#like mom doesn’t want her daughter to have her fathers political views

[jukeboxsweethearttt]

obsessed w sugar daddy rafe !

how would it go when he meets her family ? 🫢

Dreams

OlderSugarDaddy!Rafe x Fem!Reader

Sugar Daddy Rafe credits to @starfxkr ofc💋

cw:very large age gap and kinda of unsupportive parents at first but that’s all!

Rafe had always been the epitome of sophistication and charm since he’s matured and greyed, and you couldn’t wait for him to meet your family.

Despite your excitement, a part of you was nervous. You knew the age gap between you and Rafe was very apparent and might be a point of concern for your parents, who were protective and traditional in their views.

But Rafe, ever the reassuring partner, held your hand as you drove to your childhood home, his presence calming your nerves.

As you pulled up to your parents’ house, the familiar sight brought back a rush of memories. Rafe gave your hand a gentle squeeze. “Everything will be fine, sweetheart,” he said softly, his eyes full of warmth. “We’ve got this.”

Your parents greeted you with open arms, their smiles genuine but tinged with curiosity and slight apprehension as they eyed Rafe. After the initial pleasantries, you introduced Rafe properly. “Mom, Dad, this is Rafe,” you said, your voice steady. “The man I’ve told you so much about.”

Your mother, always the more expressive one, was the first to respond. “It’s nice to meet you, Rafe,” she said, her smile polite but cautious. Your father nodded, his expression reserved as he studied Rafe.

Over dinner, the conversation was stilted, each topic seeming to circle back to subtle probes about your relationship. Your mother finally voiced the question that had been hanging in the air. “Rafe, how old are you?”

Rafe, ever composed, smiled gently. “I’m fifty-two.”

Your parents exchanged glances. Your father cleared his throat, his tone measured but firm. “And our daughter is twenty-one. That’s quite a significant age difference, don’t you think?”

You felt a wave of tension wash over the table. “We’re aware of that, Dad,” you interjected, trying to keep your voice steady. “But age isn’t what defines our relationship.”

Rafe placed a comforting hand on yours. “I understand your concerns,” he said, addressing your parents directly. “Age can be a difficult thing to accept, but I assure you, my intentions with your daughter are genuine. I love her deeply and am committed to building a future with her.”

Your mother’s expression softened slightly, but your father remained stern. “We just want what’s best for her. How can we be sure that you, being so much older, can provide that?”

Rafe’s gaze was unwavering. “I understand your protectiveness. I would feel the same way if it were my daughter. I can only assure you that I am here for the long term. I want to make your daughter happy and support her in every way possible.”

After dessert, your father asked Rafe to join him on the porch for a private conversation. Your heart pounded as you watched them step outside, but Rafe gave you a reassuring glance before following. Your mother, sensing your anxiety, squeezed your hand. “He seems like a good man,” she said softly. “But you know your father and I worry about the age difference.”

On the porch, your father didn’t waste time. “Rafe, I’ll be honest,” he began, his voice steady. “I’m concerned about the age gap between you and my daughter. It’s not about you personally, but I worry about the long-term implications.”

Rafe nodded, respecting your father’s candor. “I understand your concerns, sir,” he replied. “But I assure you, my intentions with your daughter are genuine. I love her deeply, and I am committed to building a future with her. Age may be a factor, but it doesn’t define the love and respect we have for each other.”

Your father studied Rafe for a moment, his expression thoughtful. “It’s clear you care for her,” he said finally. “But understand, this isn’t something we’ll accept lightly. We need to see consistency and commitment. Words aren’t enough.”

Back inside, your father’s demeanor had softened. He shared a look with your mother, and you could see the silent communication between them. Your mother smiled at you, her eyes kind but still concerned. “We trust your judgment,” she said. “But we need time to fully accept this.”

Rafe returned to your side, his presence a comforting anchor. “Thank you for welcoming me into your home,” he said earnestly. “I promise to always cherish and support your daughter.”

Your father nodded, a hint of a smile on his lips. “That’s all we can ask for, Rafe. Just give us time to adjust.”

Driving back, you couldn’t help but feel a surge of relief and happiness. Rafe’s hand rested on your thigh, his touch reassuring. “I told you it would be fine,” he said, his voice filled with affection.

You smiled, leaning over to kiss his cheek. “Thank you for being so patient and understanding,” you whispered. “I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart,” he replied, his eyes filled with warmth. “And I’m so grateful to have your family’s tentative support. I know it means a lot to you.”

With Rafe by your side and your family’s cautious acceptance, you felt ready to face whatever the future held. The love you shared was strong enough to overcome any obstacle, and you knew that together, you could navigate the complexities of life with grace and unwavering commitment.

[candyhoiic]

Hazbin Hotel Roleswap Au but my Take on it (Part One)

Lilith

Still disappears for seven years but guess what she’s back!~ but she forgot the milk smh.

Where did she go? Who knows but it wasn’t Heaven this time!

Lilith and Lucifer were officially divorced before she left for seven years with Lucifer being the one to actually initiate the divorce.

To deal with her divorce, she writes songs like a lot of songs. Some are good, most of them are umm well there something for sure. She also travels which she says is the reason she went missing for seven years. It’s partially true…

She tells a lot of partial truths.

She doesn’t talk much to Lucifer these days, but Charlie can at least reach her in the au. She’s not winning any awards for Hell’s greatest ex-wife, but she is still slaying as a mom- well kind of.

She’s involved in the Hazbin Hotel supporting her daughter. She has some hopes that sinners can be redeemed but has no interest in being redeemed herself even if she could be.

While she supports Charlie, she does it remotely, never actually stepping foot onto the property until Lucifer does due to not wanting to be outdone by her ex. They end up fighting for parent superiority like Alastor and Lucifer did in Hell’s Greatest Dad but this time it’s Hell’s Greatest Parent (spoiler alert neither of them win).

Lilith is more of a goofball than canon Lilith is but just like canon Lucifer she has her serious moments.

She supports Chaggie before it’s even official just thought y’all should know.

Lucifer

Meet your much more serious king of Hell.

He takes his position seriously and is more hands-on in Hell’s politics. Goes to almost all overlord meetings to stay in the know. Calls his own often enough.

He still can’t stand Alastor in this au but is more lowkey about his distaste for the radio demon.

He’s better at keeping his cool and more mischievous. Honestly, think of how everyone theorized Lucifer would be from what we saw of him in the pilot, and you have this au’s Lucifer.

He initiates his and Lilith’s divorce due to their conflicting views towards sinners. Lucifer grew to hate sinners while Lilith could never bring herself to even grow indifferent towards the sinner’s plight. She stood up for sinners and questioned his authority more than he cared for. She also reminded him too much of his past and the way he used to be.

Lucifer is a much more bitter man and was Charlie’s main caregiver when she was growing up.

However, he has a rather distant relationship with her despite spending more time with her than Lilith did. Lilith told Charlie stories of the past much to Lucifer’s displeasure as he did his best to hide the past from her.

Still has a rubber duck collection but it’s way less extensive and he hasn’t made a rubber duck since before Charlie was born. Sometimes he even forgets they exist so they’re just collecting dust.

Fun fact: He was the one to actually propose exterminations. :) Everyone thinks it was Heaven’s idea including Charlie and Lilith.

What a hypocrite! Because he still comes to ‘help’ the hotel. Lowkey tries to sabotage it and doesn’t care for Vaggie. He thinks she’s a bad influence on Charlie. Vaggie isn’t his biggest fan either.

Charlie

Still the princess of Hell, but now she’s more jaded yayyy! /sar

Charlie doesn’t really believe in sinners being redeemed, but publicly supports Vaggie’s hotel because she dislikes the fact that anybody from heaven has any sway over her kingdom, and deep down still cares for her people despite her father’s teachings.

Charlie’s relationship with Lucifer is much more strained in this au than in canon. She still loves her dad, but they never had a close relationship. Lucifer treats her more like his protege than his actual daughter.

Charlie's relationship with Lilith is still strained as well, but Lilith is more open to being affectionate with Charlie and reaching out to just talk. Charlie appreciates it but also still holds a grudge over Lilith leaving her for seven years with little to no contact

Charlie is more feared by Hell’s citizens and methodically silences most of the opposition towards the hotel. She isn’t above forcing people to come to the hotel, but out of respect for Vaggie she doesn’t coerce sinners into becoming guest.

Much more involved in Hell’s politics like her father.

A lot of sinners owe her a favor, but she has yet to ever actually own a sinner’s soul.

Vaggie

Still an ex-exorcist but in this au Charlie already knows of her past.

Charlie still ‘saves’ Vaggie in this au, taking on a more direct role as she’s responsible for scaring off Lute and Adam before they can kill Vaggie. Vaggie still loses her eye and wings though.

However, Charlie doesn’t do this out of the kindness of her own heart, but rather because Charlie sees potential in having an ex-exorcist owe her a favor.

In exchange for Charlie saving and sheltering her in her castle for the rest of the extermination, Vaggie tells her all about Heaven and angels. As well as reluctantly agrees to owning Charlie a favor of her choosing which Vaggie is swindled into being contractually obligated to follow through on when the time comes, or she’ll lose her soul.

Once the extermination is officially over Charlie politely kicks Vaggie out of her castle, cryptically mentioning she’ll be watching her.

Vaggie doesn’t see Charlie again until after she starts planning on starting the Happy Hotel to redeem sinners. Charlie originally appears to put a stop to Vaggie’s plans, but Charlie ends up helping her get the project off the ground.

Charlie and Vaggie aren’t officially dating in this au until sometime after the main story plot takes off, but they are good friends with Vaggie having a crush on Charlie.

However, when the time comes for their relationship to take a more romantic turn it’s Charlie who initiates it by annulling their contract to show Vaggie she was serious about wanting to court her and be equals.

Their romance is way more of a slow burn in this. With Charlie being very serious in wanting to do right by Vaggie and doing the whole courting gifts and wooing thing.

Vaggie’s personality in this au is more of what you would expect from a typical angel. She’s more trusting and less prone to resorting to violence despite her ex-exorcist past.

She also wasn’t that great of an exorcist when she still was one and was actually well known among the ranks for being one of the worst in all of history, which is why unlike the original au Adam was going to just kill her.

Angel Dust

In this au, Angel Dust takes the place of Valentino as the overlord of lust.

However, he’s a standalone overlord who doesn’t form an official alliance like the Valentino did with the rest of Vees in the original world.

He’s besties with Vox similar to how Rosie and Alastor are in canon.

Him and Cherri Bomb are still friends and Huskerdust will still happen because I said so.

Angel Dust's father was the first official sinner he killed as an arising overlord.

Angel Dust owns his brother, Arackniss’ soul and has him as one of his main porn directors since he knows sexual content, especially gay sexual content, makes his brother highly uncomfortable.

Later on, he gives Arackniss an option to continue to have his soul owned by him or Arackniss can join the hotel and actually try to be redeemed, and if he's successful Angel will let him go.

He doesn’t own Valentino’s soul. Although he and Valentino still have history as Valentino had sought to once take him down and become the overlord of lust himself, but ultimately fails and falls to Vox, who now owns his soul.

Vox did offer Valentino’s soul to Angel Dust, but he declined, creeped out by the man to even want his soul. Although Angel Dust does take pleasure whenever he gets to witness Vox putting Val into his place.

Angel Dust is a better boss than Valentino thank God. He cares for all the souls he owns but isn’t afraid to treat them with a firm hand when needed.

Has a bit of a sadistic streak to him to sinners who he doesn’t own. A master manipulator, who can command sinner’s forcefully by summoning translucent strings which anchor into their limbs to manipulate their bodies to do with as he pleases. Takes a lot out of him so he usually depends more on the fact his venom can make people more open to suggestion.

Still can summon guns because of his mafia roots hehe

He still has Fat Nuggets! Valentino gave him Fat Nuggets when he was trying to get on Angel’s good side so he could betray him later on. It didn’t work out for him like I already mentioned but it did bring Fat Nuggets to Angel.

[centuryberry]

Could you make a family tree/timeline specifically with Macaque, Shanzha, Yue, and the Zodiac Monkey? It doesn’t have to be polished, I’m just a bit confused to how they are all related. Like ZM is excited to be reunited with Shanzha because she’s his daughter, but not Macaque (who is his son then? I think? Is he not?). Shanzha is descended from their powerful ancestor (but not politically powerful at the beginning of the story) and is sisters with Yue’s mom (deceased) which is why Yue has six ears? Or is she Yue’s mom’s “husband’s” sister which is why the gene is passed down, it’s through the dad’s blood, and Shanzha has no political standing at the beginning because it went to her brother? I’m kind of confused about the Zodiac Monkey line familial connections.

That's understandable! A lot of things happened in the fic.

Here's the timeline/family tree of Yue's family:

A monkey participates in a race with 11 other animals. He ascends to the Celestial Realm as the Zodiac Monkey and leaves his mortal spouse and children behind to establish the Zodiac Monkey Clan in his honor.

Another monkey (completely unrelated to the Zodiac Monkey) makes it his mission to free a trapped Primordial Wind Spirit from a calabash. His success establishes the Spirit Macaque Clan and he ascends as the first Spirit Macaque King. He and his direct descendants are gifted with six ears.

Sometime up in the Celestial Realm, the Zodiac Monkey meets Jiayi, a Celestial General's daughter, and starts a romance with her. Jiayi gets pregnant and is sequestered away while the Zodiac Monkey is forbidden to see her.

Centuries after the first Spirit Macaque King's passing in the Mortal Realm, a young Princess Sangshen of the Spirit Macaque Clan approached the Primordial Wind Spirit (who visits once every century to grant a wish) to wish for a little brother. The Primordial Wind Spirit grants the wish but loses its form to turn itself into a baby Macaque.

The Spirit Macaque Clan falls to war and is ransacked. Sangshen desperately tries to protect her little brother by placing him in a giant lotus flower. As slavers capture her, she learns that a storm came and washed all the flowers to sea and assumes that her little brother is lost.

Up in the Celestial Realm, Jiayi gives birth to Shanzha and dies. Heaven hands the baby off to the Zodiac Monkey Clan to be raised since Jiayi's father wants nothing to do with the baby and the Zodiac Monkey is forbidden from seeing her.

Shanzha grows up unaware of her true parentage as she is raised as the only daughter of the Zodiac Monkey Clan Head of that time (Yue's Grandfather).

[Some context]: The Clan Head viewed Shanzha as a threat to his position since she is a direct descendant from the Zodiac Monkey and half Celestial while he's only a yaoguai descendant. Outsiders simply assumed that Shanzha was an illegitimate daughter with no power or favor so thought nothing of it when she was sent over to the Clan Temple to be its tender and priestess.

Sangshen, who had been passed from cruel master to cruel master, winds up serving at a party hosted by the Zodiac Monkey Clan and catches the eye of Yishan, the eldest and heir of the Clan Head. He frees her from slavery and takes her as his concubine.

Yue is conceived and born not long afterward.

