mind his surroundings and filled his heart with love from his over protective Brother alone was nice to watch.

He makes a great Tag Partner with Naruto next to Sasuke. No doubt.

The way Killer Bee treated Team Taka like some annoying flies and his cool and don’t care attitude was top notch. It’s not just with Sasuke, Bee treated Naruto with the same IDGAF attitude at first.

Best Moments:

Lariat punch to Sasuke (TBH, Sasuke deserved it. LOL)

Blasted off every member of Team Taka like a doll

His entire conversation and fight sequence with Kisame (Their banters and exchanges are way too hilarious)

His dynamics with his Elder Brother (God!!!! Whenever Raikage gives him an Iron Claw.... What a hilarious duo!!!!)

9. Hatake Kakashi

Kakashi was my most favourite character when I started the series for simply being ultra-cool with the way he conducted the Bell-Test and taught a valuable lesson for those bratty kids in Team 7 called ‘Team Work’. 

Best Moments:

Kakashi vs Obito Hand-to-Hand Combat (the best in the series)

Kakashi in the Gaara retrieval arc (His fight with Itachi & Deidara gave a good start to the shippuden series. His Mangekyou reveal was surprising).

Kakashi & Guy teaming up with Naruto to reveal Obito in a twisty and tragic way. (Kakashi couldn’t handle the truth at all and neither did I)

Kakashi vs Zabuza (That’s when I realized that the series was getting real serious)

8. Jiraiya

Jiraiya was my next favourite to Kakashi during my Part 1 days. His open perversion and his entire dynamics with Naruto was one of the best things during the Chunin Exams arc. Taught Naruto about Chakra Control and about the way of a shinobi by just enduring. Naruto follows this even today.

Best Moments: 

Kuchiyose No Jutsu training (Man, I never expected him to push Naruto off the cliff)

Rasengan Training (One of the best arcs in part 1 and it was soo satisfying to see Naruto punching his first Rasengan on Kabuto, He also acted like a quasi parent to Naruto... heartwarming)

Jiraiya Vs Six paths of Pain ( 6 vs 1 was always doomed but still he had the guts of a shinobi and plunged ahead)

7. Uchiha Madara

Geez. What is there to not like him?? 

Everything he did was absolutely wrong ever since he broke up with Hashirama in a romantic way much similar to how couples break up in my country.

I am an Uchiha. You are a Senju. I wish it had been different.

This roughly translates to how 75% of lovers break up and marry someone else from their own clan in my state. (Duh!!!)

I am from XXX clan, you are from XXX clan. So we can’t love each other and my parents won’t accept this relationship. So let’s break up.

Alright, my first shipping couple in this series is HashiMada for this exact reason. (I started shipping SNS only after episode 478). 

Just like Hashirama, Madara had an extensive build up right from episode 1 where Kurama compares Sasuke with Madara. And flashbacks from Itachi and Tobi spiked my curiosity and I wanted to see his face so badly ever since.

But the moment he landed gracefully like a diva in episode 321.... Woaahhhh!!!! He literally danced in the battlefield and ate up 100′s of guys with just a fucking Sharingan. 

Best Moments:

Going Shirtless before 1000′s of people with Hashirama’s face, no less (Well, I literally went heart-eyed for 5 minutes. Sorry Sasuke, your ancester was way much sexier than you in the Orochimaru hideout and beats you by a million points).

Screaming Hashirama’s name like a cockatoo for 300 times even till the very end (Sorry Naruto, your obsession towards Sasuke for about 6 arcs is pale in comparison to Madara’s obsession which was established in just 6 or 7 episodes.)

I have 25 clones now. Do you want me to put Susanoo or not? You can’t answer. The answer is yes. (Man, his I don’t give a fuck attitude is just an alien level thing)

Openly admitting Only Hashirama Can Beat Me (Say what you will about Sasuke, Madara has no qualms about accepting his inferiority in terms of power. An absolute Straight Forward diva-queen)

Awakening Sharingan for breaking up with his ‘friend’ rather than for his 3 dead brothers. (Geez, Poor Soul. He is the forefather of a Romantic Uchiha. That romantic blood still flows in Sasuke)

6. Senju Hashirama

Man, I would have placed him somewhere in top 5 if only he was introduced early or had more scenes. I started watching Naruto only because of this very name. There is a local podcaster in my state who goes under the alias of Senju Hashirama and in his podcasts, he hinted about this character and how he was inspired by his ideals. I just googled and saw that this character belonged to Naruto series and I considered watching it. Here I am, making analysis on that very series.

There was this excellent build up for him right when we got introduced to Captain Yamato. He was constantly referred in flashbacks from Itachi and Tobi especially.

But the moment he was reanimated again..... Geez..... It was an hilarious ride all throughout. Out of all the flashbacks we got from this series, Founders Era flashback was my absolute favourite.

From where I come from, we are still under the stupid influence of Clan infrastructure and are not growing up in many aspects like people in western countries do. For me, I hope, one day, someone like Senju Hashirama appears in our state and change our lives for better by uniting all clans as one and treats everyone equally without the shitty favouritism for their own children, friends, parents, siblings.

That’s why this dialogue struck a thunder in my heart

“Be they a friend.... Be they a sibling.... Be it even my own child. I will not forgive anyone who threatens the village.”

Because the clan leaders in our place are absolutely selfish, trash bastards who serves their own needs with no regards for other people from other clans. For a person like me, Hashirama is not just a fictional hero, he is someone who many aspires to become. No wonder that podcaster chose this name as his alias.

He rightfully deserved the title ‘God of Shinobi’. And no one can surpass him, not even Naruto.

Best Moments:

Wood Style vs Eternal Mangekyou sharingan + Kurama powered Madara (He just beats Madara’s ass by a wide margin. This shows he was a whole fucking different level than Naruto + Sasuke combined. In terms of strength, nobody surpassed him YET. Sorry Naruto and Sasuke, you guys are no match even now with your Rinnegan and Kurama lost forever).

His entire banters with Madara (ROFLLLL. Without him, it would have been just another lifeless arc.)

5. Senju Tobirama

Hmmm, let me tell you something about him.

First off, he is not a racist or fascist as many hardcore Sasuke fanatics claims. He is one of the best hokages according to me. He is abso-fucking-lutely practical, rational, logical and holds no grudge. And Sasuke resembles Tobirama with all these characteristics as compared to soft and naive Naruto. If only he had more screen time, he would be easily in my top 3. 

Just because he didn’t lick the boots of Uchiha (many people’s favorite clan or may I say the only clan that was given any shit about in this series), it doesn’t make him a racist or fascist.

No, he never persecuted the Uchihas. Danzo, the crass bastard, driven off the Uchihas only after the Kyuubi incident. It was explicitly mentioned in the databook and was clearly explained in the series. 

He literally gave the highest position in the village for the entire clan. That is, a military power inside a military village. ‘Shinobi who can cause crimes can only be stopped by shinobi who are even better’. In my state, if a powerful clan decided to persecute another clan, they simply start by cutting off basic amenities like Water and Electricity. Compared to what I’ve seen, Tobirama did nothing but given the Uchihas, the highest position in their village. 

Orochimaru only said giving such a power made them conceited (arrogant). Tobirama had a trusted subordinate called Kagami, an Uchiha in his team. He suggested Kabuto to help Sasuke and even teleported him on his request. He even spited Madara for killing Sasuke, an Uchiha. He openly claimed Uchiha clan exceeds Senju in terms of Love. He openly appreciated Itachi and Kagami as someone who sees beyond their clan. In what world, would a racist or fascist do all this for a clan he hates??? 

Yes, he was cautious of Sasuke at first because he saw him with Orochimaru and even went full-on battle mode because of Sasuke’s carefree threat to destroy the village. But once he decided to go to the battlefield to fight Madara, he simply forgot everything that happened before and started to work with him as a comrade, and even helped him twice. In which world, a racist or fascist behave this way?

Believe me, a person like me who was grown with these clan politics surely can say who is a fascist. He was not. He was just cautious of them because of their ability to attain superpowers with just emotions alone. Let me ask you all this, ‘Would you be okay with people getting crazy powers whenever they are depressed?’. Being cautious is not racism. It really disrespects people who faced real oppression under fascism.

What Madara and Danzo did was a classical example of fascism. 

And No, Izuna didn’t die only because of Tobirama. He died because Madara was too arrogant to instigate war with Senju clan. And this was way before forming Konoha. If Tobirama killed Izuna after the alliance between Uchiha and Senju, I would agree that he was a racist. Izuna lost his life just like any other Uchiha and Senju soldiers in that battlefield. 

Just because he shitted your beloved ‘Sasuke-Kun’ doesn’t mean he is a racist too. Tobirama saw Sasuke along with that scoundrel Orochimaru who once used this very two hokages to destroy the very village they strived hard to create and protect. What will you do, if you were in his place?? Please don’t lie and say ‘I wouldn’t be judgemental’. 

And Imagine you are Tobirama, Sasuke is threatening to commit genocide against the entire village who had no idea about this coup detat instead of going against those old hags. Will you sit quiet as a Hokage?? 

He was the first person to suggest his brother, Itama, that Revenge against Uchihas are futile. All we need is an agreement to make truce. That gave the idea for Hashirama to pursue his dream. And Tobirama was happy to follow that dream and very supportive. 

It’s because of all these reasons I placed him above Senju Hashirama.

Best Moments:

Amazing power display against Sasuke & Co with just an index finger (It was a pleasure to see everyone’s face trembling with mild sweat including Sasuke).

Acted as a decoy to save his young subordinates. (The way he sacrificed his life saying young wills of fire must be protected is just Woow!! I wish his subordinates listened to his words and passed the mantle to the younger ones rather than playing game at such an old age and screwed up many lives. Pfft!!!)

Any time he says ‘Shut Up’ to Hashirama (ROFL)

His absolute ‘I don’t give a fuck’ attitude to Naruto, Sasuke, Hashirama, Minato and Madara (He trolled them all mercilessly and I love it)

4. Senju Tsunade

It hurts me to say that Tsunade is the only female character in my list because every other female characters were written in a much more piss poorly way. Only Konan came close to Tsunade but her role was very short. 

Despite her character’s purpose revolved around another male character (Dan) and a blatant objectification of her breasts, I liked everything about her other than those mentioned above. 

She is the Second Best Hokage who took Konoha right after the destruction made by Orochimaru, excellently handled the aftermath by making friendly relations with Suna (Sand village), provided her best medical support to Konoha in the Pain Arc and successfully handled the fourth Shinobi world war. 

She is such a badass who developed her own original jutsu called Byakugou no Jutsu, which can heal herself. 

She is just way too amazing and it’s a pity that we got very less scenes in Shippuden.

Best Moments:

Took 25+ stabs from Madara’s Susanoo like a piece of cake (Man, I simply couldn’t describe that scene. All the other Kages were shocked and even Madara too)

Lifted her advisors like a cabbage sack (Those fucking old hags deserved it. Those shits should’ve died)

Her index finger flick assault on Naruto (Aww, Naruto was definitely bratty in his first meeting and Tsunade didn’t hold back at all)

Played Orochimaru like a basketball (In that same arc, she fought Orochimaru mercilessly like a devil left and right. Someone who claimed to have surpassed Tsunade never even dared to fight Orochimaru’s student and crying for his attention after just receiving one stab from Madara. Just saying)

3. Uzumaki Naruto

Naruto is the titular character and your emotions evolve along with him. He surely deserves a spot in Top 3. The only reason I didn’t place Naruto even more higher is because he didn’t experience something very important which many characters in this list faced. That is, Losing a loved one before his eyes. Every villain in this series became what they are because they lost someone important before their eyes like Nagato, Obito. (Nope, I don’t count Neji as his loved one). I think this tests the mettle of any character and Naruto failed to experience this. The only person he ever lost was Jiraiya and that too from off-screen. That’s why I felt his journey to his dreams seemed little easier compared to the rest of the characters.

His best block of episodes will always be the part 1 Episode 1, 2, 3. Episode 1 is the character defining episode for Naruto and what he learned there will be applied everywhere till the very end of the series. He learned 3 things

Forgiveness, Empathy and Acceptance

Talk-No-Jutsu

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu

From then on, this boy wins many friends to his side, not only from Konoha but from other villages too and even made them to acknowledge his strength only through his sheer hard work. 

