#most of this is super internal and kind of long without action

[bitethedevil]

The Devil's Dinner Party (Raphael x Tav)

Chapters: 1 / 2 / 3 (Finished)

Link to the fic on AO3

Summary: Tav accepts Raphael’s invitation to a dinner party after she had handed him the Crown of Karsus. None of her companions show up, so it is just her, Raphael, and a bunch of Raphael’s favored clients. Raphael is suspiciously kind to her, but everything might not be as perfect as it seems. (This is only the first chapter, it’s going to be a longer thing)

(AN: This isn’t super edited and it’s the first fic that I’ve ever posted, so bear with me. English isn’t my first language either, so there might be some odd words or weird grammar some places. I am an English major though, so hopefully it shouldn’t be too bad. This fic has just been gnawing on my mind since I started it yesterday. There will be more chapters.)

Tav took a deep breath to calm her nerves and adjusted her dress before stepping into the portal. She arrived in the foyer of the House of Hope in a swirl of embers and smoke. A tiefling servant greeted her politely when she appeared. Tav was ushered into the area where Raphael had brought them in the beginning of their adventure all that time ago. It looked the same, except the table in the center of the room had been switched out with a larger one.

She looked around the room in search of a familiar face. She cursed her companions internally when she noticed that she was the only one of them who had accepted Raphael’s invitation. She had thought that at least Astarion would have jumped at the chance to attend such a fancy event.

However, she was not the only person there. There were at least fifteen other people present who she had no idea who was. None of them devils. At least not as far as Tav could tell. Most likely, they were also favored clients of Raphael.

All the people around her were dressed in opulent clothing and jewelry. Tav felt grateful that she had decided on buying new clothes for the occasion, despite her almost attending in an old dress she had found in the back of her closet.

A drink was placed in her hand by one of the servants. She took a long sip to calm her nerves. She looked around for the one familiar face that she knew for certain would be attending, but the devil she knew was nowhere to be seen. Most likely he was somewhere waiting for the perfect moment for his dramatic entrance. Tav rolled her eyes at the thought and took yet another sip of her drink.

She suddenly noticed that a few of the other guests started looking in her direction. She jumped when she felt a hand being gently placed on her back.

“My, what have we here?” a familiar voice purred.

Raphael came up beside her. He was wearing his usual smug smile and even fancier clothes than she was used to seeing him in.

“I’m glad you came,” he said with a slight bow. “It shows that you have better manners than your dear friends, it seems.”

“So it seems…” Tav said, still feeling slightly bitter about the fact that they did had not shown up. “I apologize on their behalf. I’m sure they had good reasons.”

“I’m sure…” Raphael said with a smile that did not quite reach his eyes. “But no matter. You are here. The guest of honor whose name went on the contract that ensured me the crown. Without you, there would be no celebration tonight.”

“Mm…right…” Tav said quietly while absentmindedly swirling the contents of the glass she was holding.

There it was again. That nauseous feeling of guilt and anxiety that she had also felt when she had handed the Crown of Karsus to him. It had been her name on the contract. It had been her who handed him an artifact that potentially could destroy worlds and gods know what else.

It had been the whole reason that she could not decline his invitation as her friends had. Most of her companions had wanted to turn a blind eye to the idiotic actions of their leader and forget about it. Tav needed to see. Her attendance was a desperate attempt to gain some semblance of control over the situation.

“And if I may be so bold…” Raphael said in a hushed voice, shaking her from her train of thought. “What a precious sight. To see you in proper clothes instead of that ragged armor you wore when we first met. You look wonderful, my dear.”

Tav blinked as she wrestled herself away from the anxious thoughts in her head to return to reality. She dumbly looked down at her dress and then back at Raphael.

“Oh, thank you,” she said and forced a polite smile. “You look nice as well.”

Raphael gave her a smile and briefly squeezed her shoulder before walking to the center of the room to properly welcome his guests and invite them to sit down.

The dinner itself was as one could expect when dining in the House of Hope. There was every kind of food that you could possibly imagine. There were also expensive wines from all corners of the realms. The servants constantly ran back and forth to make sure that no one lacked anything.

To Tav’s great relief, she had been seated beside a talkative stranger, so she did not have to sit through the dinner in silence. The stranger was a young half-elf, who introduced himself as Rolim. Tav could gather that he was a merchant of some sort. He was quite handsome with his sharp elvish features. He had blonde hair, brown eyes, and a bright smile when he talked.

Tav barely got a word in while he was talking, but she found that she did not mind. He talked excitedly about the success of his business and the new mansion he had recently acquired. No doubt with the help of a certain devil, Tav suspected.

The few times Tav turned her attention away from the young man, she noticed Raphael unashamedly studying her from the other end of the table. He did not eat, but simply drank wine while he looked as if he was barely listening to the two people on either side of him who were eagerly speaking to him.

“…Don’t you agree?” Rolim asked her and pulled her attention away from Raphael’s gaze.

“Hm?” she said, having no idea what he was asking her.

“That Baldur’s Gate might be a promising place to expand my business to. That is where you said you were from, yes?” Rolim said with a smile.

“Oh yes, it is,” Tav said with a polite smile. “Certainly. Although I have to admit that I don’t know a whole lot about how it is to run a business in the Gate.”

“I think it could be promising,” Rolim continued cheerfully. “Perhaps I could visit sometime, and you could show me around the city?”

Oh. He was flirting with her, Tav realized.

“Hm, yes,” she said with a forced smile. “Perhaps…May I ask you something, Rolim?”

“Of course!” he said.

Tav leaned a bit closer to him and lowered her voice so that no one else would eavesdrop.

“I hope it’s not rude to ask, but why is it that you were invited here exactly?” she asked.

“Oh,” he spoke in an almost exaggerated hushed voice to match Tav’s. “I can’t really tell you the specifics, but I am a client of Raph’s.”

Tav suppressed a giggle. ‘Raph’? No doubt Raphael hated that.

“Right,” she said. “I thought as much. Just curious.”

Their talk was interrupted by a clinging on glass. Raphael got up from his chair to hold a speech. He started out by thanking those who had attended. Then it turned into a predictably dramatic and theatrical speech about his desire for the crown and his eventual success. He then, surprisingly, also credited the person who had brought him the crown. He spoke warmly of Tav exclusively, completely disregarding her fellow adventurers, much to her discomfort since everyone was staring at her while he did. She forced a smile until it was over.  

She was beyond relieved when it was finally over, and the other guests had stopped staring at her like she was a monkey in a zoo.

“It was you?” Rolim asked once the moment was over. “You defeated the elderbrain? Why didn’t you say? You’re the hero of Baldur’s Gate!”

“It wasn’t just me,” she said a bit too harshly. It annoyed her that her companions had not been credited in Raphael’s speech. “It was me and a whole lot of other people that I could not have done it without.”

“Still, you did it!” Rolim said excitedly. “I’ve heard the bards sing of it even in my corner of Faerûn.”

To Tav’s luck, people were beginning to leave the table. She saw her opportunity to escape the conversation and did not hesitate to take it.

“I’m going to get some air,” she said hurriedly. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Alright, but when you get back, I want to hear all about it!” Rolim called after her.

She walked through the house, desperate to get away from all the noise and curious looks for a moment. She found a balcony. She leaned up against the railing and closed her eyes for a moment while taking deep breaths.

All of it was just too much. She hated it. She shouldn’t have gone. She wasn’t a hero. A hero would not have handed the crown to a bloody devil. Baldur’s Gate might have been saved, but who could say what destruction the future might have in store with such powers in Raphael’s hands?

There was a reason why she had isolated herself after the defeat of the elderbrain. She never attended the events that she had been invited to by the city, because she could not look any of the people there in the eyes while they celebrated her. Her companions. Her friends. They were the real heroes. They had all suffered and overcome so much, even before the whole tadpole business. She might have wasted all of it by making one stupid decision.

She took another deep, shaky breath to calm her nerves and stop the tears that were threatening to fall. The view of the hellscape of Avernus did nothing to calm her. It was disorientating. It was night, but still it looked like it was day over the jagged and desolate red landscape.

“Enjoying the view?”

She jumped and turned around to find Raphael sitting down on one of the chairs behind her.

“You have got to stop scaring the shit out of me,” she said. “It’s getting old, Raphael.”

Raphael chuckled.

“Language,” he chided. “It’s hardly my fault that you are such a nervous little thing.”

She rolled her eyes.

“I’m sure your guests miss you,” she said. “I will be back in a moment. I just needed some air. I’m not going to snoop around in your house or anything.”

“I know you wouldn’t dare,” Raphael said smoothly while studying her with a tilted head. “My guests will be fine. No doubt they can fill each other’s ears with mindless chatter instead of mine. Sit.”

He gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the small table beside him.

“It’s fine, really,” she said. “I just needed a moment.”

“Sit,” he ordered again. “Something is clearly on your mind, dear.”

She could hear from his tone that he would not let it go, so she sat down.

Raphael snapped his fingers and a hookah appeared on the table. Tav raised an eyebrow and looked from the hookah to Raphael. They sat in silence for a moment as Raphael prepared it. Despite her restless mind, she could not help being slightly amused at the odd gesture.  

Raphael placed the mouthpiece at the end of the hose between his lips, took a long drag and exhaled the smoke smoothly. Then he offered it to Tav.

“For those pesky nerves of yours.”

“Oh,” Tav said and waved her hand dismissively at the gesture. “I’ve never smoked before.”

“There’s a first for everything, no?” he said. “Indulging once won’t kill you.”

Tav sighed slightly and took the hose of the hookah from his hand. She placed the mouthpiece between her lips and cautiously inhaled the smoke. She started coughing hard as she exhaled.

“Or perhaps it will,” Raphael chuckled as he took it back from her to take another drag.

As her coughing fit subsided, she felt light-headed. However, just as Raphael said, it did also make her feel somewhat more relaxed.

“Now,” Raphael said. “Tell me what it is that troubles you.”

“It’s nothing,” Tav said and shook her head.

“Don’t lie to me,” he said calmly. “I can see it in your eyes. I have my suspicions as to what could be bothering you, of course. Tell me and I promise you, I will not take offense.”

She looked at him. She did not know if was the effect of the wine, the hookah or the almost kind tone of Raphael’s voice that made her want to tell him everything. She wanted to tell him all those things that she had kept to herself and that had eaten away at her insides for months after the defeat of the elderbrain.

“I feel like a failure,” she said, her voice almost breaking at the confession. “We went through so much. Saved so many people back then. And for what? For me to hand over the crown to you. That was my decision…”

There was not as much as a trace of anger on Raphael’s face as she explained. He even looked somewhat sympathetic. He listened attentively while occasionally taking drags from the hookah.

“I saw it in their eyes, you know? I still do,” she said looking out over the balcony with an empty stare. “They didn’t say anything about it, but I know they were disappointed with my decision. I don’t blame them.”

“You are entirely too hard on yourself, mouse,” Raphael said. “You did what you had to do, as a good leader should. They are in no position to judge you.”

“No, they should. They should judge me,” she countered. “The defeat of the elderbrain was a product of their hard work as well. I robbed them of having a say in the final decision. I would never have gotten that far if it had not been for them, and I still spat in their face, and stupidly chose an option that might one day destroy all we fought to save.”

“Do not speak so low of yourself,” Raphael said in an almost angry tone. “It was your right to make that decision. You say that you would not have gotten that far without them, but that is where you are wrong. They would never have gotten that far without you. You made the difficult choices. You took on responsibility when no one else stepped forward.”

“But– “

“No, Tav,” Raphael interrupted.  “I will not stand listening to you speak ill of yourself in such a manner, when you only did what none of your companions had the sense of responsibility to do. They closed their eyes and handed the reins to you when things became unsavory, did they not? Is that not why none of them are present tonight?”

Tav hated what he was saying, but he did have a point. They had once again looked away and left the mess to her. She would also have been lying if she said that it had not been something that had irked her even back then. How they would leave the decisions to her, but still complain about it when they disagreed. She did offer them plenty of opportunities to take her place, but none of them ever stepped forward.

Raphael knew that he had hit a nerve and softened his tone.

“They don’t deserve you,” he said. “I meant what I said in the speech, when I said that you were the one to defeat the elderbrain. Without you, they would have gotten themselves killed long before they could even reach Baldur’s Gate.”

Raphael took one last drag and got up from his seat. He stood in front of her.

“As for my plans with the crown…” he said and extended a hand to her. “Come. I want to show you something.”

She took it and got up from her seat as well.

“You really ought to get back to your guests, Raphael,” she said as she held the crook of his arm as he brought her through the house.

“And neglect my very favorite guest? Nonsense,” he said with a charming smile.

He brought her to his archive. Artifacts were beautifully displayed on pedestals. Raphael brought her to the pedestal in the middle of the archive. She squinted at the paper displayed on the pedestal.

“Is that...?”

“Your contract, yes,” he said. “It still is one of my most precious possessions.”

She looked at her own signature at the bottom of the document. Then she read the sign beside it: ‘A most-cherished client.’  

It was sweet, in a way, that he would display it in such a manner, Tav thought for a brief moment. Then she immediately shook the thought away. This was Raphael, after all. She immediately became aware that she was still holding his arm even though they had stopped. She instinctively let go of it.

“Why are you showing me this?” she asked with curiosity.

“To remind you of our deal, of course,” he said. “You never did read it, did you?”

“It’s in Infernal,” she said with a shrug.

“Perceptive as ever,” Raphael chuckled. “Yes, it is. Though, had you asked, I would gladly have translated it…Would you like me to read it to you?”

She hesitated for a moment. Perhaps, it was better to not know. There was nothing that she could do about it now, after all. Still…she was curious.

“Please,” she said and gestured to it.

Raphael smiled at her before he started reading the first clause in Infernal. It shook her slightly to hear him speak in another language. Infernal being such a harsh and guttural language. Raphael spoke it with ease. Tav found it oddly attractive, which was no doubt an intentional effect that Raphael was well-aware of.

He went through each clause, first in Infernal and then in the common tongue. Tav found herself, not for the first time, lost in the way he spoke and that velvety voice of his. Especially because he made a show of looking at her while he did it. Impressively, he could recite most of the contract by memory.

When he was done, Tav surprisingly found herself more reassured than worried. It did contain all the things that they had agreed on. Raphael would not use the crown to dominate mortals and the crown would stay in the Hells.

“So, as you can see,” he said and gestured to the contract. “There is nothing to worry your pretty head over.”

She glanced at the contract again. She did feel less worried, but she also still felt like there could be something that she was missing.  

“I have never lied to you, Tav,” Raphael said as if he had just read her thoughts. “And I have always dealt fairly with you, have I not?”

“That’s debatable,” Tav said and looked at him. “We did exchange an insanely powerful artifact for a bloody hammer.”

Raphael laughed.

“An insanely powerful artifact that none of you would ever be able to harness the power of, in exchange for a ‘bloody hammer’ that your very survival depended on.”

“Hm,” Tav huffed stubbornly.

“Hm,” Raphael teased and mimicked her huff with an amused smile. “Come. Let us get back to those guests of mine that you seem to be so worried about.”

Raphael gently put his arm around her shoulders to guide her out of the archive. His little touches and his gentleness with her did not go unnoticed by Tav, but she found that she did not mind. Even though she knew better. She should be suspicious. She knew she should, but it was hard when the man was so damn charming about it.

[justanotherwriter140]

Kung Fu Panda 4 - The Movie

The last really, really long discussion post (for now).

Major spoilers ahead!

This review is full of spoilers, so please refrain from reading through it until you've watched KFP4. I would highly suggest doing so, as I want everyone to form their own opinions without my influence. The movie has its flaws (some of which admittedly being a bit distracting), but it's a fun film that has things to offer.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is a fun movie (take that as you will) that takes its audience on an action-packed, surprisingly funny, yet relatively contained adventure on which Po doesn't really do much. It's an inconsequential, safe sequel that doesn't really hurt the franchise but adds close to nothing.

I had a good time watching the movie. It was obviously produced with its theater experience in mind and the action scenes especially reflected that priority. The humor was actually funny sometimes and I enjoyed Po and Zhen's dynamic. During the film, I was able to put most (most!) of my grievances aside and take the movie for what it is. I've discovered that the best way to watch KFP4 is with low expectations and an open mind.

I have a lot of things to say about KFP4, both complaints and compliments (though the former might be taking the forefront in this review), and I hope this review can help those of you who have seen the movie organize your thoughts. I've been having a lot of trouble with that specific aspect of things myself. Those who get it get it.

With that said, let's get into my full review of KFP4! I've been waiting for nearly 2 years to write this and I'm so excited to share every single thought.

I'm going to follow the format of my first discussion post and curate a bulleted list of my thoughts, followed by an analysis of each of these points. Keep in mind that everything I say is IMO and this is more of a rant post than anything else.

Here are my main points:

The Furious Five's role is comically minuscule in the context of the film. Their actions are inconsequential and add nothing to the plot (a confirmed last-minute add), and they have 30~ seconds of screen time. Shifu is also largely irrelevant.

Mr. Ping and Li's presence has little to no effect on the movie (though I won't complain too much because they were pretty fun to watch and this movie has bigger problems). In almost any scenario, I am adamantly against having characters present that don't add anything to the narrative; however, Mr. Ping is an exception. I love Mr. Ping. James Hong is a gem.

Zhen's screen time is not utilized well and her character is underdeveloped. She definitely wasn't annoying, but I didn't find her either compelling or funny enough to warrant the screen time she was given, especially considering it wasn't used to establish a backstory/strong motives. This makes me feel bad for the character because the movie kind of screwed her out of any substantial development.

The Chameleon, while complimented greatly by Viola Davis, is an underwhelming villain. Viola Davis is amazing in this film and I would suggest watching it for her performance if for nothing else, but the Chameleon is underwhelming considering the super cool concept behind the character.

The film feels very rushed. Apologies to those who disagree, but I think the pacing is atrocious and the final fight is anticlimactic. The movie felt like a word-vomit with no discernible intermissions that stops abruptly when the film ends.

I felt as though Po didn't change/grow as a person and the audience never had a chance to either bond with or relate to his character. His internal struggle is kept to a minimum and we don't spend a moment alone with him as an audience, which is disorienting and distracting. Watching the film felt like running into an old friend at the store who's too in a rush to have a real conversation.

The action scenes were strong with few exceptions. Creative art direction was utilized and I thought the martial arts choreography was entertaining and dynamic. I love the color palette of the film and many scenes were very impressive visually.

With my main points established, I do believe it's ranting time. Strap in, folks.

Let's start strong with the Furious Five: I'm gutted. Chagrined, despondent, crestfallen, etc.

The lack of the Furious Five negatively affects KFP4 so much, because not only does their absence hurt the atmospheric integrity of KFP as a franchise, it also forces KFP4 to bring in a slew of different characters—all while still noncommittally including the FF at the very end because I believe the marketing team required it—that clog up the cast a bit. It all goes to show how important strong, established side characters are.

The Furious Five are side characters, but the role of "side character" does not equate to being irrelevant, expendable, or exchangeable. I recognize that the Furious Five aren't super developed as characters beyond a handful of lines that allude to traits sprinkled sparingly among the members; however, I believe that the tiny bits of development we have been given have proved impactful in the past. Tigress's development in KFP2 is a prime example of how much narratively conscious changes (however small they may be) can positively affect these movies.

Because of limited runtimes, the Furious Five often operate as more of a singular unit than five individuals. Even so, I don't think discarding them is valid. They're so important to the KFP universe (to Po's universe!) and not having them with him feels so wrong. The Furious Five are fully integral to the heart of Kung Fu Panda, which is why I believe a lot of those who have seen the new movie have expressed something feeling "off" or something being missing.

I agree with this sentiment. To me, KFP4 didn't feel like a KFP movie. I don't need a Furious Five spin-off movie and I can be fully content with a KFP5 centered around Po's journey as an individual as was intended from the beginning, but he can't carry an entire movie on his back. As strong as he is in every sense of the word, he is only one character. He's the centerpiece of the franchise, but a centerpiece can only go so far without the rest of the design, so to speak.