So, to make it clear to who's who with Yue as the focal point in this family tree:

Zodiac Monkey: Yue's ancestor from her father's side

First Spirit Macaque King: Yue's ancestor from her mother's side

Primordial Wind Spirit: Guardian Spirit of Yue's maternal side of the family and possibly another form of Macaque

Jiayi: The lover of Yue's ancestor and the mother of Yue's Aunt Shanzha

Sangshen: Yue's mother and Macaque's older sister

Macaque: Yue's maternal uncle and Sangshen's little brother

Shanzha: Zodiac Monkey and Jiayi's daughter, assumed daughter of the Zodiac Monkey Clan Head, Yue's paternal aunt (but is actually Yue's great, great, great, many great aunt)

Yue's Grandfather: The Zodiac Monkey Clan Head at the time when Queen of the Mountain starts. He's a miserable asshole

Yishan: Yue's biological father, Shanzha's (assumed) older brother, and Sangshen's husband. Another asshole

Yue: Our main character

[whiskeyswifty]

I gotta be honest I’m really impressed by how Taylor still processes her emotions regarding her father through her art and shares that with fans but that’s still something that is in a weird way so public but so private to the extent that no media outlet has ever written about it in depth before. It’s just fascinating how people see certain things but don’t see the rest. It makes you wonder what else Taylor has shared that the public doesn’t fully understand

oh yeah i mean i'm probably the best person to send this ask to in that i've been that annoying bitch screaming from the rooftop that we don't know her at all for idk 6-7 years now lmaooo. i will also say that because that still stands for me, i'm resistant to the idea that we can say with certainty that subject matter about fathers are about her father exactly. we can only read into what we want to, but i'm not the blog for you if you want to definitively talk about Knowing Things About Her. art is always hyperbolic or dissociative or retconning things through fiction or projecting hopes and dreams through fiction. Even she has said not everything in her songs is actually true and she adds things to embellish or throw people off sometimes. so i don't wanna say all of the lines about fathers are necessarily about her father, confirmed, especially since she hasn't really said that herself. and i think that's why media outlets haven't picked up on it or strayed away from it, as it's all speculation at this point.

but i do find it an interesting insight that mothers in her songs gets the most delightful, loving lines and songs about how comforted and protected she is by her mother and devastated at the thought of losing her. and while there are nice lines written about fathers like "i love your handshake, meeting my father" or "charmed my dad with self effacing jokes", those lines aren't directly about the father, but about how she's impressed when a partner gets her father's approval. those are the nicest lyrics about fathers, and the rest are quite flippant verging on damning. "leaving like a father" or "careless man's careful daughter" or the one that's top of mind from seven about a presumably aggressive and/or verbally abusive father. it's just a fascinating comparison, how she paints mothers and fathers in her songs, and glaring in a way as well considering the STARK contrast. When you compare that to how she talks about her parents in real life, it's even more interesting! When talking about her mom, the sentiments line up pretty squarely with how mothers are depicted in her music, but when talking about her father, it's like night and day. She doesn't gush about her father in the way she does about her mother, no, but she says nice, charming things about him and only ever positively talks about him. because OF COURSE she would. why would she air her family drama to the public? her parents were divorced for YEARS before it became widespread fandom knowledge and still i don't think she's ever acknowledged it. maybe once, but hardly ever if that. i just find it so fascinating, and revealing in a way, that the most impressive thing a partner can do in her songs in regards to her parents is win over her father. perhaps something that's been somewhat elusive for taylor herself as she has strived for it, however subconsciously.

and also we have that scene from miss americana where she starts crying almost instantly when arguing with her dad about speaking out about politics. a scene i personally can't really watch often because of how it's an almost one to one mirror of my own conversations with my dad, down to how i also just start crying almost right away and how flippant and stubborn he is in refusing to understand where she's coming from. the most narrow minded approaches that he has and getting super defensive when she tries to get him to hear her point of view, as if what's most important to him is that he still comes off like a good person and not his daughter literally crying because of their dispute over something so personal. i shiver just thinking about it because of how i've been in that exact situation, and i deeply sympathize with her. it's a glimpse into how perhaps it's a rocky relationship and because of that, maybe she keeps her distance and keeps it a surface level relationship. i know i do with my dad to preserve the peace and my own sanity. it's a tricky thing to navigate, having a parent who loves you but doesn't fully respect your autonomy and even clashes with you ideologically to the point of diminishing you as a person, however unintentionally. they love you, but not fully in the way you maybe want them to. having a tricky relationship with a parent like that is really hard to talk about to a fucking therapist, let alone baring that to the public in art that can be picked apart. i wouldn't blame her for a second if she's shied away from that aspect of her life in her art for the most part. it bleeds through in her general depiction of fathers, as you said, and that's one of the ways that maybe helps her cope, idk who can say. i recognize that in her art and in that scene in particular just because i have those exact experiences in my life, but that doesn't mean that what i see is actually there in the same way i'm seeing it! it could be partially my projection, but it's also not uncommon and she is not immune to having the typical Tumultuous Father/Daughter friction relationship that seems to affect 90% of the world's daughters of fathers lmao.

i'm always trying to get people to the same realization you have which is that as much as she wants people to think she's an open book, she's really not. no human being could be, that's impossible they'd go insane. we only see the tip of the iceberg that is her life, even when it comes to her romantic relationships. most of her life, the 80% of it or whatever the iceberg stat is, goes entirely unnoticed and undisclosed. we see a very specific sliver of her that she CHOOSES to share with us, that she's painted with her favorite colors and is most comfortable revealing. we are not privy to the full reality of her life, the full scope of who she is as a person and what she does and engages with every day. there are ugly parts she doesn't want us to see, and also things she just plain doesn't want to share to keep herself feeling like a human being with a life that is her own. and yes there are some things she hints at through her art like you said, perhaps some of the details of her complicated relationship with her father. but also as you pondered, yes probably a myriad of other troubles or thoughts or experiences that are so vaguely referenced, nobody has ever picked up on them. but that's the point! she doesn't want to share them in a way that they can be consumed and taken from her. i think that's great and part of why she's somewhat of a stable famous person, so it appears (or at least hasn't had a gone of the deep end spiral like many famous people used to do like clockwork). maybe one day she will feel comfortable talking about her interpersonal relationship with her father in detail, but probably not and she never has to if she doesn't want to. there's a sort of dignity preservation in that i can understand completely, and a protectiveness that comes with that sort of relationship. as much as you may have disdain for your father, the burden of the daughter is that unimpeachable love that compels you to care for them despite what they do and want to protect them. she may hate him, but according to her, only she is allowed to hate him, that sort of thing, and we don't even know how she feels about him in totality. so she may want to keep that part of her life close to her chest and die without anyone ever knowing and that's entirely her decision to make, probably the best and most healthy one if you ask me.

anyway happy fathers day from taylor who says dads ain't shit!

[songbird-wings]

I still think one of the funniest things in TCW is that episode where Ahsoka wants to learn more about politics and then Anakins like trying to explain things to her and teach her but Padmé, remembering like her first date with Anakin, just steals Ahsoka away from him to teach her about politics herself

[neopuppy]

Dive Into You: Part 2. (M)

Preview: “You’re not seriously just fucking with her to get back at me are you? It’s not like everyones talking about you being dads problem child here.” Jeno’s arms fold over his chest. Bicep muscles straining under tight sleeves.

“Shouldn’t you be happy? I’m allowing you to spend alone time with your church girl. You should be thanking me nono.”

Pairing: brothers Jeno/Haechan x female reader

Word Count: 3.8k

Genre: pwp, church boys AU, smut, love triangle, brothers nohyuck

Warning: daddy issues, sacrilegious themes, explicit language, master manipulator Haechan, innocent Jeno, virgin reader, corruption, bible quotes

Smut Warning: oral(F receiving), slight sensory deprivation, fingering, all in church.

Intro—>

Part 1–>

“I told the new family in town that you’d be showing their daughter around boys. I expect you to be on your best behavior.” Pastor Lee slaps a hand over Jeno’s shoulder with a firm grip. “No funny business.”

“You got it, father. You know, like because you’re a pastor.” Haechan snorts, pouring hot steaming coffee into a ceramic mug.

“Ha ha ha, you’re hilarious. Make sure your brother acts right. People around town are already talking enough about my atrocious parenting skills. Word travels fast in these small towns you know.” Pastor Lee adjusts his tie in the mirror. Stepping out of the front door with not even a wave goodbye. Jeno left rubbing at his shoulder with irritation.

“What time do you want to head out?” He questions, eyes burning into Haechans back.

“Oh, I can’t do that ‘show the new townies’ around thing today. Got a brunch date in the next town over with someones mom.” Haechan turns, leaned back along the kitchen counter blowing steam from his coffee.

“What?? She’s your girlfriend now. Aren’t you supposed to hang out with her tonight?” Jeno’s eyes widen befuddled. More in disbelief his brother would be two timing you, familiar with his antics.

“Your point?” Haechan scoffs, checking messages through his phone. Petty smirk on his lips sending you a ‘miss you’ text.

“You’re a dog. You’re not seriously just fucking with her to get back at me are you? It’s not like everyones talking about you being dads problem child here.” Jeno’s arms fold over his chest. Bicep muscles straining under tight sleeves.

“Shouldn’t you be happy? I’m allowing you to spend alone time with your church girl. Should be thanking me nono.”

“Dick..” Jeno mutters, grabbing his bag to head out. Not wanting to spend another minute around his brother.

“Wait a minute..” Haechan grabs a hold on Jeno’s arm, pulling him back into the kitchen. “Take good care of my girl today yea?” Jeno’s eyes squint as his brother sneaks a $20 bill into his side jacket pocket.

“Maybe get her a milk shake or something. Whatever it is you kids drink. We’re not really going on a date tonight if you know what I mean.” Haechans eyes shift around mischievously. Knowing damn well Jeno knows. Knowing exactly what to say to get under his skin.

Jeno grips at Haechans collar, huffing against his face. Anger seething through fingertips aching to bring his brother physical pain. Jaw tightening, resisting the deep urge inside building for years everyday.

“Gonna give me a black eye nono? What will father think when he finds out his bad seed is also abusive?” Lips curling with a slick grin. Haechan the expert on how to push Jeno’s buttons. Worked on himself well to get exactly what he wants.

“That’s what you want isn’t it?” Jeno clenches the fabric between his fist, arms shaking with rage. “You’re the perfect one, I’m the fuck up. You’re the one dad brags about, I’m the one he pretends doesn’t exist.”

“You think your daddy issues would get your little church girl turned on? Should I tell her how you cry yourself to sleep wishing you were me?” Haechan snorts, loosening from of Jeno’s grip. Hands smoothing out his freshly ironed shirt.

“I’ve never wanted to be anything like you. You don’t care about anyone but yourself.”

“That’s not true nono..” Haechan pulls on a jacket. Fingers twirling around keys. “You know how much I love my car” with a cocky wink matching a shit eating grin Haechan heads out. Leaving Jeno festering in his anger. Fists slamming against the counter. Back tense with underlying hatred, hatred for himself. Tired of how easily Haechan manages to provoke him.

——————————————————————————

Jeno’s nervous, pissed off, feeling anxious. Pacing back and forth in front of your house. He didn’t have much of a choice with the looming threat of getting shipped back off to Jesus camp hovering his mind. The idea to ditch this whole ordeal passing his thoughts more than once. It’s not that he liked you, but it’s also not necessarily that he didn’t like you. Convincing himself he just hasn’t gotten any for too long now. Dick probably desperate for anything at this point. Nothing related to how cute you looked with your lips all swollen after kissing him. Jacking off at home that night reliving the events long forgotten.

Forget about stroking himself off in the shower the next morning again. Or the other five more times since. No he didn’t like you, not really..

“Aren’t you one of Pastor Lee’s sons??” And older woman carrying bags of groceries approaches. Lipstick covering her two front teeth, over sized dress hanging from her body.

“Oh uh.. yes I am. I’m supposed to.. show your.. daughter? Around today..” Jeno stutters out, mentally slapping himself.

“Oh..” the woman adjusts a bag in her hold, throat clearing. “What about that lovely brother of yours? What’s his name again?”

“Haechan..” Jeno’s eyes shift, looking away. How did his brother manage to convince everyone he was such an angel. A modern day fallen angel, roaming earth in disguise.

“Ah that’s it..” she makes a sound of disapproval, bag dropping on the porch. “A polite young boy would have offered assistance.” Voice lowly whispering as she unlocks the front door. Jeno’s eyes darting between the groceries and woman, cursing himself yet again for coming off exactly how everyone says.

“I’ll call her down.” She steps inside. Loud shouting vocals calling out your name. The sound of foot steps against stairs following. Your figure appearing, dressed up to impress. Jeno’s throat itching, swallowing, adjusting his collar.

“That’s not your bike- is it?!” Your mothers shrieking voice questions. Eyes bulging out, taking in the sleek black motorcycle off the sidewalk.

“I’m here!” Your smile falls, only spotting one brother waiting for you outside. Not the one you’d expect even. You subtly give a look around, searching for someone else maybe hiding in surprise. Jeno unfortunately does not fail to notice.

“That is my bike Ma’m.. it’s safe. I promise.” He holds up two helmets. Craving to crawl into a hole under your moms scrutinizing gaze.

“I’m not so sure about this..” she mumbles. Eyes glaring into Jeno, trying to put the fear of God...fear of a strict crazy mother, in him.

“It’ll be fine mom! He has a helmet! I’ve been on a motorcycle with dad before!” You lean up, pecking your mothers cheek. Summer dress twirling up with air as you run forward. Jeno catching a glimpse of your underwear. Shifting a helmet over his groin momentarily.

“I thought Haechan was coming too?” You asks, taking the helmet held out for you. Typically being his brothers helmet, little did you know.

“He’s busy.. errands out of town or something.” Jeno mumbles, avoiding your eyes. He’s being weird, but then again you didn’t know him well enough to confirm he wasn’t always this way.

“Oh.. well I guess I’ll see him later anyway.” You frown, tugging at the light fabric of your dress. What a waste. “You ride a motorcycle?”

“Yea.. I don’t have a car so.. you’ve been on one before you said?” Jeno’s brows furrow. Eyes trained on your feet, teeth digging into his lower lip. You had to wear cute strappy sandals with a summer dress. That just made sense, to show off your cute freshly painted toes..Jeno’s brain feels like its turning in his skull. Lips begging for mercy to let out a scream.

“I actually haven’t. Just said that to make my mom shut up.” You lean in close. Lips grazing his earlobe as you whisper. Words muffled, Jeno blinking slowly. Perfume wafting around his head, as if this could get any worse.

“Uh..” Jeno steps away abruptly. “Put that on!” His voice awkwardly shouts to you, chin jerking toward the helmet in your hands. Head shaking, pulling on his own. Straddling around the bike seat, engine coming to life.

“Am I supposed to hold on to you?” You stand to Jeno’s side. Admiring the shining black bike, fitting for his character. At least physically.

“I..” Jeno’s breath catches under his helmet shield. Only now realizing you’ll be riding with him around today. Legs parted on him.. arms squeezing his abdomen.

“Jeno??..” you pull on your helmet with confusion. He wasn’t much for words it seemed. So opposite of his brother.

“Uh.. yea.. just hold on to me..” he sighs to himself. Sounding more displeased than intended. Uncomfortable awkwardness travels through you watching his shoulders slump. With reluctance, you lift your leg. Straddling Jeno’s back, bad day to wear a short dress..

“This is kind of..” your lips purse together, center a little too close to Jeno’s body. More than close, right on him. Cotton airy smell coming off his black jean jacket. Scent fresh and clean, hair lingering of lightly scented shampoo. His broad shoulders covering majority of your view.

“You should.. hold on tight.” Jeno licks his cracking lips. Foot kicking up the bikes lock. With another look toward your mom motioning the sign of the cross. You lean your body forward, chest pressed up on Jeno’s wide back. Arms circling around his small waist.

Jeno’s own thoughts rolling in like rapid fire. Throat squeezing in, heat between your bodies pressed together moving between his legs. Trying to focus on anything, anything but your breasts pressing into him. Anything besides your smooth thighs around him. The memory of kissing you too vividly choosing to repeat itself.

“God be with you!” Your mothers voice screams out. Bike engine too loud as Jeno rides off. Your dress blowing behind you, smile covering your face. Chin on his shoulder, admiring the view of your new home.

Could only be an even more perfect moment if it was Haechan you were wrapped around..

——————————————————————————

“That’s it? A diner? That’s the tour of the town?” You twirl around the cherry sat atop melting whipped cream. Chocolate shake looking unblended and less than appetizing.

“There really isn’t much to do here..” Jeno mumbles, chin tucked into his chest. Basket of half eaten fries more interesting than you apparently.

“I could have told you that..” you murmur in response. Sitting back in the booth with boredom. Jeno does the same, brows furrowing in thought. A minute or five of silence passing. He grunts lowly, pulling his phone out.

“Look at you two!” Mark jogs over sporting a huge smile stretched across his cheeks. Red and white striped apron covering what looks like an all white uniform.

“You work here?!” You sit up, eyeing the uniform. Almost too fitting, a too old altar boy working part time at a cheap fifties diner.

“Well of course, phone bills don’t pay themselves! Timothy 6:10 For the love of money, is the root of all kinds of evil!” Mark proclaims, finger waggling about like a mad man. Your lips pulling back over your teeth in...displeasure.

“Right..”

“Fucking shit” Jeno groans, kicking at a foot under the table. Tsking as thumbs slam down at his phone screen.

“Ah Jeno! Proverbs 21:23! Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble!” Mark places hands on his hips. Lips pursed together with disappointment.

“Yea..sorry Jesus. Whatever.” Jeno mumbles again, eyes not moving from his phone.

“Gamers right” Mark shakes his head your way. Eyes lighting up, taking your own phone out.

“What do you play??” you scoot in closer to Jeno. Closing the space between the two of you in the booth. His shoulders stiffen, curling in hunched over the table.

“Kartrider..” Jeno barely whispers. Catching enough of it, familiar with the game.

“I play too! Oh! I bet I have a better rank than you!” Laughing unlocking your phone, swiping the game open. “Look at my character, she’s so cute!”

“There’s no way you’re better than me....I’m always top ranking in this county..” Jeno’s eyes widen. Forgetting about his current race, watching you hold up your phone with laughter.

“Come on, let’s race. I’m gonna kick your ass!” You lean in closer, reading out Jeno’s ID as you enter it in. “Add me!”

“Language!” Mark sighs, head shaking with both of you. “God’s children have truly fallen. After everything the lord has done for us.”

“Come on Jeno! Play me! I’ll go easy on you” nudging at his side with a wink. Your smile grows, finally something you can do together. Jeno dragging you around downtown past rusty antique shops. The only thing that caught your interest a quant little family owned bookstore. Learning fast he wasn’t much for conversation. Face appearing pained and uninterested with every word from you.