However, there is this person, whose acknowledgement he wants the most.  That person is his most important bond along with Iruka Sensei. He is none other than Sasuke. One day, Sasuke left him alone for some unavoidable reason at the end of part 1 which left a huge scar in him and he vows to bring him back to the place where he belongs. That becomes his ultimate goal rather than becoming an Hokage.

The way he goes to any extent to protect the people he cares about is just simply entertaining to watch.

Every time he makes an heroic entry to save the day was never boring, not once. 

Best Moments:

Sobbing from his heart after hearing Iruka Sensei acknowledging him (It just makes me feel heavy for no reason. The anime team did an awesome job to capture his emotions convincingly)

Awakening Kyuubi Mode for the first time after seeing Sasuke die in his arms (Man, out of all the collective hatred he got from the villagers, this moment affected him a lot speaks volumes)

Punching Neji from the underground to win the Chunin exams (God, I honestly believed Naruto lost but he just surprised us heavily from nowhere. And that failure speech was just pure bliss to watch even today)

Pain Vs Naruto (One of the best arc for Naruto. Because unlike other arcs, where Naruto fought with a team, this arc he was all alone fighting a person with Rinnegan. Be it the exuberant landing from the frogs with a dramatic kabuki music, creating multi-step attacks, coming up with novel solution in that difficult situation, finally ending the conflict without killing the enemy, becoming an hero. Superb journey. The only thing I didn’t like in that arc is some shitty selfish proposal. PUKE!!)

Bearing the burdens of his most important person and die along with him (This boy always shouts he will never die until he becomes an Hokage. But for Sasuke, he was ready to die along with him in order to not leave him alone proves how much he loves him. This shows his emotional maturity rather than shouting at Sasuke like he always did before which never reached his ears. This time it did)

Final Good Bye to Minato (Honestly, I was bawling just like Naruto in that scene no matter how many times I watch it. It started out slow but as he speaks more and more, he simply couldn’t hold back and wept a sea of tears 😭😭😭)

2. Uchiha Sasuke

One of the well written characters in this series, with all the flaws and positive stuffs which makes him more of an Anti-Hero. He always subverts my preformed opinions and never ceased to surprise me.

Despite being aloof and cold, his warmer side will always be exposed towards Naruto. This is evident by many things he had done for Naruto which he don’t have to or no reason to. Starting right from roasting Sakura, offering lunch, asking for tips, enquiring about breakfast, protecting him many times and dying for Naruto. 

Why I placed him above Naruto is because of his unavoidable decision to tread in a complicated dark path primarily due to the trauma he carried and was stirred up again by collective factors such as Orochimaru’s cursed seal, Itachi’s arrival and Naruto’s growth. Compared to Sasuke, Naruto had an easier path because he never saw anyone die before his eyes and hence he don’t carry any trauma which can divert his path.

Even after watching his entire clan and family members murdered before his eyes at an age 8, he managed to pull himself and never snapped out like many other good characters does. But the moment when he found out that Itachi was good all along, he simply couldn’t tolerate the truth and gave himself to Vengeance. Because, he loved his brother more than he hated him all these years. This shows he loved his brother more than his parents. His resolve to destroy Konoha was perfectly understandable. But is it good? Nope. He can kill Danzo and those old hags but killing other people was never justifiable.

But still, his resolve to have his vengeance was diverted by Naruto and weakened by Itachi, at some point. So, he decided to know the truth and when he heard it, he understood the Hokages also sacrificed many precious things to protect this village just like his Brother Itachi. He understood the mistakes of his clan and decided to protect the village which he swore to destroy. [Many Sasuke fanatics think that he succumbed to the Government and Kishi wrote Sasuke to bootlick them. Their idea was to tackle genocide with another genocide. What a stupid idea!!!!]

And No, I don’t consider him trying to kill Sakura, Karin and Kakashi as his bad moments (though I feel bad for Karin). For the simple reason being, he became a monster by losing himself in the darkness who lost the rationality to differentiate friends from foes. Much similar to how Naruto lost himself to Kyuubi’s hatred against Orochimaru and in Pain Arc. It’s so hypocritical to ignore Naruto and accuse Sasuke here. Plus, Sakura had no business to be there otherwise Sasuke would not have tried to kill her. 

But does it mean Sasuke did nothing wrong???

Nope.

He definitely shouldn’t have joined Akatsuki and hunted Killer Bee like an animal. Because, he knew that Tobi was the one who helped Itachi massacre the clan. When fighting Itachi he specifically vowed to kill Madara (Tobi). On top of that, Itachi passed on Amaterasu in his eyes specifically to stay away from Tobi. Why did he ally with him? Plus, Sasuke was one of the few characters who was exposed to the name ‘Akatsuki’ in part 1 itself. He clearly knew that this organization targets Naruto, his closest bond. Why did he join there? This is where the stupid part of Sasuke came out. I was grunting... ‘Oii Where did that clever Sasuke, who faced 1000 soldiers without killing any of them, went??’. 

And his plan for Revolution???? I thought it would be reasonable. But his vision was eerily similar to Danzo’s vision. Grrr..... Danzo also wanted to create his ideal village by destroying the current Hokage. He wanted to unite the Five Village and put himself on top of everyone as evident from the Kage Summit arc. 

I appreciate him that he finally adopted the Will of Fire, by wanting to protect the village at all costs just like Itachi and Hashirama did. But his methods are not very democratic. Plus, he wanted to do it alone. I was screaming at him... ‘Grrr, Sasuke, did you listen to Itachi at all???. He failed because he did everything alone. Why can’t you understand????’ This is also another instance, Sasuke’s stupidity glanced out.

I am happy Naruto knocked some sense into him by telling him not to do it alone but together.

Many fanatics also ask, ‘What did Sasuke do wrong to atone for his sins at the end?’.

I was like ‘Reallly????’

He joined Akatsuki, an organization which terrorized all the 5 villages and he hunted someone like an international criminal.

He spoiled the Kage Summit and attacked Raikage who lost his arm because of him. I know what happened over there is not Sasuke’s fault. But these are the kages who was loved by many people in their own villages. How can the world forget it and simply let him go?

It’s exactly because of all those lovely stuffs he did in Part 1 and all these mistakes he did in Part 2 but willing to correct his mistakes by sharing the burdens of his other half in the end made him more interesting, complicated and exciting and that’s why I love this character.

I also have a personal bias to love this character sooo much because of the character on top of my list.

Best Moments:

Defending Naruto before Sakura (Awww!!! Such a good boy he was. Eventhough I thought he was a typical arrogant K-Drama hero, he just subverted my opinion in that one scene. I always have a thing for people who stands up for someone even though they don’t have to. This is where I started to like Sasuke)

My body moved on its own. (Is there anything that trumps this scene in terms of emotions and love in this series?. This moment is where I understood the depth of Sasuke’s emotions towards Naruto).

What is a Clan? What is a Village? What is a Shinobi? (I was really hoping for Sasuke to question himself something similar to this. Because he was so self-absorbed in his hatred and failed to look outside him ever since he left the village. It was so gratifying that he did that)

Killing Orochimaru (I always thought Sasuke will kill him only after he tries to take over the body. Never imagined that he will strike the snake first)

Killing Danzo (Man, what an amazing battle!!!. It was so gratifying to see such a crass bastard die many times over and over).

His dramatic confession through his monologue (After the mystery of Who is this Tobi, Sasuke’s obsession towards Naruto remained a mystery for me. Why did he listen to Naruto under the bridge? Why did he protected Naruto in the War? I got the answer only after this confession. It was so heartwarming to see this mellow side of Sasuke)

1. Uchiha Itachi

I could write pages about him. The foremost reason I like Itachi and earns the top spot in my rankings is because he shockingly resembled me in many ways. As I already said, I come from a place where clan politics plays a major role and when I see Sasuke’s flashback in part 1, I was simply dumbstruck by such a detailed similarities.

Elder child of the family - ✅

Have an adorable younger sister who loves me more than my parents - ✅

Same age gap (5 years) with my sister as Itachi and Sasuke - ✅

Parents paying total attention on me while ignoring my sister completely - ✅

Parents constantly comparing my achievements with my sister - ✅

A sister who bear hugged me every time I entered the home after returning from my school - ✅

Despite my mom being a teacher, my sister always prefers me to teach her stuffs as she considers me to be way too better than my mom -  ✅

Love my sister more than my parents - ✅

Clan-Obsessed parents - ✅

Used me as a tool for the benefit of the clan - ✅

Sending another person from my clan to spy on me - ✅

Strained relationship with my parents - ✅

Disgusted with my clan - ✅

Most importantly, this dialogue from part 1 episode 129,

Clan? Clan?

Obsessed with the organization, Obsessed with the clan, Obsessed with the name, that’s merely the detestable action that restrict yourself.

I have given up all hope in this worthless clan

Because, people obsess themselves to their clan, a thing so petty, they lose sight of the things that are truly important.

A real change cannot occur under restraints and controls

I confronted my parents with the exact same dialogue (almost 98% similar) in my own native language some years ago. 

I didn’t even know the existence of Naruto series at that time. I was simply shell-shocked by all these similarities with this character. 

And Yes, The moment I heard these dialogues, I knew Itachi, was a good guy, who had a very strong reason for his actions and I instantly knew Sasuke’s revenge will not bear him any happiness. 

It is exactly because of all these striking similarities of myself with Itachi, and my lil’l sister with Sasuke, my family dynamics with the Uchiha family.... I could understand the magnitude of Sasuke’s love towards Itachi. 

And precisely because of that, I could understand Sasuke’s love towards Naruto is not fucking ‘brotherly’ one but something that leans towards Attraction. 

No wonder, Itachi left Sasuke in Naruto’s care. 

Anyways to speak objectively, 

Itachi is an extremely self-sacrificial person whose life is full of pain and miseries but never blames it on the world unlike other Uchiha members like Madara, Obito and Sasuke to an extent.

He did things considering the bigger picture which never benefitted himself in anyway and was willing to go to any extent even at the expense of his own family and his brother’s happiness. That is, Uchiha Clan Massacre and Joining Akatsuki. None of this benefitted him in anyways but he did it anyway, for the village of Konoha.��

His ideals are shockingly similar to Hashirama, Which Sasuke pointed this out and Hashirama acknowledged that Itachi was a better shinobi than he was. ❤️❤️❤️

Now, does this means I support Uchiha clan massacre?

No way. Even Itachi didn’t.

This massacre happened because of the huge clusterfuck from Hiruzen’s incompetence, Danzo’s paranoid arrogance, Uchiha clan’s devious plan to over throw the government by force rather than approaching it in a peaceful way, say, a peace talk or a protest. 

All these people acted on their own self-interest. Itachi and Shisui caught in their whirlpool, bear their burdens and paid for it with their life. Sasuke suffered for it.

But, it’s not the only reason I love this character. It’s because, the moment he decided to massacre everyone, he marked his own death by the hands of his beloved brother. I love people who owns up their mistakes and face the consequences rather than making excuses (even though it’s not entirely his mistake).

Itachi is also the only character in this series who realized his failures on his own without anyone’s interference or Naruto’s Talk-No-Jutsu. 

And he apologized for everything he did to Sasuke.

Again, some hardcore Sasuke fanatics criticize/hate him for torturing their poor ‘Sasuke-Kun’ with his Tsukuyomi. I was like ‘Hmmm...What?’. 

First off, Itachi apologized to Sasuke for not thinking out from his point of view and also for not telling him the truth earlier.

Second off, Sasuke never even blamed Itachi for anything (even he didn’t hold him for killing their parents). If Sasuke himself, forgiven Itachi... Why are his fans being so rabid?

Third off, for all of his supposed ‘crimes’, he paid for it by dying as a disgraceful Madman rather than a Hero who really saved the village. He is someone who should be celebrated like Naruto but instead died proudly as a Traitor of Konoha.

All in all, One of the wonderfully written character I have ever seen in the media. 

Best Moments:

Itachi vs Sasuke (That battle was a pure brilliance and highly emotional especially after knowing the truth. When Sasuke released his Kirin, Itachi showed off his ultimate armour Susanoo like a badass. Seeing Susanoo for the first time gave me chills. No, Sasuke didn’t kill him. Itachi died on his own)

Itachi vs Orochimaru (Man, Itachi may look mellow but when it comes to Orochimaru he is a pure Sass. He screwed that snake up both the times by a wide margin. It seems Uchiha brothers like to fuck up Orochimaru, LOL)

Talk-No-Jutsu’ing Naruto (Geez, Naruto was being completely bratty and was full of saviour complex like he was going to bear everyone’s hatred by himself. I was almost annoyed. Thanks to Itachi, he realised. Probably he is the only character to shut Naruto using his own jutsu)

Izanami’ing Kabuto (Other than Naruto, he is the only character to go out of his way to empathize with a villain and put extreme effort to change him. I think this is why Sasuke loves Naruto, for seeing these similarities??? ).

