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#no one else will watch them. she needs an audience. (Saws herself in half for a booing spader and blaine) (its the only trick they enjoy)
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of all the things to turn into a ridiculous (cleaned up) long comic (i have PLENTTYY of sketched long comics) i chose: spader skips class
i still dont know how to panel comics but that s what practicing is. for
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lifblogs · 2 months
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Stardust
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Week 9 @summer-of-bad-batch Alt. Prompt: Stargazing Rating: General Audiences Word Count: 1335 Summary: Omega gazes at the stars, save for in Tantiss, where she cannot find one. Author's Note: I do want to get to writing week 10 since I'm behind, but the week 9 prompts immediately gave me 2 fic ideas. READ ON AO3
Omega couldn’t see the stars through the cloud cover. She’d heard other clones talk of the stars, had seen some of their positionings on equipment she wasn’t supposed to be looking at, but… where were they? They were supposedly up there, away from the place she knew as home.
She wasn’t content on Kamino. Omega wanted more than white rooms and halls, and dark medical exam rooms, and storm-lashed seas. There was something else, something other than this. There had to be.
Omega hadn’t needed to see the stars when she’d watched the experimental squad, Clone Force 99 be made. Not originally. But one of their tests had… gone wrong, and this human being they’d created was “defective,” and not in the right way, according to Nala Se. Omega didn’t understand why he couldn’t be with his family, and they said he was lucky to even be allowed out of his growth chamber, that he hadn’t been immediately terminated.
They hadn’t told her where he’d been sent to, what he would be used for. Omega had seen his crooked limbs, and slanting face, and had loved him. Nala Se had seen the same and had dismissed any emotion for him, saying he was a failure, one that Omega should never have been allowed to see.
Now Kamino seemed too small, and she wished she could see stars through the dark clouds, wished they were up there. How could they be up there? Did she really know that for certain when she hadn’t seen them for herself?
Omega longingly reached out to the sky, hand pressing against thick, cold transparisteel, rain the only thing on the other side.
She wanted to see the stars someday.
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Omega felt like she was floating, body filled with warm, airy delight, chest near to bursting, as she saw the stars for the first time. She was safe, with most of her chosen brothers, leaving the festering pit Kamino had been twisted into by the Empire, and ahead of her, the stars, the galaxy, possibility, companionship.
The stars blurred past, into hyperspace, and Omega had never seen anything more beautiful in her entire life.
“Wait, let’s stop here for a moment,” Hunter said.
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He and Omega were outside, collecting parts of this moon because apparently Tech could use the rock for repairs (something to do with chemistry and physics that Omega had only half-taken in). She breathed a little heavy into her mask, stopping beside him.
“Why? We have to get back to the ship.”
“Just take a seat.”
Hunter then did so, and patted the spot beside him.
Omega listened to him, and pulled her knees up, resting her hands on them. She was at least grateful to be temporarily relieved of the burden of the rocks she’d collected for Tech.
She had had her head down for most of their time there, searching for what was needed, but now she looked out, and up.
Her jaw dropped before pulling up slightly so she could grin.
“Whooooaaaaa!” she exclaimed.
She had never seen stars like this before.
They didn’t just dot the sky, they filled it, colors swirling together in ways she had never even imagined. Every color seemed to fill the breadth of their view, and some stars shot past in brilliant streaks of blue.
“Beautiful, right?” Hunter said.
“Yeah,” was all Omega could answer with, because how could she respond in any suitable way when beautiful didn’t even cover it? She didn’t think there were any words in basic to fully describe the sight before her, the sight that she realized she was a part of. She wasn’t just a clone from Kamino. She was a living, breathing life-form, that lived and traveled amongst these stars. She hadn’t been made from nothing, had been made from DNA, but what was that from? From another being who had lived and breathed and hurt and loved, just like she did. And before that, the stars, the swirling, beaming light and life throughout the galaxy. Stardust.
They were all stardust.
Omega leaned into Hunter, feeling even closer to him than before, than she ever had, she realized.
Funny that was her reaction to something that also made her feel so small.
“I remember first seeing the stars,” Hunter told her. “I knew they were there, had learned about them, but it wasn’t till one our training missions that I was allowed to see them. I remember how cold the ship seemed, how I could hear not just the heartbeats of my brother’s, but those of our trainers, the pilots, those at communications, artillery… everything. Space smelled sharp for me—at least the ship did. But it was full of life, and out there,” he said, outstretching his arm as he painted his picture, “out through the massive viewport, I saw them. They were so bright, even amongst the black nothingness I knew was around them. They seemed to say we’re here, not all is dark.” He turned to her, giving an embarrassed grin. “Kind of cheesy, right?”
She shrugged, giggling. “Maybe a little.”
“But that’s how I felt. I realized I wasn’t alone. I knew that. I knew that because of my brothers, but to actually see the stars and realize my small world wasn’t all there was to life—I felt like I could… could see them all, could swim seas, and climb mountains. I felt part of something, the words I’d been told, about my squad, and eventually about the GAR, they were true. We’re all part of this—this galaxy.”
Somehow, despite the art of the stars, Omega’s mood fell, a shadow passing before the light.
“And the Empire’s trying to control it.”
“Yes, they are.”
Then Omega felt something, a sense of urgency, amongst the color and wonder shining for all to see. Those lights could go out. The Empire didn’t just control, they enslaved, they killed, they destroyed. She couldn’t let them put out those lights.
Omega stood, shouldering her pack, grunting slightly at the weight.
“We should get this back to Tech, then, and help him fix the ship. The Empire—”
Hunter stood, nodding, as he said, “They won’t win.”
Omega thought back to Kamino, to Crosshair, to all of what they were up against.
“They already have,” she said, head bowed.
“You see those stars?” Hunter asked, pointing.
Omega nodded.
“That’s life, that’s freedom, the will to choose what we want to do, what we want to believe in. Until those go out, the Empire hasn’t won.”
Hunter grasped her shoulder, and then took her hand, leading her back to the ship. Omega couldn’t help glancing up as she walked by his side.
The Empire hasn’t won.
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Omega couldn’t see the stars through the cloud cover. She wondered if her brothers were out there, looking at the stars. Or maybe they were all gone, worlds and light destroyed by the Empire.
No! That wasn’t true. It couldn’t be.
They had to be out there. After all, the stardust that connected them… it was in here, not just Omega, but Crosshair as well.
He… he didn’t even have this chance that she did, to look out a window, to know there was a world out there.
Omega hadn’t seen the stars yet since her captivity, but had looked and hoped for them. She wondered what was past this mountain, this world, wondered where she was, and if her brothers would ever find her and Crosshair.
She wanted to be out there, wanted to be free.
She turned from her window with a galaxy-weary sigh, the weight of the mountain falling upon her. And she never saw the clouds shift, never saw the bit of starlight that peaked down onto the lonesome planet for just a second, like stardust fully realized. For a fraction it shone down on Omega, but perhaps not long enough, as it was swallowed by the clouds.
Omega lay on her cot in the dark, all alone, tears falling like molten silver.
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dreampearls · 11 months
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thoughts on tha archon quest
prefacing this with a disclaimer that i watched a playthrough instead of actually playing the quest myself, meaning i missed a lot of in world interaction and open map exploration/lore/immersion that would have usually accompaned my overall impression of an archon quest. also i watched in eng dub which i kind of despise so that definitely affected my impressions of the cast
it was fun!
no huge complaints other than genshin typical pacing really dragging out certain segments but otherwise it was more or less successful at engaging me LOL if albeit kinda predictable or painful to sit through at times
furina :•)
i like her thing, idrk much abt the cultural/religious influences of fontaine beyond the obv french naming scheme but what w the whole mention of The Original Sin + a god manifesting themselves as flesh and blood to live amongst humanity + eventually executing themself in order to absolve all their people of that original sin. i think it could have stood to use more blatantly obvious christian iconography in the quest itself. like apples. or maybe they could have crucified her. just for funsies
are there any crosses in fontaine or does venti have a monopoly on that
that being said i think it would have been fun narratively if they hadnt made it so painfully obvious that furina was putting on an act/horrifically overcompensating for being the archon. like it would have been cool if her act was genuinely narratively convincing for at least the first half. the twist that she (technically) wasnt the archon/(more accurately Divine) would have hit harder but i can appreciate the angle they went for. idk i think its fun to see an archon that for once is kind of completely seemingly incompetent. a loss for feminism but a win for girlfailures all around the world
i saw someone else say this and i have to agree the deal w the whale did feel a bit tacked on at the end LOL... it didnt really feel as well integrated into the prophecy thing but eh
how is childe. does anyone care. actually no
clorinde navia "oh are you wearing a new lipstick?" "yeah, want to try" KILL MEEEEEEEEEEEE
have not seen furinas story quest yet but what are the mechanics behjnd her (assumedly) gaining a hydro vision when focalors' whole deal was sacrificing herself precisely to destroy the throne of the hydro archon, presumably preventing another hydro archon from ever ascending. wh... i guess im just missing something or otherwise misunderstanding what "destroying the throne" entails
STILL IT KIND OF FEELS LIKE AN INSULT TO HER CHARACTER CONCEPTUALLY NGL like she spent centuries parading around desperately as the hydro archon and when she finally breaks free of the curse celestias like.... "oh btw youre actually really cool now and we've decided u can become the archon for realsies" i think i would kill
on one hand, i do recognize how the visions function as a narrative device for self actualization and realize its only a fitting way to conclude her arc, but on the other, as signs of acknowledgement from celestia marking an individual as eligible for godhood, it does feel very incongruent with furinas whole thing
on that notd i feel similarly abt wanderer LOL like okay ignore how logically they need a vision for gameplay mechanics like just narratively it doesnt cohere to me... sniffles...
small detail i like how the focalors/furina divide was foreshadowed by the fact that for every previous archon theyve been consistently only referred to as their "real"/chosen/"human"(in a sense) name by those closest to them, whereas all of their subjects would refer to them by archon name or otherwise (lord barbatos, morax, lesser lord kusanali, etc etc) but nobody has ever called the hydro archon focalors or any equivalent, it was only ever her human/chosen name lady furina
this quest had a Lot of Telling instead of Showing and i physically groaned each time they had to spell something out loud instead of just having the audience put together the (already incredibly obvious) narrative pieces but id say this is a writing problem w genshin as a whole and not exclusive to fontaine
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sunfudge · 11 months
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\\HEADS UP 4.2 SPOILERS TO ANYONE WHO HASNT DONE IT
I have to agree with your stance on the AQ. I almost fooled myself into thinking it wasn’t good when the reality was I thought it was amazing but having to see so much grief throughout the quest knocked me out (in a good way). From the first 10 minutes where it was completely reasonable to see Navia break down after staying strong in front of the victims of the sudden flood, and her final bittersweet goodbye to Silver and Melus - wow. I’ve seen people deal with grief and if anything Navia was so damn strong for keeping it together. I’d be bawling for days girl like huh. And if you think about it, with how Fontaine has a strong theme of deception (like everyone is hiding something about themselves), isn’t it refreshing to have Navia who is so incredibly genuine and earnest with her intentions and her want to help everyone? I love her a lot.
Then we were hit with the gradual masking of Furina?
Like - we almost had her open up but then it was revealed we were in the Opera house. This was made worse later on when the traveller saw her inner dialogue during that moment was “surely I’m allowed to put myself first for the first time in 400 years?”. As the human side of Focalor, Furina was absolutely outstanding and selfless. Ohhh my God and the way Furina thinks of her suffering as a kind of “price” or sacrifice to pay for saving Fontaine? Direct contrast to earlier dialogue about how Silver and Melus should not be seen as a mere prices?? FURINA YOU’VE DONE SO MUCH MY LOVE
As much as it pains me that we didn’t get to see her at the end of the AQ to check on her, I guess it makes sense? If you were performing for 400 years and you finally get a chance to crawl away from watchful eyes like you wanted, I think it’s reasonable to just. Want to go away for a bit. But God I really really wish her all the best with finally being allowed to live as herself and not as someone else.
There’s so much to talk about I can’t condense it all. Even small details like a random audience member saying “wait, the death sentence? Isn’t that too harsh? Her only sin was making us!” made my heart clench. Furina begging her people to believe her because she is terrified that they will drown since her facade has been the only thing keeping the flood at bay. AND she will blame herself for not doing enough. Neuvi going “after 500 years, you think I would have the heart to proclaim them as guilty?” Focalor’s goodbye to Furina being “you can now live as a human like I always wished we could.” OUGHHH
Anyway. Wow. I just,,, yeah. I really really liked the quest in all honesty. I needed a good cry and I got it. To each their own opinion, and everyone has a right to not like things in the game. But personally to me this was fantastic.
I'm so glad you sent me this because I'm about to totally lose it about the archon quest in this reply.
Below are further spoilers for the 4.2 archon quest
I totally agree with you on the grief thing, and upon reflection and sleeping on it I think the fact I did this quest all in one continuous sitting over the course of hours added to my previous mixed feelings, just because it was SO MUCH sadness in such a short space of time that it kinda made me associate the quest with feelings of sorrow.
Had I completed the archon quests in parts, having gone away and came back to it later, I feel I'd have handled it better, but I can't stop myself from doing archon quests in one sitting, it's in my DNA to complete them all at once LOL
Navia's bit at the start... Oh it had been about 20 minutes into me playing and I was crying buckets. Full on sobbing.
I play in English and when I tell you her voice actress had RENT DUE because her crying, her voice, everything just broke my heart I literally was like okay great it's not even been half an hour and I'm broken for her, what the fuck.
As soon as I saw Silver and Melus weren't with her I teared up cause I was like they're dead, aren't they? And then I just kept crying anytime they were brought up, and then when they saved her from the primordial sea :(
Navia is a very good character, I love her, she's so authentic and genuine and strong it's made me wanna pull with her purely to spoil her because it's what she deserves.
On to Furina, my heart has ACHED for her since we found out the truth.
I always loved her, and I always thought she did have some sort of plan ever since she reacted with such anger to Arlecchino's insinuation that she was ignoring the prophecy and doing nothing. It was raw real anger from Furina which of course we now understand. It contrasted so harshly with what the game was showing us her acting like, plus Neuvi saying that she is 'taking the prophecy very seriously', that made me go 'we do not know the whole truth', and I was right but FUCK it was in a way I'd never have been able to predict.
WHEN I REALIZED WE HAD TRANSPORTED HER TO THE OPERA HOUSE I STARTED CRYING AGAIN I wanted to wrap her in a blanket and protect her. I totally understand why the trial took place, from the perspective of the other characters there is an impending doomsday that will wipe out the entirety of Fontaine's population, from their perspective it made sense and was justified because they weren't hearing Furina's thoughts and thought crucial information pertaining to the prophecy was being withheld from them, both them and Furina had the shared goal of protecting Fontaine - but that didn't mean that whole section didn't hurt like Hell to complete.
She thought her world was falling apart, after so many years of dedicating herself entirely to this role in order to save her nation she thought it was ALL over and those 146848 scenes (WHICH btw when it changed to THAT number of scenes I was BAWLING, what a hard hitting way to show her continuous suffering in a way that's so impactful) were for nothing.
You know I didn't even realize the Silver and Melus/Furina price thing until you just said it, oh mannnnnnn this fucking archon quest.
It's sore, but you're right - showing her at the end of the quest and us speaking with her would not have made sense. Giving her space after that made the most sense narratively but it definitely also made me feel like we had no sort of closure on her wellbeing (I'm sure her story quest gives us some of that) so that also added to my pain at the end because I was like ... The last time I saw her she was walking through the city as those people yelled 'the prophecy was wrong', and I hope she knows that the prophecy was only 'wrong' BECAUSE of what she did. The prophecy was wrong because of YOU, my love
She deserves a happy and peaceful life doing all the things she loves from now on.
Also, I presume she's mortal now? I'm sure Focalors made the point of saying her existence was what increased Furina's lifespan so like - now she's a whole mortal human being...
There's so many thoughts that have come from this quest.
The Oceanid reveal was so good, like you said that NPC saying her sin was making them, and now believing she'll be sentenced to death for it... Oh god.
The begging, her saying 'believe me I AM your archon' the slow descent into her crying because she believes it's all over when in reality she was FINALLY at the end, the fact she never knew when the end was coming she didn't know this was meant to happen she wasn't aware this was finally the end of her pain
Oh Neuvillette declaring the citizens of Fontaine innocent is one of my favourite moments in the entire game now.
Having had time to process it, I agree, this is one of the best stories in the game and it was told incredibly well and the whole thing was so fucking emotional I felt like I got battered after I finished it.
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moonsmultimusings · 8 months
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“Nothing I do will ever be good enough, will it?” -[from @hikikomari]
random dialogue sentence starters - Accepting ☾
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For as positive as Mari could seem, she was still human. Hero knew that much. She was a wonderful human, sure -- a role model, a beacon of positivity -- but she was still a human. A person who had her flaws, her insecurities, her doubts. One of the greatest he'd seen in her was her perfectionism. She was always so hard on herself when she wasn't watching over the others with him. In some ways, it was difficult to understand how someone as talented as she was could ever doubt herself. If she could see what he knew he saw in her, she'd realize she had no reason for these doubts.
But she never seemed to, did she? He put forth every effort to help her out, but she struggled nonetheless. It didn't feel like a personal failing, per se. He didn't want to think that he may have been letting her down somehow. Rather, it was a sign that he ought to change strategies. She was well worth the effort. Seeing her smile genuinely, the way her eyes would crinkle when she grinned at Sunny, the laugh she'd let out at Kel's overconfidence during their games of cards up in the treehouse, the gentle assistance she would offer Basil with his plants, the encouraging positivity she could always manage to muster up for Aubrey… He wanted to keep seeing these. To find some way to give her the sort of freedom she'd need to continue expressing these things. All of the traits he loved about her, an endless list of admirations he could shower her with if she wouldn't find some way to turn it around and fluster him instead.
He'd heard it for himself, how often she'd been playing recently. When he was outside or when the window in his and Kel's room was down, he could hear it. Especially at night, much too late. He'd considered hopping the fence once or twice to try and send her to bed to make sure she was rested for class, but he hadn't mustered up the courage to do it just yet. She was worried about this recital. Sunny must have been, too, considering how often he was practicing as well. With the two of them working together, he had no doubts that it would be amazing.
“Mari…” The tone he addressed her with was quiet. Gentle. His brows knit down in concern. She'd pointed out before that it wasn't unlike the sort of face Kel would make. “I know prep school hasn't been easy for you… And I'm sure you must be nervous about your recital, too.” He wished he was better with his words sometimes. Especially in her case. “But we'll all be there to support you. Mom's planning to buy Kel a whole new outfit to go in!” His attempt at lightening the mood seemed to fall a little flat. It wasn't exactly untrue, though… His brother had spilled Orange Joe all over his last formal outfit.
He should probably just stick to the topic at hand. “You're more than good enough for us. You're amazing.” He offered her a warm smile, and one he hoped could be half as reassuring as ones she'd given him in the past. “I'm sure you and Sunny are going to play beautifully up there together.” And when she was done? He'd be standing in the audience with a bouquet of roses to hand her. He'd already been sizing them up at Fit-It. “And if you need help preparing anything else in the meantime, just let me know! I'll be over right away.” He'd never minded dropping everything for her sake before. Now was no different.
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xhannahbananax03 · 2 years
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Trouble Chapter 7
Pairing: Austin!Elvis x Reader
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MASTERLIST
Words: 4k
Warnings: none really
A/N: Reblogs, likes, comments + feedback are extremely appreciated! Please help support your content creators!
A/N 2: This chapter is kinda boring in my opinion, but it has some really good parts so enjoy :)
1968. One of the most tragic times for the world. "Good evening," a voice from the TV at the front of the bus, Jerry turning up the volume from where he sat as he and Elvis watched the evening news.
Priscilla was outside with Lisa Marie and everybody else, while Y/n flipped through the planner she had laid out for Elvis, not long after Elvis found out that Priscilla was pregnant, he asked Y/n to be his personal assistant, claiming that, 'I wanna keep things tight ya know?'. Which was a partial truth. With the responsibility of a child coming into his life he didn't want to bring anyone else into his business that wasn't already there, but the other half of the truth was that he needed Y/n with him. More so now than ever.
"Dr. Martin Luther King; The apostle of non-violence in the Civil Rights Movement," Y/n began listening and looked up to the TV, the feeling of something being horribly wrong washed over her, "has been shot to death in Memphis Tennessee..." The newscaster said solemnly.