For me, the Furious Five's absence is one of this film's biggest faults. It's huge and glaring. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, either, because the friends with whom I saw the film refused to talk about any other aspect of the movie after seeing it. Seeing them at the end was better than nothing, of course, but it was a disappointing culmination after eight years of waiting.

That all is to say I feel robbed. Despite all of this, though, I understand that there were reasons why the Furious Five weren't included in the movie. I don't believe the production team would exclude the Furious Five unless they weren't given a choice.

Shifu and Po's dynamic continues to be thoroughly delightful but their interactions are short and simplified. I would have loved to see more of them in this film, especially considering the extreme relevance of teacher-student relationships in KFP4. I (somewhat) digress, though, because the idea of Shifu having to live at the Jade Palace with only Po for an extended period of time is hilarious enough on its own. Maybe that's what the short film is about!

The comedy is odd but has some jokes that stand out. Po maintains a healthy relationship with his inner sass, which I think makes him more fun to watch and kind of eradicates the man-child verdict. Some jokes don't land, of course, but I genuinely thought KFP4 had some funny moments. Mr. Ping was consistently awesome and Po had some good lines sprinkled throughout the film.

As for Mr. Ping, he and Li Shan are the subjects of the film's B-plot as they follow Po to Juniper City out of shared concern for their son's safety. In my mind, they don't add anything to the story that couldn't have been brought about by other characters, but they had their moments of being entertaining. I enjoyed their silliness and thought they had a cute dynamic if nothing else.

Speaking of other characters, I want to discuss KFP4's deuteragonist and why I genuinely feel bad about the way her character was treated.

I want to let it be known that I'm still not on board with Po passing the Dragon Warrior torch to another character. While I agree that his arc is now calling for him to have a student, I disagree with the notion of him retiring from his DW role.

As I stated in my first discussion post:

Didn’t the initial significance and nuance of the title come from the fact that there is only one person who can be the Dragon Warrior, because the concept of the “Dragon Warrior” isn’t so much a title as it is Po himself? The universe (Oogway) must choose the Dragon Warrior because they are a singular being of legend. It is one person, and that person is Po. Wasn’t the point of the first film that the title ultimately doesn’t really matter because there is no “secret ingredient,” so to speak? The title doesn’t actually give Po anything. “It’s just you,” Po says, and that was the resolution.

When it comes to Zhen as a character, contrary to what I predicted I would think of her, I thought she was okay. While I was still a bit distracted by how out-of-place her design looks, I wasn't truly annoyed by her at any point and she and Po had some cute moments. Even so, I think their relationship could have been a bit more refined and developed.

While it's evident that Po and Zhen are meant to have a teacher-student/mentor-apprentice dynamic, I think their relationship feels half-baked. There were parallels that contradicted one another and ended up being confusing come the film's conclusion, and the nature of their relationship seems to vacillate depending on the scene. Additionally, the strength of their bond goes from zero to one hundred within thirty-ish minutes and left me with a bit of whiplash.

We're shown that Po and Zhen care about one another, but we're never shown why. They have a brief conversation during which they bond over being orphans, and Zhen says at one point, "You're actually a good guy," but that's it. This obvious lack of development is a bit disorienting because we're later led to believe that Zhen and Po care very deeply for one another when there's almost nothing to back it up.

A scene that sticks out to me when discussing this is when Zhen attack-hugs Po in a way that explicitly mirrors Tigress's hug from KFP2. This happens around the beginning of the third act, and while it had the potential to be an endearing moment, I think it fell flat.

The impact of Tigress's hug was brought on by her character's hardcore nature and reputation of being heartless, further strengthened with the knowledge that she was hugging Po (which was obviously way outside her comfort zone) as a show of companionship and fundamental understanding. Tigress hugged Po because he needed someone to recognize his strive for closure.

Zhen's hug had little to no impact because she had no reason to do it and it didn't indicate growth. She hugs Po because she's sorry for betraying him and doesn't want him to be killed by the Chameleon, but neither of these things are newly-established via this hug; we have already gathered by now that Zhen regrets betraying Po and doesn't want him to get hurt.

The hug is far from the movie's weakest point, but I think it's unnecessary given the context. I'm big on hugs in movies (an underutilized form of platonic affection, in my opinion), but it didn't fit here. I don't hate it, and I see it as an honest effort to bring emotionality to Po and Zhen's relationship, but it seems arbitrary.

Zhen and Po's relationship has a lot of potential and I'd be open to seeing more of them in the future, but I think some more thoughtful development needs to occur before I can humor it further. Even so, I can see myself featuring Zhen in some future post-KFP4 one-shots—sparingly, of course, because we have a lot of Furious Five content to compensate for.

Overall, they had a cute dynamic and some sweet moments but I'm not attached. I'm on board with Po having a student but I think their relationship needs a lot more development, something that this film unfortunately didn't give them time to either accomplish or earn.

Now, onto the Chameleon!

The concept of the Chameleon's character is admittedly super interesting. She's the deuteragonist's fastidious mother figure who feels that Zhen owes her a debt and as a result holds her to an impossible standard. That dynamic had the potential to be so interesting but I didn't think it was explored at all. There is no indication of Zhen having any internal conflict about fighting the Chameleon, no emotional complexity between them at all; it's disappointing because I think it would've added a bit of earnestness to the film.

Additionally, the idea of a shape-shifting villain is versatile. A shape-shifting villain gives those telling the story a lot of room to experiment with the protagonist and different ways in which the main character can be challenged and tested. It's yet another good idea utilized poorly. Just one idea: the Chameleon could have disguised herself as one (or several) of Po's family, friends, etc. and brought to fruition a new arc with his character (seeing as he arguably doesn't have one in this film), but she only disguises herself as Zhen very briefly in the movie.

Furthermore, the Chameleon completely relies on the powers of previous villains to pose any sort of threat to the main characters. She summons Po's former nemeses from the Spirit Realm (despite there being little logic in doing so considering Kai's literal evisceration) and takes their kung fu abilities for herself.

An excerpt from my first KFP4 discussion post that I think is relevant to the point I'm trying to make:

I don’t think it would be in the best interest of anyone if the past villains were to come back in any way that’s not a flashback (even then, I’m not sure I’d see the point). In all honesty, I thought that the whole point of the villains was that they died and stayed dead. They were defeated by Po once and for all as a testament to the idea of establishing Po's character growth and journey as a person through the bad things he’s able to overcome. It’d be highly contradictory to the messages of the other films if these villains were to suddenly come back.

While there was an honest effort made to portray the Chameleon as intimidating, I never felt as though any of the characters were endangered by either her or her army of lizard henchman. She's a visually appealing character (aside from her eyes, which I thought more resembled those of a gecko than a chameleon) and I greatly enjoyed Davis's performance, but overall I don't see the Chameleon as a notable villain.

The return of Tai Lung (had he been on his own) had the makings to be an excellent story, especially considering the importance of teacher-student dynamics in KFP4. To see him interacting with Shifu would have been incredible and could have led to further closure on Tai Lung's end (because I think that's kind of what the team was going for anyway), but it didn't happen.

It was nice to see Ian McShane reprise his role, but I wish Tai Lung's characterization had been more reminiscent of the way he was in the first film and more complimentary of his overall character arc. Tai Lung isn't a one-dimensional villain with a singular goal and motivation, and I couldn't help but feel as though the complexity of his character was simplified for the sake of KFP4's narrative.

Tai Lung's presence in KFP4 may be odd, but Shen and Kai's appearances are even more so. Kai, if I remember correctly, was fully obliterated by Po, reduced to literal particles on screen (which is kind of wild now that I think about it). Shen being in the Spirit Realm makes sense all things considered; however, Po and Li had no visible reaction to his presence, which seemed a bit unlikely considering Shen's deeds. This plot hole can likely be attributed to the fact that Shen and Kai's cameos (to my knowledge) were last-minute additions to the movie.

I have to talk about the pacing. I have to. I'm sorry, bear with me.

To me, the film's pacing is erratic and disconcerting. While I can appreciate a quick-moving narrative that doesn't dawdle on storylines that aren't interesting/important, KFP4 kind of flings itself too far in the opposite direction and ends up being frighteningly fast-paced. Once the credits began, I felt like I had been holding my breath for the entire movie.

KFP4 is confusing because while the runtime is standard for a KFP movie, it feels incredibly short. At the same time, the film's story moves at a breakneck speed and leaves little time for heart and development. These things culminate into a barreling boulder of a movie that simply doesn't have time to let its characters, story, or audience take a breath.

A fast pace is not inherently negative, but I don't think it worked in the favor of KFP4. The KFP franchise has always been very emotionally grounded (and just very grounded in general), so to see a film in which emotion/heart takes an aggressive backseat in comparison to action and comedy is jarring. While I think it's unreasonable for fans to expect the same emotional integrity as the original films to be present in the current and upcoming ones, I still think there's room for Po to grow and I felt as though the notion of him developing further was brushed aside in this film.

As for Po's growth, I felt it was nearly nonexistent. The previous trilogy wrapped up his character's journey beautifully and I know that KFP4 was bound to struggle with this particular aspect of making another KFP film; however, just because the strongest pillars of Po's character are established doesn't serve as a valid excuse to reverse his development and repeat what he learned in KFP3.

In KFP3, Po learned firsthand that he is capable of spreading wisdom and teaching kung fu. He also learns that he is constantly growing and that change is inevitable; there is always something more to learn.

"If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are now."

"I don't want to be anything more, I like who I am!"

In KFP4, Po pushes against this narrative despite fully accepting it in KFP3, actively reversing crucial parts of his character development achieved in the latter. KFP3 was non-ambiguously about learning to cope with change and responsibility, and I can't help but feel like KFP4 is simply copying this message while not adding anything to it.

Additionally, I felt that KFP4's Po generally felt less personal than he has in the past. In every KFP movie up to the franchise's most recent addition, I felt very connected to Po as an audience member. I felt like I was truly seeing the world of KFP through his eyes. I consider this to be one of the franchise's most impressive feats; it's incredibly difficult to build a universe around a character without making the audience feel limited to one perspective and one part of the world.

With KFP4, I felt both limited and disconnected. The world didn't feel as vast and all-encompassing as it has in the past and Po didn't seem fully like himself. This could be me nitpicking (as I'm prone to do), but I can't recall a single moment in the movie in which Po was alone on screen. Scenes like these are crucial for me because I see them as a meet-cute between the character and the audience, a moment for us to cross the bridge into their world in a way that's silent and intuitive. These little bonding moments are absolutely integral to feeling connected to a character.

Po's dream sequence in the first KFP movie is one of the best examples of this. It presents his aspirations, alludes to his way of life up to the point of the movie, and showcases his personality. During Po's dream sequence, the audience is quite literally inside Po's mind; we're there with him, seeing what he sees, subsequently feeling what he feels. Po is a dreamer at heart and makes the audience feel like dreamers, too.

In KFP4, I felt like I little to no point of reference when it comes to how Po was feeling. I didn't feel immersed in him and his world.

I know I've been very "doom and gloom" throughout this post, which is an exhausting mindset for everyone involved. I want to end my critique with something positive because I think some praise is deserved. Let's just say the movie could have been a lot worse, the details of which I'm sure you're all well aware.

The color palette of the movie is beautiful and somewhat reminiscent of the first film. While the animation style of KFP4 is far more simplistic than its predecessors, I was very impressed with its use of shadow and light. Po's many faces were also hysterical, props to those who helped make him as expressive as he is.

Additionally, the movie's action sequences were clearly thought out and discussed in great detail. The experimentation with camera angles was really fun to watch and I enjoyed the majority of the film's fight scenes. They were fun, bouncy, and entertaining, and quite likely reinstated audiences's love of watching a cuddly panda kick butt.

Congratulations, you've reached the end! Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to read this unnecessarily long and detailed review. As long as I help someone translate their conflicted feelings into coherent thoughts, I'll call it a win.

I want to reiterate that I don't hate Kung Fu Panda 4 and I had fun while watching the film. It has its flaws and there are a lot of aspects that I dislike, but the effort of the crew is obvious and I greatly admire and respect the hard work put into the film by those who worked on it. This does not at all excuse my issues with the movie, but it's worth saying.

As for the future of the series, I only hope that the next installment is more considerate of the franchise's origins and why Po's story is being told in the first place. I fully believe that another sequel could be good given a strong, passionate crew with a great understanding of the characters and world (and I wouldn't be averse to some previous directors returning, just to put it out there).

Thanks again to those who took the time to read this crazy excuse for a movie review. Feel free to either disagree with me or add things in the replies/reblogs, I'm always looking for more thoughts to think.

Until next time!

[stuckonyvalentinecards]

On Valentine's night, creators were revealed for the Stuckony Valentine Cards event!

THANK YOU to everyone who participated!

Click here to go to our collection!

Below the cut, you can find a masterpost of all our Valentines!

Death By Chocolate by KandiSheek

Stucky / Rated T

Bucky is dying on the couch. Steve is surprisingly unsympathetic.

-

"I love you" is on the tip of my tongue by Biased_bisexual

Stuckony / Rated G

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I'll Take Care of You by KandiSheek

Stuckony / Rated T

Steve has never liked being in heat, but Bucky and Tony make it a lot more bearable.

-

If This Feeling Flows Both Ways by Satirickitty

WinterIron / Rated T

Bucky just wants to say thanks, but you know, without having to actually say words out loud. Notes are a perfect solution, right? Right?

-

Just Like Magic by Naivelittleprincess

WinterIron / Rated G

Tony has a new hobby. Bucky is-maybe-his number one fan.

-

Little Murder Baby by swtalmnd

Stuckony / Rated G

By the time Steve had gotten there, Tony was already in love, and Alpine already had a name.

-

love is a tower where all of us can live by soliloquent

WinterIron / Rated G

“A metal-armed supersoldier materializes before him, intruding into Tony’s line of sight and obstructing his project. The trespasser holds two plates of food and regards Tony with an unreadable, almost disinterested look.

Tony sighs internally. Why did he think adopting all these orphaned Avengers was a good idea?”

—⎊—

or: Five times Bucky takes care of Tony and one time Tony realizes why. ❤️

-

Nom! [ART] by MassiveSpaceWren

Stuckony / Rated G

Super-soldiers have an appetite. Tony did NOT expect this.

-

Plush by fohatic

Stony / Rated E

Tony couldn’t understand the reasoning behind all of it. For Steve to leave one stuffed animal for him was nice enough. A couple more was slight overkill, but still quite sweet. A couple dozen was something else, entirely.

-

The Plushies Thank You Heat by Aquatigermice

Stuckony / Rated E

Bucky and Steve decided to get Tony something he always wanted.

The results of which bring some rather sudden and attention demanding courses of action into play.

This is about the aftermath.

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Red String [ART] by MassiveSpaceWren

WinterIron / Rated G

Bound together by fate, they finally found each other.

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Safe in your Arms [ART] by MassiveSpaceWren

WinterIron / Rated G

Finally, Bucky is back in Tony's arms, where he longs to be.

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Scentsational by swtalmnd for newtypeshadow

Stuckony / Rated T

Tony goes to a scent-matching service, and matches with our bonded couple, Steve and Bucky.

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Shelter from the Cold [ART] by MassiveSpaceWren

WinterIron / Rated T

Knights Bucky and Steve are trying to keep their king protected in the snow storm.

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So Soft and Gentle by TrinityDay

Stucky / Rated T

Five times people noticed that Steve Rogers liked soft things (and one time someone told him to his face).

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Stranded [ART] by MassiveSpaceWren

Stuckony / Rated G

The terrain is rough, but Steve, Tony and Bucky treck onwards. Maybe after the next mountain ridge, they will find out where they are.

-

What You Don't Know Can't Hurt You by KandiSheek

Stony / Rated T

Steve and Tony are good friends. Very good friends. The kind of friends that go out to eat every other day, cuddle on the couch and are all up in each others' space.

They're not dating though. No matter what the team says. Right?

-

You Are The Moon That Breaks The Night by MercurialMagpie

Stuckony / Rated E

Mage Tony and werewolves Bucky and Steve are the best cursebreaking team in Nova York. Maybe they can be more, too?

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you are the sweetest melody i never sung by soliloquent for Naivelittleprincess

Stuckony / Rated T

“A soft tune cuts through his thoughts and seeps right in between the cracks of his broken mind. It sounds like a slow, gentle piano song, and it soothes his senses, numbs his tension, and lulls him to the smooth edge of sleep.”

—⎊—

or: Bucky struggles with insomnia, Tony plays the piano, and Steve just wants the two most important men in his life to get along. 🎶

-

You Have My Sword As Well As My Heart by Aquatigermice

Stuckony / Rated E

Sir Steven Rogers would like to admit that he thinks this whole Royal Progress thing is a very stupid idea. But it's the King's idea. And no one is above the King when it's all said and done.

But the fact of the matter is that even his King is just human. And there was a time when the man was something less important to the country. Yet still as important to Steve and his fellow knight Sir James Barnes.

-

[myfairkatiecat]

Directors Commentary on mirrored conflicts pls? 🥹

OOOOH ONE OF MY FAVORITE FICS THAT I AM WRITING!

The biggest challenge writing mirrored conflicts is that since it’s a Sokeefe AU, I have to set up the Sokeefe romance, which is only good if it’s in character—and these characters are SLOW. I can have Keefe immediately recognize how pretty Sophie looks, but that’s about IT as far as I can go given how long these idiots took when they started out as friends, and in the AU they start out as ENEMIES.

The plot is based significantly on the events of Lodestar, and everything up til then proceeded mostly the same as normal, just without Keefe existing. So when Sophie and Keefe interact, it’s within this context of the lodestar plotline with the symbol and the neverseen going after Sophie’s family and ultimately the peace summit. They’re also training at exillium to explode things with their minds, which definitely will make its way into this fic bc Shannon should use that more often. But at the same time Sophie is sort of investigating what’s going on with this “nemesis” character of hers who she kind of likes interacting with.

I try to get into the heads of the characters to move the romance along as fast as is actually realistic for these idiots, which is still PAINFULLY slow, but makes for a better fic! I was able to realistically get them over the “enemies” hurdle with their relatability with each other and the fact that both of them are suffocating under the expectations of their respective organizations and talking to someone who expects nothing of them is like a breath of fresh air, even if they ideologically disagree. Still, Sophie is SUPER careful—at least, until this most recent chapter—so getting her to even admit that they’re friends is terrifying for her, and I’m trying to portray that realistically! After all, they’re meeting in secret, and Sophie should theoretically be telling the black swan everything she finds out about her nemesis, but instead, she really likes him and doesn’t want to hurt him.

Getting the characters to a point where the romance can begin is DIFFICULT, because I’ve even gotten to the point where sophie admits that there’s no way she can stay away from him, but even then she’s only admitting that he draws her in. Keefe calls her a breath of fresh air in his narration. And they mean this all in a very friendly way, which again, getting them to admit that they’re FRIENDS is the first hurdle I have to get over, though I think we’re finally there!

Sophie throws caution to the wind in the latest chapter, deciding to fully trust Keefe—at least, outside of their organizational conflict. They sorts create their own world away from everything else where they can just exist, which BOTH OF THEM NEED, and sets up a very special and unique relationship between them that I think I achieved in a manner that realistic to their characters!

Keefe definitely falls first in every universe, and you can tell in the latest chapter that he’s closer to noticing her in that way, though he isn’t thinking about it like that. He’s drawn in by her and he knows there’s something about it that’s different than normal, though he isn’t sure what, and he has no trouble admitting that she’s “objectively beautiful” in his head because that doesn’t involve any of his own feelings (but what if it does?)

Sophie hasn’t noticed him romantically yet, but one of the most important aspects of Sokeefe is that it’s not Sophie’s internal narration that gives away how much she cares for Keefe, but her actions. Throughout all of canon, you can tell Sophie is in love with him even though she never once considers that she might have a crush on him until book 9, because her unconditional love was shown to the audience through her actions and then when she got to stellarlune she was like “oh… was that love? I think that’s love. I think I’m in love. “ which was like. FINALLY. But we already knew. She was the last to know, and I plan on making mirrored conflicts follow the same pattern! It’s clear to US that she’s in love, and at some point keefe does admit his own feelings to himself, but Sophie takes forever to realize how she really feels.