“Don’t feel like playing anymore..” Jeno shuts his phone, screen turning black.

“What?! Aw come on. Can’t stand the thought of a girl beating you?” Jeno leans back, eyes taking in your face slowly. All he cared about was winning, competing in stupid games just to achieve a high ranking. You’d win of course, he’d never let you lose.

“Just don’t feel like playing anymore.”

——————————————————————————-

“Thanks for showing me around, the one street you took me to.” Your voice drips with sarcasm. Hopping off the back of Jeno’s bike. He removes his own helmet, hair flopping around messily. “Was fun I guess.”

“Yea well” Jeno holds out his hand for the helmet you borrowed. You hold it under your arm, brow quirking in confusion. Your hand slowly lifting, placing in his. Jeno’s eyes widen, staring at your hands held together. Too many feelings rushing at him all at once.

“Helmet!” Jeno shouts abruptly, hand flying away from yours like you’re too disgusting to touch.

“Geeze, fine. Sorry...” you place the helmet on the back end of Jeno’s bike. Turning away, without even a goodbye. He grabs your elbow, your foot stopping mid-air.

“You..” head turning, staring down where he holds you.

“Yes?” You implore him to continue. Jeno’s hand dropping from you when you fully turn to face him again.

“You.. you really like my brother..?” Jeno’s eyes fall to the ground. Thick dark eyelashes shadowing across his cheeks.

“Yea of course. Is that what this is about Jeno? I really do like him, I would never use someone.” You smile, bouncing back on your heels. Jeno’s lips suck in with frustration.

“Wish I could say the same about him.” Jeno mumbles, turning his engine back on.

“What was that?” Voice raising, trying to speak above the loud roar from the motorcycle. Jeno flicks down his helmet shield, speeding off. Cloud of dust surrounding you. Smacking at the air coughing out, bike disappearing behind dusts.

“Fucking jerk.”

—————————————————————————-

“Haechan! Where are we going? The church?!” Your shoes lift up dust. Arm in his hold pulling you toward the small old building.

“Where else would we go baby? Can’t go to my place, the holy spirit’s home.” Haechan laughs, pulling a lanyard from his back pocket. “Besides, this is my dads church you know right? It’s like my property too, we’re safe here under God’s watchful eye.”

“Isn’t this.. I don’t know. Sacrilegious?!” You anxiously follow him inside. Haechans easy smile comforting you, arms wrapping around your waist. He steps back down the center aisle. Pews displayed at your sides, Haechan leading you one in front. He pulls you to the center of the pew, sitting with hands on your hips.

“This feels..” you start, chest rising and falling faster as guilt passes through you.

“Wrong? God didn’t make us this way..” his hand smooths down your bare thigh. Passing the fresh new dress just for your date tonight. Fingers skirting between your thighs, one playing at a side covering your mound. “..for us to not touch and explore..”

“It’s just..” your hands grip at the front of the pew behind you. Where you’d normally kneel to pray..

“Just?..” Haechans eyes gaze up at you. Pure sin and danger hidden in the face of an angel. Tongue sliding up your other thigh. “You’re so sweet.”

You sigh in defeat, legs quivering, upper body doing the work to hold you up. His head dipping under your dress, nose pressing into your slit. Cotton from your panties shoving between you. Soft moans sounding from underneath, Haechans tongue licking at your underwear. Enough to properly soak them up, allowing drool to freely fall from his mouth. You gnaw at your lip, gathering up your dress fabric in one hand. Admiring the way the beautiful boy between your legs eats you up.

Haechan lets out a dreamy sigh. Long fingers stroking up and down your thighs. Teeth biting your at core with cloth between. Your stomach folds in, curling closer to where he sits below you. Fingers wrapping around the sides of your panties, tongue lapping at your inner thighs.

“Body of a virgin can heal more sins than body of christ you know..” underwear at your knees. Haechan leans back in, lips wrapping around your clit. Tongue swirling around, suctioning between. Your other hand lifting to your mouth, biting down on your thumb. Muffled moans and whines echoing around the church walls.

Haechans eyes stay on your face, tongue rolling your clit around. Hands squeezing your inner thighs, pulling back, clapping down slaps. Your hips jolting forward with suppressed cries. Everything about him was absolutely depraved. Looks deceiving from the boy your mother had always warned you about.

“Don’t hide your pretty sounds baby.” Haechan pulls away. Lips shining, coated in your wetness. Glares from the colored glass reflecting off his skin. Red tinted eyes sparkling up at you. Haechan reaches for your wrist, yanking your hand out from your mouth. His lips part open, tongue swirling around your entrance. Sucking up the wetness gathering around.

“Oh God!” You shout out, neck loosely dropping back. Tears on the brink of escaping the corners of your eyes.

“That’s it baby. You pray to me now.” Haechan groans, mouth closing over your entire mound. Eyes rolling back into his head, swiping up and down your core. Hands finding his hair, fingers digging into his scalp. Haechans tongue thrusts into your tight entrance, muscle working extra hard to enter.

“Oh my God!” Body shaking, ass digging into the pew. Hips twitching forward, grinding against Haechans face. Chin covered in your wetness, tongue wiggling inside you. Fingers finding way to your clit, pinching and rolling the bud. “Oh my God!!”

Haechan groans inside you, scalp in pain from your pulling. Cock hardening in his jeans, taste of innocence in his mouth nearly orgasmic. You taste too fucking good, nothing like that used up whore from earlier..

“I-I c-can’t!” Haechans fingers work at your clit. Rapidly sweeping back and forth. Tongue sliding out, jaw hung open. Eyes return to your face, smile breaking out over his cheeks.

“You can.” He pants, tongue hung out lazily lapping at your hole. Clit pinched between two fingers, massaging every little nerve. “Cum on my tongue.”

Your head drops forward, tear slipping free. Haechans raspy tone saying those words driving you past your limit. Ass lifted off the pew, core convulsing. Haechans tongue placed against your fluttering entrance. Catching all of your release. You weakly fall forward again, forehead resting on top of his messed up hair.

“So good.” Haechan moans words out, licking clean the wetness seeping from you. Neck lifting, hands cupping your cheeks. “Taste.”

Tongue pushing between your parted lips, trying to catch your breath. Haechan laps at your tongue, realization hitting you in seconds what he’s making you do. Tasting yourself between your lips. His tongue covering every corner inside your mouth. Haechans hands return to your hips, pulling you off the front of the pew to straddle his lap.

“You want it?” His hand digs into the back of your hair. Jean clad dick shoving between your thighs at your heated core. Weakly nodding, eyes half open lazily pecking pouty lips. Haechan lays back down flat across the pew. Warm hands rubbing up and down your back soothingly. “Come here.”

Your head nods, under his command. Mind controlled by whatever he’s saying, telling you ‘I want it- no matter what it is.’ If it’s from Haechan- give it to me, now. You lay down on his chest, kisses continuing. Hands squeezing around your ass, pulling up your dress. Hands flying down hard with mean slaps. Fingers gliding down finding way between your legs again. Skimming up and down your slit from the back. Soft moans passing between your swollen lips.

Body tensing, sounds of the large entrance doors opening up with a slam. Haechans eyes open up staring into yours, brows lifted. His lips purse out with a silent ‘shhh’, earning a rapid head shake from you. Familiar smirk pulling at his lips, free hand clamping over your mouth. Your eyes widen, lips pressing into the palm of Haechans hand. Fingertips circling around your needy entrance. Panic rushing through you as loud foot steps approach closer and closer.

Your forehead shoved up against Haechans. Mouth closed off, silent whimpers falling out behind his hand. Finger sliding inside you, his lit up eyes watching your expressive eyes react. The fear and curiosity alone could make him cum.

“Are you kidding me!” A flash light shines over your faces. Mark standing at the end of the pew in disgust. Your head lifts quickly, ripping Haechans hand off your mouth. Cheeks heating up absolutely mortified. Moving fast, adjusting your dress to cover up. Haechan stays laid down, eyes fluttering shut with irritation.

“Fucking cock block.” He whispers to himself, sitting up. Tent in his jeans extremely evident.

“I knew you stole my keys again Haechan!” Mark clicks the flash light on and off angrily. Both of you covering your eyes. “and you! Mary of Magdala! You should be ashamed! Think of your mother!”

“Dude, chill.” Haechan stands, hands held up trying to block the bright light from his eyes. “We weren’t doing anything.”

“Weren’t doing anything?!? If people found out what you were doing, this one would be getting pelted with stones!” Mark passes the light over your face. You cringe, hands coming up to hide yourself.

“Mark, quick, what’s the verse about fucking that really cute voice of an angel choir boy?” Haechan throws him a knowing look, pulling a lanyard from his pocket. Marks eyes widen, snatching his keys away.

“Don’t steal my keys again! Next time I will be telling your father!” Mark scurries away, door slamming behind him.

“Oh my God he’s gonna tell your dad!” You panic, pulling your dress down. Attempting to wipe away any mascara that could be on your cheeks.

“Nah he’d never, can’t risk everyone finding out about Renjun. Don’t worry baby, I got something on everyone.” Haechan pulls you in, gently pecking your lips. Your senses relax, mind torn with stress still. Who the fuck were you right now..

“You know..” Haechan turns you around, hand scooping your chin. “I’m gonna fuck you. Right there.” He holds your jaw up. Eyes on landing on the altar.

“Jesus will know all your sins after I’m done with you.”

Part 3–>

Taglist:

@seuomo @unknown5tar @sunoosi @safariria @nctlover94 @underjeno @nanascupid @jenorenle @scruffiejelly @mel-yjh @count-your-shadows @sunflowerhae @johnjaespeach @nctflix @notsooperfect​ @skrtbeepbeep​  @lanadreamie​ @nctstrawberrycow​  @meonlightuniverxse​ @sunshinedhyuck​ @haechanswhore​ @brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr​ @kpopmultiifandomm​ @d1nne​ @neobanguniverse​ @pewpewpwe00​ @abitofafan​ @haechansworld​ @born5sos​ @bockhyun​ @prettychannie​ @xuyiyangstan​@alexameliamg​ @ahsshilee​ @jeon-jungkook-is-actually-god @xwanna127x @heyitsbreeeeee @tarolovebot @loveyukhei @eleanorfreakingchan @classic-antifood @winwiniee @sheytanni @player23 @wavetease @nahyuckk @n0hyuck @doyoungssouthernbabygirl

[soulmate-game]

Harley’s Plea for Help: Chapter 2

Chapter 1

“How long do you think it’s gonna take before she decides to sneak out?” Nightwing asked over his comms, lazily leaning against the balcony railing in front of him with his head resting on one hand.

“Dude, I started sneaking out almost twenty minutes ago,” a girl’s voice made Nightwing squeak and turn around, to reveal a teenage girl leaning against the door that led to the balcony he was on. “I didn’t want to draw attention to myself by doing unnecessarily showy gymnastics down from my hotel room’s balcony, no matter how much fun that would be, so I just snuck out one of the hotel’s back exits. Then I looked up to admire the moon and saw you here, staking out what is clearly my suite, and decided to come pay you a visit.”

“How long have you been there? And how did you even get behind me? I hope you didn’t break and enter, that’s an actual lived-in apartment behind us right now,” Nightwing asked, turning around to analyze the daughter of Harley Quinn for the first time in person.

She looked just like in her pictures, of course. Jet black hair like her father’s, except it seemed to have a bluish shine in the light. And her eyes were definitely Harley’s— thank goodness for that —vibrant blue and clearly analyzing him with the same amount of intensity as his did her. He had to bite back a chuckle. In a turn of complete irony, she really did look like a Wayne kid. Fit all of Bruce’s usual criteria to be adopted. But she was tiny, even smaller than Harley’s lithe form. He, Bruce, and Tim were of the hypothesis that the exposure both her parents had to Ace Chemical’s vats of acid likely had an effect on her DNA that stunted her growth. Perhaps there were other effects that they wouldn’t be able to figure out until they got to know her better, too, though it was clear that her skin was a likely one. It wasn’t unnaturally pale like her parent’s after their acid dips but it was paler than normal for sure, just a shade or two shy of being paper white.

And he could see, now, what Harley meant when she referred to Marinette as a powerhouse. It wasn’t very noticeable in pictures, but up close Dick could see the carefully honed muscle of an acrobat curling over her otherwise slim build. Combined with the knowledge that Marinette had been taught at least some serious self defense from a young age, he could see how such a tiny package could be a remarkable threat when necessary.

Marinette grimaced as the other Batfam, who were all nearby staking out her room from different angles, dropped onto the large balcony with them.

“Uh, well. I didn’t break and enter, I rather not get off to a criminal-ly start on my first night in Gotham, you know? But I realized that even though I was able to figure out the exact room you were staking me out from, I realized as soon as I got into the first floor of the building that I had no idea how to actually get to you. So I just climbed the stairs all the way to the roof and scaled my way down to this balcony, and pretended I’ve been here for a while when really I was barely able to hear you ask when I was gonna sneak out. I’m still out of breath, actually,” she put a hand on her chest and sure enough her breathing was still slightly fast. But not enough to be worrying or even all that noticeable. Yet another piece of evidence to show that she was a very active individual and had resistance built up to physical activity.

“Yup,” Robin groused grumpily, crossing his arms. “With all that rambling, you couldn’t be anyone else’s child but Quinzel’s.”

Marinette’s face immediately flushed pink all the way to her ears. “I’m sorry! I’ve been trying so hard to quit that habit, too!” She grumbled a bit to herself, putting her face in her hands. They all chuckled at the display. Red Hood ambled over, draping his arm over her shoulders (he nearly had to bend in half to do it, the height difference was that bad).

“As adorable as your freak out is, why’d you even come up here anyway? There’s no way you’d scale down a ten-story building just to say hello.”

She let out a heavy sigh at that, slowly peeling her face out of her hands. “Yeah, I recognized you guys right away. And honestly, as much as Momma Harley would be super proud of me for managing to give an entire group of vigilantes the slip, she’d also ground me for life if she found out that I saw you guys and still snuck away even though she probably swallowed her pride and asked you guys to babysit me, right? Self preservation. Contrary to popular belief, I do actually have some.”

“Wait,” Red Robin held up a hand, brows clearly furrowed under his cowl. “You expected her to ask for our help?”

“Well,” she made a so-so motion with her hand. “I didn’t think of it beforehand, but it all clicked once I saw Nightwing. I know how much my mom is worried about me, especially since you-know-who broke out a few days ago. She is more than worried enough to ask you guys for help. Even if she does complain about you guys, a lot actually, she also has made it clear that she trusts you guys with the stuff that actually matters.

“‘You know who’?” Batman repeated, arms crossed. If Marinette squinted, she thought there might have been a grin on his lips. “Is that how you always refer to him?”

“What else am I gonna call him?” she asked, face going deadpan. “Sperm donor? Source of a large amount of my self doubt and depreciation? The prime reason I haven’t been able to see my mom in person more often over the years? Oh, I know! How about I just always refer to him as ‘that bastard I wanna punch,’? That sounds good!” she rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Only one person in this world has the right to be considered my father in any capacity, and it sure as hell isn’t him. Genetics notwithstanding.”

Red Hood straight up guffawed at that, landing several rough pats on her back that made the girl stumble a bit. “Yep, I like this one! But as fun as it would be to see you give that jackass a mean left hook, it’s better if he never finds out who you are or knows that you’re here,” the vigilante’s voice got dark and serious very quickly. “He doesn’t forget people he finds interesting easily, and if he ever finds out about the connection you have to him, he’ll be a constant threat in your life.”

“I know,” Marinette agreed with a nod. “And if this conversation was happening two years ago, I’d say that my mom’s concerns aren’t unfounded. That I am too easily emotionally compromised and despite my deep seated issues and hatred for that man, I couldn’t guarantee he would be unable to get to me.”

Batman straightened up, as did all of his sons around him. None of them had missed the ‘if’ there. Batman’s voice went from charmingly deep to it’s usual gruff grumble. “What changed in two years?”

They all watched as Marinette gulped, taking a deep breath as she stalled for time, looking out at the view on the balcony before seeming to steel herself and return her gaze to Batman’s. When she did, it was suddenly full of iron will.

“I didn’t lie when I told Mom that I came to visit her— but that isn’t the whole truth, either. If I just wanted to visit her in Gotham, I would have waited until I was eighteen like we agreed. But I can’t wait, Paris can’t keep going on like this. I entered that contest because it was the fastest way to see you. I didn’t know if I would win, but… I had to take the chance. There was no way I’d be able to get to Gotham behind my mom’s back otherwise.”