Y/n gasped out, covering her mouth as her eyes welled up with tears, "Officers also reportedly chased and fired on a radio-equipped car containing two white men,".
"My god," Y/n whispered out, staring at the television with wide eyes, she had to set her hand on Elvis' shoulder so she could steady herself.
Billy stepped onto the bus and paused when he saw the looks on everyone's face, stepping further onto the bus to look at the TV, "Dr. King was standing on the balcony of his second floor hotel room tonight, when, according to a companion, a shot was fired from across the street,".
Billy jetted out of the bus, "Dr. King..." Elvis mumbled reaching up to squeeze Y/n's hand while she focused on the TV, tears running down her face.
"Uncle Vernon! Come quick!" They heard Billy yell for Elvis' dad.
"He always spoke the truth," Elvis bowed his head, finally letting a few tears of his own slip down his cheeks.
"They rushed the 39-year-old Negro leader to a hospital, where he died from a bullet wound in the neck."
=
"Here comes Santa Claus. Here comes Santa Claus," The Colonel sung out, showing Elvis the middle school level box presentation that was a model of how Parker wanted the Christmas special to look.
Y/n stood next to Elvis while we rocked Lisa in his arms, a baby blue suit clad to his body. She always loved how he looked in blue.
"Elvis Presley's Wondeful World of Chritmas," The Colonel smiled at Elvis and his assistant who was writing things down in the rockstars planner, "Brought to you by, the Singer Sewing Machine Company,".
Elvis pretended to look interested and nodded his head before looking back down to his daughter. At first he was completely against the idea of having a baby, he wasn't ready, he didn't have the time, but worst of all it wasn't with her. But looking at his little bundle of joy he reminded himself that Lisa Marie was the best thing he had ever done and it strangely enough made him feel more comfortable about being married to Priscilla.
Y/n gave the Colonel a look before writing down the information he had just given her. So, Elvis Presley is a promoter for sewing machines now?
"To every television set in America. It only takes three days to tape and there'll be no audience," Elvis gave the Colonel a quick look at that before turning on his heel and walking over to his wife while Y/n stayed behind, listening to her clients manager ramble off the "exciting" news.
"Violence breeds violence," A man on the TV spoke as Elvis handed Lisa over to her mother, "repression breeds retaliation,".
"Memphis is burning," Elvis heard his wife mutter while their eyes were locked on the screen in front of them while Kennedy spoke.
"And to fear his brother. When you teach that he is a lesser man, because of his color or his beliefs..." Elvis tapped his wife on the arm softly before turning back to the Colonel and his assistant who seemed not at all amused with his managers antics.
"Christmas special?" Elvis spoke up, making Y/n look at him over her shoulder before he place a warm hand on the small of her back for a moment before moving closer to the Colonel, "Is this the best we can do, Admiral?"
Elvis was literally scratching his head trying to figure out why his manager had no care about the current events of the world, "Well we took the Hollywood phonies for every nickle they had," He chuckled out.
Y/n looked at the old man with disgust. He was a user, he used everyone. Even Elvis and Y/n had prayed that Elvis would wake up someday soon and see the Colonel for who he really was.
"And now it is time for us to pack up our tents and move onto even greener pastures," Priscilla came to stand next to Elvis, his arm instinctively wrapping around her, "We've seen 'Elvis the Rebel', 'Elvis the Movie Star'. Now we will see 'Elvis the Family Entertainer'.".
"And appliance salesman?" Y/n finally spoke up, not being able to contain herself any longer. This wasnt the Elvis Presley she knew, the Colonel may have had E.P. convinced but she was far from it.
"What did you say?" Elvis whipped around to glare at his friend. He loved her to death, but she sometimes she didn't know when to just keep her opinions to herself, "Listen, Y/n," He started in on her, "I don't need you to question me about how I support my family and every goddamn person here!" He shouted at her, leaning over her, "You understand me?" He asked in a low tone that gave away his anger and the next words that came out of his mouth, he immediately regretted, "If you don't like it, you can go back to Memphis,".
He could see that his words had really affected her, but he needed everyone there to understand that they were there because of the Colonel and himself.
She just glared up at him and shook her head before turning on her heel and walking off to the bus where she immediately walked to the very back and took a seat in the lounge, "Yeah laugh it up, assholes," Elvis told his friends that were chuckling. They always found it hilarious that a woman couldnt give a shit less about what Mr. Elvis Presley had to say.
He stormed off towards the same bus that Y/n had couped herself up in just a moment ago, leaving his wife embarrassed, with the Colonel.
Elvis went straight back to the lounge, seeing Y/n stare up at the TV, watching the memorial for Dr. King, not paying Elvis any mind, "Can I watch the memorial with you?" He finally asked and the only answer he got was a simple nod of her head, but he'd take what he could get.
He sat right next to her, throwing his arm around the seat behind her head, within a moment she had moved to rest her bare legs over his and leaned her head against his chest. She knew how much everything was taking a toll on him, just like how she knew he'd never want her to actually go back to Memphis.
"Satnin?" Elvis spoke softly, not taking his eyes off the screen as he gently trailed his fingers over his best friends legs, "I'm so tired of playing Elvis Presley," He sighed out, making her look up at him as he looked down at her, their face so close together, he could feel the warmth of her breath on his face, "Too many people rely on me," Which Y/n knew was true. There'd be no 'Memphis Mafia' if there was no Elvis, and there'd be no Elvis if he didn't bust his ass nearly every damn day.
"I love you. Your wife and daughter loves you. We don't care about the money or nothin' else," Y/n brought her hand up to play with the buttons of his shirt while he looked down at her adoringly, "We just want you happy," She told him honestly, speaking on behalf of Priscilla.
"Lord hold my hand and don't let me fall," a woman sung over the TV and Elvis had to look back at the screen, "And you're only every really happy when you're singin' the music you love," Y/n told him, not taking her eyes off his chest.
The moment was so intimate, more intimate than they had been since his mother's passing, and she missed it. Missed him.
"Mahalia Jackson," Elvis said the singer on the screens name with the faintest hint of a smile on his face, "I used to hear her sing at East Street Church," He told the girl in his lap while listening to the bluesy gospel, "That's the music that makes me happy,".
Y/n finally looked to the TV screen, sneaking glances at Elvis as he watched the song finish up, "So when things are too dangerous to say... Sing!"
=
Elvis sat high above the rest of the city, waiting for two men who apparently could 'Help him find himself again'.
"You gotta meet these Binder and Bones guys, E.P.," Elvis recalled the conversation he had had with Jerry a few days prior, "They're the ones that put James Brown and The Rolling Stones on-stage,".
Elvis could hear the roar of an engine flying up the road towards the Hollywood sign where he sat alone, a pair of shades over his eyes to protect his vision from the blazing California sun, "They're doing some cutting edge stuff,".
Elvis talked to Y/n about what he should do. If he went to meet with these guys, he'd had to keep the Colonel out of it which meant lying to his manager which he had never been fond of, but when she laughed out loud, it suddenly became clear what the obvious choice was, "If it means you getting back to the old Elvis, then I'm all for it.".
Elvis heard a group of men approaching him so he begin to speak, "When I first came to Hollywood, I'd come up here and sit for hours," He reminisced on his younger years, craving to get back to that point in his life as he sat in the center of a rusty, giant metal 'O', "Right over there," He pointed to a hillside building, "The observatory... That's where they shot, 'Rebel Without a Cause'. Man, I used to dream of being a great actor like Jimmy Dean," He huffed out a bitter laugh, realizing that that dream was as good as dead.
"This sign used to be beautiful then," He sighed sadly, "and now... Feels as thought lots of things are like that these days. Broken down, beat up," He thought about the man he considered a friend being shot dead outside of his own motel room, "Rotten," He looked down at his lap, swallowing hard as he thought about everything happening in America right now.
"I really like what you guys did," Elvis spoke up in a lighter tone, removing his sunglasses to look at the two producers while tucking his hair back into place, "puttin' James Brown and The Stones on a stage together,".
"We're uh," The man with a blue scarf spoke up, "Big fans of yours too," He gestured between himself and his partner, "Its just that Mr.- Mr. Presley, we don't usually-"
"Oh, Elvis," E.P. offered, sensing the radiating nervous energy coming off the guy. Elvis understood that he was famous, but were people really that nervous to disappoint him?
"Elvis, uh..." He nervously scratched the back of his head, "Christmas specials aren't really our thing," The man pointed out, emphasizing his words with an awkward smile.
"I know," Elvis nodded his head, a kind smile gracing his lips as the producer gave him a confused look, "Tell me honestly... Where do you boys think my careers at right now?" He asked genuinely, looking at the more confrontational man's friends.
"Well its..." The other man spoke up, trying to think of the right way to word things while Elvis and his friend stared at him.
"Its in the toilet, Elvis," The man with sunglasses tilted his chin down, his hands rested on his hips as he looked at Elvis over his glasses.
Elvis licked his lip while a smirk took over his features, before he looked to his friend Jerry and the pair of them started laughing, a hiccup cutting through as he rested his elbow on his knee and fiddled with his rings, "You hear that, Jerry?".
"Oh lord," Elvis drawled out, swiping at his nose with his finger before pointing out at the boys with his sunglasses, "I knew you were the right guys for this job," Elvis stood, feeling a little more at ease around these gentlemen when he realized that they were straight-shooters, "Ya know, back when I was starting out, some people wanted to put my in jail," He thought back to the concert as Russword Park and for a moment his thoughts drifted to Y/n, "kill me even. Cause of the way I was movin'," He explained, walking up the path a little to stand closer to Binder and Bones.
"So, they cut my hair, put me in uniform and sent me away," Another thought of Y/n, how she had been there right next to him through it all and he couldn't help the little smile he grew, but then he thought about the other woman in his life at that point and his smile fell, "That killed my mother," He said softly, staring at the ground, "And ever since then, I've been lost," He shook his head a little.
He had known that he was lost for awhile, but to put it out in the open was refreshing, "And when you're lost, people take advantage," He was speaking of the Colonel and looked at Jerry he nodded his head in understanding, "I need you fellas to help me get back to who I really am," He flickered his eyes between Binder and Bones.
Binder nodded his head in acknowledgment, his hands still placed firmly on his hips like he wasn't fully sold yet, "And who are you Elvis?" He asked raising one of his hands to tug on his bottom lip gently with his finger tips.
"I sure as hell ain't somebody who sings Christmas songs by a fireplace for an hour," Elvis spoke up, walking past Binder and bending over to pick up a rock and study it closely.
"And what does the Colonel think?" Binder asked, knowing of Elvis' crooked manager all too well, removing his own glasses before turning to look up at Elvis.
"I don't give a damn what the Colonel thinks," Elvis said confidently, throwing the rock hard through the 'O' of the sign.
Binder gave his partner Bones a look and the pair nodded their heads, knowing right then and there, they were gonna make Elvis big again.
=
Y/n followed the Colonel and the people from Singinger Sewing Machine Company. Part of working for Elvis meant she needed to know every little detail of his day and career, so unfortunately that meant spending more time with the Colonel that she preferred.
"For this television special, we've got this Bindle fella. Number one hotshot director," The Colonel explained to all the associates following him while several people dressed up in elf outfits squeeze by her group.
"Elvis will be humoring him by doing a few of his fresh ideas," Parker chuckled and came to a sudden stop, nearly making Y/n run into him as somebody shoved a mannequin torso in front of him with an ugly Christmas sweater on it, "Ah the sweater," The Colonel moved to the side so everyone could take a look at what Elvis was supposed to be wearing for the special.
"To Mr. Presley's dressing room please," He told the stage hand, all of the company watching it as it was hauled off, "We are going to sing three spectacular Christmas songs in, that. very. sweater," He emphasized before quickly ushering everyone to controls room.
"'Silent is the Night'. Uh, 'Deck the Halls'... And uh, 'Whose Child is this'," Y/n rolled her eyes at the way the Colonel botched the song names, moving into the crowed room as everyone made their way over to the long window letting them see down to the stage where people were setting up a chritmas themed show.
Little did everyone know, these men were in for a big BIG surprise.
=
"You think we can do some gospel?" Elvis asked Binder and Bones, caressing his jaw in thought as they all stood behind the Hollywood sign, coming up with a plan.
"Well if you wanna find yourself, the first thing you do is go home." Bones told him.
"Metaphorically," Binder pointed out, "You know, 'get back to who you really are',".
=
"And what is the boy that, uh," The Colonel held his hands and tapped them along like he was playing a drum.
"Oh, 'The Little Drummer Boy'?" One of the associates filled in the blanks for the Colonel and Y/n gave him a strange look. Who didn't know the names of these basic Christmas songs?
"Ah yes, 'The Little Drumming Boy'," He still got it wrong but the man smiled along with him, nodding his head before looking back out the window at the production team.
=
"We get your old band back together," Binder mentioned the Blue Moon Boys and Elvis nodded in agreement, "A leather jacket. Raw. Dirty," He listed and Elvis continued to agree with everything the man was saying, his excitement growing.
=
"But we are going to start with, 'Here Comes Santa Clause', isn't that right Mr. Bindle," The Colonel asked, wanting to seem like he was in charge of the whole operation.
"Uh the Christmas songs come later in the show," Binder wave him off before speaking to his coworker, "Can you bring up two?" A pen pointed in the direction of the technician as he put camera two on the screens in front of him.
Y/n stood anxiously by the glass panel, looking down as she waited for Elvis to show up on the stage in front of her.
=
"But you need an audience," Binder told Elvis with a tone of wonder, almost as if he was playing the whole thing out right in front of Elvis.
"Audience?" He asked confused, he wasn't aware that they could even do that. Of course he had performed in front of live audiences, but a studio audience? "I aint sang in front of an audience in a long time,".
"Exactly,".
=
Y/n's eyes lit up as Elvis stepped on on the small stage, completely clad in black leather. It was beautiful, the last time she had seen Elvis like this was so long ago, and to see him like this again made her heart swell.
He waved to his many adoring fans who crowded around the stage while he smiled brightly. She could tell he was nervous, but he looked more happy than he had in a long time.
Looking over at the Colonel, Y/n couldn't help but smirk as she saw the look of confusion and disdain on his face.
Elvis grabbed his beautiful red guitar from a stage hand and settled into the center of the stage, cutting a look to the Colonel who now stood next to Y/n, and Y/n swore she felt her heart melt when he gave her a little smile. The only thing that would make this any better is if she was down there, front row, just like at Russwood.
"Well since my baby left me," Elvis flipped his head to the side with the beat of the drums behind him, making his perfectly styled hair began to ruffle apart, "I've found a new place to dwell," The audience began to cheer as he started to wiggle his legs to the beat "Well, it's down at the end of lonely street at, heartbreak hotel,".
The audience was applauding, while Y/n stood practically smooshed up against the window of the screen room, his eyes flicking up to meet hers every so often and he couldn't prevent the swell his heart felt when he saw how happy she looked.
"Well, the bellhop's tears keep flowing," And thats when the real fun began, he closed his eyes and started to just feel the music inside of him, "And the desk clerks dressed in black," He jerked his hips around, his arms swinging in tandem.
Just like the magic that had happened up on that stage so many years ago when he performed, 'Trouble', the crowd started to go wild while he slowly leaned back from his hips, looking straight at the Colonel with a smirk while he continued his song, stepping around the stage and looking down at his audience, "They'll be so lonely, they could die,".
"Well that was... energetic," One of the Singer associates spoke up and Y/n completely agreed with him, his song had gotten her quite worked up.
Suddenly he was down on his knees, singing an entirely new song. It was like 'Hound Dog' but closer to the version that Mama Thornton had sung at Club Handy that one night.
That's when it clicked into place for Y/n. 'Hound Dog' was never Elvis' song. "You sneaky bastard," She mumbled under her breath, continuing to watch him with a smirk.
"Colonel," The main man from Singers Sewing stood and tightened his jacket, seeming incredibly displeased, "Is 'Here Comes Santa Clause' next?".
"Absolutely. I see no reason why not," He nodded his head turning on his heel and heading out of the screen room quickly.
Binder looked over his shoulder briefly before turning back to watch the shows, "He's not even- He's not even wearing the sweater!" The associate grumbled out.
After he finished 'Hound Dog', he continued onto the next song, 'Blue Suede Shoes'. Not wasting a single moment between each song.
Y/n decided she couldn't take anymore and needed to get down there with the action, "Binder," She turned around making her way towards the door, "Cover for me?" She asked, knowing that the Colonel was going to be livid once he got back to the room only to see that Elvis' very own assistant had left.
Binder just nodded his head and waved her off. She gave him a wide smile before she started booking it downstairs to the studio.
Once she reached it, his voice became more clear and she felt a sudden wetness between her legs causing her to blush but she none the less made her way towards the stage, standing right at the bottom of the stairs.
When Elvis caught her in his peripherals, he smirked wide, beginning to swing his body around more as he started on the next song.
He made his way closer to her, just like he did at Russwood and swiveled his knees around cause his pelvis to jut out and nearly hit her in the face, once again, as she stared up at him, a wide smile on her face.
Priscilla's smile fell as she watched Elvis dance around for Y/n. Normally she wouldn't mind how he danced for his fans, but she saw the way that he gazed down at her and the way she looked back up at him.
Y/n wasn't just another one of his fans. She was Y/n. Elvis' stars, moon and sky. Priscilla had always known that, she may have been young and niave but she wasn't stupid, she knew she could never compare.
His song finished and he began to walk around the stage once more, looking out at everyone, "Its been a long time, baby," He shook his head, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath, "A long time...".
Tags:
@meladollsims @literally-just-elvis-fics @jessie-williams1 @venus-haze @lov3r0fr0ck @briannaisanxious @galvz-42 @omgellenlouise @flamencodiva-reblogs @missmaywemeetagain @rosecoloreddesire @knoxvillesshoes @girlblogger2002 @jessicarcates @captured-memory @madilynnk @just-a-dumb-rat @elvispresleyfanpage @perfectlyboring @ewwwyuck @aalishifts @groovydeputyfestivalkid @dailyaustin @dre6ming @austinsrealgf @cherryredheart @lwritesstuff @gjclark19100 @thatonemoviefan @ash-omalley @foxxycurriespice @heartbrake-hotel
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theoriginalsapphic · 2 years
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Why I Believe That Byler Is Endgame (based only on what we have seen on the show). part 4
And by that, i mean: no color-coding analysis, no set props analysis, no actor interviews interpretation, no script analysis, no movies parallels analysis; nada. Only what we’ve seen on the show and nothing else.
This will use a lot of comparisons with m/leven because, despite the fact that some of you refuse to admit it, this is a love triangle.
part 4: the pizza monologue vs the shed monologue
When a loved one is in danger, mike jumps into action to save them. Although both of these scenes start in a similar way, they differ quite a bit.
lighting
Intimate. Soft lighting. Will is fully lighted (full realization/acceptance of his feelings) while Mike’s face is half lighted and the other half is shrouded by shadows (not full realization/acceptance of his feelings).
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Harsh shadows over Mike’s face. El is in red lightning to emphasize the danger of the situation, vines are tightening around her neck.
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music
shed scene: No music. “[…] partial silence in which there is no dialogue for a prolonged period of time or where there is no music in the background is commonly utilized to great effect due to the emotional impact it has on viewers, the level of immersion it creates, and the amount of intrigue it generates to better captivate the audience. […] Silence makes a scene feel important, and if the viewer deems a scene important then they are more likely to pay keen attention to it”.
pizza place scene: The song “You’re the Heart”, which is named after Will’s love confession to Mike in the van, plays during the scene.
direction
shed scene: Intimate; you can only see Will’s and Mike’s faces despite Joyce, Jonathan and Hopper being there as well. Will and mike stare at each other the whole time, with only a few instances in which Mike looks either sideways or down.
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pizza place scene: Not intimate; the first ‘I love you’ uttered by Mike includes Will in the shot, therefore forcing the audience to focus on Will’s heartbreak instead on the moment between Mike and El. El’s eyes are closed the whole time so Mike and her don’t look at each other at any point.
Shots of Will and Jonathan reacting to Mike saying that he is scared that one day El will realize that she doesn’t need him anymore.
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intention
Mike says his monologue unprompted.
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Mike has to be pushed by Will to say it.
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objective
Mike manages to break through the possession long enough for Will to communicate through Morse code. El closes the portal and everyone goes to the Snow Ball.
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Mike speaks and the vines around her neck tightens. It’s only her love towards Max and her determination to save her that gives her the power to break free of the vines and fight, and it’s only her love towards Max that allows her to bring her back to life. Vecna wins and the Upside Down begins to invade their world.