I adore writing this fic! Thank you for asking about it!

[popculturebuffet]

Wanna Make Something Of It?: A Justice League International Retrospective: Justice League #1 Review

Keith Ian Giffen 1952-2023 "I"m sick of Darkseid, Darkseid has been passed around the DC Offices like a Bong"

Hello all you happy people and happy birthday to me. Each year either on or around my birthday, or in this case a month later because the end of 2023 was a cold and carpal tunnel hellscape and 2024 opened with bronchitis, I take a look at something special to me, something that means something: From the first apperance of the Legion of Substitute Heroes, to the first volume of Scott Pilgrim, to Scott Pilgrim Vs the World , to last years look at the uncanny x-men's rebirth with Giant Sized X-Men #1, i've always set aside my birthday to reflect on my past and celebrate it with something I truly love.

This year I decided on that.. for reasons that still break my heart. On October 9th at the ripe age of 70 Comics Legend and personal inspiration of mine Keith Giffen.. passed away. He had a long, good life and created countless amazing stories and characters.. but his loss will be a void that can never quite be filled.

For those who hadn't heard of him, Keith was a comic book writer who's best known for his work at DC, having helped redefine the Legion of Super Heroes and Darkseid with the legendary Great Darkness Saga alongside Paul Levitz, created the main man Lobo, the fourth wall breaking before it was cool Ambush bug, the incomprable Jamie Reyes whose first arc I covered this year, and of course, the one punch, the only, the bwahahah-ey Justice League international.

If your asking why it took this long to eulogize him if I respected him so much, the answer is simple: I didn't know. In an age where if someone dies it's usually blasted onto my news feed, even if I don't exactly google that person every day, I had NO idea Keith was dead till reading an amazon review.. which is the kind of sick irony he'd find hilarous, so I have that, but not exactly the way to find out one of your personal heroes died. So I scrapped my original birthday review plan (Letterkenny's Three Wise Men For the Curious) and decided to start a project i've been mulling over for a while now. So welcome folks to Wanna Make Something Of It: A Justice League International Retrospective, an ocasoinal look at this long run.

JLI has an intresting history to it so if you'll sit down i'll tell you

The Not Really Secret Origin of the Justice League International

It was the late 80's and DC Comics had just undergone a massive reboot with Crisis on Infinite Earths, the first true big event comic as we know them with tie ins and a massive reboot in the end as Editorial had felt the various alternate earths had made things too complicated. So a big blue murder man named the Anti Monitor tried to wipe out all of creation, leaving only five earths: Earth 1, where most of the action took place, Earth 2 where the heroes of the Golden Age, the Justice Society of america and their various successors lived, Earth 4, where the recently aquiried heroes of Charlton Comics like Blue Beetle, Peacemaker and Captain Atom resided, an earth not concidentally introduced for this crossover, Earth S, home of the Shazam/Captain Marvel Family, and Earth X, a world where the nazi's won WWII and only the freedom fighters stood in opposition. Basically any heroes DC felt like keeping and their shiny new toys.

The result was a new one world earth with a fresh coat of paint to let in new readers. It wasn't without issues: several corners of the DCU got torn up with my beloved Legion of Super Heroes getting some of the worst of it, with every resonable attempt to fix the retcons or bring characters back.. being shot down AFTER the story had already been started or happened, eventually leaving such a giant mess they rebooted in the 90's, while many a hero was left without an origin or clear history, Donna Troy having to have her origin redone again now her connection to wonder woman was gone, Hawkman became a hawk mess in part thanks to this very book, story for another time, and much more I don't have the time or patience to get into right now.

There was a lot of good in it though, as the reboot left room for new heroes like self promotional himbo with a heart of gold, Booster Gold, the now DC flavored Blue Beetle, and more, and for some the fresh start was badly needed, revitalizing Superman, and giving Wonder Woman and out and out reboot that, while taking her history away, exchanged it for one of the best runs on the character ever via George Perez. And eventually, after some growing pains, it gave us room for an all new flash after a lengthy murder storyline left Barry running out of steam. For all the damage it did i've learned over the years, the crisis still did a LOT of good and helped a lot of characters find their place in this brave new world.

One property vital to DC that needed this was the Justice League of America. A few years before the crisis, DC had noticed the sales of the League were down, and tried to revitalize it: the result was a book I hope to read and cover one day.. still called Justice League of America bu tknown to most as Justice League Detroit. The IDEA was good: feeling the league was a bit scattered after a martian invasion destroyed their iconic satalite headquarters, Aquaman called for them to disband and only those who could commit full time rejoin, leaving it with just him, Martain Manhunter, Zantanna and The Elongated Man. They soon added some fresh recurits in the cyborg steel, the horribly named in hindsight but loveable for her father daughter relationship with the Martain Manhunter, Gypsy and the sterotype tastic Vibe, who'd later be heavily reworked for the better by the flash tv series.

The idea was good but even from what defenders I could find after googling the team, the book had the good IDEA of making the team more of a surrogate family like the Titans or X-Men, but simply didn't seem to pull it off. It's part of why i'd love to look at it some day: the roster is good, with even the rookies being intresting Even Vibe at least had intresting power, a low income background not really see in the Justice League at that point, and cool shades.. even if him break dancing was very much

So I do really want to read this run and possibly cover it and if you'd like me to, let me know. It intrests me.

But while it intrests me now, no one at the time was really biting so DC decided to pull the plut. It really didn't help that , thanks to the crisis.. DC now had a wide buffet of characters they could suddenly ad to the league like Captain Marvel, the Charlton gang, and Dr. Fate.

So the team got the axe in the ties ins for Legends, DC's next big event that was also designed to bring the new team together. Legends has another really cool concept: Darkseid, god of evil and dc office bong , wanted to break earth's heroes for defying him so he could finally claim it and thus came up with Operation: Humilation. He sent his lackey Glorious Godfrey to earth , becoming tele-evanglist and far right loon G Gordon Godfrey, inspired by the times and sadly still relevant. Godfrey lit up an anti superhero fervor, causing Ronald Regan to ban superheroes while Godfrey spread the message of hate, helped by Godfrey setting up Captain Marvel to seemingly kill one of Darkseid's minons who was in fact a robot designed to die and scar a 12 year old for life.

The problem is the series is a bit too fast paced for it's own good, taking a message on how hate movements like this spread oh so easily with the power of tv, and speed running it so we go from Godfrey using real life hate tactics that are chillingly relevant, to the point we get scenes with a crowd nearly killing a 12 year old jason todd or a cop killing his partner after said partner lets Black Canary go then blaming her for making him do it, to ... him making people into murder dogs and storming the captial. In three issues. You have to nearly burn the country down to get people to do a insurrection everyone knows that.

On top of that like many an event after.. a lot of it's about setting up tie ins instead of it's core story so we get stuff like Jason being saved happening off panel or Darkseid deciding to take superman off the board.. and then doing it in a tie in.

That brings us to Justice League where one of the biggest fallouts of this event.. happens entirely in it's own book. I'm split on this as on the one hand, the end of the Justice League of America should happen in it's own book.. but on the other given they brought in another writer to end the book, I don't see why they didn't just cancel it early and say "To be continued in legends" and have Godfrey tied into the league's ultimate end instead of Amazo.

Alas instead Amazo and Despero clean house leaving the league battered, demoralized and in the cases of Vibe and Steel dead. Everyone whose left leaves.. .everyone except the person it means the most to, the person who almost never left and whose the heart and soul of the league for the Martain Manhunter vows it'll live on.

Cue the finale of Legends: With things escalating quickly, Dr. Fate, DC's Resident Mysterious Magic Man, gathers a bunch of heroes together to put an end to this: Batman, Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Black Canary, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), The Flash (Wally West), Beast Boy (Going by Changeling back then), Mister Miracle (Scott Free), Superman and Captain Marvel (The future Shazam) to put an end to this, with Jonn clinching the heroes return to legality by coming in the save and Wonder Woman making her debut to the superhero community post-crisis by jumping in to help. The day is saved , and a new justice league is formed from the ashes of the old.

So you may be asking: Why this roster and why aren't Wonder Woman, Superman, the Flash and BB on the cover? Let's explore that under the cut as we delve into why this roster, the creative team for the actual book, and the first issue itself shall we?

Roll Call:

So you'd probably think given how team books work nowadays that future writers Keith Giffen and JM Demattis picked this team themselves, with maybe a member or two picked by dc editorial. It's what I assumed.. but nope, DC picked the team themselves, which .. does kinda bother me. A creator should really pick their own roster as chemistry is VERY important to a team book. It speaks to Giffen, DeMattis and Macguire's talents that, even dropping a few members in issue 7, the book comes off as natural as it does and said drops come off less as "this person we were saddled with isn't working" and more "they simply didn't fit into the group so we used the big rebrand to shuffle them out". DC may of picked the roster, but to their credit they choose well. As giffen himself put in the introduction of a collection of the first few issues back in 2008 "That call was DC's to make and as it turned out.. not too shabby"

So before we got into the actual book and who made it, I wanted to take a second to explore this roster as I wanted to show WHY DC might have choose them as I couldn't find any info on why this roster was picked, and simply have my edcuated guesses to go on

First who WASN'T added despite being front and center in legends: Each of the four members cut from the roster so to speak have good reasons for not being in the team. Beast Boy is the most obvious: he was never going to be in the League to begin with, they most likely wanted a titan to represent their flagship book for the crossover and choose one of the most popular.

For the Flash, Wally's a bit more of an actual misdirect as given he hadn't shown up since his decision not to take up the mantle, this was his big coming out party as the flash, with Wally deciding to embrace his mentors roll. It's also why he didn't take it up in story and likely out: he just put on the tights and didn't feel ready for the league just yet and the character would need some time in his own solo before it made since to plop him in a team book.

For Superman and Wondy it's also simple: Superman was being rebooted: He still had a LOT of his history, but major parts of it like his time in the Legion as Superboy or his cousin Kara were cut out, major villians were revamped, and his world was reshaped for the 80's while Diana was flat out rebooted by George Perez after sales had pretty much died pre-crisis, with said run now being one of my favorite comics and one I can't wait to complete some day and share with you all.

So that left the All New, All Diffrent Justice League with a roster consisting of Batman, The Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel (Now known as the Captain or Shazam), Dr. Fate, Black Canary, Mister Miracle and Green Lantern (Guy Gardner). So for those of you less familiar with some of these guys, let's get aquanited, as well as figure out why DC choose them.

Batman: Batman is here because he's batman.. I could end it there but that'd leave the question of why Bats was okay to go but SUperman and Wonder WOman weren't. The answer is simple: Batman.. didn't get rebooted by Crisis. Things were changed like Jason Todd's backstory, some villians erased, some bits of history tinkered with, but that was standard for most post crisis heroes. He'd have a new defentiive origin with Frank Miller's year one, but Denny O'Neil had already soft rebooted batman back in the 70's, so he wasn't in as big of a rut. Crisis took out weird shit from the silver age that I love but understand why maybe it's best reinstated as a drug hallucination, thank you Grant Morrison, and Earth 2 batman, but it really didn't change who Bruce was, his status quo etc. Batman was selling well, Dick Grayson was super popular over in New Teen Titans, it was something DC knew wisely not to fuck with. Granted I haven't gotten as hands on with just after the crisis batman as I have Superman or Wonder WOman, so I could be wrong, but most of the changes were to villian backstories, stuff that was necessary and handy, but not things that really shook up who Batman was or what stories were going on with him like Superman and Wonder Woman. And since Batman is a lisense to print money, for better or worse, they stuck him on this team.

Martain Manhunter: The Martain Manhunter is Jonn Jonzz, a cop from mars who got accidently kidnapped by an old man to earth and took up resdiense as a detective. Jonn would get a full mini establishing who he was post crisis I have not read by Giffen and Dematties but i'm now dying to now I know it exists. Jonn was a founding member of the justice league and a big hero during the silver age, and comes off as the JLA equilvent to the Avengers Wasp, not in terms of character, Janet and Jonn aren't like each other in the slightest but I do think they'd hang, but in being a hero who has a storied career almost entirely tied to one of their unvierses big super teams, but not much solo wise. The former has meant he's been bounced around a bit and even left out of the team in the new 52 for cyborg, but also means he's a treasured part of it, an elder statesman who gives the team a sense of a heart among a floating lineup. He also gives the team a power house, having most of superman's powers PLUS telepathy and shapeshifting. Jonn is one of my faviorite DC heroes owing to the justice league cartoon

Guy Gardner: Guy is an odd duck in that both John Stewart and Hal Jordan were wearing the ring, this being the first time all three earth lantern's wore it, so WHY Guy was chosen out of the three was a mystery given JOhn was, as far as I know, popular even then and Hal was the old reliable, back before everyone was sick of that and wanted them to remember they had 7 or so people more intresting. Guy was Hal's understudy. He literally didn't get the ring.. because Hal Jordan was closer, and thus was picked to become a space cop later. He was depicted intially as a school teacher before being resculpted into a jingoisitc asshole by Steve Engleheart, something that was cemented and fleshed out here. He also has a three stooges haircut, something I feel adds to his asshole charm and feel had to be brought up at some point.

Dr. Fate: Dr Fate is kent nelson, a vetran of the JLA's predecessor, the Justice Society of America. Originally the JSA was part of Earth 2, but was merged with Earth 1 so now they simply.. existed before our heroes, retired due to Mcarthyism, then came back into action when the new age of heroes launched, with deaging and such used to explain how their still around. Fate was chosen likely because he looks neat, they needed a magic guy, and they wanted a JSA rep on the team. He.. didn't really quite fit as it was clear DC didn't know quite what they were doing with him yet.

Blue Beetle: My boy ted, who I've already covered on this blog before, but this is his shining moment. For those less familiar or who missed the underated blue beetle film, Ted is an inventor who found out his uncle was planning to take over the world with an army of robots, and enlisted his close friend Dan Garret, who turned out to be the OG blue beetle and sacrificed his life to stop Ted's Uncle, passing on the mantle but not the magical alien beetle. Ted compensated by building a ton of gadgets, having plnety of quips and generally being plesant. Ted was part of Charlton Comics, a company DC had bought recently, and having his own series at the time, being fairly popular, and having an outfit created by Steve Ditko himself, he was a shoe in and a nice pick from the b-list. Grante di'm biased and this series is entirely WHY, but Ted's a fresh face in the dcu who comes in hot with plenty of experince and a cool ship for the group to fly around.

Black Canary: Dinah Lance was changed by the crisis, going from an immigrant from earth 2 to the daughter of the original. She was also made a founding member of the justice league to replace Wonder Woman because she as the only prominent dc heroine who who would've been active at the time. And yes she's wearing THIS for her time in the JLI

And honestly it's.. meh. I think they were trying to give her a less casual look, but the fishnets and black leather jacket just fit. Sometimes a superhero just needs something anyone could wear in the right order to have a super outfit. I'm not against civlian style costumes if it fits the hero and dinah's just.. fits. This one just dosen't suit her as it's a bit too bombastic.

Dinah's likely here both for her new jsa connection and new jla founder status. She's also here because the team needed a female member, alongside dr. light, who we'll get to later.

Captain Marvel: Billy is easy. While DC had aquiried their former rival Fawcett back in the 70's, and thus one of the best superman immitators there ever was and ever will be, Billy had been on earth S since they bought him, and like Dr. Fate is there to show off how the earths are all merged now. He's also another power house, and was someone dc was trying to push. DC.. never really knows HOW to push captain marvel and i'm hoping his current series by Mark Waid helps. If you haven't read it check it out, it's possibly the characters best that i've been able to have acess to (Since DC hasn't reprinted the golden age stuff quite yet). For those who haven't heard of him, Billy Batson is a ten year old who was chosen by a wizard to become his champion and thus can act out the movie big but with superman powers whenever he wants. I love him dearly and wish DC knew how to market him.

Mr. MIracle: Last but not least Mr Miracle is Scott Free. Scott is part of the new gods, Jack Kirby's big contribution to DC that also included bong of evil Darkseid. To keep the peace Darkseid and his counterpart Highfather did a son swap, HIghfather getting Darkseid's angsty son Orion and Darkseid getting Scott, who he gave to Granny Goodness, the God of Child Abuse, who gave him othe name to mock how he'd never be free. Naturally this strategy backfired as it only fired up young Scott to escape, becoming the escape artist, hero and wife guy mr miracle. The last part came courtsey of big barda, another one of Granny's charges who came to take Scott back, but was convinced that maybe hellpits weren't the best place to live, and married him in Kirby's last issue on the two. Scott is here to emphasis the new gods,s something DC was playing with more post crisis. His manager Oberon, a cheery fella with Dwarfism, is also here because Demattis and Giffen had a lot of material for the guy it turned out and Oberon is essentially the team's guy in the chair.

So with this motely crew assembled let's see what this dynamite creative team did with them as we begin the storied history of the justice league international... the international part comes later.

Starting with the cover. While usually i'll skip these in an analysis, it's both a habit I need to break and would be a criminal act here as the cover for Justice League #1 is my faviorite comic book cover of all time and my faviorite to see an homage of.

It's simple, but it's perfect. The group shot is well deisgned, showing everyone off, but in a way that's diffrent from the usual action poses we get. Their clearly ready to kick your ass then their gonna fuckin kick your ass, but it's in a way that's unique, shows the team's unity. It also is taken so seriously here.. that it makes it ripe for jokes later in the series. The wanna make something of it ffrom guy both echoes the tough image their going for.. but fits the goofy tone the series is really going to have as it settles in. This comic has been homaged to oblivion and rightly so. Even Keith's memorial image dc put out is this but with Keith and all his creations.

We open the issue proper with a declaration.

It's one of my faviorite opening pages in a comic: It's beautifully drawn by artist Kevin Maguire, sets up the setting well and sets up guy as having his head firmly up his own ass.. it's why he has the bowl cut you see, helps him get it up there nice and tight.

The issue smartly introduces the cast one or two at a time, letting each character get a proper introduction and seeing how they bounce off each other as they file in.

So first in is Black Canary, who marvels at their old headquarters recent reneovations. Our heroes start the run in the Secret Sanctuary, the Justice League's first headquarters built into a mountain in Happy Harbor Road Island. And if it seems familiar to some of you, it should as after the JLI were done with it the Doom Patrol moved in for a bit during Grant MOrrison's Run. Most famously and lastingly, Young Justice, another team I have to cover at some point, made this their main hq, the only team to really make it a home that wasn't a justice league. And to prove that point the JSA also stayed here briefly. It's this weird go to for teams who need a headquarters for five minutes.

Anyways Dinah remembers the good times and all the ghosts, guy's a dick about it humming the twilight zone theme, and assumes he and Dinah will have a sam and diane thing and not a "Stay 50 feet away at all times thing".

Next up is Mister MIracle, whose nervous about the gig, not sure if he belongs there. Out of the leaguers Scott tends to stick to the back, not shy or afraid to speak up when needed, but not as outspoken as his team mates. This nicely contrasts oberon whose all too happy for the box office as even if this lasts a cup of coffee. He's less happy when Guy makes a shot at his dwarfisim and Oberon's grumbling is hilarious.. as would've been him decking guy but we still got a few issues till someone finally does that.

Billy zooms in, shocked by all the press, showing his naivitie: even after all he just went through... Billy is still a bit shocked by just how profile this is and happy to be there. Enter the boys, Martain Mahunter and Blue Beetle, with Jonn not forgetting the whole LEgends fiasco so soon, and having a bit of a mope... though he soon makes a valid point to ted as he turns on the computer.. and shows the Detroit League. It's a nice reminder that even if the team wasn't like.. they were still close and still Jonn's proteges.. and most most of them are dead and those that arent quit due to the trauma. So doing this, while something he feels is necessary. Cue Guy banging a gavel and declaring the meeting started

We then cut to the offices of innovative concepts where we meet the heart and galbladder of this run, Maxwell Lord, a mysterious man in a suit whose watching a row of tv's. Max isn't evil like he'd later be retconned into being.. but he is VERY shady at this point, watching all the coverage on the league and in one of my faviorite subtle little things scratching the "of america' part out of the legue's name on a pad of paper.