Goodbye to Sasuke (The first time when he said ‘Forgive me, Sasuke. This is the last’ by poking his forehead and finally closing the distance by butting with Sasuke’s head softly saying ‘I will love you always’.... It always evokes uncontrollable tears in me, no matter how many times I watch it 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭)

HONOURABLE MENTION

Uchiha Obito

God, Am such a sucker for Uchiha guys individually, though collectively as a clan they fucked up big time. I simply couldn’t find the place for him in the top 10. He is a classic example of What Naruto will be like if he becomes a villain?

However, all those horrible stuffs he did just for a girl whom he had a crush on which was never reciprocated seems childish. That’s why I couldn’t put him in Top 10.

And his understandable but weird obsession on Naruto was always enjoyable to watch. 

One cute thing I liked about him was, whatever criminal stuffs he may have done, he was never a cheapskate though. He had every chance to take back Kakashi’s Sharingan to activate his own Susanoo. But he never even thought of such an idea. He was a bad guy. But a good friend, no matter what. 

Pure Baby!!! But lost his way!!!

Best Moments:

Importance of Team Work (’In the ninja world, Those who break the rules are  scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum’. This very legacy he left to Kakashi came to defeat him later. And Naruto follows this motto even today)

Sacrificing his Sharingan (’I am giving you my Sharingan. No matter what the villagers say, you are a great Jonin. Please take it’. Awww!!! Obito. He left his Sharingan which helped Kakashi to complete a jutsu called ‘Chidori’, which is a go-to jutsu of Sasuke)

Thanks for the ask, anon. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this. ❤️

[oneoftheextras]

brother-in-law | one

yandere shota aizawa x reader

masterlist  | tip jar

from the kinktober requests: “skull, grey, 7″

skull - eraserhead (shota aizawa), grey - yandere, 7 - family

(no incest don’t worry, i needed to think of a way for it to be family & not incest)

Part 1 | Part 2

The family dinner was going well. That was until the topic of politics came up and then your father went off on a rant that wouldn’t finish until desert was served.

It was always strange to have the whole family around your large dinner table, and it was even stranger that your parent’s still kept it considering all of their children had since moved out and gone their own ways.

It was the day before Halloween, and your mom had ordered everyone back to your family home for her annual Halloween party. Old and new family friends would be there as well as long lost cousins and second cousins, and even third cousins - there would be an average of 300 people. The house was big enough.

But tonight was close family time, just parents and siblings.

Well, you and the sibling’s partners and children.

You were the second eldest, but even your younger brother was already happily married with a baby on the way. The inevitability of your great aunt asking when you would settle down tomorrow loomed over your head. But for now, you were eyeing up the pudding.

“And that’s my opinion on that” your father finished before plummeting his fork into the desert, whilst everyone was just relieved the conversation was over. 

You went to follow suit but felt something brush against your shin from the other side of the table, looking up at your sister- who sat opposite you and smiled. She must have accidentally kicked you while rearranging herself in her seat.

Hearing your father clear his throat, you turned your attention back towards him, “How about that teaching job of yours, Shota?” your dad addressed the man sitting next to your sister. He wasn’t quite ready for the question to be thrown at him, so he quickly struggled to swallow the lump of pudding he had put into his mouth only moments before.

“It’s good, rewarding as ever” was all he said, he was a man of very few words, often the person that would silently listen to the rest of the room without barely saying a thing.

Normally his long black hair would flow down to meet his broad shoulders, but as this was a, somewhat, formal occasion he had it pulled back into a bun. He often did this to be respectful, although he wanted to hide in his own hair, it was rude for the rest of the room to not see his face. 

Your sister turned towards her husband, in a semi-whisper “Tell him about the move!” she ordered him, Shota tiredly looked at his wife- your sister- as though this topic was something that had been talked about a million times.

“The move?” your mother chimed in curiously, “You’re not getting rid of that lovely house we bought you, are you?” of course she would be concerned when it came to property.

Your sister huffed and crossed her arms “I would never! It’s a lovely house, it’s just-” your sister cut herself off and turned to stare at Shota with a frustrated look.

Oh no. You knew it was all going too well, here comes the yearly argument that makes everyone uncomfortable for the rest of the night.

Shota glanced between all of the faces staring at him in anticipation, “It’s not that big of a deal” he sounded very calm for someone who was receiving a death glare from his wife. “The school has asked the teachers to be closer to the school for security reasons, so I’m renting an apartment elsewhere for Monday to Friday” he explained.

“But we will have to be apart” your sister whined, to anyone else looking into the situation it would seem like your sister was the youngest of you all when she was actually the eldest. She was definitely the most spoiled.

You continued to listen while eating your pudding, everyone else had stopped to gape at the one-sided argument happening opposite you, you weren’t going to let yours get cold.

“To be honest, it’s better for me anyway, the apartment I found is only a short walk from the school, normally I have to drive for an hour” Shota sipped his drink after he spoke. It was obviously something he had no choice over so he wasn’t stressing himself.

There was a quiet that fell around the table, your sister silently eyed every family member as a way to get them to defend her, but Shota was right.

“Where’s the apartment?” your dad asked out of nowhere, Shota put his drink back down on the table and you watched him lick the remaining residue off his bottom lip “Downtown” was all he said.

You felt his eyes fall on you for a brief second, it was so quick there was no way you could be certain that he even looked at you. “Isn’t that near where your apartment is, Y/N?” your dad asked you, suddenly all eyes were on you.

Letting out a puddling-muffled “Uh-huh”, you gazed towards Shota who’s eyes had gone slightly darker. “That’s good, you can keep an eye on her then, Shota” your dad chuckled, “Make sure she’s not getting into any trouble” he finished before lighting a cigar.

 You were about to protest when you felt something rubbing your leg again, it was slower than before and very gentle, you looked directly at your sister but she wasn’t paying you any attention.

“I’m going to get more champagne” she huffed and stood upright, marching away from the table. The rubbing stopped a few seconds too late to be your sister. Nervously, you looked towards the only other person on that side of the table, and he was already staring back at you.

“I’ll come with you, I need to wash up my dishes anyway” you quickly stood and took your plates with you feeling your face start to burn.

You had always found Shota attractive ever since he first started dating your sister a few years ago, but there was nothing you could do about it other than be jealous that your sister found him first.

By the end of the night you were rather sweaty, everyone was starting to make their way to bed so you decided to hop into the shower. It was bad, but while the hot water was running down your face and body, you couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Shota was going to be living a few blocks away from you - alone.

It was wrong to think about him, he was your sister’s husband - your brother in-law. But as long as you didn’t act on anything or tell anyone, it was fine to let your mind drift, right?

When you’d had enough, you wrapped a towel around your body and opened the bathroom door. Your old bedroom was at the end of the hall, opposite the bathroom, and you preferred to get dry in the comfort of your own room. As you passed the doors to your left you heard your dad snoring, surely he hadn’t fallen asleep that quickly.

You glanced down at your watch, which was resting on top of the clothes you were carrying, it was gone 1am - you had been in the shower for over 45 minutes.

Just as you were stood facing your door, you realised that between holding your towel up and carrying your clothes you had no free hand to turn the door handle. At that moment, the door just behind you opened and you heard the faint sound of the floorboards moving.

Immediately, you turned and began to apologise thinking that you’d woken your brother’s pregnant girlfriend - who had previously warned you all about how light of a sleeper she was - “Sorry if I woke you up, I didn’t realise everyone would be-” but it wasn’t her.

“I haven’t gone to sleep yet” Shota said, putting his hands into his pockets after he silently closed the bedroom door behind him, “Oh” was all you said, there was no point in apologising when you hadn’t done anything wrong.

“What took you so long?” he asked out of nowhere, his gaze unmoving from your face as you could feel it heating up. “Just needed to unwind after dinner” you weren’t technically lying, dinner was very stressful.

Shota made an ‘Ah’ sound which told you that he definitely didn’t buy your lie, this man works with children every day, of course he could spot a lie. “What’s the real reason?” he pushed you. Something in his eye told you that he knew, it was probably your paranoia, but his upturned smirk made you anxious.

To change the subject you decided to ask him the first thing that came to mind, “So, where’s your new apartment?” almost immediately he answered you, “The Fitzgerald Estate”. You couldn’t believe what you were hearing, “That’s my apartment block” you replied a little shocked.

“I know” he said, taking a few steps towards you, never breaking eye contact. You stayed put, he was probably moving away from the door so you could talk more freely without risking waking up your sister.

“What floor are you?” you asked before you could think, you weren’t sure you wanted the answer. “Four” he continued to make his way towards you, he was getting a bit too close for it to be socially acceptable so you backed up until you couldn’t any longer, “That’s my floor” you breathed, surely it was all coincidence.

“I know” he said again, you stopped yourself before you asked what number but almost as though he read your mind he said “36″, you were number 37 - he would literally be next door. It was going to be extremely hard for you to put your attraction for him aside when you would be seeing him so often.

“That’s-” “Right next door” you started, but he finished. By this point your back was flat against the cold wood and he was towering over you - so close that his chest was against the clothes you were holding.

“Why? How?” you had too many questions and the smell of him was making your senses weaker, “Like your dad said, I need to make sure you’re not getting into trouble” he lifted his hand to wipe away some water that had trickled from your hair and onto your cheek, his fingers were warm against your skin.

“We’ll be seeing a lot of each other” he whispered in a low voice as he let his hand fall to your side, barely brushing your towel-covered hip but it was enough to make your whole body tense.

Suddenly the door opened from behind you, you stumbled backwards and if it wasn’t for Shota’s arm holding you close to his body you would have fallen. He didn’t let go of you straight away, your chest was heaving up and down from the adrenaline of almost falling mixed in with the intimate position you were in.

Slowly, he released you and allowed you to get your footing, “Sleep well” he commented before turning away to return to his room.

The next day you tried to keep your distance, focusing on the numerous tasks that your mother had set for you all: putting up decorations around the house, organising the furniture to open the room up to look even bigger than it already was.

In almost no time at all, the party was in full force and you had managed to avoid Shota entirely. It gave you time to try and get yourself together, but you still couldn’t get around the questions of how he knew exactly where you lived, you hadn’t told anyone, not even your parents.

You were dressed as a porcelain doll, your hair was in two braids and you had a baby blue dress on. To be honest, you were trying to be as close to Annabelle as possible, but you weren’t that good at make up.

Before the party your mom had gone out of her way to tell you that you had to be social, you were sure that she had noticed you sticking to yourself for the majority of the day. To please her, you decided to join the 50 other people that were dancing to the music.

After a while various family members came up to dance with you and talk, well shout, over the music. It was good for a while, until someone snaked their hand around your waist and turned you to face them, taking your hand in theirs in a traditional ballroom style.

“Shota” you grumbled as a greeting, you felt his chest vibrate as he said your name back to you. “You’ve been avoiding me all day” he stated, he was talking so softly that if he wasn’t leaning into your ear you wouldn’t have heard him over the music. You decided it was best for you not to comment on that and continue to pretend your heart wasn’t beating out of your chest.

“I spent so much time and effort to be here and you repay me by avoiding me?” he continued as he moved you quickly in time with the music, “I wasn’t avoiding you, I was busy” you lied, the second time in the last 24 hours. “Too busy for your neighbour?” you could feel him grinning without even looking at his face.

Somewhere from the crowd of people you heard someone say “Ah, isn’t he a good big brother” and it made you feel sick to your stomach, hearing those words paired with how you were feeling about him.

“Why’s your heart beating so hard?” he continued to hound you with questions in an attempt to get some conversation out of you - you tried to step away from him but his grip on your waist got tighter, making you whimper slightly. 

There was no use trying to lie to him, he could feel your ragged breath against him, dancing with you was the perfect excuse to get closer to you. “You’re making me anxious” you made sure to word it in a way that wouldn’t raise too much suspicion. 

“I’m sorry” he sounded sincere, so you reared your head up to look at his face, “I only want to protect you” as he spoke you noticed the fangs attached to his teeth, “A vampire? Really? How original” you mocked his costume. “And a doll is better?” he shot back at you.