“What are you talking about?” Robin hissed, stepping up to his father’s side. “Paris has been silent. If anything were happening, we would have heard about it by now.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Marinette corrected, never losing that ironclad look in her eyes. “Because a combination of magic and politics is keeping it quiet. No news about Paris’ situation is able to leave the city limits. Magic makes any non-native who leaves Paris think that everything they experienced was just a crazy dream. Natives won’t forget, but politics has all of us under very strict NDAs if we leave city boundaries, and all of our local news and social media is blocked from being accessed by anyone outside the city. But, I figured a little breaking of the rules wouldn’t exactly put a stain on my family’s reputation or anything, so,” she dug in her pocket and pulled out a thumb drive, holding it up for all of them to see. She swallowed again, but never stopped her eye contact with Batman. She held out the thumb drive.

“I came to Gotham to ask for your help. This sped things up, I didn’t expect to see you on my first night here, but two years in Hawkmoth’s Paris has really taught me how to roll with the punches. This,” she shook the thumb drive. “Holds videos of every fight since HawkMoth first showed up. It has all the information I’ve gathered over two years, tracks his movements and lists all his targets and— everything. But I’m not a detective, I’m a designer. I make clothes, I spar on the weekends, I am not good at getting evidence to prove that someone is a magic-abusing villain holding an entire city hostage.”

“We’re gonna need some details, Little Q,” Red Hood finally removes his arm from around her shoulders, instead crossing his arms and looking down at her sternly. “If your city has a villain holding it hostage, is anyone fighting him? And if you do have someone fighting him, why don’t you need our help, or why didn’t they call the Justice League? The JLE should be in Paris, right?”

Marinette snorted, face scrunching up in obvious distaste. “I’ll have to answer those a little out of order. First; the JLE was kicked out of Paris. They moved their headquarters to Italy about five years ago, I’m just surprised they apparently kept that secret from you,” she gestured to all of them, who indeed seemed very caught off guard by that tidbit. But Marinette just sighed and continued. “Though that’s a good thing, actually. We do have heroes, it started out as just a pair but it’s grown into a small team out of necessity. They didn’t call the Justice League because the last thing we need is any powered heroes coming in and making it worse— your league doesn’t have the best reputation for letting newer heroes take the lead even on their home turf, you know,” she pointed out, which made Batman shift a bit guiltily. He knew the JL was often a bit… heavy handed in their methods.

“What makes the situation so bad that you don’t want to bring experienced heroes into it?” Red Robin cut in, sounding as if the whole situation was a puzzle he was determined to sort out. Which, really, was exactly what Marinette had been counting on. She shot him a finger gun, grinning.

“That’s exactly the point! Hawkmoth uses a magical artifact, like I said— but this artifact can brainwash anybody who experiences even the slightest negative emotion. Sadness, anger, fear— anything negative. And it gives them powers, but puts them largely under his influence,” her expression twisted again, this time into a wry little grimace. “I guess you can say that my momma’s psychiatry background has secretly come in handy a lot over these past two years. And Hawkmoth is exactly why I try to tell Momma Harley to stop visiting me— I have worked my butt off to keep her from finding out about his attacks or getting Akumatized. Every time she shows up it gives me a heart attack!”

“Akumatized?”

Marinette waved a hand dismissively. “It’s the term used for when someone is turned into a super powered villain because of HawkMoth. The brainwashing— really it’s more similar to a straight up corruption. The person usually lacks their usual moral compass, and just seeks to soothe whatever set off their negative emotion in the first place. Usually, that means they seek a bloody revenge. And if someone who already has extensive training or extremely strong powers gets Akumatized, guess what?” She made jazz hands even though her face was deadpan. “Extra powers, or amplified ones, for the metas or superheroes who are Akumatized. And imagine what someone with, say, Batman’s level of experience could do if he had powers and no moral compass,” the silence that followed her words was deafening. She just nodded, knowing she had gotten her point across. “I’ve been working my butt off to stay positive, because if I’m Akumatized…” her shoulders fell, and she had to swallow a lump in her throat. “... I have no idea what I’d turn into, but if you take into consideration both my training and my family history… it’s really best if we never find out what kind of magic-powered supervillain I’d make.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Nightwing said after another long moment of silence for that to all sink in. He gestured at her with an open palm. “You’ve been dealing with a terrorist for two years who targets emotional vulnerability, you apparently have never been corrupted by this magic at least to present day, but your mother still worries about you being very emotionally fragile. And your heroes are not detectives, which is clearly what you need or you wouldn’t have asked us for our help.”

Marinette nodded. “I used to be very impressionable. At the start of all this, I was a huge people-pleaser. I got attached to new people in a matter of minutes. My mom always said I reminded her too much of herself— but two years of fighting off a guy trying to get into my head—“

“Wait,” Batman nearly barked, taking a step forward. “He’s been targeting you? You specifically?”

Marinette nodded grimly, mouth a straight line. “Not from the beginning, but this past year it’s been painfully obvious. He might be able to sense the strength of people’s emotions, and unfortunately I don’t exactly experience my emotions very… gently. All of my emotions tend to the much more intense side of the spectrum. If that’s true, then he might know that any negative emotion I feel will make an extremely strong Akuma. Either that, or he’s going by process of elimination. All of my friends, except for one, have been Akumatized already. So has my Papan and my grandmother. But it’s obvious when he’s targeting someone, I’ve felt him try to override my will on several occasions. But I can’t just repress all of my negative emotions forever, so consider us working against the clock right now. That thumb drive has all the details you need about our heroes, how exactly Hawkmoth’s powers work, and so on.”

“Do your heroes know you’re asking for our help?” Red Robin asked, gaze burning a figurative hole through Marinette’s face. “Better yet, if this drive has as much information as you say it does, how did you get it?”

Marinette handed the drive over to Batman, who finally took it and tucked it in his belt as she answered.

“Momma Harley might have a lot to say about your detective skills, but you are all still strangers to me. So consider this a test of your abilities— I expect that you will all go to extreme lengths to verify all of the information I gave you anyway. After all, I’m still the daughter of your most hated enemy. Right?” She met each of their gazes, one by one, with a challenging one of her own. “You’ll just have to figure out my connection to the heroes on your own. And how I got the information, too. It shouldn’t be too hard for the so-called world’s greatest detectives. And maybe this can double as a trust exercise. I fully expect you guys to scour through every inch of my past, and dig up everything you can on me. I encourage you to try to find everything you can, so that hopefully you can decide to trust me on your own once you have all the details laid out in front of you. By the way, for your own sanity? I’d start with reading about all of our heroes’ powers and abilities before you watch any footage of past attacks.”

Red hood rocked back on his heels, trading glances with the other vigilantes before they all shared a nod. Apparently having decided their course of action, Red Hood leaned down and hoisted Marinette up into a princess carry. All traces of her previous iron will melted away in favor of the high pitched squeal of surprise she gave, and once more she became an overly flustered teenager.

“Alright, little cutie. Let’s get you to your mom’s place before she and her crazy plant lady fiancé come hunting us down.”

“I can walk! I can freerun on my own! Mon dieu please let me down! Eeeeek!” She squealed again as Robin slapped a domino mask over her eyes and Red Hood wasted no time jumping over the balcony railing with her still in his arms. The fact that they were lowered down by a wire wrapped around Hood’s waist didn’t seem to take away any of the fright that came with a sudden drop over an eighth-story balcony.

Part 1

@emotionalsupportginger @alysrose-starchild @emistar0 @kibastray @justanotherfanficlovinbitch @alyssadeliv @blackroserelina @blackstarlight-co @readingalldaysleepingallnight @maanae @aespades @jaybird-and-co @fleursroses @probably-a-hologram @misterpianoman (didn’t work sorry)

[harveywritings92]

Bnha dad scenarios: Child default names and background stories.

[Tw: mentions of abortion.]

Dabi's kid/Ayane Name meaning: Kanji (Aya) meaning "Color" and (Ne) meaning sound.

Don't need to tell you that his little Firefly wasn't exactly planned, in fact he was completely blindsided when he found his FWB (now common law wife) was pregnant, he ran away! but, not from her... He disappeared for a couple days then showed up a while later in disguise duffle-bag in hand telling her to hurry and start packing up whatever she can carry; cuz they were leaving! Dabi and your mom relocated to a very small town in the countryside where the population is very small.

(like you could fit the whole township into a Boeing 737 small, and your nearest neighbor was 15 minutes away....)

From there they opened and run a roadhouse bar/motel. Dabi didn't marry his Fairy just because she was pregnant, he caught the feelings a long time ago and had been planning to runaway with her way before Ayane was even a distant thought, her impending arrival just pushed his plans forward. Ayane looks like her mother but her [y/hc] hair has little red streaks and she has partial heterochromia in her eyes, they look like someone colored them cerulean, but remembered halfway through that they were supposed to be y/ec, she also has Dabi's cocky smirk.

----------------------------------------

Katsuki's kid/Haruka name meaning:  Distant blossom: Uses the Kanji "Haru" in the word "Distant"  combined with the kanji "Ka" in "blossom".

 Having kids was very distant thought in the back of Katsuki's mind not that he didn't want any, He just thought he wouldn't have any, so then his wife told him that they were having a baby. he was over the moon, he didn't care if it was boy or girl just so long as they were happy and healthy, however as soon as it was confirmed that the the baby in his wife's belly was a girl.

Katsuki went scorched-earth on any boys that went near his little girl and Haruka has him wrapped around her little finger. She's his spoiled princess. Haruka looks like a carbon copy of her mom, but has her dad's temperament and potty mouth, she has partial heterochromia both eyes they're half red-half [y/ec]. 

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Shigaraki's kid/Kururi name meaning:  Black Emerald: "Ku" from the kanji "Black" and "Ruri" meaning "Emerald". (Ngl she was also named after Kurogiri)

 He was completely blindsided when he found out his queen was having his child, he didn't know what to do with it, he considered having it "taken care of" but his queen threatened to leave him if he ever suggested that again! he was huffy and pouty during the whole pregnancy.  

He was also very protective, usually lingering near by or stalking his wife when she was out and about being careful of in case any heroes or lesser NPCs messed with her, then when the baby was finally born... and he held her for the first time, it was like "Holy crap! I made this...!" and suddenly the world wasn't looking so bleak anymore... and now that his wife is gone (rip) Shigaraki's main focus (as aside villainy) was on his daughter and making the future bright for her.

Kururi though not touch starved she is a bit wary of physical affection, and very socially awkward often preferring to read and or play videogames over socializing with other humans, her only friend seems to be Ayane (their friendship is similar to Orin and April from Parks and rec), They hang out mainly because Shigaraki wanted her have some sense of normality that he was deprived as child. however due to her quirk's nature and the guilt she feels over her mother's death, she has a complex over her hands, she doesn't like it when people try holding them or touching them, often seen wearing gloves or keeping them in her pockets. 

Kururi looks like her mom but has a little mole under her chin and has heterochromia her left eye is red while her right [y/ec] and her [y/hc] hair has a single blueish-white streak in it.

-----------------------------------------

Hawks-Keigo's kid/ Griffin or Finny: as in Griffin the mythical creature.

Keigo and his late wife chose that name because of their respective quirks, His wife had some feline traits cat eyes, and cat ears, it was kind of joke between their two names [Cheshire cat and a Hawk] then they first met, Keigo wasn't really interested in his wife at first, but that didn't stop her! so Keigo said if she could get Endeavor to laugh he'll take her on a date!

So she goes up to Endeavor and says "What happens when a hawk mates with a cat?..." The current number 1 looked at her bemused. "The English call it a Griffin, but I call it a cawk!" Hawks winced It was soo cringy, obscene and made no sense!... But it worked! Endeavor's lips twitched and he snorted! before breaking out in low chuckles, the rest is history.

Though his avian traits seemed to have overrode his wife's feline traits, I.e. {Finny has little red wings on her head instead of cat ears, and Keigo eye brows, However everything else is from his wife. the reality slip quirk {y/hc} hair and {y/eye} etc.

------------------------------------

Kirishima's kid/Akara: Name meaning "Red Lightning" {Aka} meaning Red and [Ra] from the word Rai meaning lightning.

Eijirou and his wife thought they were having a boy so Akara's name was originally going to be Akahito "the red warrior" so when the baby that came out was obviously a girl, he and his wife panicked and couldn't figure out or agree on a new name, until Mina suggest a holding raffle everyone wrote a name down and put it in a hat. and the first name they pulled will be their daughter's name, they pulled out Denki's choice and settled on it and considering Akara's quirk: Hard-charge. it fits pretty well. 

(She can harden her skin like her dad. however, with every hit she takes, she can absorb kinetic energy from it, the energy turns into electricity which she can use to deliver powerful electric discharge attacks.) 

Her mom is Denki's cousin by the way... Her mom's Quirk is called Static pinch, she can store small amounts of static electricity and release tiny zaps from her thumb index and middle finger, if she gets close enough to an enemy she use the stored energy in her body like a taser via "Vulcan nerve pinch".

  Akara looks like her mother but has her dad's sharp teeth.

--------------------------------

Shoto's kid/Koyuki name meaning "Little snow" kanji [Ko] meaning little and [Yuki] meaning snow.

Much like Katsuki children were a very touchy and distant subject for him, He was was always scared that he'll end up just like his father, he was adamant on having no kids, so when his wife announced that she was pregnant and keeping it, Shoto had a panic attack and ran off  for a couple days, until she calls Dabi who tracked him down and talked some sense into him...

(after punching him in the face for ditching his pregnant wife.) The his older brother pretty much told Shoto he's letting Enji win running off like that, and reminds him that they're both Endeavor's sons, but they are not their father, and will never be their father, they're better than him... and with that Dabi send his younger brother back his worried wife, Shoto apologizes and is working to prove he's not like his father. 

He keeps his daughter away from her grandfather who keeps badgering Shoto for another grandchild as he doesn't see Koyuki's quirk (Frost-breath) taking her anywhere in the future, Shoto has more or less politely told his father to go and pound sand.... as it was very difficult for Shoto's wife to conceive children and her pregnancy and birth was very stressful and traumatic for them, Koyuki was born prematurely and his wife had to stay in the hospital with a severe case of the flu.

Koyuki like  Shoto has bi-color hair on the left it's red and on the right it's [y/hc] she has her mom [y/ec] eyes she’s very happy and but timid child and often seen clinging to one of her parent's legs when stranger approaches, though she get's a bit more confident with time.

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Izuku's kid/ Hinamori Name meaning: "sunshine forest" combines the kanji [Hina] for sunshine and the kanji [Mori] for Forest.

Not a surprise when he the number 1 hero's wife started showing a baby-bump a year and a half after their wedding, however what came as a surprise was how protective Izuku became when Reporters and his more eccentric fans didn't know how to keep their boundaries, they would not stop staring at his wife's boobs and trying to touch her belly, Izuku would block their view or slap their hands away and repeat. "Your not my mother or her (Relative.) Don't touch my wife..." he'd discharge his quirk a bit showing that he wasn't kidding around... 

The attention seem to blow over once Hinamori was born mainly due to Izuku buying a house in a gated community so the press couldn't get in so easily and bother the new family, Hinamori looks like her mom but she her y/hc hair is wild like Izuku's and she has his freckles, she likes reading and is often found in Izuku's study reading his old hero observation books. and has actually been working on some of her own, as Izuku has found her little dinosaur notebook with observations on Haruka, Koyuki and Akara. 

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Denki's kid: Raika name meaning: Lightning flower uses the kanji [Rai] for lightning and the kanji [Ka] from flower. 

Raika wasn't exactly planned... See Denki and his little lady were on vacation see? there was this music festival in Niagara-falls, and well...He and his wife had few too many and well details are bit blurred, but... Raika may or may not have been conceived in a handicap stall, but if she ever were to ask everyone's been told to say it was after Denki recued his wife from a villain holding her hostage and Raika was the end result of his reward, luckily she doesn't seem really interested in knowing her parents sexual history.

So there's a good chance shell never know! Raika has her dad's quirk, her hair is y/hc with a yellow/black lighting bolt streaked into it and her y/ec eyes flash yellow when using her quirk. 

[sad-boy-hank]

𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐛 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐨𝐝

Yandere! Phobos x Reader

Tw: family issues, mention of/implied neglect, misgendering, its implied that reader suffers from depression but I'll let you guys make up your own hcs about that, i projected on this hard and it shows, afab reader is trans gn, phobos is a he/him lesbian

You just wanted to be a normal, inconspicuous, run-of-the-mill grunt. Someone no one would bat an eye at. Someone who wouldn't cause a stir if they went missing. Someone unimportant. Someone no one cared enough about to talk to. But clearly, God doesn't care what you want.

As soon as you were born you were important. Born with a high-ranking politician as a father and a mother who got rich doing god-knows-what. Fuck, you hated those two. But oh well. You were just a name next to theirs in news headlines. You were the "sweet little cherub" of this "perfect, happy family". The title was annoying, but hey. It wasn't the worst.

The worst came when you turned 18.

You walked into your living room and turned on the unnecessarily wide tv. This thing just takes up space. We should just sell the fucker and get a smaller one. Maybe donate it or something. With a sigh, you plopped down to watch the news. Maybe someone's working towards something nice for a change.