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dialogue
first meeting in the shed scene vs first meeting in the pizza place scene
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Mike's feelings expressed during the shed scene vs Mike's feelings expressed during the pizza place scene
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Will's reaction to Mike's monologue
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El's reaction to Mike's monologue
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And here is, when Mike fucks up. He is lying, and El knows that.
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The worst part is that he didn’t need to do that. He could have pointed out any other moments between them in which he fell in love with her: when they shared their first kiss, when he watched her sacrifice herself and he believed she was gone, when he spent all those days calling for her in his walkie-talkie, when they finally reunited after being separated for almost an entire year, or when they kissed at the Snow Ball. The fact that he chose the day he first saw her, when El knows that he wanted to get rid of her at first, put in question their entire relationship and his feelings towards her.
And the worst part? That was not the greatest offense in the whole monologue.
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This right here, is the worst thing possible Mike could have told her. After spending her entire season arc having to relearn her identity and self-worth outside of her powers, of her worth outside of being the superhero, Mike validates those fears right away (I explain El’s character and her relationship with her powers and Dr. Brenner a little bit more in depth in the next and last part).
Honestly? I feel sorry for her, because at this point in their relationship, Mike should know her better, should know enough about her to mention something other her powers. El is one of the kindest, most considerate, most caring, bravest, most selfless and self-sacrificial characters in the entire show. She had just escaped a life of abuse, and instead of running as far as she could from the lab, she stayed in Hawkins to help find a boy she had never met at that point; hell, she got in a sensory deprivation tank (something that terrified her) just to find him. Henry manipulated and almost killed her, and she still had it in herself to try to be compassionate towards him. When Billy, possessed by the Mind Flayer, was about to kill her, she still found the moment to place a reassuring hand on his cheek and be compassionate towards him. Every season finale, El risks her life, over and over again for everyone.
There are so many good qualities he could have mentioned about why he loves her… and all he can say is that she is a superhero. This is not Mike’s bashing btw, and you’ll see why in the next part.
I think the best comparison to demonstrate my point is by showing two instances in the first episode of the season.
Jonathan and Nancy, despite suffering from their own relationship’s issues this season, when they are asked by a friend (Fred, Argyle) about each other, this what they say:
Jonathan: “You don’t understand Nancy. […] incredibly ambitious. She’s never done a single thing halfway in her life. If she takes on the editor of the school paper, she’s gonna make that the best paper that ever existed. That’s why I love her”.
Nancy: “He’s not like you. He’s caring and compassionate and […]. He’s so protective over the people that he loves. And he’ll never back down from what’s right, what’s moral. No matter the pressure, no matter the personal cost. That’s why I love him”.
Here is Dustin, someone around the same age and maturity level as Mike, talking about his girlfriend:
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And what does Mike have to say about his girlfriend?
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Yeah...
The only good thing I’m going to say about Mike’s monologue is that he was absolutely terrified of losing her, that he genuinely cares about her, and that he was willing to do anything to prevent her from dying, but the truth is, he doesn't know her. I don’t blame her at all for ignoring Mike after his monologue.
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imthefailedartist · 2 years
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Rambling Thoughts. Spoilers.
Wow it looks like a real movie.
There is proper lighting and cinematography. Wow.
I hate how he's walking through this field.
Amira Vann is a performer.
Should've killed her grandaddy.
Too much narration.
These letters a little too detailed. Show don't tell.
I'm gon be honest, Tyler is the last person on earth who should tackling race.
I know Buster don't think Willie Earl is his child. Sir your colorism and self hatred can't be that severe that you think Bayou is half white. Sir! Open your eyes. He called him HALF BREED! Bruh. Delusional men are pure comedy.
I like that he calls her Lil Anne
Bayou is not it. I just don't think he's worth all the drama. He is boring. He doesn't even write songs. For a movie called A Jazzmans Blues Bayou has no interest in music. He doesn't write songs/music or play an instrument. Paper Airplanes isn't even written by him. He doesn't even really take singing seriously its just something he does.
Ooh he on that stuff.
Bucket better watch who she put her hands on. We know your truth and the only ones who gone help you.
Bayou has no stage presence. I'm not braving the Chicago winters to see a ni**a standing still. Willie Earl on the other hand, stage presence but I hate him so I never want to see him win.
"We don't allow coloreds to sit at our table". Sir that is the kitchen table! That is for the servants to sit and prep it is not the dining room table.
Soon as her momma said that lie Leanne should've blew up their spot. "Okay mama. Okay. Well guess what, we are negroes."
They stopped the car cut it off slammed doors, threw up, swap stories get back in cut the car back on and not once does Willie Earl wake up. Don't do drugs kids.
They never call it heroin. Why? It can't possibly change the rating to call it by name over showing the needle in his arm.
Ira do know he talking to a black man in the Jim Crow Era South?
Ira telling Bayou his survival story to tell him to survive so you can help others.
Me: Ira save that story for someone else. Bayou ain't got that dog in him.
Citsy is great. She needs more story.
This needs a good editing. It needed another script edit. Its much too long and the timeline gets a little jumbled. After Leanne comes back. I have no idea how much time has passed we needed more time with them at 16 & 17. This is where their performances shine. Also we needed them sneaking around more after she returns to see that it wasn't just puppy love taken too seriously.
This heffa bes better hope that baby don't come out chocolate.
Everything happens to Bayou. He is never in charge of his own story. He is very hard to root for. And the one time he makes his own choice it's the dumbest decision ever.
The Debbie Allen did the choreography for this movie and we never get to see it shine.
What is the audience of the Royale? Why are these white folks coming to see what seems like an all or majority Black Revue?
Only nine months have passed since he left?
Did she come to Hattie Mae for comfort and familiarity or because she was scared that baby was gon come out dark.
You can't take your aunty some money to make sure she is able to live and feed herself? Ni**a kill yourself.
How you the headliner but your brother, high out of his mind has more stage presence than you?
Bayou joins the military but it has no effect on his character. It doesn't make him braver or stronger or more sensitive. He just joins and immediately gets out.
Ira wasn't on heroin? Then what the hell was wrong with him? Heat stroke?
I think he's getting darker. She says about a baby the color of alabaster.
Baby the color of fresh fallen snow in Alaska, freshly painted apartment walls, unseasoned mashed potatoes, the color of the crowd at a Train concert
His momma: is he getting darker?
Ira saw him perform and thought he was the star compared to Willie Earl? Absolutely not. Now if it was that he had that sweet, innocent charm that would stretch across to white markets I could believe it but it wasn't so it's unbelievable.
Look I'm all for resilience in the face of adversity but as Tyler Perry himself once said. If you can't get peace where you are, MOVE. Hattie pack your shit and go.
How you mad cause you let heroin get in the way of you auditioning?
Being a woman is dangerous business. This man would rather kill her than just admit she couldn't stand The South. Imagine if he found out she was Black? He'd of killed her and the baby. Imagine if that baby came out brown. They'd have burned the city down.
Her mom's crazy for bringing them back to the South. That's the one place where black folks are in abundance. Passing is easiest when you isolate. That's what's missing from this story. The husband and sheriff are never suspicious.
This movie is too long to cut that out. We should've seen more of her life with her husband and bonding with Citsy.
So she's a quarter or a half? What is her mama?
Bayou is a fool. Not a fool, a damn fool. Why the hell would you go back to Georgia?
Willie Earl ain't shit.
Yeah, Bayou is not worth all this. Neither is Leanne.
There should've been more cuts to the eighties.
See you gotta be careful who you have ya kids around. How you 50-75% percent Negro and racist.
Tyler really put effort into this movie. The sets fell and look real.
Someone said Leanne aged like a yt woman and said that was her punishment? Y'all!!! I laughed.
Did Hattie give him the letters because he's her grand baby and she's tired of his racist bullshit or because she was serious about the investigation?
I did not need the nurse pointing out who he was.
The credit version of Paper Airplanes is really beautiful.
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bnhabadass · 4 years
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So excited to be sharing my piece for this months bnharem collab!!! The theme for this is, you guessed it, sex worker!au. I am so honored to be writing along with everyone else who put so much time and energy into writing these pieces. Please please please check out their collab pieces here. Everyone has put so much work into these so give them a read through and some warm and fuzzy notes 😊💕✨
Pairing: Touya Todoroki x Reader Genre: NSFW Warnings: Coercion, Dubcon, Anal fingering, Hardcore sex, Deepthroating, Dabi is a Todoroki Word Count: 6,166 Synopsis: Rich ceo Enji Todoroki gives you the offer of a lifetime on one condition. You have to sleep with his eldest son.
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Working at a strip club was the last thing you pictured yourself doing after you graduated high school. After graduating and moving into a cheap apartment on the outskirts of town, you decided to start working immediately to support yourself. At first, you first got a job working at a cute little Italian restaurant that paid quite well. Waiting tables helped pay the bills and save up for college a little, but after two years of working at the same restaurant, it unfortunately went out of business.
That was one of your worst months, constantly looking for new work and facing rejection after rejection to the point that you were plagued by the phrase, “not enough work experience.” By the time a month and a half went by of you scoping out newspapers and checking all of the job finder apps on your phone, you had gone through most of your savings.
One of your best friends, after realizing how bad your situation was, decided that it couldn't hurt to see if you wanted a position at the joint she ran.
You were very skeptical at first, since she happened to run an insanely popular erotic dance club (aka, a strip club) in town, but she assured you that you wouldn’t be stripping, just bartending and dishwashing. As soon as she explained everything, you immediately took her up on the offer and decided from then on you would owe Mina Ashido your life.
You were able to pick things up easily, make conversation with customers and become friends with many of the dancers who worked at the club. The only downside to working the job was, well, you’re cute. And that meant you got a lot of unwanted attention from guys who initially came for the strippers.
Mina assured you that if you ever needed to take a step away, that that was perfectly fine. But the attention you got wasn’t so bad, you thought. At least there was a bar counter separating you from the wandering hands and predatory words of these people.
Bartending, while it was enough to pay the bills and save up for some nicer furniture, did not pay as much as you would have liked it to. While you wouldn’t have dreamed of asking your friend for a raise, you still felt somewhat resentful watching the dancers at the club walk home with stacks of cash from tips meanwhile you had to wait every two weeks to get your next paycheck.
You were astonished when, on your twenty-first birthday, Mina offered you a job as a dancer. “A lot of our regular customers have been asking about that ‘cute bartender,’” she said. “And I think you would actually really enjoy it. Plus, it pays a lot more.” She ended that last bit in a sing-song voice, as if that in and of itself would be enough to convince you.
You were tempted to say no, you really were, but you’ve seen how much fun the dancers have and how much money they walk away with every night. You knew next to nothing about stripping or pole dancing, but Mina assured you that she’d teach you and that you’d pick it up fast.
And she wasn’t wrong. After a month of her teaching you how to sway your hips and gyrate your body, dip down and caress every exposed inch of skin with your supple fingers, you were ready to hit the audience with everything you had.
You didn’t realize how much fun you would have as a pole dancer. It was a great form of exercise and you kind of liked having lots of people cheering for you to show off your sexy moves. Plus, walking home with a stack of cash each night was one of the greatest perks it came with.
There was only one rule that you had, which you made abundantly clear to Mina. All you would be doing was pole dancing. No lap dances, no touching the audience, and for the love of god, no sleeping with the audience.
And she respected your wishes, even going as far as asking some customers to leave who have tried to touch you without your consent. She keeps a hawk eye over you and every audience member and their wandering hands. You’re nothing but grateful for everything she has done for you.
After the first few months of pole dancing and wearing revealing costumes, you moved into a new apartment and bought nicer furniture. Things were definitely starting to turn around for the better.
“Hey,” you greeted your fellow coworkers as you made your way into the locker room. The club was about to close up for the night and you were more than ready to flop onto your bed at home and sleep until your next shift. “Have any of you seen Mina?”
The other girls looked around at one another. No one seemed to have an answer for her whereabouts.
“Oh!” Nejire popped up. “I think I saw her talking to some guy in her office. Yeah, yeah. Some big guy wearing a business suit.”
Tsu frowned. “I wonder what that could be about.”
You nodded, a sudden feeling of anxiety washing over you. You really hoped she wasn’t being bought out or something. If she wasn’t the one running the club anymore, or worse, if the club was demolished, you would be surely out of a job.
A knock on the locker room door made you swallow your thoughts. “Is (Y/n) in here?” Mina’s voice rang through the room.
“I’m here,” you piped.
She looked scared, and a bit pale. You don’t think you’ve ever seen her look fearful before, even when dealing with rough customers who refuse to leave the building. “Could you come with me for a sec?”
“Sure.” The anxiety you were feeling was bubbling back in your stomach. “Just let me get dressed.”
“Actually,” her voice was shaking. “If you could come here now that would be better.”
You paused, then nodded and followed her to her office. On the way there, she squeezed your hand, slipping something inside.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “Please, please forgive me for doing this.”
“Mina, what’s going on?” You were worried. Never in the time that you knew her had she ever been so apologetic.
At her office door, you looked at what she slipped into your hand. A small pink bottle of pepper spray stared back at you. What could she have done that you would need this?
She opened her office door and on the other side, like Nejire said there would be, was a big, beefy businessman clad in a suit that was probably worth more than your rent.
“Mina,” you whispered to your best friend. “What is going on?”
The man turned around and you shrunk at his intimidating appearance. You felt the need to cross your arms and cover up your exposed skin of which there was a lot of. “Hello,” the man bellowed with such a low timber. “You must be (Y/n).”
How did he know your name? What did Mina tell him? Who is this man?
You meekly nodded your head and clutched onto the pepper spray until your knuckles couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Forgive me for not introducing myself first.” He extended a hand. “My name is Enji Todoroki and I am the ceo of Todoroki Enterprises.”
You gulped. What the hell did Mina get herself into? You croaked out an “oh” before extending your hand and shaking his. “That’s nice.” You didn’t really know what to say. Was he considering buying the building from Mina? You looked at her and she shrunk back at your gaze.
“Ashido,” he said with a stern demeanor. “If you would please.”
She nodded and squeezed your shoulder one last time. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered in your ear one last time before leaving the room.
And then there was silence. You took a moment to breathe and look around Mina’s office, find something to calm your nerves with. Her office was usually like a little safe haven for you and the other dancers. She deemed a corner of the room the “zen area” where she set up cushions and a kettle and tea boxes. You stared at the fuzzy pink cushion you were so used to sitting on. You were sure your butt had made an imprint.
“Please, take a seat,” Enji Todoroki said, gesturing to the other side of Mina’s desk, away from the cushion that brought you so much comfort.
You frowned at his tone of voice, as if he had been there many times before and as if he owned the damn office himself. At least there was a nice fuzzy blanket on that side of the desk which you could use to cover yourself.
“I can tell that my presence is intimidating you,” he said. “But please, allow me to make my offer before jumping to any conclusions.”
Why was he making an offer to you? What did he want from you?
“As I am sure you are aware, Todoroki Enterprises is a million dollar company run by me and my other associates.”
You nodded. You were not aware of that but you were afraid of what would happen if you asked too many questions.
“And once I retire, the company will fall on the shoulders of my eldest son, Touya.” Enji Todoroki sighed and rubbed his eyes and the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “At the moment, he is being rather difficult.”
You nodded. You weren’t sure what was going on, why he was telling you this, but hearing about this rich ceo’s family drama did spark a bit of interest in you.
“He is not doing what I ask of him. He spends all day sleeping in and wasting my money and he refuses to take any part in working for the company.”
That sounded like typical teenage behavior to you. You weren’t sure why this man was being so pessimistic about it, or why he was even telling you in the first place. Surely it’s just a phase he would grow out of. “I’m sorry,” you started, feeling incredibly out of place with the conversation. “I’m not really sure why you’re telling me this information.”
Enji Todoroki let out another sigh. It wasn’t so much that he was fed up with your inability to understand, but really he seemed reluctant to be there talking to you in the first place. “I believe that if he were to have some, well, motivation, he may actually perform his tasks as a part of the company and as future head.”
“Motivation?” What on earth did he mean by that?
“I watched you and your co-workers perform tonight, and from watching your movements paired with his type, you seem like you would be best suited for the job.”
Your face flushed. He couldn’t be suggesting that, could he?
“(L/n), I would like to hire you to have intercourse with my son.”
Your eyes widened. He wanted what? There was no way, no way you could do that. “I’m sorry,” you said with staggered breath. “I don’t think I’m comfortable having sex with a teenager.” You smiled and nodded, thinking that would be the end of it.
“A teenager? My son is twenty-six years old.”
You paused for a moment before letting out an incredibly articulate, “uhhhhh, what?”
“My son is a fully grown adult, older than you in fact. So if your concerns lie within the legality of this exchange I can assure you that he is not a minor.” Enji Todoroki’s booming voice had just shattered your resolve.
Still, he couldn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to. All you had to do was tell him no and it would have been fine.
But you didn’t get a chance to. Before you could even think of what to say next, Enji Todoroki spoke up yet again. “I presume you are wondering what kind of compensation you will be receiving in return.”
You stayed silent.
“Your boss tells me that you are saving up to attend university and intend on furthering your education. I can only admire that kind of work ethic.”
Why? What could he possibly do with that information to make his offer worthwhile? It dawned on you then that that is why Mina was acting so weird, apologizing constantly as she led you to her office. She must not have been able to find a way out of this for you. Either that or the deal was too good to speak on your behalf of. But what could it even be?
“If you are willing to spend a night with my son and get him to take more responsibility in the company, Todoroki Enterprises will pay for your full college tuition at any institution you decide to attend.”
Your jaw fell onto the floor. This had to be a prank, right? Was he seriously offering to pay your full tuition for you?
“So, do we have a deal?” Enji Todoroki leaned forward against the desk and folded his hands together, large hands that could probably hurt you if you decided to say no.
“This is...” you trailed off. You didn’t know what to say or how to respond to an offer like that. He must be pretty desperate for his son to work in order to pay for your tuition in full.
His son.
Oh.
If you took up this offer, then you would have to… “What if I say no?” you asked.
He cleared his throat. “While I would tell you that saying no to this offer would not be in your best interest,” he started. “I cannot force you to say yes or do anything you are uncomfortable with.”
You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding. This was an impossible decision. You didn’t know his son, what he looked like or if he would even want to have sex with you. “It would only be for one night, right?”
Enji Todoroki nodded and let out a sort of grunt out of confirmation.
The thought of being with someone you didn’t know was scary. But at the same time, you would never get an opportunity like this again. Taking a deep breath in and keeping your dream school in mind, you nodded. “I’ll do it.”
“You made the right choice.” He stood up and you followed suit, assuming he’d have you shake his hand and schedule a time and place. “If you’d follow me, the car is waiting out front.”
“Wait, you mean right now?” No, you needed more time to prepare, to figure things out and to take it all in.
“Unless you have something important to attend to, which I doubt you do since you just finished your shift at work, then yes right now.” His eyes, which you hadn’t realized were such a remarkable shade of blue, bore deep into you. “I don’t like to be kept waiting, and neither does my son.”
“Right,” you flinched. “Um, if I could just grab my stuff and get dressed–”
“There will be no need. I already asked your boss to gather your things. We will provide a covering for you so there is no need to get dressed.” The authoritative tone to his voice made you feel so small, like there would be no way for you to even say no against his gaze. “Now if you’ll please follow me.”
You nodded and followed him out of the office and past the locker room where Mina and the other girls watched as you walked away. You barely had any time to watch them or wish them a good night before Enji Todoroki’s bellowing voice spoke up again.
“Our car is waiting out front. In the meantime, you can cover yourself with this.”
Another stranger, someone you presume works for Todoroki Enterprises, handed you a long, tan trench coat. You swiftly threw it over your shoulders and fastened the tie tight against your stomach. He also presented the boots that you wore to work that morning. Mina must have given them your things.
“If you’ll follow me this way,” the stranger said.
He led you outside where you could see the sun begin to poke its way up from beyond the horizon. You hadn’t realized how early in the morning it was. Would Enji Todoroki’s son even be awake at this point?
You were ushered into the backseat of a sleek black Tesla. You had never been in a car that nice before. It made the whole ordeal more harrowing and unreal. “Is Todoroki-san not coming with us?” you asked.
“He’ll be in the car right in front of us. Don’t worry, ma’am.” You usher closed the door and entered the driver’s side of the vehicle. He was a smooth driver, which helped with the nervous bubbles in your stomach that refused to calm down.