He let go of your hand so he could play with one of your braids, he was so gentle that you genuinely believed that he wanted to protect you, “I wonder what noise you would make if I pulled these” he grinned evilly, you were taken back by his complete change in tone. 

Almost as quickly as he had said it, he slowly started to tighten his grip on your hair until a small moan left your mouth, you were lucky that the music was so loud otherwise the people around you would have heard. “Fuck” Shota breathed and you felt his fingers dig into your back for a second.

You took his moment of weakness to break away from his embrace, you headed straight for the back door, not looking back to see what his reaction was.

Taking a seat on the swinging bench outside, you put your head in your hands and tried to steady your breathing. What the Hell were you going to do?

(if you want a part 2 let me know, I had fun writing this)

Taglist:

@mylife-demonstrates-murphys-law @hereticpriest @enagmaticether @anxiousgoddest @kodzu-ken​ @raine-needs-help @waitwhatsrealityagain​  @multifandomshitblog​

[aestheticaxolotl]

V.I.L.E Headcanons

- Graham “Crackle” Calloway grew up in the poorer slims of Sydnee Australia where his parents struggled on a day to day basis to provide food for their 4 kids, Graham, being the oldest son felt the absolute need to help his parents provide for his three younger siblings. Doubling down in school, and getting the best grades he could (B’s and low A’s) and then diving into work as soon as he got out. -Graham started with small odd jobs until he got a part time gig with a rather cranky old electrician who had no love for anyone in his life. But he took Graham on as an apprentice because the stupid kid wouldn’t leave him alone. To his chagrin, the kid took to the job like a house on fire. This became important when he joine V.I.L.E -Tigress came from a troubled home to say the least. Her mom was an alcoholic and her dad was a blue-collared working class man who would gamble and chase after his dreams while squandering all the families money She resented her parents for these reasons and acted out as much as she possibly could, whether by robbing small stores or beating up younger kids on the play ground

-She started out trying to make a quick buck to help her momma pay the bills, not because she was showing kindness to her mom, but because the land lord had threatened to kick them out one too many times, and kept making lewd comments and suggestions that even Tigress would not allow her mother to take.

-El Topo’s story isn’t the happiest, seeing as his mother moved into America when he was very young, unable to afford to bring her husband and son with her at the time. Of course, El Topo’s father was not keen on being left behind and took his 12 year old son, attempting to smuggle him into America. Sadly, this would not end well seeing as El Topo’s father was shot and killed, and he was placed in foster care, unable to contact his mother.

-El Topo got out of the Foster care system when he was 18 and was homeless for a long time. He lived on the streets in Georgia, the last place his mom was having known working. He did everything he could to find his mom and was devastated to learn that his mother had moved to New York, remarried and had a daughter.

-Le Chevre’s mother died giving birth to him in Paris, France. His father being left alone to raise their one and only son, they had married young and had a baby younger, leaving the young father devastated and entirely loving of his young son. Le Chevre’s young life was full of music and love. His father worked as a caretaker in a French Theater, working up with the lights and the set pieces.    -Young Le Chevre wasn’t as fascinated with the acting as he was with being high up and above the actors, it gave him a feeling of power and meaning while his father proposed that he take lessons to play instruments for the plays. HE did for about a week to please his hard working father, but took the gold star in thievery. To this day he still leaves large amounts of money on his’s father’s doorsteps as thanks for such a wonderful upbriging.

-Dash Harber grew up with a love of fashion and the stylistic life of the rich and famous. His parents, both very wealthy and distant from him, showered their son with gifts and money for doing nothing but existing. His parents ended up sending him away at the age of 15 (At his request) to his aunt “Cookie Booker” so that he could have a better, proper upbringing. 

-Through his ‘Aunt Cookie’, he met the Dear Countess Cleo, who he took a major liking to the Countess, having a childhood crush on her. Cleo found the young gentlemen quiet endearing and took him under her wing, giving him the life he had know that he’d desired at a very young age. This came to bit him in the but when he started working for V.I.L.E. His parent identifying him during a caper and he had to go into hiding for quite a while. (His parents minds were wiped after this incident, as far as they are concerned now, they never had kids).

-Paperstar’s mother was a prostitute in Japan, and gave birth to her from an unknown father. Paperstar was devoted to her mother, even if she was not devoted to her daughter. She was usually there when her mother brought a man home, covering her ears when ever, what her mother called ‘Business work’, started.

-Young Paperstar started stealing from the men who her mother brought home when she was seven, doing this for many years before one man noticed and turned both Paperstar and her mother into the police. This enraged her mother and she disowned Paperstar, leaving the girl alone and vengeful, only wanting to look out for herself. (She might have killed her mom too, I’m still thinking on that one)

-Mimebomb was born in Ireland with their twin brother. When they were young their parents moved them to France. This is where they saw their first ever Mime, their mother had stopped at a shop and 3 year old Mimebomb had wandered off and stopped to watched a man with paint on his face act on a street corner. They realized they were lost and the Mime just... Scooped them up to help them find their mom and twin brother. This REALLY enforced in them that Mimes weren’t scary or freaky. (Their WHOLE family disagrees to this to this day)

-Spoiler, Mimebomb grew obsessed with Mimes and this really worried their parents. They sent him to a Psychologist, one Professor Maelstrom who was doing freelance work. Maelstrom found the phenomena rather interesting and kept track of Mimebomb for a very long time, it was Maelstrom who brought Mimebomb to V.I.L.E and showed them what their true calling was.

-Boris and Vlad.... I don’t have much for them but what I do have is rather... Boris and Vlad grew up in a very unwelcoming community. Russia at the time was very hostile towards outsiders and while their parents (They are not related, family friends in my eyes) had both of them in Russia, they were still not well accepted by their community, often bullied and beaten bloody by other kids, who forced them to clean up the mess after they finished beating them.

-This horrible childhood instilled a rather off form of PTSD and OCD in both of them that leads them to see every mess that a V.I.L.E operative made was something they had to clean up. Somehow, it was their fault and they had to fix and clean and pretend nothing ever happened.

-Cookie Booker is the Aunt of Dash Haber, she ADORES her Nephew and spoiled him rotten when he was a child, basically taking him in when he asked her too. She took great care to raise him the best she could, never having been able to have children herself, an event that let to her husband leaving her and marrying another woman.

-Cookie was also the woman who introduced Countess Cleo to Professor Maelstorm, a very monumental occasion in V.I.L.E history.

-Neal the Eel was just Neal as a kid. His mom and dad were performers in a Circus, a Magician and his Assistant. He used to adore the circus and wanted to be part of it as a contortionist/escape artist. He was bullied for his hypermobility ( similar to double-jointedness, but if it is progressively more serious it can create more problems for someone.) Causing him to end up resenting his upbringing and parents.

When Neal was 16 he began to break IN to prisons and then BREAK BACK OUT with a TON of the criminals inside. This quickly put him on V.I.L.E’s radar and they decided that they really wanted to recruit him. They made the offer and he vowed that he would never be seen as a joke like he was with the circus.

-MooseBoy was not the brightest kid in school, often picked on for being slow or stupid when he was really just a friendly kid with dyslexia. He almost flunked out of school and would have if not for this dorky looking kid who called himself “Otter”. Thus, a tense and rather abusive friendship formed.

-Otterman was the only reason that Mooseboy was able to graduate Highschool. They were a team, he was the brains (Still is) and Mooseboy the brawn (Still is). HE hated the fact that he was smaller and weaker and really took it out on his partner. Their first crime together was breaking into the school and stealing the principal’s desk on a dare.

-Spinkick and his half sister Flytrap have the same father, and different mothers. Their father lived a double life with his paramours only six miles from one and other. This affair was discovered by their moms and the two women ended up murdering their children’s father and then (unironically) falling in love with each other.

-Flytrap and Spinkick’s mothers moved in and the two kids were forced to get along, they ended up really caring about each other and watching each other’s backs and defending each other in school. Their mother’s never got caught by the way, just think about that.

-The Troll never had friends as a kid and met all his good good friends online, including Player (Plot twist?). Player and Troll got along like peanut butter and jelly, becoming a tag team in learning to hack and work with the internet system. The Troll became invested in trying to figure out how to lock down security systems like banks or Jail facilities (Seeing as his father was put in jail for robbing a back and killing a man who tried to stop him).

-This took Player aback and he began to back away from his friendship with The Troll. This didn’t matter to The Troll, he managed to shut down the security system where his father was being kept. This ends sadly due to the fact that his father doesn’t escape, but ends up dying in the break out. This caused him to draw back from people and remain in his room for a very long time.

Thanks for reading my ramble about V.I.L.E Operatives, I’ll be posting one for the Faculty soon!

[archaneanscribe]

Big Girls Cry

I wanted some MinPalla childhood sweethearts, inspired by their mini-alts in FEH. Part of the Archanea Chronicles.

When their mother died, Palla did not cry.

Est was one, but due to their mother’s illness she had seen more of the local midwife and her sisters than she ever did of their mother, so only cried as much as a baby normally cries.

Catria was five, and she cried a whole, whole lot. She gripped Palla’s skirt and wailed, snot and tears dripping down her face. She woke up and cried, and went to sleep crying.

When you’re eight like Palla, you’re a big girl- so that means no more crying. That’s what she reminded herself over and over when the tears threatened, anyway.  She knew Mother wouldn’t agree, would tell her that it’s okay for big girls to cry, that it’s okay for anyone to cry.

But Mother was gone. They had lost Father only a year ago, and now she was gone too.

It was just the three of them.

So she was going to be the best big sister ever, and be super tough. If she cried, they would know that there was a chance things wouldn’t be okay. She was going to work to be so strong that nothing could ever hurt her little sisters ever again.

The captain of the pegasus division of the Macedonian army, Mylla, had always told her she was too young to follow in her mother’s footsteps, that she had a few more years to grow.

But the day after the funeral, her mind had changed. 

First thing in the morning, training lance gripped in hand, Palla approached her again, mouth knit into a tight, determined frown.

“Lass, look-” the older woman began, as always, but now she paused, expression stricken with an emotion that Palla couldn’t yet decipher, “That’s quite the face you're making. Not the face of a young girl anymore.”

Her grip tightened.

Sighing, the captain’s shoulders slumped, “If you’re so determined, you can train with the Princess. Normally only the royal family start this young, but I suppose she wouldn’t mind a sparring partner her own age. Follow me.”

Her face perked up at the mention of Princess Minerva, “Oh, thank you!”

Of course, she had known about the first princess for some time. Her mother had been the queen’s personal vassal before both their deaths, so Palla had been told from a young age she would likely inherit a similar duty. She followed close at Mylla’s heels, into the castle walls. Another place she had visited briefly with her mother, but she had never gone through this way, into the royal guard’s training area.

When they arrived, they found a girl who couldn’t be any older than she was having her footing be critiqued by an older man.

“Oi, Odger!” Mylla called out to catch his attention. He turned to look at them, his grizzled but not unfriendly face reminding Palla of her father in many ways. The girl, who she realized must be Princess Minerva, looked at her with curiosity. Maybe she didn’t get to see a lot of other kids?

The man named Odger relaxed his posture, gesturing to Palla, who was overcome with a sudden wave of shyness and hid behind the Captain, “What’ve you got there? New recruit for the guard? A little young, ain’t she?”

Mylla stepped aside and gave the young girl a gentle push, sending her stumbling forward into focus. Mustering her courage, she stood up straight, holding her lance in the way she remembered seeing her mother do when speaking to the late queen, deferential yet confident, “I’m Palla, sir. Atheleys daughter. I want to become a pegasus knight like my mother was.”

He gazed at her impassively, “What if I said you’re not old enough? Isn’t that what Mylla has been telling ‘ya?”

She knew that she shouldn’t say what she was about to, that with the strict way the Macedonian military operated, she could ruin her chances of ever getting a position in the corps, but the repressed feelings from her mother’s passing bubbled to the surface as she replied, heatedly, “I would say that I am old enough. I watched my Mother my whole life. Give me time and I’ll surpass everyone!”

For a moment following their outburst, there was silence, but it was quickly followed by raucous laughter from Odger, who pat his belly jovially, “Careful talking to yer superiors like that, little lady! If I was anyone but a retired knight turned combat instructor, there'd be some real consequences,” he calmed down, settling his face into a soft smile, “I see you’re truly serious. It won’t be easy, and you won’t get any special treatment- just like this one here doesn’t.”

The Princess nodded gravely.

“Show up tomorrow at sun up, and be ready. I won’t be teaching you the basics.”

“Thank you, sir! I’ll do my best!”