"As tensions run high, a young woman named Phobos seeks to win the seat of Director. Already a woman with political power and the support of the people, it's likely we'll see him get his wish."

Phobos, huh?

You've probably heard that name before, mentioned in one of your father's famously long conference meetings that he often forced you to attend when you were like, 10. You huffed. Your parents never left your thoughts, huh?

"Why hello dear!"

They never left you alone either.

Your mother strutted into the room, as she always did, proud as a peacock. She stood right in front of you, blocking your view of the television, and leaned down to squeeze your face. "How's my sweet little darling daughter doing?"

Oh crap, not this again. Scrunching up your nose in discomfort, you gently removed your mother's hands from your face. "Mom, we have talked about this. several times. I am your child, not your daughter."

She puffed out her cheeks in an annoyingly childish manner "But you'll always be my sweet little baby gi-"

"Mom. What is it you want me to do." she rarely acts this... "nice" to me. Unless she thinks I can get her something she wants.

You raised a brow as your mother stood straight and looked at you incredulously. "What do you mea-"

"Come on. You know what I mean." You slouched slightly on the couch with a sigh, trying to get more comfortable. "Spit it out, ma."

She crossed her arms and grumbled for a few seconds before speaking to you again. "Well, I'm sure you know Phobos? That lady running for director?"

No. "Yeah, I know 'im."

"Well..." Your mother paused, trying to build tension.

Hurry up.

"Well, She asked me if you'd like to work in her cabinet since you're all grown up now, and I said yes!"

You had to do a double-take. "What?"

Your mom just smiled brightly and continued. "Yep! She asked, I answered!"

You glared at her, still very pissed at being hired off without your consent. "He, ma. Phobos goes by he/him."

"Whatever, dear. You two will meet up in a week to discuss plans. Good luck!"