Free college, you had to remind yourself. This really was an incredible offer. You hadn’t even let it sink in until you were alone in the backseat of the Tesla, only accompanied by your usher and the light classical music that played on the radio. You would be able to go to any school you wanted to, free of charge. You couldn’t help the giddy smile that played its way onto your lips. This felt like a dream you were scared to wake up from.
“We’re here,” your usher said. Looking out your window, you saw that he had pulled up in front of a tall building reaching more stories than you could count. He opened the door for you and you stepped out into the cool, early morning breeze.
Enji Todoroki had also stepped out of his vehicle and gestured for you to follow him. The wind tickled your legs and you hugged the trench coat tight against your figure. He led you into the lavish building where one of the receptionists handed you a small paper cup of coffee. You were then brought to the elevators where you, Enji Todoroki, and your usher brought you up to one of the tops floors.
The elevator ride felt like it lasted forever. Your hands gripped the coffee cup and shaky lips sipped the beverage as Enji Todoroki talked your ear off. You knew that the receptionist gave you the drink because she figured you would be tired, but you were sure that your nerves would keep you awake regardless of the caffeine.
“I called my son in for an early meeting so he should be here.”
You nodded at the man’s words. This was really happening.
“And if he refuses to show up then we will provide a room for your lodging until he arrives.”
So you would be camping out here until the deed was done. A thought popped into your head, one that hadn’t even come to mind when you were given the offer. “What if he doesn’t want to have sex with me?” you asked.
Enji Todoroki paused. He didn’t really know what to say. “Knowing my son, he will.” As if that was supposed to give you any reassurance. “But on the off chance that he doesn’t, we will still compensate you for your time here.”
But no free college. The thought lingered in your mind. Of course you were doing this for the perks. You wanted to be able to make the most out of your young adulthood and part of that meant furthering your education. But you were still scared shitless by the bright fluorescent lights of the building as the grand elevator doors opened up on your destination.
“Wait outside the door,” Enji Todoroki directed at your usher, and you assumed you were supposed to wait with him. He led you through the halls and stopped at a door that's placard read “Touya Todoroki.”
You leaned against the wall and downed the rest of your coffee.
“I can take your empty cup for you, ma’am,” your usher said with a bright smile.
You smiled back and shaky hands dropped the empty paper cup in his own. You needed to stop shaking so much, but you didn’t think you could if you tried.
You could hear Enji Todoroki’s authoritative voice from outside the door and another one, you presumed him son. He sounded bratty, from what you picked up on their conversation. The more you picked up on it, the more nauseous you felt. “Is there a–”
“Bathroom?” your usher finished for you. “Right around the corner. But I would make it quick.”
At least he had a friendly smile that put you at ease. If this person you were supposed to sleep with was anything like him then maybe you wouldn’t mind it, but you had a feeling that was not going to be the case.
You stumbled into the bathroom and untied the trenchcoat, letting it fall to your ankles. You pulled your panties down and sat on the toilet, relieving your bladder. Your legs trembled. Not even you placing your hands over your thighs could stop them. A chill ran up your spine. How long had you been in there? No, you just sat down. Not much time had passed. But you should get back quickly. Enji Todoroki and his son, Touya, would be waiting.
By the time you got back to your usher, they were still arguing in Touya’s room? Office? You weren’t sure whether or not it was a bed or a desk behind the closed door.
“You’re just in time,” your usher said. “Any minute now.”
He had probably been working for Todoroki Enterprises, Enji Todoroki specifically, for a long time, because as soon as he said that, his boss’s booming voice called for him.
“Yamamoto,” he said, “bring her in.”
Your usher, Yamamoto, opened the door to Touya’s office and you tentatively stepped in. The office was spacious. A cluttered desk sat center in the room. On the other side there was a small couch facing a flat screen TV, although you couldn’t see the screen from where you stood.
And then, there was Touya. A young man with dyed black hair and white roots springing up from the center of his head looked your way. He was quite attractive. He had a much more lean figure compared to his father. He wore a tight fitting black dress shirt that accentuated his muscles, but what really set him apart from anyone you had ever seen was his face. Beautiful teal eyes, much like his fathers, stared back at you. The piercings in his nose and over his lips reflected the light from overhead. He would have to be one of the most attractive men you’ve ever seen.
“What is this,” he asked. “Another marriage arrangement?”
“No,” Enji, you think you know him well enough by now to start referring to him by just his first name, sighed. “This is not a marriage arrangement. After all, you threw aside the last twelve options I’ve given you.” He seemed to mumble the last part. He cleared his throat and spoke again. “I have hired her to take care of any of your...needs, and in return I expect you to finally pick up your slack and take part in this company.”
Touya scoffed. “So what is she then? A hooker?”
You felt incredibly out of place, and you averted your eyes to the dark hardwood floors you were standing on. “I’m not a hooker,” you mumbled.
“What was that, sweetheart? I couldn’t really hear you.” Touya snickered as you flinched at the nickname.
“Touya, I expect you to treat her with dignity and respect while you two are enacting in your...activities.” Enji turned to Yamamoto and nodded. “With that settled, I will leave you two alone.”
He and Yamamoto walked out the door and left. That was it? He wasn’t going to assure your safety any more than that? You were left alone in a strange room with this man you didn’t know who you were supposed to fuck. And you were completely and utterly defenseless.
You wish you still had that pepper spray Mina handed you. You’re pretty sure you left it on her desk when you had your initial chat with Enji. If only you had thought ahead enough to remember to bring it with you.
“So what’s your name, doll?” Touya, who was now on the couch, asked. His cheek rested on his fist and a lazy expression was splayed across his face.
“(Y/n),” you said, turning to look at him.
“That your first name?”
You nodded.
He chuckled. “So, what did my old man pay you to do this for me? A hundred k? Two hundred?”
“Free college tuition.”
His eyes widened. “Wow. He must really want me to start taking part in this company.” Leaning back. He patted his lap. “Why don’t you come over and take a seat, sweetheart.”
You didn’t want to comply, but your legs moved on their own as they walked towards him. Your butt found its place sitting on his lap and you pretended not to notice his semi erect cock pushing into your cheeks.
“Aren’t you a little obedient one,” he teased. One of his hands rubbed down your exposed thigh and up your trench coat. He thumbed over the collar of the coat. “So are you gonna take this off for me, or do I have to be the one to take it off you?”
You shuddered and he chuckled at how nervous he made you. Touya emanated so much warmth but even under the trench coat you had never felt so cold.
“Lemme guess, this is your first time whoring yourself out?” He grinned like the fucking cheshire cat as you squeezed your eyes shut out of embarrassment. “Nothing to be ashamed of,” he said with a cocky grin. His thumbs trailed up to the tie on your coat and his fingers pulled it open. “And I gotta admit.” He pulled the sides of the coat off and let it fall off of your shoulders onto the couch. “My dad has got my type pegged down to the nail.”
You were now fully exposed to the man in front of you. Your black bra accentuated your bosom and if it weren’t for the end of the trench coat you were still sitting on, you would have been able to feel the rough material of Touya’s slacks rutting against your ass.
He leaned down to lick a long stripe against the skin peeking out of your bra. “Although I wouldn’t have pegged you as someone who is this compliant.” His hands traveled further up until his fingers were wrapped around your panties, tugging at the elastic keeping them up. He moved up to pepper kisses up your neck, and you let out a sharp gasp when he bit your ear lobe.
“Sorry,” you mumbled when he stopped to let out a laugh.
He moved you off his lap so you were sitting next to him. “You’re not used to this. I get it.”
And you let out a sigh of relief at hearing those words. He was less scary then you thought he’d be. His kisses were gentle up until he bit you and the way he stroked his fingers up and down your exposed skin was comforting in a way.
But just as soon as you began to relax, his eyes narrowed with an evil tint. His hand reached down to unbuckle his pants. “So let's start with you getting on your knees to suck at my cock, shall we?”
Your body was frozen. His demeanor changed in an instant. You didn’t know what to do.
“Come on, doll. I don’t like asking twice.” Now, his hand was making its way up and down his dick. It was bigger than any you had seen before, not that you had seen many to compare it to to begin with.
You stood up from the couch and made your way in front of him, bracing your hands on his thighs as you lowered yourself down.
“That’s it. Now why don’t you pick it up and give it a few good strokes.” He guided your hand towards his dick and stroked it with your soft palm. It took a few strokes before you managed to get a hold of the rhythm. “That’s it. Now why don’t you give the tip a little kiss, hmm?”
Give it a kiss? You didn’t know how to put your feelings in words. His dick was impressive in length and width. There was a series of piercings lining the underside and the thought of them inside of you made you squirm. You leaned your head down and gave the tip a kiss.
Touya smirked. “That’s a good girl. Now open your mouth, sweetheart.”
You parted your lips slightly only to have him grip your hair and shove your head down against his length. You gagged and tears sprung out of your reddening eyes as you tried to push up for your release.
“Come on, sweetheart. Don’t you want that free tuition? If you want it, you gotta earn it.”
Gripping onto his shaft with one free hand, you hollowed your cheeks and tightened the shape of your mouth.
As he hesitantly loosened his grip on the back of your head, you realized what kind of person he was. He liked to be in control at all times, he’s the kind of person to take what he wants, and you knew that the act of him giving you gentle kisses not even five minutes earlier was just a facade.
Running your tongue up his pierced dick wasn’t as horrid as you thought it would be. You almost smiled at the sharp inhale he took when you swirled your tongue around the tip and lowered yourself onto him fully, using one of your hands to grip his balls and the other to keep your balance against him.
Breathe through your nose, you had to remind yourself.
The soft grunts that Touya made and the way he squeezed your ass may have gone over your head. Especially when he snuck his fingers under your panties and began to prod at your little asshole with his middle finger.
It took you by surprise, and you almost clamped your teeth around his cock out of shock.
“Easy easy,” he said, lifting your head off of his member. He took a moment to stare at your ruined face. Drool and slobber spilled down your chin and your makeup, which had been slowly rubbing off throughout the night, was completely gone as your tears had dragged it across your cheeks. “Look at you, you fucking whore.”
He’s right. You were a whore, selling your body for free education. What was wrong with you? And what was wrong with him getting off on this?
You wanted to speak up, but he beat you to it. “Why don’t you bend over the couch, sweetheart. I’ll show you what guys like me do to little whores like you.”
You hated how you could feel a rush of pleasure between your thighs at his words. Nevertheless, you obediently made your way over to the arm of the couch as he stood up, and you leaned over it so your ass was in the air and stomach was pressed flat against the cushy material.
Touya ran his hands over the fabric of your panties before ripping them off, tearing them to shreds. “Don’t worry about it, doll. I’ll buy you a new pair.”
He fucking better. Lace briefs are expensive for how little skin they cover. But your thoughts on the prices of various pieces of lingerie were pushed out of your mind when you felt something wet prodding at your exposed cunny. His tongue pushed past your folds and lips sucked around your clit.
Your hips pushed into the side of the couch and he snickered at how much he was affecting you. He slipped his thumb into your hole and you squeezed around the digit. “You’re so tight. I’d have expected you to be a bit more worn out.” The pads of his fingered rubbed quick little circles into your clit as his tongue dragged up to flicker against your bumhole, which fluttered against his touch. “Never had anything up here before?”
You shook your head vigorously against the couch and squirmed around as he ate out your ass with the full intent to make you cum. His fingers picked up the pace and if you didn’t have the couch to support you, you were sure you’d collapse into a heap onto the floor. You were edging closer to your orgasm, so close, so damn close, and then he pulled away.
Touya removed his thumb from inside your hole and sucked it clean. He laughed as you mumbled something about being close to cumming, but you shut up when you heard him tossing his shirt aside and dragging his pants further down his thighs. “I gotta say, after every shitty thing my dad has done to me, I gotta thank him. This is the best present he’s ever gotten me after all.”
You didn’t have time to think about what he just said as he lined his dick up between your cheeks and slid it up and down, gathering up his saliva and bits of your vaginal juices. He wasn’t planning on shoving his whole dick up your ass, was he? You didn’t think you’d be able to take that without any lube, or at least without anything other than spit.
It was almost as if he was so in tune with your body that he could hear your thoughts. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I won’t stick anything too big up there for now.”
For now? What did that mean?
He lined up his tip with your entrance and carefully pushed his way in. He thought to himself that he’d always remember the way you cried out in pain and pleasure as he snapped his hips forward once the tip was snuggly in place.
The way his piercing rubbed against your insides caused your toes to curl. Chills ran up your back and Touya rubbed a large palm over your spine to ease some of the pain.
He was raw and merciless as he pushed your head down into the couch cushions and thrusted into you at an alarming rate. You barely had time to catch your breath as he pushed balls deep inside of you.
Touya inched one of his fingers inside your tight little back hole to the first knuckle, and curled the digit up and down as you squeezed around him. He continued to push further and further in until you let out a sob of pleasure and the pace of his thrusts quickened.
Your body felt so hot yet so cold as you were pushed back and forth against the couch. It wasn’t long before you felt your orgasm build up again, but this time Touya didn’t stop. He wormed his finger around and continued thrusting into you until he felt you squeeze against him and your fluids gush out around him.
You laid limp against the couch as he pulled his finger out of your back hole and gripped both of your hips, continuing to thrust at a hard and fast pace until he came inside of you.
There was a moment of eire silence between the two of you as he settled down and pulled his cock out. You could hear him shuffling over to the other end of the room and typing something on his phone. “Yamamoto should be up with a towel to clean you up soon.”
You let out a groan of acknowledgement and sat up. Your body was still shaky, but not with nerves. You felt as though you had been thoroughly recked.
Touya couldn’t help but laugh at how pathetic you looked. “Was it worth the free college, babe?” he chided.
“Yeah,” you smiled to yourself. “Yeah it was.”
His smirk grew wider and a more devious glint in his eyes appeared. “Good. Now next time, let’s see if we can get something a little bigger in that back hole of yours.”
Your smile dropped and you could feel any contents in your belly churning around. “Next time?”
“What,” his eyes lowered in amusement. “You didn’t think this was a one time thing, did you? If you want that free college then you gotta earn it, doll.” He made big strides over to where you sat on the couch and gripped your chin, making sure you were staring into his bright teal and devious eyes as he spoke. “That was the best fuck I’ve had in weeks. I’m not planning on throwing you away any time soon, sweetheart.”
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mohluskiepedard · 4 years
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Rating ATLA Characters literally only from what I’ve seen in fandom
or: posts that probably shouldn’t be on my writeblr except I don’t have a sideblog
the context here is it’s half midnight and I have never seen ATLA except I have opinions now apparently so here we go whoop de do- 
I’m also not actually rating them like numerically that’s too much work i’m just stating opinions I know I’m a fraud
AANG
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- A child?  - A son?  - he is Baby. but also. he has had It Rough  - would make the updog joke - has unspeakable power or smth and everyone says he’s better than the Korra girl who comes after him but honestly tastes like sexism to me - doesn’t kill people because he’s like twelve, right? he’s like twelve so he refuses to kill people - I stan honestly - less twelve year olds should kill people - Some people say his name WRONG and they are BAD but i don’t actually know what the right way or the wrong way is so. have fun w that yall - lived in peace unTIL THE FIRE NATION ATTACKED 
KATARA
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- She is also like twelve???  - Is everyone here twelve - Cortana?? Katana?? Catbug??  - She has good hair, - Her mother is dead??? her mother is dead n she has a brother but she cares about her mother being dead WAY more than him (or apparently the entire fandom??) - Badass - She seems soft. good. sweet - she’s a water breather or whatever??? her brother is NOT but he is a meme - I love her 
SOKKA
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- NGL looks like a fuckboy  - The meme brother! does not do the water things, but he has an aXe???  - dates BAMF lady - ngl until I talked to my ATLA watching friend I thought he canonically dated Zuko  - kinda mad he doesn’t - I haven’t actually seen anything about him except like. in zuko ship posts and also Suki appreciation posts - joined the white lotus not-a-cult by accident???  - dark ATLA tumblr show me more Sokka posts - is his name prounounced the same way as Soccer or isn’t it I need to know - HIS FIRST GIRLFRIEND TURNED INTO THE MOON - (AND THAT’S ROUGH, BUDDY) - He and Suki are a good ship, but also, Sokka Has Two Hands
SUKI
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- the BAMF herself - she says STOP in that photo but also to sexism - Rlly all I see of her in fanon is abt her teaching Sokka to drink his respect women juice and I appreciate her doing that but also it’s sad she never gets talked about outside of what she did for a man - I hope she has other badass moments w/o him it would suck if she didn’t - she is NOT the girlfriend who turned into the moon, she is the one who didn’t - I don’t know much else about her ATLA Fandom y’all should appreciate her more
ZUKO
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- Look at him... my son... - He has a good redemption arc - he and his sister are evil lesbian and redeemed gay guy??? - has a straight canon ship but should’ve been with Sokka this boy is gay - I Want To Protect Him - That’s literally it - he has a cool uncle and his dad sucks  - people ship him with Katara and I Do Not Get It that’s his sister in law except not really - “We don’t trust Zuko’s change of heart” [the next day] “so Zuko is my closest friend now,”  - His dad was like “fuck up the avatar to prove your worth to me” and Aang was like “counter argument you already have worth and we should fuck up your dad” and I think that’s beautiful - he becomes the fire man and he’s very good at it - Zuko for President 2020 - in the words of myself, half an hour ago: “ I was like "that kid with the burn on his face seems like a sad but then happy mlm who needs found family" and I was RIGHT” - took too long to find a happy picture of him :( Zuko rights NOW please - His mother’s story got compared to an OC of mine and all I can say is oh no and they deserve better based on that alone - I have had Zuko for five minutes but if anything else happens to him I will kill everyone in this throne room and then myself
TOPH
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- She is badass but like also will murder you while laughing maniacally? - for some reason reminds me of Nott from Critical Role, another show I Have Not Seen - Is blind but gets more out of making jokes abt being blind than she would from being able to see - “Sight is just a cheap tactic to make weak benders stronger!!!” - Literally the opposite of Aang and has killed many people?? - She Can Tell When You’re Lying. But I do not know how and Am simply mildly threatened by this - Therapist: Toph’s ability to know if you’re lying isn’t real and can’t hurt you. Toph’s ability to know if I’m lying:  - She and Zuko.... buddies???  - if not they should be - tiny sad boy needs friends like toph
AZULA
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- Evil Lesbian Culture - [BDG Voice] You committed a war crime! Oopsie! - took be gay do crime too literally - her and Zuko have accurate sibling writin except instead of “you ever want to murder your sibling for breathing in the same space as you,” being a Joke Azula took it seriously - okay but with a name like azula she should be the blue bender this ANNOYS me she should NOT be red bender - AZULa  - AZUL - IT MEANS BLUE - She was half of y’alls gay awakenings and it SHOWS - Should have maybe been redeemed too??? Jury is out no one knows - Was she gay for Ty Lee or wasn’t she I can’t tell how much of that Audio is a joke - IS SHE ALSO TWELVE??? IS EVERYONE HERE TWELVE?? IS THIS TWELVE YEAR OLD COMITTING ATROCITIES? 
UNCLE IROH
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- A Good Man - Finally, Some Good Fucking [Adult Figures]  - he has the tea. literally and figuratively - Ozai is like “and I will permanently disfigure my son and throw him out” and Iroh is like “What The Fuck, Ozai,” thus voicing the entire audience’s thoughts - Literally the only adult in this that I trust - I? I love him. this is all I have to say. my love for him is unending. Some1 protect this man from all harm   - he’s Zuko’s uncle (and also Azula ig) but he does not seem related to Ozai. is it just a theme in this family that one sibling is chill and one sibling commits horrendous atrocities against your fellow human beings or  - something happened to his son???? :((((( I Don’t Want Him To Have Suffered Like This
OZAI
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- A BAD MAN - Uh Oh (stinky)  - THE WORST OF THE MEN  - I do not like him - Bastard man. nasty. committed war crimes and then went “but what if - get this - i also abused my son,”  - I would like him to Not Be Like This - by Like This I mean present and alive  - :/ 
TY LEE
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- She’s NOT the There Is No War In Ba Sing Se lady and I don’t know why i thought she WAS but until I looked up her photo I thought that was her  - She looks like a sweetheart tho - I hope nothing bad happens to her????  - talks about auras??? or smth??? let her vibe - She would talk animatedly to me about warrior cats if she was in my year seven class and I was sat alone and I would understand none of it but appreciate her anyway - if azula bullies her I’ll be :( at Azula and Azula will not care because she has Mommy Issues and therefore is slightly unhinged - She seems like that one kid with no trauma vibing at the edge of [every other kid having trauma] and not really getting it but trying her best - Is she also twelve?????? She maybe looks twelve
CABBAGE MAN 
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- HIS CABBAGES - fulfills my favourite trope: ordinary person repeatedly has life disrupted by the inconveniences of relying on actual children to save the world - probably has a campaign post canon for letting trained adults fix the worlds’ problems in the future - or sets up the Very First Cabbage Insurance Company - look at him. he loves his cabbages so much. you go you funky lil cabbage man
ALSO THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES MOMO
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- LOOK AT HIM HE’S SO GOOD - small. fluffy. big ears - Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty: his Momoness - a Good Boy...