I want to take a minute to point out macguire's facial work.. i'ts incredible, nicely detailed, realistic, but still cartoony enough to have tons of personality. Just looking at max you get his smugness, ego and sense of control all at once with him having barely said or done anything. There's been plenty of masterminds sitting behind a row of tv's, but you get Max's vibe immedietly while still wondering what his deal is and what he wants with the team, the latter being the main mystery of the books first year. Back at the Sanctuary, Dinah and Guy argue as SHOCKINGLY the experinced vetran with an eye for the teams legacy dosen't want sylvester calzone here running things. Oberon TRIES to intervene on Dinah's beahlf but get's literally brushed off and Jonn trying to be an adult in teh room.. gets Guy picking him up and making a green giant joke, both funny, both well done.. and enough to get even JONN pissed enough to enter a brawl.

Cue the goddamn batman.. and dr. fate whose here too. That's.. really fate's roll for their time on the team, their just.. here. While Giffen and Demattis did really try to work with most of the roster they were given, seeing who worked and who didn't, Dr. Fate just didn't fit this team. As you can see already.. a key part of this team is disfunction. Some become true companions eventually, but it's mostly a bunch of personalities that barely function together, fairly normal people who put on tights. It's the charm of the series: instead of just getting along or having the usual angst, these guys just make digs at each other and amble along, but DO get the job done and do deserve to be called the justice league. It's just a version of said league that dosen't take itself seriously and has fun with it, and that treats this group like people. Normally the Guy Gardner in the group would just be ingorned but because he actually DOES have the power to toss people around (and props to the creative ways he does), it leads to an actaul brawl.

Fate... doen't fit into this. Fate is an enigma, mysterious and distant. So they simply.. don't work well in a jokey sitcom. It's clear the duo LIKE the character, they'd reinvent him soon enough, but he just didn't fit what they were going for.

So that begs the question how BATMAN does.. and he answers it, cowing everyone else into stopping it and getting guy to sit down before dryly reading out the charter. Bats is the boss in this workplace sitcom, and he's a mean one, being an utter dick to dinah at one point.

This moment horks me off.. but it's also a perfect encapulation of batman's leading style: shut up do what I say. Even someone whose his EQUAL , and who founded the team before him and thus has senority, he just tells them to shut up when she's making a valid point: their fidgity because this meeting is nervous nad because they just went through some crap. What I like is that despite having BATMAN.. the dream team dosen't glorify him. He's still batman, he shuts down the room with a glare, is a tactical genius and thus great at leading in the battlefield.. but it's very clear even this early on he simply.. can't lead this team well. He has a barking "do what I tell you style" and expects them to be good soldiers, treating them like a group of sidekicks instead of experinced heroes.

It's not something the group pull out of thin air either: Batman used to have a team of his own, the Outsiders, formed after Batman walked out on the league for refusing to let him rescue Lucius Fox and turned in his badge when Clark wanted him to sit this one out as a league member. He found a bunch of other heroes along the way, and choose to make them into a team, but it was very clear that the outsiders were partners, and weren't treated as full equals, with the exception of Black Lightning who Bruce felt was on his level. He wasn't bad to the team, helping find the younger amnesaic Halo a home, setting them up with day jobs, but his style is very much "listen to me or there's the door. "

The problem is while the outsiders were mostly fresh faces to being heroes or out of practice like metamorpho or black lightning, Bruce can't let that guard down even whent he heroes have more than proven themselves. It popped up in a crossover with the New Teen Titans where he started ordering that team around, with Dick eventually having to tell him to shut the hell up and let Dick lead his own damn team.

So while it's midly grating here it fits: Batman is so determined to keep this league together he's treating them like his backup i nstead of experinced heroes, two of whom HE'S BEEN ON THE LEAGUE WITH BEFORE.

Anyways Bats does have ONE good point in his leadership so far: he wants the team to keep a low profile. While it's hard given the army of camera's outside, the team dosen't know each other, hasn't trained together yet, and needs time to be in full shape. After all they just barely got superheroes back in the popular opinon: while Godfrey DID juice up people's emotoins, it dosen't mean it won't swing back to negative easily if they fuck up.

Unfortuantely for them... someone else has other ideas.. and i'ts not fate because their in the room. At the UN Kimyo Hoshi is in the bathroom puzzled by receving a JL signal device from Max and not sure if she'll accept. Kimyo is the second Dr. Light, a hero unlike her predecessor and a scientest from Japan who got her powers during the crisis. She.. wont' be here long as while the issue plays her up as a member on the cover, she never fully joins the league. More on that in the future. For now she exits the bathroom.. to find herself a hostage. Terroists have taken the UN. THankfully she activates the device and while Batman's very confused dr. light has one, rallies the team to go anyway.

Naturally Brucey Boy is cautious, having most of the team get in the bug, while he sends Fate and Billy to scout ahead. Guy WANTS to but Batman's response to the idea of sending a human bulldozer who barely listens to him into a tense hostage situation?

The team enters and despite the disfunction so far... it goes easily: Guy seals the premiters and probably invents some new swears, beetle does his best as the guy in the chair in the bug

And Fate.. well fate left and told Billy batman would understand and left the ten year old to explain this.

The league clean house.. but Batman notices a problem: these guys are ameture, clumsy and their equipment is oudated. Something else is going on here.

Time for that is passed soon though as Guy dive sin and finishes the job quickly. It's a nice sequence overall that shows the team REALLY is this good: this is a setup sure, but they don't know that. The lead terroists plans to detonate himself and batman... tells them to clear the room and let him, knowing somethign we don't as the man prepares to fir eon him and after they exit we get a wrapup via news as Max once again watches

So yeah SOMETHING made the leader kill himself, and max is behind anything. not a MASSIVE twist as the batman conversation set it up, but still a neat one: Max has plans for the league. I also like the focus on optics here: it's something I don't THINK the league had done before, the idea of how the media views a superhero team. This verison of the league isn't bad.. but Batman's refusal to talk to the press allows them to paint the narrative they want instead of the league controlling it. It's what gives Max a leg up on slowly wrestling control of it and makes him a compelling character from the word jump: Unlike Batman, he clearly gets optics, having set this up to force the league into the spotlight bright and early and removing the of america part to give the team a bigger calling. His tactics for doing this are also brilliant but we'll get more on them as we go.

For now this issue.. is as good as ever. Amazingly drawn, sharply written and nicely snappy, setting up the team, the myth arc with max and the situation their in all in one issue while modernizing thigns a bit: instead of space monsters our heroes are now fighting terrorists. Not that I mind fighting a godo space monster, but I get trying to give the leauge something diffrent and more part of the world. And part of the world is a major part of this series: putting the League more into our world an dhaving to deal with things like the media, other nations, etc. It's a brilliant start

Next Time: The last heroes of a dead world try to save ours while a greedy bearded man wonders who he can exploit this and the team gets some gold.

[h0wellslide]

Phride 2024: a novel (kind of but not really)

I was always a tomboy growing up, and as a kid growing up in the 2000s, this absolutely made me an outsider. It wasn’t horrible, but the gendered branding of “blue is for boys and pink is for girls” (simply put) was really something that was prevalent in this era. That’s something the TikTok nostalgia bait tends to leave out.

I liked this part about myself, but going to public school in those days made me beat it out of myself. All of my friends were super girly, so I tried to become super girly. My best friend in elementary school was my male neighbor, and people accusing us of dating (from the ages of 7-11, mind you) drove us crazy. We never talked about it, but I think we both knew innately that us dating was never an option, even if we were older.

It was around this time too that my female friends started having crushes on boys. Again, that feeling of being an outsider began creeping in, since I wasn’t having crushes on anyone. So like many queer kids who don’t know they’re queer yet, I picked boys at random. It was harmless—these boys never actually knew about my “crushes” on them—but I think it did some damage to my psyche. The need to fit in was intense and long lasting.

Middle school absolutely made that worse. I moved states, and went from a rural environment to a town where middle schoolers would get paid hundreds of dollars for good grades. With this came kids who wore expensive clothing, always had their hair and makeup immaculately done, and in my mind, fit the perfect feminine stereotype.

I was diagnosed with clinical depression at this time at age 12, and my first major depressive episode lasted about a year and a half. I remember distinctly having the thought, “I might be a lesbian, but I don’t have the energy to unpack that right now,” and pushed into the depths of my brain. To this day, nearly 15 years later, I have absolutely no idea what prompted that thought.

I began growing out my hair, which had always been in a bob that hovered somewhere around my chin. I began experimenting with makeup, wearing dresses and skirts, and associating “Kate” with femininity. I mistook the exhilarating feeling of trying a new form of expression as liking it, when in hindsight, I was cosplaying as a shell of myself, as an alternate reality.

This continued into my freshman year of high school. This year was pivotal for me for a variety of reasons, but mainly because I began to more fully explore the idea that I may be queer. I developed a crush on my best friend in 2014, and to compensate, became outwardly more feminine in order to reconcile with the queerness that was begging to come out. The epitome of this for me was dyeing my hair a hot pink—to me, it was the most stereotypically feminine thing I could do.

I struggled with a specific term for my identity. I took a lot of those “are you gay?” quizzes and read a lot of articles about queer women’s experiences, but I didn’t really find a lot that personally resonated with me. What I struggled with specifically was a feeling of apathy in regards to sexual/romantic relationships with men, and a lot of the WLW experiences posted around that time didn’t seem to mention it. I used the word queer for a long time, partially due to my own internalized lesbophobia, but mostly due to not finding a particular label that fit.

Around 2015, something changed. I cut my hair into a pixie cut so I could march in marching band without having to put my bob into a hairnet, and this seemingly small action sparked something with me in terms of both my gender and sexuality. I admitted to myself that I’m a lesbian at the end of this year, and came out to my family during June of 2016.

My gender identity was still a work in progress, as much as I liked to pretend at the time that it wasn’t. I got sucked into the whole “lesbians can be feminine even if they have a pixie cut!” mentality. My expression of this thought went through various phases—including but not limited to the instagram full face makeup around 2017–but by 2019, I was wearing little to no makeup, and had started exploring more masculine fashion.

I began realizing that I have dysphoria, but I had tricked myself into thinking I wasn’t having it because I didn’t specifically want to transition. I love the way masculine clothing looks on me, but I realized that I didn’t like how my chest looked in shirts. The idea that I could be nonbinary didn’t even occur to me at this point. I just kind of went with the discomfort, and while I don’t recommend this for everyone, it did help me become more comfortable with my body. Rather than pushing down the discomfort I was feeling, I just let it sit, which was surprisingly really effective for how I view my body.

I met my current partner in 2019, and she was the first person I had talked to romantically who was actually attracted to my masculinity, and who actually treated me like a regular person because of it. A lot of the people I was talking to on dating apps immediately started fetishizing me, but my partner has never once decided to fetishize my appearance.

I came out to her as nonbinary in late 2019 after we’d been dating a few months, specifically as agender. I genuinely don’t feel like I would’ve been able to come to this realization without her and her unwavering support. She’s been my rock through it all, and I genuinely am so grateful for her presence in my life.

She supports me so much, in fact, that she stayed with me when I decided to grow my hair back out in 2022 (I say this jokingly, but seriously, the bowl cut phase was bad). I’d realized that at some point, my hair had become a crutch for my masculinity. It got to the point where not having a haircut for a while made me start feeling like I wasn’t myself anymore, and I didn’t want my intrinsic identity to be conditional. I also hadn’t had hair longer than a bob since I was about 15, and I only kept long hair for about two years.

And now, during pride month 2024, I am content. Outwardly, I actually look similar to how I did during my early feminine days—I dress more femininely than I normally would day-to day due to my work’s dress code, I have longer hair, and I go by she/her in familial and professional spaces rather than they/she. It’s taken time for me to be comfortable with this, but I made it there in the end. Not only am I comfortable, but I am happy in how I present myself.

So this begs the question—why not come out as nonbinary?

The short answer is: I don’t want to.

The long answer? I’m seriously not bothered. I’m in a place of privilege, as my family would accept me no matter how I identify. I wouldn’t lose my job or my housing if I came out as nonbinary. This immense privilege keeps me comfortable, but it’s something I try to be constantly reminding myself of.

And frankly, the biggest reason why I haven’t come out publicly as nonbinary is that I don’t want to have to explain yet another facet of my identity to everyone I become close to. There is always the fear of coming out as a lesbian to everyone I meet, not knowing if they are accepting. I have to explain my disability to those who become my friends, and explain that there are certain things I will never be able to do, and that there are certain things that I may be able to do depending on the day. This doesn’t seem like a lot on the surface, but it’s neverending and exhausting.

All in all, I couldn’t be more proud of who I am. It’s been a battle—one I fought mostly alone—but it’s a battle that’s been won. I did, after all, make it through this night.

If you are ever questioning part of your identity and feel like I can help, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Gender and sexuality is confusing, and if my story can help even one person figure out their own, then I’m happy.

[funkymbtifiction]

Hey Charity. I have a quick question.

Is it normal for INFP to sometimes worry about consequences of their actions or potentially disappointing their loved ones while following their heart as long as not staying true to themselves would hurt more or should they not care at all about other people's opinions?

How about hating anything traditional and wanting to be free more than anything but sometimes having to remind themselves that traditions are just symbolic concepts and they don't have any responsibility to anyone or anything but themselves?

If it's not possible then which types could be like that while thinking they're INFP?

Yes, it’s normal. IFPs generally are kind people who care about their loved ones; some of them are self-absorbed, but the majority want to do what’s right for themselves without hurting other people, since Fi is often about wanting the right to be who they are, without interfering with others or negatively impacting them. They do care about other people’s opinions, but they aren’t as concerned with their views as they are concerned with living with themselves. Fi’s understand that they are their only lifetime companion, and they feel it’s most important to live up to their own individual standard. That’s why they take things inside them to consider what they feel about things, and are sometimes surprised by what bothers them or doesn’t (they can “assume” this might bother them, only to live through it, and find out it doesn’t; and that reveals another layer of themselves to themselves).

The specific example you gave feels like attachment to me – feeling obligated to a situation or to others, and having to give yourself permission to deviate from it. It can also be super-ego, in the sense that super-ego types have internal voices telling them how they ‘should’ be – and it’s hard for a super-ego type to fight through that and allow their Fi to do whatever it wants to do, without feeling guilt on some level. I see this a lot in 9 and 6 IFPs. 9 wanting to keep others happy, and with a 1 wing in particular, feeling responsible to do the right thing by others. 6s in general wanting to do what’s right by others, and not wanting others to disapprove of their choices in life, while still wanting to be true to themselves.

[xfindingtrouble]

so in one of my recent posts, I mentioned that Percy has the mentality of ' how effective are my actions ' over ' how will my actions affect things ' & I wanted to dig a little deeper into that. so here we are.

we'll start with top 10 most brutal anime betrayals: Percy leaving Cassandra behind. he assumes she's dead without checking because this is the most effective course of action. in this moment of brutal survival, he chooses survival over emotion. there is of course the instinct to care for his sister, the desire to scoop her up & take her with him. but in reality, he knows that would have just gotten him caught or killed as well. he doesn't have time to weigh these decisions, he just makes one & it establishes this instinct if that makes sense? yes, the stakes are high but I feel like it speaks to such lengths that this is where he went when there was no time to think. he chooses the most effective path to change his present, to keep pushing on regardless of the implication of what that means. for not only him but also his sister if she WAS dead [ which she was, I just think Delilah brought her back but that is a conversation for another day ]

of course, we can't talk about Percy's decision-making process without bringing up his invention of ' The List ' as it is such a huge part of his character. it's stated over & over again that Percy knew what bringing guns into the world would do & he did it anyway because he knew he could use that kind of destruction to his advantage. In a time when he is powerless, he figures out a way to have power regardless of what it costs. for the bigger picture, for the people who would be affected by it, he didn't even read into what it would cost to create it. Of course, he didn't know his soul was in the mix but I don't think that would have deterred him. again its effect vs affect. if he's getting his revenge, why does he matter after that?

which we can sort of see through the Whitestone arc as he starts to understand that something is going on with his gun but chooses to use it anyways. we can see it super clearly in him giving Grog the cursed, talking sword because it can be used. in grog's hands, it's borderline unstoppable & vox machina can use that to their advantage. regardless of what it costs Grog or the people around him. which is soo ironic coming out of a place where he was fighting possession??? it's almost a moment of ' we no longer have THIS evil power so we need THIS one in its place'. bcs i have nooo doubt in my mind he would have kept using the list if scanlan shorthalt wasn't a genius. but the violence is a part of the appeal of it! because the violence adds to its effectiveness, the brutality means it will accomplish what he needs it to.

how could I make this post abt percy not thinking about the implications of things without mentioning the temple of the raven queen. exhibit (a) in how his impulsiveness hurts people. about how him having this tunnel vision surrounding what they can use to succeed, thus blinding him to how it can hurt the others involved. he see's this vestige, so close he can almost taste it & doesn't think about the implications of reaching out to take it. He gets vex killed! gets vax tangled up in the clutches of the raven queen! [ i think she would have got him regardless but percy was the spark that lit the fuse here ] & his inability to go ' wow how are people going to be affected by this ' hurts the person he wants to protect! the person he wants to impress! the person he wants to survive it all! it is the first real wake-up call when he looks at himself & reassesses how he does things but he simmers on things sooo long before approaching internal battles like that. the longer he can put it off, the better in his book. but this isn't sustainable, this doesn't work in the longevity of relationships!

then we're going to revisit his stance on weapons, again, because retort is a whollle big part of this too. he's looking at this weapon he can use to replace the one he's lost. to get that power back that he feels is no longer in his hand. he doesn't read between the lines because he doesn't want to see what they say. this attempt to avoid any emotions connected to wielding anna ripley's gun drive him to be impulsive, stupid & only look at how he can use this weapon. how effective it can be on the battlefield vs. any emotional backlash he can get from where it came from. this leaves a massive opening for ripley to continue listening to them through the weapon & actively work against vm. this being said, i do think this is The Big Moment where he realizes how this approach cannot be sustained. dying is just the kick in his ass that makes him think ' ok maybe i SHOULD do something about this

looking at the moment in bard's lament when he calls kaylie a miserable girl & threatens scanaln with being miserable like her. he doesn't think about the emotional implications of this. he doesn't think of kaylie who might hear him say this, he doesn't think of how it will affect scanlan. all he can think is 'How can i make him feel what i'm feeling' bcs he thinks, somehow, that will pave the path to scanlan wanting the same thing as him. but it doesn't work that way!! & logically he knows that, but that's not the instinct. the instinct is to lash out, to hit him back & hope it works. except it doesn't & for good fucking reason.

i also have the theory that he picked up this mentality from ripley & observed / mirrored it because he sees how effective it is & that is part of why he's like crippled emotionally. because if he reflects these bits of her, what is stopping him from reflecting other bits of her??? but again, that is another conversation for another day.

there are soo many more examples of this that i will probably dig into some other time but, to sum it up.. we know percy is willing to do some unconventional things. we know he operates in this moral grey area where he weighs his personal goals against the overarching good. he likes to choose good but it is not always the choice he can make. especially when looking at it from what he believes to be a logical place? which is not always the case.

but i think this place also comes from so long suppressing so much of himself. when he feels something, it often translates as fear which translates as frustration there is always this cycle when he gets emotionally invested in something that is sooo hard to beat. so instead he boils it down to what he can do with something, what he can accomplish if he throws those bits out of the window??? which is a habit he tries to break but is ingrained sooo deeply inside of him that all he can do is find a way to balance it. it is always going to be a tool in his arsenal he just learns how to wield it with more grace as he grows older, loses friends, understands his emotions so on & so forth. but anyways that's my two cents on the subject

[hillbillyoracle]

Not sure what to ask about, don't want to overstep what you may be comfortable talking about, or if you even have experience with it (mental health is a broad spectrum). But do you have any advice on healing from dissociation? Or differentiating between reality and magical thinking?

I do have some personal experience with this. I won't share all the experience itself much as it's pretty personal but I'd love to share some stuff that's worked well for me.

I unfortunately don't know as much about the research side of this as I'd like. It was mentioned but not discussed much in the program I left when I got sick (BSW). And a cursory look at some research shows most interventions that show promise require a therapist lead technique. There's a lot less on self treatment.