---

He was serious when he said it wouldn’t be easy. Every evening when she came home to her sisters, it was in a state of exhaustion and ache, every muscle complaining at once.

That doesn’t mean she wasn’t enjoying herself.

Every lance swing, every knee scrape, made her feel closer to her mother, which in turn made her stomach churn less when Est looked up at her and called her “Mama!” before being corrected,

And, of course, there was her training partner.

Princess Minerva was a serious girl, in much the same way Catria seemed poised to become. There was a look on her face that Palla knew meant she planned to be a fighter her whole life, and that this training was not just exercise- but might one day keep her alive. 

But if you got her talking about her brother, baby sister, or the pegasus she had been working with, it was an entirely different story. Her eyes would light up and she would laugh and swing her arms around recounting the story of the way her little sibling finally said her name for the first time.

“She can only call me ‘Min’ right now,” she recounted as they took a break to eat some lunch, smiling as she wiped some crumbs off her face, “But the nursemaid told me that in a few months she will likely be able to say my full name.”

“I remember when Catria used to call me ‘Pal’,” Palla replied, swallowing her bite of bread, “Its’ nice that you’re a big sister too. I get lonely sometimes when I only get to see my sisters.”

Minerva nodded, “I understand. I love my brother and my sister, but I enjoy speaking to someone close to my own age. Father said it would be good for me. He wants me to be strong, but,” she leaned in conspiratorially, “He’s actually nice. Him and my brother can be scary, but they’re both very kind.”

Palla giggled, “My mother was the same way. Everyone said she was so serious, but she always played with me and read me lots of stories.”

“...do you miss your mother very much?”

Her head snapped up at this abrupt question to look at Minerva, who was turned away to hide her face, “I miss my mother.”

She sometimes forgot that the Princess had lost a parent as well, “...Yes. I miss her a whole lot. But,” she reached out to pat her companion’s knee, “I’m doing just fine! I’m going to be just as strong as she was. So you don’t have to worry about me!”

Because she was a big girl! Big girls didn’t think about their mother and cry into their pillows, or want to scream whenever they saw someone holding their mother’s hand!

Minerva moved to face her now, face twisted in confusion, looking like she had something to say but just didn’t know the right words, “Palla, I-”

“Times up, kiddos!” Odger’s voice shattered the tense atmosphere between them. So the conversation was left behind- but not forgotten.

---

It was many months later, nearing Palla’s tenth birthday, that Minerva stopped her before she headed home. The sun was setting and it’s final rays were streaming into the open area of the royal training area. Odger had already left, so it was only the two of them.

“Palla.”

“Yes, Lady Minerva?”

Minerva’s hand was on her wrist, holding her in place for the ensuing silence, before the Princess finally gathered her courage, “I was thinking about... when we get older.”

“When we get older?”

“Yes,” she took a deep breath, and spoke in that serious, assured tone she always did, “We should get married. That way, I can always make sure you’re not lonely or sad.”

Palla’s eyes widened, cheeks reddened, and jaw dropped, “Married!?”

Minerva’s face twisted like it had that day nearly a year ago, but this time, she was able to voice her thoughts, “When you leave, my heart hurts, because I know that you are sad- you always smile when you come here, but there are times I see you nearly in tears. The thought of you being lonely makes me quite angry. I want to make sure you’re always actually happy. Marriage seemed like the easiest way to do that.”

This never happened in any of her mother’s storybooks. There was usually an epic adventure and love story before the princess decided she was to defy her station and be with the knight she loved. 

And they usually weren’t nine years old, either.

However, the offer made Palla’s stomach warm. Minerva was strong, and reliable. She never expected Palla to be more than she was- just a girl her own age, a peer, a friend. Sometimes she even thought that it might be okay to share how she really feels to her, to open up, to... to cry. Even though she was a big girl. 

She thought that maybe, she didn’t have to be a big girl around Minerva.

“You mean it?”

“Yes. I want to make you happy.”

The tears started coming down, and big girl Palla was gone. All that was left was Palla- a not-quite-ten year old child who missed her mother, and just wanted to be a kid. The quiet crying quickly became hiccuping sobs, dragging her forearm across her eyes to dry the deluge as it came.

“I’m,” she sniffed loudly, “I’m lonely! I love my sisters, but I want my mother! I want my father! I want someone to take care of me sometimes too!”

In a flash, she felt a pair of arms around her, and realized slowly that she was being hugged by the taller girl. It was an awkward, unpracticed hug, but it was the first time she had been hugged by someone bigger than her in nearly a year. It wasn’t Catria or Est hugging her leg before they scurried off to play, it was a warm, enveloping hug that made her feel safe.

“I will take care of you. We can be together always. Father tells me that one day I shall get to be in charge of my own unit, and you can be in it. And we can get married. That way you’ll always know I will be there for you.”

Sniffling weakly now, she squeezed back tightly, “Thank you. I’ll do my best to get as strong as you so I can stay by your side.”

They stayed like that for a moment, the setting sun now having almost fully retreated, casting them in the cool darkness of the early night. In the back of her mind, Palla knew that Minerva was probably beholden to whatever marriage promises her father makes for her, but she couldn’t get herself to care.

Not when she could finally, finally, be herself.

---

It was thirteen years later when they were actually wed.

Of course Palla’s doubts had been correct at the time. The king had just laughed at his daughter, pat her head, and sent her on her way. He had several marriage contracts in talks with other kingdoms even at that time, so as much as he loved his daughter, one freedom he hadn’t planned to allow her was romance.

But, of course, before any of them could come to fruition, his life was snuffed out by his own son.

Over the years, Palla kept her promise, and was the first pegasus knight assigned to Minerva’s unit, later followed dutifully by her younger sisters and becoming the Whitewings that were known far and wide. Together, the two women had fought two wars, overcome adversity in all its forms, and a childhood friendship became... more.

So when Minerva renounced her claim to the throne, and wandered the land helping the war restitution with her own two hands, Palla followed suit. Their marriage was a small affair, done in the halls of Lena’s convent by the woman herself. It wasn’t for the public’s eye- it was just for them.

That night, as they curled together in bed feeling a peace that had been out of reach for months, Palla remembered her wife’s first proposal.

“You were ready to marry me at nine years old,” she reminiscenced fondly, enjoying the brief embarrassed tense up from Minerva, “I don’t think I could ever forget.”

“That seemed to me to be the only solution at the time,” she pulled Palla closer, “Everyone was always discussing marriage around me, so I believed it to be the solution to every ‘adult’ problem.”

“You turned out to be right, all these years later. I’m happily married to you, and I never feel lonely when you’re around.”

Minerva placed a kiss on her wife’s forehead, who hummed appreciatively at the gesture, “I did think about asking you again, many times, as we grew up, but by that point I had learned what it truly meant. And glad I am that I waited. I want to give you a peaceful, happy life.”

“And I want the same for you,” Palla replied, more certain than she had ever felt before. Happy tears welled in her eyes, just like they had when they exchanged vows.

And she let them fall.•

[yougobunny]

How many self indulgent headcanons can one person write about one character? Let’s find out!

As a child, Lexi thought that she had a secret power. She didn’t tell anyone about it out of fear--childish, innocent--that if she did, it would be taken away. So she didn’t tell anyone that she had the secret power of summoning lost things back to her.

When her hair brush, the one with the silly banana print and matching banana shaped handle, went missing, she looked high and low, ducking into every room of their little house in search of it. She found it a few days later, tucked in the space between her dresser and the wall. When her favourite plush elephant disappeared at the playground, Lexi had been distraught until several days later, when a pair of road runner siblings came knocking on their front door with Mr Fudge in tow. The older of the two explained that his brother had picked up the plush elephant at the playground and they had been knocking on doors in the neighborhood to find its owner. Lexi’s ma invited the boys in for cookies, but they declined and went off on their way. 

She knew better as she got older, of course, but it was still fun. She imagined a world where nothing was ever truly lost, not really. Someway, somehow, everything she loved would find their way back to her. She believed this even when her ma got into the accident, and she sat in the sterile waiting room with her pa pacing a few feet away and everything was somehow too empty and loud and hea-

Sapphire squeezed her hand. Their laced fingers rested on Lexi’s lap, the weight comforted and anchored her in place.

The doctor arrived just then. Lexi’s pa stopped pacing and was immediately within a foot of the doctor, expectant and desperate and more scared than Lexi had ever seen him before. 

It had been touch and go for a while but her ma had made it. Lexi didn’t tell anyone, not her ma when the doctor let them in to see her, not Sapphire later that night when Lexi stayed over, but she imagined that a part of her--that power she had wielded as a child--had kept her ma with them.

Everything she loved would always find their way back to her. 

*

It happens over and over again. The purse that went missing when she was 14 showed up just shy of her 18th birthday. Her little rose plant couldn’t be salvaged from a nasty aphid infestation and two days later she rescued a wilting potted plant that someone had left out with the rubbish to nurture back to life. Romantic partners came and left and Lexi’s heart sometimes felt like an open window in the midst of summer, always ready for the next. 

Sapphire never left, not until Lexi made her. Even then, even after the harsh words and the angry tears and how absolutely nauseous Lexi had felt when recalling what she had said, a part of her knew that Sapphire would come back to her too in time. 

Then the meteor hit and Lexi woke up in a room where a haggard looking nurse informed her that her parents had found her, and yes they were alive, and yes they will be identified that she was conscious. Lexi heard her, she did, but she also realised that she could hear everything. Hasty footsteps and whirring machinery and the wailing of both sirens and people. The barrage of heartbeats, the ones that were slowing down. Someone was dying. Someone’s heart was slowing down. It was going to st- “-is responding.”

The voice was so familiar and close that Lexi didn’t even think before her name sprouted from Lexi’s lips like a shouted prayer. The nurse in her room jumped, startled by the sound, but Lexi didn’t care. Not when her shouting caused a commotion out in the corridor, not when the door slid open and summoned Sapphire, her scrubs grubby and stained as if she had lived and bled in them. (She’ll say later that she did).

Later. Later. Later, when the clean up starts and Acmetropolis could properly mourn their losses, later, when Lexi gets discharged to her ma’s apartment that had been structurally spared. Later, when Sapphire slept a dreamless, uninterrupted 12 hour sleep for the first time since the meteor. There is time to talk and apologise later. For now, Lexi desperately grabbed at Sapphire as soon as she was within reach and the two girls collapsed against each other. For now, Lexi clutched at her friend and sent out thanks to the universe for bringing her back.

*

Lexi could hear them approaching the surface and had sprinted in the direction long before the others. She was only partially aware of the rest of the team behind her. The only exception was Rev, having passed all of them and was now in waist deep water to haul Duck and Ace to shore. The speedster deposited them to the sandy bank, Duck clambering to his knees amidst heavy gulps of air. Lexi was almost upon them by then, so she didn’t need super hearing to hear Rev gasp, “‘Duck, he’s not breathing.”

(She heard it too. She heard one frantic heartbeat and one disappearing even before they broke the surface.)

“No no no no no,” Lexi collapsed onto her knees on Ace’s other side. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t hear. Ace was so still and silent, it was against the natural order of things. He can’t be dead he couldn’t leave them he couldn’t leave her nonononon- “Move!”

Someone shoved her hard and sent her tumbling backwards onto the sand. She would have yelled, but the person who had shoved her back was Duck. His own breathing was still erratic, his limbs still weary, but Duck had two fingers under Ace’s chin tilting his head up and he breathed into his mouth and Lexi remembered. She remembered. Duck knew CPR. 

(So did she. So did the rest of them. But the terror had frozen her limbs in perpetual inaction and she hated it.)

Duck started compressions, fingers interlocked over Ace’s chest and counting each pump. He was working on muscle memory, so even with the panic rolling in his chest his movements were calculated. “Come on Ace, don’t do this to me bud. You gotta breathe.” Duck braced himself better and continued. 

“Lexi, can you hear a pulse?” Duck asked, breathless.

“Nothing,” Lexi's throat felt hoarse, but she steeled herself, “Let me take over.”

Duck nodded, sitting back onto his heels and letting Lexi take his place. His own breathing had barely evened out when he had started, and judging by the searing pain in his wrist he must have injured it while underwater. The pain while he had worked on Ace was excruciating, but he had to do something.