APPA
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- he looks so soft... - he can fly but he just does it by??? vibing through the air?? motionless??? iconic - I saw that one post about mishearing it as Abba and thinking he was Aang’s dad and he looks like he would be a good stand in dad ngl - he’s so LORGE - a chonky boy - love him
that is everyone I have heard of it and if I left someone out it’s a sign that y’all should talk about em more bc I have no clue they exist put more ATLA On my Dash ig I’ll do Legend of Korra ig maybe apparently that one has canon wlw and i love me some canon wlw
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dreaminginvelaris · 3 years
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A Response to a Feyre Anti
I made a post recently explaining the dread of having to watch Feyre be abused by her sisters and father, in the Tv adaption. And a Feyre anti made a response, to something that should not be criticized at all considering what I said was just the truth? Feyre was abused. Not only that but they went on and completely twisted the narrative to fit their own ideas and in the process made Feyre out to be cruel and Nesta a saint. complete bull.
I will not be tagging the anti bc they have me blocked (shocker), but also I do not want anyone to go after them, if you come across the post, I don't want it to be through me. it's as much respect I can give to them.
I usually do not respond to those who have something to say with a post of mine or are blatantly talking about me on their blog, unless they're just spreading absolute lies about me or what i "said", it's usually a waste of time to do so. but this post attacked Feyre with outrageous lies and a complete backward interpretation of what actually happened in acotar, so as respectful as I can be, I will be analyzing the anti-response and what truly happened in acotar.
"the audience will only see two sisters fighting-not abuse" "it’s not Nesta you need to worry about. It’s audiences calling Feyre a big dumbass and a bitch" -from anti
if the audience has basic human compassion and empathy for humans IRL or fictional, they will see what's obvious from the start. Feyres abuse. how is it going to look, when they see Feyre walking through the woods, shaking from the cold, starving from hunger, and struggling to find food for her family? only to later see Nesta's treatment of Feyre?"
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in the anti's post, they said Feyre was just as "heinous" to Nesta.
is Feyre the one calling Nesta a pig? a smelly pig? ordering her to take her clothes off?
no, it's not, it's dear Nesta. the text goes as "I took my time, swallowing the words I wanted to bark at her" oh yes... how cruel of Feyre. how heinous of Feyre to...stay quiet... at the verbal abuse.
in the same image we see Feyre ask Nesta to do something (kindly might I add) and then inquire why she didn't chop wood like she needs to.
what does Nesta do? acts like a brat and insults Feyre...once again.
considering I'm going off by the story and not the actual screenplay, and assuming they stay true to the story; will the audience not be disgusted by Nesta's behavior? I mean they just saw Feyre struggle to find food and they expect Feyre to go home to a family happy and appreciative of Feyre but instead, they get this familial abuse.
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the anti said Feyre basically tells Nesta this:
"If you keep bitching at everyone like this no one will want to be around you or you can’t marry this guy because you’re a waste of space to me"
but what do we see?
"Believe me... the day you want to marry someone worthy, I'll march up to his house and hand you over. But you're not going to marry Tomas."
the word worthy, did that not catch your eye? Feyre said Nesta will have to marry someone worthy, someone, who will treat Nesta kindly and give her the life Feyre thinks her sisters deserve. bc Feyre does think that IDK why anti feyres think Feyre despised Nesta so much, Feyre loved her sisters.
what the anti fails to realize here is that Nesta marrying Tomas would have been actually pretty great for Feyre. in the sense that, Feyre would no longer carry the burden of her sister. Feyre would not have to worry about feeding one more mouth. or worrying about Nesta's constant stealing of Feyre's money. Feyre does not think Nesta is a "waste of space" to her, if she did, it would have been easy for Feyre to discard Nesta, and allow her to marry Tomas. the anti has that twisted.
but that is not even the worst part of the scene. did you see the shameless slut-shaming that came out of Nesta's mouth? how will the audience take to that? do you think most of the younger generation will take it lightly to see a sister slut-shame a sister? a woman putting down another woman? in this social climate? where the feminism movement is alive and flourishing. will they be okay with it? will they still blame Feyre and be mad at her the way the anti says they will be? I hope not otherwise I'm losing faith in humanity.
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Lovely words Nesta spews at Feyre. I admit Feyre should have told her then and there that Tomas is abusive. but let's think: Feyre is 19 years old, the youngest, has never had any raising by a parental figure, has been neglected by her whole family, where would Feyre learn to calmly talk to an overgrown brat like Nesta? Feyre telling Nesta who Tomas truly is the duty of a parent, not a sister. I will not condemn Feyre for not knowing that was the perfect time to tell Nesta who Tomas is. especially when Feyre is being tormented and verbally/emotionally abused, its kinda hard to think about something else while you're being told all these horrible words. to us its easy to see where Feyre went wrong but unless you're in the exact position Feyre was in. no one has any room to talk. and even then, every person is different in situations like these.
this part was me analyzing the interactions between Feyre and Nesta since anti had reasons to believe Feyre was just as bad to Nesta and that the audience would see that and hate Feyre. I am now going to respond to the second part of the Feyre Anti's response.
"How will an audience of non-fans react to her not reaching out to her family to tell them she was okay after the reconciliation between her and Nesta? Or not inviting them to the wedding?"- from anti
moving onto acomaf now.
Idk maybe the audience will see Feyre, a depressed, lonely, individual in an abusive relationship while being manipulated by other individuals she called friends, and understand and empathize with her. all throughout the beginning and half of acomaf, Feyre is in critical depression. she wholeheartedly believes she should not be alive. that she is not worthy. she doesn't eat, all she does is sleep, self-care is not important to her or others so why would letting a family know she's okay, a family who BARELY ever cared about her, be a priority? it doesn't seem like Nesta or elain or her father was really fazed by Feyre's lack of communication. her father left on a trip, elain got engaged and Nesta, well we didn't see a tearful welcoming to Feyre on Nesta's part did we?
anti, where is the outcry of her "family" not even really caring if Feyre was safe or not, of what happened to her? it's not like they thought she had died, otherwise, where was the mourning or funeral? no, they just didn't care.
see this is where I know when anti is just full of bullshit. why, WHY, would Feyre invite her family to wedding full of fae? the creatures elain and Nesta fear and hate? for all the talk many anti's spew about Feyre being inconsiderate to Nesta, to her family, you would think Feyre maybe just knows a fae wedding would be the last thing they would want? even then, does Feyre owe them an invitation to her wedding? does she owe them an update on her life? nope. Feyre owed them nothing.
"How about her shit-talking Nesta to a bunch of strangers then having the audacity to ask her to get involved in a war. Oh! This is after she comes into her house and insults their hospitality." - from anti
I hardly think Feyre confiding in individuals who she learned to care about and laying out all the trauma Feyre endured with her family is "shit-talking" but for argument's sake, let's say it is. I still don't see what's wrong? after years of pent-up anger and hurt, would you not let go of everything you withheld inside and explain what was done to you? how you felt? Feyre telling the IC her life story, which contains Nesta's abuse and her family's neglect, was a form of therapy for Feyre. I never read a line where Feyre calls Nesta a "cold-hearted bitch" or called elain "a lazy ditz" she just said the truth. no added embellishments. Cassian was the one who shit-talked Nesta during the dinner scene, never Feyre.
I still don't understand why antis are so against Feyre asking her sisters for help? like the war didn't involve them? they're humans, and you know what the war was about? Hybern wanting to take control of the human lands like they once did and turn them into slaves. those humans included Nesta and elain.
"They could have left the continent" correct, except elain was engaged and refused to leave Grayson. which meant Nesta refused to leave elain. but even so, isn't it the duty of humans to band together and work to overthrow a race of people who want to torture and keep them as slaves? the queens certainly weren't doing their jobs. Feyre asked to use "their" house to meet the queens bc where else would they do it? the queens trust the fae less than Nesta or elain did. but even so, Feyre asking to use their house was a courtesy, that house is rightfully Feyre's. she is the one who sacrificed herself to leave with Tamlin. she did it bravely, courageously, and they got that house thanks to her. they owed Feyre everything. and the only one who acknowledged that was Elain.
that war involved elain and Nesta whether they or Feyre or the anti's liked it or not. not even considering that Nesta and elain are Feyre Archerons sisters, yeah, their family name alone puts a target on their back.
How did Feyre or the court insult Elain's and Nesta's hospitality? You mean when Feyre realized human food differed from fae food? something she did not know about bc she's barely been turned to fae and only had eaten fae dishes? Feyre's grimace towards the human food was an involuntary reaction to someone who is still learning their new body. or was it when Cassian called out Nesta for her cold treatment towards Feyre? if that's the case then fuck decency, I would call out a fake bitch in my presence from minute one. you cant call what Nesta did "hospitality" when all she did was insult Feyre when she didn't even care that Feyre had died, or lost her love bc of abuse, or that her body was changed against her will.
hospitality: the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.
did y'all read something different bc this for sure was nothing Nesta gave to her guests?
----
the rest of the anti post moves towards Rhysand and his actions UTM which I won't go into because I'm mainly just addressing the false interpretations this anti had to say about Feyre and her family.
I'm not sure how to sign off now lol, but I guess just that I hope this was enough to show how this anti's arguments were completely ludicrous and have absolutely no compassion for Feyre, and instead all the compassion for Feyre's abusers. This anti had a real spin on what the actual story was, and I hope the evidence I provided was enough to show that. Anyways yeah my brain is fried, and I'm done arguing with Feyre anti's for a while now, I need to go praise my queen Feyre so I can receive some semblance of peace.
anyways, stan Feyre for clear skin xx
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mca-attack21 · 3 years
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Damsel in Distress part I
This is a two part Arthur Pendragon x Reader based on the season two episode four of the show. Enjoy! Also you can find more of my writing here: Masterlist
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Merlin woke up to a feeling of foreboding. There was something in the air that made his stomach turn with dread. As he prepared to go wake his clotpole of a master, he tried to push this feeling out of the forefront of his mind. But even as he made it down to the kitchen there was this sense of apprehension in the air. He hoped that he would run into you somewhere in the halls and that you would be able to set his mind at ease. He however was not so fortunate.
Instead, he trudged onward, setting Arthur’s food down and opening his curtains before declaring a half-hearted, “Rise and Shine” before quickly gathering some of his clothes to be washed. Arthur didn’t even have time to come up with a jest before Merlin was out of the door. Merlin busied himself, quickly polishing Arthur’s armor and completing other daily chores. He mentally prepared himself to deal with the prince as returned to his door.
“Ah, there you are, I was beginning to think you were avoiding your duties. And what’s this?” he asked, watching as Merlin laid everything out, “You’re actually doing your job for once? Are you feeling alright?” Arthur joked.
His smile soon turned to a frown as Merlin ignored his comments. He shrugged it off and allowed Merlin to help him dress and put on his armor. While Arthur was looking over some papers on his table he noticed that Merlin had already made his bed and was starting to take the dishes from the table.
“Merlin, clearly something is upsetting you,” Arthur pointed out.
“It’s nothing sire, do you need anything else?” Merlin asked with his back against the door.
“No, that will be all,” Arthur dismissed, sending a concerned glance towards his friend as he exited.
Merlin took leave and went back to his chambers to help Gaius. He tried to occupy his mind, but nothing he did seemed to ease that burning pit in his stomach. Something had happened, was happening, or was about to happen, he could feel it.
Somewhat abruptly, he decided that he needed to see you. He went to seek out Morgana, as you were filling in for Gwen while she was taking care of her brother. He knew that wherever Morgana was, you wouldn’t be far away.
It was in his search that he saw a few of the knights rushing for an audience with the king. Something had happened. Merlin followed at a close distance and listened in.
“As you know Sire Morgana, her maid, and a few knights rode for a pilgrimage to her father’s grave early this morning. They were meant to be back by now, but there is no word or sign of them. That was until one of the patrols came across one of the knight’s horses. I am afraid something went wrong..”
“Send men out immediately. Arthur, you will lead the search, do whatever you must to bring her home,” the King ordered concerned for his young ward.
“Of course father,” Arthur answered before hastily making an exit. Merlin was right on his heels, and left to prepare their horses.
---
The mercenaries had both you and Morgana in a tent with a guard posted right outside the doors. The two of you had come up with a plan, it was risky at best. However you were both aware of the fact that the further away from Camelot you traveled, the less likely you were to ever see it again.
“Are you ready for this?” Morgana asked, preparing herself.
“As ready as I’ll ever be”
She was about to step forward when you grabbed her arm, “No matter what happens, I want you to take any opportunity you get. Don’t worry about me. Promise.”
“There is no way I’m leaving without you.”
“Morgana, you have to promise me. I cannot bear the risk otherwise.”
“I promise, but only as long as you promise me the same. We take any opportunity we get.”
With that, the plan was in motion. Morgana demanded that she be allowed to bathe and you both were escorted to the river by two of the men. You took the distraction of her undressing to manage to disarm one of the men and tossed Morgana the sword just in time for her to take out the other. The two of you started running back towards the castle, but there was another mercenary that intercepted you. Being as you were the one with the sword you opted to fight him, thankful for the many hours you had spent training with Arthur when you were younger. Morgana turned back to help you.
“Go, I will be right behind you!” you shouted, watching her hesitate, “Morgana go! Now!”
She turned and ran only looking back when she heard your scream in the distance. She quickly picked up her pace again and ran without looking back. She pushed through the aching in her muscles until she was faced with a crossbow aimed at her face. Relief filling her features as soon as she saw its holder.
“Where’s Y/n?” Arthur asked immediately.
Morgana merely shook her head and Arthur turned before his face could give him away. Merlin pushed down his own feelings and went to Morgana to make sure she was okay and offer her water and food. They set off immediately for the castle and soon came the reunion between Uther and Morgana. She begged him to send out another search party for you, after all you had saved her life.
“I am not going to waste the time and resources on a servant girl who has most likely already been executed as she provides no worth to the mercenaries without you,” he explained to Morgana. The words cut Arthur deeper than any sword ever had.
“Please, there is still a chance. Arthur?” she turned towards him hoping he would take her side.
“I’m sorry Morgana, father is right” Arthur managed before turning and exiting a very angry Merlin on his heels.
“How could you say that? How could you possibly agree with him after everything that you and Y/n have been through? I knew you were a clotpole, but this, this is unforgivable!” Merlin all but shouted.
“Merlin Shut Up!” Arthur raised his volume before regaining his composure as he entered his chambers, “Of course I don’t agree with father, but there was no point in making a scene about it. We will pack and leave at first light. We will find her, one way or another.”
Merlin was speechless for a moment, before uttering an apology for overreacting before. He was then quick to leave and make the preparations for the next day as it was already early night.
The next morning he was surprised to see that Arthur had managed to not only wake himself up, but dress himself. He was looking over maps as Merlin entered. Soon the two of them were off on their quest to save the damsel in distress. The rode for the better part of the day before coming to a caves that were inhabited by wilddeoren. As they made it through the other side Arthur let out a breath he hadn’t even known he was holding, “I can’t believe the Gaia berries actually worked.”
“Hold up, you mean to tell me that you didn’t know that they would work before you lead us in a cave with giant flesh eating rats!”
“I mean not for sure, I heard stories, but I figured we’d find out one way or another.”
“Now you tell me?! Oh! Oh, what's that wilddeoren eating? It's all right. It's just Merlin. You trying to get us both killed?”
“I'm sorry. I shouldn't've risked your life like that,” Arthur said a new hint of seriousness in his voice.
“I didn’t realize that even the great Arthur Pendragon could fall victim to the blindness of love,” Merlin joked.
“What in the world are you going on about?
“Your feelings for Y/n. Why can’t you admit that you like her? I mean you are risking your life and even your father’s wrath just for a one in a hundred chance of rescuing her.
Arthur scoffed rolling his eyes, “She is just a friend, I’d do the same for you. In fact I seem to remember disobeying my father before in order to get you an antidote when you decided to get a few days off my drinking out of a poisoned chalice.”
“That was different and you know it. Besides, anyone who has ever seen the two of you together can pick up on it. Why is it so hard to admit you like her? It’s only me, just say it,” Merlin encouraged.
“I can't! How can I admit that I think about her all the time. Or that...I care about her more than anyone. How can I admit that...I don't know what I'll do if any harm comes to her?” Arthur confessed struggling to keep his emotion in check.
“Why can't you?”
“Because nothing can ever happen between us! To admit my feelings knowing that...hurts too much.”
“Who's to say nothing can happen?”
“My father won't let me rescue a servant. Do you honestly believe he'd let me marry one?”
“You want to marry Y/n?”
“No! I mean maybe someday...I...I don't know...Regardless, it's all talk, and that's all it can ever be.”
“When you're King, you can change that. If she feels the same way, she would wait for you.”
“I can't expect her to do that, it’s not fair to her. Besides, we don’t even know if she’s alive,” he said regretting the words even as they left his mouth because they caused his stomach to drop.
“I’m sure she’s fine Arthur. She knows that you’ll come for her and that hope will keep her alive.”
The words seemed to offer Arthur some comfort, “Come on. We've got a long trek ahead. Oh, and Merlin...if you dare tell anyone about this, I promise I will make your life a living hell.”
“You mean more than you do now?” Merlin joked, earning a playful smack from his friend.
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justalads · 3 years
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c!niki and c!wilbur enjoyers. pspspspspspsps
alright guys so last night i rewatched pretty much all of the pogtopia arc. and this isn’t meant to be a big, important analysis post (it’s kind of incomprehensible), because my brain is fried from, you know. rewatching pretty much all of pogtopia. but i do have some stuff i’d like to say.
(this also just became a niki meta sorry i love her. i really just got emo about her during the second half of this and it got long. i have a lot of feelings about her and wilbur’s friendship.)
it’s a pretty general conclusion that wilbur’s real “downfall” began on october 8th, during the stream “who are you go away”. of course, his spiral and the process of him losing faith had begun much earlier, more around the end of the first war or during the election. but the big switch, so to say, was definitely here, when as wilbur walks back from schlatt’s announcement, he asks tommy if they’re the bad guys.
this entire scene was so interesting to me. wilbur here is a man who has lost hope, someone who is backed into a corner morally and has nothing left. he points out that they can never really reclaim l’manburg without forever tainting it, and that schlatt knows this. the entire half an hour or so before, schlatt has been taunting wilbur about losing that power. the emphasis of the festival on “democracy” is so clearly a barb thrown at wilbur, and it works.
wilbur’s “nothing left to lose” in this vod is a mirror to niki’s “you know what they say about a woman who has nothing left to lose”. this will not be the first time they mirror each other.
basically, wilbur’s angry. when schlatt announced the festival, wilbur realized that maybe it wasn’t a terrible thing. so once he worked around into the mindset of “we’re the bad guys”, he was able to justify saying he was going to blow up the nation with no remorse. he wants chaos! he wants no survivors!
does he do it? god no.
during the streams leading up to november 16th, wilbur is consistently scared. he goes back and forth on it, and makes multiple “conditions” that determine whether he’s going to do it or not, almost begging someone to stop him. he whispers to himself that he’s scared, that his hands are shaking, that he’s not sure if it’s the right thing to do. because despite what he says about “not caring about any of them”, the instant niki is threatened after tubbo’s death, wilbur walks up to schlatt and tells him that if he’s going to kill anyone it should be him. later, when quackity and tommy talk him down from pressing the button, he can’t press it because they’re there and he can’t bring himself to kill them as well.
but he has no problems with putting his own life at risk. he refuses to wear armor half the time, and actively places himself in harm’s way to save others. he still cares about everyone else, as much as he says he doesn’t. even when he does cause harm to others, during november 16th, he immediately begs phil to kill him. “look, they all want you to.” he can’t live with what he’s done, and how he’s hurt people, but he couldn’t allow manburg to continue.
the man is terrified and angry and he can’t win. and even as he tries to stuff himself into the mind of someone who doesn’t care, he cannot. when he finally does, he cannot live with being that person.
but the reason i rewatched this arc was to see niki’s point of view, especially after her statements during her last stream. i genuinely think that wilbur’s only betrayal of her was pressing the button, because he betrayed everyone. they might have known he was going to do it, but they had faith he wouldn’t.
wilbur cared a lot about niki. her life under schlatt was awful, wilbur hated that she was suffering, and the scene where wilbur plants himself directly in the center of the festival and tells schlatt to kill him instead hits pretty hard. he has the argument with schlatt, and then turns to niki and tells her to run. he then hits people and sprints away, trying to give her time to escape.
this is also when he asks her to join pogtopia, because now that schlatt has said he’d kill her, it’s a safer place for her.
so the man did care about her. niki is angry at the memory of him that she has. it’s been twisted by time and her own grief and paranoia.
in rewatching pogtopia, i realized that a lot of people hate the memory of wilbur. not him, and what he did. they think he didn’t care. and to quote hamilton (apologies):
“history obliteratesit paints me in all my mistakes”
does niki have a right to be mad at him? absolutely. he caused direct harm to her by blowing up l’manburg, once it was reclaimed. but she’s wrong that he never cared.