So given that I'll focus on what's helped me.

On Healing Dissociation

I personally resonate with those who've posited that dissociation is an extreme freeze response - as in fight, flight, freeze. So that fundamentally frames both what I've tried and what's helped me.

I don't know enough to debate whether trauma has to have been involved for "real dissociation" so I won't. I just know it's in the mix for me.

Know Your Triggers

I know this is cliché advice but I think for dissociation more so than many other symptoms it's been super key. I really struggled with this. What ultimately wound up being helpful wasn't a log format but just journaling and reflecting on the times I'd dissociated.

For me they were all rooted in a very specific find of interpersonal fear. The exact details of the situation could change but if that specific fear, that someone would do a specific action in a specific way came up, dissociation would flare.

I think I had the idea that triggers were topics or material similarities for previous traumatic experiences but for me that wasn't the case. The internal experience of it tended to be a bigger trigger than the external material similarities. I think because as long as I had a different internal experience of something I could assure myself that this situation was different but the minute that was gone collapse into freeze became almost inevitable.

Avoid Dissociative Activities

Depending on how bad things are this might be day to day or it might be for periods of high stress/triggers. For me, when I really decided to take dissociation seriously I had a kind of drying out period where for several weeks to several months I just didn't engage in dissociative activities at all but I'm at a point now where I limit them when I either know I'll be exposed to triggers or I already have been.

So what are dissociative activities? They're a lot of what you'd expect. They're "brain off" activities. Scrolling through social media, binging shows, binging a game - basically anything you could do for multiple hours without taking a break has the potential to become a dissociative activity.

I've also personally found fiction in particular can be quite triggering of it. That might not be everyone but it's worth seeing if that's an issue for you.

For activities that you need to do but that can become dissociative like sleep, it can be a tough needle to thread. It might be silly but tying wake up times to things you actually like can be helpful. Texts from friend have helped me. Having someone actually physically come in and wake you up can help if you have that option.

Movement

Since dissociation is a freeze response, movement has been very key to shaking it. It's not always possible, especially at first, but the minute I have some leeway in motor movement I try to get moving. It doesn't have to be much, just walking has helped. Sometimes if I can feel it coming on, just going for a long brisk walk will stave it off enough for other coping mechanisms to be more effective.

I think it's just as good for prevention. When I'm walking and doing some strength training more, it comes up less. There's something very regulating to the nervous system about it would be my guess.

Polyvagal Strategies

This is a whole rabbit hole and there's no way I could go into everything here. I recommend searching for more about it. But the polyvagal strategies that have helped me dissociate less have been cold exposure (I take cold showers not infrequently), getting outside/listening to nature sounds, self massaging my neck in particular, and humming.

Which strategies work best for which people really takes some troubleshooting so it's worth looking a list of things to try out and highlight the ones that work.

Schema Therapy + Internal Family Systems

Even if you don't have full blown Dissociative Identity Disorder, these are two modalities that can be helpful and have a self help component. It's pretty easy to find workbooks for these (especially schema therapy) online for decent prices.

I think where these shine is in getting a better idea of your internal "map". Where you feel and align yourself one way and where you feel and align yourself another. Knowing your habitual responses allows you to shape them differently if you so choose.

Because both of these modalities involve a multipartite self, they have often felt more realistic and relatable to me as someone with dissociation issues. And sometimes you just want to sit down with a workbook and think real hard about your life. So these are good for that.

What Healing Looks Like

So one place where I differ from a lot of others is that I don't think a "unified sense of self" is really necessary or possible for all people. Like I really don't think it'll ever be in the cards for me. There is a certain amount of, for lack of a better term, internal dissociation I've chosen to just roll with as it doesn't cause meaningful dysfunction in my life when it arises.

So for me healing has primarily been building better self management skills so that I don't snap to dissociation reflexively in the situations I used to. It caused problems in those areas and I'm thankful that it doesn't overpower me like it used to. I have more of a say. That increased agency is healing to me personally.

This is all to say, you may never reach a point where you don't experience aspects of dissociation but I'd argue that healing is rooted much more in functioning rather than whether you experience a symptom at all. Every step toward more function and less reliance on dissociation as a primary coping method is in of itself healing in my book.

On Reality and Magical Thinking

I struggle with this as someone with OCD. And I get that's not how you might be struggling with it Anon so I'm not sure how much of what I'll say will apply to you, but I'll share it all the same.

I personally think most people engage in magical thinking on some level and scrubbing all of that might not be realistic. What's helped me is focusing on the areas where it causes the most problems and letting the rest go for the time being.

As far as knowing the difference I think it comes down to knowing your patterns. My pattern is that magical thinking will feel hopeful in a very emotionally intense way rather than a calm and collected way and that it'll be certain of a specific result in a specific time frame. But yours might be different.

It can help to have a friend you trust to point it out to you where they're able so you can begin to piece together what the similarities might be.

Rely on the Experts

I find the expert in the field that my magical thinking/obsessions are focused on and find out what they have to say. I then am pretty strict with myself about only making decisions based on those expert opinions in those areas. This is helpful for if I don't know whether what I'm dealing with is actually an obsession or magical thinking as well. If it aligns with the experts, it's probably not or it's unlikely to cause issues. If it diverges, especially greatly, there's greater risk and I don't rely on my own knowledge.

Grounding Techniques

Getting grounded often helps me start to parse magical thinking from reality. So getting really present for as long as I can manage and then thinking about the topic or issue again can help me catch it sometimes.

Some of my favorite grounding techniques are finding something os note through the five senses, finding five objects for each color of the rainbow in your environment, and feeling the weight of your body on a surface and just breathing with that awareness.

Thought Stopping/Say "I Don't Know"

For areas where there are no experts (my personal relationships) or I can't find or understand them, I rely more on thought stopping. You can go the CBT route of have a preprepared though to substitute the thought with. I tend to make my default replacement thought some version of "well, I'm not so sure about that." Because it's when the certainty calcifies me in that there are the most problems.

As for how to tell whether something is magical thinking without experts, I think it can help to have a default position of I'm not sure. It at least gives some lead time for me to mull things over or try strategies that I have more certainty in.

Reality Daydreaming

Sometimes my brain just really wanna daydream and wander in unhelpful ways. So I cope by pointing it at a list of "problems" I'm mulling over (how to rearrange my room or fridge, how would I rearrange a friend's room if given the chance, if I ever got a garden going what would be in it, etc) instead of letting it get too far into the weeds in unhelpful stuff ("if I do xyz this friend will contact me again so here let me imagine a whole future of us being buds when they get back to me").

It's ultimately a form of harm reduction which is sometimes all you can hope for.

Hope this is helpful to you in some way anon and I appreciate the question!

[opanas-opanasovych-opanasenko]

Statement of the Intelligence Committee under the President of Ukraine

Source: https://t.me/SBUkr/11299 Dear Ukrainians and our international partners! Two years after Russia launched a full-scale war of aggression, Ukraine faced an objective threat to its existence as a state, as a nation, as a community of free and equal people. In conditions of deliberate distraction of the global public attention from the long and bloody Russian-Ukrainian war, the leadership of the aggressor country managed to implement a series of planned sabotage actions, special information operations and open provocations.

The main directions and goals of the enemy are the disruption of Ukrainian mobilization, the spread of disinformation about Ukraine's inability to win, the creation and distribution of fakes about "fatigue with Ukraine" among our partners and allies in the world. The global international goal of the Russians is to reduce the support of our country from the pro-Ukrainian coalition in the world.

The goal of the Russians inside Ukraine is to demoralize Ukrainians, to sow panic among the population, to drive a wedge between military personnel and civilians, to make everyone quarrel with everyone, including representatives of the country's political leadership and civil society.

Russian special services have extensive experience in conducting hybrid wars. They spend no less on information attacks against Ukraine than on a conventional war. As reported by the Intelligence Committee under the President of Ukraine, in November of last year, as part of the Maidan-3 special operation, Russia spent almost $250 million on spreading anti-Ukrainian sentiments on the Telegram platform alone. Instead, the total budget of the operation was an astronomical 1.5 billion dollars. This is the most expensive "action" of the Russian special services in history.

Special operation "Maidan - 3" will reach its climax in March-May 2024, during the coming weeks the enemy will make every effort to spread narratives destructive to world security and attempts to incite conflicts - both inside Ukraine and in other parts of the world where there is effective support of Ukraine.

The campaign methodology is traditional for Russian special services: to question the legitimacy of government decisions made in Ukraine after May 20, to spread panic and despair, to artificially oppose civilians and military, to induce quarreling between us and our allies, to spread all kinds of "conspiracy theories" in society. This is happening against the background of public statements of the Russian Federation about the creation of new types of super-weapons, which, according to the Russians, should ensure the technical superiority of the Russian Federation over the West for the next decade. It follows from this that opposition to the goals of the Russian Federation in Ukraine is dangerous for the world, and therefore the Russian Federation will push other countries to a direct dialogue regarding Ukraine without our participation.

Also, the Russians, through their own agents of influence in Ukraine and around the world, will bet on the organization of various protest actions, will deliberately discredit the process of exchanging prisoners of war.

According to the enemy's plan, the situation in our country will be shaken in the first half of June, and then, taking advantage of this, Ukraine will be inflicted with a military defeat in the East, and this is the key idea of their operation.

In view of the above circumstances, we appeal to Ukrainian society, our international partners and allies to strengthen joint resistance and comprehensive security measures, especially in the information space, in order to effectively counter global threats and challenges of a new global hybrid war. The war that the Russian Federation and its criminal allies are waging against the entire civilized world today. Our society needs unity. Glory to Ukraine!

[erigold13261]

I can see there is a tier to who gets put into Nueva York

(Some people just received the watch or a visit to the Go Home Machine)

Tier 1: You hurt someone/caused massive property damage (Miles, Hobie, potentially Peni, Margo)

Tier 2: Your family has a history of powerful elementals or power holders with problems (Pav, potentially Gwen)

Tier 3: You have a problem that needs "fixing" (Noir and Peter Porker)

And yes, this is based on how much damage had been caused to the outside world, not the internal issues anyone could be facing(like the Medical Model of Disability versus the Social Model of Disability) and Miguel's personal trauma

There's definitely more to it, but I can see that being the most basic way to explain it. Everyone probably has to go through some kind of program, but the different tiers dictate how intense and long your program is.

I'm kinda thinking of it as some kind of class similar to the SCP foundation. Keter being extremely hard to contain, Euclid being difficult to contain, and Safe being relatively easy to contain. Except for Nueva York, the tiers would relate to powers.

Top being a very dangerous power or the person with no control of their power (or both). Middle being a relatively dangerous power or the person still needs help controlling their power (or both is the power is on the lower level of threats). Bottom being a basically safe power that is not inherently dangerous without creative and active thinking to hurt someone, or the person is basically completely in control except for small lapses of control. (These names of tiers just being place holders for this ask).

My reasoning for this is that you can have very inherently dangerous powers that you are in completely control of, that would put you in like the middle tier. Those powers could be elemental or just something you have that no one else has.

Now I actually do like your model, but I think that would be better for a labeling on why someone is there and what kind of treatment they need in a specific tier. Someone in the very dangerous top tier might be there because their family has history with that power but they didn't hurt someone yet, meaning they are like Top Tier 2. While someone with very dangerous powers who hurt someone would be Top Tier 1.

A Top Tier 2 person and Top Tier 1 person would have similar programs to go through, but the Top Tier 1 would have more restrictions and less forgiveness for mistakes compared to the a Top Tier 2 person.

Like most Top Tiers are probably super intensive programs that take a long time to get through, while Bottom Tiers are easier and quicker to get through.

Watches go to everyone who joins, and you have to keep it on as long as you are in any of the programs. However, if you keep failing your program, or keep messing up and having to start over/retrace steps, that is probably when you have to go into the "Go Home Machine" as you are not able to naturally finish a program and can't be trusted to just keep the watch on all the time outside of the program (the Go Home Machine is probably also used a lot around holidays and stuff like that so people can go home temporarily).

There are definitely better ways to explain this, and I'm sure I can make one since I love making stupid and complex labeling systems. Nueva York absolutely has a ranking system so it is easier to know what resident is in there for what. Like there is probably another Tier that says a person is there of their own free will vs being sent there by concerned family vs breaking the law.

High-Middle-Low: Danger level. Basically how little control of the power someone has or how inherently dangerous it is.

Teir 1- Tier 2- Tier 3: Issues. What you are struggling with (1-having hurt someone/something, 2-your family is naturally powerful, 3-you have a problem that needs to be fixed).

DET-CON-VOL: Actions. What lead you to being placed in Nueva York (Detained/Detention, Concern/Fear, Volunteer).

Something like this above. So Hobie would be along the lines of High Tier 1-DET while Pav would be Hi-Mid Tier 2-CON. Peter Porker is along the lines of Low Tier 2-VOL and Noir is probably Mid-Low Tier 2.3-VOL.

I don't know if naming them Issues and Actions are the right words, but you can have hurt someone while being a volunteer or you could have been arrested/detained and sent to Nueva York without having hurt someone. Also, having "hurt" someone/something isn't always physical. Like Pav's powers could hurt people's minds or something could have been broken as an indirect cause of your powers.

Definitely don't take this as absolute truth in how I am going to convey powers in Nueva York. I just wanted to have fun making a labeling system. There are definitely problems and outliers that could be made in this system, but I wanted to make a 3 level labeling system and I did lol. Just know, there is definitely some kind of labeling going on in Nueva York.

[cmgirlie]

20 Questions for Writers

tagged by: @dilf-in-peril

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

13 plus a fourteenth that's part of an exchange and hasn't been revealed yet.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

25,112

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now it's all wrestling.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Despite the Snow, Despite the Falling Snow — American Gods (TV); Mad Sweeney/Shadow Moon

Like it Rough — Our Flag Means Death (TV); Israel Hands/Lucius Spriggs (this one isn't very good and I thought I had deleted it until I checked to make this post. only lands here because it's a big fandom i guess)

Poison on Our Lips — Saw (Movies); Adam Faulkner-Stanheight/Lawrence Gordon (this one's been getting a bit extra traffic now with the Saw fandom resurging)

The Lies We Tell Ourselves — Insidious (Movies); Specs/Tucker (this was never finished. it's also been getting some spillover attention from leigh whannell fans)

In the Dead of Night — The Terror (TV 2018); George Henry Hodgson/John Irving

(my most popular wrestling fic, my collected kinktober fills from last year, just barely misses this list)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I should. I try to. I used to. I rarely do.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

eh I usually don't write super angsty endings. I guess the Specs/Tucker one is pretty dreary since I abandoned it at a little cliffhanger.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

excluding orgasms, Despite the Snow, Despite the Falling Snow is my only genuine angst with a happy ending. and it's a pretty cute get-together.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

no, my fics aren't popular or controversial enough for that

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yep. Usually kinky stuff, and often stuff I myself find sort of weird. Gotta exorcise it i guess.

Funny enough, I used to write a fair bit of smut as a teen, deleted it all and spent years not writing any, and then it's been naught but smut since 2021.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

no, I don't enjoy reading them either.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I'm pretty certain Despite the Snow, etc. was translated into Chinese back when I first posted it but ao3 doesn't show any related works. Maybe it got deleted?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope!

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I'm pretty fickle so I usually just stick to my favs in my current fandom. Right now it's CMJF with Joepunk contesting it for #1. My Stormpilot shipping would rear back up with every new Star Wars release so it was probably my longest-lasting ship.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My Punk/AJ/Ace Steel fill for kinktober was supposed to be part of a longer fic that never got farther into than the very beginning and that extract I posted.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I feel like I'm pretty good at showing characters' feelings through action, without much internal monologue. I've been told I balance comedy and smut well which. I don't consider myself a funny person but I do like to lean into the absurdist premises of porn i guess

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Visual description. Partially because I'm bad at it, partially because I think it adds too much fluff and avoid it. Problem is I have a very visual imagination so fics that feel super detailed in my mind end up being 200 words long with no plot, because it's all just mise-en-scène that I can't get on the page.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've never really done it but I tend to enjoy when it's there. It may be cheesy but I love a good pet name in the character's native language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I dabbled a bit in Phantom of the Opera fic, but really got going in the Hannibal fandom.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

around 2017 I was really trying to make my fics feel ~atmospheric~ and I feel like I achieved that best in Despite the Snow, etc., even if it's partially adapting a scene from the book that never made it to the show (that I know of, I didn't watch past s1). I feel like I'm still plopping around awkwardly in wrestling fic so I really couldn't pick a favourite.

[fairladymarian]

Can’t Believe She’s Become a Shell of Herself, Cause She Used to Be a Pearl || Self

May drifted on the edge of consciousness, refusing to open her eyes because that meant she was admitting she was awake. She heard the voices around her, some soothing, some panicking. It sounded like a few people were really ill, but she couldn’t bring herself to care too much just yet. She couldn’t do anything for them that wasn’t already being done. She wasn’t any use to them. So she stayed, floating in this dream world for just a little while longer.

This wasn’t the first time she’d woken up, so she knew exactly where she was. The Hospital Wing. May had managed to survive those 10 grueling hours of play without any serious injuries. She had scored several goals, and the work as a team had allowed them to score a few others. Even though they had lost, she should have felt pleased about the game’s outcome, as playing your best game was at least as important as winning.

But then the game ended. May had landed her broom, taken one look at her injured teammates, took a step forward, and then collapsed. The next thing she was aware of, she was waking up in the hospital wing, and one of the nurses almost immediately poured some sort of potion down her throat. They had ignored her questions about her teammates, answering with a curt ‘They’re fine’ before insisting that she needed more rest. According to them, she had pushed her body beyond its limits. They were going to make her get more rest and some nutritious food back in her before she was allowed to go anywhere. Of course, she had protested saying that she had homework, meetings, life to go on dealing with They’d told her she had to wait. And then they’d made her sleep again.

But she was tired of waiting. Right now it felt like her entire life was built on the premise of waiting for the next disaster to strike, and for the good things that never came.

Her father still hadn’t come home, and the determined optimism that had sustained her through the last year and a half was beginning to fade. Wouldn’t he have returned to her by now if he could have? Wouldn’t he have heard something about what was going on and come back to help her? Where could he have gone that he would be able to avoid the incessant articles about her and the family struggles that had suddenly taken center stage?

Of course, he could be captured somewhere. Which would explain why he hadn’t come back. But who kept hold of someone as important as Richard Marian without any kind of ransom note sent behind? He was a broommaker, not some big political figure for Merlin’s sake, it wasn’t like anyone could get any information out of him, and the only ones to profit were his family. So who could possibly have him?

The only remaining possibility was that he was dead. And if that were true, she was all alone.

Merlin she missed him. It was like a weight pressing against her chest, and she’d almost forgotten what it was like to be able to breathe freely. It wasn’t just that she wanted him to come back and take his role in the company again so she wouldn’t have to work so hard and fight her uncle anymore. It was him. It was Sunday card games that she got closer and closer to winning as she learned his tricks and began to make up some of her own. It was quiet mornings touring the factory. It was the way his eyes lit up as he explained some intricate secret to putting a broom together. It was his easy laugh, and the intense way he listened when she spoke, as if those words were the most important words he had ever heard in his life. It was that overwhelming knowledge that she was loved, absolutely, unconditionally, and forever. Even when they went months without seeing each other, it didn’t change the fact that she knew he was there and he loved her. She wasn’t alone.

Instead, she felt like she was always alone these days.

Of course, there were moments where that wasn’t true. Christmas at the Parrs had been wonderful. The house had been full, and watching everyone open their presents had been a stunning delight. Of course, she had received wonderful gifts as well, but that wasn’t as important to her as being able to give something special to someone who mattered. She always spent way too much money Christmas shopping, but she was like her father that way. What good was money if you couldn’t use it to make the people important to you happy?

As soon as she’d been invited, she’d written every member of her household staff to inform them that they had the Christmas holidays off. They were welcome to stay or leave as suited them, but they wouldn’t need to work. They had each received their traditional Christmas bonuses, and each member of the staff had gotten another small gift from her. After all, the bonus was from the head of the Marian household. The second gift was from May, the girl they had raised. Both seemed perfectly justifiable, and she could only hope that it had made them happy. They deserved to have something good in the middle of all this dark.