Lexi’s movements were far more erratic than Duck’s, but she had the technique down just right. “Ace, fuck, you can’t do this.” He felt too still, too cold, under her hands, and she fought the bile that rose in her throat and pressed down into his chest. There was a crack as bone gave way under pressure, and Lexi kept going even as the tears come because no this can’t be happening come back come back come bac-

Ace’s chest heaved under her hands and he coughed. Duck reached around, helping Lexi roll him onto his side as a deluge of murky water expelled from his lungs. Lexi rubbed his back, bent over with exertion and relief that made her light-headed. 

(Later, Duck will half-joke that his kiss had brought Ace back from the dead.)

Lexi clutched her own chest and let out a long, exhausted breath. The things she loved tended to come back to her, and Lexi would fight tooth and nail to claw them back to her if she had to.

[bookcoversalt]

Have you noticed the latest edition of Charlie Bowater can only draw one (1) face? She did The Princess Will Save You and Cast In Firelight both YA Fantasy set to be released this year. And they are how you say... the same fucking cover

Ah yes so you saw the same tweet I did

I know I literally just posted that we cannot outlaw book covers from looking like each other, but ! Oof!

The only thing that softens the blow here is that Charlie has improved at representing nonwhite features such that characters look like POC rather than tan white people, although,, that bar was low. Anybody remember the ACOTAR coloring book.

(Would you have guessed that 2/3 of these people are nonwhite? Or even that they’re supposed to be three different men? I guess all the men in Prythian have the same haircut?)

But that minor victory is mostly lost in the quagmires of the fact that Charlie’s style is to give everyone instagram face:

I wouldn’t even call this “Sameface” necessarily: that implies limitation, that an artist is only capable of drawing a single facial structure competently. Bowater is incredibly technically talented, she just chooses to give everyone catlike fae eyes and the cheekbones of a starving nymph. (My previous post on this here.)

But I don’t really blame her for that, or for these hilariously identical, nearly devoid of personality covers. Artists are allowed to do whatever they want. Artists who make art for covers are being art directed by designers and marketing teams who bear responsibility for how the finished pieces turn out.

No, this is our fault, as a community and an industry and..... society, kind of, for valuing character portraits that are “pretty” (“pretty” being an extremely loaded, culturally subjective concept) over art that actually Says Something About The Story. Bowater’s style happens to dovetail perfectly with what we currently collectively find pretty, and so we’ve put her art on a pedestal at the cost of everything else art can or should do for our stories.

And this is understandable: in contemporary western culture, pretty is a value unto itself. Seeing our characters portrayed as pretty denotes them as special, as smart, as powerful. It’s almost impossible to de-program ourselves from that reaction. There are approximately five kajillion studies on how beautiful people are at personal and professional advantages; how they’re perceived to be happier, healthier, more successful, and how those perceptions can translate into realities. (Nevermind how thinness and whiteness enter that equation, see above note about “pretty”.) I would love to see more “average” or weird- looking characters abound (and be accurately visually represented) in the YA/ Genre lit sphere, but for now... everyone is pretty.

Which sometimes means everyone is pretty boring.

But that’s just the specific, "What’s the deal with Bowater’s success in book circles and her style and all the sameiness” part of this equation. What if we backed up and asked: why character art at all? Beyond a question of “pretty”-ness (and general obvious Artistic Quality), why do we gravitate towards it, what's the purpose of it, how does it fall flat in a general sense, and how can it be utilized more effectively?

This is something I think about all the time. I follow writers on social media (because..... I am a writer on social media, regrettably), and we have an enormous collective boner for character art. “Getting fanart [of the characters]” is one of the achievement pinnacles constantly cited when people get or want to get published. Commissioning character art is something we reward ourselves with, or save up for (WHICH IS GOOD AND CORRECT. FREE ART IS GREAT BUT DO NOT SOLICIT IT. PAY YOUR ARTISTS). And like???? Same????? We love our stories because we’re invested in our characters. Most humans, even prose writers, are visual creatures to some extent, and no matter how happy we are with our text-based art, it’s exciting to see our creations exist in that form. So we turn that art into promo material and we advocate for it on our covers-- because it’s so meaningful to us! It goes with the story perfectly!! Look at my dumb beautiful children!!!!!

But on an emotional level, it’s hard to grasp that it only means something to us. Particularly when you take into account the aforementioned vast landscape of beautiful visual blandness of many characters (in the YA/ genre lit sphere, that’s pretty much all I’m ever talking about), character art can be like baby photos. If you know the baby, if that baby is your new niece or your friend’s kid, if you’ve held them and their parent texts you updates when they do cute shit, you’re probably excited to see that baby photo. But unless it’s exceptionally cute, a random stranger’s baby photo isn’t likely to invoke an emotional reaction other than “this is why I don’t get on facebook.”

Seeing art of characters they don’t know might intrigue a reader, but especially if the characters or art are unremarkable-looking, it’s doing a hell of a lot more for the people who already have an emotional attachment to that character than anybody else. And that’s fine. Art for a small, invested audience is incredibly rewarding. But like the parent who cannot see why you don’t think their baby is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BABY IN THE WORLD???? I think we have trouble divesting our emotional reaction to character art from its actual marketing value, which.... is often pretty minimal. This is my hill to die on #143:

Character portraits, even beautiful ones, are meaningless as a marketing tool without additional context or imagery. 

I love character art! I’m not saying it should not exist or that it’s worthless! Even art that appeals to only the one single person who made it has value and the right to exist. And part of this conversation is how important for POC to see themselves on covers, whether illustrations or stock imagery, particularly in YA/kidlit. I’m not saying character portrait covers are “bad”. 

I am saying that I have seen dozens and dozens of sets of character art for characters who look interchangeable, and it has never driven me to preorder a book. (Also one character portrait for a high-profile 2019 debut that was clearly just a painting of Amanda Seyfriend. You know the one. There’s nothing wrong with faceclaims but lmfao, girl,,,,)

I’m sure that’s not true for everyone! I am incredibly picky about art. It’s my job. There’s nothing wrong with your card deck of cell-shaded boys of ambiguous age and ethnicity who all have the same button nose and smirk if it Sparks Joy for you.

But if your goal is not only to delight yourself, but to sell books, it’s in your best interest to remember that art, like writing, is a form of communication. The publishing industry runs on pitches: querys, blurbs, proposals, self-promo tweets. What if we applied that logic to our visuals? How can we utilize our character design and art to communicate as much about our stories as possible, in the most enticing way?

Social media has already driven the embrace of this concept in a very general sense. Authors are now supposed to have ~ aesthetics. “Picspams” or graphics, modular collages that function as mini moodboards, are commonplace. But the labor intensity and relative scarcity of character art visible in bookish circles, even on covers, means that application of marketing sensibility to it is less intuitive than throwing together a pinterest board.

Since we were talking about it earlier, WICKED SAINTS, as a case study of a recent “successful” fantasy YA debut, arguably owed a lot of its early social media momentum to fanart.

(Early fanart by @warickaart)

The most frequently drawn character, Malachiasz, has long hair, claws, and distinctive face tattoos. WS has a strong aesthetic in general, but those features clearly marked his fanart as him in a way even someone unfamiliar with the book could clearly track across different styles. Different interpretations of his tattoos from different artists even became a point of interest.

(Art by Jaria Rambaran, also super early days of WS Being A Thing)

Aside from distinctiveness, it's a clear visual representation of his history as a cult member, his monstrous powers, and the story’s dark, medieval tone. The above image is also a great example of character interaction, something missing from straightforward portraits, that communicates a dynamic. Character dynamics draw people into stories: enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers, childhood rivals, platonic life partners, love triangles, devoted siblings, exes who still carry the flame-- there’s a reason we codify these into tropes, and integrate that language and shared knowledge into our marketing. For another example in that vein, I really love this art by @MabyMin, commissioned by Gina Chen:

The wrist grip! The fancy outfits! These are two nobles who hate each other and want to bone and I am sold. 

In terms of true portraits, the best recent example I can think of is the set @NicoleDeal did for Roshani Chokshi’s GILDED WOLVES (I believe as a preorder incentive of some kind?): 

They showcase settings, props, and poses that all communicate the characters’ interests, skills, and personality, as well as the glamorous, elaborate aesthetic of the overall story. Even elements in the gold borders change, alluding to other plot points and symbology.

For painterly accuracy in character portraits on covers, I love SPIN THE DAWN. The heroine looks like a beautiful badass, yes, but the thoughtful, detailed rendering of every element, soft textures, and dynamic, fluid composition form a really cohesive, stunning illustration that presents an intriguing collection of story elements.

The devil isn’t always in the details, though: stark, moody, highly stylized or graphic art with an emphasis on textural contrast and bold color and shape rather than representational accuracy can communicate a lot (emotionally and tonally) while pretty much foregoing realism.

The new Lunar Chronicles covers are actually the best examples I found of this (Trying to stay within the realm of existing bookish art rather than branch into All Art Of Human Figures Forever):

Taking cues from styles more typical of the comics and video game industries.  (Games and comics, as visual mediums, are sources of incredible character art and I highly recommend following artists in those industries if you want to See More Cool Art On Your Timeline.)

TL;DR: Character art and design, as a marketing tool (even an incidental one) should be as unique to your story and your characters as possible, and tell us about the story in ways that make us want to read it. I tried to give examples because there are so many ways to do this, and so many different kinds of art, and I could give many more! But I’m bored now. So to circle all the way back:

These are not just bad because they look like each other, although that is embarrassing and illuminating. These are bad covers (although,,,,, PRINCESS is the far worse offender, at least FIRELIGHT suggests a thoughtful cultural analogue) because a desire for Pretty Character Art overrode the basic cover function to tell us about the story. We get no sense of who these people are, what their relationships are, what these books are about beyond the most general genre, or why we might care. The expressions are vague, the characters generic-looking, the compositions uninteresting and the colors failing to be indicative of anything in particular. 

They’re somebody else’s baby pictures.

(And yes, that’s the CRUEL PRINCE font on PRINCESS. I better not have to do a roundup post but it’s on thin fucking ice.)

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

If Fates' child mechanics could be improved, story wise, what would you do? Because I do genuinely love the kids as characters but they were done DIRTY by the excuse plot and reasons for them to be there.

That reminds me of something else I’ve meant to say about how the Fates child mechanics really really doesn’t work. Actually several things, one big one and a bunch of other little ones.

It’s obvious that the thought process was “well, people liked Awakening and Awakening had XYZ, so let’s add it in again!” without taking into account that Awakening built its story around time travel. Even if you didn’t get any S-supports, Lucina is still there. It’s a major plot point. Grima is still there, also having time-traveled. You can’t separate the time travel from the main plot, so from there it’s natural that Lucina would have some friends who came back with her, and thus you get the kids.

We’ve discussed how Fates’ baby dimension is silly. Yeah hang on let’s all just have kids during a war and throw them into an Outrealm pocket dimension where they’ll grow up real quick and we can have more soldiers for our army. If a tree falls in a forest and nobody’s around to hear it - if a situation so fantastical happens that it couldn’t have been written about in any human rights documentation, is it still a war crime? Several other issues I have with it before I get into the big one I wanted to talk about:

Even if we presume that the ladies are spending the duration of their pregnancy also in a pocket dimension where time passes differently in relation to the outside world, that’s still the equivalent of nine months that they are experiencing. That’s (equivalent to) several months that they’re not going to be able to train when the pregnancy is far along or when they’re recovering. Even if it seems like just a few days passed outside, they’re physically going to be lagging behind where they were when they entered the outrealm. 

Azura and fCorrin would do that twice.

After they yeet the first of their female friends into a pocket dimension off the astral plane so that she can time-lapse her pregnancy, you would think that someone in the army would figure out some sort of birth control spell/concoction/herb/something so that they don’t have to worry about this again. That’s just good common sense, something we know Corrin lacks, but somebody else surely would suggest it. I feel like Camilla would have that under control - not to insinuate like that she’s a slut or something, but I mean that her older sister vibes tell me that she has the knowledge and supplies to dump on her three younger siblings to inform them how to have relationships safely without fear of unwanted children “and if anyone tries to pressure you otherwise, tell me and I’ll cut their head off” ;3c. She’s like that, I think.

And then the other big and uncomfortable problem with this setup is: some of the character ages.

Like, in Awakening, you’ve got Donnel, Ricken, and Lissa who seem the youngest. Depending on Robin’s gender and how the pairings fall, I think you could end up with two unmarried guys, so you could just have Donnel and Ricken not have children, but if you want to get every character you’ve got to have Lissa get married. I put her at 16/18 during the two parts of the game. Not a great age to have a kid at - but the thing about Awakening’s time travel is that she’s not having a kid at that age. Owain’s from the future, and the only child born during the events of the game is Lucina. It still felt a little weird to see those younger ones getting married, Lissa might be getting a ring now from someone just as young as she is (in the middle of a war) but kids are still years off. That...somewhat lessens the discomfort.