(an interesting note: wilbur only blows it up after techno starts fighting people outside. he hears it, and says “look, they’re fighting”. he didn’t re-initiate the conflict of the country. the fact that even after peace was won people were fighting just gave evidence to his belief that the entire country was corrupted.)
niki has been hurt a lot, and wilbur has things to answer for. but we as the audience know that her statements are just her perception. she is a character who acts on perceptions. the entire stream was in black and white. during doomsday, upon seeing wilbur log on (as ghostbur), niki has a panic attack and destroys her bakery, trying to rid herself of the pain of the memories. her lines during this stream are chilling, whispered repetitions that are a mirror of wilbur’s end.
(paraphrased, it was long and confusing but there are a few bits and this was the essence of it)
“wilbur is gone. this isn’t happening. he is dead. l’manburg is gone.”“it is real, i am real, he is real and he is dead.”“l’manburg is gone, i am real, i am l’manburg”.
(god. dude i could spend Months analyzing this one stream alone. there’s so much here.)
doesn’t that sound a bit like “my unfinished symphony”? wilbur and niki both attach their own self to the nation they fought for, and can see it as an extension of themself. they both destroy parts of it in acts of fear, attempting to save everyone else from what they’ve made.
what i pulled away from niki’s stream is that she’s not healing. i remember the chamber she locks herself in at night. i remember her refusal to eat. i remember how she was so angry at tommy, and she later realized that anger was misguided. niki genuinely believes that wilbur did not care about her, and that’s not surprising: when he died, she denied the fact that he was gone. she represses the things that she can’t handle, same as lots of other people. it is easier for her to pin her hurt on wilbur, because she needs somewhere to pin it. people feel more in control if they’re angry, not sad.
the song cc!niki said was for her character really emphasizes this. it’s a coping mechanism.
but even condemning wilbur won’t help, because she will still never get closure. niki cares about what others think of her, and so she can’t move on from someone hurting her. she can’t move on because she thinks he hated her. she is angry that he is back, but it is an opportunity for her to heal. she couldn’t heal when he was gone. she’s not the only one with a negative perception of wilbur, after all. he has one too. the two of them really need to talk.
i want niki to be healthy and safe. i want to see her heal so badly, and i do think it will happen. after wilbur died, his betrayal of her stayed with her, and it eventually became her memory of the betrayal that she hated, not the thing itself. it’s been months since it happened. niki wants to find an outlet for her hurt, because she wants to feel better. there’s a pattern i noticed: she only gets mad at people once she hasn’t seen the person themself for a while. and once she sees them and talks to them, and realizes that they care about her and don’t want to hurt her, she stops blaming them for it. she only hates her perception of them. example one? tommy.
man was in exile for a long time, and when he came back he “brought” fighting. that’s how niki saw it. but the fact that after she spent time with tommy (trying to kill him but. details, details) she forgave him because she saw it wasn’t his fault is a really good sign.
i genuinely think that speaking to wilbur will help niki, and it will also help wilbur. after all, they both hate wilbur. the entire perception of wilbur as some heartless, crazy manipulator needs to be shattered for both of their sakes. they both buy into it.
i want niki to know that others care about her, and that she has places she can feel safe. she hates that wilbur is invading the syndicate, because she’s scared of his memory hurting her. i don’t think wilbur will hurt her on purpose, because even though he sees himself as awful, he doesn’t hate her. he never did. usually, with people who have hurt someone else, i want them as far away from the person they hurt as possible. if wilbur does hurt niki i’ll probably cry. but again, it’s not him that hated her, or really him that hurt her in the way she thinks he did. when wilbur was dead, niki didn’t get any better. her memory of him festered and made her feel worse. that’s also why niki killing wilbur or hurting him somehow wouldn’t help her heal. i want wilbur to explain that he didn’t hate her. is wilbur even close to self aware enough to help niki? nah. this is going to take a Long time, and it’s going to hurt.
last thing i swear lol
during niki’s stream, she says that wilbur manipulated her. again, i watched pogtopia last night, and i’ve watched the rest of season one recently as well. i genuinely don’t see it. but i do think i know why she said it.
during season one, wilbur doesn’t manipulate niki. he doesn’t have a chance to later, he’s dead. so then, what is she talking about? of course it’s a perception, same as a lot of her other claims. i think she’s talking about how she cared for l’manburg.
niki joined the server as wilbur’s friend, to join his nation. she grew to care for l’manburg. she devoted herself to it, same as he did. but doomsday showed us that she hates that. in niki’s eyes, l’manburg only brought pain for people, and because she ties herself to it, she hates that she ever cared about it. she can’t allow herself to care for it, because it was used to hurt. so how does she cope with knowing that she once did? she pretends she didn’t.
if she can convince herself that it was wilbur who convinced her to care about l’manburg, she can avoid blaming herself for her own pain. and yeah, she shouldn’t blame herself for it. it’s not her fault. the entire situation is tragic and a little hopeless and once again really makes me hope that she recovers. l’manburg was ruined for her by others. schlatt, techno, dream, wilbur. again another place where she and wilbur are similar: they convince themselves they never cared about l’manburg because of the hurt it caused.
to summarize: wilbur’s going to get a shock soon. don’t know when, but probably the prison visit. something is going to shake his perception, the story is hurtling towards that. once he is able to take responsibility for what he did, and feel safe (because a lot of what he does now is out of fear of being alone or useless), then he and niki need to talk. niki needs something to get her out of her own head. she’s spiraling too. they are essential to each other’s recovery because of how much they meant (and mean) to each other.
anyways i miss early season one niki i liked it when she was happy :(
~ Lad 2
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Here to Misbehave (Finale | S.R.)
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Series Masterlist | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Finale |
Summary: It’s Halloween, and there are a lot of things on Spencer’s mind.
A/N: Here it is, everyone: the end of the story. Thank you so much to everyone who’s read this far. I greatly appreciate all of you, and I hope you enjoy it!   Couple: Spencer Reid/Fem!Reader Category: Fluff/Smut (NSFW, 18+) Content Warning: Penetrative sex, light D/s, mostly fluff! Word Count: 7.5k
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Autumn has widely been considered the season of change. It is an understandable characterization; from the shifting hues of the leaves to the wildly fluctuating temperatures, few things stayed consistent in the fall. Perhaps that’s why someone who loathes change, someone like me, finds the season so thrilling.
It’s like the Earth and the Sun made a pact to make changes more predictable in their own unique, chaotic way. The breeze becomes biting and the days become shorter, but for these downfalls, we are granted a beauty and calmness that can’t be rivaled by any other season.
But she wasn’t a season, and when it came to my attention and appreciation, there were few choices that were easier to make.
“Spencer. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
(Y/n)’s face was half covered by the cup she held tightly with both hands, but I could picture the hidden expression perfectly, regardless.
“What? We don’t have to agree on everything.”
The truce was received poorly, her response a heavy scoff and a shake of her head. I tried to follow along with her suddenly heated words but couldn’t contain the stars in my eyes that often accompanied my daydreams. If she did notice, she stubbornly ignored the adoration to continue, “I understand you’re a genius or whatever, but I think your opinions on cider and cocoa are... wrong. They are wrong.”
It was my turn to feign displeasure (I hoped hers wasn’t real, anyway), clutching tighter to my own drink that I found myself defending on a park bench with dozens of strangers as an audience.
“An opinion can’t be wrong!” I chirped, only hating the way my voice jumped a little bit. After all, it was hard to hate it when it made her giggle. But despite how much sweeter the liquid seemed when I drank it in the presence of her smile, I also knew that she wouldn’t appreciate my immediate agreement. So, I pushed back just a little, “It can be misguided or ignorant but not outright wrong.”
“Unless it’s yours, on this topic,” she shot back without hesitation.
I tried to flash her a pout, hoping that maybe it would work for me like it did for her. It did not. Her eyebrows shot up and her jaw dropped open with another laugh, and I decided that I preferred that outcome, anyway. The longer my bottom lip stuck out, the wider her smile got. I waited to stop until her eyes closed and turned away, just long enough for me to let the full force of my affection show before she noticed.
She saw it, anyway, in the form of a similar smile spread over my face when I softly admitted, “Fine. You’re right.”
“Oh, I know.”
Her tongue peeked between her lips, and I found myself thinking less of cider and cocoa and more about how unbelievably lucky I was to find someone that I never felt the need to prove anything to. A person that didn’t care if I held all the answers.
I might’ve continued down that sappy train of thought, but it was hard to do while she had hoisted herself halfway over the table to try and grab hold of my cup right as I went to drink from it. Of course, she had failed to take into account just how big the table was, and just how close I was willing to come to falling before I let her drink from my cup right after she’d criticized my preference of fall flavors.
For a second, I really thought she might climb onto the table to win, but the judgmental looks from the parents in the park must have beaten her desire to win. As forlorn as humanly possible, she fell back into her seat with a loud “Hmph!” which really only managed to elicit an equally immature giggle from me.
“Shut up,” she laughed before shoving my paper plate further into my chest, “And eat your stupid pie.”
All I could think as she grabbed my fork and stabbed the middle of the piece to try to lift the entire thing at once, was that I was right about one thing: Autumn, in all its vitality and beauty, could still never compare to her.
That thought persisted through the pumpkin patch, growing in intensity as she skipped through the vine-laden path like a regular fall fairy. It was much easier to get lost in her there, crouched and inspecting foliage. Her arguments regarding gourds were much less spirited, with her watching me wide-eyed and curious as I explained the stages of pumpkin growth and all the different uses for the fruit.
I still let her make the final choices, opting to analyze her selections and tease her for them later, instead. That was the plan, anyway, to continue the competitiveness lest she gets bored with me before the day was over. When she walked past me holding open the passenger side door, I thought it might’ve already happened.
But then she just placed the pumpkin into my hands so she could open the back door. Before I could even move, she carefully removed it from my arms again and placed it in the seat.
“What are you doing?” I said through a very amused chuckle.
She was decidedly not entertained by my confusion, stopping to turn to me with a bored, frustrated expression. “I’m buckling him in,” she explained slowly, like I might need the help. Then, to add insult to silly injury, she added, “Duh.”
I was too distracted by the details to tackle the absurdity of it all.
“Him? It’s a boy pumpkin?”
“Obviously. Look at him,” she snorted, finally clicking the seatbelt in before tenderly petting the top of the lucky little gourd. Once she was convinced it would be as safe as she could make it, she allowed me to begin to escort her into her proper seat.
“You know it’s safer on the floor, right?” I asked before she’d slipped past me. I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her away from the car so I could enjoy the warmth of her before it was replaced with the dry air of the engine.
“How dare you,” she balked with an open mouth that was just begging to be kissed. By the time I got close enough to try, though, her hand fervently shoved my cheek away. I tried to laugh, but she used the same hand to cover the noise, trying and failing to convince me she was being serious.
“Why don’t you just hold him?” I mumbled against her palm.
That was enough for her to abandon my embrace altogether. With a scoff and a roll of her eyes, she pried my arms off of her and finally made her way to my passenger seat. I didn’t fight her too hard, even taking the time to shut her door like my mother always insisted.
The mercy was not returned, with her eyes narrowed into a playful disbelieving glare that I hadn’t seen in some time. My mind was brought back to the first time she ever let me know she was jealous, bickering over blondes and preferences while she sat in the very same place. And, just as before, she was still wearing the same raggedy old sweatshirt of mine.
“If this is any indication of how you’ll be with a human baby, I have dramatically overestimated your competence,” she droned, obviously unaffected by the stars that appeared in my eyes every time I looked at her.
“The one and only time you’ll ever be able to say those words. I hope you enjoyed it,” I joked. A funny enough joke that she couldn’t help but smile through her facade.
“Don’t worry,” she chuckled, “I did.”
The day could have ended there, and it would have been enough. Honestly, I couldn’t think of a single thing that wouldn’t be better with her there. In a way, I think we were trying to prolong the high of ‘hooky,’ finding even the faintest interest in an activity as enough of an excuse for a detour.
… Which was probably how we found ourselves in our third park of the day. After all, I loved any autumnal vision, so how could I decline an opportunity to let them serve as a backdrop for watching her? And that was an accurate description of how I spent the day. It might sound boring, and if it were anyone else, it probably would have been. But no matter how often I saw her, I found myself learning new things about her every single time. Each freckle and scar became a part of the high-definition collection of memories that I would never let myself forget. The most beautiful images that kept me sane in the face of evil and filth.
“Do you see that?”
For a moment, I thought she might have read my mind. But then I realized that her eyes were still fixed forward, stuck on the horizon ahead of us.
“See what?”
“That,” she pointed, “Right there.”
My eyes followed the line, finding nothing but an area of carefully manicured, yellow grass and trees already set to rest for the season. It must have been clear to her that I was lost, because her pointing became more animated and her voice rose as she shouted, “Right there!”
“The giant pile of leaves?”
“Uh-huh.”
Then, in all of my obliviousness, I just sort of stared. Even when her hand grew tighter around mine and her feet started to move faster, I didn’t put two and two together until it was too late.
“What about— No! (Y/n)!” I shouted, cutting off my own train of thought and only barely letting go of her in time to watch her jump straight into the collection of fallen foliage that some poor landscaper had obviously worked hard to gather.
I have to believe that even if that unlucky, underappreciated individual saw what she’d done to their hours of work, that they would forgive her. It was hard to feel anything but joy at the sounds that came from the pile. Yet I approached her cautiously, with both hands in my pockets to avoid the urge to throw myself into danger with her.
“You’re a terror,” I said, settling for a crouched position in front of her. Still able to see her but far enough from her grasp that she had to crawl through a wall of leaves to come nose to nose with me. “This is literally the scariest thing you’ve done all season.”
“Come on in, the water’s fine,” she purred.
As enticing as the offer was, my mind was too preoccupied with statistics of spider and snake bites, not to mention the possibility of ticks still scouring the landscape for any last second hosts. The answer was easy.
“Absolutely not.”
With another exhale of pure displeasure, she threw her body back into the leaves, burying herself into a mess of yellows and reds that somehow only made her look even more beautiful. The chaotic scene matched her energy well, and the harm she was doing was minimal considering I was absolutely going to search every inch of skin for any marks later.
The only thing that was more appealing to me than watching her make an absolute fool out of herself in a pile of leaves was the intense urge to tease her about it. So, taking a regrettable seat on the grass, I sighed, “I think I’m going to have to arrest you for trespassing.”
There was a loud gasp from the center of the pile, followed by a scuffle of flailing limbs among the foliage.
“You don’t own this leaf pile! I do! I am queen of the leaf pile!” she screeched.
“Alright Princess,” I subtly corrected, “whatever you say.”
As promised, I didn’t put up a fight. Even when she finally got a hold of my hands and dragged me into the madness with her. I followed her no matter what nonsense she demanded, just as she had with me so many times. Granted, my desires weren’t nearly as dangerous or strange. They were pretty much just a collection of foreign films and reading that always lulled her to sleep.
But that day there was no sign of her energy waning. The early sun faded and we kept going. I’m not sure how, but she managed to enjoy herself in the D.C. landscape of bars and blaring car horns despite not being able to indulge in anything herself. Although she did half-heartedly attempt to trick me into buying her drinks in several different establishments, I think she was honestly proud that I avoided the drinks altogether. It was a nice reminder that sobriety could be something enjoyed between the two of us, regardless of the environment. However, we didn’t let that stop us from jumping into a crowd of very drunk women who had insisted we join their haunted tour of the city.
“Are you scared?” she whispered into my ear. The feeling of her warm breath against my skin caused a shiver to run down my spine, ruining any credibility I had in my response.
“No. Why would I be scared? It’s just history.”
“Are you sure?” she asked again.
“Yes!” I insisted with the worst possible timing. Because just as soon as the word had left my lips, I felt the distinct sensation of fingers running down my neck and arm opposite to her. I was so convinced that’s what it was that I even spun around with a yelp, crashing into at least three different people just to find a very startled woman with the worst hung scarf I’d ever seen.
(Y/n) had already put two and two together and was lost in an absolute fit of laughter. There were already tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she doubled over, barely able to stand through it all. Because there I was, her 31-year-old FBI agent boyfriend, screaming over a scarf.
“Laugh it up,” I droned. And she did. She kept laughing through any attempts at a response, and after the initial embarrassment wore off, I couldn’t help but join her.
“I hope you know you chose me. You chose this man!” I shouted, gesturing to the people around us who had already forgotten about our shenanigans, “And everyone knows it!”
“I’m sorry I can’t—” she wheezed, pausing to take a necessary breath that was all lost with another bunch of giggles “—You’re a fucking FBI Agent!”
“Well I can’t shoot a ghost, can I?” I mumbled through the hit to my ego. But any suffering was quickly dealt with as she threw dramatic arms around my waist, pulling me close and protecting me from any other errant scarves that might show up.
“I love you so much,” she said.
“I’m glad you’re having fun,” I returned with a quick kiss on her forehead. And even if I implied otherwise, I think she knew that I was having just as good of a time as she was. In fact, it was one of the most relaxing days of my life, which was saying something, considering how much walking was involved.
But no matter how tired we both were, I still had one last place to take her. It took her a while to figure out why the route felt so familiar, but I wasn’t ready to ruin the surprise. I wanted to watch the realization dawn on her. She didn’t disappoint.
“The Mayflower?” she asked with a bit of a bashful laugh before looking up at me through narrowed eyes, “Feeling nostalgic, Dr. Reid?”
“Yeah, a little bit. Thought it was more romantic than the club,” I offered, trying to shrug off the nervous butterflies that burst through my stomach. “Not by much, mind you.”
Although I got the feeling that she didn’t know, or perhaps just didn’t remember, that wonderful night from almost a year ago was one of the most important days of my life. I knew it then, too. From the second I set my eyes on her from my pitiful place against the bar, I knew that she would ruin me.
“Nothing screams high end romance like an alley and a little light law breaking,” she sighed. I almost missed it, too preoccupied with the way her arm tugged me tighter so she could rest her head against my shoulder.
“I can take you home if you’d rather.”
“Hmmm. Depends,” she hummed. Then, turning her head up to me with that playful look that always turned me to putty in her hands, she purred, “How much longer do you think you can wait before you just have to have me?”
I sucked in a sharp, sarcastic breath, eyeing her just long enough for her to start to fume, I let out all the air with a defeated sigh, “I guess we’re staying.”
That serene sort of teasing continued past the reception desk and all the way up the elevator. If there were other people there, we didn’t bother noticing. We were too busy watching one another to even look away long enough to find our room. Doubling back through the dizzying hallways until we found the elusive number, we finally settled into the only vaguely familiar layout of beige and tan.
She was much quicker at it than I was. Before I’d even finished washing my hands and checking exposed skin for bugs that I was convinced had hitched a ride from the leaf pile, she was already stretched out on the bed in nothing but a tiny piece of lacy cotton and her favorite sweatshirt. The sight made me stop, lost for breath and logic of how I was lucky enough to be there with her again.
“See something you like, Dr. Reid?” she teased through giggles, no doubt recalling the same memory as me.
My answer didn’t need to be said, but I said it, anyway. She deserved to hear it.
“Yes.”
With arms outstretched, she sleepily begged, “Come here.”
But I couldn’t.
“Not yet… I just… I want to look at you like this a little bit longer.”
How could I move on from this moment, when it was the best I’d ever felt? So overwhelmingly safe and at home despite being in a strange, sterile room. I had no desire to move any inch of me if it meant that this image would persist for the rest of my days.
“You getting all romantic on me?”