Fuck you.

~~~~

holy shit I cant write any more....... but that means I can focus on other cool things as I brainstorm the next part to this story! stay tuned!

[unrestedjade]

Baseless Ferengi headcanons no one asked for and that get increasingly queer-navel-gazing and self indulgent because the horrible space goblins have consumed my brain:

- Mobile ears, because if hearing is so well developed and important to them they should be able to aim those big stupid radar dishes. Also because then they can emote with them and that's cute. THE AESTHETIC IS PARAMOUNT.

- Since they canonically sharpen their teeth with chew sticks and sharpeners, their teeth must grow continuously. So I submit: subcultures that let certain teeth grow out as a fashion/political statement. Ferengi punks and anarchists with 5" tusks. Ferengi with all their teeth filed flat (mom and dad HATE it).

- Corollary to the above, most of their teeth are crooked. At the least, they don't share our fetish for straight teeth. What if their teeth are deciduous, and there's no point in trying to force them into perfect alignment, since they'll just fall out and get replaced? So like, sharks but their teeth can also grow longer with no limit. WHAT HAST EVOLUTION WROUGHT ON FERENGINAR :V

- Parents nagging their kids to sharpen their teeth "or they'll grow up into your brain and you'll die :)"

- Personal space? Don't know her.

Okay I need a cut because there's too many now. WHOLE SOCIETY OF GAY HOMOPHOBIC UNCLES AND AUNTS GO I HAVE A PROBLEM

- I can't remember who on here put forth the idea of them having retractable claws but Yes. :3

- Pushing back against the worst canon episode a bit but: relative ear size being the only obvious sexually dimorphic trait, and even that having enough of a gray area that the only way to be 100% sure you're talking to a male or female Ferengi is if you do a blood test. Unless they're intersex! *shrug emoji*

- This is why they're so fanatical about gender conformity and their Victorian "separate spheres" attitude to men and women's roles. Capitalist patriarchy is fragile! And as artificial to Ferengi as it ever was to Humans! (self-indulgenceeeee about gender shiiiiit)

- You know how with domesticated rabbits, the rabbit getting groomed and paid attention to is the boss? Yeah. Go ahead and paint your bestie's nails, just don't be surprised if she cops a little bit of an attitude with you from then on.

- Their fight/flight/freeze/fawn instincts skew heavily toward the last three, and what a lot of other species read as annoying sucking up is the Ferengi in question feeling anxious and unsafe. Especially if they don't feel integrated into the group. Even being at the bottom of the pecking order is better than not being in the flock at all.

- If they DO opt for fight, it's ugly and typically their last resort. Bites or scratches will get infected without intervention-- microbes that their immune system can handle could cause big trouble for aliens. You might wanna check for full or partial teeth that break off and get lodged in the wound, too.

- Too many of these are tooth related but I don't care. :B More teeth stuff: you know what else has teeth that grow constantly? Puffer fish. Likewise, Ferengi can chew up mollusk shells as easy as potato chips, and they need the minerals for their teeth. (Imagine grandpa Sisko offering Nog a crayfish for the first time and watching as he just...pops the whole damn thing in his mouth and crunches away...)

- Their staple foods seem to be grubs and other arthropods, high in protein and fat. I've unilaterally decided their cuisine also involves a lot of edible fungi, ferns, plant shoots and seeds. Gotta get those vitamins. Overall flavor profile leaning toward umami, vegetal, and fresh herbs, and pretty mild (or "delicate" if you wanna be snooty about it, which a Ferengi probably would let's be real).

- Not much sugary food. I'm basing this solely on Quark's aversion to root beer as "cloying". Which could definitely just be his personal preference, but most of the people I hear hating on root beer cite the actual sassafras/sarsaparilla flavor (saying it tastes like medicine) not the sweetness. Nog might be the weirdo outlier for being able to enjoy it.

- Their home planet isn't bright and sunny, so their eyes are better at discerning shades of gray in low light conditions, with relatively weak color vision. Which could explain why they dress Like That.

- Conversely, human music has a reputation for stinking on ice because a lot of it is juuuuust lightly dissonant or out of tune because we can't pick up flaws that small. Ferengi can, and it drives them up the *wall*.

- Music? So many different kinds. Traditionally, maybe lots of percussion and winds, and water as a common component of many instruments to alter pitch or tone. Polyphony out the ass. Some of the modern stuff is an impenetrable wall of sound if you're not a species with a lot of brain real estate devoted to processing sounds. Pick out one melody to follow at a time.

- Yes, back to teeth again I'm sorry. It's a sickness. At some point in their history, pre-chewing food was just something you did for your baby or great grandma as a matter of necessity. Possibly your baby gets an important boost to their immune system and gut biome from your spit. At some point takes on a more formal intimacy aspect and gradually drifted from something all adults and older kids do to something only women do. Your husband and older kids have perfectly functional teeth, but you love them, right? =_= (Think old memes about husbands being useless in the kitchen if little wifey isn't there to cook, but even more ridiculous. Ishka was right about everything but especially this. Thank you for making your family chew their own food, Ishka. Not all heroes wear capes. Or anything!)

- How did they get started on the whole men: clothed vs women: unclothed nonsense? My equally stupid idea: men just get cold easier. Those huge ears dissipate a ton of body heat. Cue Ferengi cliches like "jeez, we could be standing on the surface of the sun and my husband would put on another layer." At some point, again, this got codified and pushed to ridiculous extremes in the name of controlling women and keeping everyone in their assigned box, to the point that women just have to shiver if they really are too cold and men have to pass out from heat stroke if the alternative is going shirtless, because That Would Be Inappropriate.

- Marriages default to five years, but they're also the only avenue for women to have their own household or any stability. Plus their religion places no emphasis on purity save for pure adherence to the free market and the RoA. So, curveball to the rest of their patriarchal bullshit: female virginity isn't a concern in the least. Bring it up and they'll rightly side-eye you.

- Family law is absolutely bonkers and lawyers that specialize in it make BANK. I feel like custody would default to the father usually but oh wait, the maternal grandfather has a legal stake in this, too, and your next father-in-law is asking HOW many kids are you dragging into my daughter's house, etc etc. Growing up with a full sibling is way rarer than growing up with half or stepsiblings, since it usually takes both men and women two or three tries to find someone they vibe with. (Not love, unless you're super cringe.)

- A misogynistic society is a homophobic society. Imo those flavors of shittiness just come in pairs. Homosexual behaviors are fine within certain parameters (aka "always have sex with the boss") but not on your own terms. To add spice, bisexuality is their most common mode (because I'm bi and these are my hcs for my fics I'm not writing, so there), but capitalism demands fresh grist for the mill so you better get het-married and pop out some kids you lowly peons. You have a choice so make the proper one. :)

- Corollary to the above, that doesn't keep all kinds of illicit "we're just friends with quid-pro-quo benefits for realsies" affairs of every stripe and every gender from going on everywhere. Many Ferengi have a lightbulb moment somewhere in early adulthood when they figure out their dad's business partner or the "auntie" who visited their mom every month had a little more going on.

- Plus there's way more gender non-conformity and varying degrees of trans-ing than the powers that be have a handle on. Pel isn't unique, even if most would have to somehow make it out into space to be able to thrive.

Damn a lot of these are just my personal bugbears plus THE GILDED AGE BUT WITH HAIRLESS SPACE RODENTS ain't they

- Women can't earn profit, okay. But lending or "lending" things to each other isn't commerce, riiiiiiight? To be assigned female is to master navigating a vast, dizzying barter/gift economy. Smart boys and men leverage this, too, and there are splinter sects that view this as the purest expression of the Great Material Continuum.

- Of course plenty of women make profit anyway, and just do their bast to dodge the FCA. The tough thing about insisting on using latinum as currency is that cash can be so hard to track, you know?

- Because of the RoA, guys are discouraged from doing favors or giving gifts without setting clear expectation of getting some return on investment. This can twist into an expression of friendship (and of course women do it too), and the ledger will keep cycling between debit and credit among friends for decades. A common mistake aliens make is to tell them recompense isn't needed without explaining why, or return their favor or present with something that zeroes out the debt. The Ferengi will assume you want to break off the friendship. (I cribbed this from dim memories of an African studies course I took in 2007 and whose textbook I know I still have but I can't frigging find it...)

- Flirting, they do a lot of it for a lot of reasons. Roddenberry made it clear that they're just straight up pretty horny, but there's no reason it can't pull double duty for building alliances with other people, smoothing over feuds or disagreements, or cementing friendships. Ferengi who are ace and/or sex-repulsed are possibly viewed similar to the way we'd view someone who's "not a hugger/not big on touching" and if they flirt just don't get offended if it doesn't go any further; aro Ferengi don't garner much comment aside from an occasional "wow how badass, never falling in love with anyone."

- where to even start on making sense of the Blessed Exchequer??? Like seriously, what is this literal prosperity gospel insanity, I need to force myself to re-read Rand and like, some Milton Friedman for this shit. Help.

- fuck I'm probably going to actually do that, RIP me...

[phoenixyfriend]

I’ve been trying to figure out the best obi wan ship. They all have one slightly problematic thing this way or that. I’ve landed on the idea of obi wan and an equal is pretty top tier. But then I saw a picture of Coran from voltron. Coran and Obiwan might be a disaster but also both are dad shaped, both are bad ass, both are ginger, both have an accent. I think it could work. But another part of me is like Coran is just obi and jarjar mashed together. At the very least they hooked up.

Hey I just had restaurant ramen and Starbucks and actually feel like a human being so let's do something unnecessary but funny. I'm taking this as a challenge, anon.

Also IMO Coran has more in common with C3P0 than with JarJar

So obviously, both of these happen in Big Space, but the difference appears to be density. We see about the same complexity of culture and species interactions, but Voltron covers more galaxies. It's vaguely implied that Earth, at least, is the only planet with sapient life in the Milky Way.

I think the way I want to play this out, culturally, is that the Voltron area of the universe covers a much wider, but much more sparsely populated area, while the SW-verse is just the one very densely populated (in part because apparently humans just went Literally Everywhere) galaxy, where they didn't necessarily bother with developing the tech to go to other galaxies (except Rishi, which only sort of counts) because they haven't really even charted out their own yet. It was never contacted by the Voltron side of things because [checks notecards full of excuses] it's really far away from Altea and all that, and the Force shielded the galaxy from Galra interests because Reasons.

All this to say that the two franchises didn't interact until after the Voltron plotline was already over. We'll say it went mostly canon, except Allura survived because uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh fuck that.

We'll say that this is mid-TCW, you know, before Obi-Wan is a bundle of repressed traumas and bad coping mechanisms that's lost almost everyone he's ever loved to the dark side through death or corruption. He's still (mostly) okay! Anakin's not dark (or at least, not as dark as he could be; Obi-Wan doesn't know about the Tuskens), and Ahsoka's still in good standing and most people are alive and--and okay the army is a massive ethical violation he hates with his very soul and he misses Qui-Gon and Anakin's keeping secrets and pulling away from him every day but He's Fine, Guys.

He's Fine.

In comes a ship from not Wild Space, but beyond that. Intergalactic visitors, from the direction of the deeply concerning Force bullshit they felt a few years ago. Translation tech is decent enough on both sides that they get to talking pretty quickly. The explorer is actually a member of the Blade of Marmora, who gets the absolute most basic info (approximately this many inhabited planets, approximately this many trillions of sapients in the recorded galaxy, basic structure of the government for the past however many years, most recent conflict, etc.)

BoM person is like "cool, okay so you guys are really well set-up so I'm just gonna head back and kick this up a few rungs of the coalition ladder because this is way above my paygrade, I'll make sure you get some diplomats who can maybe help out with the whole galactic civil war situation as neutral parties."

The Voltron Coalition does send a diplomat! They, uh, also send Coran, who isn't technically a diplomat, but he's high-level.

The thing is, okay, that Coran is mostly just... passably competent at things. He's a jack of all trades, master of none type. He knows a lot of things, actually, but his practical knowledge in high pressure situations tends to be up in the air. He knows how to fix the Castle Ship and various technologies, but all of that info is ten thousand years out of date. He was a competent fighter at one point but these days his back gives out. He's very knowledgeable regarding intergalactic politics but, again, that information is ten thousand years out of date. He's also a little prone to social gaffs in dicey situations (e.g. the inciting incident in the Voltron Show episode where he misses the single day with clear skies), but puts in so much goddamn effort to make things happen.

In this manner, he's like a warped mirror of what Obi-Wan is and could be.

THAT SAID

Coran is actually really good with teenagers, and specifically with training them.

And Obi-Wan... isn't.

Obi-Wan's snarky and snippy and sassy, and he's decent enough at teaching and he's great at being a jokey friend and all, but he's not necessarily very good at emotions. And unfortunately for Obi-Wan, the teenagers he spends the most time with are Really Full Of Emotions. He tries, bless him, but he's just... he doesn't respond well to emotional conversations at the best of times.

His son-figure saying "You're like a father to me" leads to a response of... radio silence. Guys. That's not the mark of a man who knows how to talk about his feelings with the people he cares about.

In swans Coran with the various other diplomatic envoys of the visiting extragalactic community. The entire situation is really leading to a lull in the war because nobody wants to risk pissing off this clearly well-funded, well-powered third party. As a result, many of the High Generals can interact with the envoys, even if they spend quite a bit of time eyeing the Separatist representatives on the other side of the room, because clearly Everyone Needs A Seat At This Table.

It's a very tense situation.

Obviously, Coran is exactly the weird uncle that goes around telling plausibly-exaggerated stories about Weblums and Yalmors and Balmeras. I'm going to say at least one former Paladin is there, maybe Hunk. Hunk's fun, and also very willing to help Coran make friends and seem Amicable instead of Distant by correcting some of the exaggerations. There's a nice, calm atmosphere in a bubble around Coran and his nonsense, and it's a weird situation but arguably just... you know. It's good. He's good at making people feel safe around him.

Cue the hissed argument between Skywalker and Kenobi. The actual cause of said argument isn't important, just the fact that, in a dark corner where they're less likely to cause a PR issue, Anakin and Obi-Wan are having it out. Anakin's maybe twenty, still a lanky ragebaby, all that fun stuff. Obi-Wan is a the endpoint of every too-young brotherdad. He's thirty-six but feels like he's sixty-three. He's tired, but trying so damn hard to still connect with Anakin and just--just--

Obi-Wan gives himself a few minutes to calm down before following Anakin. He doesn't even remember what they were arguing about, really, but he has to mend the bridge before it frays even more than it already has. If Anakin goes to Palpatine for advice again, he's going to... do something. Obi-Wan isn't sure what, but he just has to fix this.

What he finds is... well, Anakin did end up going to vent to a man of an earlier generation who acts like a slightly eccentric older relative, but it's not Palpatine for once.

The goofy, slightly abrasive but mostly charming, brightly-colored representative of the Voltron Coalition is standing in the little balcony that Anakin's made it to, listening as Obi-Wan's recently-knighted padawan vents. The man nods and makes noises at the appropriate times, and then asks questions that are... maybe a little too accurate.

"You said that you view him as a father, that he raised you after you left your mother."

"Well, yeah, but he doesn't think I'm ready, or--"

"No parent ever does."

"...my mom thought I was ready to become a Jedi."

"I can't speak for your mother," the representative says, "but the princess of my people, Allura... I half-raised that girl from the beginning, and after the destruction of Altea, we were all the other had left. I watched her lead battles and bring life to planets, trying to rebuild a universe out of the ashes of what we'd left behind... I saw the evidence with my own eyes, and I still, every time, I worried for her."

"Why?"

"I worried that she'd be hurt, that she wasn't ready, that she'd make a decision she regretted. Often, she did, and I had to help her back up, and while she's always come back, stronger than before... she is the closest thing I have ever had to a daughter, and I will always worry for her. Every parent does. Do you think, perhaps, that your own Jedi Master, that you consider a father, may worry because he looks at you like a son? That it's not that he doesn't trust you, but that he doesn't trust the world around you?"

Obi-Wan feels his heart in his throat.

The conversation continues in that vein. While Obi-Wan can't say he likes the fact that this stranger is putting words in his mouth, if only as hypotheticals, he can't deny that there's a part of him that relaxes as Anakin does, as every frustrated fresh-knight question gets a measured elderly-steward response that's angled to consider the interpretation that favors Anakin and Obi-Wan in equal measure. Every word encourages Anakin to talk things out and lay boundaries and express his frustrations to Obi-Wan in the plainest words possible.

There's a story in there, more than one. The representative tends to go off on tangents, ones that Anakin sometimes finds interesting and sometimes just resigns himself to. Mostly, though, it goes well, and Obi-Wan... well, he's always been 'a nosy little bastard,' according to quite a few people.

(In his defense, the terms they'd used about Quinlan's 'investigative personality' had been quite a bit stronger.)

He eavesdrops to the end, and Anakin doesn't notice at all. Obi-Wan's not sure if he should try to address Anakin's lack of awareness of the world around him. He's not technically Anakin's master anymore. The comment may be taken as a criticism of his worth and capability, rather than a sincere desire to see his padawan not die.

He approaches the representative instead. He intends to introduce himself. Instead, the first words that tumble out of his mouth are:

"How do you do it?"

The man--older than he looks from a distance, more wrinkles than the bright hair would suggest, but not quite elderly yet--turns and lifts a brow. "Hm?"

"I'm sorry, I'm--" Obi-Wan grimaces. "I'm Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. The young man you were just talking to is my former padawan, er, my former apprentice. I've been finding it harder and harder to speak with him over the past few years, and it seems that every interaction we have leads to an argument. How do you... manage that? I can't get him to listen to me at all."

"Ah, teenagers," the man sighs.

"He's twenty."

The representative pauses, and turns to him. "Are you the one he says raised him? The father?"

"Well... yes, I suppose that's one way to phrase it," Obi-Wan says, eyes darting to the side. He doesn't know how to explain the whole attachment situation to someone who barely knows what a Jedi is. He has even less of an idea of how to explain his own broken ability to speak of emotion, the parts of his mind that Bant clucks over and attributes to his own complicated relationship with Qui-Gon. "I had custody as his primary guardian from ages nine to nineteen and was the primary individual for handling his schooling, health, and general upbringing."

"That sounds to me like a very convoluted way of saying you were his father in all but name."

Obi-Wan grimaces. "I'm not exactly old enough to be his father, and I wasn't exactly the person he was supposed to learn from; I was the... back-up option."

"It seems he cares for you very much."

"He didn't have much of a choice," Obi-Wan says, with the kind of helpless smile and awkward shrug he's long gotten used to sharing with people when they ask. "And I assure you he'd have been happier with the man that was meant to teach him."

"I'd say that the 'would have' in this situation is much less important than what is," the representative says. Obi-Wan probably should have paid more attention to his name. "I wasn't in a position to define my relation to Allura or her father in the way that truly suited our situation, by... oh, tradition, social norms, public relations, take your pick. I was a very well-regarded official, of course, but I wasn't royalty, not even nobility, and I certainly wasn't wasn't legally or publicly part of the family. But for all the limitations there, I was still able to find ways to tell her and her family what they meant to me, and they in return. Your apprentice cares for you very much, and I'm sure you care back, but I'd hazard quite the guess that you've no idea how to tell him that."

"I... I shouldn't," Obi-Wan says. "I'm fond of him, of course, but I've no wish to smother him, and to simply say it would be undignified. I imagine he'd laugh in my face."

The representative raises one eyebrow and takes a sip of his drink.

"Master Kenobi," he says carefully. "Might I suggest you go find your young man, tell him you love him, and perhaps give him a hug?"

Obi-Wan's face flares red. It's been years since anyone short of Yoda has spoken to him like that.

"I'm not a child," he sniffs, trying to angle enough away that the blush isn't as noticeable. He's damnably prone to such things. "You're not that much older than me."

The man laughs, and Obi-Wan lifts his glass to his lips in a futile attempt to hid the embarrassment a little more. "Oh, not counting the stasis, I've well reached the age of six hundred and twenty-four, my boy!"

Obi-Wan chokes on his drink.

The man laughs a little more, but thumps him on the back until he's breathing normally again.

"Yes, most of the humans I've told have had quite the reaction!" the representative assures him. "But yes, even with the times adjusted to what any given local year is, I am significantly longer-lived than most species."

"No kidding," Obi-Wan manages. He wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand and looks over at the representative. He takes in the wrinkles and bright eyes, and says, "Well, I must say you look very well for a near-human of such an age. I can only name one person in that category that has managed better, and I haven't seen her since I was a child."

"I shall take that as the compliment it's intended to be," the representative says, twisting the edge of his mustache and beaming.

The man is... well, goofy, really, and quite a bit older than Obi-Wan had thought, but he's quite the charmer. Obi-Wan faintly compares him to a few different people in the back of his mind, but nothing quite fits. For all that the man is quite the jokester and--going by some things he'd seen from the corner of his eye in the main party--a master of physical comedy, the representative is actually more competent than he looks, and for all his visible age, not bad to look at. He is also, seemingly, an expert in dealing with teenagers and young adults, something Obi-Wan himself is... decidedly not.

He really should go speak with Anakin.

And there's a war to fight.

He doesn't really have much time, even with the recent lull.

He's in no place to be looking at the clean-shaven jaw and wondering what it would feel like under his lips, or to let himself consider whether this man would be the kind to have an hours-long discussion as to the narrative forms common in other galaxies, and whether they have anything paralleled to those in Obi-Wan's own, or if this man would show the same enthusiasm over teas that he'd shown over the hors d'oeuvres inside.