Her uncle, of course, had been furious. He’d written her a letter as soon as he’d discovered it. And while she had burned the letter itself, the words were still imprinted in her memory.

May,

You may think you you run this household, and you have these stupid lazy assholes going along with the charade. But mark my words, as soon as I win this case, I will fire every single one of them for being the lazy disgusting freeloaders they are. And you can wave goodbye to your job at the company.

Oh don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll live just fine off your inheritance until you get knocked up by one of the bastards you’re screwing. But trying to change any of this just makes you look pathetic. 

John

Letters like this reminded her exactly why she needed to keep fighting him at every turn. Most of the servants had been with her family for generations. Where would they go if they were suddenly unwelcome at home? How could she protect them? Theoretically, she could always hire them on herself. But if she needed to find her own house and pay for the staff after the expense of a court case, her inheritance would rapidly be run through without some sort of income. And what could she do besides broom making? What else was she good for?

Thievery, her brain whispered.

But if her uncle’s hatred of her was blatant and confrontable, this other skill of hers only reminded her of the other man who seemed to hate her. Yet, instead of it being a family member, it was the one she was in love with.

She never knew when he would find her. Sometimes it was only a matter of days in between visits, never longer than two weeks, but the variability meant that her nerves were constantly stretched to the breaking point as she looked out for him. Of course, it made perfect sense not to have any sort of set schedule. After all, one of the big worries was that her uncle would be able to track him down through is connection to her, and thus pin the crime of the Marian break in on Danny. It was only smart not to risk any letters and just find her whenever he needed to talk to her.

Except they never did talk, did they? Not for long. They would have a brief conversation about the status of the court case, but it wasn’t with any real interest. It was more to keep up the charade that this was information gathering for both of them. And after he got the same brief update, he would take her somewhere, and they would fuck until they were both exhausted. Sometimes he didn’t speak. Sometimes, he would call her Amy. But every time, she would be vocal and affectionate, hoping that it meant that this time he had forgiven her, this time he would cherish her. This time he would love her back, the way he had when he thought she was Amy.

Everytime, he would get dressed and leave her as soon as the sweat would begin to cool on them both. And her heart would break all over again.

Merlin she was pathetic. She kept hoping things would change, as if time would fix what they were. But she wasn’t the person he wanted her to be, and he couldn’t forgive her for the lie. Of course, physically he was the same, and they had always been good in bed together. But how on earth could she have some much love for someone who didn’t respect her? How long was she supposed to just accept that these crumbs of affection were all he would give her?

How come she couldn’t just walk away from it? Was she so lonely that even this felt better than nothing at all?

Her mother would have walked away. Her mother had. She had known that she would love Richard for the rest of her life, but without respect they wouldn’t be able to make the marriage work. So unless he turned himself into the kind of person Eleanor Gibson could respect, they had a love and nothing else. It had given her father the push he’d needed to turn himself into a better man, and he had made himself an incredible one. They had married, and May had never met another couple who loved each other as much as they had. But it had all started because Eleanor was strong enough to make the choice between what she wanted in the moment, and what would make her happy for a lifetime.

May had once thought she would be that strong. But over the past few months, it was obvious that she wasn’t.

She had even sent Danny a Christmas gift. She hadn’t wanted to get him anything too obvious or too expensive, as she knew he’d reject it. So instead, she had found a battered old silver flask with faded Welsh scrollwork. Well made enough to survive and have a sense of history, but clearly well worn so it didn’t look like he had acquired something new and flashy and too obviously expensive. Laid into it was a spell that neutralized any poisons that entered it. It meant it would always be safe for him to drink out of, no matter how dangerous the company he was keeping. She had sent a brief letter with it explaining what it did and that she hoped he’d have a Merry Christmas. It hadn’t needed to be stated that her hopes had gone along with it.

He hadn’t written back. He hadn’t sent her anything. She honestly didn’t even know if he’d kept the flask or if he’d tossed it away at the first opportunity, not wanting anything to be bought by ‘the Marian girl’. And the not knowing, the waiting, was eating at her from the inside out.

A pained shout from a bed nearby drew her forcibly back to the present, causing her to tense in the action of leaving the bed before she forced herself to relax. No. Still hospital wing. Still nothing she could do. Nothing she was capable of doing.

She was failing at every aspect of her life, something her collapse made abundantly clear.

The legal case was stalled and wouldn’t occur for another few months, which meant she could still potentially lose it to her uncle, along with her childhood home and the staff that were more family than he was at this point.

The Board had moved up to tolerating her comments, but otherwise still fought her on every change she attempted to make, no matter how much research she brought into it, so the company was coasting.

She was barely managing to keep her grades in her classes, but she had basically had to sacrifice all of the time she had used to spend helping other students.

She had lost every single duel she’d had as the dueling club captain, and while some of the people she’d worked with had succeeded, each loss further destroyed the confidence she had in her skills and her worth.

Nearly every Quidditch game had been lost, and at least a portion of that was due to the fact that she was playing worse than she had in years past because of how stressed and stretched thin she was.

Most of her friends were keeping secrets from her and isolating themselves, and she couldn’t do anything about it.

The friends she did keep she barely saw as everything else took over her life.

The man she loved despised her, and she was weak enough to be drawn back to him as soon as he crooked his finger, even when she knew how each evening would end.

And now her body was beginning to fail, because there was no time for sleep in the middle of everything else she was doing, and she hadn’t had any sort of appetite for weeks.

Looking back on her life, it seemed like the May that existed now was an entirely different person from the May who had lived for so long. The other May had been warm and loving, as quick to laugh as she was to fight in defense of someone else. She had been enthusiastic and optimistic. A little reckless, a lot responsible, a good friend, and a determined worker. She had looked to the future and made promises that she had been certain she could keep, because she was bursting at the seams with energy, excitement, vitality, and determination. She had succeeded at everything she’d put her mind to, and it hadn’t even been a question whether she would be able to accomplish it. It was just a fact.

The May lying in that hospital bed was only able to put on the semblance of that May when other people needed to see it. Inside, stress and fear and heartache had eaten away at everything until there was nothing left. She was just a shell. And she didn’t know how to fix it.

[hoodiewithhorns]

━  using your safeword scenarios p.3 !★

genre : hurt/comfort smut.

characters : f! reader x sakusa, matsukawa, kenma

p.1  + p.2 + m.sterlist + requests  

(please read the rules before requesting ty.)

▼ cw : not proof read, use of safeword, neglect , unprotected sex, degradation , clit spanking ( 1 ), impact play ( sakusas part ), mentions of exe(s), caught masturbation (reader) , pillow humping, thigh riding, implied punishment, kinda crybaby reader, implied cockwarming, cheating (?), angst, established relationship, all characters are 18+, MDNI ▲

different safewords used this time <3

- ty to the anons and user @/please-take-me-to-the-moon for the scenarios <3 

sakusa 

word count : 1.4k

you knew better than to do this, humping your dearly beloved boyfriends pillow with just your cotton panties, a loose shirt with no bra under, like a bitch in heat, desperate for friction of any kind. You knew if he had caught you like this he would punish you that was guaranteed. however, in the literal heat of the moment you didn’t care. sakusa’s constant pattern of coming home the minute you were already fast asleep in your shared bed, never being able to fill the void of need in your little cunt. 

〜　☆

Considering he’d let this slide since its been a month since you’ve two have done anything sexual, these thoughts only making you hump his pillow even more desperate leaving a pool of your arousal staining his pillow, with the occasional soft whimpers of his name. losing yourself in your own lust, You didn’t hear the sound of the door clicking open.

Sakusa, leaving his practice early since his performance was unfavorable by the shitty mood he was in, lashing out on his teammates for the smallest things they’d do and so many more. in short, his team suggested he’d stay home t’ill he cooled down. 

“y/n? i’m home.”he walked around the empty apartment accompanied by the muffles of your soft moans, trying to find you as quickly as possible, obviously knowing it was you. he opened the bedroom door slowly and quietly. his eyes grew wide at the scene in front of him. 

still not noticing his presence in the door frame you continued humping his pillow feeling your high approach, but leave you since you needed him. 

“tch.” clicking his tongue at you in disapproval. you flinched letting go of his pillow to face him, feeling your heart race when you made eye contact with him, arms folded and a look of disgust planted on his pale face. Your eyes already filling up with tears knowing what comes next. “m’ y-yoomi! w-welcome home-”

“who the fuck gave you permission to touch yourself?” cutting you off, walking towards the bed, he pinned you down to the bed, arms on your sides, hovering over you with his dead, cold, heartless gaze cutting through you, as you tried to look away in shame only earning you a slap to the face to make you look at him. the sting causing you to choke out a sob. praying internally that he’d let you off the hook just this once. you were just needy for him.he has to understand that, right?

“answer me, right.now.”

“n-no one yoomi... i’m s-sorry please don’t wanna be punished!” you pleaded to him only making him more angrier. he grabbed your jaw making you whimper at the tight grip. scanning you top to bottom, eyeing at the wet patch on your underwear. 

“then why did you huh? couldn’t wait until i got home couldn’t you? needy fucking thing.” he tutted, letting go of your jaw harshly, tugging your panties down to your knees already feeling impatient himself by how his cock hardened through his shorts. despite wanting to punish you, he wanted you. needed you to be precise.

 the man hasn’t felt you in a whole month how could he not miss his girlfriends tight slutty cunt? removing his volleyball shorts letting his cock spring free, he strokes himself a few times before lining himself against your cunt, letting a small sigh when you felt his hard tip touch your soaked entrance. 

feeling slightly relief you were finally gonna feel him after so long. That feeling of relief however didn’t last long when he slammed his fat cock inside you without warning. you let out a yelp, hands immediately going to his chest hoping for him to not bruise your cervix from how deep he was already. he growled when he felt your palms try and stop him, so he slapped your hands away roughly marking them red. 

“b-but yoomi please it hurts..it h-hurts” 

you figured he didn’t hear you. but he was too focused on punishing you to care if it hurt or not. so you pleaded again for him to slow down. finally getting a response from him.

“shut up you disgusting whore.you brought this on yourself, touching yourself while your boyfriends away.”

“...dirtying up his fucking pillow while he’s gone. how fucking pathetic.”  he spits, slapping your clit harshly in attempt to get you to shut up. his degrading not having a hint of reassurance anywhere like it usually does when he fucks you. normally, he’d call you his “slut” or his whore but never ever calling you a disgusting one at most, what did this mean?..you asked yourself, mind going hazy with fear. feeling like your boyfriend finds you disgusting for your actions, and not a single trace of love or concern for you, not even noticing how you tried inching yourself away from his pace. 

sakusa was a mean dom yes, but he cared about you and your boundaries and right now it seemed like he didn’t care about any of those.

too focused on his own pleasure, not realizing you slowly started to breakdown in front of him, hands to your eyes shaken from how hard he hit them, as more tears fell to stain your cheeks.

“n-no not disgusting..i-i’m...so sorry..sakusa..just missed you.” you muttered no longer feeling the long needed pleasure of his cock, only feeling a painful discomfort in your chest as if your heart was gonna burst out of it at any minute. he was caught off-guard by you calling him by his last name, but that didn’t stop the brutal pace on your sloppy cunt. repositioning his hand to your hips digging his nails in your sides, bound to leave marks to be seen in the morning. 

“addressing me by my last name? what you think thats gonna make things better?”he muses, his pace speeding up making you whimper. you’ve just about had enough.

“germs! g-germs! no more, i don’t like this!! y-you’re hurting m-me sakusa... please s-stop..stop.” screaming your safeword, trying to get him off you, you pushed with the little strength in you with your fragile hands. it wasn’t enough but he got the message. blinking a few times to make sure he processed the current situation.

he sighed pulling his cock out watching you with wolf eyes as you softly cried to yourself, turning to your side. he didn’t say anything he just laid down beside you. sneaking an arm around your waist, face buried in your neck. he planted some soft kisses onto it trying to make you relax. if he was being brutally honest, he didn’t know what to do.

you never used your safeword and even if it didn’t show in his face, he was pretty frightened. watching you tense up and shake around him all because of him.

“ y-yoomi..im sorry-”

“don’t be.”

he rubs your hands with his thumb in slow but comforting circles, seeing its still red from being slapped away by him, along with him kissing your cheek to simmer down the sting from earlier. god he felt so bad, but was so scared at the same time, all he wanted to do was hold you close..

..and thats what he did, watching you curl up to his chest. The room was silent for a few minutes that felt like hours gone by. you looked up at him with the look you always gave him. Full of love and adoration even with puffy eyes and hurt in your chest you still loved him.

He looked down noticing the soft smile you gave him as if nothing happened. Titling his head in confusion he asks

“why are you smiling? aren’t you upset..at me?”

you shook your head at him, “no yoomi I’m not mad. My body kinda hurts yes, but I’m glad to have you home...i missed you so much I’m sorry i touched myself without permission...”

he lightly smiles at you kissing your lips softly.

“it’s okay. tomorrow we’ll have the day all to ourselves and we can do whatever you want my love. I’m sorry i was so mean... i was having a bad day and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

you paused leaning in closer to his chest as you mumbled.

“can we...take a bath together yoomi?”

“oh sure...here i’l carry you.”

needless to say, you forgave him and gave him one last kiss before going to bed.

kenma

word count : 886

kenmas work schedule was god awful since he was practically up to play games and just that leaving you feeling needy and neglected. you hated it. 

but tonight you were just, so needy and couldn’t stand this constant neglect.

No matter how many times you touched yourself of grind against something it couldn’t compare to the way kenma would stuff you with his cock.

he wasn’t a super harsh dom leaning towards a mix of soft and mean, but he still prioritized your needs before his. and tonight you were gonna get that version of kenma.

walking towards the couch he was playing his games at slowly, with nothing but his hoodie and knee highs. you bit your lip standing in front of him, fiddling your thumbs out of nervousness. He titled his head to remove you from his line of sight to see the tv screen better making your heart ache just a little, being so used to it already.

taking a deep breath you sat in between on of his thighs wrapping your arms around his neck making him let out a groan of annoyance to your needy antics.

he continued to play his game acting as if you weren’t there and nothing changed. it all came to a halt when he felt you grinding on his thigh, letting out small cries of his name.

“baby.... please” you mumbled facing his disinterested face not even sharing a glance at you as he continued to move his thumbs around his controllers joystick. He didn’t even pay mind to the fact you were borderline naked either.

“five minutes pretty girl.” he muttered still too absorbed in his game. You pouted shifting your legs to be wrapped around him now, wet cunt on top of his crotch rubbing against him lightly. Making him flinch at the sudden friction. giving you hope he’d give you what you want now. you smirked continuing to grind against him making him bite back a grunt. 

“ugh what are you doing?” he said clearly annoyed by your antics already.

your face became red while placing your hands on his shoulders slowly starting to grind against his growing bulge. “want your attention kenma please need you so bad.” you begged hoping he’d give you something anything really.

but being kenma, he went back to his video games. your pout returning once more. “but kenma, please i really really need you.” you continued with your antics and he paused his game, putting his controller on the coffee table. 

“fine you want me so fucking bad?” he grabs you by the hips making you yelp as he throws you down the couch. back hitting the cushions while he takes your legs and wraps them around his waist.

he pulls down his sweats pumping himself a few times as he rolls his head back, holding back his grunts. he slowly slides his cock into you, being easy to do considering how wet you were already for him. 

he groans as he bottoms out inside you starting steady, but slowly picking up the pace to be more..brutal.

“k-kenma..m’ feels good thank you thank you” you rambled out praises making him grab you by the throat to thrust into you faster. 

“god you’re so fucking annoying bothering me because you wanted to get your cunt stuffed like a little slut while i fucking work.” he scoffs making your eyes shoot open at him.

“such a fucking annoying little slut.” he continues his degradation thr grip on your throat not loosening. you felt you eyes grow teary as he continued to call you more vulgar names with the sprinkle of him calling you annoying. 

“ c-console...” you mumbled wrapping your hands on his wrists, making him let go of your throat. he froze getting closer to your face as he pulls out slowly.

“huh? Whats wrong does it hurt?” he asks rubbing away your tears with the pad of his thumb. 

your lip quivered as more tears started to form. “...i-im annoying...?” you looked him in his eyes as more broken sobs leave you.

“I just wanted some attention kenma...you’re always so busy sometimes I don’t even think you remember i exist..” you muttered feeling small under his cat like stare. 

he sighed kissing your cheek, falling to your. side feeling his breath hit your neck. “sorry baby i swear i didn’t mean it...you’re not annoying its my fault for not giving you attention.” he admits as you wrap around him. 

“y-you promise you didn’t mean it?” you ask once more. he sneaks a hand under your head to lift you up to his chest, patting your head softly. 

“ i promise. here why don’t you sit on my lap, we can do that thing you wanted to try last week...” he looks away embarrassed, you tilt your head in confusion but then realize what he was referring to. you nodded joyfully wrapping your arms around his neck, he adjusts himself for you to line up to take him. he  slowly puts you back down on his cock. hissing at the returning feeling.

He smiled kissing your forehead lightly as he hugged you tight. 

“better my love?”

“mhm mhm!” you said placing your head on his shoulder as you relax into him. slowly drifting away into sleep. its not much, but at-least it stuffs your very needy cunt.

matsukawa 

word count : 615

what lead to this? you two were just on a simple date together at a nearby mall shopping together, looking at upcoming movies, stopping by a few manga stores and bakeries to treat yourselves. overall, just enjoying the time shared together. 

that is t’ill the two of ran into your ex. issei watching the two of you talk to each other not realizing how uncomfortable you really were, hiding it with a friendly facade of course going unnoticed by him since he was practically death glaring your ex. 

he was basically third wheeling in your conversation with your ex. you would side eye issei hoping he’d pull you out of your situation but it was too late since his mind was cloudy with jealousy and rage.  

now, leading up to your current predicament. a heavy make-out now leading to a degradation fest.  

“aw whats wrong little slut can’t take me, fucking pathetic much?” he teases pounding you at a faster pace. “can’t believe my own fucking girlfriend was just there being all friendly to her ex..what don’t tell me you still want him?” he muses making you rapidly shake your head. 

“ no i don’t i swear issei..just wan’ you..”you muttered eyes growing puffy from how cruel he spoke to you as he continued to suggest away of how would get him back since it seemed like you missed him from how friendly you were acting.

growing quiet at his words trying to tune out his words. it’ll all be over soon anyways, you just had to hold on a bit you told yourself. of course you were an idiot for letting him keep going. 

“ maybe i should go ask how kimi’s doing act all friendly and nice towards her.” you tuned into what issei had said in horror at what he just said.

kimi, his much prettier ex who t’ill this day wasn’t over him and he knew this. throwing it in your face as he darkly chuckled at you. you removed your arms that were wrapped around his neck pulling him close. and cupped your face in your hands at the thought of your boyfriend going back to his ex. leaving you alone again.

he wouldn’t right? even though she was much prettier in every feature she had compared to you. he wouldn’t right..? right? 

“f-funeral...“you sniffled making him stop all his movements and lock eyes with you. your safeword ringing in his ears. 

“hey..hey no i didn’t mean it...” he quickly pulls you towards him, pulling you out of him and hugging you tight. he rocks you softly back and forth in his embrace letting all your bottle up feelings burst onto him.  he quick to comfort you and pepper a few kisses on your face.

“ issei..” you mumbled against his chest. he rubs your back looking down at you.

“yes baby..?” his voice shaken with worry hoping you weren’t too mad at him.

“ i-i don’t miss him.. i was only being nice..i was uncomfortable talking to him why didn't you..” he internally punches himself for being so blind and not being able to see by all your movements how uncomfortable you were just breathing the same air as your ex.

he was too blinded by his jealousy to realize his poor baby was scared. he mumbled a curse before apologizing.

“i’m sorry baby i didn’t realize he was making you uncomfortable i should've done something..” his eyes wander away from you.

“ i was just jealous..” he admits

“but issei.. you’re all i want.” you say kissing his cheek and he smiles gracefully. 

“am i-i all you want sei?”