“Always,” I chuckled. Her usual disgust for my sappy behavior didn’t show itself, overpowered by the gentle curve of her lips and hands that were becoming more and more insistent to be held. Eventually, I had to move, knowing that it was the only way to hold her.
My body reacted the way it always did when it found her. All of the tension dropped from tired shoulders, desperate to touch her more. To feel the imprint of her body pressed against mine, a mess of heat and need and love.
She was the one to kiss me first, and for a moment I let her do it without reciprocation. I wanted to feel how her touch became softer and shier as she realized what I was doing. That I was spending all of my energy memorizing the way her lips parted as she tried to hold back a giggle against my almost-still lips.
“What’s happening in that big genius brain of yours?” she murmured with eyes half open but still containing universes.
“I’m just thinking of all the things you’ve done to make me fall in love with you.”
I thanked all of the gods in every pantheon that made her too tired to tease. Instead, she just laughed, playing her part in bringing us back to that night we met.
“Like quote Picard?”
“We still haven’t watched Star Trek together,” I whined.
The sound must have stirred something new in her, because she rolled us over to take her seat on my lap. She hung over me, looking down at me, hopeless and breathless at the feel of her thighs under my hands. My heart started to race, but I didn’t know why.
It wasn’t until she spoke the words that were already running through my mind, “We’ve got time. Picard can wait.”
Everything about it was effortless. Our bodies had fallen together and mouths found each other exactly like every romance novel has ever tried to tackle the metaphor of gravity.
But if we were an orbit, it was not a binary like the traditional notion of two equal souls. Despite the nickname I’d chosen for her, nothing about her soul was small. And even though she burned bright, she wasn’t anything like the fiery combustion of a star.
She was a home. A thing so full of vitality and life that I would love to watch for whatever time I had left. I was just a moon, loyally following her and trying my best to shield her from whatever might try to harm her. To protect her when she needed rest and to lead the tides to kiss her when she wished. I would be her shadow, shining a light onto her even in the darkest time. All that I asked for in return was a spot beside her.
‘One day,’ she had said before, ‘if you will have me.’
But it was never a question. Not for me. And if she really needed me to answer it for her, I was happy to give her that. I hadn’t been waiting for even a year, but it felt like a lifetime.
“Yeah, he can,” I repeated, quiet and with such a heavy waver that I’m surprised she could understand the shifting inflections. Even if she didn’t, she knew that something had changed in those few seconds of silence.
“What’s up, Spencer?”
I didn’t know how to answer. How to explain what I was feeling. But I grabbed hold of one hand, clinging desperately to her and guiding her to the heart that felt dangerously light. The rapid pace of its beating still not enough to alert her of the true cacophony of my thoughts.
“Are you okay?”
The answer was yes. Because no matter how loud and chaotic the sounds inside my head were, they all lead me to the same conclusion.
“Picard can wait, and we have a lot of time,” I tried to explain through a dry throat that was only growing tighter with the unwieldy weight of the feeling.
“Yes…” she mumbled back, just as trepidatious and nervous as I was.  
Just like I was. Because we were. We were connected by some force, whatever you want to call it. Whether it was a chemical or psychological or heavenly connection, I didn’t care. I wanted her to know how I felt. To know that there was nothing that would ever tear me away from her.
“But I don’t… I don’t think I want to wait.”
After a couple more seconds of silence, she answered with a knowing stare, “… What?”
From my position underneath her, I was able to reach over just enough to grab my jacket. Of course, it helped that she moved with me, clearly curious and terrified of the possibilities. But a good kind of terror… I hoped.
My confidence grew as her legs gripped tighter around my hips and her hands shot up to cover her chest with balled fists pressed against one another. I heard the friction of her skin as her body started to shake in a different way, with an adrenaline that I hadn’t seen from her in even the most dangerous situations.
But when I pulled a small velvet box from the internal pocket, everything stopped. She became completely still. Her eyes were wide and frozen on the object in my hands, only to look away when she heard my voice.
“(Y/n).”
“Where did you get that?” she asked like she hadn’t just seen me pull it from my jacket. The same jacket that I wore every time that I was with her. The wool fabric that she’d swaddled herself in on a number of occasions, none the wiser of how much heavier it was for me when I wore it.
“I know this is really random, a-and to be fair, I wasn’t expecting it, either,” I said through the most awkward laughs I’d ever produced (which was saying something), “I mean, I knew I wanted to marry you, I’ve known that for quite some time, hence the ring.”
I paused, but got nothing in response. Nothing except her lips quivering from their parted position, and her nose twitching as she tried to settle on just one expression. But it didn’t matter how she contorted her face; they were all exactly as they should be. Because they were all her.
“But today, with you… I-I’ve never been that happy in my life. Jumping in leaves and fighting over fall flavors and I—“
Her eyes stopped bouncing, settling with my gaze and robbing my lungs of all air. She made up her mind, deciding to leave everything exactly as it was. The honest truth of the overwhelming storm of every emotion that had been experienced in the little time we had shared together.
The knowing that everything had happened exactly as it should have to bring us here.
“I love you so much,” I whispered, careful to make every word as genuine as they were, “And I know that we have all the time in the world left with one another… but I don’t want to wait any longer for you to be my wife.”
“Ask me,” she answered immediately and abruptly.  

“Okay,” I laughed, endlessly entertained by how she could sound so aggressive even when we were both at our most vulnerable, caught in the nexus of our love.
“Um… Will you… marry me?”
There was no hesitation. No worry, no fear, and no doubt.
“Yes, you stupid old man!” she outright screamed, throwing arms around me even when it meant we both slammed against pillows and the headboard. She didn’t stop squealing even when she kissed me, struggling to find more of me to hold onto.
After she decided that tugging on my hair was the best way to express her affection, I managed to break away just long enough to shout, “Wait! I have to put the ring on you!”
“Then put it on!” she yelled, thrusting her hand in front of my face and practically slapping me in the process. But none of the pain mattered. Nothing was even recognizable outside of the feeling of her sweaty, shaking palm resting against my fingers.
I noticed for the first time that I was also trembling. I took the time to focus, slipping the ring over her finger. But once it started to safely slide into place, my eyes returned to watch what I knew to be happy tears fall over her cheeks. I wiped them away, but they were replaced with the wetness from my face when she brought us together again with a long, gentle kiss.
A calmness came over the room like the feeling following a storm. A clean slate with soil enriched for growth. A hope for a future forever changed.
“What do we do now?” she asked, biting her bottom lip and holding tight to my hands.
The answer seemed clear enough.
“Whatever we want.”
 —————————————————
 Is this really happening?
I stared at the diamond shining back at me with a clarity that had to be a metaphor for my heart. In the vague reflection of yellow light and us, I felt a warmth that doesn’t normally accompany metal. My finger’s new companion felt so comfortable in its new resting place. A constant reminder of the man I called home.
Then I turned back to him, unsure how I was supposed to move on from this moment. I never wanted to leave, but I also needed to move. I compromised and settled with my face against his chest, listening to the heartbeat he’d just dedicated to me. In that peaceful quiet, I heard him speak so softly I wasn’t sure I was meant to hear it.
But I did.
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he said with fingers dancing through the ends of my hair, “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
And for once, the thought didn’t feel like a burden. In fact, it felt like freedom. I was finally free to be who I was without worry that I would be alone. Without worrying that I would be too much or too little to please him.
I was enough.
Enough.
“I love you,” I said, tasting salt from tears I hadn’t even noticed were falling.
Curiously, and in a rare role switch, Spencer was the one who took a blatantly affectionate display and turned it into something else. Pulling me away from his chest, he dragged me up until he could drag his lips over my jaw.
“Don’t cry, little girl,” he cooed with what I could only imagine was a wicked grin, “I haven’t given you a reason to yet.”
Something about that gruff rumble in his throat caused my skin to ripple with goosebumps. Every inch of me burned with flames that could only be put out by his touch. I chased after his lips with my own, but he was insistent on trailing down my throat. He knew I would be powerless to him. I wouldn’t be able to argue when my hands were knotted in his hair and my hips were already rocking helplessly against his erection.
“I want you to fuck me,” I seethed. My blood was boiling from the heat I felt within, and before he could even answer I was already working at the buttons on his shirt.
“Oh? You don’t want me to make love to you?” Spencer laughed. As if that had ever been our style.
“No, I want you to take what’s yours.”
He responded to the demand by pushing me from my seat, forcing me onto my back on the other end of the bed. I wasn’t going to complain, either. The new position allowed me access to his belt, which I unbuckled before he even had time to laugh.  
“Are you really challenging me right now, little girl?”
But despite the taunt, he did nothing to stop me. His hands were also busy removing my clothes. And just like before, our nakedness was reciprocated. With each lost layer, I should have felt lighter, but I didn’t. I felt so powerful, so aware of how our bare bodies twined together.
“Here, of all places? Do you remember what I did to you that night?”
How could I ever forget?
“I’m not the same girl you had in your bed then,” I purred. We both knew it was true, although not in the way I was implying.
Because Spencer had changed me. Irrevocably. He taught me so much — not just about physics, literature, or criminology, either. He taught me about kindness, softness, and vulnerability. He taught me how to trust that someone could hold me without the intention of letting me go. More than anything, he taught me that I didn’t have to learn these things alone. Even the smartest man I’d ever met needed help with them sometimes.
Then again, something told me that Spencer wasn’t in a very humble mood. Perhaps it was the fact he’d pinned me down again, with his hands clumsily gripping hard enough to leave crescent moons in my forearms.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he growled with a small, chaste kiss, “You’re still just a fucking brat.”
I wasn’t feeling bratty then, though. Especially not as I felt the head of his cock pressed against me, just hard enough to feel the resistance of my body. He waited there, no doubt taking pleasure in the way my whole body squirmed underneath him. My hips bucked, but he managed to keep a cruelly steady distance.
“You’re so precious when you’re needy,” he mumbled. And although I stubbornly avoided looking him in the eyes out of protest, he forced my face towards him again, anyway. “Go on. Say please.”
“Fuck off,” I whined through a prominent pout that did me no favors.
“Say it.”
“Please!”
I managed to make eye contact, but it was fleeting. As soon as he thrust forward into me, my back arched and I lost myself in the pillows. My hands found him, though, leaving angry red welts over heated skin. If Spencer was at all affected by the pain, he made no showing of it. His pace continued, steadily forcing our bodies together until I trembled in his hands.
He would hold me there, at my limit but not pleading for him to do anything different. With tender hands, he would fuck me until I swore bruises would follow. But I never felt unsafe; I felt cared for and cherished in a way I’d never known. I trusted him to know my limits better than myself.
I trusted him with all of me because I had already seen that when given the chance, he would do whatever he could to protect me.
The love I felt must have shone through my eyes because his hips got slower, drawing out each movement. My hips rose in tandem with his, allowing me to feel every inch of him inside of me.
“This body belongs to me now and forever,” he whispered.
It always has.
“You belong to me.”
And I felt it. The undeniable string of fate that tied us to each other. I could feel his every emotion as his fingers brushed over my throat. I melted under his touch, completely consumed by the love he felt for me. The kind of love that people spent their whole lives searching for only to come up empty. That powerful thing that drove gods to war and men to madness.
The only feeling that could tear down every wall that had been carefully crafted to protect myself. Because I didn’t need them anymore. Spencer’s arms would take their place, holding me through the storms that might follow the same way he had carried me through the ones that led us here.
“Yes,” I breathed, “I’m yours.”
For forever and whatever comes after.
The words were truer than they’d ever been before, and Spencer took it as permission to let go of any remaining hesitation. The slow, gentle thrusts became faster and our moans echoed in the small room without a second thought to the poor patrons in the rooms surrounding us. Because if they felt what we did, they would understand. Spencer still tried to hush the sounds, crashing his lips over mine in a sloppy, frenzied kiss.
I was suddenly reminded of every romantic story I’d ever heard. They all spoke of feeling so close to someone that they felt like an extension of yourself. I wasn’t sure if it was completely true, but there was no denying how at home our bodies were. The way our tongues wrapped around one another and how our noses bumped so gently in the chaos was unmatched by any meeting driven by lust or need.
His hips met mine over and over again, no matter how hard I tried to keep him closer. Even when my hips chased his to be held longer, Spencer was persistent in the ruthless pace. Because like me, he was lost in the euphoria. I knew it from the sound of his whimpers and the way he bit my lip just a little bit harder.
“Tell me what you want, little girl,” he begged. Not ordered. Begged.
“You,” I answered without any doubt, “I just want you.”
His response came even faster, even more desperate and scratchy as it came through his lips into mine.
“You have me. For the rest of my life and whatever comes after, I will take care of you.”
There was nothing left to say. I could feel the truth and force behind the words as he fucked me harder, eliciting one more quiet cry from me in the sound of his name.
“Spencer...”
When he returned the call, though, it wasn’t with any name I’d heard from him before.
“So you better get used to this feeling,” he said through a smile that I felt on my lips before he drew back. He looked me in the eye as he buried himself in me, tensing to hold himself back just a few seconds longer. To see the look on my face and let that be the feeling of us giving in to each other for the first time in our new story.
“Because I’m never going to grow tired of this, Mrs. Reid.”
Mrs. Reid.
That was going to be my name.
Mrs. Reid.
That was the only thought running through my mind as I felt the coil in my gut snap and all of my muscles tense around him. There were no whorish sounds left in my lungs, only little whimpers and whines as I tried to claw him closer. Spencer gave up his visual in exchange for kissing me while he finished. My walls held him so tightly that I felt each pulse and every place where his release filled me. But nothing was more compelling than feeling the way his lip quivered between mine as his body fell onto mine with no grace required.
Spencer could act hard all he wanted, but I felt the way he craved softness. Safety. Love. All things I was happy to give… for a price.
“Say it again.”
“Say what again?” he replied sleepily but animated enough to have a healthy dose of snark. Snark that earned him a rough nudge of my elbow into his ribs.
“You know!”
But naturally, the genius had to play dumb. With a happy little hum, he snuggled closer to me, burying his face into my neck so he could mumble against the skin, “You’ll have to be more specific.”
“Please,” I sighed, “for me?”
He seemed to contemplate the plea for a little while longer, with wiggling toes I felt against my shins and a happy sigh that breezed over my neck. I tried to take in those small things while I waited, knowing that while I had a lifetime to learn them, this moment would never come again.
“Fine,” he finally settled, propping himself up to give another soft kiss followed by the most beautiful sound in the world.
“Only for you, Mrs. Reid.”
 ——  The Next Morning ——
 Waking up next to Spencer with a ring on my finger was literally waking up to find my dream come to life. And sure, his light snoring and constant wriggling under the sheets he continued to pull off of me weren’t perfect or picturesque, but they were real. The same way that he chirped when he felt my legs wrap around him in his sleep and only woke when he heard me giggling.
His eyes fluttered open, taken aback by something that he saw. Although I would blame it on the sunlight filtering through the curtains, I was sure that he would give me all the credit.
“Good morning,” he slurred.  
“Hi,” I answered with a smile and an attempt to pull him closer. But my hand was stopped by his, squeezing my palm between his fingers before dragging my knuckles to his lips. From there, he laid a gentle kiss over the diamond he’d placed there the night before. Although it was strange to be outshone by a rock, I let it go for now.
“I know you shouldn’t sleep with it on, but it’s so nice to see it’s still there,” he said with a heavy breath before lowering our still joined hands to rest against his heart. I could feel the way it beat a little bit quicker as I came closer, and I wondered if this was really what it would be like forever.
“I couldn’t resist wearing it.”
“You know you can still change your mind, right? We haven’t told anyone.”
“I haven’t changed my mind,” I replied unlike every time before. There was no teasing, no joke or anger or sadness. Just a pure, unadulterated joy.
… Of course, the question did bring up an entirely new anxiety. It did feel a bit silly, but it needs to be expressed.
“Have you?”
“God, no,” he laughed. Like he’d only asked the question to see the way I might panic. But as soon as I heard his assurance, I knew it was the truth.
My mind started to drift back to that first morning we spent together. It felt like a lifetime ago, but everything still felt so very much the same. I wondered if there were things I would change if given the chance. It wasn’t until after I ran through the laundry list of things that we would have been better off without that I realized I’d asked the wrong question.
It wasn’t a matter of what I would have changed, but what I would have kept the same. And the answer was simple. No matter what I would face in my life, I just wanted it to be with him. Everything would be okay as long as I had him.
However, when I tried to kiss him, Spencer still seemed hung up on the things he would have changed. Our lips didn’t connect for even ten seconds before he broke apart, happily laughing through the words, “This is so much better when I’m not hungover.”
“Old man.”
He didn’t argue back, wiggling under the sheets until our chests were pressed together. I took it as a very poor attempt at a power play, because instead of craning my neck to look up at him from my spot, I simply climbed his lanky figure until our noses were pressed together.
“Your old man now,” he corrected, followed by my own clarification of, “You were always mine, Dr. Reid.”
“But now you get to show everyone.” He grinned, letting go of my hand to roam over the curves of my body. His daily attempts to memorize each version of me he held. After a few more moments of silent reverence, I asked the question we’d have to face eventually, lest we face even more awkward, embarrassing moments with the team.
“Who’s gonna tell everyone?”
He barely even considered the options before he shrugged.
“Let’s just… wing it.”
I paused, certain that I’d heard it wrong. “You, Spencer Reid, would like to ‘wing it?’” I repeated, barely able to get the words out without laughing from the absurdity of it all.
But he was quick to assure me, “Yeah, I do.”
“Alright. Whatever you say,” I sighed. I figured that it wouldn’t be worth it to plan right now, anyway. It wasn’t exactly our style. If anything, we would find the perfect time completely by accident.
“You know what we should do first though?” I excitedly announced to the best audience a girl could ever ask for.
“What?”
“Coffee,” I drawled. To which he quickly answered, “I love you an ungodly amount.”
Taking full advantage of that admission, I shoved the poor soul who’d shackled himself to me forever away as I ordered, “Go turn it on. I am craving shitty hotel coffee in bed with my fiancé.”
“Fine,” he resigned with a smile while rolling out of the bed, “Spoiled brat.”
“Your spoiled brat!” I shouted back from safe under the covers that I could finally get back in his absence. They weren’t as good as him, but they would be enough for now. I buried my face into his pillow, snickering as I heard a very tired Spencer call from the bathroom, “Forever mine!”
Just as the sounds of running water filled the room, I lifted my head at the distant sound of familiar chiming beside me.
“Is that my phone?”
I didn’t answer, paralyzed in my place as I felt the most intense sensation of deja vu I’d ever experienced. Right there on the nightstand, I saw the name Hotchner.
Spencer was quicker this time to leave the bathroom, but just as he turned the corner, a thought must have stopped him. Because he paused, staring at me with hotel sheets gathered around me and his phone against my ear.  
He didn’t try to fight me for the device. In fact, he didn’t move at all, watching from a few feet away with a smile I’d never seen before. The kind that I felt so deep inside of me that I realized this was what they meant to share a soul with someone.
 “Hello,” I spoke softly and filled with love, “this is Mrs. Reid.”
 The End.
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Epilogue
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infernalrevenge · 3 years
Text
The Greatest Show
Fandom: Resident Evil 8: Village
Pairing: Donna Beneviento x Reader (Gender Neutral)
Rating: G
Summary: Donna and Angie attempt to cheer Reader up after a bad day.
Notes: A little bit of domesticity and comfort from our resident dollmaker. Yes, Reader is still a servant in the house while also being her partner -- because why not HAHAHA. Just thought this would be a fun silly thing to write.
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This day was not going the way you thought it would. Well, that was putting it nicely -- this day was going to shit.
It was bad enough that you had a hard time falling asleep last night and woke up in a sour mood, but then you had an argument with a new vendor at the village who not only exclaimed that there was no new shipment of vegetables that morning, but also had the gall to try and throw you out of the store under virtue that they "didn't want the freak servants of one of the freak lords tainting their good establishment." The fucking nerve!
When you got back to the manor empty-handed, fuming but attempting to prepare lunch (sans vegetables), you accidentally burned your hand on the hot stove. As if that wasn't bad enough, when you jumped back in pain, you knocked over a few plates onto the floor and had to clean all that up too. You had to complete all your other chores with just one usable hand, the other one wrapped in a loose bandage. Fantastic.
You wanted to scream. Just let out a long scream to let the frustration out.
But you didn't. You couldn't. You still had other things to do, and you weren't going to let a few setbacks ruin it all. You went about your day as usual -- or at least you tried to, because you didn't quite notice how you would grip onto cups a little tighter, with your jaw set and locked as your grit your teeth, and had a perpetual furrow in your brow that worried Donna and Angie.