He should... really go find Anakin.

"I suppose it's time to find my padawan," he says, more to fill the air than anything. "Er... thank you, both for speaking with him, and for speaking with me."

"Not a problem at all, Master Kenobi!" the representative says, and Obi-Wan realizes that there's one last thing he may have... forgotten.

"This is terribly embarrassing, but I don't believe I caught your name?" Obi-Wan says.

"Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe, at your service!" the man says, with a sweeping bow. "As you can imagine, most simply call me Coran."

"Then I insist you call me Obi-Wan," he says, and before he can stop himself, "Might I bother you with an invitation to a shared tea time? You seem a knowledgeable fellow, and I'd appreciate the chance to... eh, pick your brain, shall we say."

It's not the smoothest come on he's ever put out there, or the most easily interpreted, but... well. Perhaps it's for the best. He's rather often found his tastes going in irresponsible directions, and it'll be much easier to brush this off without diplomatic incident if there's room for Coran to politely ignore the less platonic options.

Obi-Wan hopes he doesn't.

It's very selfish of him, but a dalliance with an older gentleman... well. He does, perhaps, make such irresponsible decisions, even now.

"I do believe I'd enjoy such a thing!" Coran enthuses, grabbing Obi-Wan's hand and shaking it in large, effusive movements.

Oh, this is a terrible idea, Obi-Wan thinks, even as he exchanges comm numbers and says goodbye.

Still.

He likes the idea of having at least a little fun, sedate or less so, while they have some time to themselves.

[tc-doherty]

Character Info: Ithea Seilez

@bloodlessheirbyjacques​

Information and art below the cut!

Ithea is the daughter of Seilez, current First Lord of Cylli, and a human mother named Beatrice. Like all children with a Drezhein parent, she is a Drezhein herself, but she was raised human.

Ithea was raised in Tesara which is objectively a pretty shitty place to live. I have written about her childhood here. She became the 5th Lord of Cylli the old-fashioned way, by killing the person who had held the position before her. So in her early teens she moved to Cylli and spent a few years living a flashy and extravagant lifestyle before she suddenly packed up her things without warning and moved back to Tesara. She lived there, playing house with Anthem Silverwood, until her death.

Her main goal politically is to prevent her father from being able to finalize his "peace treaty" with the human empire of Sanirra, for reasons which nobody else understands.

Ithea is pretty intelligent for a girl who was never allowed to receive any kind of formal education. She's fluent in 3 languages, and can be quite an eloquent speaker when she wants to be. The Sanirran Empire looks down on Tesara and she never bothered to get rid of her accent, although she did deliberately soften it. You can picture her speaking in a typical upper class, southern belle drawl.

One of the reasons that the Sanirran Empire has so much trouble with Ithea (and Anthem) is that people never believe that they're capable of doing all of the things that they have supposedly done. When the two of them are in Sanirra, people just perceive them as a charming, mild-mannered gentleman and his bubbly, ditzy, sexpot wife, which suits them both just fine.

Such a tactic wouldn't work on other Drezhein, due to her position of 5th Lord. When she works with (or against) Drezhein she takes a different tactic and instead acts extremely arrogant and irritating, she keeps her opponents off balance by riling them up. Talked a little about that here.

Seilez does nothing to punish her or stop her because A, he finds her amusing and B, her outrageous behavior alienates a lot of other Drezhein and actually pushes people who would've been against him farther towards his side. Ithea understands this but continues the path she has chosen anyway, again for reasons nobody else understands.

Ithea is quickwitted in debates and a fearless and ferocious fighter in duels. She has no qualms about killing others, and is, in general, a very difficult opponent to withstand. Her shape-shifted form is wolflike in nature, and she has been known to hunt and eat humans, which Drezhein tend to frown on at this point in time. (It should be noted that she is hardly the only Drezhein who continues to do this though). People have been known to say that Ithea behaves a lot like a Drezhein Lord would have and should have several generations before. Since her twin brother Ithian is viewed in a similar light, most people assume this has to do with their unpleasant childhood in Tesara.

Outside of her political ambitions, Ithea raises 7 of Anthem's 8 children and is a decent mom? The parents who raised her were...not great, and she doesn't really have a good role model, plus she and Anthem fight constantly in the early years of their relationship (which definitely affects the oldest children). However, she loves them all a lot, and does her best, and they all have fond memories of her. It is in fact Anthem that many of the Silverwood children have a difficult relationship with.

Ithea is sick with the condition that only affects Drezhein. She trusts no one, and refuses to reveal weakness to anyone, so this is something that nobody actually knows about her. When she begins getting to the point where she would not be able to hide her illness anymore she does something which, as planned, results in her death. She is 36 years old when she dies.

The political ramifications of her death are huge. But on a personal note, with her death, the Silverwood family pretty much falls apart. Anthem dies less than a year after she does, and many of the siblings end up drifting apart for decades. But all of that is additional stories for a later time~

A short drabble about Anthem and Ithea

A meme post about the whole family

Moodboards for the family

[sobdasha]

had a few more thoughts about the Honda family

and all the Souma parallels.

(and by “a few” I apparently meant “a lot”, I did not mean to write this many pages)

In the other post I’d made a comment about how Katsuya’s romance with Kyouko, severe age difference issues aside, is just plain pathetic, a point which I believe to be Upheld by canon. And I wanted to talk more about that, the implications of that, and how that further builds the Akito and Tohru parallel. And also, Why Tohru Can’t Love Her Mom And Kyou At The Same Time.

The ideal, in Fruits Basket, is that when you make a connection with one person who loves you and sees you, this will enable you to make further connections with the people around you. Tohru does a whole heck of a lot of this; for one example, see Yuki explaining this to Kisa in the liking-yourself speech. Yuki does some of this for bitty Haru and later for Machi. Kazuma does this for Kyou. And so on and so forth. The positive experiences are meant to have a ripple effect.

It’s important to be grateful for what you have (Yuki and Machi’s “just one person would be enough” scene), but it’s human to crave more than that (Kyouko telling Saki that it’s probably normal to want other people to accept you even if you already have a loving and supportive family). It is important to crave more than that.

This was, in fact, the entire point of the curse. God meets cat. Cat’s companionship allows god to form connections with other animals. Cat is dying and god decides that 13 friends is the perfect number of friends and starts the reincarnation cycle. Cat says, “god you never once left your house. I wanted to see you go down and make friends with the humans. I wanted to see you experience the world and laugh in the sunlight. God you made 13 new friends but you’re still lonely and closing yourself off to the world forever, this is wrong and I am sad.” The banquets were supposed to be the gateway drug of friendship and meaningful connections, not the place where 14 souls stagnated alone and isolated until it became a curse.

That same wrongness happens in Ren and Akira’s relationship, where finally making a connection with one person who loves you and sees you made their world smaller and smaller. It wasn’t healthy, probably because 1) they remained in a toxic environment, 2) Kureno implies that Ren has mental health issues and I assume those existed prior to Akira’s death and were exacerbated, rather than created by, her grief; also I can’t imagine she actually came from a non-toxic family herself, and 3) Akira’s “you’re going to die an early death and the only thing we need from you first is a successor” trauma. Akira never found anyone other than Ren who understood how upset he was. Ren never formed a relationship with anyone other than Akira, partly because she was now trapped in a toxic family that despised everything about her and she refused to Prove Them Right by leaving. They both viewed their child as an object rather than a person; Akira seeing proof that he and Ren were definitely OTP and the Souma could go shove it, and Ren seeing a Rival.

I have a memory that I said at some point—probably in a Talking About Shigure post—that Kyouko helps Katsuya connect with other people. But this, I think, is not really true. I was thinking of how Kyouko helps bridge the non-relationship between Katsuya and his father. But that’s just one person.

Really, Katsuya and Kyouko are more like Akira and Ren.

Marrying-someone-who-just-graduated-ninth-grade aside, the fact that Katsuya and Kyouko meet is genuinely a good thing. Katsuya finally connects with the humanity in another person. Kyouko is finally cared about as a person. Their misanthropic-jackass-and-abandoned-cat relationship improves both of them, probably. Their connection is definitely the reason Kyouko decides to go to high school and quit her gang. It’s harder to tell with Katsuya, but you could argue that seeing Kyouko struggling and fighting and screaming against the world, as honest about her joy as she is about her loneliness-channeled-into-rage, causes Katsuya to say screw it and pursue the career in pharmacy that he’s interested in, instead of fake-politely submitting to the world’s expectations and internally resenting and disdaining everyone around him.

Katsuya softens in his relationship with his father. Both Katsuya and Kyouko see their child as a person in her own right, Tohru, rather than an object. Katsuya, in fact, is adamant about that fact when Kyouko is terrified of her pregnancy—that they can treat their baby as her own person, and if they aren’t perfect parents and they hurt their child, they’ll apologize—because Tohru is a person and an equal—and admit that what they did was wrong and why it’s wrong. They’ll treat Tohru with the respect they should have gotten all along.

But I don’t think it ever goes any farther than that. Like god, the Honda family becomes more and more isolated.

Does Katsuya make any work friends? We don’t really get a complete view of their lives, because Takaya is one person who can only do so much and space is very precious, so we only see what’s crucial to the story. But I would be really surprised to find that Katsuya had made any close friends outside of Kyouko. I honestly doubt that he has anything more than casual work acquaintances. (In contrast, we repeatedly see Kyou together with the two guys who got names in the anime that I forgot in his class; his friendship with them doesn’t get explored much in the manga, presumably because it doesn’t do any heavy lifting for his character development, but Kyou clearly has casual friends who seek him out and whom he doesn’t mind being with. See also the way Saki and Arisa also interact with those guys as a part of the group, while Tohru really only interacts with Saki and Arisa or the Souma.)

And I don’t think Kyouko fares any better. Does she have any close friends, other than her husband and daughter? Does she make friends at work? I don’t know what kind of work Kyouko does, and if she would have the opportunity to take her breaks socializing with coworkers. But it appears she spends her work breaks in an abandoned area socializing with a first or second grader. Kyou is the only person, as far as we know, that mid-twenties Kyouko can start to open up to. She doesn’t get all the way there—Kyou doesn’t connect the dots until much later—but it’s the closest she comes to talking about how she hurt Tohru after Katsuya died.

Where are the family friends? It doesn’t strike me as weird that the Honda family doesn’t have them, because I have also grown up in a poorly socialized household, but even I am used to running into unfamiliar people in public who explain that they know my mom or dad. I’m pretty sure family friends are a normal thing, and that’s how you get aunts and uncles that aren’t related to you, much in the same way that I’m pretty sure it’s normal to be friends with your cousins (especially if they’re in a similar age range and live nearby) and it is very common for grandparents to bring grandchildren with them to the grocery store because the grandchildren are staying over and they’re having a relationship.

Where is anyone but the Honda family at at Kyouko’s funeral? Kyouko made friends with Arisa and Saki, but did she ever make friends with Saki’s parents? Where are Saki’s loving and supportive mother and father and grandmother when the Honda family is arguing about who has to take on the burden of Tohru? Where are they, if they knew of the bad blood between Kyouko and the Honda family (and the disinheritance between Kyouko and the Katsunuma family), to sweep over Tohru’s protestations and tell her that it will all be fine, they’ll make it work out (they packed up and moved house for Saki, after all), it’s not Tohru’s job to worry about being a burden, it’s the job of people who love her to take care of her?

It can be both “because of the necessity of the plot” and “because they didn’t know.”

Tohru inherits this small, isolated world. And because of the trauma of being abandoned by her grieving, depressed, absolutely-not-coping mother, Tohru picks up on that Souma curse mentality. Tohru’s dad left, and Tohru’s dad tried to take her mom with her, leaving her with no one but Grandpa (who is not intimately part of their world but is not fully outside it either). Tohru’s dad is now a Rival. Tohru’s dad is now an Outsider. Clearly, a bond with an Outsider weakens the True Bond that Tohru had with Kyouko. Clearly, Tohru’s dad is Not Needed (because the other alternative is that Tohru is Not Needed). Clearly, only one of them can have Kyouko.

And it’s going to be Tohru.

Tohru picks up Katsuya’s fake-polite speech, equally disingenuously but from the opposite direction (ie, Katsuya was fake-polite to be an asshole, and Tohru is genuinely polite but faking the words). Tohru is pretty sure this is a form of wicked manipulation (much like Yuki is convinced that “be kind unto others as you would have them be kind unto you” is a form of wicked manipulation). Tohru keeps up with it anyway. Kyouko, as Kyou suggests, was probably comforted by this; rather than going full Akira “you exist to prove that I lived and loved a woman”, seeing Katsuya’s mannerisms in Tohru reminds her that her husband did exist without having to erase Tohru as a person. Kyouko does a lot of growing on her own, but with no support system and no friends outside the family and being fresh-out-of-college age, it’s not surprising that she fails to talk with Tohru about this, and tell Tohru that she knows why Tohru’s doing this, she knows how she hurt Tohru and it was wrong, you don’t have to do this anymore. This is a hurt between them, a grief, that they never talk about, even though they both know it’s there and Kyouko tries to smother it with love and affection and Tohru tries to shut it up in a box of denial.

Tohru’s world is now just Tohru and Kyouko. Tohru doesn’t make any friends until middle school. We know she gets bullied and doesn’t fit in throughout her entire school life. She is a riceball in a fruits basket and probably just manages to scrape by in conformity culture. When she does make her first friends, Arisa and Saki don’t count as Outsiders who compromise Tohru’s bond with her mom because Arisa and Saki are also misfits on the fringe. They are outcasts Tohru can bring into the circle. They are all monsters together, like the cursed Soumas (the only reason no one refers to Akito as a monster to her face, the way they do the rest of the Zodiac, probably has less to do with the fact that Akito doesn’t transform and more to do with the fact that Akito being in a position of power is useful for their own ends, so best not to undermine the head of the family by pointing the whole monster thing out).

And then Tohru’s mom dies.

Tohru isn’t god and she can’t make an eternal banquet. Tohru doesn’t know how to process her grief and how not to fall to pieces. Tohru knows how to empathize with other people, but she doesn’t know how to be vulnerable. Did she remember Kyouko wanting to follow Katsuya, and think about doing the same? But Tohru also wants to keep living, somehow.

So she makes her mom not be gone. Her mom is dead, Tohru knows that, just like Akito knows that Akira’s soul isn’t in the box choosing her over Ren and showing her the way to happiness. But maybe. So she talks to the portrait of her mom. She tries to rescue her mom from suffocating inside a mudslide. She takes her mom on holiday to the onsen. Her mom gets kidnapped once by Hiro. Tohru’s mom is definitely not gone. Tohru and her mom definitely still have an eternal bond. Tohru’s mom will always be first in her heart, so that Tohru will always be first in her mother’s heart. Tohru will never abandon her. Tohru will never leave her behind.

(Tohru will never be left behind.)

Tohru’s world is just Tohru and her mom.

Tohru has two best friends, Arisa and Saki, but she won’t let them in. She won’t depend on them. She won’t tell that that her grief is crushing her and that she’s living in a tent because she’s terrified of being abandoned. Tohru makes a lot of new friends in the Souma family, and she’s very happy, but she won’t let them in either. Tohru can’t open up to any of them freely.

I don’t think I saved it anywhere the survived the computer death, but I saw at least one post in the fandom talking about the growing disappointment of the reboot anime, and they had a valid point, so I’ll bring that in now.

I really like the reboot, but I am losing my passion in the final season. Adapting a story from one media to another is hard, and at the beginning I thought they were doing a good job. Small things were being cut, scenes were being rearranged and stitched together, but there was a definite purpose behind it. Instead of literally following each chapter, each episode tried to be a self-contained theme in the same way a manga chapter would be. Because themes repeat again and again in Fruits Basket in a slow build, this was working well. But small things that didn’t quite fit got cut. Scenes I liked and was sad not to see, but that I accepted had to be left out to make the episodes stronger.

But they’ve been piling up and piling up. Small holes have accumulated into big plot holes that the third season is tripping over. I’m sad that we don’t see the small progressions of Yuki and Machi’s relationship, the quiet scenes that show Machi is trying to pay attention to Yuki the way he has paid attention to her, and also all the Mogetas. I’m sad Komaki is the new manga-only character. If we don’t get Kyouko’s full backstory, we lose a lot of the context that’s in this post. I could go on and on.

But most importantly, as that someone else pointed out, we missed out on the progression of Kyou and Tohru’s flirting. It’s too late to cram all of that into a montage episode, and so now we’ve been given episode after episode of Mom Tohru, and hardly any Tohru Struggling With Romance In Addition To Struggling With Grief before suddenly everyone is confessing their love and I’m not as into it in the anime as I am in the manga.

So many of the Souma love and accept Tohru, but Tohru remains an Outsider—not because of the curse, but because she hasn’t formed close friendships with them. Tohru has a lot of people among the Souma she likes who like her, but she’s always a Mom to them. Tohru shares some of her own pain with them, but it’s shared for their benefit, not for Tohru’s own catharsis. Tohru shares so she will be loved, not so that she will be accepted.

Except Kyou.

Kyou, who looks at Tohru and thinks, “I’m pretty sure she’s that lonely person even now, even while she’s smiling and genuinely enjoying every moment with us.” Kyou, who’s falling in love with Tohru. Kyou, whom Tohru’s falling in love with.

Kyou is the only one that Tohru takes a desperate risk with. Kyou is the only one Tohru ~disillusions~ and ~disappoints~ in the hope that he’ll accept her regardless.

Kyou is the only one Tohru tells, “I don’t talk about my dad because I kicked him out of the family. I know my dad loved us and I loved him back, but I pretend to talk like him so my mom will forget about him and love me instead. He came between me and my mom and now I pretend he doesn’t exist. And I know I’m an awful person for behaving like that, so I keep his picture and pretend I don’t, and I pretend he’s the Bad Guy who earned it.”

The idea that Tohru can’t love both her mom and Kyou is, in a way, true. (I think that same post I’ve been referencing also talked about how dropping the budding romance also dropped a lot of the clues that this is Tohru unable to process her grief? Which is also very true. But if Tohru has the Souma mindset, then actually she has a legit point about not being able to love two people at once despite being a very loving person. Both can be true. Multitudes.)

Kyou is an Outsider to the world of Tohru and her mom. And if Tohru chooses to love him, it will weaken her bond with her mom, which is predicated on loving her mom more than anyone else. If she expands her world to include him in it, she will be betraying her mom. Tohru will be the Bad Guy who left her mom behind and abandoned her. Tohru will be her own villain, condemned for the same crimes she pinned on her dad.

Kyou 100% gets where she’s coming from with this, because he turns this exact argument on her when she confesses to him and he panics (akin to when Tohru chases him down in his true form and he slashes her and, in the reboot, yeets her into the lake, so that she will be hurt so bad she’ll never pity/love him again). He asks her if her love for her mom—her bond—was just a lie.

Tohru making friends after Kyouko’s death has been a lot like Akito letting Yuki and Kyou out into the world, certain that it would drive them back to the bond. Yuki getting character development is a huge betrayal. Tohru wanting to be together with Kyou, when she should only want to be together with her mom, is a huge betrayal.

Tohru has no model for expanding her world. She’s good at loving people, but bad at letting them in (Kyouko was bad at that too—like Mom Tohru, she was very good at sharing anecdotes about her violent youth, but very bad about sharing how she’d failed Tohru as a mom). Like Akito, she only really knows the bond—the certainty that her mom would love her. She’s been so terrified of not being loved that she’s acted this entire time like her mom is still around. When Kyou’s love is a possibility, she can only conceptualize it as a betrayal of her relationship with her mother.

It always seemed a bit too abrupt that Tohru looked at Akito with the knife and went “oh shit we’re literally the same”, but now that I’ve thought this all out, it makes eloquent sense. The whole time Tohru’s been working against the curse, she’s been in denial about her own blessing-burden-curse. Now that she’s just admitted it and had it thrown back in her face, she can look at Akito and see another person in an insular little world, isolated and lonely and walled-off from the world. Of course Tohru desperately wants to make friends with knife-wielding Akito—she just decided to let go of her ties to her mother that were suffocating her, and take her first steps into the world, and got immediately dumped by the person she loves. Of course she wants to make friends with someone who knows exactly where Tohru’s coming from and how terrifying what Tohru just did is and how awful it is to be rejected even though she’s got other friends she loves out here in this world she’s decided to finally step into.

Tohru is so damn lonely, and Akito is there, also lonely and screaming and crying and undeniably human.

(Smile, Tohru tells herself in the hospital. Smile and tell Kyou you were happy to meet him and just let him go. Don’t be a curse. Smile and let him find his own happiness. Which is more or less the same struggle Akito is also going through. But maybe they’re going through it together. Maybe they used their words, together, when they couldn’t confide in anyone else. Although it feels a bit unlikely that Tohru let herself break down about Kyou in front of Akito, and Akito already had one pity-party in front of Momiji and may not have wanted to burden Tohru with a second.)

One thing I really love about Fruits Basket Another is that Hajime alludes to the fact that Kyou probably won’t inherit Kazuma’s dojo after all.

Kyou inheriting the dojo is something both Kyou and Kazuma have wanted, and it gives me many warm fuzzies. It is very narratively satisfying. The dojo, while Souma property, is not actually part of the main estate.

What I love is that Kyou probably won’t take over the dojo specifically because he and Tohru have made so many friends in their new town that they don’t want to pick up and leave. Kyou finally succeeds in freeing Tohru from that small, lonely world, much like he’s been freed from the fate of the Cat Room. Their relationship enriches them personally and also enables them to make so many new connections. Kyou has friends at the dojo! Tohru has friends at work maybe! Friends where they buy groceries, friends among the parents of their children’s classmates, friends outside of their extended Souma family! They’ve kept ties that don’t hold them back and made new ties that don’t weaken or steal away any of their old ties!