And then. sigh. then there’s Fates. Where no pocket dimensions and strange flow-of-time can get around the fact of character ages, because their children might be growing up fast but they are not from the future. Those kids are born during the course of the game. And like! Elise and Sakura! They’re my baby sisters! I don’t want my baby sisters to be teen moms during a war! That’s just weird and gross and uncomfortable! They’re my baby sisters. I want to find my siblings good partners but I’m not going to matchmake for my baby sisters if that’s the result.

So looping all the way back around to your question - I have no idea, honestly. Anything except time travel/coming from an entirely alternate timeline in the future has all of the above problems baked in, and then future-kids is just an Awakening rehash. Like I was about to suggest that it’d be interesting if for Birthright/Conquest, the kids came from an alternate timeline of the other path, where their side lost the war, but firstly that’s just Awakening rehashed again, secondly Corrin spares as many people as possible so we don’t have dead parents, and honestly it’s not even a dark dire future in Awakening. Like for Nohr in Birthright, Leo gets crowned king of Nohr, his kid is going to have no drive to come back and change the past because it’s fine, there’s holes in the family where Aunt Elise and Uncle Xander are missing, but this is not dire enough to need to find a way to change fate. And thirdly, for the few characters who do die - since we’re using Birthright as the example, Elise and Xander - that would mean that their kids were born before the end of the route, which runs into that same Elise problem! If you wanted “the kids as refugees from a dire timeline” it’d have to be one where Garon won and then again, just play Awakening for that plot. 

Conceptually I think it’s interesting to draw the kids in from a different timeline where Corrin made the other choice - “Roddy what about Revelation?” I don’t fucking know man - and see how they react to Corrin being on that side, fighting for their country, with their parents, but... then that runs into the problem of spoiling the other route. Like if you played Conquest first and Xander’s kid says he died before they were born, well, that’s awkward. And again, Elise - in Conquest you could pair her with like, Kaze, who was with Corrin the whole time, always on Corrin’s side no matter what, and then that creates a plot hole of it having been literally impossible for that kid to have come from a Birthright-esque timeline because they couldn’t have existed then because Kaze could’ve even died before Corrin reunites with Elise. No, that concept can’t work. Too much potential for plot holes and stretching too weirdly to try and cover it.

I don’t know. I don’t know if you can fix it without becoming an Awakening rehash or turning Fates into something entirely different...which, it’s Fates. Might not be a bad thing to do that.

[sheresh0y]

Gai Bal Manda

A/N: I originally wanted to do a funny fluff piece about how Ezra and Mando found their kids. It eventually took on a life of it's own and has straight up haunted me for weeks. I tried it with every combination of characters and wasn't satisfied until I settled on this. I'm not entirely happy with how this came out, but this piece feels finished where the other felt lacking. So let me know if you like it, or if you have any Chaotic Space Dad thoughts! My inbox is always open! Translations at the end.

Warnings: Adoption talks, found family musings, what is a family? thoughts, light angst, ends happy though!

Word Count: 1912

The Crest was a tight fit for four people, even if they had outfitted some of the closets and nooks for sleeping spaces and some semblance of privacy. The only place one could truly be alone was the fresher and with so many people it wasn’t like you could be in there for long. That’s why Din made sure that the cockpit stayed exactly the way it was. Maybe it was silly, or territorial even, but it helped that people could only be in his sanctuary when they needed to be.

Needless to say, the cockpit was a tight squeeze for four people just like four people was a tight squeeze for the Crest. Maybe that’s why Din was always surprised when Cee willingly came up. She had her own space, the poor excuse of a closet the Crest had made an even poorer excuse of a room, but it was her own space nonetheless. Ezra and Din had both unanimously decided between the of the two of them the kids should have something even if it wasn’t great or normal by any stretch of the means.

The first time Cee joined him topside he thought it would be a one-off. Ezra was probably being long winded and she just needed to escape was he first thought. His usual thought when Ezra rambled. Then she just kept doing it, just sitting there with her notebook and music player, not saying anything. By the third day Din figured she wanted something. Some question she was going to ask or excuse he was supposed to back up when Ezra asked where she was.

Din decided to break the silence on day four, turning his head slightly over his shoulder so he could keep an eye on the controls and Cee, “What are you trying to get out of?”

“Did Ezra say something?” Cee groused, clearly annoyed. “Just because he has one arm doesn’t mean I have to pick up his slack. It was his own fault he lost it.”

“He didn’t say anything to me, no. Should he?” Din was practiced at dancing around topics to get answers to the questions he didn’t want to outright ask, but this felt different. Tense, almost.

“No,” Came the immediate, too quick reply over his shoulder. Din hummed at her answer and turned fully to the controls, deciding that pulling the question from Cee would take longer than waiting her out. Silence spread over the cockpit, not an uncomfortable one on Din’s part. Cee, however, couldn’t stand it. He knew what question she was going to ask. He had to.

Ezra said it was rude to ask and she knew it was, she would be annoyed if anyone badgered her with the question she wanted to ask Mando. As they sat in silence Cee got even more antsy, Keeva had she insulted him? She didn’t mean to, the kid was cute, a little disproportionate between the huge ears and eyes with the tiny body, but sweet.

She just had so many questions, like, was he supposed to get as big as Mando? Was Mando the anomaly? Were they even related? Mando had five fingers while the kid had three so did they sprout new fingers? It didn’t matter if they weren’t, her and Ezra weren’t and no one said anything to them so she should just leave it alone... but she just had to know.

The quiet was getting stifling and Cee knew it was just going to get more weird if she didn’t just spit out the question and let Mando leave her and Ezra on some backwater planet. “He’s yours, right? The kid. So... Why do you have five fingers and he has three?” Keeva, it sounded more stupid than she imagined. Maybe Ezra was right, that she was just going crazy in the long stretches of space.

The staticky huff of what sounded like laughter snapped Cee out of her spiral, “He’s my foundling, I’m quested to return him to his kind. So while he’s mine currently, he isn’t my son. Not biologically.” Maker, that was the question she was so worked up about? Of all the things he was thinking about his foundling wasn’t what he expected.

The air shifted from awkward to something else, something Din didn’t quite have a name for, the tension leaving the room suddenly like a vacuum into space. Cold and distant and sudden. “What happens if he doesn’t have anyone? No family or friends left?” Cee let the question hang in the air, trying to sound more confident then she felt.

She wasn’t lonely, she had Ezra. Ezra wouldn’t ever leave her behind, he didn’t when they were on the Green, or any of the other hundred times it would’ve been easier to. He never complained or made her feel guilty about anything. He never acted like taking on another mouth to feed was an issue for him and he often talked about how their partnership was “a balm for his lonesome soul”.

Besides that, if Ezra ever did want to leave, he could. She had been taking care of herself long before he came around and she could do it again. She didn’t need him to hold her hand through life. She didn’t need anyone.

Watching the emotions play out on Cee’s face made Din realize that he stepped into a minefield he didn’t know existed. Ezra wasn’t Cee’s parent like he originally assumed, she was his foundling and she knew she didn’t have anyone to go home to. Whether or not Ezra knew was something else entirely, he wasn’t entirely clear on how they found each other.

Turning the pilot chair to face Cee directly Din tried his best to explain, “It’s a little complicated on the outside looking in. I’m his guardian, tasked with reuniting him with his own kind, or, raise him until he can swear the creed I have. If he has no one, no family to raise him and I have exhausted all avenues of approach in finding them, then and only then can I adopt him as my own. There is no backing out of it, or not wanting your foundling. It’s a sacred duty to be a buir - a parent.”

While he wasn’t sure if that was what Cee wanted to hear, it felt good to say it out loud. That someday, if he’s lucky enough, he might get to be the womprat’s dad. He would never admit it, not to any other soul living or dead, that he was thinking of adopting his foundling. He couldn’t, for many reasons. One being that whole quested business, he couldn’t stop looking for the kid’s kind. If he did then he would be going against The Creed, he would be dar’manda. The second was that the kid’s powers were growing more and more. He couldn’t help the kid with training and finessing his powers, the kid needed the Jedi more than Din needed the kid.

Silence enveloped the ship as Mando paused in his explanation. Cee was looking anywhere but Mando, feeling like she had been stripped raw, like he had seen right through her question and put her insecurities on display. Mando knew she wasn’t asking about the kid. “You can adopt anyone, even adults. At least in Mandalorian culture. It’s called gai bal manda. You have to say, ‘I know your name as my own’ and then their name.”

Din turned the pilot seat back to the controls and left their conversation at that, she could do whatever she wanted with that information. Twisting the information over in her mind Cee wondered if Ezra thought it was dumb, they were already partners why was there a need to make a fuss over it. And on the other hand, could she? Family was obviously sacred for Mando and his people, was this vow something she could do or would it be sacrilege for her to try and piece together a family? Was she replacing her family? No. She wasn’t, right? Her mom was her mom just like her dad was her dad and Ezra was her... Ezra.

There wasn’t a name for what Ezra was to her, he annoyed her like a sibling, offered advice like a parent, supported her like a friend. Sitting in the Crest it hit Cee like a speeder, that family was supposed to be people in your corner. People you trust. Ezra was family and had been for a while now.

-

Leaving Mando in the cockpit to eat supper, Cee joined The Child and Ezra in the belly of the Crest. “You doing okay, Birdie? Got your pondering face on,” Ezra prodded. He knew that she had been hanging around Mando the past few days, he didn’t have a problem with it but he was curious about what they had been talking about for her to look so solemn. Cee spun the spoon around in the bowl, not entirely sure how to bring up what she was thinking about without Ezra laughing at her so she elected to stay silent.

Studying her for a minute longer Ezra decided to take it upon himself to lift her spirits or annoy it out of her. Lucky for him, the execution was the same: talking to her. Ezra knew he could be long winded when he wanted to be so he launched into his dealings for the day. Taking inventory, talking to the kid, cleaning the thrower, making dinner since it was his turn tonight, and how ‘thank you’s would be very much obliged. He was about to get into an overly detailed explanation of how ration packs were dehydrated when Cee finally cut him off.

“What does family mean to you, Ezra?”

The wind felt like it was knocked from his chest right then. Like someone had gotten a lucky punch into his solar plexus. “Well... I guess... Family to me would mean you, Birdie. Someone who’s got your back even when you don’t deserve it. Or at least, feel like you don’t deserve it. If I may ask, what brought this on?”

Cee shrugged trying to look nonchalant about the whole thing as she admitted to asking Mando about The Child. Ezra huffed in good natured annoyance rolling his eyes, “I told you it was rude to ask. Never one to listen, but that’s okay, I’m not either. Since you already did the prying, it’s only fair you tell me what new information you gleaned about our crewmates.”

Cee simplified what Mando told her, about the foundling and adoption process. Ezra hummed as wiped The Child’s face with the corner of a rag, not quite knowing where to go from there. Did she want Mando to adopt her? Did she want a normal family? Ezra wasn’t sure what to say as he sifted through those thoughts. If she wanted their partnership to end he would take her to any planet, any system she desired. He hoped she knew that.

“It’s really simple, actually, and anyone can be adopted. According to Mando even adults can be.” Ezra wasn’t sure if she was being vague on purpose or if he was being set up to be pranked but he leaned into whatever plan she had willingly. “What, pray tell, does this adult adoption look like Birdie?” He was finally able to catch her eye across the crate that was their designated table.

“I know your name as my own, Ezra.”

Translations:

Buir: Father, mother, parent

Dar'manda: a state of not being Mandalorian - not an outsider, but one who has lost his heritage, and so his identity and his soul - regarded with absolute dread by most traditional-minded Mando'ade.

Gai Bal Manda: Literally meaning "name and soul" it is the Mandalorian adoption vow. In Mando'a it is "ni kyr'tayl gai sa'ad" and based on the translation and source can either mean, "I know your name as my own" or "I know your name as my child". I had Din just give Cee the English translation since she or Ezra wouldn't know Mando'a, but she needed something since she was feeling pretty adrift in this piece.

[subtlehysteria]

Do you have any advice on writing a healthy romantic or platonic relationship? I want to make sure they’re not codependent and I found sources, but don’t know how to implement them.