“ duh pretty baby. everything  i want and need.”

matsukawas is so short i’m so sorry ahhhh but i hope u all enjoyed <3

[nunchiimagines]

Pied Piper: 2

— Summary: You’re a recent grad who was given the dream opportunity to intern abroad in South Korea. When you moved into a small, somewhat homely, apartment complex in Gangnam, you were pleasantly surprised to have become neighbors with 7 very intriguing, very charming, very handsome young men. You weren’t expecting them to have become so attached to you so quickly and that’s probably because you’re actually their reincarnated soulmate. To make matters even more convoluted, they’re also part of the mafia, they’re demons, and they’re heir to the throne of the underworld. Who’d thought that your once normal life would change so drastically over the course of such a short time?

— Pairing: demon lord! mafia boss! bts x poc! curvy! intern! reader

— Genre: super fluff / poly!au / mafia!au / demon!au / soft yandere!au / soulmate! au

— Status: On Going

— Warnings: mentions of the pandemic, mentions of multiple attempts at sexual assault, erotic thoughts, violent actions, illegal dealings, fluff

— Word Count: 4.6k

~MASTERPOST~

CHAPTERS: Prev - Next

**AUTHORS NOTE**

Here’s chapter 2! Please enjoy!! :D 

lol have my authors notes ever been this short?? :P

_____________________________________________________________

You were a couple of weeks into your new routine and it was more or less amazing. You eased into the work setting far quicker than you had ever expected and you became a fan favorite amongst your seniors. Your diligent work ethic, adaptability, and cooperation amongst peers and collaborators was an ideal standard your internship expected. You even made two new companions in the process: Gwan Jiwoo and Arielle Monet. Jiwoo was one of the many collaborators from a big named pharmaceutical company in Korea and Arielle, known as Ari, was actually another foreign intern from France who had been working here a couple of months prior to your arrival.

The three of you were put into a long term project together; you as the designer, Ari as the director, and Jiwoo as the informant for what the pharmaceutical company was looking for. You all meshed so well together that it was hard not to ease into eachothers varying personalities. Your seniors were very pleased with this, as they were clearly fearful of upsetting this company, and often checked on you regularly to ensure all was still kosher.

What made things even better was your relationship with Taehyung and Jimin. You weren’t sure how long they’re friendly gestures would last but you found yourself pleasantly surprised by their continuous kind and caring actions towards you. It felt safe to call them friends at this point and the thought of that made you happier than it did when compared to Jiwoo and Ari.

Though you liked both Jiwoo and Ari very much, it was quite clear they had already established their own separate friend circles. You never really did get to see any of Jiwoo’s friends, always calling and harassing the poor man to come out. But that was the extent of it. Ari, on the other hand, was a bit different. She always had pictures and videos and meet ups with her friends. You actually met all three girls in her circle. They were friendly and nice and easy to talk to.

Unfortunately, they held a much more party-esque personality which was quite the opposite of your own indoors, homebound style. They respected that and actually spotted you an offer due to it. Apparently, a renowned nightclub known as HOPE WORLD was opening back up after the COVID restrictions finally lifted. It’s one of the most popular clubs in the world, difficult to get in and highly sought after. The club manager requires very specific requirements that are absolutely mandatory just to get your name cleared to be considered eligible to enter. One of those things was a designated contact, one that can be available 24/7 in case something happens to the person or party who used that contact. And they wanted you to be that.

You agreed without any hesitation, happy to lend a hand. And because of you, they were accepted full access inside the club. They felt that pampering and lavishing you for the remainder of the week was an acceptable payment for your kindness. You tried to decline their gestures but still found yourself eating the meals they’d bring you or keeping the cute trinkets from the stores they’d visited. You felt this was a bit overboard, not understanding the dying need to get inside this club. Was it really as great as they claimed? You couldn’t help but wonder as the day approached for you to be on standby while your acquaintances visited HOPE WORLD.

JUNG HOSEOK

‘Taehyung, tell me when these visions started up.’ Jin texted in the groupchat.

‘The day I met her. Granny introduced me and within a couple of minutes I was entranced. It was so weird.’ Taehyung responded.

‘Jimin, you started getting these vivid scenes too?’ Jin texted once more.

‘Yeah...but it was like instantly after Taehyung brought her.” Jimin stated.

‘Seems like the more of us she meets, the quicker the progression takes hold.’ Yoongi texted.

‘So...What does that mean?’ Jimin asked.

‘She’s our soulmate, right? She has to be!’ Taehyung typed.

‘Slow down there. We need to figure this out one step at a time.’ Seokjin chastised.

‘She’s only met you two, right?’ Yoongi questioned.

‘Yeah. We’ve been keeping an eye on her. But it’s like the more we’re around her...the deeper this feeling is.’ Jimin admitted.

‘I’ll get a hold of the elder mage about this. For the time being, just keep doing what you’re doing.’ Yoongi said.

‘Hell of a time to be in Japan right now.’ Taehyung teased.

‘How are Namjoon and Jungkook?’ Jimin inquired.

The conversation switched topics rather quickly in the group chat shared between the 7 men. Hoseok stared at his phone, reading over what was stated with a curious thought. He’d hope he’d get to meet you sooner rather than later. He found you very intriguing but was never blessed with the opportunity to see you loitering around the apartment. To be fair, he was preparing the club for tonight's events and that required early mornings and even later nights for the past month. So much preparation was needed, but Hoseok was an exceedingly diligent man and accepted the unfavorable conditions he had to endure for this.

HOPE WORLD was like his baby and he needed to ensure it was as perfect and ready as he had always had it. Speaking of, he went over the paperwork submissions who were cleared for entry. He happened to pick up one of a group of 4 young girls. The contact listed took him by surprise, a wide smile creeping on his face as he put 2 and 2 together. What were the chances that (Y/N) (L/N) would be listed as a designated contact?

To clarify, designated contacts need to go through serious background checks. You don’t get to put just anyone on there, your designated contact needs to also be cleared before group entry can be cleared. Therefore, Hoseok had access to a lot of your personal information. He got to find out about you before you found out anything about him.

Your picture alone was adorable to look at. You were very attractive and, according to both his younger brothers, you had an even more attractive personality. The thought of you was making a weird feeling stir in the pit of his stomach. You’d never even come in contact yet and he was already getting triggered.

Before his thoughts could go any further, a knock came to the door. Hoseok allowed access to the person and it was Chunja, his right hand woman, a gumiho, coming to deliver the all clear for opening up to the public. Hoseok smirked, pleased to hear this as he got up to coat himself in his bright red jacket. He had a feeling tonight was going to be one he’d never forget.

The crowd was bustling. It was lively, intense, invigorating. Hoseok watched from the VIP section as the dancers below let loose from their everyday worries. It was entertaining to see humans finally remove their masks, to allow their bodies to break free from the chains of traditions, rules, and laws. Ironic, given the club followed a strict guideline, but not so much so that they couldn't be free and have fun.

While the party ensued, he was notified that the two families who rented out the private rooms had finally arrived and started negotiations. Though HOPE WORLD is a nightclub, it is also a cover up for dirty dealings and negotiations between people who’d rather not let the law know about their actions. Hoseok was pleased to hear all was going well and instructed that the guards keep watch over some of the loitering members from the families who had to wait outside the rooms. Unfortunately, this order was put out a little too late.

Within the next hour, Hoseok was immediately called down to the private rooms where a scuffle took place. When he reached the location, he saw that it was far from what he was initially told. 4 girls lay inside in one of the unoccupied rooms. Two were completely passed out but being checked by Chunja, one was throwing up in the corner in the back, and the other, the only non-korean girl, was crying in the arms of one of the guards.

Face down on the floor were several men who had no shirts on and some who were almost completely naked. The guards had them pinned to the ground, bruised and bloodied from attempting to fight off the staff. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what was happening here and Hoseok was beyond livid. For now though, he had to maintain his cool.

Walking over to the non-korean girl crying on the couch, he began gently questioning her.

“T-They….they said that...they just wanted to drink with us and talk. W-When we drank the drinks…” the girl trailed off.

Hoseok followed where she lazily pointed to. He picked up the partially filled cup and sniffed it. It was clearly roofied but with a drug that was far more complex then your typical date-rape substance. He set the cup back down and the girl began bawling.

“They were...they were going to…”

Hoseok hushed her, urging her to speak no more. He knew what she was going to say and did not want her to feel embarrassed speaking the trauma out loud. Though she had no reason to feel embarrassed, that did not prevent it from being present.

“What is your name?” he asked.

“A-Arielle. Arielle Monet.”

Arielle? That name sounded vaguely familiar. Within a matter of seconds, another guard came in with her file. He skimmed it and immediately recognized the name. (Y/N) (L/N). So you were their designated contact. How interesting. Hoseok gave thorough instructions to the staff present. The men from the families were to be removed and placed somewhere in secret, the girls needed to be checked medically, accommodated, and prepared to be sent home, and Hoseok himself was going to make the call to you.

It was 10 minutes max before you came rushing into the club, escorted to a separate private room where the girls were relocated. Inside was Hoseok, Chunja, and the group. Your immediate response was to embrace Arielle, checking over her exposed skin to see of any immediate damage. You spoke briefly, your typical conversation between two friends in a situation such as this before she approached both Hoseok and Chunja.

“Thank you! Thank you for taking care of them. For stopping those...those monsters from…” you took a deep sigh.

“Thank you for being so diligent and thorough. Were the police called?” you asked, calming down a bit.

Hoseok and Chunja observed you for a brief moment before speaking.

“The appropriate actions have been made, ma’am. We did a medical checkup on all the girls and nothing aside from being drugged had transpired. If they feel like heading to the hospital, then we can accommodate the costs. Aside from that, they are free to leave.” Chunja spoke first.

“Don’t their statements need to be taken?” you questioned, cocking your head.

Hoseok stayed silent, not saying anything. Chunja shot him a look before speaking again.

“Given the trauma they’ve just experienced, we found it more appropriate to have them go home and rest instead of having them lingering here any longer.”

For some reason, even though something about that was logically wrong, you felt it was no longer appropriate to push the issue. The girls really did look tired and it was late. You thanked them one last time before some staff members assisted you by bringing them out to a car and sending them home. Once you all had left, Chunja looked at Hoseok with a raised brow.

“What was that?” she asked.

Hoseok finally snapped out of his daze before looking at Chunja.

“Huh?”

“Boss, are you okay?” she said with slight concern.

“Uh...yeah. Sorry about that, I don’t know what came over me.”

Chunja lingered around a bit longer before accepting his response.

“Where are those men at?” Hoseok asked.

“In the basement, the families have been notified and have….agreed to cut their losses.” she stated.

“Good, because I’m feeling really pissed right now.” he mumbled, grabbing a nailed bat from a hidden compartment in the wall.

An hour had passed before Hoseok pulled up to the small apartment complex. He was no longer sporting his red suit and he had to change out of his, no longer, white shirt. He had sighed, the pent up frustrations finally leaving his body. Walking up the stairs he saw the back of a short curvy figure. When the figure turned around, so did his mood.

“Oh! Hello there.” you said, offering him a smile.

“Hello, fancy seeing you here.” he responded back.

“I live on the 3rd floor actually, and you?” you asked.

“3rd floor as well.”

You paused for a moment, studying his face before a look of realization hit you.

“Uhm...are you by chance...related to Taehyung and Jimin?” you asked.

That heart shaped smile appeared followed by a chuckle.

“Yeah, those are my little brothers. They’ve been nice to you right?”

Seeing your eyes brighten and a wide smile beaming, it made Hoseok’s heart skip a beat. He completely understood why his brothers were so smitten. Why Taehyung was so convinced you were their soulmate. This feeling, this indescribable feeling the two younger ones felt had to be what Hoseok was experiencing. He was elated. He was hooked. He was going to make you theirs.

KIM SEOKJIN

Seokjin sighed with a heavy undertone of irritation. How many times this year has this happened? How many trips had he had to make just to visit this one man? He was getting tired of it and his patience was wearing thin. He had hoped for Don Jihyo’s sake, that this would be the last time.

Seokjin was on his way to retrieve late loan money. Again. Don Jihyo is a 38 year old lead director at a small yet well known design company. He has issues with maintaining money and often takes out loans he had no chance of actually paying back. Beaten within an inch of his life thanks to some loan sharks, he enlisted the help from the mafia who took pity on his situation and offered aid. Unfortunately, he has a nasty habit of not paying back his monthly statements and Seokjin is being sent to find out why.

“Poor bastard probably went gambling again. Does he ever learn?” he asked aloud.

Getting out of his car, entering the building, and going to the top floor, he was met with more than a few stares. He was used to this, people often becoming charmed by his looks, even in passing. But right now, he couldn't relish in it. No, instead he had to waste his time going after a man who had no business running a company. He probably wasn’t even paying his employees properly either. How irritating.

When he reached the designated door, he didn’t even bother knocking, waltzing right on in with a blank look on his face. However, to his surprise, sat an additional figure. One with doe eyes, pretty brown skin, and plush lips. That person was none other than you. Jimin and Taehyung said you were interning at a design company but he must've missed the details of it being this design company. Of all companies, why this one? His gaze lingered on you a bit before turning to Jihyo. God the older man looked terrified but he was clearly up to something. Seokjin didn’t like that.

“M-Mr. Kim! What a surprise to have you show up! What brings you in today?” Jihyo stuttered.

You looked warly between Seokjin and Jihyo, unsure of what you should do. Jihyo made no attempt at dismissing you, taking advantage of your innocence to prevent Seokjin from doing anything...violent. What an asshole. Seokjin twitched, his irritation bubbling from within. Why was this pissing him off more than it should?

“Could you excuse us ma’am?” Seokjin politely asked.

“Of course, I-”

“No Ms. (Y/N), stay.” Jihyo said firmly.

You paused your actions midway, frozen and unsure of how to proceed. Seokjin shot Jihyo a look. A very deadly look. Not for the reasons you're thinking though. No. For the simple fact he so much as uttered your name in a demanding tone. His skin was crawling and his blood was boiling. He’d never get this mad. Never. There were people who have physically done worse and Seokjin never so much as flinched. So why now? Why is the most collected and calm mafia member amongst his brothers about to shoot this man into a bloody pulp?

It was because of you. You were the reason why. And Seokjin realized it fairly quickly. His out of character feelings were all stemming from his desire for you. To be near you. Around you. Inside of you. Oh how this sudden rush of lust, longing, and desire hit him at the worst possible moment. And Jihyo was ruining this euphoric reunion. He needs to be removed. Now.

“Mr. Don. I think it’s best I leave.” you suggested with a slightly shaky voice.

Jihyo grabbed your hand, rubbing circles at the top of your skin. The feeling made you nauseous, a sense of dread engulfing you slowly. Arielle had told you that Jihyo was a pervert, especially to young pretty staff members. But you had never been with him alone before, not until now at least. Arielle or Jiwoo were always by your side so he could never make a move on you. Now that Arielle was temporarily on leave and Jiwoo was out of town, the project was on hold and you were left alone. You had silently thanked Seokjin for walking in when he did, but it seems that Jihyo remains shameless, even now.

Unfortunately for him, he had pushed Seokjin’s last button. He grabbed Jihyo’s wrist and ripped his hand from around yours. He glared a menacing look at the older man, eyes now fully developed into a crimson red.

“Do you always sexually harass your staff members or is it only when someone is watching? You fucking pervert.”

Jihyo stayed quiet, a look of fear evident in his eyes. You stood there stunned, watching the scene unfold before you.

“Miss,” Seokjin said, pulling you from your thoughts.

“Please excuse us and wait outside.”

You nodded, not even giving it a second thought. As soon as you closed the door, Seokjin turned his attention back on Jihyo. He swiftly pulled out one of his handguns and pointed the cold metallic tip to the older man’s forehead.

“Listen and listen well. By the end of this month, if you don't pay back what you owe, I’ll blow your fucking brains out. If you touch any of your staff members inappropriately, I’ll bow your fucking brains out. And if you ever so much as breathe around that girl again, I’ll drag you to hell myself and feed your corpse to satan. Do I make myself clear?”

“I-I…”

“I said,”

Seokjin clocked the gun, the familiar sound sinking deep within the ears of Jihyo.

“Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-Yes sir. Yes sir, I swear on my life. I swear to god I will.” he said, tears in his eyes.

Seokjin held the gun momentarily before putting it away. The man fell to his knees, cradling himself before profusely thanking Seokjin for giving him one last chance. Lucky for him, you were the reason he was still alive. Seokjin had every intention of killing Jihyo today but he didn't want you being around for that. He knows Jihyo will probably die by the end of the month anyway so he’ll wait for it to be more appropriate.

When he walked out the door and down the hallway, he wasn’t expecting you to be waiting there with a bottle of green tea. You cradled the bottle in your arms, deep in thought. You were completely unaware that he was standing near you with a charming smirk plastered on his face. You were so oblivious and so cute. So innocent. So intoxicating.

“You okay?” he asked.

You jumped a little before looking up at him. You blinked several times and then bowed to the man. When you stood back up, you handed him the drink. He looked at it and then back at you confused.

“It’s for you, as thanks.” you shyly stated, cheeks flushed.

Cute. Seokjin took the bottle and bowed back.

“There was no need for that but I won't turn down a gift.” he said with a smile.

“No. I should be doing more for you. I...I had been told a few times about Jihy- I mean Mr. Don’s behavior but this was the first time I had to experience it. If it weren’t for you...I..” you said trailing off.

“Listen,” Seokjin started.

“If he ever does anything to you again; touching, flirting, abusing his power. Anything at all. Let me know.” he said handing you a piece of paper.

You observed the writing, a phone number and name written on it. Kim Seokjin. Oh. Kim Seokjin!

“You’re...the oldest one. What a small world.” you said to yourself.

It took a minute to register what you said before he smiled sheepishly at you.

“Ahhh~, so my brothers talk about me huh? I hope they didn’t say anything bad about me.”

“Oh no no no! They always say good things! I promise! Jimin and Taehyung are always boasting about you! Even Hoseok complimented how good of a big brother you are!”

You kept talking excitedly about his younger brothers and something about that warmed his heart. The more you explained the more comfortable you got around him and the more expressive you became. Seeing this side of you was absolutely worth having to deal with Jihyo. Maybe he’d be a little less ruthless about how he’d murder him later.

JEON JUNGKOOK

Jungkook leaned against the car seat, thankful that he was free for the rest of the day. His flight from Japan with Namjoon and Yoongi had just landed and he was given the green light to go and rest. There was no telling him twice, as he immediately made a beeline for one of their waiting cars to take him back to the apartment.

That trip took more out of him than he’d ever imagine it would. He knew it wasn’t some simple deal between Bangtan and the Hideo family, but he wasn’t expecting it to have been as intense and suffocating as it was. Luckily, everything worked out and he know longer had to be in such a stuffy atmosphere anymore. Now he could just go home and relax in his bed. At least, that was the plan.

As soon as he made it to the apartment and up the stairs, his grandmother took no time in locating and babying him. They always did this, even when he was just an infant. It’s like everyone around him forgot that he was over the age of 20 and, in most cases, both taller and bigger than them. Though, he kinda liked it when it happened, especially from his grandmother. The fact that she (and many of the other older caretakers) treated them all like they were your people, like they weren’t the demon lord, kinda made him feel normal.

Unfortunately, her antics attracted more unwanted attention from neighboring individuals. First it was Jimin who came and started hugging and ruffing up his hair. This was followed by Taehyung who looped his arm around Jungkook's shoulders and tugged him into his chest. Jungkook couldn’t help the bubbling laugh but he truly was exhausted and just wanted to lay down now.

“How was the trip?” Jimin asked happily.

“It wasn’t bad. The meeting took...a long time but they accommodated us nicely. I feel like my face got all puffy from the flight though.” Jungkook pouted.

“Ahhh~ It’s not a big deal. It’ll go down after some time.” Taehyung encouraged.

“Did you want something to eat before heading off to bed?” their grandmother asked, inspecting his hands and face.