When they left Tokyo, Tohru was prepared to go anywhere as long as it was with Kyou. Now, she and Kyou both don’t want to leave because their world is so much larger than just their nuclear family and they’ve put down roots. They’ve seen each other not only lonely in the moonlight and worn thin by death and loss, but they’ve gotten up and gone down the mountain to where the people live and made friends among them, laughing in the sunlight. Just like the cat always uggghhhhh I’m not crying I’m just so damn happy for them I can’t

[k-llama-llama]

Ultimate Gift

SuperM/WayV AU: 8th member

YinYin x SuperM/WayV/NCT

SuperM has a surprise to cheer Yinnie up.

A/N:ALSO FYI check out my patreon (patreon.com/kllamallama for exclusive posts!)

Requests are Open…and your feedback is still super important to me.

Masterlist and other Follow Me links in bio!

“I need coffee.” YinYin declared, walking over to stand next to Taeyong.

“What?” He looked shocked. “You don’t drink coffee.”

“I don’t care. I’m exhausted.”

She leaned against the well, looking around the room. It wasn’t quite a party, given the current restrictions, but all of SuperM had gathered with their staff and some of the SM executives to celebrate the new album. YinYin wasn’t a party girl at the best of times, but between SuperM promotions, prepping for NCT 2020 and her physiotherapy, she could barely keep her eyes open. She’d actually fallen asleep in the stylist’s chair an hour ago while they tried to curl her hair and make her presentable for the party.

Taeyong patted her on the shoulder. “I wish I could tell you that you can sleep in tomorrow…but…”

“I know.” She sighed. “Rehearsal. It’s okay. I’ll just give in and start drinking coffee.”

“Are we complaining over here?” Kai walked over, looking remarkably chipper. It seemed odd, especially considering the fact that YinYin knew he was just as exhausted as the rest of them.

“Yinnie was just telling me that she’s going to go raid a Starbucks.” Taeyong said.

“Aw, Yin. Are you not having fun?” Kai grinned.

She tilted her head. “Not as much as you. Have you been drinking?”

“What? No.” He shook his head. “Come on, we have something to show you.”

“Show me?” She let him take her arm and lead him away, missing the look he exchanged with Taeyong over her shoulder. “This isn’t something that Lucas has built out of cutlery again, is it?”

“No, I promise.” He pulled her through the party.

Lucas appeared at her side. “Hey, Yin. How’s it going?”

“Good.” She looked between them, and then at Taeyong, who was following them. “What are you guys up to?”

“Nothing.” Lucas said too quickly. “Lets just…go see the others.”

Unconvinced, she tried to catch a glimpse of where they were leading her. By the doors on the other side of the party, Baekyun and Taemin were talking to some people. They were blocking her view, but she assumed it was probably Lee Soo-Man and someone else. The boys were probably looking forward to making her talk to business people.

“I don’t want to talk to anyone, guys.” She protested. “Just let me go eat a donut or something.”

“That’s crazy talk.” Kai laughed. “Come on.”

“Guys…” She whined.

Baekyun turned his head when he saw her. “Hey, Yin.”

“Hi.” She gave him a little wave.

“There’s someone here who’d like to talk to you.” Taemin said, stepping aside.

“I know. But I really have to….” She trailed off, realizing who they had been talking to.

“Yinnie?” Taeyong prompted.

“MOM!” She exclaimed, launching herself forward and into her mom’s arms. She ignored how it caused her back to strain, and just pressed her face into her mom’s shoulder. “What are you doing here?”

Her mom was crying too much to talk, just petting her head, so her father answered. “Your friends flew us out.”

“Daddy!” She reached for him, pulling him into the hug.

The others took in the scene before them. YinYin wasn’t much of a crier, but there were happy tears streaming down her face. It was easy to see her resemblance to her parents. She had her father’s eyes, and the man himself was significantly taller than his wife or daughter, with a face covered in the type of wrinkles one gets from years of working outside.

Her mother was, by some miracle, shorter than YinYin. Their faces were nearly identical, with only a few wrinkles showing her mother’s age.

“What did you guys do?” YinYin sniffled, pulling back enough to look at the boys, and switching into Korean.

Mark looked proud of himself. “You hadn’t seen your parents in years.”

“And you’ve been really down lately.” Ten said with a smile.

“Don’t you guys take credit for this.” Baekyun protested. “We arranged everything. And Taemin’s the one who paid.”

YinYin wiped her eyes. “I’ll pay you back.”

“No, you won’t.” Taemin shook his head.

“Can I hug your mom now?” Lucas begged, speaking in Chinese.

YinYin’s mom let go of her, reaching for him. “You’re much taller in person.”

“It’s so nice to meet you.” He hugged her. “You’re so much prettier than YinYin.”

Her mom playfully swatted his shoulder. “My daughter is gorgeous. And she’s gotten so tall.”

“What?” Ten’s eyes widened. “This is tall YinYin?”

“She used to be this small.” Her dad held a hand up to his waist. “She’s grown a lot since she left.”

“Liu Guanyin, you should make introductions.” Her mom said. “We just got here.”

“Right.” YinYin wiped her eyes. “Mom, Dad, this is Baekyun, Taemin, Kai, Taeyong, Mark, and you’ve talked to Lucas and Ten before on the phone.”

“It’s really nice to meet you both.” Kai held out a hand, which her dad shook.

“We’ve heard so much about you.” Taeyong gave a polite bow.

“Taeyong!” Her mom pulled him into a hug. “You’ve taken such good care of our girl!”

“Yinnie?” Taeyong looked at her in concern, obviously confused by the crying woman in his arms.

“She says thank you.” YinYin translated.

“Tell her thank you!” Mark exclaimed. “She made my favorite scarf without ever even meeting us.”

“Mark!” He was pulled into a hug too.

YinYin leaned into her dad’s side, laughing and crying at the same time. “I can’t believe you guys are here.” She said quietly.

“We’ve missed you so much.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

“I’ve missed you guys too.” She wiped her nose on her sleeve. “I feel like I haven’t talked to you in forever. I’ve been so busy.”

“It’s okay, we’re here now.”

“Yinnie’s mom, did you know she has a boyfriend?” Lucas said proudly, obviously aiming to get her in trouble.

“She already told me.” Her mom said. “Taeyong! Guanyin says you took such good care of her when she got hurt.”

Taeyong just patted her back as he was pulled into another hug. “Is this another thank you?”

“Basically.” Lucas frowned. “Yinnie, your mom doesn’t love me as much as she’s supposed to.”

YinYin rolled her eyes. “Try not being yourself, that might help.”

“Guanyin, don’t be rude.” Her dad poked her side.

She wrinkled her nose at him, before stepping away.

“You know I have to hug you right?” She said to Taemin.

He opened his arms. “Come on.”

“Thank you so so much.” She whispered. “I can’t explain how much this means to me.”

“Don’t worry about it. You deserve this.” He hugged her tightly.

“Now, as fun as this is.” Kai said. “We’ll cover for you so you guys can go out for dinner or something.”

“You will?” YinYin beamed. “Mom! I’ll take you out for Korean food!”

“Baekyun will handle it.” Kai grinned at the leader. “So go.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” YinYin hugged both of them, more excitable than they’d ever seen her, and then grabbed one of each of her parents’ hands and started pulling them out the door without looking back.

“When do we get to meet your boyfriend?” Her mom asked.

“Mom!” She exclaimed. “I literally didn’t know you were coming.”

“But we want to meet him.” Her dad said. “And we want to eat barbeque.”

“I’ll take us to a really good restaurant.” She promised. “My treat.”

[amberwild420]

one step back, two steps forwards (pt. 10)

masterlist

bee and akuma

The day went as normal as it could, Kaylan stick close to Marinette. Adrien once again tried to get Marinette to leave Kaylan before the said girl threaten to talk with his father about him medaling in their lives and politely told him to ‘fuck off’ and dragged Marinette to a secluded place.

 Marinette was rather pleased to be able to spend a peaceful time, but it was soon shattered when they threw juice on Kaylan (seriously don’t you have anything else to do?!). They were smirking, until Kaylan grabbed them by collar and pushed them down. It wasn’t long before she was called to the principle office.

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Kaylan looked bored while sitting in one of the chairs. Lila and Alya sat opposite to her glaring at her. (Alya glaring at her, Lila was just faking tears).

 Mr. Damocles, stare at the scene in front of him. He looked at the girl who was accused to have pushed Rossi and Cesaire.

 Principle Damocles! She pushed us down! She was bullying Lila as well!

 Alya was rather quick with her accusation. Lila shed a few tears but it seems like no one saw the snake like smile on her face. But then again no one in this school was bright. Maybe Ms. Mendeleiev. And her class. Or maybe……..

  Okay. Everyone was smart but the ‘akuma class, Bustier and Damocles.

 Miss Fox, you will be suspended.

 Without any proof?

 What?

 She looked at the principle with a raised eyebrow like he was crazy.

 Lila threw juice on me. She’s bullying me. What punishment should she get? Look….

 She showed him, her white shirt with a big red splotch. It was clear that someone threw it intentionally. Seeing this Lila fake innocently looked at principle.

 But it was an accident. My sprain wrist couldn’t hold the juice properly and……

 Then I accidently bumped into you when I was trying to save myself from your ‘accidental’ spill.

 No you did it on purpose!

 Then you did it on purpose too.

 The argument went like this, Alya shouting at Kaylan and Kaylan calmly responding.

 What proof do you have?!

  What proof do YOU have?

 The sudden silence took over.

 Everyone in the courtyard saw you pushing us down!

 They also saw you throwing your drink on me.

 Lila and Alya seethed. No matter what they said, this Kaylan was too smart. She was pushing them back with twice as much force. She then turned to Damocles.

 Since no one has any proof to actually prove what truly happened I’m sure you can mark it as accident from both side. The juice spilled on me when Lila’s wrist acted up and I just accidently bumped into them when in was trying to save my clothes from the sudden spill.

 The same moment, a knock on the door stopped them. The door opened and Veronica in her very glory stood there. A classic mom frown was drawn on her face.

 Where is Mme. Rossi? I thought the parents were called.

 She is rather a busy person. She works in the embassy.

 Oh! And I’m not? You think I’m a free lazy person that has all the time of the world that you would call me anytime and I’ll come running. I’m far busy than an ambassador. Do you know why? I’m a damn psychiatrist. Do you know how many session I have to take in one day? Call Mme. Rossi or I’m taking this case to the board!

 Damocles stood up like he sat on the pot of fire. He knew if the board got involved he can be in trouble. And the way this woman was glaring at him, he had no doubt that she would do so.

 Mlle. Fox, the matter has been resolved. Both sides were just accident and they just exaggerated.

 Veronica relaxed a bit. She knew the liar could spin the tale or she would have gone to Rossi herself. But Kaylan said it wasn’t necessary. She will get to her later but she needed to support Marinette and teach her how not to be too trusting. She’ll let it go this time.

 You haven’t taken back my suspension.

 Kaylan slyly added.

 Never mind. She will kill him.

 Since this was an accident, there is no suspension!

 Damocles added rather quickly. Kaylan rolled her eyes and stood up. It didn’t take a genius to see how he sighed in relief when her mom turned as well.

 The moment they all left the office, Veronica nodded at her daughter and left, not before throwing a glare to the general direction of pair. Once she was out of sight, she turned to the pair with a smirk.

 It seems like you haven’t learnt your lesson. Or rather worse, you don’t want to learn your lesson. That’s fine, I’ll eventually knock it to your thick skulls.

 You’re threatening us?

 Do you have proof?

 I recorded it.

 Did you now?

 She smirked and left them sputtering. It didn’t take them long to see that Alya never started her recording leaving both of them with no proof.

 Marinette paced in front at the end of the hallway. The moment she looked at Kaylan coming she breathed a sigh of relief but it was rather short lived. The loud explosion got their attention and Akuma alert rang. Marinette ran out to find a place to transform.

 Tikki, spots on!

 The moment she saw the akuma, she sighed in irritation. Of course someone has to anger Officer Roger of all people. And Mayura had to send a senti-monster. A giant robot. That definitely looked like a robot. Was she in transformers or something? She looked at Ryuu and Python as they landed next to her, but she started dreading when chat landed as well.

 Milady! Did you miss your knight in the shinning leather?

No!

 Meow don’t say that milady. I thought you liked me and my purr-fect puns.

 Resisting the urge to punch him and knocking him out, ladybug was quick to give order before calling for lucky charm. A box with Chinese writing fell in her hand. Giving the distraction duty she ran to collect a miraculous.

 Tikki, spots off. Get recharged Tikki. We’re going to get Kaylan for the fight again.

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After recharge and miraculous, Ladybug swing by school looking for her friend. She found her on top of the school roof. A magic circle beneath her feet as talked to someone on phone, probably her mother. Despite what she says, she loves her mother so much. Luka was often right with personality judgment. As soon as she landed next to her, Kaylan hung up after a quick goodbye.

  Kaylan! I hope I’m not interrupting something important.

 No.

Very well. Kaylan fox, this is the miraculous of bee, you will use this as a source to help me and nothing else.

 She took the box and opened, the same bright light blinded her, before a Kwami came into her view. This one was yellow and black. But this one was rather sad to see her. The hair comb resting in the box.

 Was she not expecting to see her?

Same question. Transformation phrase, power, de-transformation phrase and your name.

 My name is pollen. Say buzz on to transform, you get venom and can paralyze anyone with it. Buzz off to de-transform.

 Thank you.

 She clipped the comb in her hair.

Pollen, buzz on.

 When transformation completed, ladybug looked in awe. It was not a skin tight spandex, but a short dress with knee high black boots. It was mostly black. Her hair tied in pigtails and two short antennae formed on her head. The

 What am I supposed to do?

 Well you are holding the miraculous of subjection. Your main job is crowd control.

Kaylan nodded before leaping away and ladybug swing towards the incoming akuma.

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Kaylan was having a lot of difficulty with the bee. Looking at the top in her hand, she looked rather troubled. She tried to use the top as whip but she couldn’t get that right.

 She already got knocked in two walls and a big billboard with Agreste perfume ad. Looking at the incoming akuma, Kaylan sighed. Guess she’ll have to fight the hard way. While the main heroes were taking care of the senti-monster, Kaylan hoped she could figure things out rather quickly.

The moment Robocop fired his beam, Kaylan dodged and ran around a little before throwing the top to tie his up, but he escaped her lousy attempt.

 Better not use venom until I figure out what to do with a top in my hand.

 She ran up to him dodging the handcuffs and the blasts before giving him a kick on his face and throwing him away and getting ready to throw her weapon again.

 You’re not supposed to use it this way.

Kaylan turned towards the origin baffled. In front of her was Chloe Bourgeois without the care of the akuma.

 Kaylan wanted to call her but stopped herself from calling her name.

 Miss, please go to the shelter, it’s not safe here. I’m fighting an akuma right now.

 I know, but you don’t even know how to use this weapon. It’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

Chloe glared at the new bee hero. Sure she was expecting to be replaced and she was sad and regretted her choice but she’ll make sure that the next bee is at least competent enough.

 But the bee in front of her was just average. She couldn’t figure out how to throw the top to tie the akuma up. But at least she makes up for her incompetency with her smarts and ability to fight.

 Kaylan looked at the blonde dumbfounded. Sure she doesn’t know how to use a top but she seriously doesn’t need to say it right to her face.

Fine! Let’s have a lesson on how to use this top as a weapon properly 101.

 What?

 Chop chop! We don’t have time.

 And thus Kaylan had no choice but to follow Chloe’s instructions. It was not easy to use such a crude thing as weapon but Chloe spoke like she had experience. In less than 10 minutes, the Robocop was paralyzed, lying in front of them.

How did you know what I have to do?

 Chloe looked away before sighing. Her previous assertive was gone just like that.

 It’s just……. I was the former bee.

 Kaylan had a realization.

 No wonder.

I’m not a permanent hero. Ladybug needed help, but she was reluctant to call any previous holder. It would be dangerous, especially if your identity is known.

 I know.

 Chloe said softly before leaving. Kaylan looked at the retreating figure before turned towards the paralyzed akuma. With a thud, the four heroes that were fighting the senti-monster dropped in front of her.

 Wait who are you?!

And the peaceful moment shattered when chat noir hissed towards her. Sure enough, his existence was rather unpleasant.

 I’ll be taking my leave ladybug. You can collect the miraculous later, I don’t have much time.

  Getting ladybug’s affirmation, Kaylan jumped and swing towards a familiar route ignoring the hisses of an alley cat.

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Kaylan called off the transformation, and the Kwami floated around freely. Staring at the Kwami, Kaylan opened her mouth.

Were you expecting Chloe Bourgeois instead of me?

The Kwami stayed silent but that was enough conformation. Putting the miraculous back at the proper place, Kaylan waited for the Ladybug.

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[nestasgalpal]

Sorry but Feyre is not an unreliable narrator.

I know this is currently a controversial opinion, but I don’t think Feyre’s pov is meant to be unreliable. Yes, her version of the story is partial, and many times dynamics between characters are affected by how much Feyre knows, or how much she has shared with others (e.g. Cassian greeting Nesta for the first time with harsh words about failing as a sister and putting Feyre in danger makes me think none of them know about Nesta trying to bring Feyre back literally a week after she was taken). But I don’t think this is something SJM put there to make us think “oh, we can’t trust Feyre, she is manipulating the facts”. In storytelling, even if your narrator is trustworthy, there is a key element to tell the tale, and that’s manipulation. Manipulation doesn’t have to be bad (but it can be).

An example of manipulation being used for good, logistic-wise, is Feyre not remembering her mother, and dispising the brief memories she can have of her. Having a dead mother is usually heartbreaking, and losing a parent is many times the main trauma of the protagonist (ej. the hunger games, city of bones, divergent, the young elites, the kingkiller chronicle or even tog). Losing a parent means losing protection, and pushes the young adult main character into danger, forcing them to grow up. But for Feyre, the death of their mother meant basically nothing, she couldn’t remember anything but bad things, so she didn’t care for that part. SJM was just taking her out of the equation, telling the reader “don’t worry about that”. The mother’s death was not written so we think “oh, Feyre’s pov is unreliable because it doesn’t match Nesta’s reaction to the same thing”, it was put there so we didn’t get distracted from the main story Feyre was telling us.

When the main character is an unreliable narrator, like Kvothe is in the Kingkiller Chronicle, their pov usually contradicts what happens, so the reader can tell clearly they are telling the story from their point of view. In the KKC, to keep the same example, Kvothe describes the woman he is in love with as the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, and then his friends interrupts him to say she is actually not that beautiful, her nose is “meh”. In other parts, he even claims he tought a millenia-old-sex-godess some new things to make in bed, even if he was a virgin before he met her. And it’s just a comment, but now you know he is exaggerating some parts. Feyre’s perception of things is never contradicted by other characters, and her perception of things is not contradicted by the things that happen either. At least not on purpose. She says Rhysand is a great ruler. People (me included) disagree because he only takes care of one city in his entire Court which was doing perfectly fine before he sat on the throne, but the author herself has said that in our world, he would be a political science major. She didn’t write him being neglectful on purpose. Yes, he had to give something in return to make his subjects obey, but that’s not described by Feyre as him not being respected, but as him being willing to sacrifice. He gave up Mor’s safe space to her abusers, but after discussing it with both Rhysand and Mor, all of them come to the conclusion that it was for the best. It was a betrayal, but none of the characters (not even the victim, in the end) blame him. So Feyre is not being untrustworthy, because there is nothing coming from the story or the characters that contradict her. Feyre is not saying that Mor is okay with Rhysand’s actions and then we see Mor avoiding him, she seems perfectly fine. Everyone ends up accepting Feyre is right and sometimes even praising her for it.

Now, this has become an issue in the next book. Why? Because the main character is Nesta, the other side of the same coin, as Feyre herself described her sister. The Archeron mother from Feyre’s pov was a neglectful woman who only cared about parties and didn’t bother hiring a governess for them. But Nesta actually mourned their mother’s death and it was a breaking point for her. The importance their mother gave to status is seen as the main issue, everything else she did wrong coming from it, and Feyre puts the origin of Nesta being a bad sister on the same spot: Nesta didn’t go hunting because she wanted to be a proper lady, so while she was the youngest, she was also the one who didn’t get to appreciate their life as aristocrats as much, she didn’t care for status. For many people in the fandom, it’s impossible to feel empathy towards Nesta and acknowledge her trauma because Feyre’s perception of the same issue was the opposite. Yes their mom died, but she was a bad mother, so how bad could it have been for Nesta?

Feyre said Nesta blamed their father because he did nothing (and he had the resources to at least try). Some fans say Nesta abused their father, who had a disability, but we are also told by Feyre that he was already neglecting them after their mother died and so on for the next two years, when he still had money. THEN, he got his knee destroyed, and then Nesta literally chose to starve herself only to provoke a reaction from him. It’s not just that Nesta is mean and she abuses the weakest links, she has been trying to make him react and take care of them for a longer time than it seems, starting YEARS before Feyre had to go into the woods for food. We know that from Feyre’s pov, but that piece of information stays in the back because Feyre’s story starts when she becomes a huntress, and she is the main character. It’s her story what matters in these books, even if we might prefer other characters.

And even if their father, an adult who had to take care of his daughters was there the whole time, the blame of Feyre going to hunt at 14 y/o is put on Nesta, because at that time she had to sacrifice for the family and grow up to take responsibility, their father couldn’t walk properly. And Nesta, who has been trying to make her father take accountablility for his responsibilities and has been desperate to find a father figure in him, is now facing the anger of Feyre’s new family, who don’t know her side of the story neither do they care for it.

When Feyre told her life story to the IC for the first time, she skipped over her mother just saying she died when she was young, and then told them the hardest part for her: she had to go hunting for a family who didn’t care for her. If it was Nesta telling her story (this is a hypothesis because we don’t know yet what went on for her), she would probably start way back, with the death of her mother, because as Feyre said, it affected Nesta the most. She would tell the story of their father not caring for them, and he would be the only villain. But that doesn’t mean Feyre’s side can’t be trusted, because what she said is also true. They simply are two different characters.

And that’s not Feyre being an unreliable narrator, that is the way the story had to be told in order to not distract from the main point with double family drama.