"What's up with them?" the doll muttered as she watched you slam a tray down in the kitchen when you thought no one else was around.
Donna didn't reply, only looking at the tension you held in your posture -- like you were set to burst with just one wrong move.
Your thoughts were consumed with tasks to perform for the rest of the day, chanting "Just get through it, you'll be fine" over and over in your head like a mantra. You didn't want to worry Donna over such trivial matters. This was just one bad day. You were better than this! You could do this. Just get through it. Just push! Just do it!
It was close to evening when you found your last task for the day before supper: Tidying up the library. Maybe you'll see Donna and Angie there and they could help lift your spirits. Finally, something to look forward to! Angie would probably make some quip about your bandaged hand, and Donna would be winding down on the couch and picking out a movie to watch after supper while you could talk about something to take your mind off the stress. But when you were greeted with a dark and empty space, neither of them in sight, you only sighed in disappointment.
Just get through it, you'll be fine.
You swallowed the lump in your throat and blinked away the blurriness in your eyes, picking up the duster in the corner.
Just get through it, you'll be fine.
You looked up at the clock. Half an hour until supper. Right on time. You took a deep breath to calm yourself and headed for the kitchen.
You were already going through the menu in your head when you felt an insistent force collide onto your chest, nearly knocking you over.
"Angie?"
Donna wasn't with her, and didn't seem to be anywhere nearby either. She was merely floating on her own. "Y/N, just the person I'm lookin' for! Come on, I gotta show you something!" She seemed rather urgent and excited at the same time. What was she planning now?
She took your uninjured hand and started pulling.
"Wait, but I have to get ready for supper--”
"Supper schmupper, this is way more important!"
"But--”
Angie dragged you by the pant leg to the living room, leaving you no choice but to hop along and follow. There, you saw a table laying on its side covered in a shiny silky cloth, obscuring your view of what or who could be behind it. You could just barely see a familiar veil-clad head crouching underneath. Before you could ask, she yelled at you to sit down on the short stool in front of the set up.
"Angie, what's going on?"
"You'll see, I promise. Now be quiet, the show's about to start!"
With that, she waddled away behind the table, seemingly greeted by a chorus of soft giggles. You tucked your knees close to your chest and waited for the commotion to settle down... whatever this was. You were used to Angie's antics at this point, but what kind of show was she talking--
Suddenly, three puppets dressed like the lords popped up from behind the table, with another one looking like a smaller replica of Angie. They all had cutesy and somewhat exaggerated features, completely made out of felt, cloth, and stuffing. Like plushies.
What the...?
"Don't be sad, Y/N!" they said in unison, their voices remarkably similar to each respective lord, if not much higher in pitch.
"Welcome to the village, we're so glad you're here! Turn that frown upside down and give us a cheer!" they sang, each of the dolls moving along to the beat they made.
"Donna, Angie, w-what..." you started, but they kept singing. You weren't quite sure who exactly might be providing these voices -- the dolls themselves, maybe even Donna -- but you were getting more and more amused by the second.
After their short number, introducing each lord to you (Big Sister Dimi, Mr. Heisenberg, Moreau the Fish Man, and Angie, as you recall), they proceeded with the show proper. Apparently that song wasn't all the two of them had up their sleeves.
"Okay, everyone! We have something very important to do!" the doll that looked like Angie spoke up (probably played by Angie herself) "How do we cheer up a loved one?"
"A loved one?" Doll-Moreau repeated.
"Yes! When someone we care about is sad, we should help in any way we can to cheer them up, right?"
"Right!" Doll-Dimitrescu agreed.
You felt a small smile start to crack your facade. Was this all for you?
"But how do we do that?" Doll-Heisenberg chimed in.
"Well what are things that they like? What makes them happy?" Doll-Moreau asked, who turned to Doll-Angie.
"They like cookies! Chocolate chip are their favorite!"
As if on cue, you felt something tug on your leg, and you looked down to see a porcelain doll in a sailor suit lifting up a plate of cookies to you, littered with chunks of chocolate in the dough. "Thank you," you said softly, giving the little one a gentle pat on the head before they ran off back behind the table. You placed the plate on your lap and started to nibble on one as the show went on.
"What else can we do to make them happy?"
"They also like tea with their cookies!"
You could just barely hear someone whisper "Tea? Ew, why not milk?" before they were swiftly hushed. On cue again, another doll emerged with a cup of hot tea for you. You whispered another thanks before they went back, taking a sip of your drink.
"We can sing their favorite songs!" Doll-Heisenberg started trying to sing before Doll-Dimitrescu interfered with a swift knock to his head. "Not with your voice, you can't."
That was a little mean, but you couldn't help but laugh anyway. You would've choked on your tea if you had been drinking it still.
"Why don't we ask them?" Doll-Angie said, turning to face the audience -- you. "What would make you happy, Y/N?"
The smile on your face only widened, tapping a finger on your chin as you made a show of thinking deeply. Might as well play along if they put in so much effort. "Well, what would make me happy is to have my lovely girlfriend here to share these cookies with."
"You heard 'em, Donna, get over there!" The real Angie peeped from behind the table, with the puppet lords cheering on as well as she emerged from her hiding place. You didn't even need to see under her veil to know she was blushing madly at the attention, even though it was just you and the dolls in her company right now.
You moved the plate of cookies from your lap to make room for her. "Y/N..." she was about to protest, and you pouted in response, giving your best puppy dog impression and opening your arms. "I thought you wanted to cheer me up, love?"
With a sigh and a shake of her head, she settled herself on your lap, your arms wrapped around her waist to keep her steady. You looked up at her fondly and pulled her against you -- it suddenly felt like the day's worries had melted away, and all that mattered was having the woman you loved so close to you. That in itself was a great comfort.
Angie seemed to have taken the reins now, the show getting louder and more chaotic as it went on -- the dialogue was reminiscent of the banter you had with her, and some jokes were made at the expense of the other lords (and sometimes Donna), much to her embarrassment. You rested your chin on her shoulder and couldn't help but laugh along.
"I'm glad you're feeling better," Donna whispered, tilting her head slightly to look at you.
"You... noticed then?" Your shoulders sagged, head weighing heavier onto hers, feeling like you wanted to hide.
"I did. It was a little hard not to." She gently took your bandaged hand in hers, pressing a tender kiss onto it. "But I didn't want to stand by and not do something about it, so... I hope this was okay."
You felt your heart swell with affection for her -- when did you get so lucky to have such a thoughtful woman by your side? "More than okay. This was very sweet of you and Angie."
A moment passed before Donna spoke again, "I just want you to know that... if there's anything you want to talk about, anything at all, know that I'm here for you, love. Always."
You could almost feel a tear come to your eye at that, "I'll keep that in mind."
You caught a glimpse of her smile at this angle, "You know I'd do anything to see you happy."
And she could see yours, "You already do."
.
.
.
(After learning of the existence of these "lord puppets", it became a game between you and Angie to hide them in plain sight whenever each lord would come visit the estate and bet on how long it took for them to notice it.
Lord Heisenberg almost never seemed to see his -- you weren't sure if he just didn't care to look around, or found it once and opted to ignore it, muttering something about it being "creepy".
Lord Moreau took a while to find his too, but when he did, you couldn't forget the look of joy and flattery on his face. It was quite adorable, and it turned to how quickly he could find the doll in a new room instead.
Lady Dimitrescu never visited, but when you and Donna went over to her castle, you always made sure to bring it with you. You would catch her daughters trying to hide their snickers when you would just stand around carrying the doll like Donna did with Angie, but whenever the lady tried to find out why, she never thought to look at you to see the commotion. Your girlfriend sometimes scolded you for it, but Angie always had a high five ready for you at the end of every visit.)
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IOTA Reviews: Sole Crusher
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Well... It's finally here... the episode introducing the new bee hero. And what do you know? It looks like I was right about how the new character would be portrayed.
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It's kind of funny how I made predictions exaggerating what could happen, and they were surprisingly accurate. Isn't that funny?
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Let's just get into the seventh (chronologically the seventh and the seventh episode in the season to air after “Mr. Pigeon 72”) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Sole Crusher. Damn, I hate that a pun this clever was used for the title.
We get to the point pretty quickly with the first scene being Zoe arriving in Paris and getting a tour of the city. She asks to stop at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, where she meets Marinette through some brief Unfunny Marinette Slapstick. The two quickly strike up a conversation.
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I mean, it's not like Zoe is the sister of the absolute worst human being in existence, right?
Marinette compliments Zoe's shoes, and she points out that she designed them herself, and wrote every good thing anyone has ever said to her on them. But because she only has one friend, there's only a standard “I <3 U” on the left shoe.
So Zoe leaves the bakery and heads to Le Grand Paris where she meets her mother, Audrey. Unlike how she talked with Marinette, Zoe pretends to be just as snobby as Audrey in order to fit in. She then meets up with Chloe, who criticizes her for having poor person things like a phone without any diamonds embedded in it. And then she sees Zoe's shoes.
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Look, that meme was already dated when it was referenced in Black Panther three years ago. Please don't try to reference memes in 2021, Miraculous Ladybug.
Chloe offers some golden heels while saying that those kind of shoes are for winners to wear and crush the losers underneath. This is the only episode to mention this kind of ideology, and believe me, it gets worse when Chloe decides to teach Zoe how to be like her.
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Get used to this. This episode is all about demolishing any semblance of likability in Chloe's character. Now that Astruc doesn't have to bother with writing Chloe with decency since she's not Queen Bee, watch as he turns her into an absolute caricature of her former self.
Yes, Chloe has ordered her father to give her a lot of frivolous things in the past, but she has been shown to care about him, like immediately rushing to hug him after she was safe in “Origins” and showing concern for when he was akumatized into Malediktator while apologizing for causing it. For the love of God, one of the first things she did when she allied with Hawkmoth at the end of Season 3 was to have him unto her parents' akumatization. I guess she only cared about her rich parents for their status and not because she actually loved them right?
Next up on the list of Chloe's positive qualities to ruin is her friendship with Sabrina.
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🎶It's seven o'clock in the morning🎶 🎶I can't believe they made this scene🎶 🎶With the writing Astruc's enforcing🎶 🎶It's like he's trying to piss off me🎶
Yep, Chloe doesn't view Sabrina in a twisted view of friendship anymore. Now she's a slave. I'm not exaggerating by the way, he actually said that in a tweet.
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THIS IS WHAT THOMAS ASTRUC ACTUALLY BELIEVES
Okay, so I guess all those times we saw Chloe playing superheroes with Sabrina in “Antibug” and “Miraculer” were just a slave driver playing with their property. Actually apologizing to Sabrina for getting her akumatized in those episodes? Protecting her from the Scarlet Akumas in “Ladybug”? She was just interested in keeping her slave around. I think Astruc may have slept through the slavery unit in his history class. Yes, Sabrina was mostly used as a joke to show how controlling Chloe could be, but there were still semblances of an actual friendship between the two.
Chloe arrives at school and introduces Zoe as her half-sister, despite being the same age and having the same mother. Because I guess we can add basic biology to the list of things the writers don't understand. Now that we're at school, Chloe's friendship with Adrien is next up on the chopping block.
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Yep, despite being Adrien's only friend and making a big deal about valuing his friendship to the point where she threw a big party just to make sure he wouldn't leave her and risked cooperating with an Akuma to save him, now Chloe just sees Adrien as a rich meal ticket. Two of the earliest episodes to show Chloe had a more compassionate side to her, and they just undid them. Even as much as I hated the episode, “Felix” showed Chloe was willing to cooperate with Marinette and her friends just to find a way to cheer Adrien up on the anniversary of his mother's not-death.
For the love of God, Astruc, 1984 was supposed to warn people about what could happen if they rewrote the past, not encourage people to rewrite the past. He probably finished Animal Farm thinking Snowball really did work alongside the humans, didn't he?
Marinette comes up and Zoe pretends to hate her, leading Marinette to wonder why she did that. She texts Zoe (she gave her number to her earlier) and invites her to a concert on the Liberty, but Chloe finds out. Zoe thinks fast and pretends it's just so she can torment her more. Chloe then takes out a book listing all the ways she can torture Marinette. I wonder if this is a metaphor for the writing process behind most of the episodes last season.
Zoe decides to go outside for some fresh air, and Andre comforts her. Funny how Andre bends over backwards to give Chloe whatever she wants, yet he's willing to actually talk to Zoe like an actual parent. Andre tries to cheer Zoe up, but she talks about her past where she had to put on an act so she would be liked, but (bet you've never heard this before) she just wants to be accepted for who she truly is. The surge of emotions is enough for Shadowmoth to akumatize her into Sole Crusher.
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In addition to having one of the most clever puns for an Akuma name, I actually like Sole Crusher's design. Not only is it a good excuse to reuse Chloe's character design, it makes sense thematically, as Chloe was trying to mold Zoe into a copy of herself. The gold and diamonds also make sense given Chloe's love for shiny things. Her powers tie into the bizarre belief Chloe has about stepping on the winners. Whenever Sole Crusher kicks or steps on someone, she absorbs them and gets progressively bigger, making it easier to do so. While it's not cracking my top ten anytime soon, it's still an interesting character design.
Sole Crusher heads to the hotel to get Chloe, and she manages to get away pretty quickly. Maybe in an alternate universe, she's a track star? For some reason, she runs to the Dupain-Cheng bakery and then... Oh my God... pushes Marinette's parents so they get absorbed by Sole Crusher, before trying to do the same with Marinette.
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When has Chloe ever done something like that? Whenever she endangered someone during an Akuma attack, it was unintentional or a result of her naivety. She was only trapped in Pixelator's dimension because Adrien tried diving to save her, she only alerted Rogercop to Ladybug's presence because she eagerly called out for her, and during “Zombizou” she only tried to throw Sabrina towards the horde of kissing zombies once, and that was meant to highlight her growth. The only person to actually do stuff like this consistently is Lila, but I guess she got vaporized by Big Brother offscreen.
This episode is determined to make the audience hate Chloe by retconning everything about her character while portraying her as a complete monster. As bad as Chloe could get, she was never selfish enough to use anyone as a human shield. This kind of behavior honestly could be explained by saying Chloe was lashing out as a result of losing the Bee Miraculous permanently, but the events of the Season 3 finale aren't mentioned ONCE, not even in the next episode that introduces Queen Bee's replacement! How the hell can you set up the next Bee hero without explaining why the original needs to be replaced in the first place?! And trust me, I'm going to talk about Zoe replacing Chloe later.
Sole Crusher grabs Marinette in her hand, so the Horse Kwami, Kaalki, uses her power to teleport over to Adrien's house and inform him Ladybug needs help, meaning once again Adrien did nothing in this episode before becoming Cat Noir.
At the Liberty, Chloe offers more victims to Sole Crusher in the form of the band Kitty Section (consisting of Luka, Juleka, Rose, Ivan, and Mylene) and theatens the giant golden supervillain she can send her back to Paris, even though she's really not in a position to bargain right now. And she STILL continues to insult her. Do you hate Chloe yet? Come on, do you? The writers won't stop until you do.
After we see Sole Crusher's conflicted emotions, Marinette is set free by Cat Noir and transforms into Ladybug, immediately summoning her Lucky Charm, a shoehorn. They only learn Zoe's sneakers were where she were akumatized thanks to Chloe's ranting, so the episode unintentionally made Chloe save the day. Ladybug breaks into Le Grand Paris and breaks the sneakers where Zoe hid them, using the shoehorn to open a door. So Sole Crusher is de-evilized, Ladybug fixes the damage, and gives yet another charm to Zoe.
Afterwards, Zoe goes to the Liberty, apologizes for the act she put on, all while divulging to the audience her “tragic backstory”.
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Of course, everyone welcomes her with open arms.
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And right here is where the biggest problem I have with Zoe as a character. I normally hesitate to use this term given how often it gets thrown around when criticizing characters these days, but I really can't say anything else.
Zoe... is a Mary Sue.
For those who don't know, the term Mary Sue originated in a Star Trek fanfiction from 1973 satirizing several self-insert stories at the time. Most of these stories showed a beautiful young woman joining the crew of the Enterprise and immediately gaining the attention of the crew. Mary Sue parodied this character archetype by showing how much she was appreciated by Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, the latter being driven to tears at her funeral despite his species being emotionless normally.
What does this have to do with Zoe? She has the exact same storyline as Mary Sue in the parody fanfiction. Her mere presence is enough to make Chloe act extremely out of character in an attempt to make her look better, and as soon as she apologizes while giving a frankly vague backstory, everyone just accepts her as their friend, and I mean everyone in the entire class. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't feel earned. Why was she bullied at her old school? What did her bullies have against her? What caused her to stop going along with her peers, and why did everyone turn against her? How the hell did the bullies who put cockroaches in another student's locker get no punishment while the victim was forced to transfer schools? It's an intentionally unclear backstory designed to make the audience feel sympathetic towards Zoe without actually doing anything else.
I want to ask anyone reading this who watched the episode a question: Outside of her backstory, what do we actually know about Zoe?
What is her personality like? She's nice? Socially awkward? We've never had a character like that in Miraculous Ladybug before! Sorry Marinette, Adrien, Juleka, Nathaniel, Mylene, and Marc, there's a new character with more personality than all of you combined!
What are her goals? She wants to be an actress? Great, but why? Even though there's no clear answer for why Marinette loves fashion, or why Alya loves journalism, or why Nino loves DJing, you can still see the passion in their lives when they do something related to their goals. Zoe only says she wants to be an actress, connecting it to her people pleaser backstory (and given how it ended, she must be a terrible actress), and in the next episode, she immediately gets the lead role in a student film.
When Mylene got the starring role in the movie in “Horrificator”, we at least got snippets of her acting skills in the same episode that established her desire to be an actress, which is also implied to be because she was inspired by her father in “The Mime”. She didn't just say she wanted to be an actress and got the leading role. She still had problems to overcome like her cowardice, which threw her own self-confidence into doubt. Here, Zoe just says she wants to be an actress, and is rewarded for no reason the very next episode.
Zoe basically exists only to be a foil to Chloe, and the writers had no idea what to do in terms of a personality, so they just dumped a bunch of extremely likable character traits onto her without thinking of how her character could come off. And like I said, she's a Mary Sue.
I'm not the only one who thinks this. I've seen a handful of posts on this very site calling Zoe a Mary Sue. In fact, I even asked another Tumblr user @anxresi​ to quote their take on Zoe being a Mary Sue, which I couldn't even top in terms of accuracy. They basically listed off five things that made Zoe a Mary Sue.
She has to have a ‘tragic backstory’ so all the other characters will fall in love with her. Usually within minutes, in the very first episode they’re introduced.
She has to have a supercute design so that the audience at home will fall in love with her. And if they don’t, they’re automatically dismissed as ‘haterz’ even if their objections are purely from a writing POV.
Her only flaw will be thinking too little of herself. “What, lil ol’ me as the Bee Miraculous holder? With my shyness, colorful shoes, chic beret and personalized pink strip in my hair? Gosh, who’d have thought it?”
The contrast to her half-sister will be a constant plot point, with Chloe always getting dumped on. “You see, kids? Bad things happen to bad people. But you see this super-sweet girl over here? She gets a free DAD. Instant FRIENDS. To star in her own MOVIE. The chance to be a SUPERHERO, even though she only arrived last week. Who cares if she has no depth, no personality and barely any reason for being in the show, apart from being a massive ‘Up Yours’ to all the Chloe fans out there?”
What about character development, Mr Generic Zag Guy? “Development? What’s that?! Zoe is already perfect as she is. The only ‘development’ she’ll receive is having her hair done in the first episode she’s introduced. Besides, That‘d’ word is banned here at Zag studios. Why do you think we abandoned Chloe’s stillborn arc so quickly? This is a KIDS show, why bother trying to create a complex character with more than one dimension?”
This is essentially who Zoe is. She's perfect, has no character flaws, has a cute design so the audience will love her already, and was designed only to replace Chloe as Queen Bee. That's all she is.
So the episode ends with Zoe feeling happy at all the new friends she made while we get one of the most blatant attempts of symbolism in the ending card I've ever seen.
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See, look. While Marinette is happily talking with Zoe with the image of Ladybug next to them, Chloe is to the far left with an EVIL purple aura, showing how bad she is compared to how great Zoe is. Only a braindead moron would actually like Chloe over the super awesome and pretty Zoe!
I'll give my final thoughts on the episode in the next part where I analyze this plotline as a whole.
LINK TO “QUEEN BANANA” REVIEW
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