Jungkook was about to decline the offer when all of sudden he caught a moving figure in the corner of his eye. Instinctively, he went on alert, throwing a threatening gaze at the eavesdropper when all of sudden he froze in his spot. There you were, standing there nervously with a shy gaze. You had a ladle in your hand and a cute purple apron wrapped around your body. It accentuated your curvaceous figure nicely and Jungkook couldn’t help but linger his gaze on you. So you were the one his brothers were so caught up with.

You felt like you did something wrong when everyone just stared at you and kept quiet. Your face flushed and you looked at the grandmother pleadingly. She caught on to how uncomfortable her grandsons were making you and decided to take action.

“Jungkookie, this is (Y/N), our new resident. You two are closest in age actually. Make sure to look out for her, okay?”

Jungkook smiled and approached you, his boldness coming through so suddenly and unexpectedly. You made him want to be daring. You gave him energy. You enticed him. And all you were doing was standing there doing nothing. It felt almost challenging and it excited his inner daredevil.

When he was standing in front of you, he took pride in the fact that you were so much smaller than him. How you had to strain your neck to look him in the eye. How you looked so fragile and weak before him. God this was such a weird feeling. Like you were put there before him to be protected. Like he’d snap anyone’s neck who’d even looked at you the wrong way, touched you the wrong way, or even thought of you the wrong way. Jungkook felt this overbearing need to keep you hidden from the world. Safe from its malice. From all it’s evil.

“H-Hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” you said with shyness still evident.

Your sweet voice was like an angelic tune entering his ears. He’d never heard anything so soft and comforting before.

“The pleasure is all mine. I’m glad to have you here.”

Jungkook never broke eye contact with you, mesmerized by your beauty, by your scent, by your-

“Jungkook, stop scaring our friend!” Jimin said, slapping his back really hard.

The hit was hard enough to send the youngest staggering forward a little, bumping into you in the process. In response, he grabbed your arm and pulled you a bit too close to his chest. Though it was an honest accident, he couldn’t help but appreciate the current dynamic right now.

“I think you forget you're a buff bunny sometimes and a bit tall in stature too.” Taehyung teased.

Jungkook let go quickly and apologized. You beamed at him in return, thanking him for keeping you steady.

“Granny helped me make some food. It’s available if you’d like some. Only if you want though! I didn’t mean to overhear, but I heard you just came back and there’s plenty to go around. But no pressure, it’s no big deal!”

Your nervousness was going to make Jungkook implode. You were being way too cute for your own good and it was affecting more than just him. Jimin and Taehyung couldn’t help being as mesmerized as the youngest was, your flustered self causing their hearts to do all sorts of tricks.

“Sure, I’d love to.” Jungkook said.

You smiled happily at the man before leading him back into the communal kitchen. Taehyung and Jimin followed instantly without hesitation, almost like lost puppies. Their grandmother watched it all unfold before her, a knowing smile present on her lips. How easily they followed after you. How quickly they yielded to your voice. There was no mistaking it. You were no ordinary human. You were their soulmate. Their long sought after soulmate. And you were finally coming back into union after so many years of separation. How delightful she felt.

_____________________________________________________________

[batsandbugs]

The Great IKEA Game

Chapter 11: Playing the Game

AN: I hope y'all enjoy this non-stop flirt-a-thon, chapter count got increased again, so we'll get back to the plot in the next chapter!

At first, Marinette didn’t know how to act. This was the last route she expected Damian to take. The shock of Damian’s lips against hers turned her body rigid; hands splayed out to the sides, unsure of where to touch. After a second of floundering, she gained enough bearing to place her hands firmly on Damian’s arms. Her once still lips hesitantly moving against his. The closed-mouth kiss stayed chaste, but Marinette found herself fluttering her eyes closed, sinking into the warmth.

Damian stood taller than her, bending into the kiss while she craned her neck. Marinette pushed herself upward, arching onto the tips of her toes, and Damian’s hands wrapped tighter around her waist, deepening the kiss. She readjusted her mouth for a second grabbing a quick gasp of air before diving in again with more fervor. Damian responded in kind, pushing her back fully against the wall, one hand migrating from her waist to cup her cheek.

Damn. Damian was a good kisser.

“What the- Hey, customers are not allowed to be in here!”

Oh, right. The employee. That’s why they were kissing.

Why would kissing be helpful in this situation?

Not that Marinette was complaining, but-

Damian pulled away from her, and Marinette held back a pitiful whine when he turned away and faced the employee.

‘Bad thoughts, Marinette,’ she chided herself. ‘Focus on the mission, not Damian, or his lips, or his eyes, or-’

“Oh, sorry ‘bout that,” said Damian with a bashful smile.

Wait…

Blink.

What?

Marinette dragged herself out of the kiss-induced bliss, focusing on her co-conspirator, and had she been less in control of herself her jaw would have dropped.

Damian’s whole demeanor had markedly changed. His normal sharp posture sunk into a causal slouch; the emotions on his face, generally a mix of sharp observation or practiced disdain, now a mix of charming elegance and, yes, bashfulness. He flashed a wide grin at the oncoming employee, a person in their early twenties, who froze when they saw them.

Or rather, Damian.

Rapidly blinking bright blue eyes gazed at them. “Oh, oh you- you’re-”

“Yeah, yeah, we all know who I am,” said Damian, rubbing the back of his neck. Even the way he spoke changed; careful pronunciation and formality thrown out the window for a lax New Jersian drawl. “What’s your name?” He asked with such a genuine smile, had Marinette not been versed in people lying through their teeth, she would have bought it.

Not for the first time, Marinette wondered how famous Damian’s family was – obviously rich enough, and high profile enough - to be recognized on the spot.

The person paused for a moment, fiddling with a strand of curly blond hair. “I’m- I’m ah… Fey, nice to meet you Mr.-”

Damian cut them off with a laugh. “Oh please, any name with a mister makes me think of my father or my older brother. Call me Dami.” He offered a hand to the flustered Fey. They limply shook it.

“Oh… ah- alright Dami.”

Damian encircled a hand around Marinette’s waist dragging her out of the weirdness induced fugue state she’d fallen into. “And this… well,” he lowered his eyes, catching her attention and winked. “This is my girlfriend Marinette.”

Fuck, this is what he meant by play along.

Fey dropped open their mouth before closing it quickly.

“Oh, I hadn’t read-”

Damian cut the flustered employee off again.

“We’ve kept it quiet.” He waved his hand dismissively. “The papers would devour a story like this,” he said, with a sense of vapid annoyance, although a trace of his normal calculated disdain accented his words.

Note to self; Damian didn’t like the media. Good, Marinette didn’t much like the invasive vultures either.

Fey nodded along, twirling a lock of hair on their finger. “Oh yeah, that totally makes sense.” They paused shaking their head to clear away an emotion… awe? Fear? Marinette couldn’t tell. “But uh, why are you here? Like in the stairwell, not in the store. Because of course celebrities would still shop, right? I mean-” Poor Fey was a stuttering mess. Marinette almost felt bad for them.

She felt like an absolute stuttering mess too, but she would be damned if Damian would carry this lie all by himself.

She was fucking Ladybug; savior of Paris, Guardian of the Miraculous.

She could act like a lovestruck fool.

“It iz so sweet,” she said, emphasizing her accent to add a little more pageantry to this entire scheme. “I just arrived back from Paris, and wanted to decorate my new apartment with ze ah-” she waved her hands around, “Oh, how you Americans put it? Fairy lights?”

Fey nodded quickly. “Yeah, we have a couple of good selections, but-” Marinette continued before they could logic their way out of the made-up cover story.

“I planned to go by myself, but Dami-” at this she moved forward to wrap her arms around his, leaning into his side. The warmth of his body bleeding through his clothes. “He insisted on ‘companying me even though he dozen’t like ze crowds.” She leaned forward with a conspiratorial air. “He gets grumpy,” she divulged with a girlish giggle. Why Damian did a 180 on his personality was a complete mystery, but if he dropped the act, this would make Fey less suspicious.

Fey nodded right along like Marinette’s comment made total sense. “Yeah, I don’t read too many magazines, but damn they must pin you all wrong,” they said to Damian. From Marinette’s position at his side, she felt his body tense the slightest amount. “Gotham’s Ice Prince, yeah right.”

Marinette inwardly quirked an eyebrow. ‘Ice Prince, huh?’ The name sounded familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on where she’d heard it before.

Damian nervously chuckled again, sounding more authentic this time. “Oh no, I’m a grump when it comes to the media, I fully admit. My, ah,” he looked at her again, an apology flashing in his green eyes. “Angel here puts me in a better mood.”

A rushing noise filled Marinette’s ears, and her heart quickened. She vaguely registered a squeal of delight coming from Fey, but it sounded far away compared to her blood pounding at a thunderous level. Heat flushed in her cheeks, and the confident smile she plastered on her face almost dropped at the pet name.

Angel.

He called her angel.

What level of utter insanity had she dropped into?

“A few disguises later,” Damian continued, adjusting the glasses on his face, and oblivious of the turmoil he’d created in Marinette’s mind. “I thought we’d be able to stay under the radar, I just wanted a day out with my girlfriend,” he said with a put-upon sigh. The emotional, charming actions stood in complete opposite to Damian’s normal demeanor.

Marinette found herself desperately torn between breaking down laughing hysterically or clapping at Damian’s masterful performance.

“You got noticed?” asked Fey.

“We got noticed.” Damian sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair. Marinette regretted not touching it while she and Damian kissed; was it as fluffy as it looked? “And Marinette, the sweet angel she is, isn’t used to the whole utter insanity of… you know, dating a celebrity.” He glanced at her, teasing her with a fonder smirk than his usual. Marinette wanted to roll her eyes. Damian had no clue she knew very well the consequences of dating a celebrity.

Never mind she’d only dated Adrian a month before they broke up because his dad turned out to be a psychopathic supervillain intent on plunging the whole of France into an apocalyptic hellscape in an attempt to upset the universes’ balance, and was fully okay with killing the both of them to make it happen.

Being friends after that little debacle was the better option. For both their sanities.

‘Focus Marinette.’ She dragged her attention back to the conversation.

“We kinda ducked in here when nobody was paying attention. I want to keep this away from the media as long as possible, for my angel’s privacy.” Marinette wanted to scoff at how Damian leaned into that nickname. He certainly was laying it on thick. Marinette wouldn’t have bought the act, but that was due to her years of lying and deceiving in the name of super-heroics.

Fey, with their eager demeanor and bright blue eyes, didn’t stand a chance.

“Oh, that’s awful people wouldn’t leave you alone. I bet most celebrities would be familiar with the attention, but for you to look out for Marinette too?” They whistled. “Damn girl, he’s a keeper for sure.”

The blush gracing Marinette’s cheeks was 100% real. “Oh, well, ah, zank you. I know.”

“Well, no one will hear a word from me,” Fey promised. They fiddled with their hands and sent a shy smile at Damian. Marinette’s stomach clenched at the sight, and without her permission, her traitorous hands tightened their grip on Damian’s arm. “Without your family’s scholarship, my sister never would have graduated med school. She would kill me if I even thought of ratting you out to the papers.”

“Oh…” said Damian, his outward appearance of shock mirroring Marinette’s own internal emotions.

‘His family is rich enough to fund medical scholarships?’

“Well, that’s not on me directly, you know,” he commented. “All my father’s doing. I hope- ah… I hope she’s doing well?” Although his face portrayed a bashful and relaxed air, his body language screamed uncomfortableness. Marinette released one hand from his arm and brought it to rest on the small of his back, circling her thumb around. He relaxed, slightly, and Marinette smiled.

“Yeah, actually she is,” said Fey beaming. “She’s working at the new pediatric clinic that opened in Crime Alley.”

“Good for her,” said Damian honestly. “We need more people willing to work to make the city a better place. Money can only do so much.”

“Money definitely helps though,” Fey replied, wryly. Marinette agreed. Long-buried memories of her early years arose. Living above her parents’ shop, where every month they spread their bills across the kitchen table and talked in hushed tones while Marinette sat on the steps to her attic room and worried, even if at five and six she didn’t know what she was worried about.

Those days were long gone. Her parents and their creations internationally famous, with three separate locations across the greater Paris metro alone. But that worry never really went away.

Fey shifted on their feet reading their watch. “Well, you guys stay here if you want until whatever crowd out there loses interest.” They gestured to the door Marinette and Damian entered through. “Or you can come with me if you want?” Pointing to the other locked door. “I’m heading out to the atrium to deal with a problem, but you can continue on with your shopping.”

“Zank you so much,” Marinette replied. “We will go with you if you do not mind?”

“Of course not,” said Fey, walking to the door and pulling out a security key. They opened the door, but Damian held it allowing Marinette and Fey to walk through before he followed. Placing a hand once more around Marinette’s waist.

“What problem in the atrium, if you don’t mind me asking?” he prodded, sharing a look with Marinette.

It could be nothing, but it could also have something to do with his brothers.

Considering their luck today, Marinette would be shocked if it wasn’t the latter option.

“Oh, well it started with the children’s center shutting down. Apparently, the kids got it in their minds to start a dodge ball fight with the workers. Which, you know, totally fair,” confided Fey, as they walked through the back corridors. “Sounded like it was a blast to watch. I was such a shit when I was a kid, I would have joined them in a heartbeat. It wrapped up fairly quickly, but they can’t convince the main instigator to descend from the jungle gym. I think they’re still hunting down her parents.”

Marinette pursed her lips trying to hold back a smile. ‘Oh, Abby,’ she thought, ‘you absolute gem.’

“I only heard about it from Lisa when I got back because I was dealing with a security issue in the back lot.” Fey glanced at them nervously. “Not that there’s anything wrong, we’re perfectly safe.”

Marinette and Damian shared a look.

Jason.

“Of course,” said Marinette.

Followed by a quick, “Absolutely,” from Damian.

Fey relaxed. “So this is, apparently, a whole bunch of workers on strike? They walked out of the back warehouse and congregated in the atrium, spouting on about living wages and corrupt big business, and the effects of verbal abuse in the workplace.” Fey said with a wave of their arms. “And it’s not like I don’t agree, because I do. Jerry, the warehouse general manager, is an asshole.” Marinette and Damian exchange worried glances at the rotund angry man’s name, who they last saw dragging a singed Tim into an office.

“…but it makes my job hard,” whined Fey, oblivious to their compatriot’s inner panic. “And the Starbucks baristas joined them, so their kiosk closed too.” Fey chuckled, “I would avoid the whole area if I were you, especially if you don’t want anyone finding out you’re together.”

“I wonder how zat ended up happening?” Marinette asked hopefully her high-pitched voice conveyed confusion instead of slowly settling in panic.

“They called in saying some guy lead the charge, he’s worked the crowd into a fervor. I’m there to be the HR rep while security tries to remove him. You know, normally my job involves sitting at a desk all day listening to bitchy customers on the phone. I’ve dealt with more in-store problems today since last Black Friday.” Fey chuckled. “What a day, ya’ know?”

Marinette glanced at Damian, his casual mask still firmly in place, although his left eye twitched, and the hand he wrapped around her waist, tightened at Fey’s words.

Fey finally reached another door, pulling out their pass and lead them out into the store’s main section.

“Well, it was nice to meet you Marinette, Dami,” Fey chirped. “Nobody will hear from me about any of this.” They mimed zipping their lips.

Marinette smiled, hoping the strain wasn’t too noticeable. “It waz nice to meet you too Fey.”

“Good luck with whatever is happening in the atrium,” said Damian. They stood at the door and watched them move out of sight. When Fey finally disappeared around a corner, Damian turned to Marinette his casual persona rippling away as if it never existed at all. His hand slipped off her waist.

She did not, absolutely not, want to grab it and put it back thank you very much.

“How much do you wish to wager on Drake’s involvement in whatever is occurring in the atrium?” he asked. Marinette smiled, reassured at the return of his clipped and formal tone. The informal speech felt wrong coming from Damian’s mouth.

“Oh, I don’t know Dami?” she teased. Then again, she couldn’t let this opportunity pass by her. “I don’t think I have enough money for that bet with you.”

Damian closed his eyes with a grimace and sigh. “Do not call me that.” He opened his eyes, an expression just short of pleading radiated from them “Please.”

“I would rather gag, and it sounds so would you.” Marinette covered her grin with her hand, unable to stop a slight giggle at the man’s long-suffering tone. “You pulled off vapid lovesick celebrity well, but why the need to act at all?”

“I have plenty of reference to draw from,” he grumbled, piquing Marinette’s interest; every half aside comment enticing her to dig further at Damian’s life. “I needed whoever descended those steps on our side and my normal... demeanor tends to put people off.” He folded his hands behind his back, a perfect picture of casualness, but the tightness around his eyes and the twitch of his mouth was all Marinette needed to note his self-consciousness.

“Well, I for one find your usual self charming,” Marinette admitted, pleased when Damian relaxed at her words. “You freaked me out acting that weird.”

“It is not an option I use often,” Damian admitted. “My brothers tend to make big productions of themselves. I prefer a far subtler approach, but this required more theatrics to make it believable.” He glanced at her. “I hope…” he paused. She watched his hand flutter and turn into a fist at his side. “I hope I did not overstep your bounds, that is, I mean violate your...” Damian refused to look at her, his gaze firmly planted on a far wall.

Marinette could let the poor man continue but ended up taking pity on him before he dug an even deeper hole. She placed a hand on his arm. “You were fine. If I didn’t want you… kissing me,” she said the words out loud for the first time, reigning in a pleasurable shudder at the memory. “I would have pushed you off, and if I felt violated, which I didn’t, you would have found yourself on the ground in plenty of pain.”

Damian dragged his gaze back to hers, a small smirk twitching at the corner of his lips. “Undoubtedly, yes, you easily could have done so.”

Marinette smirked again, not willing to let the entire debacle slip away quite yet though. “Although I have to ask, where in the world did angel come from? And what on earth made you think it would be a good nickname for our fake relationship?”

Damian lifted his nose haughtily. “It is a perfectly acceptable name of affection for a significant other. What, did you wish for ‘sweetheart’ or ‘doll’?” he asked, drawing out those names with the earlier casual New Jersian accent. Marinette withheld a shiver at his low tone of voice curling those words around his tongue. She may prefer his normal speech, but damn he still sounded unbearably attractive when he dropped that low.

‘Focus, Marinette. FOCUS!’ she inwardly screamed at herself.

“Goodness no,” said Marinette, forcing a pretend shudder. “Something with more class perhaps? Darling, or beloved?”

Damian pursed his lips. “Not beloved. That’s what my mother refers to my father with.” Marinette winced, yeah, that could be awkward. Not that this whole conversation wasn’t a disaster plucked out of a fever dream. Why, why was she debating Damian on the finer points of affectionate nickname giving?

But her mouth continued talking. “Alright, I suppose angel isn’t bad in comparison. Still, it’s a bit cliché. What does that make you? A demon?”

Damian tilted his head with a shrug. “Tt. My brothers do call me that on occasion, yes.” Oh right, Jason called him demon-spawn a few times during their confrontation. With the way Damian rolled his eyes in annoyance, Marinette figured a story lurked behind that particular nickname.

“Regardless, we have strayed dangerously off-topic here. We should head towards the pandemonium in the atrium, yes?” Damian pushed off the wall he’d leaned against, and Marinette followed.

“I thought it was Panic at the Disco?” Marinette teased with a grin.

Damian pointed a finger at her, trying for a stern expression, but the glint in his eyes betrayed his amusement. “You think yourself terribly clever, don’t you?”

“I think I’m adorable,” she shot back. “But I also think you’re right. It sounds like Tim managed to involve himself. If he’s making a scene, I bet he’ll draw the rest of your brothers there too.”

“You think Grayson will escape the clutches of that ravenous she-wolf?”

Marinette scoffed. “Damian, you’ll insult wolves with that comparison. I thought she resembled more of a hyena myself.” The woman certainly shrieked enough for it. “From what I saw, your brother probably ducked out at the first opportunity available to him.”

“True. Which leaves Todd, and nothing attracts his attention more than a spectacle. Especially when Drake stands chance to make a fool of himself.” Turning a corner they found themselves several yards away from the open-aired atrium. A crowd of people lingered around the railing looking into the courtyard below. Clapping and cheers fill the air.

“Shall we?” asked Marinette, excitement brewing in her chest.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” grumbled Damian. “But I suppose we must.”

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