Oh wow, first off thanks for the question! I can’t say that this applies to everyone when they write relationships between people but these are some of the things I’ve sort of cultivated and specialized in during my time as a writer so I hope they can help you as well.

The Two Most Important Things

When it comes to writing healthy relationships, whether they be romantic or platonic, two things are always very important: trust and communication.

Trust

If you’re writing a romance that’s developing you want to be able to show how the characters have earned each other’s trust. It can happen slowly, through small acts of kindness or it can be this big bang boom moment of “Oh my word, you’re doing this for me?” When a character starts to recognize another’s actions they also start asking themselves why. Why is this person so nice to me? Why are they so supportive? Why are they the first person I want to call or feel the most comfortable around? And when your character starts answering that very important why, that’s when the realization hits.

I love writing a character’s big “ah-ha” or “oh” moment when they realize just what their love interest means to them and all the little signs that have built up over the course of their relationship that has lead up to that moment of realization. It’s especially important for characters with troubled pasts. Maybe they’ve dated one too many abusive partners. Maybe they have abandonment issues because a parent ran out on them. Or maybe they’re simply scared of something more. Whatever the case, their “ah-ha” moment is very vital for the relationship arc as it becomes the first step of them accepting this person into their life. But! It can also be tied into their character development arc. For example, the person who always has their walls up finally lowers them for their romantic partner, and in doing so, starts letting others in too which allows for them to make more meaningful connections with others, both platonically and maybe even with estranged family members.

With platonic relationships or healthy sibling relationships, I try to show that whilst these individuals might be vastly different or not always agree on everything they are still there for their friend/sibling when they’re needed most. I don’t talk to my sister every day and don’t share all of her points of view on certain things, but if she were to phone me crying saying she needs me I would drop everything and go to her straight away because at the end of the day I care for her and I want her to be happy.

Things like teasing, bringing up inside jokes or embarrassing moments, soft touches and kisses, both romantic and platonic ones, are also small things to include in interactions that show closeness between two people. It obviously depends on your characters though. If one of your characters is touch-averse then their partner or friend/sibling making them their favourite hot drink or putting on their fav TV show for comfort can work just as well as cuddling on the couch and hugs.

Communication

With communication, your characters don’t need to spout all of their feelings all of the time. It’s more knowing the fact that when you are ready to talk about something that you can go to your partner/friend/sibling and know that they will listen. On the flip side, the partner/friend/sibling perhaps knows that the person struggles to talk about personal things/feelings and so creates a safe space for them to do so. Sometimes simply saying “I’m here if you want to talk,” is enough.

Helping someone find their words or reach the point where they can speak freely is something that needs a lot of trust and work, especially for new romantic partners or maybe siblings who have never been close growing up. That moment where you can finally talk about something that’s been weighing you down or simply been bubbling up inside you but you never knew how to say it until now, with this specific person, is a result of hard-earned trust.

The “Something Special”

What’s also really nice is creating something special between the two people. By that I mean perhaps a couple having a special place they only know about and visit when they want to get away from the hustle and bustle of life, or perhaps a ritual like siblings having sleepovers or spa days when one or both are having a tough day. Maybe it’s getting frozen yoghurt and sitting outside no matter the weather to people watch. Maybe it’s making up stories about strangers on public transport. Maybe it’s feeding ducks in the park or screaming your lungs out at an abandoned beach. Whatever the activity, it’s theirs and that’s what’s most important.

Co-Dependency

Being co-dependent is mostly seen as being unhealthy and with good reason. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t use it as a plot device to help a character develop. Perhaps a plot B arc can be two siblings realizing they need to learn to stand on their own rather than being so dependant on one another. Or maybe a couple who loves each other realises that they can’t move forward as better people until they confront their co-dependency. Sometimes co-dependency can be “good” (and I’m using inverted commas for a reason).

For instance, two characters, whether they be romantically or platonically connected, can support each other like no others can because they’ve experienced similar trauma - maybe they both went to war, maybe they both lost someone important to them through a horrible accident. Whatever the case, sometimes it’s only someone who has experienced what you have experienced that can provide the comfort and help you need. It might not always be seen as healthy by outsiders but for those two characters it just makes sense and it works.

A good example of this is Neil Josten and Andrew Minyard from the All For The Game book series. They’ve both experienced severe trauma in their lives, Andrew being a rape victim and Neil having grown up on the run with an abusive mother. From an outsider’s perspective, their relationship can be seen as co-dependant and maybe even unhealthy but for them it works because they understand each other on a level no one else ever can. They know how to accommodate for one another’s trauma through, you guessed it, hard-earned trust and communication.

This obviously isn’t always the case and taking on a plot arc like that can be tricky and is something that needs to be done with care and a lot of research. But when it’s done right, wow can the results be astounding and profound.

So, I hope this helps and has given you few ideas about writing healthy relationships. Thank you for the lovely ask!

[searchingwardrobes]

I’ve been thinking all day about this post that I saw and reblogged about Snow’s desire to have another baby and how that hurt Emma. While it is completely understandable for Emma to feel that way as the lost girl that she is, I don’t think Snow is evil or a bad mother to want another baby. I’ve even read fics where people delete the birth of Snowing’s son altogether, seeing them having another child as a betrayal of Emma. I disagree completely. It isn’t them having another child that is problematic, it’s the way it was written in the show. Snow’s words in the echo cave that what she has with Emma isn’t what she wanted is a poor choice of words, but as a mother myself, I get what she was trying to say. Every mother wants to experience all the special moments as their child grows: the squishy baby against their shoulder, the first steps and words, the gap toothed six year old smiles - all of it. It’s what’s so tragic about the curse and what it did to Snowing and Emma. Snow having another baby doesn’t mean she’s “replacing Emma” because, by that logic, every mother who has more than one child is a bad person. Every mother who has a baby after losing a child is a bad person. That’s ridiculous. Any mother will tell you that ten babies can never replace the one you lost (or the ones you have for that matter). And if the Snowings should never have children as some sort of penance for giving Emma away, then by that logic, Captain Swan should never have children either because Emma gave up Henry.

Soooo, the problem isn’t Snowing having another baby. It’s the show’s writers doing Snowing dirty time and again by sweeping Emma’s emotions under the rug and having David and Snow cater more to Regina than their own daughter. We’ve heard the shows creators and writers use the excuse that they didn’t have time. Well, it wouldn’t have taken much. Dozens of little moments could have done the trick, they just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities they had to include them. So here are some quick scenes I wrote that either tweak canon or add to it and fix what the writers botched. These are written like scripts because I just needed to get them out of me. If anyone is inspired to use these as prompts for fics, feel free!

In Neverland:

Snow: If you can’t leave this place, then I’m staying with you. I’m not losing you again.

Charming: No, you can’t do that, Emma needs you.

(tears fill Snow’s eyes)

Snow: You’re right.

Charming pulls her close

Charming: I have hope that you and Emma will find a way to bring me home. We always find each other, remember?

Later, Emma is alarmed that they are leaving her dad behind. Snow takes her face in her hands.

Snow: We’ll find a way to bring him home - together.

Emma and Snow have a conversation in 3B ( did they ever get this chance in canon? I don’t think they did.)

Snow: (rubbing her belly) I get the sense that this is bothering you.

Emma: Why would it bother me?

Snow: (touching Emma’s arm) You can tell me.

Emma: I know it sounds silly, but I feel like . . . like I’m being replaced. (her voice hitches)

Snow: Oh sweetheart, we always knew we wanted you to have siblings. You could never be replaced.

Emma: But in the echo caves, you said I wasn’t what you wanted.

Snow: (eyes widening) Oh baby, no! That’s not what I meant at all. I meant that being separated from you wasn’t what I wanted - as a mother. We deserved so much more than we had - you deserved so much more. I wanted a chance to hold a baby, see his first steps, hear his first words. I’m sure you understand.

Emma: (chokes on a sob) I do, actually. I wanted all that with Henry, but I knew he needed more than I could give. And the worst part is, these false memories of raising him? Now they’re torturing me.

Snow: (pulls Emma close and holds her) I put you through that wardrobe because I had no idea what the curse would do.

Emma: (chokes out laugh) I would still be a baby now, for one.

Snow: (pulls back and cups Emma’s face) And who knows if Regina even would have let us be together. Your father was in a coma in the hospital. I shudder to think where my precious baby Emma would have been. (She presses her forehead to Emma’s.) Nothing could ever replace you, not now, not ever. Do you hear me?

(Emma nods and smiles through her tears.)

While Charming and Emma are putting together the crib, Snow gets quiet and wistful, then tears fill her eyes.

Snow: You were supposed to be so much younger when it was time to get ready for a new brother or sister.

Emma: (pauses in what she is doing to give her mother a watery smile) I know.

At the naming ceremony:

Snow: David and I thought about all of the many people who have loved us and supported us over the years. There are two special people who have not only been our friends, but also sheltered me when I needed a home. (chuckles) And didn’t hold it against me that I was hiding in their barn stealing their eggs. So we would like to introduce: Prince Lucas!

(Ruby and Granny gasp tearfully, then rush over. Ruby hugs Snow tightly and Granny gently takes the baby.)

Granny: Well, now that he has a name, I can finally finish that baby blanket.

(The crowd in the diner laughs.)

(Now Emma doesn’t have to be reminded of her painful past/awful ex every time she says her brother’s name.)

Emma realizes she’s made her baby brother’s bottle start boiling - ignore my alliteration :) - all the other mothers in the mommy & me class gasp or recoil, but Snow reaches out gently to her daughter.

Snow: It’s okay, Emma.

Emma is freaked out that she could have hurt her brother and runs from the room while Snow shouts after her, frantically getting LUCAS (not Neal) into his stroller so she can go after her. This sufficiently establishes the fear Emma has that she will hurt her family or push them away - Snow recoiling wasn’t necessary just as it wasn’t necessary for Hook or Henry to recoil from Emma to convey the plot point.

Instead of teaching Regina to dance:

Snow: (in her chambers, sees her husband rushing to leave) Where are you going?

Charming: I just realized I never got a chance to teach my daughter to dance, (harkening back to the dream he had in 3b - HELLO writers!) and this is her first ball.

Snow grins at the excitement on his face and in his voice and rushes out with him, baby LUCAS in her arms. But when they get to Emma’s chamber, the door is ajar, and they see someone has beat them to it:

Hook: It’s a waltz Emma, remember? You’ve done this before, and splendidly I might add.

Emma: You did it splendidly, you mean. Remember, pick a partner who knows what he’s doing?

(Hook laughs, and in the doorway, Charming deflates, smiling sadly and wistfully.)

Charming: (whispering to his wife) I forgot, this isn’t her first ball after all, and she already has a teacher.

(Snow touches him in a comforting way. Across the room, Hook looks up and sees them. He catches Charming’s eyes, and a look of understanding crosses his face.)

Emma: Besides, there will be other dances besides, waltzes, right? How will I learn those in only a few hours?

Hook: Well, love, I believe reinforcements have arrived. Someone else would like a dance.

(Emma looks up as her father approaches, a smile beaming across her face. Charming is visibly choked up as he takes Emma in his arms to dance. Hook and Snow exchange emotional smiles.)

Snow: And after the dancing lessons your mother is going to help you get dressed and do your hair.

Emma: (pretending to be embarrassed) This isn’t the prom.

Snow: No, but it is our first ball together. (She’s choked up - they all are.)

In addition to these, I believe the writers should never have done the “darkness was taken out of fetus Emma” storyline. I could write an entire post on this, but all I will say here is that it harmed Snowing’s established characters and did further damage to their relationship with Emma. For no reason at all, really. (And does Emma really seem like a pure snowflake with no darkness in her? Does that even fit her character? Please.)

They also never should have added the plot point in season 6 that Snowing could have gone to little girl Emma and chose not to. Why in the world would them going to her prevent the curse from breaking? That makes no sense! They could have raised her from that point, preparing her for her 28th birthday, when they could have all returned to Storybrooke TOGETHER to wake everyone else up from the curse. The only reason that couldn’t happen was - plot. You change the entire show. So why even include this plot thread? It did nothing but make Snowing look like bad parents. I’m a mama, and let me tell you, nothing would be keeping me from my kid, curses be damned. I would have gone through that portal in a heartbeat, telling Rumple, “we’ll figure it out, see ya!” So - yeah - never should have included this. And Emma’s reaction to this revelation? Completely out of character! Ugh!

Um, so there ya go - “How the show could have been better” by Melanie. 

And reading back over this, it’s kind of a mess, but I just had THOUGHTS that needed to come out.